A pulpit is the raised place in a church where the preacher stands. A weapon is a thing for fighting, like a sword. The title says: a preacher must not use his sermon to fight his own personal enemies.
What is this page about?
Every church has heard a sermon like this. It seemed to be about one person. The preacher gave no name, but everyone in the room could guess.
Perhaps it was nothing. Or perhaps the preacher had a private complaint against someone, and he used the power of the pulpit for it. This page tries to say plainly how you can tell the difference.
There are two things a sermon can be: God’s Word, brought to the people. Or a private judgment, spoken aloud.
The first view: under the Word
The preacher speaks under God’s Word.A pastor may preach hard truths against sin. What he says must agree with the Bible, and other people may correct him. He may be very sure that one person is guilty. But he does not speak his own sureness as if it were God’s judgment. This page agrees with this view.
The second view: the pastor’s certainty
When he is sure, that is the message.A shepherd who sees real sin does not need permission to say so plainly. The Bible itself has examples of public correction. And when people call strong preaching “a personal attack”, they may only want to stop the correction. This page tests this view.
What this page does not do
It is not against hard preaching. It does not say that every story in a sermon is wrong when people can recognise it. It does not describe or judge any real sermon, pastor or church.
The short answer
1. Even an apostle did not claim this power. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:
We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy.
2 Corinthians 1:24 · World English Bible
In simple words: We are not masters over your faith. We work together with you, so that you will have joy.
If that is the limit for an apostle, the limit for a pastor is lower.
2. The Bible already names this wrong. Through Ezekiel, God speaks against “the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves” (Ezekiel 34:2). They ruled the sheep with force (Ezekiel 34:4). Peter tells church leaders to lead “not as lording it over those entrusted to you” (1 Peter 5:3). In simple words: do not act like lords over the people God gave you to care for.
3. Christ gave the order of the steps, and it begins in private.
If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone.
Matthew 18:15 · World English Bible
In simple words: If your brother does wrong to you, go to him. Show him what he did wrong. Do it when only you and he are there.
To go public first is not the pattern.
4. A person is not protected because no name is said, if everyone knows who it is. The real question is this: can the church fill in the name? It does not matter if the preacher said it aloud.
5. “This is sin” is one claim. “God is judging him” is a much bigger claim. Jeremiah and Ezekiel keep their hardest words for prophets who said “The Lord says” when the Lord had not said it (Jeremiah 23:25-32; Ezekiel 13:6-9).
6. This is what the commandment about God’s name is really about. The commandment says: do not use the name of God wrongly. Luther counted it as the Second Commandment. He wrote that “the greatest abuse” of God’s name is by “false preachers” who
offer their lying vanities as God’s Word.
Martin Luther
In simple words: bring their own empty and false ideas and call them God’s Word.
7. Public correction is in the Bible. But look closely at when. Paul corrected Peter in front of everyone (Galatians 2:11-14). Why? Because Peter’s wrong act was already public. Church leaders who sin are corrected “in the sight of all” (1 Timothy 5:20). But first there must be “two or three witnesses” (1 Timothy 5:19). Neither case is a hint, without a name, about a private matter.
8. The commandment about false witness adds another test. The commandment says: do not say false things against your neighbour. Luther counted it as the Eighth. In his Small Catechism he explains it: defend your neighbour, and
put the best construction on everything.
Martin Luther, Small Catechism
In simple words: explain everything he does in the kindest way.
A sermon can break this rule even when every sentence in it is true.
9. Two things are in a class of their own. One is to laugh at a person’s trouble. The other is to hint that God will curse people who disagree. The Bible has already judged this. Job’s friends saw his suffering and said that it proved a hidden sin. God answered them:
you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.
Job 42:7 · World English Bible
In simple words: You have not said what is true about me. My servant Job has.
Catechism
A small book that teaches the main points of the Christian faith with questions and answers.
Ask: could I say this to the person’s face, with his name? And could I defend it from the Bible, and not only from my own strong feeling? If not, it has probably stopped being preaching.
This is my opinion. Most pastors who preach hard sermons are not attacking personal enemies. The Bible itself is severe. But a pastor should use the test above on himself first. Then he will be ready if he ever needs to use it on another person.
Six stories
Here are six stories. This page made them all up. None of them describes a real church. For each one, ask: does it follow Christ’s pattern in Matthew 18:15, with the private step first? Or does it go straight to the public?
1. A pastor learns in private that a church helper has been dishonest about the church’s money. He meets the helper alone first. The helper says it is not true, but the proof is clear. Only then does the pastor bring it to the other leaders. It follows the pattern. Private first. The next step comes only when the first one fails.
2. A pastor has an angry private argument with a church member. The next Sunday he preaches a sermon that was not planned. He describes “a spirit of rebellion in this church”. The details are very close to the argument. He has not spoken to the person again. It does not follow the pattern. It is public and at once. There is no private step. And people can recognise the details.
3. One church leader teaches in public, and his teaching now leads people the wrong way. Two other leaders have already tried to correct him in private. Then the matter is brought to the whole church. It follows the pattern. Witnesses come first. The public step comes only after the private one has failed, and the wrong is already public.
4. The church votes, and the vote goes against the pastor’s advice. The next Sunday the sermon speaks of “people who think they know better than their pastor”. It does not name the vote or any voter. It does not follow the pattern. The pastor has not talked in private with anyone. The time and the words are chosen so that people will think of the vote.
5. A pastor finds that another pastor teaches in public that there is no resurrection. He writes a public answer and signs it. He names the teaching and the teacher, and he gives his reasons from the Bible. It follows the pattern. The wrong teaching is already public. The answer has a name on it. It is plain, and people can reply to it.
6. A pastor speaks about one person’s divorce in three sermons, one after another. Each time he gives more details. He uses it as an example of “what happens when people will not accept godly advice”. He has never talked about it with that person. It does not follow the pattern. A private matter is shown to the public more and more. No private talk ever happened.
Two sentences that sound alike
Here are two sentences. This page made them up. They sound alike, but they are very different.
“Pride is the sin that destroyed Lucifer. It is quiet enough to destroy any of us, and that includes me.”
This is a general warning. The preacher puts himself under it too. It is not aimed at anyone.
“Some of you know exactly who I mean when I say this. God sees what you did, and he does not forget.”
This sentence points to something that some people in the room know in private. And it claims to know what God thinks, right now, about one person. The person is not named, but he is marked.
The first sentence preaches against a sin. The second sentence claims to know what God thinks of one person, and announces it. It does not say who. But it makes sure that everyone can guess.
A quick check
Think of a sermon that made you ask, “Was that about me, or about someone I know?” Or, if you preach, think of a sermon that you are preparing. Answer four questions honestly.
- Could I (or the preacher) say these exact words to the person’s face, with his name?
- Has a private talk with this person already happened? Or has someone at least tried?
- Does the Bible really say what the sermon claims? Or is it only a guess about how one person stands before God?
- Is the true goal to bring the person back, and not to show him to others?
Four “yes” answers are a good sign. Each “no” is a reason to stop and think again.
- A pastor may preach hard truth. He may not speak his private opinion about a person as the voice of God.
- Christ’s pattern begins in private (Matthew 18:15).
- A hint with no name does not protect the person, if everyone can guess.
- The Bible allows public correction when the wrong is already public and there are witnesses.
- The test: could I say it to his face, with his name, and defend it from the Bible?
Check it yourself
Here are five things. The first takes fifteen minutes. The last takes almost no time.
- Read Matthew 18:15-20 and 2 Corinthians 1:23-24. Christ’s pattern, and the limit that Paul puts on his own power.
- Read Ezekiel 34:1-10 and 1 Peter 5:1-4. Shepherds who feed themselves, and the better way.
- Read Galatians 2:11-21 and 1 Timothy 5:17-22. These are the Bible’s real cases of public correction. Read all the verses around them.
- Read Job 42:1-9. God’s own judgment on friends who said that suffering proves sin.
- Think of a sermon that you remember clearly. Do this one. Write down what was said, with no names. Then ask: could this be said to the person’s face?
The Bible words on this page come from the World English Bible. It is a modern translation, and anyone may copy it. The quick version and the full dossier use the King James Version, which is older and harder to read. The words are different, but the meaning is the same.
Want to read more?
The quick version says the same things in ordinary English and adds short exercises. The full dossier gives all the evidence and names every source.
Read the quick version → Read the full dossier →