Pushing vs. Preaching

Again, the Confessional Pastor must remember that there is a difference between Pushing and Preaching. What do I mean by "pushing"? Pushing an agenda. As a pastor, your job is simply to preach and teach - to proclaim what Christ has done, to open up the Scriptures.

Perhaps we can present a negative example. How often, oh Confessional Pastor, have you been frustrated or disgusted when hearing a speaker begin pontificating and thought - I'm so tired of this. . . stuff. How often have you heard a "speaker" and thought, "We'll that's just eisgeses and not the point of the text at all!" You know how frustrating that can be.

Beware that you do not do the same! We are servants of the Word - we deal with what Scripture says. We place ourselves underneath the Scriptures, and our focus is to open them up to those people whom we serve. You know what that means? It means our pet bugaboo might not be appropriate to bring up on any given Sunday. It means that when people ask us a question during bible study, we ought to answer their question rather than use it as an opportunity to speak about the glories of Ablaze. . . or the glories of whatever pet idea you push.

This plays in with that whole speck and log in the eye thing. We can see clearly when someone who teaches false doctrine abuses the Scriptures. We ought to look and see if we are abusing the Scriptures. Why? Just because we teach something that is "true" or "right" doesn't mean that it is profitable or appropriate to teach it at a specific place and time given a specific text. If we do so - we aren't opening the Word - we end up pushing our agenda, and there is no promise attached to our agenda.