Pure Religion (0)

Coming up is an exposition on James 1:22-27. Again, it will be a transcript of something spoken, so it will be quite readable and straightforward. There is no outline because, as with some of these other transcribed sessions, it was pretty much extemporaneous.

I thank those of you who sent in your comments at my request. As expected, some prefer things one way, others prefer things another way, and still others enjoy both. There are some who prefer shorter but more frequent entries, so that they will have something to read and think about each day. I will see what I can do, but it is impossible to make everyone happy, so I will not even try, but I must do what is natural and convenient for me, since otherwise I will have no time to do any of this at all. But there are also those of you who prefer to read the whole thing at once instead of reading it in pieces and installments. In that case, you can always wait until the PDF is released.

There are some of you who prefer expositions that lean more toward the technical end, and I would like to say a word about that. As stated in Preach the Word, my position is that a minister is cheating his congregation if he hides all the technical considerations that he struggles with (or enjoys) as he prepares his sermons. But this practice is frequently taught as a rule, even a nonnegotiable homiletic principle, in books and classrooms. In other words, the people are stupid, uneducated, uninformed, and the preacher should let them stay that way. If you try to teach them more, their heads may explode.

I outright condemn this. Rather, I propose that it is the minister's duty to assist the people to grow in spiritual understanding without imposing a limit upon them. Of course the people might not have seminary training, and of course they might not have as much time to study as the minister does, but this is precisely why it is up to the minister to help them grow to higher and higher levels of theological aptitude. Thus, my own position on homiletics will allow, and even encourage in some cases, the most technical presentations possible, even resembling those in seminary lectures and textbooks.

That said, I do not say that all sermons should be so technical. I simply mean that the minister should make the same materials that he has learned in seminary or elsewhere available to his people in some way. He does not have to do it on Sundays, but he should at least hold classes during the week when he will offer biblical and theological lessons that convey deeper materials to the people who wish to learn them.

If we will use Sproul's materials as the reference point, I think that what benefits people the most is for them to sit under long periods of expositions of biblical doctrines and passages that, in terms of the technical level, score slightly above Sproul's (although I think anything on the same or even slightly below Sproul is already quite beneficial). Of course, you must make necessary adjustments depending on your audience. Now, many of you have been exposed to excellent teachings since the very beginning of your Christian life, but you must remember that not everyone is so fortunate. It might be difficult for you to imagine how a large number of people find even my materials still too technical, although to you probably none of them are. It takes time for people to catch up, you see. But contrary to the popular homiletical principle of treating Christians like idiots, I would insist that they catch up, or at least improve a little bit. An old lady who has never received any serious biblical teachings for the past 60 or 70 years will probably never become a Turretin, although I do not say that it is impossible, for nothing is impossible with God. But I would not pressure her too much in this area, and neither will I speak as if I am addressing only theological students, as if she is unimportant or as good as dead.

Do not despise the simplicity of the gospel and of devotion to Christ, and do not despise your weaker brothers and sisters, for the intellectual pride with which you look down on them is precisely what makes you less than they are, that is, especially those who are humble and teachable. They are probably doing much more than you are with the little that they know, and practicing greater devotion and obedience. Do not be offended by this comment, as I am not referring to anyone in particular, but this is a general danger for all of us who have spent more time studying technical works than other believers. Knowledge puffs you up if there is no love, no desire to edify. But knowledge is essential as it is the power, the substance, behind the love that edifies. So knowledge will either puff you up, or it will increase your power to edify others. It depends on whether you have the love of Christ. As for preachers, the two most important things are to be accurate and clear, not technical. But it is appropriate to speak slightly above the people's level, to stretch their thinking and make room for growth.

Over the course of my ministry, I will produce books and sermons that speak to a wide range of people at different levels of spiritual development. I started out as a preacher, and that is still how I think of myself. (People often introduce me as an "apologist," and that I am, but if you will look through my writings, you will see that most of them are in fact basic biblical expositions, written at slightly above the level of the usual expository sermon. Apologetics is much easier. I can flick away any non-Christian in a debate with the tip of my little finger, but it takes my entire person — my whole being and lifestyle — to be a faithful expositor of God's Word. Apologetics is easy, so easy that I struggle to maintain interest in it — that is, from the perspective of engaging non-Christian arguments — but God's Word is very deep and inexhaustible. It is spectacular, breathtaking, mesmerizing. You must engage it with your all.) One reason that I have been producing (and will continue to produce) materials that are slightly more technical than the usual sermon is to provide a foundation and background for when I do not speak or write on such a level, that is, to give me the freedom to address things on a level that is anywhere below what I have already published. For example, if in a sermon I reject science as a standard of truth on the way to make a point about something else, I cannot always stop to explain, at least not in detail, as that might take too much time and attention away from the main purpose of the message, and it might take away the momentum. But I have given myself the freedom to assume the impotence of science as a way to discover truth because I have already established it elsewhere.

So whatever level I am writing on, remember that there are people who need me to speak to them on exactly that level, even if it seems below you. If what I say is accurate and clear, then thank God with me, and consider the remote possibility that you might need to be reminded of some things yourself. 

The first part of "Pure Religion" will most likely appear on Monday.