Question on preaching

I was very blessed with the Calvinism thread. Even though it was closed by admin, I found few posts in that thread very edifying and posted in right spirit. Let us submit to the admins. My intention here is not to start a debate or put down any theological position. It is a genuine question that is in my heart this week (which was kindled more by the Calvinism thread).

I recently heard a godly brother preach. I was blessed by his message. He is a good brother and very useful to the local Church. The message too was very edifying.

But there are 2 things that I found concerning. It appeared that the brother preached from a particular doctrinal position (Calvinism). The message was based on 1 John 1:5 to 1 John 2:2.

1. While address the 1:John 1:6, he used the pronoun 'they', to refer to those who do not walk in the light and still call themselves Christians. But the scripture uses the pronoun 'We', which also includes the apostle. Which means even John believed that he and his intended audience could be walking in darkness while they are proclaiming to follow Jesus. But in the sermon the brother said there will be fake Christians who will do this kind of act. Which means he did not believe and preach in the same spirit as the Apostle. I personally judged myself under the light of 1 John 1:6 and was blessed by the message.

2. While explaining 1 John 2:2- he said Jesus is not the propitiation for the whole world because he is not the sacrifice for those mentioned under 1 John 1:6 (who are walking in darkness). This is also influenced by limited atonement belief.

I believe his Calvinistic view has made him interpret the scripture in this way. I am not against his personal doctrinal stand but using it as a means of preaching God's word is wrong according to me.

Now the questions in my heard are -
Should I be concerned? Is it ok if I expose my wife and little children to this kind of teaching? I had the discernment to see this error and still hear the message using the pronoun as 'We' but what if my children lack that maturity? Will they not be deceived?

If a person is constantly exposed to this kind of teaching (using the pronoun they instead of we), will they not stop judging themselves and become weak Christians?

Again my intention here is not to debate the interpretation of 1 John 1:6 or 1John 2:2. I am neither a Calvinist nor Amanianist. I believe in the whole scripture (like bother Kieth Daniel said in his SI conference sermon 'War of the saints'). I believe we should be honest in preaching God's word irrespective of our theological standings.

Sree,

As a husband and father, I can very much relate to your plight having been confronted by this on numerous occasions and what the Lord has taught me is that they (wife and children) don’t usually pick up on the same types of issues and the nuance of such is lost on them without a specific point being made regarding a thing. They do pick up on other things and usually will want to discuss it which provides opportunity to minister the word to them more thoroughly. So what I’ve understood the Lord to be instructing me to do is, rest and be ready,… present in the moment and available for service as the priest of my home. The areas where He is working in their lives will be apparent, if I am being obedient (not distracted), and He will quicken His word in me to minister in response to their needs. He has also shown me that when I am not allowing the word to "dwell richly” in me, then it limits His ability to a more narrow vocabulary of concepts. I can be hardheaded and a bit dense at times but He used that to analogize how that my children (and sometimes wife) can seem similar to me in that they’re just not digesting it. He has directed me to treat them the same way He has dealt with me…. Give them space to make mistakes and not be quick to point out, criticize or even offer advice- rather simply rest, be still and know that He is God and when the time to act comes I’ll know it , if I’m paying attention, "waiting on the Lord ".
Sometimes, I am not His choice to deal with a matter, as there have been times when there was an issue that I could clearly see and desired to correct, yet every time I intended to address the matter, He would pull my reigns effectively preventing me from going that way. Later I discovered He had a better way to address the matter without my assistance or approval… it was both humiliating and edifying 🙏🏻 He is faithful to complete the work He first began in them just as He is with us ;)

I have personally extended this same courtesy (space to make mistakes) to others including preachers, basically I stopped trying to do His job 🤷🏽”â™‚️
Interestingly, my sensitivity to Him grew tho for some reason I had imagined it would somehow decrease- kinda like Job 42 when he "saw” the Lord and he repented, abhorring himself. So perhaps consider a similar thing in your situation for both your family and the young preacher. I t goes without saying that this should all be soaked in prayer and we know you are a praying man 😇

What I imagine you would find is that God is awesomeness incarnate! It just never gets old to see a thing that needs Him to intervene and purposing ourselves to intercede only later to see those prayers answered in the lives of others without any further action on our part is honestly a thing that makes me cry every time and I just worship Him, I mean He is soooo good to us and even on my best days I get distracted and am neglectful. Yet He remains patient and merciful and as soon as I’m willing, He continues ✝️

Hope that helps and it’s good to see you posting on SI :)

hey do pick up on other things and usually will want to discuss it which provides opportunity to minister the word to them more thoroughly.

Thank you for your words of wisdom. Really appreciate your post. I believe situations like this will give an opportunity to minister the word in right spirit to my family.

I understand that primarily it is my responsibility to minister to the needs my family.

So what I’ve understood the Lord to be instructing me to do is, rest and be ready,… present in the moment and available for service as the priest of my home. The areas where He is working in their lives will be apparent, if I am being obedient (not distracted), and He will quicken His word in me to minister in response to their needs. He has also shown me that when I am not allowing the word to "dwell richly” in me, then it limits His ability to a more narrow vocabulary of concepts.

This is exactly my experience as well. Glad to see that we are not alone in this journey and can relate to one another.

I spoke about my concerns on the sermon to one of the elders in the Church. He listened to them in the right spirit. He also assured that this is not a normal practice to preach based on ones theological position even though he was a Calvinist himself! He also assured that I have full freedom to bring my feedback to leadership and they will address it.

It is sadly not uncommon to have Apollos-like minister figures for this or that reason. And we should indeed be ever grateful whenever there is a Priscilla and Aquila-like intervention (the said elders). Because if left unaddressed thus, the effects thereof can often be detrimental to unsuspecting/undecerning hearers (possibly the said wife & kids).