John Dunne wrote: Each man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know gor whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. I remembered these words when I recently bumped into some perceptive remarks from Pr. David Petersen on how pastors preach against sin. I thought you might appreciate them. It always bothered me as a pastor when I heard people say, “Pastor, you preached what some people in our church really needed to hear!” They were usually always, of course, referring to some specific sin I had mentioned in my sermon. I always took that not as a compliment but as an indication my preaching of the Law and against sin was not encompassing enough, or that I had ground a personal hobby-horse more than I should have. Pastor Petersen offers these thoughts, and I welcome your thoughts on this. Here is what Pastor Petersen said:

“The problem with so much of our Law preaching is that we’re preaching against people who are absent rather than preaching to those gathered to hear the Word and receive the Lord’s Body and Blood. As is fitting with our fallen flesh, this preaching is often wildly popular, characterizes frequently by Dr. David Scaer as the boastful self-indulgence of a “self congratulatory society.” Perhaps it is best seen in the apocryphal tales of old timey LCMS Reformation services where the pastor preached at length against the pope, who never once has attended a Reformation service in the LC-MS. The problem not simply that the Law isn’t heard by those who need it . The problem is that this preaching feeds prejudice and stokes hubris in the hearts of those present. It fails to convict anyone or glorify Christ. In contrast, the Law is to be preached in such a way that the hearers would not turn to judge their neighbors, or those in the church down the street, but that they would examine their own consciences. The hearer needs to be led to recognize his own delusions and self-justifications, to see how his bad behavior is not exceptional but characteristic, that his sins come from inside himself and are a better expression of his true self than the fiction he presents to the world, all of which is to say that he is thoroughly corrupt and evil. This can be a painful and terrifying experience, but strangely, Christians love it. Christians love it because it is the Truth and it glorifies Christ. When the Law convicts us of our sins and we say “amen” to it, it and we, have told the truth. The truth feeds faith, underscores humility, and subdues the flesh. Conviction leads to repentance, a sincere sorrow over sin, a desire to do better, and a desperate hope that there is an escape provided not by justice by by mercy. This is the chief work do the Law: to lead to this desire for mercy, to lead to Christ. For the Law shows the sinner his need for a Savior and sweetens the Gospel by contrast. We preach the Law not to condemn the absent, but to condemn sin and sinners, to teach sinners the hard and humility work of examining themselves, of confessing the pitiful lies we’ve told and our self-absorption, our thousand pretend ways meant to fool ourselves and our neighbors into thinking we are better than we are, to confront what is really in us and who we really are, not as a way of nagging us to better behavior or to make us feel superior to other people, but to show us how great and selfless Christ’s rescue is. Christians love this because it is true and because it glorifies Christ. In contrast, condemning the sins of others is popular, but it does nothing to glorify Christ. Even if the grace of God prevents it from becoming open racism and the like, the only thing it might positively do is glorify morality, and we already have Aristotle for that.”