Homiletics

Prayer, Preaching, Professionalism?

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

 

Is there any stage of the preaching process that we should not be bathing in prayer? When people are first exposed to training in homiletics there is often an initial concern. Is this “process” reducing a highly spiritual ministry to a series of stages, techniques and professionalism? That would depend on the instructor, but I’d hope the answer would be no.

We should be praying at every stage. We should prayerfully select the passage and make sure it is a true literary unit. We should prayerfully study the passage and determine author’s purpose and idea. We should prayerfully consider our congregation and determine appropriate sermon purpose, idea, strategy and details. We should even pray about delivery, and of course we should be praying for the people as well as ourselves throughout the process.

Prayer does not result in a bypass around the work. Praying as we select the passage does not mean we will receive direct revelatory guidance about what to preach. Praying during passage study and sermon preparation does not excuse us from the long hours of wrestling with the text or the often grueling work of crafting the preaching idea, and so on. So we don’t pray begging for a hard work bypass. If we do receive an objective direct revelation then we should obey, but prayer is not primarily about that. Prayer is a lot about dependence, about humility, about asking for wisdom as we do our part of His work.

Let us be preachers who do not shy away from the work involved in our ministry, but let us also be preachers who never fail to pray at every stage in the process.

Preaching – Spiritual Gifts, Learned Skills And . . .? – Part 2

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Yesterday we considered spiritual gifting and learned skill. I would like to add two more elements into the mix today. Two things we should dwell on in regard to preaching:

Spiritual Element of Preaching – In the old days this slightly intangible element was called “unction.” Today many tend to refer to “anointing.” Effective preaching takes more than gifting and training. There is that intangible aspect closely tied to personal spirituality, prayer, and the mystery of divine enabling. Personal holiness should be above reproach. There are various factors in this, but no guaranteed recipe.

Personal Passion for Preaching – This is not a passion for personal glory or attention. Vanity and pride should be abhorred in pulpit ministry. But I refer to that burning in the bones, that deeply felt desire to study and communicate God’s Word. Perhaps this is partially a gift issue, or an anointing issue, but it is an issue worthy of consideration.

These four elements all beg further thought. Should you preach this Sunday? Should I? Can we not? Why?

Preaching – Spiritual Gifts, Learned Skills, And . . . ?

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Is it possible to have the gift and preach poorly?  Is it possible to not have the gift and preach well?  If I have a group of 20 students in a preaching class, should the gifted ones ignore the class because they have the gift, and should those without the gift ignore the class because they can’t preach anyway?  My question is not should everyone ignore me, that’s a different issue.  My question is about who should preach, what does it involve?

Gifting for Preaching – A good starting point is to note that the lists of spiritual gifts do not include a gift of preaching.  There is a gift of teaching, but is that the only gift that might be helpful from the pulpit?  What about evangelist, exhortation, leadership, pastor, etc.?  Many of the gifts can be a real asset to pulpit ministry.  I am certainly not saying everyone should preach, but perhaps an individual motivated to try preaching should not dwell primarily on whether they have the right gift or not.  There is more to it than that.

Skilled for Preaching – Whatever gifting one has, it is important to be a good steward of that gifting.  We should “fan into flame” what God has put in us.  This will involve not only use of our gifts, but also training, mentoring, personal discipline, reading, etc.  It is possible to be gifted appropriately but preach poorly.  So we should seek to develop our skills in preaching, but there is still more to it.  It is possible to have appropriate skills (perhaps from a secular work environment like teaching), but not be an effective preacher.  Why?  Maybe lack of spiritual gifting, or maybe . . .

Maybe there’s more to take into account.  In part 2 we will consider two more elements of the preaching equation.

Craving Authenticity

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Our culture has shifted and is shifting.  Certainly in the west there is now a deep mistrust of inauthentic communication.  For example the slick sales pitch of a car salesperson twenty or thirty years ago has largely morphed into a seemingly more authentic approach today.  In reality much of sales communication is learned pseudo-authenticity.  Nevertheless it reflects how things have changed.  People don’t appreciate spin, slick patter or unnatural performance.  This is also true in the church.  People do not respond well to, or respect, the pulpiteering style of previous generations.  Pulpit-pounding ear bashing does not stir as some suggest it did in the past.  So what are we to do?

Work on delivery so that the real you can come through.  Working on eye contact, body language, gesturing, inflection of voice and so on should be done not in order to perform, but to effectively be yourself.  Obviously we all have aspects of communciation style that could be improved, so we should do that.  However, our goal is not to learn a pulpit style or persona.  Our goal is to allow the real person to communicate really effectively.

Be in your message.  People want not only authentic style of delivery, but also authenticity in content.  That means we cannot hide ourselves.  We should wisely place ourselves with appropriate vulnerability into our messages.  As Haddon Robinson says, “don’t be the hero or the jerk” – it is not nice to listen to someone showing off, nor do we want to listen to someone without credibility.  So look for ways to show yourself, but carefully so you don’t overwhelm or undermine the message.

Expository Misunderstanding

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For many people the term “expository preaching” carries negative baggage. Often this baggage relates to some restrictive view of what is meant by it. Dry, dull, lifeless, canned – these are all possible, but not required. Irrelevant is also added to the list, but technically that is not even possible. John Stott notes that “all true preaching is expository preaching.” But he does not mean form, he means content. “In expository preaching the biblical text is neither a conventional introduction to a sermon on a largely different theme, nor a convenient peg on which to hang a ragbag of miscellaneous thoughts, but a master which dictates and controls what is said.” (Between Two Worlds)

Let us be clear that expository preaching is a philosophy of preaching, not a form of preaching. It is about the authority, centrality and influence exerted by the biblical text in the preaching process and event.

Our goal, as expositors, is to communicate the meaning of the text relevantly to our listeners. Biblical text, relevantly communicated. We can use whatever form we deem to be both appropriate and effective. Form is not the issue. There is great freedom, in many ways there are no rules, but we must seek to communicate the meaning of the text in a way that has applicational relevance to our listeners. Any definition of expository preaching that defines form is a misunderstanding.

Break the Routine

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Some who read this blog are pastors/ministers who preach every week, perhaps multiple times per week.  Others are “normal” people who preach regularly as well as holding down “non-preaching” jobs as well.  Either way, it is easy to get into a routine. Perhaps a weekly routine where Monday’s are off, but Tuesday’s are back in the process preparing another message.  Perhaps a routine where the mind has space to think ahead a little and prepare several weeks out, but still always preparing.

As well as having a weekly day-off, consider also the value of a break in the preaching routine.  This may mean a formal sabbatical for three months or longer.  Or it may mean scheduling a couple of Sundays out of the pulpit.  Either way, it will allow space for others to gain experience in the pulpit, or for your congregation to benefit from another voice.  More importantly for this post it will free up your routine enough to enjoy some study of your own choice.  It will allow you to recharge your preaching batteries and refresh your motivation for the ministry.

I’m not saying you should take next Sunday off.  But I think it is healthy to know when the next break will be.  Perhaps it’s time to take a look in the schedule and see what the horizon looks like?

Piper’s Ten Tips from Edwards

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The final chapter of The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper contains ten lessons from the preaching and writing of Jonathan Edwards. I’d like to list all, but highlight a handful for us this morning.

So here’s a list of half of the ten. Preachers should Saturate with Scripture their messages, and employ analogies and images, driving the teaching home with use of threat and warning. They should plead for a response and be intense. It is easy to see where Piper received his greatest preaching influence. Now the other half:

Stir up holy affections – Edwards was right in recognizing that the theological tradition he was such a big part of can easily fall into a mind and will centered anthropology. He was not an advocate for unthinking fervor, for the preacher must also enlighten the mind. However, if all the preacher does is educate the brain and pressure the will, he is missing the driving seat of a person, namely the affections. This is a lesson we would all do well to ponder biblically. Hence we should probe the workings of the heart.

Yield to the Holy Spirit in prayer – the preaching event is such a divine working that we are foolish to lean on our own “professionalism” as communicators. Who among us would say that their ministry has enough or too much prayer in it? For our preaching to reflect the Christlikeness that it should, we must be broken and tender-hearted – a fruit, in part, of much prayer.

Review: The Supremacy of God in Preaching, by John Piper

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pipersupremacy.jpg

This is neither a how-to manual, nor a full theology of preaching, but it does make a definite contribution to the field.  The book is divided in two parts.  The first part is a series of lectures Piper gave at Gordon-Conwell Seminary on the subject of preaching.  The second part is a series of lectures given at Wheaton College, focused on Jonathan Edwards; his life, theology and preaching.

In his typical style, Piper diagnoses the problem of the church as one which can be remedied by a prescription for the pulpit.  “People are starving for the greatness of God.”  What people need is God, whether or not they want Him as the focus of the preaching.  This kind of “God-entranced preaching” can only flourish in churches where the Bible is esteemed as inspired and inerrant.  Piper calls for preaching that holds in dynamic tension the greatness of God through preaching with gravity, and at the same time a glorious gladness that comes from the gospel.  Such preaching requires that the preacher be diligent in steady, constant and frequent Bible study.

Piper followed advice he was given in seminary, to find one great evangelical theologian and immerse himself in that man’s writings and life.  He chose Jonathan Edwards and so the second part of the book provides a brief summary of that study as it relates to preaching.  After a brief biography and theological review, his final chapter delineates ten principle lessons from Edwards on the subject of preaching.

This book is short and a quick read, but worthwhile.  The main themes of the book are definitely worth taking on board, although if taken to an extreme the reader would feel obliged to throw out every lesson in preaching and communication that has been learned in the centuries since Edwards.  Piper writes as a response to problems he perceives in the contemporary pulpit, so at times his pendulum is swung too far the other way.  However, the basic premise is spot on, people need preaching that is both grave and glad in its presentation of our greatest need, God Himself.

If you have never read Piper, then by all means get a taste here.  If you have read Piper and found each book to be more of the same, then this is still worth reading because of its specific focus on preaching.  Read, enjoy the motivation, accept any rebuke that is deserved and prayerfully consider before God how to integrate this book into your personal philosophy and practice of preaching.

Illustrations of Relevance

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

The whole subject of illustrations in preaching is worthy of consideration.  For some of us, it is a constant struggle.  For others it seems to be an effortless delight.  Here are some points to ponder:

1. Determine the purpose of an illustration.  Instead of placing an illustration in a message just because it has been a while since the last one, try to define the purpose for one at this point.  Is it there to explain and clarify the point?  Or is it intended to support or prove the point?  Or is it moving the listener toward application of the point?  These are the three ways any idea can be developed, so these are the three things that an illustration can do.  There is one other option – an illustration can provide a temporary break allowing for a moment of humor.  This may be legitimate, but choose to do so purposefully.

2. Remember that experience is better than mere knowledge.  People will connect more effectively with something they have experience of than something they only know about.  Thus an illustration taken from common experience (such as choosing the shortest line of people and then seeing every other line go faster) is usually more effective than known but not experienced (such as an astronaut walking on the moon).

3.  Their experience is worth more than yours.  Ideally you will find illustrations that both you and they have experienced (then you can visualize and describe effectively, and they can see what you describe).  But if you can’t get both, try to find illustrations from their experience rather than yours.  Obviously this is not always possible, but worth it when you can pull it off.

4. There is a weakest form of illustration.  This is one that is outside both your and your listeners’ experience and knowledge.  This will often take the form of an obscure story from times gone by and distant lands.  These are usually found in books of “5 Million Preaching Illustrations.”  Sometimes these will fit and work relatively well.  Usually not.  

Don’t give a steady diet of illustrations lacking in clear purpose or audience relevance.  Let us try our hardest to come up with the best we can, then when Sunday comes, go with what we’ve got!

Evaluating Outlines

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The outline of a sermon is important.  Even though it may not always show clearly to the listeners, it must be clear to you the preacher.  So when you have an outline, how can you evaluate it to make sure it is a good one?

1. Look for the unity of the sermon.  When all pieces (points or movements) in an outline are considered, the whole idea should be adequately covered and supported.  At the same time, the whole biblical text should be adequately covered.  This should be saying the same thing since both the outline and the idea should take into account the entire text.

2. Look for the order of the sermon.  The elements of an outline should move forward in an order that makes sense, and often in the order of the text (although this is not a requirement).

3. Look for proportion in the sermon.  This does not mean that every point has to cover the same number of verses, but the points should be proportional to their relative weight in the sermon.  Often the points will be roughly equal in importance and length.  At other times you may have two or three briefer points  and one more major point.  In this case a briefer point should be clearly briefer in the outline.  Is briefer a word?

4. Look for progress in the sermon.  Each point or movement should convey the message forward.  Listeners do not enjoy the feeling of standing still or moving backwards in a message.  This is similar to point 2 above, but also different.  Order has to make sense.  Progress has to be felt.

Outlining is not about jumping through a homiletical hoop.  It is about accurately reflecting your thought, the structure of the message, in a visible form.  With the outline in hand, you can then evaluate not only an outline, but the message itself.