The Difference Between Teaching it and Living it

I heard Tim Keller say something during a Q & A session with some seminary students that was incredibly helpful for me. He was in the middle of teaching on how preachers need to strive to stay close to the Lord in prayer throughout the week and especially on Sundays, so that the act of preaching can be a worshipful experience. The question was basically: how do YOU do that, Dr. Keller? And his answer was something like this: "Oh - you are making a dangerous assumption there. You think that because I can teach this material well, that I am better at living it than you, but that's not necessarily true. There are probably a number of students in this class who are way beyond me in this regard. I have certain gifts of comprehension and communication that enable me to teach this well to others, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I am able to put it into practice any better than you."

That's a rough paraphrase, but it was really helpful for me, because it exposed the fact that I make that assumption all the time, and now I see that it is a very common one in evangelicalism. I hear young guys say things like "John Piper and Paul Washer are probably some of the most godly men alive today." But really, that's quite unlikely. Yes, they are incredibly gifted in passionately communicating great and grand truths, and we can probably say that their preaching is anointed by the Holy Spirit, but just because they can proclaim it effectively doesn't mean that they are ahead of everyone else in living it.

The reason this was helpful for me was because I often feel like I am unqualified to speak on a certain subject or about a given topic, because - God knows - there are many people who are much farther along than me in this area. But maybe that doesn't need to stop me. Sometimes those people who are the most powerful examples of godly living in a particular area are not terribly gifted at communication, and maybe it's up to someone else with more gifts in that area to get the message and challenge across to people. I don't know about you, but I find this empowering. So I don't have to be the most valiant prayer-warrior in town to speak a few bold words about prayer? And I don't have to be the most courageous evangelist to teach on the subject or encourage others to do it?

I can anticipate a reply, perhaps, that would challenge the notion that you can teach on any subject regardless of your personal faithfulness in that area. And I wholeheartedly agree. There is a profound difference between teaching chemistry and teaching Biblical truth. In the first case, frankly, it makes little difference whether the teacher is faithful to his wife or not. He can still be the world's best chemist. In the second case, with a pastor or preacher, it makes all the difference in the world if he is an adulterer or not. It just really does.

So I am not saying that how I live makes no difference on my teaching, but just that there doesn't necessarily need to be a direct correlation between the quality of my teaching and the quality of my personal living-out of whatever it is I taught.

I can think of two really practical applications of this. First, if I teach on joy and find myself tested and struggling in that area soon afterwards, I can fight the devil's accusations that I am a fraud and hypocrite for not living out what I teach. Because I never implied by teaching it that I had it all figured out. Who can live up to that kind of expectation anyways? Second, we need to remember this with those servants of God who have been lifted up to prominence, such as John Piper or Paul Washer, who I am sure cannot and do not live up to the incredible standard that their preaching sets. And this is not a shameful thing, it is simply reality. Setting these men up on pedestals of admiration helps no one.

On the subject of this strange evangelical celebrity subculture that has arisen, of which I am certainly more of an inside observer than an outside one, I have more to say, so stay tuned. My time in Chicago at the Gospel Coalition Council meetings with most of these famous pastors, preachers, authors, and theologians was very eye-opening in that regard.