Ground-Zero Preaching (Easter in the Pulpit)

March 26, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Easter is not like Christmas. The latter tends to go unmentioned for most of the year, then people come out with expectations of hearing familiar content and carols. Easter is the real ground zero of the Christian faith. We tend to, or should, return to it week after week. So what do we do when Easter comes around?

Some might try to get clever at Easter . . . excessive creativity, abundant gory description, shocking video clips, etc.

Remember that regular church attendees need to hear the basic Easter story. Jesus left his disciples with a frequent reminder, an acted out parable that would help them remember Him: His body given, His blood shed. So don’t think we have to get clever at Easter. Those who know and love the Lord profoundly appreciate a carefully planned biblical presentation of the passion. They will appreciate a Matthew shaped message, or one in the Mark mold, or Luke’s take, or John’s. They probably won’t even notice a harmonized presentation from multiple gospels. They appreciate Paul’s reflections, or those in Hebrews, or even a glimpse of the Lamb looking as though it had been slain from Revelation. Pick a passage and preach it clearly. No need to be clever. Believers need to hear the ground zero Easter story.

Remember that visitors need to hear the basic Easter story too. Perhaps it is visitor season as families share holidays together. They may be interested, or they may be being polite. Whatever their motivation, what they need is clear and sim

ple. They don’t need obfuscated “modern art” preaching or a creatively nuanced oblique side-reference to the gospel. Pick a passage and preach it clearly. Everyone needs to hear the Easter story.

I am not advocating being boring or predictable. I am not critiquing creativity. Let’s certainly seek to be as effective as we can be in our communication of Easter. And let’s remember that effective can often mean simply preaching the basics: take people to ground zero and help them know the significance of what happened there.

Wide View Application 2

March 22, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Last time I suggested that too narrow a view of a passage can lead to burdensome and non-gospel application. In narratives we need to make sure we are seeing God’s role and the humans as living in response to Him (both in faith and rebellious self-trust). In epistles we need to read the imperatives in light of the doctrinal gospel sections that inevitably have preceded the commands and applications.

Last night I was at a prayer meeting where we sang “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” . . . an old hymn with a few great verses:

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea; there’s a kindness in His justice which is more than liberty.

For the love of God is broader than the measures of man’s mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.

But we make His love too narrow by false limits of our own; and we magnify His strictness with a zeal He will not own.

If our love were but more simple we should take Him at His word; and our lives would be illumined by the presence of our Lord.

So to avoid imposing a “strictness” God would not own, we must preach good news and not turn it into burdensome law. Here are a few thoughts to keep stirring our thoughts:

1. In narratives like the gospels, observe the growth in faith among characters as the stories unfold. The same is true in other narrative sections of the Bible. We are not given much concerning most characters, but what we are given enables us to get a sense of their trajectory towards God in faith or away in rebellion. Tracing that broader story can help to make sense of a particular pericope (individual story).

2. Be careful to identify the link between doctrine and application. It is often more of a “this is what a life looks like that is gripped by that truth” rather than “so you must now do this!” Is the application an implication? Is it a natural outworking? Is it an appropriate response? These are all very different than a self-moved obligation.

3. Turning response into responsibility is to turn gospel into legalistic burden. Many really struggle with this, but it is so important. A captured heart that is stirred will flow out in far greater commitment, sacrifice, integrity, holiness, etc., than a person pressured to obey by the apparently self-moved determination of their own will. If the heart is not stirred, then the motivation will still be about love, but a misplaced love that is a weaker motivator. That is, if it isn’t love for Christ that stirs a person, then maybe they will obey commands out of love for self in respect to conformity to community expectations – a love-driven action, but not in response to the greatest love of all.

Wide View Application

March 20, 2013 / Peter Mead / 6 Comments

If we are not careful we can easily misfire when it comes to applying Bible texts. One cause of dangerous misfiring comes from too narrow a view of the text. The result is application that functions as a legalistic burden – appealing to the flesh, but not consistent with the gospel.

In Narratives Look Up. In Bible stories we can easily focus on the human characters and determine to copy or not copy them. The moral of this story is . . . oops. This is a recipe for burdensome preaching. It is not a recipe for gospel preaching. It is not really good news that the Bible is full of examples for us to copy or not copy in our own strength. We need to always look up. The characters are not just humans in action, they are humans living in response to God and His Word. Their response is instructive, but we don’t live as their copycats, we live as people responding to God and His Word too. In preaching narratives, be sure to use a wider view and include the divine dimension.

In Epistles Look Out. In epistles we can easily focus on the commands and determine to obey them. The lesson for today is . . . oops. This is a recipe for burdensome preaching. It is not a recipe for gospel preaching. It is not really good news that the Bible is full of imperatives for us to harvest and apply in our own strength. We need always to look out. The imperatives and commands are not just stand alone instructions for holy living, they are imperatives and commands coming in the context of a whole letter that was written to be heard in one shot. The recipients would have felt the force of the instruction in light of the gospel content. Ephesians 4 is to applied in light of Ephesians 1-3, otherwise it becomes just another burden for our weary souls. In preaching epistles, be sure to use a wider view and include the divine doctrinal dimension.

Impossible Application 2

March 6, 2013March 5, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

So how do we present practical application without promoting an outside-to-in simplistic copyism in the church? Yesterday we started by stating that the human fleshly tendency will be to perform in order to maintain autonomous distance from God. Furthermore we added that practical preaching can give people lists of things to do, but not address the heart issue. Continuing on . . .

3. Heart transformation is not something listeners can self-generate, neither is it something we can force on folks. Actually, if it is about response, then the burden is on us to offer Christ and the gospel so compellingly that perhaps some might respond. This means that we don’t simplify our view of preaching to explanation separate from application, for it is in the explanation that hearts should be stirred for the application.

4. Listeners have a sensitivity to the integration of the preacher. That is, whether the explanation we offer has obviously marked our lives from the inside-out. Listeners don’t just look for conformity to our own lists of practical applications, they sense the importance of heart change in the truths of what we say. If we don’t have a vibrant and real walk with Christ, then the practical application content will be meaningless.

5. Take the opportunity afforded by practical applications to drip-feed a critique of copy-ism and do-ism. Over time, week after week, perhaps people will start to sense the difference between writing a list and trying to live up to it, as opposed to a from-the-heart response to the grace of God in Christ. Grace truly transforms values and therefore behaviour. Part of our task is to make sure we don’t reinforce the post-Genesis 3 notion that informed choices will lead to success in our performance before, but distant from, God.

6. Reinforce that it is possible to perform without being transformed. The Pharisees should helpfully haunt churchy types like us. It is possible to look really good on the outside, but God wants to transform us from the inside. Perhaps we settle too easily for conformity to church social mores, rather than having appetites whetted for the wonder and glorious privilege of knowing God in Christ. If listeners don’t pick up that possibility from the preaching they hear, where will they develop such an appetite?

Impossible Application

March 5, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

As we preach the Bible we have to make sure we don’t simply offer historical and theological instruction. Part of our responsibility is to present what difference the message should make in a life. We need to give a sense of what this truth looks like dressed up in everyday clothes. But therein lies a challenge.

How do we present practical application without promoting an outside-to-in simplistic copyism in the church? Here are some thoughts:

1. The human fleshly tendency will be to perform in order to maintain autonomous distance from God. I know that we tend to think of fleshliness as rebellion alone, but we need to see how the flesh can also play up to a religious role. The essential impulse remains the same as it did in Genesis 3 – I can be like God. This is why we need to be so careful in our preaching. Simply pounding the pulpit and demanding greater morality does not avoid the problem of rebels becoming religious, but still keeping God at arms length. The older son in Luke 15 matched his brother in viewing the father as employer and purveyor of benefits, and went beyond his brother in resisting the father’s extreme desire for relationship.

2. Practical preaching can give people lists of things to do, but not address the heart issue. Notice that I wrote that it can, not that it must always do that. I think preaching should be practical. But if we think that adding practical suggestions to historical explanation amounts to good expository preaching, then we know neither our Bibles nor our listeners very well. We need more than practical instruction. We need heart transformation. And that requires an awareness of the difference between response and responsibility. Consistently presenting responsibility to people will not auto-generate any sort of responsiveness in people.

I will continue the list tomorrow…

Biblical Girders 4

January 18, 2013 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Where does each girder go? The Bible has a superstructure that holds it all together. So the thematic element of the promised seed in Genesis 3:15 will work its way through multiple books and become overt in places like Galatians 3 at the other end of the canon. But this poses a challenge. How much should we be preaching Galatians 3 when we are supposed to be preaching Genesis 3?

Many preachers would see no problem with springing from Genesis to Galatians since that is the fulfillment and the clarification of what is first stated in the Garden of Eden. I am certainly not going to criticize the impulse to preach Christ and it would be strange to leave listeners wondering who that seed might be (unless such suspense were part of a bigger teaching strategy).

On the other hand, I do wonder if we can collapse themes forward too easily and lose some of the strength of the steel at that point in the biblical story? If the Bible were a building, then Genesis would be the foundation. Steel starting there does go through the whole structure and holds the whole together. Themes of creation, of relationship, of fellowship lost, of divine grace and rescue, of divine promise, etc. all work their way from Genesis on through the Bible. That steel girder seen in Genesis 3:15 later on turns out to be the spire at the top of the whole structure, the pinnacle of it all. It makes sense to let folks know the significance of that, but at the same time it makes sense to help people see the importance of the foundation.

That is to say, instead of immediately looking up to the spire that caps off the whole building, when we are preaching in Genesis lets be sure to help people see how the foundation fits together, how the hope offered by God’s grace in the seed of the woman is such a striking promise in the context of a spurned relationship in that first senseless human rebellion. That passage is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training, etc. So let’s preach Genesis 3, not just bounce off it to go straight to the spire. At the same time let’s not get our noses in the foundations and let people miss the grandeur of the whole.

It isn’t either/or, it surely needs to be both/and. And with that both/and, I think it needs to be honouring to the earlier text in its own right, not just a token glance.

Biblical Girders 3

January 17, 2013January 17, 2013 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

I have been writing about Biblical Girders: those superstructure passages that form the skeleton that holds the Bible together. As well as key passages, we could well add a list of key themes that weave through the canon like ribbons. I did this earlier last year with the 10 Biggest Big Ideas series (click here to go to the first of those posts).

So what do we do if we recognize that people in our churches are foggy on the biblical superstructure? How can we help folk without turning the church into a lecture hall and losing the devotional and spiritual emphasis in our preaching? Some ideas:

1. Periodically Be Overtly Educational – Perhaps a seminar or evening class or group session where you trace through the superstructure. You will find that there are people in every church that have a genuine appetite to know the Bible better and will want to attend this kind of training if it is done well. You will also find that a false dichotomy between education and devotional spirituality need not be imposed. Take every opportunity, even in a “lecture” to woo people by the gracious work of God in biblical history.

2. Be Alert to the Girders – If you are preaching Genesis 22, Abraham offering up Isaac, be alert to the place of that story in the flow of the narrative. Take the opportunity to help people see it not as a stand-alone incident, but as the culmination of a journey over many decades for Abraham. Include and highlight the importance of Genesis 15 as you preach Genesis 22. When you preach about David and Bathsheba, don’t just look ahead to the fallout in his family life, but also look back to 2Samuel 7 and the amazing covenant God had made with him – highlight the importance of that to your listeners.

3. Preach the Girders – Take a miniseries and help people see the big picture of the Bible. Too many Christians make too many “surprised and helped” comments when they hear a Bible overview. This implies that it is not being offered enough.

4. Preach through Books Without Being “Flat” – When we preach through a book, it is easy to flatten it out into so many segments of equal length and apparently equal value. Instead, look for ways to point toward and back to passages in the book that have a “superstructure status” for the book and the Bible as a whole. Preaching through Habakkuk, don’t let 2:4 get lost in the mix.

Why Do We Preach 3

December 20, 2012 / Peter Mead / 3 Comments

As we come to the end of the year, it is a good time to reflect on the glorious burden of a preaching ministry. Our lives and ministries are probably tangled webs of motivations, but it is good to sift through and ask why we do what we do. Here is another angle on the same issue:

5. We preach to build God’s kingdom. There will always be a tension here. Ever since Genesis 3 we have all been deeply infected with the death-virus of godlikeness. We will default to independence in any way conceivable (including self-driven ministry), and our flesh will always look to build our own kingdom. But we are called to join Christ in His work of building the church. It is not about our pursuit of godlikeness, but about our humble service for the God we desire to honour and please.

There are so many factors to keep in mind in this pursuit. God often works more slowly than we’d prefer. So we need patience. God can transform people and communities in miraculously short order. So we need to expect great things. God can choose to build his work in ways we don’t expect. So we need to trust in His providence. God can choose to bless the work of others, even in our neighbourhood (after all, the earth is the Lord’s, including your neighbourhood!) So we choose to esteem others. We are not building our own kingdom. We are privileged to participate in building His.

6. We preach to equip others for ministry. No matter how great you may be, you are nowhere near as great as your whole congregation equipped, enthused and launched into ministry. I’m thankful that many churches have grasped that ministry is not wrapped up in a clerical class. God has given gifted people to the church to equip believers for their ministries. I long to see the day when an entire church is so gripped by God, so equipped by God, and so excited by God that they are like an army of effective witnesses, of empowering encouragers, of heartfelt worshippers, spilling out into the rest of the church and the community and the world.

We preach to that end. We don’t preach to look ministerial. We don’t preach to build our own reputation. We preach to serve Him, and we preach to serve them.

Attention! Unseen Forces

November 30, 2012November 30, 2012 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

To finish off this series on attention, there is one more thing we need to consider. We’ve looked at the importance of having the listener’s attention if you want them to hear your message. We’ve considered appropriate ways to pursue attention for the message, and some inappropriate ways to undermine your preaching while pursuing attention. But is it really just about you and the listeners? Or are there other forces at work?

In one sense it doesn’t matter what else is going on, you need to take responsibility for preaching well in order to engage the listeners effectively. At the same time, it would be naive to ignore some of these factors:

1. Life Circumstances of Listeners. You probably don’t know a fraction of what is going on in their lives. Have they been struggling to sleep? Do they have a medical condition that is weighing on them, or even influencing their focus without them even knowing it? Are they in the midst of great inner turmoil? Hopefully the message will engage and offer the hope of Christ in the worst of circumstances. But it is feasible that you may struggle to grab attention, no matter what.

2. Environmental Factors. Seating designed by a someone shaped like a cardboard box. A distracting draft of cold air. Oppressive and tiring heat. A wasp. A stationary police siren outside. A light aircraft crashing into the church building. An earthquake. Some things are hard to overcome.

3. Spiritual Warfare. Have you ever noticed that often at a very crucial point in a message, right when the crux of the gospel is going to be declared, a baby will start to cry, a fight will break out, a siren will drive past, etc.? Sometimes we need to be reminded that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but unseen forces. We don’t need to dwell on them, but recognize that the enemy knows a distracted listener is not really a listener at all.

Attention Seeking Behaviour

November 29, 2012November 29, 2012 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Without the attention of the listeners, our preaching is going into thin air. God may recognize faithfulness, but He can’t be delighted by ineffective preaching when He is so concerned to get the attention of the listeners. So there are lots of ways to pursue attention. Yesterday we considered some of the important and helpful approaches. Today I’d like to offer some approaches of which we should be wary. There may be occasion for some of these in some manner, but typically let’s treat these as suspicious short-cuts.

1. Shock and Uh? If you want to get the attention of the listeners, say something outrageous, perhaps even offensive. They may be shocked, look up and say, “uh?” You’ll have their attention. But you may also have their backs up, their radar going into overdrive and their distaste for you as a person profoundly stirred. Some preachers seem to take no small delight in “breaking the rules” (whatever that means) by being inappropriate in the pulpit. It gets attention, and it will get feedback (and that which comes to your face may be positive: sometimes out of politeness, sometimes delight from an immature listener excited to see an apparently immature person in a position of influence.) But this short-cut also undermines your preaching on multiple levels.

2. SHOUT! Vocal variation is a good thing. But shouting does come across as a bit desperate in most situations. There are moments where shouting may be thoroughly appropriate. But when shouting doesn’t fit the content, but is simply a means of waking up the old sleeping gent in row four or the distracted youths at the back, then it probably doesn’t achieve enough to warrant the negative reactions some will feel when shouted at without warning.

3. Sensational Content. I’ve already referred to the sensational shocking stuff of tabloid preaching above. But sometimes people seem to try to combine doctoral level original thought with shoddy journalism to come up with something nobody has ever said before about a passage. Don’t.

4. Silly Gimmicks. I remember watching in perplexed confusion as a preacher decided to throw packets of ketchup around the platform. It did rouse me from my semi-slumber, but the benefit was greatly outweighed by the perplexity generated by a gimmicky move gone flat.

5. Demanded Attention. Insisting in an authoritarian tone that people should listen does come across as totally desperate. Win their attention, don’t change the rules of life and demand that they listen. Asking people not to distract others may be appropriate. Telling them they are obligated to listen to you isn’t.

Anything you’ve seen and would add?