Teaching and Instruction⤒🔗

Preaching is teaching; this has always been considered a most important element of the sermon. In fact, there have been times that the man in the pulpit was thought of first and foremost as a teacher. And it is true, you may expect to learn from a sermon; after all, that is the purpose of instruction.

It is remarkable how often the Bible itself speaks of teaching and instruction. Both the Old and New Testament point to teaching and instruction as the way to become familiar with the demands of a life before God, Particularly in His preaching, Christ, our LORD whom we acknowledge as our highest Prophet and Teacher, showed Himself the Master and that in the real sense of Teacher.¹ This fact in itself provides sufficient reason to speak about the preaching in the church as teaching and instruction.

However, it will be obvious that we are speaking of a special type of instruction. Instruction may be thought of as merely a transfer of information. In this case the word instruction suggests that you wish to be informed about the important facts of a certain topic. We are familiar with this type of instruction from our experience as students in school.

It is clear that we may expect something else in the church. We do not attend here a course of study, not even a course in Bible study; neither do we receive here instruction in exegesis. In the church we hear how the God of our life speaks to us with His Word. Therefore we may and must expect something else from this type of instruction. The instruction received in the sermon never permits us to remain neutral listeners. We are fully, that is with our whole being, involved in the message which we hear. This also means that the instruction of the sermon must aim at the increase of the knowledge which is required for a life with the LORD.

Knowledge←⤒🔗

The instruction of the sermon aims at the increase of knowledge. Knowledge is essential for a true faith.²

The concept 'knowledge' can be defined in a variety of ways. In one sense it emphasizes facts: you want to know, that is, you want information about names, events etc. It is also possible to think of knowledge as actively using your brains. In this case you expect the sermon to be intellectually stimulating. Both these elements may well be present in a sermon, but they do not touch the heart of the matter. Faith is not a matter of formal knowledge, neither is it a matter of merely being informed about certain things. Faith knowledge can only exist within the intimate bond with God, a bond which He Himself has established. To know Him is to trust in Him.

Growth←⤒🔗

This has, of course, important consequences for what we may expect from a sermon. The point is not whether we hear something new and fresh, something we were not aware of before. No minister will be able to satisfy such an expectation. But more importantly, it ignores the fact that the core of the sermon is always known to us already, because we know Christ. Growth in the knowledge of Christ does not mean in the first place that we come to know more facts and information. It means that the bond between Christ and us becomes closer. Therefore, we may expect from a sermon that it will not be a lecture or speech about an interesting text, a difficult Bible book, or a disputed point from the confession. We may expect that the sermon aims at strengthening and deepening our relationship with Christ. The instruction of the sermon has only value and meaning when seen in this context.

Yet, this does not mean that the minister ought, in his sermons, to avoid as much as possible factual knowledge and difficult topics. What has been said so far is no plea for a minimizing of the content of the sermon. Indeed the argument is often heard that the preaching in the church should be as simple as possible. But that would mean that the minister could select only those Bible passages which are easy to understand and which readily speak to the congregation. The Bible certainly does not suggest at all that difficult matters should be shunned.

Our discussion so far tried to show the context in which these questions should be raised. Within that context we are called upon to exert ourselves with all our might (and also with our intellect).

We may therefore expect from a sermon that also difficult matters will be included in its instruction. If not, our faith would remain at an elementary level. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews speaks of this very point.³ He wants to go into depth about Christ as high priest after the order of Melchizedek (A careful reading of this letter gives the strong impression that the author is preaching!) Quite a few people find this letter rather difficult, something for the connoisseur. But if we truly love God, then we want to be busy also with this type of instruction, however difficult. This is certainly necessary in order to go on towards maturity. We should reject the false dilemma that true knowledge of faith has nothing to do with increasing our understanding of the instruction of the Bible.

The same applies to factual knowledge. When the sermon deals with e.g., Genesis 14,⁴ the minister will have to include some geographical detail about the land of Canaan. Without such information the main idea of this chapter is difficult to grasp.

Yet such geographical knowledge is only meaningful within the context of our faith and trust in God. In summary we may expect that the instruction of the sermon will make us wiser about everything that concerns our life before God.

Pastoral←⤒🔗

Secondly, we may expect that a sermon is pastoral; the shepherd speaks. Often people have difficulty understanding how a sermon can be instructional and pastoral at the same time. Some consider these two elements mutually exclusive. Such misunderstanding is promoted when we regard only the home visits of the minister as his pastoral activities. This is a wrong view of the work of the minister.

Being a shepherd means that the preacher lets the voice of the Good Shepherd be heard. That must take place on the pulpit! Separating the pastoral and the instructional element seems to suggest that we receive objective, non-personal instruction from the pulpit, while during the week the pastor attends to the personal needs of his sheep.

It will be clear from our discussion that such a division is not possible. We try to separate artificially what in fact are two inseparable elements of the one office. Both elements must work together in order to make the sermon into a real sermon, a ministering of God's Word.

A pastoral sermon seeks to win hearts while concretely addressing its message to the congregation. This can only come about when instruction and pastoral care form a strong and true unity. The minister will need to know his congregation in order to be a true pastor This knowledge will undoubtedly influence his sermons. Therefore instruction and pastoral care cannot be separated in a sermon.

Admonition and comfort←⤒🔗

Further consideration of the pastoral element of the sermon suggests that the sermon must admonish as well as comfort. At first thought, this also seems a contradiction, but that is certainly not the case. (The Bible often uses the same word for these two ideas: admonish - comfort.) Admonition aims to prevent us from wandering away and losing sight of Christ. Comfort aims to ensure that we do not lose hold of Christ because of sorrow or other problems Admonition and comfort aim to keep the congregation with Christ.

This means concretely that we may expect that the sermon arms us against the devil, warning us against dangers equipping us so that we are able to fulfil our specific calling, encouraging us in real difficulties and temptations The pastoral element of the sermon means also that we may expect to receive clear instruction which will help us to come to know ourselves and our relation with God and the world around us better.

All this clearly shows that no division should be made between the pastoral and the instructional aspects of the sermon. The sermon's instruction can be to the point only when it is pastorally directed at the congregation. The pastoral emphasis of the sermon can only serve the congregation well when it is truly instructional.

All this has far-reaching consequences for the content of the sermon. The focus of this article was on the character of the sermon. Only when we have understood this character can we fruitfully discuss the content of the sermon in further detail.