The Gospel: To Preach, or Not to Preach? Conversing, Teaching, or Preaching

Many of you know of the current debate (which is nothing new) of whether Christians ought to teach, preach, or converse about the gospel. Many in what is known as the 'Emerging/Emergent' church speak of how we ought to converse with others, as well as other religions about the gospel--this stems from the movement's postmodern background (see D.A. Carson's Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church), and the humble (perhaps at times a false humility that actually stems from utter arrogance, but that is for another time) view that this worldview (rightly?) has of mankinds' knowledge/ability to know fully.

Perhaps there really is not much of an argument about whether we ought to preach or teach the gospel (these are not, in philosophy, two differing views), but our practices show otherwise. What do I mean? While preaching includes teaching, it is not limited to teaching. Rather, preaching includes more than intellectual arguments and exposition of Scripture, though it does most certainly include these, preaching calls for a response to the truth--it makes claims upon the hearer. Teaching and preaching both make claims of absolute truth and man's ability to know such truth (2+2=4, whether you agree or not), but preaching proclaims Jesus Christ as the absolute Lord, and therefore demands that those who hear to humble themselves before Him and fall to their knees in obedience: repentant-faith.

There is a place for conversing about what is truth, who God is, and what is the way to be right with God. We are to teach others what Scripture says and even why it says it--and all of it. Yet if we stop here, we have done an injustice both to God and our hearers. We ought to be humble enough to listen to others, to respect them as persons, and to give them the 'right' to believe what they will, but we must be even more humble, humble enough to submit ourselves to God and His Word as ultimate truth.

Many will falsely call this "arrogance," but arrogance comes not from without, but from within. Christians are claiming an outside authority: God, by His Holy Spirit, Who inspired every jot and tittle of the Bible, through ordinary, yet commissioned men (cf. 2 Peter 1:16-21). It is actually those who claim their own subjective authority, taking their authority from men, rather than God, from themselves and their own philosophy, rather than from revealed truth, who are arrogant. After all, arrogance is self-inflation, not confidence in God and His Word. Christians, do not listen to these worldly voices, but seek glory from God (unlike the Pharisees, John 5:44).

So often I find myself only conversing about Scriptural truths, or teaching them to others who will listen, while I fail to preach the gospel to them. I'll admit before all, I have sinned (and I can do this because I am justified by faith in Jesus Christ, not my own merit). Am I the only one who suffers from this problem? Brothers and sisters, we need three things.

1) Pray to God for boldness--that is, pray to be filled with the Spirit, that He may empower and drive you. When you are filled with the Spirit, He will give you power, love, and discipline to preach the gospel (2 Timothy 1:6-14). Timidity is a sign of a lack of the Holy Spirit's empowerment.

2) This both flows from and grounds #1: Know that the battle is not with flesh and blood--it is not with intellectual arguments and mere worldviews that you fight (though with them we do)--those who are nonbelievers are enslaved to sin (Rom. 6). Satan has blinded them, so use both kindness and stearnness (2 Tim. 2:24-26). They cannot themselves repent on their own, for their are blind--the Spirit of God must open their eyes or they will not be able to accept Spiritual truth (Romans 8:6-8, 1 Cor. 2:14). Thus, the Spirit must work in their hearts, circumcising their hearts (Ezekiel 36:22-36), making them alive (Ezekiel 37, Ephesians 2:1-10) so that they might hear, and only then will they believe.

3) Preach. When the gospel is preached, the Spirit works. He will be resisted, but only so far as He will allow (cf. http://www.tulipedia.org/Irresistible_Grace). Faith then comes from hearing the Word of Christ preached (cf. Rom. 10:1-17).

We do not preach with bold confidence in the Spirit of God because of the pelagian captivity of our own hearts.