Death by Caveat
I was at a preachers’ retreat a few years ago and taking part in a group discussion. We were simply supposed to answer a few questions then share our answers with the full group. One of the questions was something like this: “What is one of the biggest challenges to preaching the truth publicly?” While there were a few thoughts in our group, my favorite was given by a preaching friend from Arkansas who said, “Caveats.”
The longer I preach, the more I agree with that statement. Caveats are those statements where you have to explain what you don’t mean or why you are not doing something. Certainly, there can be a place for them, but we have reached a point where a great number of sermons, articles, and social media posts are just loaded with them. And, in the midst of all those caveats, the main point is often lost.
A number of years ago, I turned on a sermon to watch one random evening. The lesson was probably 25-30 minutes long. Though I was watching at some random time, it was a sermon that had been recorded from a previous Mother’s Day. The preacher, well-intentioned I am certain, spent at least the first 5 minutes (maybe a little more) explaining why he was not going to preach a traditional “Mother’s Day sermon” on that Sunday. So now, he has spent about 20% of his time explaining what he is not going to do. After watching the sermon, that caveat is all I remember.
Another example: how many preachers feel pressure, when they preach on God’s grace, to have to throw in what they do not believe about grace so that “brother Stuffy” won’t get offended? (“I believe we are saved by grace. Now, by that, I do not mean that we are saved by grace alone.”) Do you see how the beauty of being saved by God’s grace is lost when we feel pressured to “caveat” the statement?
There are times we need to do this. Too often, though, people are so worried about false teaching or about offending someone that they lose their ability to reason. If this is a faithful preacher and if he has shown himself to love people, there is no reason to believe that he is going down some dangerous road or that he is trying to hurt people’s feelings. He is still preaching the truth and he still loves people. But he also has a point to make…so let him make it!
This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day. I know a lot of preachers who will spend a significant amount of time trying to soothe people for whom Mother’s Day is difficult. There is a place for that. But do not do so much of that that you cause those who are celebrating to feel guilty!
(Can you imagine going up to your child on his birthday and saying, “Now, I know your birthday is today, but you need to think of all the children in the world who may struggle with birthdays,”…and then list every possible reason why children might struggle with a birthday? Of course not! So why do we do that to joyful moms on Mother’s Day???)
If you have questions about something a preacher said or wrote, give some grace. Is what he said true? That’s all that matters! Maybe the caveat you have in mind is not something that would have supported the truth he was trying to get across in this particular lesson or article. He cannot preach every aspect of a subject in one lesson–unless you want him to preach a long, long, long sermon!
Give grace. No one can say everything in one post, article, or sermon. And no one can try to cover all the bases of who might be hurt or offended by something. Trust that your preacher really does know what he is talking about and that he does care. In the course of time, he will get to your caveat. (Of course, then, someone else will be upset because he didn’t cover their caveat…but, well, I could make a caveat out of that, but I won’t.)
Let the truth live. Don’t kill it by caveat.
AUTHOR: Adam Faughn
