Sermon Tone Analysis

“Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.”

[1]

Ultimately, it is not the one who is the most polished speaker who changes lives; it is the one who knows the subject matter to be addressed and who is best able to communicate truth who will transform the lives of those who listen.

Jeremiah, confronting false prophets, spoke on behalf of the LORD,

“Who among them has stood in the council of the LORD

to see and to hear his word,

or who has paid attention to his word and listened?

Behold, the storm of the LORD!

Wrath has gone forth,

a whirling tempest;

it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

The anger of the LORD will not turn back

until he has executed and accomplished

the intents of his heart.

In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

“I did not send the prophets,

yet they ran;

I did not speak to them,

yet they prophesied.

But if they had stood in my council,

then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,

and they would have turned them from their evil way,

and from the evil of their deeds.”

[JEREMIAH 23:18-22]

Today, multiplied preachers fill the pulpits of the nation, numerous personalities present their thoughts via radio, television and print media; nevertheless, those who speak the truth and who have something worth hearing may be in a decided minority.

Those who speak as impelled by the Spirit of God may be rarer still.

Self-help books instructing the unwary how to have a successful life and which are written by gurus of self-fulfilment fill the shelves of numerous bookstores; and television personalities promote every conceivable form of self-analysis and quick fixes for multiplied deficits—real or imagined.

Despite all this “help,” people continue to be decidedly unhappy with their situation in life.

Those who occupy the sacred desk, labouring to produce love—love that arises “from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith,” are increasingly rare.

Though the schools producing preachers may be faulted, I suggest that congregations bear awesome responsibility for the present situation because they refuse to hold preachers accountable to the Word.

I suppose a case can be made for accusing the preachers themselves for this present crisis.

After all, we preachers have too often failed in our fiduciary duties to declare the whole counsel of God.

Nevertheless, the professed people of God must assume responsibility to know the Word, whether the preacher declares the Word of not.

Moreover, those who name the Name of the Lord Christ must apply the Word both in their daily lives and in the life of the congregation.

I contend that those who occupy the pews must act with discretion and humility before the Lord, but they must accept responsibility to know and to do the will of God.

SWERVING FROM LOVE — Multiple passages in the Word inform us that those appointed to eldership are required to be teachers.

As one example, Paul writes, “An overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable”; take special note of the next qualification, “able to teach” [1 TIMOTHY 3:2].

Paul will iterate this necessity in his second letter to Timothy, when he writes: “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” [2 TIMOTHY 2:1, 2].

This necessity is emphasised yet again in but a few short sentences when the Apostle commands, “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.

God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” [2 TIMOTHY 2:24-26].

Paul’s written instructions to Titus after he was left in Crete, included the admonition that those appointed to eldership “must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” [TITUS 1:9].

Obviously, the requirement to be able to teach entails more than the mere acquisition of knowledge.

Any pagan can gather facts through reading a book about the Bible.

However, one who is able to teach will have also stood in the presence of the Lord.

It has always stirred me to witness Elijah’s oath with which he began every statement spoken on behalf of the LORD God.

“Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand…’” [1 KINGS 17:1; see also 1 KINGS 18:5].

Apparently, this strong oath was also adopted by Elisha, the prophetic protégé of Elijah.

Asked to give a prophecy on one occasion when Israel and Judah had allied against Moab, Elisha began his prophecy with the identical words Elijah had used: “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand…” [2 KINGS 3:14].

Elisha also employed this same oath when refusing recompense from Naaman [see 2 KINGS 5:16].

On my bookshelves are some books with unfortunate titles: The Fine Art of Preaching,” “The Craft of Sermon Construction” “and “The Art of Preaching.”

These books are beneficial in preparing to preach; however, the titles leave an impression that anyone can simply stand in the pulpit and speak on behalf of God.

Again, it is a tragic truth that anyone can be trained to prepare a sermon; however, the crying need of the hour is for men of God who will invest time in the presence of God in order to ensure they have a message from God.

Until there is a message, the plaint of the Puritans will remain, “The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.”

[2]

Take careful note of the expectation of those who are to serve as elders—they are to be teachers.

How is it, then, that we have come to a day when many of those who are called “elders,” and who are known as “pastors,” fail to fulfil the essential qualification?

One major problem is an absence of emphasis on expository preaching.

Pastoral students are trained to preach topically, or to speak to “felt needs,” rather than declaring “the whole counsel of God.”

Consequently, the people of God are untaught—they are unaware of the teaching of the Word.

Our churches today have stressed credentials and connections when “hiring” a preacher to the exclusion of character and calling as criteria for appointment to eldership.

After a short while, when confronted by the need for someone to bear the title “elder,” the people fall back on what they know—electing someone from the membership to lead the flock.

More rapidly than one can imagine the congregation becomes a democracy without biblical direction, doing what feels right.

Under such conditions, the flock becomes spiritually disoriented and spiritually malnourished.

Soon, there are no new lambs born into the flock as each member increasingly focuses on his or her own interests to the exclusion of concern to fulfil the will of God.

I recall one church when confronted by the biblical teaching of qualifications for eldership and for appointment as deacons that responded by clamoring that any Christian was qualified.

“Well, any of our people can meet those criteria,” one woman blustered.

Candidly, such a position as she espoused is folly-wide-the-mark.

Let’s look back to the text.

“Certain persons, by swerving from these…” What is the antecedent of “these” in the text?

Recall our previous study in which the Apostle declares, “The aim of our charge is love.”

Those who are to provide guidance must have uppermost in their own mind the creation of a body that reveals the love of God.

This reflection of divine love arises from “a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

If the leadership of the congregation do not possess these necessary qualities of godliness, it is doubtful that they will reproduce them in the assembly itself.

It is a truism that everything rises or falls with leadership.

If the leadership is corrupted and inadequate, the assembly will become ever more corrupt and increasingly marginalised.

Driven by a desire to hold onto power, or perhaps enjoying the position to which they are elected, those who mislead congregations rapidly degenerate into false teachers.

The flock of God suffers even as such individuals grow in power and possibly even in stature in the eyes of the people of God.

Let me say, as lovingly as possible without neglecting to speak the truth, that not every individual exercising authority within a congregation is fit for the task.

Thus, the false teacher who has swerved from pursuing love cannot express a pure heart, a good conscience or a sincere faith; and those who follow their lead will likewise be frustrated in their pursuit of these same qualities.

Whenever one from within the flock endeavours to exhibit these precious qualities, he will be seen as a threat to the power of the false teacher.

Thus, the righteous person will be attacked until he is ultimately silenced or driven from the congregation.

Those members remaining will congratulate themselves on their stand for what they imagine to be purity, though the assembly is dying and as their souls shrivel.

What is especially tragic about this descent into error is that it is with full knowledge of what they are doing.

However, for whatever reason, these false teachers deliberately choose to turn from the truth and stumble into error.

When they swerved from “a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith,” they began a rapid descent into error.

The word translated “swerving” in my text occurs three times in Scripture.

The first time is, of course, here in the text that speaks of “certain persons … swerving from” these qualities [1 TIMOTHY 1:6].

The next occurrence is in 1 TIMOTHY 6: 21. “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.

Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge,’ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith” [1 TIMOTHY 6:20, 21].

Guarding the deposit entrusted to the elder will protect from swerving from the Faith.

Failure to guard the good deposit [the knowledge of the Living Christ, see 2 TIMOTHY 1:8-14] leads to deviating from the Faith.

The final occurrence of this particular word in the Bible is found in 2 TIMOTHY 2:18.

“Avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.

Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened.

They are upsetting the faith of some” [2 TIMOTHY 2:16-18].

Notice that in this instance, two “false teachers” were claiming that the resurrection had already passed.

Their efforts appear to have generated more and more ungodliness; and their blabbering was, even then, spreading like gangrene.

Before moving to the next concept in the text, I must point out a serious matter in the text we just read—moral error is the logical result of doctrinal error.

Let that thought sink in.

Moral error is the logical result of doctrinal error.

Whenever one begins to teach doctrinal error, or whenever one begins to tolerate doctrinal error, it is almost inevitable that they will excuse or even participate in moral error.

They have already begun to teach a lie, so the logical step is that they will jettison trust given sufficient reason to do so.