Dear Pastor, Stay on the Line
This article is part of the Dear Pastor series.
Handling the Word of Truth
Paul’s exhortation to Timothy provides a constant challenge to the biblical preacher: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). There are several ingredients of the verse to think about. To handle “the word of truth” is a task of enormous responsibility that will be tested and approved by God himself. Everything will depend on right handling, and this clearly is the fruit of being a skilled workman “who has no need to be ashamed.” The responsibility is placed squarely on the preacher’s shoulders. “Do your best” implies effort, application, and hard work. The verb translated “rightly handling” (orthotomeō) is used only in this verse in the New Testament, but it means to cut a path or a road in a straight direction. Some commentators suggest that the background is ploughing and cutting a straight furrow. John Stott comments, “‘The word of truth’ is the apostolic faith which Timothy has received from Paul and is to communicate to others. For us it is, quite simply, Scripture. To ‘cut it straight’ or ‘make it a straight path’ is to be accurate on the one hand and plain on the other in our exposition.”1
This verse implies that we must do our best to acquire and develop all the skills we can for this important privilege and responsibility. So let us concentrate now on developing one of those skills which involves the actual practice of building the sermon. Like a skilled craftsman, we need to know the tools we must use and what each adds to our competence to do the job well. The experience of using each tool effectively, in time, produces the unashamed workman. Theory must translate into practice.
The skill, “stay on the line,” was given this title by Dick Lucas in the early days of his preaching workshops in the UK, which later developed into the training ministry of the Proclamation Trust. He represented the concept by drawing a horizontal line across a sheet of paper or a whiteboard. This line represents biblical truth—what the Bible is saying in the specific passage under consideration. The preacher’s task is to “stay on the line.” Another way of stating this is that the preacher must “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” But the ever-present danger is that the preacher will come off the line by adding to or subtracting from what the biblical text says.
Proclaiming the Word
David Jackman
In this convenient handbook, David J. Jackman presents a basic methodology for the study and preparation of expository teaching.
Below the Line
Preaching that was “below the line” emptied many of the churches of Western Europe and the US during the twentieth century. With the continued rise of secularism, much preaching in the churches, prompted by teaching in theologically liberal seminaries, gradually eroded the Bible of its supernatural elements. The miracles of Jesus were labeled myths or dismissed as the wild imaginings of naïve, first-century illiterates. Jesus was soon designated as nothing more than a man, a great teacher perhaps, a moral example maybe, but nothing more. Creation, miracles, divine interventions, resurrection, and so forth were all irrelevant in an age of scientific realism. Although such “below the line” preaching was attempting to engage with the unbelief already present in the culture, it produced a climate of skepticism within the churches, leading to widespread unbelief. A Christ without supernatural power was not worth believing in, and even the ethic he taught would eventually be dismissed since he had no divine authority.
Preaching can also deviate below the line by downplaying biblical emphases that are out of step with the contemporary cultural mores. Thus, the burning holiness of God may be diluted in order to present a friendlier and more attractive deity. But the demise of God’s holiness entails a greater tolerance for or redefinition of sin. Rebellion is transmuted into failure. Soon, God’s judgment is presented as less severe or even nonexistent, and hell becomes an overstated metaphor rather than a rightly terrifying reality. The deviations multiply destructively when the preacher migrates below the line.
Above the Line
For many preachers, however, the temptation has been to go “above the line”—adding to or overstating what the Bible actually says. Such preaching tries to pull, into the here and now, all the blessings promised for God’s people in eternity. The Bible speaks of a time with no suffering, deprivation, or illness. All these can be yours now, the above-theline preacher asserts, if only you have enough faith. Perfect love, business success, personal popularity, constant victory—all are offered through this kind of preaching, and many are duped by it. Going beyond what Scripture teaches is a cruel deception that can lead to disillusionment and despair. Preaching that is above the line demands more from its hearers than the Bible does.
The Christians in Galatia to whom Paul wrote were being persuaded that the above-the-line requirements to the straight line of the gospel were needed if they wanted God to accept them. This is an age-old problem, because the default position of the religious heart is to want to add something of its own worth or merit. Preachers who go above the line, adding rules and regulations to assure us of God’s acceptance, bring their hearers back under a yoke of slavery and undermine the free, unmerited grace of God in the gospel. Additions to the gospel actually subtract from the sufficiency of Christ and his work. “Jesus plus” always becomes “Jesus minus.”
Additions to the gospel actually subtract from the sufficiency of Christ and his work.
Faithful Stewards
The privilege and responsibility of biblical preaching is to be the channel through which God’s truth is conveyed with faithfulness, accuracy, and transformational purpose. This means cultivating a humility that submits to what the Bible says. The preacher shows reverence for the Lord by rightly handling the revelation he has given. We are not responsible for its content; that belongs to God alone. We are responsible for the communication of its content, as stewards who have been entrusted with our master’s resources. And “it is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2).
The apostles faced this sort of challenge in the earliest days of the church in Jerusalem when the Jewish authorities tried to put an end to their preaching in the name of Jesus. The question they faced was who was in charge of their speech—God or the religious authorities? “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19–20). Since we want to follow the apostolic example and be faithful stewards who speak the truth, we must do everything we can to represent that truth as accurately and compellingly as possible.
This may prove to be costly, depending on the contexts in which we minister. It may mean that your congregation will be small compared with churches where the preaching is above the line, giving the hearers what they want to hear (see 2 Tim. 4:3–5). You may be accused of being too dogmatic or old-fashioned. But this is to impose external, cultural presuppositions on the “living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23). You may not be promoted within your denominational context if you are known to be conducting your ministry with the Bible as your foundational authority in a predominately liberal-secular ethos. There may be a struggle in your own spirit to stay faithful to God’s word, since the devil will try to unsettle you, telling you that you are in a minority, that visible results are too few, or that it is not worth the time and trouble.
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Practical Cautions
To help us stay on the line, we should often remind ourselves of three practical cautions.
1. Don’t Be More Concerned with Your Interpretation Than with What the Bible Itself Is Saying
When the Bible challenges or undermines our cultural assumptions, critics will often claim, “Well, that’s just your interpretation.” But a detractor’s comeback is no ground for rejecting the plain message of Scripture. The significance of a text is not something imposed on it by the preacher; rather, it emerges from the structure, context, and wording of the text itself. We need to be more concerned with conveying what the biblical text itself is saying rather than with how others have interpreted or misinterpreted it in commentaries. This is why we need to ask God to meet us in his word during our preparation, rather than looking to lesser, human authorities, however capable they may be. Study time is when you sort out the interpretation of the text, especially if its content or significance are disputed, but it is not necessarily helpful to include that process in the sermon. The priority of preaching time is feeding the flock with the message of the text.
2. Don’t Be More Concerned with the Congregation’s Response Than with What the Bible Itself Is Saying
During our preparation time, our instincts will sometimes tell us that our hearers will not like or accept what the Bible says because it is too countercultural, too challenging. When this happens, we are facing the issue of whether we will stay on the line. We may fear the opposition of those who reject Scripture’s teaching. We may fear for our own position, popularity, or job security. But ought not the fear of God be our guiding principle? Fear of people will quickly knock us off track; instead of the Bible controlling the preaching, the congregation will. Ultimately this will mean that our preaching forfeits the divine authority that derives from the word of God alone. Remember the Bible is in the driver’s seat, not the hearers.
3. Don’t Be More Concerned with the Structure of the Sermon Than with What the Bible Itself Is Saying
Having only a superficial acquaintance with the biblical text, the preacher can be easily blown off course. An essential ingredient of preparation is marinating one’s mind and heart in the content of the text. If we become too concerned too soon about how we are going to structure the sermon, we will miss the details of the passage or compromise its truth. The Bible then becomes an aid to our preaching, rather than its vital content. If the sermon construction becomes our priority, we will be diverted into wanting a perfect structure, which will make us look for power in the outline, the alliterative points, the humorous illustrations, or the passionate delivery. All these can be valuable ingredients, but when they dominate, the focus shifts to the preacher as a literary craftsman or a brilliant communicator. However, preaching the spiritual content of the message is what matters and will last, not the human packaging.
Notes:
- John R. W. Stott, The Message of 2 Timothy: Guard the Gospel (Leicester, UK: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 67.
This article is adapted from Proclaiming the Word: Principles and Practices for Expository Preaching by David Jackman.
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