Preaching Against Sin or Preaching Christ – Reflections from a Letter to a Friend: I’m so thankful that some of my thoughts have been helpful. It’s always difficult to know what to write on, and I often attempt to write on subject matters that otherwise would not be addressed, not that I have any great insight, or actually understand half of what I’m talking about, but sometimes writing is just my way of thinking out loud, and if the Lord is pleased to use even that in some small way, I’m grateful.
You wrote, “who cares that I am a sinner? That is useless information. Only Christ is worth speaking about.” That’s funny, but I think you’ve put your finger on it. Sin is real, but Christ is the point. Anything that keeps us focused on ourselves, even our sin, has stopped short of the gospel. Hebrews 12:2. It’s kind of interesting that you made that statement, and then a few lines later you mentioned a particular minister not preaching against sin, and that he “had a habit of downplaying sin to such a degree that it seemed like a Christian shouldn’t worry about it. I didn’t like that.”
That concern makes sense. We’ve been trained to equate seriousness about sin with how often it’s preached. When preaching doesn’t address personal sin, it can give the impression that it doesn’t matter. But there’s a difference between ignoring sin and refusing to make it the constant focus of the believer’s life. Any believer, struggling with sin in whatever capacity, knows with a witness that sin is no small thing. It makes itself known in the conscience, in the heart, and in the sorrow that follows. Sin is serious and real, and the believer already knows it painfully well. That doesn’t make us careless about sin; it just keeps us from making it the constant lens through which we interpret everything. And yet, as you noted, the reality of sin doesn’t disappear from our awareness either. It resurfaces, not as a threat to our standing, not to undo grace, but to keep driving us back to Christ as our only refuge. Sin explains our need, but Christ explains our hope. Romans 7:24-25.
That same tendency to look inward doesn’t stop there. It shows up again when Scripture begins to speak about loving Christ and keeping His commandments. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15. Instead of hearing those words as a description of life flowing from Christ, we hear them as a demand placed back on us. Why is it that our legal instincts immediately rush in and turn that into a question of performance, which in essence is saying, though perhaps not out loud, that we have to perform certain acts, think certain thoughts, avoid certain things, etc., in order to have God love us, love us more, or make us more acceptable in His sight, as though obedience were the price of God’s favor? But John isn’t pointing us back to ourselves. He’s describing what flows from life in Christ. Love for God, and love for His people, doesn’t arise from fear or obligation, but from being continually drawn to Christ by the Spirit. Romans 5:5. That’s the difference between obedience as a condition and obedience as the fruit of life in Christ.
A believer cannot give himself over to a life that is indifferent to Christ and devoted to sin. Not because he is policing himself, but because he has been given life from above. There is a living principle at work, the risen life of Christ within him, shaping his desires, troubling his conscience, and inclining his heart toward where his life truly lies. Colossians 3:3-4. That’s why Scripture can speak the way it does: “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:2. It isn’t denying the presence of sin, but describing an impossibility of settling into it. A life joined to Christ cannot be at ease in what Christ has died to put away. Titus 2:14.
All of that brings us back to the question you raised about preaching itself, and why some men seem hesitant to address sin directly. One explanation may simply be a strong confidence in God’s sovereignty. If the Lord is truly in control of His vineyard, the preacher doesn’t feel the same urgency to manage behavior through constant reinforcement. That doesn’t come from a low view of sin, but perhaps from a high view of God’s faithfulness in tending His own vineyard. “I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Isaiah 27:3. From that vantage point, sin is neither overlooked nor excused but left to be addressed through the Spirit’s inward work in the conscience, instead of being constantly regulated from the pulpit. John 16:8.
Another factor may be a desire to keep Christ in view. Some recognize how easily preaching against sin can end up saying more about man than about Christ. For others, it may be a reaction to long exposure to legal, sin-focused preaching that displaced assurance by fixing the attention on self rather than on Christ. Having witnessed the damage that kind of emphasis can do, they tend to address sin cautiously and often in general terms, so the gospel remains centered on Christ’s finished work rather than on constant self-examination. In either case, the aim is not to regulate behavior, but to keep directing the soul to where life is truly found. Colossians 3:3. Whether that balance is always struck wisely is a fair question, but it helps explain why some choose to refrain from addressing sin directly, trusting that Christ Himself will not be displaced and that sin will not go unaddressed where the Spirit is truly at work. Zechariah 4:6.
Reflecting on the different “church” experiences you’ve had over the years, whether in fellowship with saints or under ministers seeking to unfold Christ from the Scriptures, you wrote this: “In God’s wisdom and mercy, I obviously needed all of the ‘church’ situations that I have gone through. It has surely been for my good. For one thing, if not for those experiences, I likely would have stayed in the institution even longer.” I think those experiences also sharpen our discernment, not in a cynical way, but in a way that helps us recognize where life truly is. The Lord teaches us, sometimes painfully, to distinguish between form and substance, between the gospel itself and everything that only claims to represent it.
As hard as some of those seasons were, it’s often only looking back that we can see the Lord’s hand in them. For the child of God, especially in the light of Romans 8:28, nothing is ever wasted. Everything works together in a deliberate and purposeful way, not haphazardly, but rather like a stream that flows in one direction toward a single destination. Philippians 1:6. It doesn’t always feel like it at the time, but what we call loss is often the Lord’s mercy at work. I’ve seen that too. He uses things we never would have chosen to steer us in the right direction. I don’t want to speak carelessly, but it seems clear that the Lord is far more committed to bringing us to Christ than to keeping us comfortable along the way. Hebrews 12:10-11.
Forgive me if I neglect to address other portions of your letters. I can say without reservation that I love them all, as we rejoice in the grace of Christ together. I have about another 10 minutes before I have to leave for work, but I’m going to say goodbye. Love you, brother, and let’s keep in touch, even if it’s just little notes scattered about. Marc