Three Marks of Moralistic Preaching

What Is Moralism?

Moralism is thinking that God loves good people most. Or we could say, it’s thinking that God’s love for you is primarily determined by how well you obey Him.

This mindset is pervasive. Every religion other than Christianity assumes that God’s favor (or that of the gods) is given or withdrawn based on our performance. Most people, religious or otherwise, tend to think this way. If we try hard to be good people, surely God will accept us. Right?

The Bible says otherwise. God’s grace comes, not to those who try to be good people but to those who admit their sin and receive Christ by faith. Moralists miss this truth in three ways.

First, moralists assume that God’s love is based on their performance. They think that God favors them because their lives (on the outside, at least) match God’s commands. They, like the Jews of the 1st century, try to establish their own righteousness (Rom. 10:3) by keeping the law on their own, and therefore they refuse to submit to the righteousness of God — namely, the righteousness which God accounts to those who believe in Christ. The moralist does not believe that “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved,” instead thinking God saves those who live upright lives.

Or, if he puts a softer edge on it, he may admit that he is not good enough on his own, and that he needs God’s grace to be saved. Yet he thinks that God gives grace to those who are most obedient. Grace is given to the upright, and denied to the rebellious. It’s those who try their hardest who are given grace for their sins. Moralism reframes the gospel so that salvation is by grace through sincerity rather than by grace through faith. In this approach, sincere obedience is the way we access God’s grace — not simple faith.

Second, moralists ignore the extent of sin. They have not reckoned with Jesus’ words that a person needs to be transformed at a heart level (“born again” in John 3) before he can enter His kingdom. The apostle Paul taught that all of Adam’s children are born “dead in their trespasses and sins” and are therefore “children of wrath” and under divine judgment (cf. Eph. 2). We are not born neutral, then judged when we choose to reject God. Rather, we are born “enemies of God” (Rom. 5) and will die in our sins unless we are spiritually rebirthed by the Spirit. Moralists don’t realize that they are natural enemies of God, and therefore they assume that they earn God’s favor by being morally upright.

Third, moralists diminish God’s commands by emphasizing some Scriptures while ignoring others. Moralists emphasize holiness but ignore evangelism, or they talk about truth but ignore grace, or they focus on God’s love but ignore His justice. They focus on the parts of God’s word which they are obeying but ignore those which reveal their shortcomings and sins.

They also diminish God’s commands by reducing them to externals. They think that God wants morally upright lives, not realizing that God’s central concern is with their hearts. So they scrupulously follow God’s commands while excusing their proud and self-righteous hearts. They don’t realize that even the 10 commandments defy mere externalism. The apostle Paul lived as a moralist until he realized that he had failed to keep the final commandment: “you shall not covet” (Rom. 7:7). His sinful heart led him to covet, even though his life was blameless on the outside. He could not be righteous merely by keeping the external demands of the law; he needed a new heart with new affections. Moralists reduce God’s commands to a list of behaviors.

Perhaps a clarification is necessary. I readily admit that the New Testament teaches that all believers must obey God, but I want to emphasize that we need to distinguish between obedience as a fruit of faith and obedience as essential to faith. The former recognizes that changed living invariably results from a changed heart; the latter tries to change the heart by changing the life.

But we cannot become God’s children by obeying Him, nor does our obedience keep us in His love. Salvation is always in Christ alone. And while our union with Christ will invariably bear spiritual fruit (see John 15), we dare not begin to think that our fruitfulness is the reason God saves us. Rather, fruit-bearing is how we know we are His. The moment our obedience becomes the basis of our salvation rather than the evidence of it, we have accepted a false gospel.

If this feels too strong to you, reflect on the apostle Paul’s words in Galatians 1. “If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” What is the gospel Paul has in mind? A gospel of justification by faith alone, as he makes explicit in chapter 2. Actually, we could say that for Paul, the whole process of salvation — justification, sanctification, and glorification — is experienced “by grace through faith.” Any view that denies this is a false gospel worthy of being cursed. Since moralism makes our obedience the basis of God’s favor, rather than Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, it is a false gospel which leads people to hell.

What is Moralistic Preaching?

Moralistic preaching is preaching which promotes or accommodates moralism. It’s handling God’s word in such a way that moralism is allowed to exist undisturbed, or even to thrive. Since moralism is a damning distortion of the gospel, it is imperative that those of us who teach and preach God’s word are aware of how our preaching might allow or encourage it.

This kind of preaching is mostly occupied with soothing the conscience of the hearer, stroking his pride, or coddling his ego. It does not deal honestly with the demands of the text, calling for repentance and change, but instead comforts the hearer by assuring him that he is already doing everything Jesus expects of Him.

So, what is moralistic preaching? Here are three marks to help you see it in your own preaching and identify it in others’.

#1 – Moralistic Preaching Avoids Confrontation

Moralistic preaching avoids confrontation. It only talks about the commands which the listeners are already obeying. These preachers act as if it’s their job to assure everyone in the room that they are OK, that there is nothing in their lives that needs to change. In short, moralistic preaching doesn’t address sin. Rather, it focuses on the things that help everyone in the room feel like they are pretty good people. The goal is not to reveal sin so people can become more like Christ, but rather to assure everyone that they are already pretty good people and really don’t need Christ.

Rather than encouraging them to “pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14) or to “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14) or to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us” (Heb. 12:1), preachers are content to reassure people about the few things they are already doing right.

For example, a text like Matthew 5:43-48, which lays out so clearly the doctrine of nonresistance, can be preached correctly or it can be preached moralistically. When it’s the latter, the hearers leave feeling smug and self-satisfied because they are taking the Bible “seriously” while many other Christians do not. Moralistic preaching does not apply the text to the sins latent in the hearers (which are probably less related to serving in the military and more related to relationships with fellow Christians, family members, co-workers, and other drivers on the highway), focusing instead on those aspects that the hearers already feel they are doing well in.

It takes little courage to preach about things which everyone in the room is already doing right. In a Mennonite church, you can preach against divorce and nearly everyone will agree with you. But what if you tell a man that he must love his wife sacrificially — to die to his ambitions, his pleasures, and his priorities to serve her? What if you put an ax to the pride which causes him to scorn fellow believers who don’t practice their faith the same way he does? What if you pointed out that someone’s “good work ethic” is causing him to neglect his relationships with God and his family? Or that her endless efforts to keep herself and her house picture-perfect are fueled by envy, covetousness, and pride? What if you talked about the sins of gossip and complaint? In short, what if you preached the whole council of God in such a way that sin is revealed in all its nastiness?

It may seem odd that I’m emphasizing morals right after decrying moralism, but this is exactly the point. It’s not that the moralist’s standard is too high. Rather, it’s too low. He thinks that he can keep God’s commands on his own and therefore has no need of grace. Moralistic preaching accommodates him by only concerning itself with the aspects of God’s word which are already being obeyed — and ignoring anything which would convict, reprove, or correct.

Too often, preaching is concerned merely with commending people for all the things they are already doing right, rather than convicting them for the ways where their lives do not reflect Christ and calling them to ask for God’s grace to change. Long-term exposure to preaching which merely strokes a person’s ego will inevitably produce self-centered, proud people.

When our criticisms only land on those outside the church, we only bolster pride. Preaching should not primarily be about the problems out there. It should primarily be about the problems in the hearts and lives of those who are present in the room, sitting under the Word as it is being preached.

Of course, there is a time for Scripture to encourage, to soothe, to heal. Jesus was tender and patient with the abused and hurting. But not with self-righteous moralists. His love for them compelled him to be brutally honest with them. On one occasion, he chastises those who “travel land and sea to win one proselyte” because in the end their convert became “twice the son of hell” as they were. He went straight to the heart of their self-righteous pride. This the moralistic preacher does not do.

Let me put this another way. If we preach in such a way that our hearers are made more secure in their self-righteousness, we have denied the gospel in our sermon. Rather, they need to be made more secure in Christ, which requires they see their sin so they are reminded how much they need Him. True preaching confronts those present so they turn from themselves to Christ, who alone can save.

#2 – Moralistic Preaching Depends on Human Effort

Moralistic preaching depends on human effort. It appeals to a person’s ability to change himself rather than leading him or her to Christ. Having lowered the standard (Mark #1), it expects people to keep that standard on their own. It ignores the consistent biblical teaching that we are utterly dependent on God’s help to think, will, or do anything truly good.

Yes, we are completely unable to obey God without the Spirit’s help. While many people dispute this doctrine today, it has been held by most Christians throughout history. And, more importantly, it is clearly taught in the Bible. Since this is not the main point of this article, I will not argue for this at length. A few Scriptures will have to suffice:

• “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” – Rom. 8:8
• “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” – John 6:63
• “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” – 1 Cor. 2:14
• “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3
• “By the grace of God I am what I am.” – 1 Cor. 15:10a
• “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” – Gal. 5:16
• “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me, you can do nothing.” – John 15:5
• “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” – Phil. 2:12-13
• “I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” – 1 Cor 15:10b

Against this, moralistic preachers operate as if we already have all the resources inside us that we need to obey God. The Spirit’s redemptive grace is sidelined, and the Savior’s resurrecting power is ignored (cf. Rom. 6). Though biblical morality is proclaimed, all of the imperatives land as if the hearers are fully capable of obeying them on their own. There is no talk of divine assistance, no emphasis on prayer, no recognition that every good thing we do must be done in such a way that those who “see our good works” will glorify God and not us (Matt. 5:16).

I’ve observed that this quite often happens unintentionally. Unless a preacher clearly emphasizes that true change requires God’s help, people will assume that they can keep God’s commands on their own. I’ve sat under preaching which correctly deduced the moral implications of a text, then applied them with little to no awareness of our need for God’s help to obey. This is not just nuanced nit-picking. It’s the difference between preaching which loads us down with burdens we must bear on our own, and preaching which bears us up so we, by the Spirit, are empowered to live holier lives. It’s the difference between preaching which overwhelms us and preaching which leads us to Christ who offers rest to the weary and heavy laden (cf. Matt. 11:28). In short, it’s the difference between moralistic preaching and true gospel preaching.

#3 – Moralistic Preaching Does Not Lead People to Christ

Moralistic preaching does not lead people to Christ. This is the expected result of the last two marks. If people aren’t confronted with the heights of God’s holiness and the depths of their sin, and if they aren’t confronted by their total dependence on Christ to obey His commands, they will not realize that they need Him. And if they do not think they need Him, they will not run to Him. In fact, they may have no use for Him at all.

If, as a result of a failure to confront sin, people are unaware of their failure to keep God’s commands, how will they have any desire for Christ who bore their sins on the cross? How will He be anything but foolishness or a stumbling block if they never realize that they have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory? God gave the law to convict of sin and lead us to Christ. If we don’t preach God’s commands — and our failure to obey them — how will anyone realize he needs Christ?

Moralistic preaching minimizes true righteousness, and thereby fails to lead people to Christ, who shares His righteousness with all who believe in Him. It mutes love for Christ. Our people do not need to leave a sermon feeling good about who they are in themselves. They need to know who they are in Christ. If we leave our people feeling good about everything they are doing right, they will remain comfortable in their self-dependent, flesh-wrought “righteousness” rather than seeing their sin and going to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing. 

And if we don’t emphasize our total dependence on grace to obey God, how will people ever grow to become more like Christ? If someone has a detailed map for a road-trip across the United States, but doesn’t have gas in his tank, he can’t even make it the first mile. People need more than instructions on where to go; they need the power to get there. It does little good to preach about what God wants from us if we don’t help people realize how God helps them obey Him.

We are not talking here about two kinds of obedience, one by human effort and the other by the Spirit. Rather, there is only one kind of obedience — that which the Spirit accomplishes in us. All other attempts are self-empowered and therefore do not glorify God — and therefore are not true obedience. Obeying God without the Spirit’s help is not just misguided; it is impossible.

A sermon which produces gospel-based, Christ-exalting obedience must expose the hearer to God’s commands and demonstrate how obedience to those commands can only come as the Spirit of God works in their hearts. If, instead of pointing someone to Christ, a sermon leads someone to think that he can obey God’s commands in his own strength, it is no longer a gospel sermon.

Conclusion

Moralistic preaching dulls the razor edge of God’s word which, if wielded correctly, is able to pierce “to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Rather than bringing clarity and conviction so sin can be seen and severed, moralistic preaching soothes the conscience and dulls the mind, assuring people that they are pretty good already and therefore do not need much grace to be saved. It coddles people on their way to hell.

Of course, the alternative kind of preaching is not merely about chastising people for all their shortcomings and failures. The purpose of a diagnosis is to prepare a patient to receive the remedy. Proper diagnosis is essential to healing. As a doctor is rightly charged with malpractice for concealing a patient’s sickness, so pastors are guilty of malpractice if they don’t preach on sin. Pastors love their people by showing them their sin. But not only this, they show them the remedy. Faithful preaching does not just wound; it also heals. It does not just convict, but it also leads to the One who forgives even the worst of sinners. Where moralistic preaching turns us in on ourselves, gospel preaching turns us to Christ, who alone can help and heal.