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The Grace of “And”
In the pursuit of catchiness, we discard deep truth, trying to turn a phrase with little regard to the biblical riches we are jettisoning.
I don’t know if it’s a trend or if social media and the sharability of video clips have just made it more obvious, but there is a troubling pattern in the communication of many preachers today: the pithy false dichotomy. We do it in sermons, on podcasts, and on social media. We pit ideas against one another that God intended to be complementary, or at least sequential. In the pursuit of catchiness, we discard deep truth, trying to turn a phrase with little regard to the biblical riches we are jettisoning.
Weigh Your Words
You know the kinds of phrases and concepts I mean:
Evangelism is a command, not a gift.
Marriage is for our holiness, not our happiness.
Preach expository sermons, not topical ones.
God cares about personal holiness, not justice and mercy.
Be doctrinal, not attractional.
And on and on it goes. Whether or not we say these things, we are tempted to say things like them for the sake of emphasis and sticky communication. People remember contrast and controversy, so we lean into them. And in so doing, we sacrifice the multi-faceted, many-layered, immeasurable depths of the goodness of Scripture. And this we can never do. Not if we care about our people knowing the real, magnificent, gracious, just, loving, powerful, forgiving, upholding, sovereign Jesus.
We must recognize the weight of our words, as pastors, in the pulpit and on social media and in passing comments on podcasts. If we settle for the easy dichotomy (or any other version of oversimplification), we are, at best, neglecting our people’s souls and, at worst, we are naively treading into heresies and misrepresenting God. We are shepherds, called by God to lead His people to the green pastures and still waters of the gospel. And with every false dichotomy, we are giving poor directions and feeding our people a starvation diet of gospel truth.
Love the Word “And”
So here is my encouragement, my exhortation, to you, fellow pastors: learn to love the word and. Consider the power and mercy of and:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
“I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelation 1:8).
Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb (see Revelation 5:5-6).
Jesus is fully God and fully man.
God is just and merciful.
God is omnipotent and good.
And on and on it goes. If we remove and from any of those statements, Christianity becomes bad news. Without and we have no hope, no salvation, no future. So, we have the intimidating privilege of preaching the complexities and nuances of God. We get to make the connections between seemingly incompatible truths about God. We are called to plunge into the depths of scripture that cannot be simplified by pith or wit or rhythm or rhyme. These are the waters in which we swim—the still waters that our congregations need for refreshment and nourishment and life.
Don’t hear what I am not saying. I am not saying to preach complicated, intertwined mazes of theology that lose the infants in the faith and snuff out the smoldering wicks. I am not saying to be dense and stuffy and boring. I am not saying to lecture or offer endless caveats. No, I am simply asking that we not sacrifice the riches of the Bible on the altar of cleverness. “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (2 Corinthians 2:1-2).
Show the “And”
Why does this matter? Because a congregation who feeds on the rich complexities of God is equipped to persevere in faith.
If they know that God is love and that God is just, then they entrust themselves to the heart of God and have confidence that He will reckon with the evil in the world.
If they know that God is sovereign and that God holds us responsible for our actions, they may not be able to philosophically puzzle it out (nor can I), but they can rest in His plans and invisible workings while they devote themselves to being holy as He is holy.
If they know that God calls us to be holy and that God wants us to be happy, they can begin to see that only by walking in God’s way can we truly find meaningful happiness in all His good gifts, tangible and spiritual.
If they know that God cares deeply about personal holiness and that God cares deeply about justice and mercy, they will begin to connect their personal affection for Christ with deep love for their neighbors (and their definition of “neighbor” will likely begin to reflect Jesus’s own).
And on and on it goes. It is worth it to preach boldly, clearly, and compellingly what the Bible is unapologetic about. A baseline for preaching should be: “Don’t dumb God down and don’t diminish Christ’s beauty.” We want to free our people to think deeply about God, not be satisfied with cotton candy truisms and turn of phrase. We want to stir up questions in them, then point them to the perfect wisdom of Scripture for answers. We want to give them reason to be overwhelmed with praise by pointing them to an overwhelmingly wonderful Jesus, then cut them loose to worship. In all, we want to guide our people to God’s great grace, and we can do this by declaring the marvelous ands of scripture.
