The first article in this series introduced us to the Tapestry of Preaching. Author David Schmitt likens a sermon to a tapestry, in which four “threads of discourse” are woven together. The four threads: textual exposition, theological confession, evangelical proclamation, and hearer interpretation. Last time, we looked at textual exposition. We continue moving through the threads of the tapestry, this time focusing our attention on theological confession. (The full “Tapestry of Preaching” essay may be found here; all quotations come from this essay.)

David Schmitt defines theological confession: “Through the sermon, the preacher makes confession of the teachings of the faith.” How does this relate to preaching the text, to textual exposition? Schmitt notes that the relationship in some sermons can be less than ideal. For instance, a preacher may have in mind a certain biblical teaching, one that he’s itching to share with his people. A desire like that is certainly healthy, but the preacher may be so eager to get to the biblical teaching he wants to talk about that his sermon text becomes only a pretext for what he wants to say. People can be left wondering, “This is all interesting, but how does this relate to the part of the Bible he said he was going to talk about?”

What is a natural way of doing both—expounding a specific text and confessing broader biblical teachings? One way is to attend to the questions that a text raises. As a preacher studies a text, he will identify the central focus. But he may also say to himself, “I see something here that’s not the main point of this section, but I know people will be wondering, ‘What does that mean?’” Such questions may be natural openings to teach

An example might be the Gospel in Year A for Holy Trinity, Matthew 28:16-20. Is this text mainly “about” the Holy Trinity? That is, is the theological confession of God’s triune essence the central point of the text as a whole? I would say no. The text deals with other things more directly, like Jesus’ sending of his disciples (who both worship him and still doubt) to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching. A sermon on this text would feature Jesus’ words and actions. Still, we would recognize that this text contains one of the clearest—if not the clearest—statements of God’s three-in-one essence in the Scriptures. It would not be forcing something onto the text or ignoring the text to include a section about God as the Holy Trinity. Likewise, while Matthew 28:16-20 is not mainly “about” baptism, it contains the institution of this sacrament. For a preacher to spend time in his sermon teaching about how Jesus, in perfect concert with the Father and the Spirit, works through baptism would be a natural, uncontrived confession of this teaching.

David Schmitt highlights five additional functions of Theological Confession in a sermon. The first function is similar to one we observed last time in Textual Exposition: this thread, too, models interpretation of Scripture. When a preacher examines a passage in a sermon and explains what it teaches, he is demonstrating how to interpret the Bible. He shows how to get from Point A (the passage he’s preaching about) to Point B (the scriptural teaching derived from the passage). As he does so, he models how to let Scripture interpret Scripture, to keep Christ’s work central, and other interpretive principles. The preacher may not mention these principles explicitly in the sermon, but by utilizing them as he explains a text, he is subtly showing people how to—and how not to—interpret the Bible.

Theological confession functions also to proclaim the whole counsel of God. Schmitt observes what many pastors do: not everyone comes to Bible class. Pastors, elders, and education committees do faithful work in encouraging people to attend classes and to read their Bibles at home. But not everyone does, which means that for some, the Sunday service is the main place where they spend time with the Scriptures. In addition, many of those who do come to Bible class may still be relatively new to the Bible and in need of ongoing instruction. These facts do not mean that the pastor must turn every sermon into a Bible study. We’ll see as we examine other “threads” that sermons do more than teach; they also proclaim the gospel and apply it to people’s lives. But this thread does remind us that especially for those who encounter the Bible only on Sunday morning, the preacher will take opportunities to teach. Schmitt says it this way:

For these hearers and others, preachers can look at their sermons, preached over the course of a year, and consider their theological confession. How have they confessed the teachings of the faith? They can consider the question, “How have these sermons and the teachings they confess formed my hearers to know the essentials of the faith? To be Lutherans who know their catechism? To be Christians who confess the creed?”

The third function of theological confession is to “provide a framework for Christian living.” There is some overlap between this function and one we will talk about regarding the fourth thread, hearer interpretation. At this point we note that in a sermon, a pastor teaches how biblical theology fits into a Christian’s life. A preacher, as he teaches from his text and other related passages, shows how a particular teaching is meant to be woven into the fabric of day-to-day Christian living. Our goal, David Schmitt writes, is to give “hearers eyes to see who God is at work in the world. . . . Rather than leave God behind as they leave church on a Sunday, people see how God sends them forth for his service as they enter the world.”

A fourth function of theological confession is one familiar to lectionary preachers. “Theological confession practices liturgical theology.” In other words, a preacher recognizes that in a worship setting, it’s not only his sermon text but also other parts of Scripture that people are hearing that day. There are many things to talk about in every sermon text. How does the preacher narrow his focus? One way is to concentrate on the teaching spotlighted by the other Scripture readings that day. On the Preacher Podcast you’ll sometimes hear a remark like this: “There are lots of things to preach about in this text, but the other lectionary readings are nudging us to focus on this one.” An example is Proper 12 in Year C. The Gospel of the day is Luke 11:1-13, in which Jesus teaches about prayer. The Second Reading is 1 Timothy 2:1-7. A sermon on this text would include God’s desire that all people be saved. It would include what it means that Jesus is the mediator between God and humanity. But given the lectionary focus for the day, it would not fail to mention the first verses’ encouragement to pray. Theological confession means to preach a text in the context of other parts of Scripture being heard that day.

Schmitt concludes with a very practical function of theological confession. When a preacher deals with a theological question in a sermon and demonstrates how to answer it scripturally, he is training his hearers to do the same. They are then better equipped to speak up when someone they know raises a similar question. Occasionally, a preacher could build his sermon around how to respond to a particular question. (See the Question-Answered sermon structure as one way to do this.) In this way, the theological confession dimension of a sermon “forms Christian witness.”

Next time we’ll discuss the thread at the heart of Lutheran preaching: evangelical proclamation.

This article in Devote Yourself was contributed by the team that previously created and distributed Preach the Word. View past preaching-related articles at worship.welsrc.net/downloads-worship/preach-the-word.