It’s tempting when preaching or teaching to stay clear of controversial topics that can ruffle feathers, upset people or force them to take sides on an issue. Twice in Acts chapter 20, Paul in his address to the church leaders in Ephesus told them he held nothing back they needed to hear. In today’s guest post, Pastor and author. Eric Geiger unpacks some good reasons for those of us who preach and teach to not avoid culturally offensive. messages!
Post by Eric Geiger
I recently had a conversation with Dr. David Allen on his podcast, Preaching Coach, about sermon preparation for messages that are considered offensive or counter-cultural on topics like sexuality, gender, masculinity, hell, the exclusivity of Christ, and more. Dr. Allen has been very helpful to me both personally and pastorally as a coach to me. I was honored to be on his podcast. You can listen here.
In January, we will teach through our fourth year of a teaching series we call On the Table, where we put big questions and topics on the table and see what God’s Word says about them. Some recent sermons have been: What happened to masculinity? What is the difference between good and bad therapy? Why does God care who I sleep with? What does the Scripture say about same-sex attraction? What does God think of the transgender movement? A loving God and hell?
People sometimes ask, “Why preach culturally offensive messages during the weekend worship services?” I tend to answer from a theological, missiological, and pastoral perspective, “Teach the whole counsel of God. People are asking these questions. To be clear is to be kind.”
Theological: Teach the whole counsel of God.
The apostle Paul wrote that he “did not avoid declaring the whole plan of God” (Acts 20:27). A.W. Tozer famously said, “It takes a whole Bible to make a whole Christian.” Topics like gender and sexuality are not minor topics in the Scripture. God is the One who made us male and female. Marriage is a metaphor of the gospel. To avoid teaching them would be to avoid important themes in the text. To be ashamed of God’s Word would be to give our people a sense that deep down we believe that His design and desire for our lives is outdated or not beautiful.
Missiological: People are asking these questions.
There was a time, maybe 20-30 years ago, when some with an orthodox view on important biblical topics believed the best place to talk about those was not in weekend worship services but in small group gatherings. The thinking was that the sensitivity of the topic required dialogue—not a sermon monologue. You are not hearing me say these were watered-down churches. They just believed the weekend services were not the best place for those messages. I disagree, because of the previous point, but I am not suggesting those churches were heretical. We are, however, in a different time now. Even if you only make the decision from a missiological vantage point, we are in a place where our culture is saying, “Please be honest about what you believe.” People sit around tables in their kitchen and fire pits at the beach and ask these questions. We have amazing answers from our true and gracious God.
Pastoral: To be clear is to be kind.
Many have said that “clarity is kindness,” and we should agree. We can be gracious in our clarity, but we are not gracious if we are unclear. Conviction without compassion makes us harsh. Compassion without conviction makes us hollow. Both conviction and compassion demand clarity. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that loving to preach and loving the people you preach to are not the same thing. He was right. If we love the people we are preaching to, we love them enough to be clear.
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