Today’s post is over on the Cor Deo site. I raise the issue of offering unhelpful assurance to people that may or may not have eternal life. In particular I focus in on one verse that seems to be massively neglected in this matter. To read the article,please click here.
Distractions
Distractions happen. Sometimes worse than others. This morning I was preaching on a ship (if you know me you will know which one). Ten minutes into my message there was a drill which meant about twenty or so people rushed out. Momentary distraction. Five minutes later three of the fire crew returned and were putting on their apparatus in the front corner of the hall, twenty feet from me. Distraction.
Thankfully most of us don’t have to compete with something that interesting most of the time. But what to do when people are all looking at something else? This morning I didn’t fight it. What advantage to compete and have people only half hear what you are saying?
Whatever you decide to do, one very important key is that your listeners will pick up on your mood. If you are tense and annoyed, they will feel bad and the distraction will be increased. If you seem calm and unflustered, they will be the same. In fact, sometimes it really helps to diffuse any tension they are feeling by a gentle and careful acknowledgement of the situation.
One thing that is clear, is that if you don’t have their attention, speaking is pointless. I remember reading of Bruce Wilkinson’s memory of Howard Hendricks’ absolute commitment to commanding the attention of his students, for without attention, there can be no learning.
So how do you do with attention? Not when there is a display by the local fire brigade twenty feet from the speaker, but when there are the normal distractions of life. People have other things on their minds, the seats aren’t always the most comfortable, not everyone had an invigorating night’s sleep, blood sugar levels do drop at key moments, etc.
It’s one of those things, I suppose. The more obviously you are trying to get attention, the less effective you will probably be. But you should be doing something. Somehow your voice, your energy, your body language, your manner, your content, your enthusiasm, your something has to get and keep attention . . . Otherwise it is largely irrelevant what you are doing when you preach.
Preach the Text, Don’t Just Preach From the Text
It’s a simple statement, but some preachers probably need to ponder it. With the good motivation of seeking to be pastorally relevant, some preachers short-change the preaching of the text. It certainly saves time if you merely summarise or refer to the text, but don’t bother with any extended explanation, or any retelling of the narratives, or any extended description to help the listeners enter into the world of the text. Bypassing these elements does allow you to get to application and relevance. But what is lost in the process?
People receiving lightweight Bible content that is heavy on application will not mature into the kind of Bible-mature people you probably want them to be. It trains listeners to look for lessons and applications, but to do so without really entering into the text to any depth. It may encourage people to try to live out the Christian life, but without drawing them deeper into the source of life – relationship with the persons of the Godhead. As preachers we have a double-duty, or even a double delight: to enable people to encounter the God of the Bible as they enter into His Word, and to be changed by that encounter. These two go together. But don’t short-change the first by skipping to the second. As the world seems to spin further and further away from the anchors of Biblical truth, people need to be more biblically literate and mature, not less.
Uniquely Meaningful
I heard a helpful lecture recently concerning how Scripture is accessed and used in peoples’ lives. The lecturer made the observation that Christianity is unique among the world’s religions in that it has meaning at its core. How so?
Well, other religions may be more primarily concerned with form, with tradition, with the system. Christianity is uniquely centred around a God who has revealed Himself in the Word – written and incarnate. What does this mean for preaching? Well, for a start it has to mean that we are concerned with genuinely grasping the meaning of the Word as we prepare to preach it, it means we are concerned not for others to go through the form of a church service, but rather that they grasp the meaning of the Word preached. It means that at its core Christianity is concerned with God’s self-revelation resulting in responsive hearts bound to His in personal relationship. How easily we slip into a religiosity that is more about form and externals. As preachers, we are at the heart of avoiding that cul-de-sac.
I’ll leave this post there, although so much more could be said, but I am travelling today and so don’t have time to add more yet.
Is It Ever Appropriate to Preach the Same Text to the Same Church?
Simple question. Simple answer? Yes.
But what about people thinking you haven’t prepared something fresh so you are just reworking old material? What about the feeling of deja vu that will overcome the listeners? What about? What about?
As a preacher you have to answer to God for your preaching ministry. If you think the church needs that passage again, why not preach it again? What people might think about your ministry or effort is very much a secondary issue. You can make it clear that you are not trying to sneek a repeat past them. Tell them upfront that you have preached it before and that you feel before God that we need to think it through again, or some more.
Personally I would be very willing to return to the same text for a second service on the same day. It allows for deeper levels of application and reinforcement. I would be willing to return to the same text after a gap of weeks, months or years, too. Perhaps it helps to think about it this way:
A sermon event consists of several ingredients – the preacher, the listeners, the situation, the text. When time has passed, the preacher is not the same person they were before. The listeners have changed (individually, and in respect to who is actually present). The situation has changed. The text remains the same, but is engaged by the first three elements in a fresh way.
Same text, different occasion, why not? Our purpose is not to impress listeners with new information week after week, but to shepherd people before God as under-shepherds . . . sometimes the same patch of grass is what they/we really need!
The Missing Connection
Sometimes technically solid sermons seem to sputter and struggle. It’s not unusual for a message to fall flat. Why is that possible when the pieces are in place?
Content – We know the importance of having good content. I tend to use the term “Biblical” when I am evaluating a message, others use the term “faithful.” It’s a matter of content.
Clarity – We probably see it as a self-evident truth that for something to communicate it needs to make sense (although just believing it doesn’t make us automatically clear communicators). A clear message clearly presented is a blessing to listeners.
Contemporaneity – Ok, so if I wasn’t enjoying my alliteration (might as well do it on here since I rarely alliterate in messages), I might prefer to speak of emphasising the relevance of the passage. That is, helping listeners to hear what God is saying today, to us, through His Word.
Good content, clearly presented, with a contemporary sense of relevance. What more could you want in a message? How can messages with all three ingredients in place still fall flat?
I think there is a fourth ingredient that is often overlooked, frequently forgotten in the mix of making a message that ministers well:
Connection – Again if I weren’t in the mood for “C’s” I would probably call this being engaging. It is something about the persona of the preacher, the energy, the relevance, the eye contact, the warmth, the humour, the manner of delivery, the feel and flow of the whole, the comfort or nerves of the speaker, and so much more. It may be hard to pin down what makes it, but as a listener you can sense when it’s missing.
Let’s try to preach good content, clearly, with a contemporary focus. But as well, let’s seek to connect. After all, we are communicating for a communicating and relational God. Preaching is a relational exercise. And when connection is missing, preaching falls flat.
Arriving at the Destination
Just a quick post on something I’ve mentioned before, but worth a revisit. The best flight is one that has a planned destination, and once arriving there, it lands. The same is true with preaching. How easily we can end up planning the landing mid-flight, as we preach! How tempting it is to pull out during descent to circle around one more time and add in a couple of elements we thought of saying, then forgot. How uncomfortable to be a passenger on that kind of flight, or in that kind of sermon!
Know where the message is going. Plan the landing ahead of time. Perhaps have a final sentence that really nails the message. Get there. Say it. Stop.
I have often been impressed at how Haddon Robinson seems to land his messages with a great sentence and a definite period, rather than waffling and fizzling to a vague finish. I know I need to keep working on that, so I thought I’d share it here in case you do too!
Covenants Familiar and Forsaken
Yesterday I posted on the Cor Deo site. While not specifically about preaching, perhaps it might be a stimulating read for us as preachers. Click here to go to the post reflecting on how the New Covenant can become the Familiar Covenant, if we’re not careful.
Pondering Pace
Effective preachers can range from plodding to pacey. Contrary to popular opinion, slow is not always better. As long as people can hear (volume) clearly (annunciation), their brains can generally cope with pace. However, it is worth asking whether their hearts can cope?
Recently I had the joy of listening to a friend of mine preach in a setting designed for offering feedback. The message was very good. He did what many of us have done, though, and got confused about how long he had left. Thinking he should be finishing (although he could have preached longer), he increased the pace. Did we hear, understand and comprehend what he said at the faster pace? Yes. But did it have the same impact on our hearts? Probably not.
At times I have watched a TV show, or a film, at an increased pace. So for example, a 40-minute episode can be seen in 27-minutes. This saves time, and you still understand all that happens. But something is different. At 1.4x the normal speed it is possible to follow dialogue and action, but it is harder to feel it. When the moment of tension arrives, the intruder’s in the house, the music generates tension through it’s heartbeat style . . . well, at 1.4x the normal speed you simply don’t feel the tension, or the fear, or the anticipation, or the joy, etc.
We don’t have to preach slow, there is benefit in using a range of pace. But recognize that rushed delivery undermines the affective impact of the message. Is it worth trading that in for the benefit of cramming in more information? I suppose it depends on whether you think humans are purely brain-driven, or if the heart has a role to play.
Sharing Posts
Until recently I included a rather obvious Sharing button after each post. This is no longer necessary as WordPress has included a helpful share feature. If you read a post and want to share it on facebook, email, twitter, etc., just click on the title of the post, and then you’ll see the share feature at the bottom of the post.
Thanks!
