We live in unprecedented times. How many times have you heard that line? But it is true; we really do, especially regarding the access that Americans have to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. It truly is unprecedented. Just consider one website: sermonaudio. As of the end of 2024, you can peruse between 2.8 million sermons! That is just one website. Dash in the endless cycle of Instagram reels, TikToks, and YouTube channels; add on top of that the countless podcasts and radio stations airing biblical content, and you are served a buffet of teaching that Christians for the past 2,000 years would be indecisively frozen on where to begin. One could spend every waking minute hearing the Word of God taught and still not exhaust all that is available. Yes, we live in unprecedented times.

Unfortunately, though, this unprecedented access to biblical teaching puts the Christian in an interesting situation. On the one hand, we can find countless messages and devotionals on every passage of Scripture. No theological stone goes unturned in this day and age. Not only that, but every implication and application of a passage can be found. We can learn about  anything in the Bible and Christianity with ease. Denying the value of such a large body of knowledge would be foolish. But on the other hand, this plethora of information comes with a catch. In almost every case, we do not personally know the producers of the content we are consuming. We may trust the ministry producing the material, but we do not know the teachers. Furthermore, they do not know us. This does not mean that they cannot provide helpful insights into Scripture or teach us theological truth nor that we should not listen to them (Provided they are not heretical of course). Rather, it creates a scenario in which neither the distributor nor the receiver have any personal connection with one another. Again, I’m not saying that this is inherently bad, but that when this form of biblical consumption becomes a person’s main way of receiving teaching, then I think we should rethink the situation.

Let me provide three examples to illustrate my point. A new book is becoming quite popular. This book argues that the best way to parent a teenager is to keep them from owning a cell phone. The author offers different strategies to help a family unplug from such a situation - strategies that sound both compelling and well researched, almost “tried and true” you might say; except if you knew the author. Her strategies aren’t tried and true in her own family because her children are all young. This does discount what she says, it simply casts a shadow on her teaching because those who know her would know that what she is offering are mere suggestions with no personal experience of having to unplug teenagers. Another example comes from a series of reels my wife shared with me. This example closely resembles the previous. It was another young mom with young children arguing for a certain lifestyle as being the lifestyle that we should pursue. Homesteading solves all the problems that this modern world has brought upon us. The videos only offered the glitz and glam of this lifestyle, of course. Her confidence was convincing. Homesteading did seem like the best way to raise a family–maybe even the only way that God would endorse! But as I watched those videos, I noticed much of what we don’t know about that family. How do they afford it? What does the husband do? If this really is the solution to our modern family problems, why aren’t more doing it? How did she get these conclusions from Scripture? The list goes on. You get the point. We don’t know her or her situation; neither does she know ours. 

I have seen the last illustration happen time and again in the Christian circles I swim in. A favorite preacher among evangelical pastors has continually offered criticism of the charismatic movement, many times, in an inflammatory way. The vigor by which he approached the issue became the same vigor by pastors throughout the country. His approach and rhetoric becomes their approach and rhetoric. They know the preacher, but not personally; neither do they know his context. If they did, they might understand his passion for the issue and recognize that their passion might be better spent elsewhere. His rhetoric and approach had more to do with the fact that each year hundreds would come through his doors from a local charismatic church, proclaiming to him how little the Bible was preached and ignored. If one understands that context, then the approach seems to make a little more sense. But sadly, many preachers adopted his approach without a similar situation taking place.

These illustrations highlight a problem with keeping our main diet of Bible consumption from those whom we do not know nor know us. There is no context or personal example of the truth from the distant teacher. The Bible calls for the transmission of biblical truth, but in a personal context. The apostle Paul could not have called on his readers to imitate him if they did not know him or see how he modeled the truth he preached (cf. 1 Cor 4:16; 11:1; Phil 3:17; 1 Thess 1:6; 2 Thess 3:9). Reels, TikToks, podcasts, and YouTube channels do not afford this opportunity. What we need is truth incarnated (to use a popular Christian term from ten years ago). We do not need to listen to more podcasts or watch more reels. We need the truth embodied before us by others who not only teach the truth but live the truth.

I have become more and more passionate about this idea, especially since the pandemic and the onslaught of what I have called “YouTube Casualties.” Caught in an endless cycle of videos provided by their personalized algorithm, these casualties slowly descend into an echo chamber, convinced that their local churches and the people in them are missing out on the Bible and what it really says. We don’t need more YouTube; we need more truth embodied by those around us whom we know and who know us. Let me offer three benefits of embodied truth.

1) Embodied Truth Provides Genuine Wisdom

Wisdom is applied knowledge. It takes knowledge and puts it into practice. Bare knowledge is important, but failure to apply that knowledge renders it useless. To put it into biblical terms, receiving the word without doing the word is of no benefit. James 1:22-24 says, “ But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” How do we know how to “do” the word? Through the example of others. Believers we personally know offer us better insights than any TikToker ever could. They live in our community, know the people we know, and understand the context in which we live. For example, how I would speak on greed in the United States would be applied differently than in a Third World country. Both cultures struggle with greed, but how that struggle manifests itself would be nuanced differently. Embodied truth provides genuine insights into the application of Scripture.

2) Embodied Truth Creates Accountability

When we speak to those whom we know or when we receive the word from those whom we know, we are offered a level of accountability that other platforms cannot provide. For a speaker, he must live in light of what he says. He must practice what he preaches. Paul felt this angst in 1 Corinthians 9:27: “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” Speaking to another who knows you affords accountability for the speaker. The same is true for the listener. The one who shares the word can follow up with the listener. Does the listener put into practice what he hears? Embodied truth offers accountability that other platforms do not afford.

3) Embodied Truth Can’t Avoid Difficult Issues

Because there is a level of accountability afforded by embodied truth, we are forced to wrestle with the difficult issues of life in a practical way. One can wax eloquently on YouTube about what the Bible says concerning divorce, but when it comes to applying what the Bible says in messy marriages, we can’t plead the fifth that we don’t know the situation. We are forced to think about the Bible in a very real way with massive ramifications. Furthermore, from the perspective of one who teaches the Bible, I am forced to think through the implications of the text to the audience in front of me - in my context, culture, and situation. Years ago, someone chided me for not speaking out against homosexuality at the beginning of pride month. They argued that I needed to preach against the sin of homosexuality since the whole culture was celebrating the sin all month. The problem was that my audience didn’t need convincing of the sin of homosexuality. They needed to be convinced of the biblical call to love the homosexual. This love would surely include telling them the truth about their sinful nature (just like we would with any person who struggles with a particular sin and is lost), but it would also mean we take seriously Jesus’ call to love others, including those we might label our enemies. In my context, the easier message would be speaking against the sin of homosexuality, rather than the sin of partiality or lack of love.

When God saves a person, He places her within a local church in order that she might hear the word from other believers whose lives can be watched and whose applications of Scripture can be seen. Embodied truth affords this opportunity, something that reels, TikToks, and podcasters can’t. Sure. Listen to what they have to offer, but make it your goal to gain your main diet of biblical consumption from those who know and love you - those who sit in the same room with you every Sunday, week after week, in every season of life.

Your Servant in Christ,