Why and How to Avoid Moralistic Preaching

Preaching should stir people to do something, believe something, change something, be something. It should move people to action, heroic deeds, or repentance. In short, lives should change—even if we can't always see it. But here's one of my constant struggles in my preaching: how do I challenge people to grow, love, change, obey, repent, give, etc., without throwing them back on their own pathetic spiritual resources? That is the danger of moralistic preaching. It sounds good (and some people really like it), but in the end it can make people proud, self-reliant, or hopeless. It makes people rely on themselves rather than the infinite love of the Father, grace of Jesus, and power of the Spirit. So in this episode, Kevin Miller and I analyze this harmful approach to preaching—what it is, what it is not, why we slip into it, and how to preach grace without compromising the biblical text's truth and challenge.

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