In a 2019 Symposium presentation on Biblical Illiteracy in a Post-Christian World, I remember feeling a slight buildup of anxiousness as I moved toward the Question and Answer segment of the presentation. The reason for this anxiousness was due to the awareness that I was to touch on the elephant in the room that played a significant role in biblical illiteracy among the church community; the preachers themselves.
For most of my life, anything that involved constructive criticism was said to be off-limits when it came to the ministry. I was taught, and there is valid merit to most of the instructions surrounding ministerial criticism, that we only pray for those who lead and we never ask questions that could appear to “push back” in any sense of the word. While I adhere to a limited sense of this mindset, as a pastor, I believe this instruction can be taken to an extreme that becomes harmful to the culture of a shepherding/sheep community.
I digress briefly in an attempt to clarify this position.
Excursus: Lest we Become Lords
There is a genuine tension between the shepherd and his sheep and, in this case, the sheep being real people. As a pastor, I am aware of the anarchist undertones of anti-authoritarianism that seethes under the surface of today’s culture of self. I understand the dangers that leaders face and the several tactics that can be employed against them by those they seek to lead, but it is essential that these dangers do not create a culture of oppressive authoritarianism.
I have encouraged–even praised–those who I pastor that have, at times, come to me with questions regarding decisions or statements I have made involving themselves or domains they are involved with, such as family or work. In an attempt to understand my actions or words more fully, these individuals approached me with a correct spirit of inquiry and asked, “why?”
I did not feel threatened or think my pastoral office was being challenged or resisted. In fact, there were a few times that a little “push-back” was needed due to my being given incorrect information that was playing into my appraisal of the situation at hand. I could observe the tension this placed my parishioners in as they sought to thread the needle of respect and clarification. There have been a few times following events like this that I have had to apologize for my misunderstanding and, with new information in hand, reassess the situation and work toward the right solution.
Only kings expect absolute authority, and I am not a king. Thankfully, most pastors I know feel the same way and such feelings are not unique to myself.
That being said, I want to teach the people that I pastor “how to think,” not just “what to think.” There may be times I have to articulate, “you must trust me,” and the saints will have to walk a careful line that balances confidence in my leadership with an informed awareness of my careful obedience to God’s Word and a proper motive. This aside, I still want them to be empowered as saints of God who thrive in a culture where they feel respected as people with valuable input that is undergirded by mutual submission to the body of Christ that results from their obedience to the Word of God. It is because of this ministerial position I take that my anxiousness simmered beneath the surface at the symposiums Q & A.
A Rescued Hermeneutic
The late Dr. Daniel Blash asked the anticipated question, “how can we change this in our local churches, ” which paved the way for articulating a very dear belief. My response was measured but firm. We must raise our expectations of biblical exposition in the pulpit if we are ever to see a surge of biblical literacy in the pew. I could feel the tension when I made the statement, but I forged ahead. For too long, we have accepted in the pulpit what we would not accept in the pew. If we were to hear a Sunday School teacher taking textual liberties in their classroom the way we sometimes hear preachers do from the pulpit, we would sit down with the Sunday School teacher and inform them of their misuse of the biblical text.
One of the unforeseen results of our ministry models is that we have relegated intensive biblical study to the domain of the Seminarian. Only the preacher is expected to engage with Scripture in an exegetical sense, and, as such, it has lent toward the unintended consequence of a congregation that does not hold the pulpit accountable to the sacred text of God’s word. We hearken back to some of the nuances of an antiquated Catholic tomfoolery that chained the bible to pulpits while the uneducated masses had to suffice with sovereign priestly interpretations. There is a tremendous danger in an uneducated and uninformed congregation! False doctrine breeds in the corridors of such cultures.
I challenge the people I pastor regularly to “get into the Word” and have worked to teach them how to develop a deeper system of biblical study. I have taught them through the steps of a biblical hermeneutic and have used examples of familiar texts taken out of context. I have told them, “the higher I can raise your awareness and comprehension of the Bible, the higher the standard is for those who fill this local pulpit.” I believe this statement with all of my heart, and I practice and preach this ethos in my local church community. I am not afraid of an informed saint. I am not afraid of a saint who undertakes the study of biblical languages. I am not afraid of a saint that desires to read, study, and critically examine (it’s called critical thinking) the thoughts and the ideas being delivered from my pulpit.
I have already watched with pride how a very young congregation has navigated some of the eisegetical thoughts that visiting ministers utilized while preaching an overall good message. I have instructed my people, not with words per se, but through principles of biblical interpretation, to be respectful and show honor to everyone that comes to preach but never to feel pressured to affirm erroneous interpretations of scripture no matter how many others are standing, shouting, and affirming what is being said. I have told them, “if you can find a principle that is in line with biblical truth, support and affirm that principle but do not feel that the volume of a preacher or energy of those beside you dictates a public affirmation of what is being preached if the statements are being twisted, distorted, or grossly misconstrued and are a violation of what the Bible teaches.”
Redeeming the Pulpit
As preachers, we have all been guilty at times of allowing personality to steal the spotlight from the Word of God. Edgy jokes, unwise humor, personal agendas, and our frustrations have all slipped past the filter of the Spirit, and our flesh has fought for a bit of glory that the Spirit, frankly, will not allow. Years ago, while preaching an extended revival for Floyd Odom, I remember a statement he made: “the pulpit is not a place for our personality but a place for the Word of God.” He talked, in detail, about how it is vital that we never make the mistake of highlighting personality over God’s Word. I agreed then, and I agree now.
The pulpit is not a place for the ego to triumph. It is not a place for the elevation of our “opinions” and our flavored nuances of a slightly twisted interpretation of scripture that aims to fit our message rather than the Bible mold ours. A pulpit is a place designed to elevate one thing; God’s sacred Word. That is what we must elevate, and that is what we must protect in an era where we are captured by “byte-sized” clips of sermons divorced from the greater whole of their contextual underpinning.
As a note to fellow preachers, we must hold each other accountable to a standard that is consistent for even our closest friends. When we veer from exegesis to eisegesis, we must hold each other accountable for the sake of our most sacred text. Our conferences must not become harbingers of hazy hermeneutics where the benchmark for biblical expectation is lowered for the price of enthusiasm alone. In an hour marked by the heaping together of teachers, having itching ears (II Tim. 4:3), we must be sure that we lift, not lower, our expectations of biblical preaching.
When we answered the call to preach this precious truth, we agreed to decrease so that He (Christ) could increase. We agreed to approach our textbook with more carefulness than even a surgeon approached his. We agreed to “rightly divide the word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15) and to “hold fast the form of sound words” (II Tim. 1:13). Let us, as ministers of the sacred Word, raise the benchmark of exegetical excellence in the pulpit and the pew.