Beware of Exemplar Persona Illustrations

February 21, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

This week I have been raising a warning flag toward preaching that makes Christ, or biblical characters, just an example to copy. While both may be offered as example, and biblical writers do just that at times, still there is always a danger of seeking to motivate a performance approach to Christianity that is not birthed from the inside-out transformation of being in union with Christ. There’s another area worth a mention: the use of non-biblical persons as examples.

It is so easy to offer people famous or unknown, past or present, with an implied “copy that” tone. It could be the prayer warrior who rises at 4am, or the self-sacrificial missionary who gives up all to go and serve, or the faith-filled achiever, or whatever. Again, there could well be real value in offering such an example. However,

1. Be careful not to paint a caricature. Humans are usually a mixed bag of motives. So while in anecdotal form an individual may appear perfectly selfless and wonderful, the reality is probably not so flawless. Even the greatest deeds and sacrifices can be made for the wrong reasons, which is what Paul addresses at the start of 1Corinthians 13. The greatest feats can count for nothing. So be careful not to imply that feat/deed/sacrifice/effort can trump the heart issue. We do need to inspire a new generation with those who’ve gone before, but let’s be sure to inspire with the faith and relationship that others have with Christ, spilling into those amazing anecdotes. Let’s invite people into the fullness of that kind of connection with Christ that can spill out in numerous unique ways in our lives today.

2. Be careful not to endorse a copycat approach. Just to reinforce the point made above, let’s be sure to invite people into the relationship with Christ by His Spirit that can spill out in wonderful ways. Simply copying the performance of another will not bring about the necessary heart transformation that will allow such a feat to count as anything (in 1Corinthians 13 terms such empty performance is “nothing”). Performance is not the key to Christian living–it may be the fruit, but it is not the source.

Beware of Exemplar Homo-Biblicas Preaching

February 20, 2013 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Yesterday we looked at the danger of treating Christ as our role model. Today I’ve kept up the pseudo latin title pattern (since Christians seem to love latin in the blogosphere) and want to zero in on a related danger: treating biblical characters as examples to copy.

Surely the biblical narratives were written both to instruct us and to warn us, therefore they are legitimately to be treated as examples in our preaching? Yes, but there is still a danger that we fall short of preaching the Bible when we fall into a simple, “go thou and do likewise” approach. Points to ponder:

Paul probes deeper than behaviour in 1Corinthians 10:1-13 – There he states that there is example in what happened to characters in the Old Testament, but the purpose of that example is not to push the Corinthians simply toward good conduct. These were examples, “that we might not desire evil as they did.” The people of Israel all “did” the same things, but the problem was with their desires. They wanted evil, and they did not please God. The passage heads toward a warning for those who are self-confident (a real danger for those who are diligent to obey conduct-focused preaching!)

Paul pushes beyond behavior in Romans 15:1-7 – The Old Testament was written for instruction, but the goal goes beyond conformity to conduct codes. Paul is pushing for a vertical and horizontal outworking in the context of relationships. The fruit of the instruction is supposed to be hope, mutual harmony and participation in the worship of the Father through the Son.

Biblical characters are responsive humans, not conduct models – In every narrative we see real people living in a standard set of circumstances. That is, they live in a fallen world, swimming in the post-Genesis 3 world of autonomy from God. And they live in a world where God is inviting them to respond to His Word. Some respond in fear, others in faith. To simply look at a godly individual and then make the application to go copy their conduct is like telling a small boy to watch motorcycle racing and then go do the same on his bicycle. He may deceive himself by leaning forward and making engine noises, but the reality is missing. We have a lot of people in churches acting like Christians, but the performance is a charade because the reality of a living union with Christ by His Spirit has been overlooked in the effort to act like virtuous biblical heroes.

Godly conduct is profoundly important. But for it to be real, it must come from the depths of a heart vivified and responsive to Christ, it will not come from copying the externals of exemplary individuals while ignoring the inner realities of those people as they walked with God.

Beware of Exemplar Christi Preaching

February 19, 2013September 11, 2015 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Ok, the latin in the title was completely unnecessary, but perhaps it provokes the question: what am I referring to? It is a common and not altogether inappropriate form of preaching. It is probably occurring in a significant number of sermons every Sunday. It can even be justified biblically. But I’d like to wave a warning flag.

Exemplar Christi preaching is where Jesus is offered as an example to us. An example for us to copy. He is the model, so go thou and do likewise. Some quick points to provoke our pondering:

1. He is an example to us, but first and foremost he is Christ to us. Jesus did not come primarily to offer a role model, but to give himself in order to bring us into a relationship with God. In that relationship he is exemplary in lots of ways, but the goal is fellowship, not cloning.

2. Exemplar preaching tends to focus on outward conduct, but the Bible treats us as inside-out creatures. There is a longstanding tradition of pursuing spirituality by an outside-to-in approach. Do the right thing and everything else will follow. The problem is that some longstanding traditions trace their roots right back to a hissing individual in a garden. The Bible points to the inner issues of heart and spirit . . . is the heart transformed by the presence of the life and love of God, the Spirit? If it isn’t, then out of it will spew all forms of ungodliness, including self-righteous pseudo-godliness.

3. Exemplar preaching points to empowerment, but often an inadequate form of it. Of course, we can only copy Christ by the empowerment of the Spirit. However, the Spirit’s empowerment is often portrayed as a battery recharge for our personal efforts, rather than the very presence of life itself due to our union with Christ by His Spirit.

4. Make application an issue of response, not just an issue of copying. Preach Christ and encourage response to Him. Don’t just preach Christ and then, typically, encourage replication of His behaviours. We go into our mission in this world with Christ, not just copying Him (I am with you always). We approach and worship the Father with Christ. We seek to build up the church with Christ. He certainly is an example to us, but we don’t go into the week with an image of a distant Jesus in our minds. We go into the week in relationship to a present Jesus in our hearts by His Spirit, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Three Applicational Emphases in Preaching Deuteronomy

February 18, 2013 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Christians tend to view the books of Moses as a flat collection of laws. Many tend not to distinguish the progression within the books, both in terms of the progression of revelation of law (in response to progressive sin and failure), as well as the progression in generations. Deuteronomy is anything but flat. Here we have a new generation and the aged Moses giving his parting-shot sermon to the people he has seen grow up in the wilderness. There is a passion in Moses and a unique opportunity set before the people. Don’t miss the following applicational emphases in the book:

1. God’s loving instruction. It would be a gross misrepresentation to turn Deuteronomy into a flat book of laws and codes. Through Moses God is communicating a loving desire for the people to thrive as His people, to be blessed, to prosper in the land, etc. It is easy to communicate threat without love, or warning without motive.

2. The danger of comfort. Surely a people who had watched their parents die in the wilderness, who had heard stories and perhaps remembered their miraculous deliverance from Pharoah and his armies, who had seen the miraculous as children and as adults, surely such a people would be well situated to thrive in the land before them? Deuteronomy repeatedly warns of the dangers of forgetting. We humans can struggle to remember. Especially when things are going well and we are comfortable. Perhaps Deuteronomy should be preached in our culture once a year? It wouldn’t be wasted!

3. The motives of obedience. God certainly lays out for the people the expected obedience. What would it look like for them to be faithful to the marital arrangement that is set before them? Obedience, of course. But Deuteronomy never lets us settle for an outward conformity. Just as in a human marriage there is no satisfaction in ritual and plastic obedience, so in relationship with God the core issue must be the heart. That is what needs to be circumcised. How easily we turn loving instruction into self-concerned ritualistic obedience. Even in these days God knew that ultimately it would take a prophet greater than Moses to capture the hearts of a straying humanity.

Delivery Dynamics: Are You You?

February 14, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

One of the biggest challenges in sermon delivery is being yourself. Preaching is not about performing. It is not about taking on a new persona. A pulpit voice should be a thing of the past. People don’t trust performances.

Are you you? Three thoughts to ponder:

1. Being Natural Is Not Natural – When we walk up to the pulpit we step into an unnatural environment. People sitting in rows and looking up at us is not normal. Consequently, our presentation will be anything but natural if we just “go with the flow” and try to be ourselves. It takes work for movement, gesture, expression, voice, etc., to come across as natural and authentic. Remember, if people feel it is frozen, forced or fake, they will subconsciously not trust the preacher.

2. Breaking the Froze-Zone – The default reaction is to freeze. I have heard many people say something like this, “when I ran through it earlier it was so natural and free-flowing, but then I went to preach it and I froze.” That is normal. Our voices become restricted to a narrow zone of pitch with a constant level of volume and a clipped (often too rapid) pace. Our gestures become limited in variety and extent. Our expressions become as fixed as a wedding photo shoot, typically without the smile. Our movements become rigid and awkward. This is natural. Thus we need to work to break out of that fro-zone in order to come across without conveying nervousness and tension.

3. Don’t Be Too Much – Some people are more successful than others at breaking the frozen effect. They can end up going too far. While it is true that gestures need to be larger to look natural in front of a larger group of listeners, it is possible to go over the top. This can be physical excess, or vocal excess, or even content excess (beware of feeding off nervous energy and turning into a bad comedian). Dare I say it, some personalities are naturally over the top and putting them in a pulpit can make for an uncomfortable situation. If there is a chance that this applies to you, pray and then ask some trusted advisers. Not easy, but better to know than to unknowingly make others suffer.

Delivery Dynamics: Do They Trust?

February 13, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Delivery matters because communication does. We have considered two important questions: can they hear and will they listen? Another important consideration relates to how listeners perceive the speaker.

Do They Trust?

There are many factors that influence whether listeners will trust or distrust the speaker. For instance:

1. Eye Contact. You wouldn’t buy a car from someone who refuses to look at you. Shifty eyes are a real turn off. If someone wanted to tell you about a wonderful place they visited, but kept hesitating and checking some notes, you might be suspicious. Eye contact is massively important in the whole package of sermon delivery. Whatever we can do to maximize appropriate eye contact, let’s do it. Don’t skip around or you’ll seem flighty and untrustworthy. Don’t linger too long or you’ll communicate intimidation or intimacy. But do make and maintain meaningful eye contact with listeners if you want them to trust what you are saying.

2. Belief. Bert Decker’s book, You Have to Believe to be Heard, is well worth a read. We are able, as listeners, to perceive whether someone believes what they are saying. The signals are made up of multiple factors in tone, articulation, gesture, expression, posture, etc. If people perceive cockiness, that won’t help. But if they don’t perceive belief, they won’t trust.

3. Body Language. So what are some of these visual signals of conviction? If something is important, then not only should the words chosen reflect that, but the communication of our bodies should reinforce it. A confident and secure posture is important. Don’t stand awkwardly and squirm. Be seen. Don’t hide behind a heavy pulpit, be as visible as possible. Leaning forward tends to underline an important point. Appropriate gestures help. Leave the hands in pockets casual look for a casual illustration.

Delivery Dynamics: Will They Listen

February 12, 2013February 13, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Yesterday I pondered the question “Can they hear?” and thought about projection, pronunciation and pace. But that is only one layer of a bigger issue. Here’s a follow up question:

Will they listen? Just because people technically can hear the preacher, this doesn’t mean that they want to listen. Here are three factors to ponder:

1. Personal Warmth. Dogs can tell when they are not liked. So can congregations. If the preacher lacks personal warmth, then the listeners may feel more critical of the preacher, or they may tune out what they perceive to be a critical spirit toward them. There is no need to act like syrup and present a fake flattery (people see through that, of course). But genuine warmth and care is critical to creating a true communication connection.

2. Prideful Attitude. Many people have a sensitive radar when it comes to personal pride. They can spot any hint of it in others (even while being oblivious to their own profound problems with pride!) So be careful not to show off, to drop names, to seek to impress, to be proactively self-conscious. When listeners thinking you are prideful, they tend to stop being good listeners.

3. Provocatively Annoying. Not to put too fine a point on it, don’t be annoying. I could list any number of habits that preachers might develop that might annoy their listeners, but the best way to find out is to humbly ask a few trusted listeners and be willing to listen to them. It could be a matter of a gesture, or a vocal habit, or a strategy for interaction, or whatever. It would be a shame for people to choose not to listen to your message because something you are doing is annoying to them.

Can they hear? Will they listen? Two key questions in considering the dynamics of delivery.

Delivery Dynamics: Can They Hear?

February 11, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

I have been pondering the issue of sermon delivery again today. Part of the reason is that I am leading a workshop on the subject this evening. I don’t want to go over the whole rationale for even engaging the subject. I know some are prone to suggest that to give any consideration to delivery is to fall into entertainment and performance, or to fail to trust the Spirit of God. Maybe I’ll come back and offer some thoughts on why that is not the case. But for now I’d like to offer a basic pairing of key issues:

Can they hear? If the people in the meeting cannot hear what is said, then communication is not happening. No amount of good content will overcome the fundamental flaw of not being heard. Three factors to consider:

1. Projection. The preacher needs to project their voice. Even if you have a microphone, preach as if you don’t (without shouting) and let the experts on the sound desk adjust accordingly. Some people assume a microphone will pick up and amplify sound that barely has the strength to make it across the few inches to the black foam. Shouting and straining may harm your vocal clarity and make it so listeners don’t want to hear you, but lack of projection can be just as frustrating.

2. Pronunciation. You don’t need to put on an accent that is not your own. You are preaching, not reading the news. But be lovingly sensitive to those present, and adjust as necessary to allow them to make out the words you are saying. Mumbled words are not casual, they are unloving. Practice moving the mouth a little more and make sure the words and sounds are articulated.

3. Pace. You will often hear people talking about how the pace should not be too quick. It is certainly possible to overdo the pace, but the human mind can cope with quick speech. That is, as long as the words are distinct, and the pace is not sustained for too long. So beware of going too fast, but also recognize that some listeners cannot tolerate it when a speaker goes too slowly, either.

Tomorrow I’ll probe another question that will take us to a new level on the issue of delivery dynamics.

Three Thoughts in Preaching Numbers

February 9, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

I have to admit that Numbers is not a book that I rush toward. The main reason for this is that I have not studied it in depth and so should probably preach it in order to develop my appreciation. Nonetheless, here are three thoughts from reading it through these last few days.

1. Faith does not automatically flow from the miraculous. Many people assume that if we could just see something miraculous, then we’d believe. After all, if we could just see God doing wonders in our midst then the culture would come flocking. Numbers again underlines that even God’s people don’t automatically respond in faith to observed wonders, so assuming others will is presumptuous. Water from a rock, a budding staff, the ground swallowing rebels, and consequently that generation were a people of faith? Not quite. The issue is not what we see, but how our hearts perceive what we see. If we don’t want to believe, no amount of miraculous intervention will guarantee true faith.

2. The Law’s community function did not generate faith. The nation that had started with one man, become twelve men, then seventy, then hundreds of thousands needed to be constrained and ordered. Their sin and rebellion had led to a growing statute book and legal code. By the time we get to Numbers we might assume that being a people with well defined laws meant they were ready to believe and trust God. Caleb and Joshua are the glorious exceptions. The ten spies didn’t. The people didn’t. Even Moses didn’t. In fact, rather than getting caught up in what Moses actually did wrong in chapter 20, perhaps the writer is vague on the errant action to point us to underlying faith issues. The great leader under the Law who disobeys God through lack of faith (Num.20:12) seems to contrast with the great man of faith before Law who kept God’s commands (compare and contrast Gen.26:5).

3. God’s promise plan is not thwarted even when the faithless miss out. It is important to help listeners know that Numbers sits in the flow of the Pentateuch, rather than as a stand-alone collection of stories. God’s plan to bless the world back in the beginning of Genesis was articulated clearly in his promise to Abram. By the end of Genesis the seed promise has grown into an extended family, with blessing to all families reiterated in the blessing of Judah by Jacob. That nation through which the blessing would come is born in Exodus despite the three-fold attempt by Pharoah to curse the “too numerous people.” At the other end of the wilderness sojourn we see another king seeking three times to curse a “too numerous” Israel. Again, the attempts to curse God’s nation lead only to their blessing. Thus the promise to Abraham marches on, with just Deuteronomy left: a sermonic call for circumcised hearts and love for God from the new generation heading into the dangerous place of security and peace.

Three Themes to Preach from Leviticus

February 7, 2013 / Peter Mead / 4 Comments

I admit it, I haven’t preached through Leviticus. For many people it is the book that undoes their read through (my suggestion? Read faster and get the sweeping history rather than trying to meticulously study through Leviticus every time . . . and keep the pace through the rest of the Bible too!) So I haven’t preached it, but I can say this: when I preached the whole Bible in a single message, the key text came from Leviticus.

So here are three themes that are worth pondering, both in preaching Leviticus itself, and for preaching elsewhere:

1. Worship and Atonement. Leviticus launches with seven chapters on sacrificial offerings, then builds to the climactic Day of Atonement description in chapter 16. It is too easy to preach from the New Testament and make vague references to “Old Testament sacrifices” and how glad we are not to have to do them. As a preacher it would be well worth reading this section closely enough to be able to describe what was involved in “all those sacrifices.” Can we really grasp all that Jesus has done for us if we are basically unaware of the system in place prior to His sacrifice?

2. Living and Loving. The priestly code of early Leviticus flowed out of the conclusion to Exodus (and the terrible golden calf incident). But then in Leviticus 17 there is a passing reference to another ghastly failure, this time on the part of the people: worshipping goat demons. What follows is yet more law, this time focusing in on the people who needed to live with one another and love one another in light of who the LORD is. In the midst of this section we find the seven Mosaic feasts described in chapter 23. Again, to preach the New Testament effectively we need to know our way around the annual feasts of Israel.

3. Living in God’s Presence. So the last time I preached the whole Bible in a single message, what text proved pivotal? It came from Leviticus. It is about living in God’s presence. Sounds like it will feel like a pressure passage pushing us to live holy lives so we might be able to approach God? Not quite. The anticipation of Leviticus 26:11-12 shows God’s desire to dwell with His people, a desire that shows throughout the canon and culminates the whole story in Revelation 21.