“This Is Slippery, and It’s Wrong”

During the LCMS convention I posted a brief comment on the devotion that was currently underway, led by Rev. Terry Tieman, the head of the Transforming Churches Network. Rev. Tieman’s message on Matthew 14:22-32 presented three simple steps on how to walk on water, the result of which was to motivate by using the Law (when it should be the Gospel that motivates). Someone suggested that this particular sermon would be a good candidate for a sermon review by Chris Rosebrough on his internet radio show Fighting for the Faith. I thought that was a great idea as well, and emailed Chris, who did just that on his July 19th show.

The response to Rev. Tieman’s homily is a perfect illustration of “group think.” At one point during his homily he said “Go ahead and say to your neighbor right now ‘If you want to walk on the water, you have got to get out of the boat.’ Go ahead and do that.” At that point you could hear the delegates dutifully murmuring what he told them to say. Putting the best construction on it, I’m sure this huge group of LCMS pastors and laymen were saying to each other “I’m not saying that! It’s nothing but Law and will turn us all into Pharisees.” It’s certainly a living testament to the phrase “Don’t believe [or repeat] everything you hear.”

Chris’s review was rather “robust.” Here’s a few of his comments:

…This is some bad, bad preaching.

…It’s very clear in listening to this sermon or devotional homily that this guy has been drinking heavily from the seeker-driven purpose-driven well.

This is slippery, and it’s wrong.

…This is not Gospel preaching, this is manipulation. There’s a difference.

This is supreme Bible twisting and manipulation of the worst kind.

Chris does an excellent job in his review of pointing out the confusion of Law and Gospel, and also plays a sermon preached by Rev. Ron Hodel on the same text which properly distinguishes the two.

I marvel at how this devotion could have been allowed to have been taught at the LCMS convention, with the entire world peering in through the window. There’s a lot of talk at the convention on how we’ve got great theology and wonderful seminaries, and then there’s a devotion that completely butchers the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, which is the centerpiece of Lutheran theology. The speakers, and what they’re going to say, needs to be vetted, lest we lose our credibility entirely.

Chris initially discusses Rev. Tieman's homily from 17:43 to 22:18, and then the actual review begins at 1:17:52 and runs to the end of the show.