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 PREACHING SKILLS
The Dire Need for Doctrine (part 1) Preaching a theology that sustains our hearers This is part one of a two-part series. Preaching Today: To help govern our conversation a bit, could you define doctrine for us? Wayne Shaw: I'm going to skip the complex explanations that my seminary professor gave me regarding the difference between doctrine, theology, and dogma, and offer a definition that is quite Pauline: Doctrine is that body of Christian teachings that make the church the church and the Christian a growing Christian.
Not to treat doctrine seriously is certainly getting it wrong.
The answer is probably tucked away in that helpful definition, but tell us why you feel the preacher should preach doctrine. For me, the deep questions of life are theological, and the answers are theological. Philosophy can raise the basic questions, but only a word from outside—theology—can adequately answer them. As preachers, we need a theology of preaching to sustain ourselves, and we need a theology to preach to sustain our hearers. That's why preaching doctrine is so important. So I would answer the question with a couple of questions of my own. What else is there to preach? Why not preach doctrine? I'm not trying to be cute with that. I'm simply saying that if we answer those questions, it's probably the clue as to why doctrine isn't being preached more often. You just mentioned that there's not enough doctrinal preaching going on in our ecclesial circles today. Do you think preachers are intimidated by the idea of it? Are they afraid of getting it wrong? Doctrinal statements are nearly always abstractions that rise out of concrete situations. The further up the ladder of abstraction they go, the more remote they seem. The more remote they are, the more they are in danger of getting labeled as some "social construct" or ideas of the writer or code words for rallying the troops around the particular flag that the speaker has in mind. So one of the more intimidating things is that whenever the preacher has to deal with lofty, abstract ideas, people immediately begin asking, "And who are you to say such things?" Right. And you also asked, "Are preachers afraid of getting doctrine wrong?" I would say not to treat doctrine seriously is certainly getting it wrong. What do you think, then, is most often getting preached in place of doctrine? Pop psychology, pop culture, and personal values—with a sprinkling of humor and salt and a few scattered verses from the Bible. I think it's the preacher's attempt at being popular. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be popular, as long as the sermons have size and substance to them. Strong, healthy doctrine is the only way to get both of those. Are there any other challenges we have to overcome as we're dealing with doctrinal preaching? Probably the ones we have to overcome the most are the sermons we have heard that purport to be doctrinal and the way doctrines have been handled in the past. The preachers who have tried doctrinal preaching in the past often preach sermons as though they're doctrinal lectures stood up on their hind legs. They're taken from a book or from college notes, with the smell of the lamp on them. They're not related to life. It's what someone called "a two-pocket universe"—carrying our doctrines around in one pocket and then living out of the other one. That has to be corrected if doctrinal preaching is to be helpful at all. And how can preachers overcome the intimidating nature of doctrinal preaching? Simply commit yourself to preaching doctrine. Out of that resolute commitment, then, there will be the motivation to really want to do it well. My other suggestion is to use good models. Learn from preachers who preach doctrine well. James S. Stewart of Edinburgh has certainly taught me the most in this area. His second book of sermons is entitled The Strong Name. It was taken from St. Patrick's statement, "I bind myself today to the strong name of the Trinity." The book is full of doctrinal sermons. Stewart rarely preached a biblical sermon that didn't have a doctrine at its core, and it almost always throbs with life and power. For example, his sermon in Revelation 19:6, "The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth." God's sovereignty is at the center of life, and Stewart says it means nothing less than the liberation of life, the doom of sin, and the comfort of sorrow. There will always be a need for preaching like that!
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