Teaching vs Preaching

Hello, and thank you for listening to the

Testing the Spirits Podcast. This episode is titled, Teaching vs. Preaching. Teaching vs.

Preaching. So there is a difference. Some pastors are more teachers, while others are more preachers.

If a man is preaching, he is going to be teaching as well. You cannot preach and not teach, but you can teach and not preach.

Are you confused yet? I'll slow down and explain it. But this is becoming a common trend.

I think it's sort of a sign of the times that churches, more and more, people are desiring a pastor that is more of a teacher than he is a preacher.

I'm going to read from the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4 in just a moment, but let me take a second to explain this because a lot of people have never heard this before.

They've never really thought about it. Teaching is different than preaching. Teaching basically is communicating information.

Preaching is telling people what they should do with that information. So you can teach and not preach.

A pastor can stand at a podium for 40 minutes. You can read the Bible, tell stories, and relay information without ever stepping on anyone's toes by going into preaching mode.

It's what people want. It's non -threatening. It makes people feel comfortable because here's the information and you can do with it what you want.

But once a pastor starts preaching, then all of a sudden he's telling people what they should be doing and what they should not be doing.

So preaching often comes in the application that yes, here's the information.

Here's what the Bible says. Now here's what you need to do with that information.

So again, a pastor can stand behind a podium and simply teach and relay information and never once go into preaching mode.

But if a pastor stands behind a pulpit and preaches, he has to be relaying some information so you really can't avoid teaching.

He just takes it a step further and exhorts the congregation to hopefully motivate them to put the teaching into practice.

For example, if you watch my videos on my channel, you may notice, now some people are listening on Spotify, so I'm talking about my

YouTube channel. But if you watch my YouTube videos, for example, the Sunday school class,

I tend to be teaching in Sunday school. So I have a particular style of communication.

I want everyone to understand what is being said and why. And it's a time devoted to teaching.

So that's why people are raising their hand. They're asking questions. It's more interactive because it's teaching while the sermon is very different.

And you might notice that my delivery is different in the sermon because along with the teaching, which

I do teach in the sermons, but I'm doing more preaching there. I might raise my voice during the sermon where I don't do that as much during Sunday school.

During the sermon, I'm raising my voice, maybe emphasizing things a little stronger, just the way it comes across because it's different.

Teaching and preaching are two different things. So one more time, you can teach and not preach, but you cannot preach and not teach.

Now as far as the New Testament church goes, the office that we call pastor, technically in 1

Timothy 3, it's called the office of a bishop. Paul tells Timothy that a bishop must be apt to teach.

In Ephesians 4 .11, Paul says that Christ gives to his church pastors and teachers.

So teaching is necessary. Every pastor has to be able to teach. But a lot of people, that's all they want.

They want teachers, but not preachers. Because remember, when someone preaches, now all of a sudden you're being called upon to do something with this information.

So a lot of sermons these days, you may have noticed, a lot of sermons these days are more like TED Talks.

Information and stories meant to inspire and make you feel good, which is fine to an extent.

But the New Testament pastor, he must, let me repeat, he must also be a preacher.

Look at what Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, starting in verse 1. He says to Timothy, I charge you therefore before God and the

Lord Jesus Christ, who will also judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.

But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry.

So what is an evangelist? An evangelist is a preacher of the gospel. And you're not just telling people what the gospel is, that Jesus died for your sins and rose again, according to the scriptures, you're calling upon them to repent.

You're calling upon them to do something. They are to believe the gospel. I attended a funeral recently and I was thankful that the pastor communicated the gospel at the funeral, but there was no real urgency behind it.

He was teaching. You might say he was conveying the information, but so many of the people there were lost and just the way it came across, uh, it was presented in such a way that you could sort of take it or leave it.

I mean, it's, it's good to believe, but again, there was no urgency, but some pastors are like that.

They're not really, they're not really preaching to the people. They're giving them information.

There's no urgent, passionate appeal that you have to believe this. And that's what a preacher should do.

He should lift up his voice and, and speak with passion. He should have that fire in the belly.

Paul says to Timothy, I charge you, that's a very strong word. I charge you before God preach the word.

Acts 20 verse 27 Paul says to the Ephesian elders, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

So a pastor is to preach and to declare everything that is in the

Bible. And this is the part that people don't like when you're preaching. Inevitably you're going to step on people's toes, especially if you're preaching everything the

Bible says. Notice in verse two, Paul's tells Timothy, preach the word and he says, convince rebuke.

Okay. Well, people don't like to be rebuked and as the result, uh, because the time will come when they do not want to hear about doctrine instead, uh, they will heap up for themselves.

Not preachers who will preach doctrine and the whole counsel of God. No, they're going to heap up for themselves, teachers.

And then Paul says they will be turned aside to fables. In other words, they will be turned aside to storytelling.

This perfectly describes the modern evangelical church. Instead of starting with a text of scripture and expounding the text and telling people what they should do about it, many modern pastors, they begin with a story.

Some even exegete movies and things from pop culture. I did a video during the summer, how many of the mega churches, which are just leading the way with all this stuff, uh, the pastors were doing sermons based on the

Barbie movie. And that's sort of an extreme example, but it's more common than you think. But the point is the charge given to every pastor is to preach, to preach the word with all patience and teaching.

So you see right there in verse two, preaching includes teaching, but remember, people can teach and not preach.

And I think that's the idea with this passage that because people don't want to hear sound doctrine, they don't want someone preaching at them.

Uh, they don't want the man of God telling them what to do. Instead, they want to have their ears tickled. And that's where that term comes from.

This passage, second Timothy four, three for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, they have what itching ears.

So what does that mean? Uh, they want someone to tickle their ears. Tell me what

I want to hear. Tell me stories, basically entertain me. They want a church to be like an entertainment center.

Tell me what I want to hear, make me feel good. And there's so many teachers that are happy to oblige, so no problem there.

And, uh, they're scratching them where they itch because doctrine they think is either boring or, you know, doctrine divides.

So we, we can't even know what the Bible means anyway. So just, yeah, just tell me what

I want to hear. That's what it boils down to oftentimes. Second Timothy four, four, they will turn their ears away from the truth and that's happening today.

They'll be turned aside to fables. Here's a few examples. You know what the prosperity gospel is?

It's a fable. You know what Mormonism is? Yep. It's a fable, critical race theory and all the narratives that must be spun to prop it up so much so that the

Southern Baptist convention has officially accepted CRT as a helpful analytical tool, whatever that means.

And what is it? These are all fables and stories, ways to distract people away from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The apostle Peter said in second Peter one 16 for, we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Peter was not a storyteller. He was speaking the truth and the truth all centered around the person and work of Christ.

Peter, Paul, John, all the others. They were not just teaching and giving information, although they certainly did that and that's good, but these men were also preachers.

That's what the church needs. The church needs men who will preach the word of God.

They were evangelists. Peter, John, some of the old Bibles will say, you know, beginning of the gospel of John St.

John, the evangelist. These men were evangelists. They were proclaiming the gospel, making an urgent appeal that people turn from their sin and start following Jesus.

That message is so rare today. In Acts chapter two, and how did they do it?

When Peter began preaching in Acts chapter two, it says that he raised his voice and then he spoke to them.

In Isaiah 58, the Lord speaking to the prophet and what were the prophets? They were preachers.

The Lord told Isaiah, cry aloud, spare, not lift up your voice like a trumpet and tell my people their transgressions.

So this is the difference between preaching and teaching. A teacher typically speaks in softer, smooth tones, very easy to listen to, and teaching is good.

Don't get me wrong. It's necessary, but God's people also need preaching. They need someone to lift up their voice and speak with passion.

I'll close with what Paul said to Timothy. Second Timothy four verse five, he says, but you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, preach the gospel, he says, fulfill your ministry.