It’s Time for Pastors to Speak Up in Church

What should your pastor be preaching?

Those of you who have been reading my posts know that I often call out false teachers. I am not at all apologetic about this, as we are commanded to do so by Ephesians 5:11. But, at the same time, I would be remiss if I did not deal with the other side of the coin and talk about what pastors should be preaching.

First, let’s dispel the myth that there is some middle ground here. There is no longer room for “pastors” to teach a fluffy sermon on Sunday... one that’s designed not to offend anybody but to help ensure church growth. Heaven forbid they challenge someone lest they leave the Church! The time is over for bland, dumbed-down messages that are welcoming to all but convict no one about their sin or the need to repent.

What, then, should your pastor be teaching? As always, we find the answer in the Bible.

Pastors Are to Teach the Whole Counsel of God...

This means teaching through whole books of the Bible and not skipping over chapters or verses that might make people feel “uncomfortable”. In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul wrote, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; to correct, rebuke, and encourage... with great patience and careful instruction.” To preach the Word means to communicate the truth of Scripture both when it is convenient and when it is not. Pastors must proclaim the Word with “great patience and careful instruction” ... even when a situation calls for rebuke of their congregation. Expository preaching like this (verse-by-verse explanation of the Scripture) protects the Church from false teaching and error. The time is over for Sunday sermons on critical race theory, loving everybody, and simply doing good works. In the end, all proper preaching must rely solely on Scripture.

Pastors Must Equip the Saints to Share the Gospel and Make Disciples...

Saints are not dead people whom the Catholic Church has canonized and somehow elevated to sainthood. They are living, repentant individuals who worship the one true God as revealed through his Son Jesus Christ. Saints cannot properly share the Gospel if they don’t understand it. Christ never asked us to make “converts” but to make disciples. If a pastor only urges their congregation to “invite their friends and neighbors to church” ... but not how to share the Gospel and make disciples, they are missing the mark. Christianity is not a numbers game.

Pastors Must Teach How to Defend the Faith...

1 Peter 3:15 tells us that as believers, we are to be able to make a defense “for the hope that we have.” The only way to do this effectively is to learn why we believe what we believe. The Church must be the restraining force against evil today. Sadly, too many Christians do not know how to communicate that our hope is found in Christ and Christ alone. This is why it is so essential that pastors teach the saints how to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Martin Luther once said, “If one preaches the Gospel in all aspects, with the exception of the issues which deal specifically with your time, they are not preaching the Gospel at all.”