About This Video
Shawn emphasizes the importance of distinguishing the methods of "preaching" and "teaching" in sharing Christianity, noting that preaching, or proclamation, is vital for introducing non-believers to Jesus, just as God manifested His Word through spoken proclamations. He argues that once someone accepts Jesus, teaching or instruction using written scripture should guide believers further, allowing them to mature in their faith.
To mature in faith, believers must move beyond basic teachings like repentance and foundational principles by continually learning and applying deeper biblical doctrines such as resurrection and eternal judgment as guided by the Spirit. While pastors should preach the essentials to unbelievers, they must teach believers the intricacies of the Word to develop them into strong followers of Christ.
Understanding Preaching and Teaching
Show 39s To Preach or to Teach?
Taped July 4th 2021
Aired July 12th 2021
If I have a pet peeve in the faith, not a hill to die on but an irritant to my soul, it's when well-meaning souls open their bibles to non-believers and when pastors preach to believers instead of opening their bibles. This is generally speaking as I know that there are always exceptions.
The Role of Preaching
Paul says something interesting in Titus 1 when speaking of a promise God made in the past and at verse 3 he says
3 But hath in due times manifested “his word through preaching,” which is committed unto me (meaning Paul the Apostle) according to the commandment of God our Savior.
I think that this verse provides us with a super important clarification that we as believers ought not to ignore. That is
That God in the right time, made clear, manifested, showed (WHAT?) His Word (HOW? Through what? Paul says, “through preaching.”
Now, God manifested his word 1500 years earlier than this in the sacred writings of Moses or Job (whomever came first) so what is Paul talking about? I think he is saying that in the right time the living God manifested, showed, made clear HIS WORD (Jesus of Nazareth and that he WAS and IS known by “through “preaching,” which is “karoogma” in Greek and means “proclamation.”
Why is this important? Because Jesus is proclaimed to the world by preaching. The SPOKEN WORD OR TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES. John the Baptist preached Jesus, angels at his birth proclaimed his arrival, his apostles proclaimed him too and this is how God established the way that “His Word made flesh” would be known – through spoken Words! Isn’t that fascinating? That God’s “Word made flesh” would be known and manifested to others by the very words we speak?
Preaching, Teaching, and the Bible
This is why we share Jesus with our mouths and proclaim who He is to all willing to hear with words uttered hopefully by the Spirit. For some reason those words have the capacity to enter into material beings and reveal or manifest the veracity of the Christ to their spirits! To me there is a connection between the creation where God “spoke and it was,” and our speaking truths about Jesus and those words forming in the hearts that were otherwise once dark.
What’s also important to take from this is that where Jesus is introduced and revealed by the spoken word (preaching) he is more fully revealed in and through the written words by those who have received him in faith. I make this distinction because the written word is not typically the best means to introduce non-believers to Jesus. That introductory reveal is by and through karoogma – “preaching,” speaking and proclamation from our own mouths.” Then once a person has come to see Him for who He is, the written word becomes invaluable for teaching and instruction and correction, and maturing each believer through the washing of the word.
This fact emphasizes the import of churches teaching the Bible to their congregations and not preaching Jesus over and over again week in and week out. The preaching is to bring Jesus to the lost. The teaching is to instruct the found more deeply about Him and His Father. Mix these up – and preach Jesus to believers or read the Bible to non-believers – does not, in my estimation, harmonize with the way God set things up.
I can’t help but think of when I was visiting New York City and I walked by a man that was reading the Bible out-loud through a megaphone to the thousands who passed him by – all without a care, concern or ability to understand what was being said. He should have just preached Jesus Christ crucified – that is how God said He would manifest Him – through preaching.
On the other end, I can’t help but think of the thousands of churches where week in and week out the pastor “gets up in his get up” and preaches Jesus to a congregation of people who have already received him by faith! They don’t need to revisit this over and over again. They need to move on in knowledge and power.
Moving Beyond the Basics
The writer of Hebrews perhaps said it best when he wrote in Chapter 5 to believers:
Hebrews 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by
Exercising Spiritual Discernment
Reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. But then he goes on in chapter six and adds:
Pursuing Maturity
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
Teaching and Preaching
Show me a congregation that is preached to week in and out about the basics of faith in Christ and repentance and I will show you a congregation of lambs ready for the slaughter. Show me a pastor that teaches his congregation the Word of God and I will show you a believer in word and deed.
Preach the word made flesh to the unbeliever. Teach the word made ink to the believer. Always by the Spirit.
