16 Confessions – Part 4

January 5, 2012January 2, 2012 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Inspired by a helpful post from Ron Edmondson sharing candid confessions of a church leader, I decided to offer a few from a specifically preaching point of view. I’m sure there is much more that could be added, but one thing that has come back to me via conversations around this theme is that preachers definitely need to have some genuine and vulnerable relationships, as listed at number 14 – safe places to be able to confess more than is being confessed here.

For now, let’s get up to the number 16 . . .

13. Most preachers will freely admit that we face the same temptations and seasons of spiritual dryness as everyone else. We need loving accountability and fellowship, but sometimes struggle to ask for it.

14. Most preachers are like everyone else and need some good close friends to be open with and mutually interdependent. Some preachers think they don’t need that kind of friend, but they do too. Actually many preachers feel lonely, both as preachers and as individuals.

15. Many preachers recognize that our spouse can have the toughest position in a church. They feel all the unresponsiveness to our ministry, and any critique of us, even more keenly than we do. And then they have all the dynamics of their own relationships too. Some churches do foster unrealistic expectations of spouses.

16. Many preachers love God and His Word and His people and the lost. Many preachers love the privilege of preparation, poring over His Word in need of God’s work in our hearts and looking to serve Him as He works in theirs; and the short-term roller-coaster of daring to dream and praying for life changing, even eternity changing moments where God breaks in; combined with the long-term adventure of seeing God at work in peoples’ lives as a process as well as a crisis. It is this privilege of participation in the greater work of God’s great church project that drives us on, stirs our hearts and keeps us pressing on, even in the midst of some pettiness or political brokering or perpetual politeness. Being involved in preaching ministry is a privilege, even when it isn’t always a pleasure.

16 Confessions – Part 3

January 4, 2012January 2, 2012 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Over the last couple of days I’ve shared a few confessions from a preacher, that I suspect are true of some or many other preachers too. Feel free to disagree or resonate, just a quick four today:

9. Most preachers, at least now and then, question our own abilities and suitability for pulpit ministry. Periodic genuine encouragement means more to us than we know how to show. If this can be combined with genuine interest in us as real Christians (rather than stained glass saints), this makes for a powerful combination.

10. Many of the preachers that I know are somewhat introverted and carry quips and jokey criticism both deep down and long term.

11. Most preachers don’t feel perfectly qualified as exemplars of perfect character, and our fear of letting others down can tempt us to be false with our own reputation.

12. Most preachers are wide open to vulnerable conversation with both the spiritually mature and the new believer. The people we might be inclined to fear are the spiritually immature that think they are mature, the people that can turn a community of love into a political battle zone.

At Least 16 Confessions of a Preacher – Part 2

January 3, 2012January 2, 2012 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Continuing with this list of preacher confessions (perhaps for non-preachers to benefit from, or perhaps for other preachers to resonate with, or perhaps to stir vulnerable discussion that can be somehow helpful to all):

5. Some preachers really do wrestle prayerfully with the Bible text until they come to some level of understanding that they are willing to share in a public forum. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions about the text, we have probably spent hours in it trying to make sense of all the details, and we probably have another 30-45 minutes’s worth of extra material that we had to cut out. We are wide open to conversation about the text and how God is revealing Himself in it. But to be honest, we may get inwardly frustrated if someone shuts down after ten minutes of listening and dismisses the message because it doesn’t tick some pet view they hold dear without any actual study of the text.

6. Following on from the previous one, most preachers are not looking for debates to win after they preach. If you are willing to have a real conversation about the text and the God who loves us, we will willingly interact without trying to crush your view or pull out a Greek trump card to end the discussion. If you only want to dismiss or correct us and aren’t open to actual conversation, we might be tempted to try to win.

7. Most preachers, most weeks, don’t finish the sermon with a deep sense of having hit the bullseye. Preachers tend to feel fragile after preaching and would often rather curl up on their own somewhere than share conversations ranging from heated debate to stony politeness.

8. All preachers will admit that we aren’t always on “top form.” This doesn’t mean we haven’t been preparing as we should, although it might. There are a whole host of possible reasons, so please don’t assume you know the reason.

I’ll add another four tomorrow . . .

At Least 16 Confessions of a Preacher

January 2, 2012January 1, 2012 / Peter Mead / 3 Comments

I saw a post recently containing confessions of a church leader by Ron Edmondson. I wondered if I could ride on the back of that and offer a few confessions of a preacher? Maybe these hit the mark, maybe not. Maybe you’ll add more, or maybe you’ll disagree that these should be here at all. Let’s see:

1. Preaching is a strange experience of being involved in a work that is really God’s work, somehow trying to honour His Word, and feed His people, and represent Him to unbelievers . . . all things that are His work, yet somehow He involves me, inadequate on all three counts.

2. Preaching is a consistently overwhelming experience. There is a sense of wonderful burden that comes from spending time in God’s Word and prayer for the church, coupled with the complicated reality of preaching to a gathering of people that are just as human as we preachers are. Sweet agony.

3. People have very strange views of preaching. Some people seem to think it is about ticking a list of random requirements that they hold us to, but don’t communicate with us (although they may be inclined to do so with others). Some people seem to think that our sermon is all they need for a week of living in a constant stream of anti-God media. Some people seem to think the only thing that matters is not going over their defined time limit, no matter how much everyone else is engaged and benefitting. Some people simply don’t seem to think about the preaching at all – like it’s a sort of strange vestige of ecclesial tradition, rather than something that might make a difference in their lives.

4. People have very strange view of the preacher. Some think that you’ve received the message on a mountain like Moses and so it must be unquestionable. Others think that the preacher is somehow not a real person and so likes to be critique fodder for the next two hours. Still others think the preacher is trying to entertain so they applaud the performance and head back into real life without any sense that there might be something actually for them to receive in a life-changing way.

I’ll add another four tomorrow, but feel free to chip in at any time via comments!

Review of 2011

December 31, 2011December 31, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again when everywhere on the web has a summary and review of the year now drawing to a close. Not wanting to miss out, voila! This has been a year of gentle innovation on the site, what with daily images (look up the site on a tablet if you get the chance), removal of ads, and recently with weekly themed series of posts. We recently had our first guest post, and continue to host a post every couple of weeks over on the Cor Deo site. Posts are now regularly being re-posted on SermonCentral.com and ChurchLeaders.com, and it was nice to see the site get a little award this year too (thanks for your comments on the site, which surely helped the site to win it’s category!)

I have also started using social networking a little to support the site, with the Biblical Preaching facebook page (click here to go there or just click “Like” in the box on the right), as well as the Biblical Preaching Network group on LinkedIn (click here to visit and please do join the group). Oh, and before I forget, tonight the door shuts on the opportunity to win two great preaching books in the Facebook promotion – if you haven’t entered yet, please do so quickly!

Innovations in 2012? I don’t know yet, feel free to make suggestions. So, to the stats! The top post of all time on the site has long been the 2007 post on the tricky little notion of Sermon Titles, but that has now been officially surpassed by Moving Toward Noteless from this past August.

As with last year’s review, it is hard to determine which posts were most popular since most people read the posts as they sit on the home page. So I will continue with the arbitrary measure of most comments (potentially meaning the worst post of the year could be deemed most popular!) Perhaps the most provocative posts of the year, then, are…

Notable mentions with five comments – Don’t strangle the gospel, but do wear the right strait jacket, preach on what you should, trust the Bible and look wider as you read a text.

Notable mentions with six comments – Part of the longest series of the year (7 posts on genre), this one on biblical history, plus posts on interaction, preaching in worship, and when children listen.

In sixth with seven comments – Famous names popping up here – Lloyd-Jones and impositional preaching, and CS Lewis on the KJV. One on sharpening the big idea, another on distraction and a dose of eternity. But what about sensitivity to non-Christian listeners, and integrity before listeners? And just recently the tension between preachers and listeners on ability to handle the Bible well!

In fifth with eight comments – A post on the aging preacher was matched by a recurring theme on this site: preach the text, not just from a text!

In fourth with nine comments – Touching on tricky topics a lot this year. For instance, the preacher and pride, dangerous false assumptions about which God we are preaching, and while it was a hot issue in the sports news, the danger of hinting at racism in our preaching. Lots of response to asking preachers what would help them improve. But the most response, another controversial one, the memorable outline myth (especially when you add in another five comments on part 1!)

In third with ten comments – How many ways can a preacher half-preach a text?

In joint first, with twelve comments – There it is again, moving toward noteless. And . . . a late surge on a post daring to challenge Robert Murray MCheyne on Bible reading plans!

So there it is, a review of 2011. Thanks for popping in and engaging the site from time to time. I really appreciate all the interaction on the amazing privilege of preaching God’s Word! (Before I finish, let me mention a septuplet of my favourites that slipped under the comment radar – it’s all about Christ, the war of the words, non-Christian preaching, passionless preaching, bring back ba’al, and reflections on John Stott and Christopher Hitchens.)

Saturday Short Thought: Let Man Not Separate Holy Spirit and Personal Accountability

December 31, 2011December 28, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

This week I have been thinking out loud about how we can fall into the trap of separating the Bible and aspects of preaching from the work of the Spirit. This is a dangerous divorce in ministry. I’ve thought about this in terms of Bible study and sermon preparation. I’ve pondered it in respect to sermon content and sermon delivery. One lingering thought remains…

There is a dangerous temptation for some to separate themselves from personal accountability by presenting things under the label of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe you’ve had one of those conversations with a lovestruck person who tries to hide from their responsibility by saying that God has told them to divorce their spouse and marry that other person’s spouse. Or maybe the single who has the exception clause that God has told them to marry that person who has no regard for the Lord (but suddenly has a tenuous Christian connection through ancestry or somehow is a seeker whose salvation can be guaranteed). It is so frustrating to pastor somebody hiding behind the shield of untouchability, because, after all, well, you wouldn’t want to argue with God, would you?

The same thing applies the other way around. Listeners can be frustrated by preachers who claim God told them what to preach on, but then the message bears no thumbprint of God’s deep and fresh work in the preacher or the preaching. Followers can grow weary of every decision a leader makes being the fruit of their personal heavenly hotline that therefore can never be questioned. Surely the fruit of the Spirit should lead to deeper relational connections, not to greater relational superficiality?

By all means be someone who prays and longs to hear from God. Be someone that only wants to do what the Spirit empowers. Be someone that has a close and real walk with the Lord. But don’t hide yourself from any personal responsibility by making that a shield behind which you hide.

As we move into 2012, let’s be preachers and leaders who walk very closely with the Lord, who saturate our ministry and lives in prayer, who yearn to know God more closely and please Him more profoundly. But let’s not protect ourselves from potentially legitimate correction, instruction, and accountability from others by inappropriately hiding behind a front of unquestionable spirituality.

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Next Week:

Confessions of a Preacher

Let Man Not Separate Holy Spirit and Sermon Delivery

December 30, 2011December 28, 2011 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Yesterday I urged the preacher to not abdicate the role of text explainer, or text applier, but rather to do both in full prayerful reliance on the Holy Spirit. Apart from Christ we can do nothing, but we are not asked to do nothing. Now a third danger of illegitimate separation of Spirit and ministry in preaching, the issue of delivery:

3. The idea that any overt attempt at effective communication is somehow a slight on the Holy Spirit, who would much rather the preacher was completely ineffective so it could be “all of God.” Another strange one, and again, quite inconsistent. While it would be ridiculous to make the presentation all about the preacher’s ability to perform, leaving God out (and we’ve probably all sensed that now and then with some), surely it is equally ridiculous to try to abdicate our role as communicators.

The Holy Spirit is preeminently concerned with effective heart to heart communication (that is the ongoing ingredient in almost all His roles in Scripture, it seems). We don’t honour the Spirit by communicating as poorly as possible. Equally, we are inconsistent if we make any effort to be loud enough to be heard, or if we at least speak with coherent and distinct words – why bother at all? Just mumble quietly. No, in reality the Spirit is the One who is at work in peoples’ hearts and lives, yet for some reason He also works through us as we preach. Preacher, lean fully on God’s strength and pray continually for the Spirit to be at work, and communicate as effectively as you can, that’s part of your role.

2 Days Left to Win 2 Great Preaching Books

December 29, 2011December 29, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Over on the facebook page associated with this site I’m offering the chance to win two great preaching books. Andy Stanley’s Communicating for a Change and Jeffrey Arthurs’ Preaching with Variety. All you have to do to enter is click “Like” in the facebook box over to the right, and then click here to go to the promotion details. To enter you’ll need to give your name, email address and country. Please spread the word about this promotion as we seek to share a passion for biblical preaching! Thank you.

Let Man Not Separate Holy Spirit and Preaching Content

December 29, 2011December 28, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Yesterday we addressed the issue of preparing to preach, and how that is a part of ministry life that truly and profoundly involves the Holy Spirit (or at least, it should). The danger of divorcing our ministry from the Spirit persists into the preaching event too.

There are a few places where this danger lurks:

1. The notion that explanation is not needed from the preacher, for the Spirit will bring home the truth of God’s Word. I have come across this a few times. It comes across as if something profoundly spiritual is supposed to be happening as the preacher states the Word, but fails to explain it. It may be accompanied by knowing comments and tones that give the impression that those “in the know” have some sort of insight here, and hopefully the rest of us will get that mystery knowledge too. Then maybe the preacher carries on with this statement-without-explanation approach, or perhaps they move into a list of highly relevant personal applications (or anecdotes).

From my perspective this lack of explanation tends to come across to some as profound spirituality that inspires or intimidates, and at the same time it can come across to others as indicative that the preacher is incapable of explaining the text and is sort of bluffing. Preacher, lean fully on God’s strength and pray continually for the Spirit to be at work, and explain the text, that’s part of your role.

2. The idea that application is the Spirit’s work, not the preacher’s. I have come across this one more than the other, perhaps at the other end of the ecclesiastical spectrum. It is exemplified in my experience in a sentence that rings alarm bells – “Now may the Spirit apply to our hearts and lives the truths we have seen in His Word. Amen.” This sentence sometimes comes after a lengthy lecture of biblical content devoid of overt application and clarified relevance. Why is that somehow the Spirit’s role, but not at all the role of the preacher? Is this phrase suggesting that the explanation was all of the preacher, and nothing of the Spirit? I hope not.

So why not follow through and not abdicate a key role the preacher is called to – namely to not only lecture biblical content, but rather to communicate the meaning of the text with an emphasis on its relevance to the contemporary and specific listeners? Preacher, lean fully on God’s strength and pray continually for the Spirit to be at work, and apply the text, that’s part of your role.

One more area tomorrow – the whole matter of delivery.

Let Man Not Separate Holy Spirit and Preaching Preparation

December 28, 2011December 28, 2011 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Yesterday I wrote about the error of separating devotional spirituality from exegetical rigour. Skill in handling the Word should not be divorced from personal spirituality and our walk with the Lord. There is a very direct correlation. I’ll stay with this theme of not creating false separation with three more preaching and Holy Spirit related posts this week.

Today I’d like to address the myth that preparation for preaching somehow reduces the involvement of the Holy Spirit. You may know people who suggest something along these lines – “Oh, I don’t want to get in the way of the Holy Spirit, you know, and lean on my own understanding.”

It is a very real danger that prayerless preparation can cause us to lean fully on our own strength and to dismiss the work of the Spirit.

but

It is a very real danger that failing to prepare can cause us not to lean fully on the Holy Spirit, but rather on the random cocktail of energy stirred within by nervous tension and adrenaline, drawing on reserves of content that are neither fresh, nor suddenly “spiritual” due to our irresponsible and inconsistent view of ministry. (I am not here addressing the situation where preparation was not possible due to sudden need or massively impeded preparation due to unforeseen family/pastoral crisis.)

the right approach must surely be prayerful, Spirit empowered preparation.

1. The Holy Spirit does not guarantee that our interpretations of a passage are infallible. He will work with us as we show our whole-hearted, whole-mind, whole-strength love for the Lord as we study His Word to seek to truly make sense of it.

2. The Holy Spirit inspired the Word of God, and so is not insulted when we try our hardest to handle it well. Surely the insult comes when we brandish it as if it were merely magic words to be thrown at people.

3. The Holy Spirit is also at work in the lives of the people to whom we will preach. Surely it makes more sense to prayerfully prepare to preach to them, than it does to busy ourselves with other things and then suddenly claim Spirit empowerment in the moment of preaching. He is working in them all week, why not let Him work in the preacher too in anticipation of that preaching moment?

4. The Holy Spirit normally works far more consistently and progressively in both the preacher and the listener, rather than the relatively rare “intuitive flash” (which in some cases might very well be explained by other causes, though not always, of course).

5. The Word that the Spirit Himself inspired includes the instruction to a local church based preacher to “make every effort” in teaching the Bible accurately (2Tim.2:15). He hasn’t changed His mind.