Application as Looking

June 10, 2011May 29, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

We hear about preaching needing application. Some end up at one extreme offering to-do lists for successful living that make the Bibles bulge (and the listeners feel overwhelmed with pressure). Others end up at the other extreme of rejecting all reference to application since it is supposedly the work of the Spirit (implying that communicating the passage, pointing to Christ, etc., are not works of the Spirit?), and you hear things as misguided as “now may the Spirit apply to our hearts the truths we have seen in His Word.” Wrong! Preachers should not abdicate any of their role, neither should they think of any part of their role as being completely on their own shoulders either.

I have previously written about the need for our application to go deeper than conduct. There is a place for conduct in our application, of course. There is also the need for our application to reach to the thinking and worldview and belief systems of our listeners. And there is the deeper level of the affections, the values, the emotional centre, the loves of our listeners. Affections, belief and conduct. Three levels of legitimate and necessary application.

But let me offer another nudge. Not a three-layer nudge, but a two-part nudge. Instead of always offering “do” to our listeners (with the attitudinal companion of pressure), let’s consider our role as nudging listeners with a “look!” (with the attitudinal companion of enthusiasm).

As we offer the Word, explaining and applying it to our listeners, let a large chunk of the application be “look!” As people see the God of Scripture, revealed in the Son, by the power of the Spirit, their lives will be transformed: inside to out, affections, belief, conduct.

Our task is not primarily to be a conveyor of our exegetical insights, opaquely offering the Bible to contemporary folks. Our task is more to be a lens, effectively handling the Scripture to offer a glimpse of the One revealing Himself in the Word, transparently letting God be seen to contemporary listeners with eyes to see. So we speak and they listen. And we say Look! And by God’s grace they see.

Offending and Offenders

June 9, 2011May 29, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Nobody likes to be criticised, nor to hear that others are offended at them or by them. Yet as preachers we need to become discerning in this issue of offense. As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, let’s look at this from another angle.

Some offense is avoidable and should be avoided. Some is not avoidable and shouldn’t be avoided. Some offense is peripheral. Some offense is central.

If you are criticised for something that was misunderstood, or came across wrongly, or whatever, then apologise. Perhaps a passing humorous remark hurt somebody’s feelings. Hopefully you will have opportunity to apologise to them (unless they remain hidden in the undergrowth and simply spread their critique by the poisonous weed of gossip). Perhaps an illustration came across as arrogant when you meant it entirely differently. Don’t get caught up in thinking that everything you say is of the Lord simply because you prayed about it, or because you are the preacher. Lead the way in humility and readiness to apologise. Be approachable so at least some people will talk to you about these things.

If you are criticised for something that is incidental, consider whether the one criticising is a professional moaner. Some will find anything for their target. They didn’t like that you put your Bible down, or that you put your hand in your pocket during a personal story, or that you flapped a wasp away, or that you wore a tie, or didn’t, or smiled, or didn’t, or whatever, or didn’t. If this person comes to you and they are repeatedly offended, consider whether this is an opportunity to graciously but firmly put a finger on the critical spirit. If this person consistently goes to others about you, then encourage the others to both encourage them to speak to the person they think has sinned instead of gossiping, and perhaps to call them on their attitude.

If you are criticised legitimately, learn.

If you are criticised because the Bible, the gospel, the Christ, the Spirit, has made them uncomfortable, or convicted, or challenged, or whatever . . . then, well, then good. Some people want to come to church as an exercise in religious piety, but without true piety. They want to go through the motions, but don’t want their own emotions to be engaged at all. They want to tick an attendance box, and you preaching the Bible gets in the way of that. Don’t apologise. Keep preaching. Don’t allow a small number of complainants to control you or the church. Our goal must never be to keep everyone happy. You can easily arrest the development of the church for the sake of a handful, while the steady trickle of the spiritually lively out of the back door will spiritually bankrupt the church.

There are many reasons people get offended. We must care. Hard-skinned unapproachability is not becoming of a preacher of God’s Word. But there are numerous ways to respond. May God grant us wisdom and humility and courage to know what to do. (And may God also grant us co-leaders around us who can both discern and act when they hear the critique instead of us!)

You Can’t Please All…

June 8, 2011May 29, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

The goal in preaching is not to please all of your listeners. We know that. But in our vulnerability it can be very uncomfortable to hear that some are not happy with your preaching. The challenge is to try to figure out why and then know whether to adjust or not. Here are some possible reasons and possible responses.

Over Their Heads – Perhaps your preaching is simply not pitched effectively. You use terminology that is unnecessarily lofty or academic and people simply struggle to understand you. There is no virtue in this and you need to hear the feedback. If you can’t make it understandable, it is your problem rather than theirs. The flesh has a tendency to show-off, but there is no excuse for fleshly preaching. Hear the feedback graciously and seek to change.

Overly Grating Their Tolerance – Perhaps your personality is simply grating and they struggle with you. This is a hard one to quantify or change. I suppose in an ideal world your increasing fruit of the Spirit as you mature should alleviate this problem over time (but what if they’re not growing?) Sometimes two personalities will clash and it will always be a struggle. Sometimes people hide behind the clash of personalities when there is an underlying sin issue that should be addressed (jealousy, bitterness, contempt, etc.) This is a harder problem to address, but loving them is not a bad path to take.

Overly Burdening Their Lives – Perhaps your preaching is simply weighing them down with duty and burden. This may be a misunderstanding of both the Bible and the preacher’s task on your part, or a misunderstanding of Christianity on theirs. I would suspect the former. Too many think that the preacher needs to “spiritually beat and berate” listeners in order to be truly preaching. Too many have a sort of “flagellation by sermon” approach to spirituality. Some listeners feel somehow better when they can walk out of church and say, “mmm, I needed that!” But this approach to Christianity will tend to break bruised reeds and snuff out smoldering wicks.

Overly Touching Their Hearts – Perhaps your preaching is simply touching too close to home. If you are preaching in such a way as to target the hearts of your listeners, then many will resonate deeply with what you’re doing. But in any church there will be some who are essentially hard-hearted, who want the preaching to meet certain criteria and stroke the egos of the religious and pious. Some find it deeply convicting to “feel” as if they don’t really have a loving personal relationship with God. They revolt at the notion that those who do not love Christ are actually “accursed.” It’s painful, but if this is the issue, then the fact that a small minority are unhappy may be a strong affirmation of your preaching. Would we prefer to have everyone be pleasantly untouched?

There are other reasons, and often a blend of more than one. The challenge is to sort it through and preach for our audience of One, yet with a loving sensitivity to the many who sit and listen. It is wrong to refuse to hear feedback, and it is wrong to try to please everyone. Love Him, love them and respond to the feedback where appropriate.

Extended Sermonic Incubation

May 26, 2011May 10, 2011 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

I’ve been struck again recently by the challenge of regular preaching. Sometimes regular preachers might look with envy at those who only get to preach every two or three months. Weeks on end to ponder a passage before preaching it. For too many of us, the sermon for next Sunday is not really considered until the Tuesday before (and for some, later than that).

A friend recently suggested that without enough incubation time, the preacher will end up preaching while they have a mass of information accumulated, like a firework box of ideas going off all over the place. Better to give it the necessary time for your heart and mind to stabilize and settle on the main idea of the passage. Amen.

Then there’s another reason for preparing over a longer period of time. It simply takes time for passages to work in our lives, as God’s Spirit moves in us using that Word on which we are dwelling. So if you start your preparation on Saturday night, there is no time for the passage to be truly owned, because it has really gripped you. It hasn’t. You may be excited to preach it, but it hasn’t got hold of you and worked itself out yet. So five days is better than one.

But ten days is better than five. Haddon Robinson advocates the notion of doing the first day’s worth of passage reading and study in the Thursday of the week before you start preparing the sermon (day’s worth may not equate to eight hours, of course, it may only be one or two). Then you press on with this week’s sermon prep, before returning to it the following Monday or Tuesday. Perhaps refer to yesterday’s PEPPERS approach to reviewing the text for added blessing!

Several weeks are better than ten days. As well as the above approach, I really appreciate knowing what passage I’ll be preaching on in a month or two or even longer. Knowing that I’ll be preaching on Mark, or Acts, or Proverbs, or whatever, allows me to pick at the text and gradually accumulate over the course of time – accumulating not only helpful resources, articles, illustrations, etc., but accumulating the experience of that text starting to work in my life.

Personally Engaged Preaching Passage Easy Review System (PEPPERS)

May 25, 2011May 10, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

It sounds like an acronym from NASA, something with a massive federal budget and cosmic goals. Actually I just made up the acronym, it requires the smallest budget, but it does have eternal goals.

Most preachers don’t have great blocks of time in which to prepare their messages. Even if we did, it would still be good to spread the preparation out over at least five days, if not more. Taking small bits of time and working on a passage allows it to work on us (this is why more than five days is even better). Part of that process is getting the passage into us as we get into it.

A friend was recently describing his habit of seeking to memorize the passage he is going to preach. This is a great habit and I commend it, although I don’t tend to memorize the next passage I’ll be preaching. But his suggestion sparks one from me. One of the best ways I have learned to review and potentially memorize a passage. To live up to our image for the day, let’s call it the PEPPERS project (ok, could have gone with the vegetable look, but didn’t.)

Typically we tend to read and re-read a passage when reviewing it or memorizing it. I have found it very helpful to write out a set of acronym style notes instead. So for verse 1-2 of Psalm 1, for example, I would have on the page (this is NIV in case you look it up):

1. Bitmwdnwitcotw, ositwos, ositsom,

2. bhdiitlotL, aohlhmdan.

I follow the capitalization and keep the punctuation, but only put in the first letter of each word. Then when I want to review the passage, it forces me to engage my mind, instead of simply scanning over words while thinking of something else. It allows for a small card or note to be carried, instead of a lengthier piece of paper. This note would be a very useful way to engage quickly, but effectively with a passage in the days of preparation, during those times when you have to be doing something else. In the line at the bank, pull out the notecard. Waiting for a haircut, pull out the notecard. You get the drift.

Comments on God Speaking and the Bible – Be Careful

May 17, 2011May 6, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Does God speak through the text, as distinct from analyzing and understanding it? Is it that when the Bible speaks, God speaks, or when the Bible speaks, God also speaks?

It is true that there is more to understanding a Bible passage than just analyzing the technicalities of the propositions the grammar. However, let’s be careful not to create a notion of exegetical accuracy versus some supra-biblical revelation. This notion can come from well-meaning comments like “we can study what the text means, but let’s be open now to hearing what God has to say.”

I heard of a song leader who struck up a chord after the message with the comment, “now let’s hear what God has to say.” Unfortunate, albeit amusing in some ways.

But the same separation can occur within the preaching. The preacher can give the sense that there is the meaning of the text, and then there is God speaking to us as we look at the text.

Cold non-relational exegesis is certainly problematic. But so is supposedly relational non-exegetical Bible reading. Let’s not offer the notion of non-exegetical devotional Bible reading, nor the notion of non-devotional exegetical Bible reading. Whether our goal is personal devotional reading, or technical pre-teaching study, let us be sure to keep together the relational aspects of reading God’s Word with the technical aspects of studying God’s Word.

Myopic Christianity

May 16, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Perhaps one of the key roles of the preacher is to bring perspective to people who think they see clearly. To read today’s post, please click here.

Using Used Outlines – Part 2

May 13, 2011May 10, 2011 / Peter Mead / 3 Comments

Continuing the list of suggestions for the pressured preacher who feels he has to use used outlines in order to be ready to preach . . .

4. Don’t move on too quickly. Most sermons take too long to finish, but then are finished with too soon. While I’m not advocating preaching longer for most preachers, I would say that once the sermon is done, it may well not be done, and might bear the weight of another visit next time. Doubling up exegetical work by preaching the same passage more than once is worth considering.

5. Don’t pressure yourself. There are several problems with borrowing sermon outlines. One is that you might borrow junk and therefore offer junk to your listeners (it is amazing how much poor preaching is offered through the internet!) On the other hand, you might get into the habit of borrowing a standard you find intimidating and can therefore never live up to. Don’t pressure yourself. Your listeners will appreciate a simpler sermon that is truly owned, they don’t need you to pretend to be him (whoever he is).

6. Don’t starve yourself. Another issue with borrowing sermon outlines is that you are cutting yourself off from one of the greatest delights of preaching – the wrestling with a text so that it marks your life. Even if you can’t give 20 hours a week to a sermon (few can), you will do much better to have wrestled for two hours than none.

7. Generate time from elsewhere. Do you create a powerpoint when you preach? Don’t bother, save the time. The powerpoint may or may not be helpful, but if it is powerpoint time or passage time, it should be passage time every time. Do you spend half an hour picking songs for the service? Ask someone else to do that. Do you search the internet for pithy introductory anecdotes? Save the time and get into the Word. Do you scratch your head for illustrations? Look at the text more carefully and describe the images or story in the passage.

More thoughts and ideas?

Using Used Outlines

May 12, 2011May 12, 2011 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Earlier this week Tom wrote:

Good morning! I just found your blog and read the post on stage 1. It looks like you are addressing preachers who are full time. I am a “part-time” pastor-I have to work another job to make ends meet. Do you have any advice for someone like me? So far (I have only been at this for 3 years), I rely heavily on outlines someone has already done. I would like to get away from this, but do not feel I have the luxury as yet to do this.

I understand the pressures of preaching while holding down other full-time employment (plus the pressures of marriage, parenting, crisis management, etc.) I suppose that using outlines from others does give a pretty significant boost toward being ready to preach. But the challenge with this is whether you are really ready to preach if you haven’t wrestled with the text yourself. It does seem to undermine the whole notion of the truth of God’s Word coming through a personality that has been marked by it first.

Rather than just making pressured preachers feel bad, I would offer the following suggestions:

1. Try to wean yourself off using the outlines of other preachers. Initially move to seeing them as conversation partners and try to adapt and improve what they offer by making it more your own.

2. Don’t go for overkill on your preaching preparation. That is, don’t leave “borrowed” outlines in order to try to preach self-studied extended and tricky passages. Choose easy to preach passages.

3. Don’t bite off too much each time. Whenever possible, try to preach a shorter passage (still making sure it is a legitimate unit). Andy Stanley makes the insightful comment that most sermons should really be series. Why try to cover massive chunks of text if your preparation time is limited. The same must be said of multiple passages (why preach three passages in a message when you could do better with one?)

I’ll finish the list tomorrow…