How to . . . ?

Most Important Element in Introduction?

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

We’ve considered the various elements of an introduction before. The need to grab attention, build communication rapport, surface a need, move listeners into the text and the message. I’d like to underline the one that is probably neglected more than the others, yet it is the one we should never forget.

Another way of thinking about the “surface need” element of the introduction is to call it relevance. In the introduction, as a listener, I want to know …

This speaker is relevant to me. I don’t want to listen to somebody that is out of touch with the real world. Please give me confidence that you are a relevant speaker.

This message is relevant to me. If I am a normal listener, I have not come to church excited for a historical lecture. Please give me confidence that this message will be relevant to my life. If you leave application and relevance until the end of the message (traditional approach) then I may well miss it (to be absent from the body may not mean being present with the Lord, if you see what I mean?)

This passage is relevant to me. I would be thrilled to open up my Bible with expectation and motivation, hungry to understand it and be changed by it. As the preacher you need to create that motivation during your introduction.

Relevance in the introduction really is a great ingredient!

Necessary and Possible

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In simple terms, how much of a message should be spent on explaining the passage, and how much should be spent on applying it?

Spend as much time as necessary explaining the passage. If you don’t explain the passage, your application will lack authority.  People need to understand the meaning of the passage, they need to see how the details of the text work together to convey the main point.  They need to see how it fits in the flow of the section.  They need to have confidence that any application you present is built firmly on the teaching of the passage.

Spend as much time as possible applying the passage. Once people understand the meaning of the passage, they need to see how it relates to their life.  In fact, don’t fall into the trap of explaining and then applying as two sequential elements in the sermon.  Certainly application will show up at the end and be significant in the conclusion, but it should also present itself right at the start, in the introduction, in the wording of the main idea and in the phrasing of the main points of the message.  However, proportionately, this guideline is important to bear in mind – give as much application as possible.

Don’t reverse these guidelines! It is easy to get this backwards and end up giving as much explanation as possible.  After all, you may have spent hours digging in the text.  You were excited by all that you learnt.  You enjoy Bible study.  Therefore it is easy to make a sermon an exegetical information dump.  Don’t.  Select carefully and give what is necessary, but don’t over-prove, don’t overwhelm.  Make sure you never skimp on connecting the truth of God’s Word into the nitty gritty of real life.

Simple guidelines, but I find them helpful.

Authority and Preaching

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

The issue of authority in preaching is important.  As preachers, you and I don’t have authority in ourselves.  Some may hold a position of authority in the local church polity, but that is not the same thing.  Certainly in most cultures the preacher is not perceived to have an inherent social authority as they may have in the past.  What’s more, we live in an age when authority is being undermined and challenged at every level.  Perhaps we stand to preach and authority is an issue from the past?  Perhaps today the only concern should be authenticity, relevance and connection?

Or perhaps we should stir up some authority by means of our manner, hiding any hint of personal vulnerability, or pushing our church position or expertise?  Just as there is much non-authoritative preaching, so there is much pseudo-authoritative preaching, and even authoritarian preaching.  What we need is authoritative preaching.

A commitment to expository preaching involves being clear on this: to the extent that we accurately present, explain and apply the Scripture, our preaching has authority.  As a well-known theologian once wrote – when the Bible speaks, God speaks.

I’m not wanting to get into debates about what that means and how it might be abused by some.  I just want us to ponder this truth today as we contemplate preaching again.  To the extent that we accurately present, explain and apply the Scripture, we preach with authority.  The church, the world…we all need to hear from God.  Not our opinions, our advice, our suggestions.  From God.   As preachers let’s be sure we are not a part of the problem, but humble conduits for that authoritative Word.

Limit, No Limit

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

When it comes to preaching there are fewer rules than people might think.  Some like to impose significant amounts of structure on the preaching event, but in reality there are few limits involved.  There may be some limits imposed by the culture and heritage of a church – congregational traditions – and it is wise to think carefully before smashing through those expectations in an attempt to be creative.  However, these limits vary from place to place and it is possible, once trust is established, to carefully adjust such expectations.

However, putting aside the idiosyncracies of specific congregations (and the key change monitors who might take it on themselves to preserve order!), the whole issue of limits seems to come down to two principles:

1. To have integrity as a biblical preacher, I must be constrained by the true meaning of the passage I am preaching. This is the one limit that must be in place.  We commit to preaching the true meaning of the text.  To the best of our ability we must strive to understand what was intended in the preaching text.  We cannot preach on anything from anywhere in the Bible.  Sometimes the pursuit of being “interesting” and “relevant” undermines the exegetical integrity of our ministry.  We need this limit firmly in place.

2. To be effective as a biblical preacher, I have freedom in the formation of the sermon and its delivery during preaching. What shape should a sermon take?  What style of delivery should be used?  Matters of form are matters of freedom for the preacher.  Different texts, different circumstances, different occasions, even different listeners, can all prompt different sermon shape and delivery style.  At this level our goal is effectiveness in communication.  We do not need unnecessary limits in place to hinder our effectiveness.

Sadly too many preachers settle into a predictable pattern where there is freedom – in form and delivery.  And too many choose freedom where there is a limit – in the meaning of the text.  Let’s be sure to get our limit and our no limits the right way around!

Patient Expectation

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Preaching ministry requires patience, not just passion.  It requires prayer, not just power.  It is about long-term faithfulness, not just fireworks.  As we head into another Sunday, let’s keep our thinking straight.  God is at work in the lives of His people, Christ is building His church, the Spirit is working all week in all manner of ways.  We stand to preach and we do so as part of God’s greater work in and through the church.

We should preach with prayer-fueled passion and faith-filled expectation.  Yet we must also preach with patient trust in God’s timing.  We preach for the small step forward unheralded during the handshakes and not just the dramatic outbreak of revival heralded in the Christian press.  We preach for small pieces of an invisible puzzle to move into place, for links to be added to a private chain, for unannounced questions to be answered in the quiet of a struggling heart.  Every Sunday cannot be earth-shaking, but every Sunday can be eternity-shaping.

We preach not for the glory of man, but for the glory of God.  So often His glory is tied to his loving patience and not just to His dramatic outpourings for the content of another bestselling paperback.  As we’ve said before, so we must say again this Sunday – we preach by faith.  By faith trusting that the God who is the same yesterday, today and forever, will as always be working out His purposes in far too many ways for us to realize.  We know the end of the story, so let’s not lose heart during the quieter chapters when so much is achieved behind the scenes, in the hearts, in private struggles, in personal journeys.  Let’s preach today with prayerful, faith-filled, passionate, and indeed, patient expectation.

Preach It From The Right Passage

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

It is a temptation that we all face at one time or another.  We have a passage to preach and there is something in the passage that moves our mind somewhere else in the canon.  Perhaps a term, a theological issue, a familiar concept.  Then we are tempted to preach the other text using this one.  I remember taking a distance learning course once on the Pastoral Epistles, but the lecturer obviously would have preferred to be in Romans as he kept going back there!

I was just listening to Walter Kaiser teaching on Genesis 4.  He pointed out how we so readily want to read in a Leviticus 17 focus (“blood sacrifice”) while the text of Genesis 4 places the emphasis not on the sacrifice type, but on the state of the man as he offered what he offered (“first fruits” being significant on the part of Abel).  My goal here is not to teach Genesis 4, I’ll leave you to sort out tradition from exegesis on that passage.  My point is that we must always try to preach the passage we have before us, rather than reading in a concept that would be better taught in a passage that really teaches it.

The Bible has so much in it, but that doesn’t mean we can preach anything from any passage . . . or even multiple things from any passage.  Let’s be sure to preach the Word!

Why We Preach

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Where there is no vision, the people perish . . . so starts a well-known, oft-quoted and usually misunderstood proverb (Proverbs 29:18).  The second half of the proverb completes the thought and makes it clear that this is not about having vision statements, 5-year plans and strategic documents (good as those all are).  It is about a word from the Lord.  Where there is no word from the Lord, the people go wild, they cut loose, they sin with abandon.  The same verb is used twice of the Israelites sinning out of control with the golden calf (they weren’t just dancing – Exo.32:25!)  It is used to describe the wickedness promoted by King Ahaz (2Chron.28:19).

So as you continue to prepare for Sunday, remember how important it is that God’s people hear the word of the Lord.  If we consistently fail to preach the Word, the results will become evident.  Whether or not you have a vision statement in the church, make sure the Word of God is preached clearly, accurately, faithfully and applicatonally.

Ingredients of Delivery: Biblical Narratives 3

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I just wanted to add one more important ingredient to the list.  We need to describe well and preach dynamically.  To effectively preach the story, we also need . . .

High Definition Imagination – To put it simply, if you can see it, they will see it.  Instead of just describing “about” the story, we need to describe the story.  We need to study well so that the image forms in our mind, then we need to describe what we can see as we tell the story.  We need to be careful to preach the inspired text, rather than the event itself.  However, in preaching the text, we do describe the event/story.  If that is merely facts, it will not communicate well.  If it is a foggy view through the mists of time, then people will only hear the fog.  But if we can study ourselves through to a point of clarity, then we have a chance of preaching so that the reality of the narrative forms in the minds and hearts of the listeners.

This certainly overlaps with description skill, but all the skill in the world will fall flat if we do not have a high definition imagination that is thoroughly informed by Scripture.  We have to see it, if they are to see it.

Ingredients of Delivery: Biblical Narratives 2

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Yesterday we noted how critical description is in the telling of a Bible story.  Today I’d like to mention another key ingredient.  Without thinking through this, your preaching of that Bible story will not be what it could be.

Dynamism – Stories move.  They have tension, movement, interaction, emotion.  We cannot tell a story while standing like a four-storey building.  We need to consider motion, body language, and emotion in voice, face and gesture.  Consider how to physically and subtly represent the movement of the story on the platform.  Always point to Goliath in the same direction, generally let time flow from left to right from their perspective, etc.  Stories move.  Good storytellers generally do too.  And the best storytellers move physically, in gesture and in expression in a way that is consistently natural!  Being natural takes work!

Effective description and engaging dynamism . . . two critical ingredients for the effective preaching of biblical narratives.

Ingredients of Delivery: Biblical Narratives

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

When it comes to preaching a Bible story, many skills come into play.  I would like to mention a couple for your consideration.  In the next weeks many will be preaching story, even those who tend to stay rooted in the epistles.  So what is needed for effective delivery of a Bible story?  One thing is important to mention before we get to the delivery . . . when you are preaching a Bible story, tell the story!  Don’t just dissect it, label it, apply it, etc., but fail to tell it.  Stories are powerful, so let them loose on your listeners.  Here’s the first key skill, another is coming tomorrow:

Description – Good stories form in the imagination of the listener.  In the old days people would crowd around a crackling radio to catch the latest installment of a powerful story.  Ever since there were children, stories have been told to captivate, excite, scare and encourage.  In recent generations the visual media of television and film have overwhelmed the traditional theatrical presentation of story.  Either on the screen, or on the screen of the mind, a good story forms images, it can be “seen.”  When we preach we need to tell the story in such a way that people aren’t hearing information, but seeing the images.  Description is not easy, but it is worth working on.  Accurate description is important, but so too is sensory description – what it looked like, what the sounds were, the smells, the touch, the taste.  We need to grow in our awareness of and use of adjectives.  Not to show off obscure vocabulary, but to effectively describe so that the story can form for the listener.  When was the last time you read quality descriptive literature?  (And I don’t mean description of kenosis or intra-trinitarian relationality!)

To tell story well, we must describe well.  Practice in your conversations today, practice on your children, seek to develop this skill . . . your preaching will benefit every week!