Tag: Adventism

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Doctrines and Preaching

Now we know that we must only preach the Gospel. This provides a problem for those of us who feel the need to preach such doctrines as the Sabbath, State of the Dead, and Sanctuary. Some of us might give in to the temptation of sometimes preaching Gospel and other times preaching these doctrines. Such a temptation is understandable in light of the belief that we need these doctrines, but it is problematic in that it places some doctrines above Gospel.

Some preachers get around this by only preaching doctrine “sometimes” and emphasizing the Gospel above these said doctrines. they preach “doctrine” because they Adventist, but preach “Gospel” primarily because they are Christians. I wholeheartedly understand this decision in light of the fact that we must major in Gospel preaching, but I do not think that is our only choice.

Other preachers see the deterioration of our understanding of doctrines in modern day Adventism. In light of that, they emphasize the doctrines. You can hear their sermons as these few “true believers” preach discourses on the law and its importance. They preach the sabbath as the seventh day and meticulously calculate 2300 to come out to 1844. I understand this decision as well in light of the fact that we do have a message or a perspective that God has given to us to give to the world. But that is not our only choice either.

E. J. Waggoner wrote in Bible Studies on the Book of Romans:

Nothing can be added to the preaching of the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ. What about these doctrines, as the Sabbath, immortality, etc?-Since the “kingdom of God and His righteousness” is the one thing needful…all of these doctrines are simply divisions, lines depending upon the one thing,-all summed up in the doctrine of the righteousness by faith. We can preach nothing else…

Waggoner is noting that you do not choose between Gospel and doctrines. No! You preach gospel totally. If you want to preach the Sabbath, then please show us how it is connected to Gospel. Show us how it is connected to the Good News. Please connect it to the larger framework of what God is “up to” in this world. Don’t just get up and preach the Sabbath as the seventh day and sit down. We must turn the page and move towards a so-what that tells us how these doctrines are connected. And dare I say, if you can’t connect the doctrines to Gospel, then PREACH ON SOMETHING ELSE UNTIL YOU CAN!

As preachers, let us take seriously our call to bring good tidings of great joy. Whether you are preaching Revelation, Sanctuary, Sabbath, or even State of the Dead. If you do that, then our preaching of this message will align with and join in with the messages that Ellen White identified as the beginning of the Loud Cry…

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Stop Fighting…Nobody is Winning

I remember looking at a TV show a while ago where a soldier thought that WWII was still going on long after the final defeat of Germany. The warrior was in a cave with his last orders from command and never received notice that the war was over. Sometimes in our churches it seems that many are just like that warrior. I hear people fighting “those who emphasize jewelry, makeup, and movies” going on in some contexts. They wonder why Adventists spend so much time teaching and emphasizing the doctrines. They wonder why your average Adventist can cite 1844 but can’t tell you about the Jesus they love. People of this mindset seem to assume that we are living in an era where doctrinal understanding flourishes while love and knowledge of Jesus languishes.

On the other side are those who see that the doctrines are totally ignored in today’s Adventism. They find it ridiculous to argue that Adventists overemphasize lifestyle issues and wonder where are these Adventists who can derive 1844 from the Bible. They believe it is high time we stop leaving the doctrines aside. they argue that yes we need Jesus, but Jesus calls us to doctrinal integrity.

I agree that it is ridiculous to argue that your average Adventist knows 1844 or can defend the State of the Dead or even the Sabbath. I doubt many modern Adventists could defend 1844 from the writings of Ellen G. White let alone the Bible-alone standard that we are called to use. Certainly there are groups out there that emphasize these doctrines. Probably there are some who do it to the detriment of a Jesus emphasis, but to spend your time fighting a battle against the Ellen White Worshipers is to fight a very limited fight. Come on, who worships Ellen White?

However the other side, a smaller but more vocal group, in its emphasis of the doctrines. Also miss a key point. We need more than just a regurgitation of doctrinal facts. It takes more than just proving your point, relevance must be a part of any theological discussion. Tell me why I care if the doctrines are true in your presentation.

Along those lines, I think that the Sanctuary message has marvelous keys for connection. Its “story-like” presentation of the gospel appeals to the narrative angle.

In addition, today there is a call towards spirituality and prayer. What is better suited for that discussion than the Sanctuary where every sacrifice was a prayer. We cannot simply continue to use the “brute force method” of relevance and assume that we will win the day. The day where you simply attempt to prove you are right and therefore you win is over.

So where do we go from here? We need to get past the “1844 is true…no it ain’t” arguments that have characterized a lot of theological discussion since the 1980s. No one is listening to that anymore. Folks wonder “what is 1844?” We also need to get past the “theater…no theater” arguments because it is irrelevant as well. We need to start over. If you want to teach modesty, teach it, but don’t teach rules that condemn one form of jewelry and not another one. If you want to teach health, teach it, but don’t teach rules that allow obese people talk about their vegetarianism as if it is some kind of virtue. If you want to teach love and grace, stop acting as if everyone else is teaching doctrine.

In short, the old fight is over, and no one won. Lets come together on the platform of truth and attempt to understand what vision our doctrines give us to understand Jesus, His love, and His work in us and for us and the entire world.

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The Black Adventist Mandate – Unifying Culture and Adventism

After Rock speaks about Black preaching holding on to a prophetic vision on the scriptures, he notes that Adventist preaching is one of reform. He sees it as important for Adventist preaching to hold on to certain unique traits to be worthy of the name Adventist preaching.

Now Rock goes to his fundamental assertion that there are

Pitfalls of claiming Blackness but failing to articulate its justice concerns and professing Adventism but preaching without its prophetic essence. We need to do Black preaching because it resontates with our cultural past and present in ways that maximize the impact of truth. We must do Adventist preaching because that is our unique commission. Anything less is a denial of one’s oath, a tragedy for the people and a disappointment to God.

What we Must Do

Here the Black Adventist preacher is put in a position, according to Rock, where he or she MUST find a way to make explicit use of ones ethnic tradition as well as integrate and connect it to the mandate of being an Adventist preacher. Now some would argue that we simply give up our ethnic tradition, but to do so provides great problems in my estimation.

I believe that Rock is right that we must find a way to put our own stamp on Adventism as well as the fundamentals of the Gospel. If we provide that approach then perhaps we can see more of what Adventism has to say to the poor and the downtrodden which is the mandate of the black preacher. If we provide that angle, than perhaps we can emphasize more what are the “liberative aspects” of our message and the Gospel that may not have been emphasized as much in the past. If we can do that, perhaps we can provide a light to the social dimensions of the gospel that American Evangelical Christianity has not always emphasized.

But even if we accept that we must do both, the big question becomes how do we do this? I have written about this some at this link. You also might be interested in some other Black Preacher’s approaches to the question in my series on the book Preaching with Power by R. Clifford Jones. We will look at Calvin Rock’s suggestion as we continue this series and hopefully we will get to some practical examples as time goes on.