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I can remember the first time I saw a Star Wars film in the cinema. This was back in the 1980s. With popcorn in hand, we found our plush velvet seats and tried to get comfortable. Then we were plunged into darkness. A slight pause. And then it began. In just two minutes, I was transported into another world. Everything normal seemed like a distant memory. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” Then the blast of the brass section of an orchestra as the film title appeared. Three paragraphs of background story to orient us, and we were there. The start of the Star Wars movies was genuinely epic.
The Bible can, and should, have that same effect on us. Lifting us out of the everyday rhythms of life and helping us to see another whole realm of reality. For instance, consider the theme of The Day of the LORD. It is mentioned eighteen times in the Old Testament, plus dozens of other references like “on that day.” It is that future moment when God would step into history, bringing judgment for the wicked and blessing for His people.
Not only is it anticipated in the Old Testament, but it is also still anticipated in the New Testament. Consider, for example, 2 Peter chapter 3. There, Peter describes how scoffers will ridicule the idea of anticipating that day. Their tactic? They will suggest that “nothing really changes.” And how effective that tactic can be. Nothing really changes. So why should we be concerned about anything happening in the world? Nothing really changes. Why should we try to influence what is going on around us? Nothing really changes. Why look for something to break in from outside of our world? Nothing really changes. Today is like yesterday, and tomorrow will be more of the same. As one fiction writer put it, “it is a pity that thoughts always ran the easiest way, like water in old ditches.”
And yet, the Bible wants to lift our eyes and our hearts beyond our psychological preference for predictability. It wants us to know, and live in light of, the reality that one day, God Himself will step into history again.
Consider one of the passages that anticipates “that day” – Malachi chapter 3. For the first few verses, we read of how God is coming, the messenger of the covenant who will come like the purifier’s fire, like fuller’s soap. Two vivid images of cleansing, purging, separating – that fire so hot that metal melts and the impurities are separated; that lye that pulls out the impurities from fabric and bleaches it clean. The Lord is coming to cleanse and purify. Yes, the focus is on restoring proper worship, but the imagery is imposing and intimidating.
We might expect the passage to conclude with a call to run. Run for your lives! Flee this terrible day that is coming! And yet, as in so many of the “Day of the LORD” passages, we find an invitation. This God, who is coming to purge and to cleanse, is a God of grace who invites His people to draw near to Him.
In verses 6 and 7, God speaks of His character. He does not change, which means they are not consumed (because He keeps His promises). But they should change. They should change direction. They have gone away from God, but if they return to Him, then He will return to them. As James later put it, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
They asked how they could return. So God raised the issue of their giving. In verses 8-12, God describes how they should test Him (an unusual concept in the Bible!) by seeing if they could outgive God. They never would be able to do that! As we come to the end of the chapter, we find that some of the people who were challenged to give of their treasure, which really belonged to God anyway, were also moved in heart to fear God and be responsive to Him. So they are described as being God’s treasured possession.
A chapter that begins with such overpowering imagery of judgment is so full of God’s overflowing grace. Yes, the Day of the LORD is terrifying, and many in this world should be shaking with fear at what is coming. And yet, for those of us who know what it means to belong to this God, we can look forward, waiting, anticipating, hoping. We live today in light of that day, knowing that the old ditches of life are not forever. We understand that the “nothing really changes” mindset is doomed to be proven profoundly wrong. We wait, knowing that with a blast of the brass section of heaven’s orchestra, we will be transported into another time.
Honestly, I am not concerned with whether we agree on the details of what is to come in the future. I am worried that we are discouraged by the scoffers who claim that nothing really changes. Let’s read God’s Word and let it lift our eyes and our hearts. We have a God who has stepped into time and history and who will again. His coming will shake up everything. And we who live in anticipation of that day should live differently today.
In light of Malachi 3, let’s be sure to turn to God now and be ready for that day. Let’s consider our “tithing” – that is, our giving and investing in eternity today. And let’s rejoice at the privilege of being His treasured possession. May the Lord use us now as we live for Him, and wouldn’t it be great if He came back soon!
With Christmas coming soon, it is time to start making plans … especially if you are involved in preaching or teaching! Check out the latest episode of the podcast, and please do subscribe so you don’t miss any of the forthcoming episodes!
When we preach a Bible passage, we need to preach the text. That may sound obvious, but many don’t do it. Some preachers use the text as a launching point – they read the text and then preach an associated thought from their own thinking or theology. Others bounce briefly off the text and then preach other passages with some perceived connection.
God is the best communicator, so as preachers, we want to reflect his communication as best we can. When you are preaching a passage, really try to preach it. That includes helping your listeners to see what is there, to understand what is there, and to feel the force of what is there. To really preach a passage is not simply to educate listeners in the meaning, although that is a good start. It is to get them into the text and get the text into them, and it is to introduce the God who is revealing himself through the text so that they experience the transformative power of a personal encounter. The preacher is not merely teaching, but introducing, match-making, and fanning the flames of the relationship between listeners and God.
If we commit to truly preaching a passage, then we will come up against the challenge of saying more than the text says. That is, if we are really committed to a high view of the biblical text, are we straying if we add any detail not overtly stated in the passage? If we have a biblical narrative, are we restricted in telling the story so that we cannot fully tell it, but instead end up preaching theological points connected to it? Are we trying to cram a 100-word reading into a 4000-word speech without really saying anything beyond the 100 words of the passage?
Here are five thoughts that may help when it comes to the subject of “adding to the text.”
1. Think about the “informing texts” – As well as the passage you are preaching, there will be other passages that inform the content of your preaching passage. Any passage quoted, or alluded to, or that provides the relevant history (think Acts for some of the epistles) should be considered as fair game for helpful content as you preach your passage.
2. Consider “related texts” – This is more subjective, but some passages are more related to your preaching text than others. The same author or the same time period will tend to be more related than a distant author and era (unless the era is earlier and may have informed your writer, but then we are back to number 1: informing texts). Related texts can be helpful, but don’t lean on them so much that your preaching passage is lost in the process.
3. Make plain “assumed knowledge” – When the Bible writers wrote, they were not thinking of readers in a different culture, language, location, and historical era. So there is a lot of background information that is assumed. The author might assume the reader knows who the Pharisees were, named individuals, cultural events, or societal norms. Geographic descriptions weren’t needed for the original readers, but they might be highly helpful for modern listeners to make sense of the setting of a passage. It is not going beyond the text to state overtly what is implicitly assumed within the text. Study the background, the culture, the geography, etc., and help people to understand, visualize, and feel the impact of the passage as you preach.
4. “Imagined” thoughts and feelings in a passage can be shared honestly – We don’t know what was going through a character’s mind, or even what was happening in their life around the events of a story. Where we use our imagination to help bring a passage to life, be sure to help listeners know that you are not asserting divine revelation. I was listening to a Haddon Robinson sermon recently, and he said something like, “I’m not sure he said this, but I know we do…” It was a helpful way to connect the real-life aspects of the story to the real-life experiences of Haddon’s listeners. “I can imagine how Peter may have felt…” is a perfectly legitimate statement because your listeners know you are using your imagination.
5. Only “assert what the text asserts” – While sanctified, humble, and informed imagination can be helpful, it should never be the substance of your preaching points. Let the thrust of your message, both at the level of the main idea and the main points, come from the passage. Do not make assertions based on assumptions, imagination, or guesswork. An example comes from Psalms where the historical setting is not stated but only guessed, and then the preacher makes a point that depends on a guessed historical setting. Let the text drive the points you are making. Use your imagination to help proclaim the passage.
Seasoned preachers know that the bigger challenge will always be what to leave out, rather than what to add to a message. But in some settings, people have an overly restricted view of what should be said in a sermon. They fear saying anything more than the passage itself states overtly. That can restrict effective preaching.
Let’s make it our goal to plumb the depths of our passage, to proclaim it as fully and engagingly as possible, and to make sure that it does its work in bringing listeners into an encounter with the God who reveals himself through the Word.
It does not surprise me when I find scholars who do not believe the Bible is God’s inspired Word and also have a problem with the Apostle Paul. But it still surprises me to find Bible-believing Christians who view Paul negatively. For some, this is a reaction to his argumentative persona and intellectual presentation of complex truths. For others, the antagonism comes from the feeling that he is misogynistic or overly self-referential.
Where there is a specific criticism based on a particular passage, it helps to study that passage in its context and take into account the rest of his writings as well. But where the criticism is more a general feeling (i.e. he is too argumentative or complex), I think what helps is to try to enter into his world and see Paul in action.
At the beginning of Galatians, we find an extended biographical section that, at first glance, may appear self-congratulatory. However, delving into Paul’s world is a worthwhile endeavour. Not only will we find a brilliant and articulate fighter for the truth of the gospel – perhaps even a hero of the faith – but we will also find a motivation we can emulate. Maybe most of us will never be as brilliant as Paul. But all of us could love Jesus and the truth of the Gospel as Paul did. And if we did, perhaps the global and eternal impact would be beyond anything we have dreamt.
Let me try to give you a taste of this. On Paul’s first missionary journey, as recorded in Acts 13-14, Paul and Barnabas arrived in the region of Galatia, preached the gospel, and saw churches established. They were understandably excited as they headed for home base to report what God had done. But when they arrived, they discovered that others had followed in their footsteps and sought to correct their ministry. The criticism? Paul was not a full apostle, and Paul did not preach a complete gospel message. Perhaps Paul was portrayed as well-intentioned, and his message was seen to serve as a good starting point. But these later teachers were promoting themselves as representatives of the Jerusalem apostles and their Law-based message as a more complete and committed version of what God expects.
Paul was livid! He wrote Galatians to ward off this falsehood and try to win back the hearts of the believers before they were pulled away by this destructive corruption of the good news he had preached.
Why did Paul write with an edge? (No pun intended) Why does he seem to be shouting? Why is Paul so sharp with them? (Ok, that was slightly deliberate for the context!) The answer is that Paul loved Jesus, the Gospel, and the believers in the Galatian churches. Like a parent shouting sharply at a child walking towards a busy road, Paul was desperate to get their attention.
In the latter verses of Chapter 1, he laid out his apostolic credentials. This was not about showing off but about exposing the lies being told about him. He did not derive his authority from Jerusalem. He had barely been there. His authority came from God himself. And in the opening verses of Chapter 2, he focused on his Gospel message. It was a message that he had laid before the Jerusalem apostles. Even under pressure from the same false teachers, Paul’s Gentile companion Titus had not been compelled to be circumcised. The highest council of apostles, the inner circle itself, had affirmed his calling with a hearty handshake and no doctrinal caveats.
When you ponder the world Paul inhabited, it becomes clear that he was driven not by a desire to win arguments or a passion for self-promotion like an early social media influencer. A deep love for Jesus drove Paul, and therefore, a passion for the gospel of God’s grace that truly transforms lives from the inside out. It was that deep love that drove Paul to travel, to preach, to be misunderstood, to be persecuted, to suffer, and eventually, to die for the Lord that he loved. In Galatians 2:11-14, it was that deep love that drove Paul to take a most uncomfortable step: he publicly called the great senior apostle Peter a hypocrite in front of his home crowd.
I’m not suggesting we should be looking for opportunities to poke others in the chest. I’ve seen far too much bombastic finger-wagging on social media. But I’ve also seen far too little courage in person when faced with character and behaviour that compromises the Gospel. Will we be willing to take uncomfortable steps in the face of compromise, or will we be willing to take uncomfortable steps in the calling of missionary need?
We cannot give ourselves a good talking-to and suddenly generate sacrificial motivation for ministry. Neither can we muster up Paul’s level of theological brilliance just because we start to find him inspiring. But we can gaze long and hard at Jesus. We can ponder the wonder of the gospel of God’s grace in Christ deeply. We can ask God to give us a heart-exploding glimpse into the wonder of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. Because if we see Jesus for who he is, if we get a sense of the wonder of the gospel, then perhaps we will start to share in Paul’s motivation for the truth of the gospel.
Why did Paul contend for the truth of the gospel, even in the face of opposition? Two words from Galatians 2:5 – it was so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved “for you.” And by extension, from Galatia down through two millennia, it was for it to be preserved for us. May we be ever more captivated by the glorious good news of God’s great love for us so that we are motivated to preserve it for others.
The last couple of months have been busy, to say the least. A conference with Josiah Venture in Czech Republic, the European Leadership Forum in Poland, two family weddings, two baptism services in the midst of a busy season at church – these all added up to not sharing much on this site. So, it is time for a catch-up on the podcast. What has been happening since the last post that was linked to an episode?
Mike and I discussed the various kinds of interruptions that can add some intricate dynamics to a preaching event. We also talked through the most basic sermon preparation process. While there is plenty of potential for complexity in the area of sermon preparation, we wanted to make sure the basic process is clear.
Along the way, we also had a couple of episodes hearing from Si Munsie of Life Church, Southampton. (Click here for part 1 on preaching to real people, and here for part 2 where we think about past employment and preaching.) And this week, we have part 1 of my interview with Andy Paterson, currently pastoring in Hong Kong – a fascinating conversation with a very experienced pastor-preacher! We have some great interviews lined up in the next months too.
So my apologies for being quieter on here and social media in recent weeks. We really do appreciate every encouraging comment, both in person and online. If you are able to subscribe on YouTube and in whatever podcast platform you use (eg Spotify or Apple), that really does help. Also, every like, comment, share, etc., is massively appreciated. Thank you for helping to get this podcast off the ground!
Delivery matters. And yet some do not want to think about improving their delivery. Perhaps they feel comfortable with the rhythm of preaching that their tradition and experience has set in place and do not want to tinker with something that seems to work. Perhaps they consider it more spiritual to avoid any hint of performance in their preaching. Maybe they believe that the content of the message, or even the vitality of their personal walk with God, should and will speak for itself.
There may be some preachers who are highly confident in their own rhetorical prowess and cannot imagine that everyone else is not continually wowed by their combination of presentational ease and flair. More likely, there could be many preachers who know they have delivery weaknesses but are hesitant to face them in case it is overwhelming. Then, there will be preachers who do not know how much their delivery impacts their communication and have never stopped to give the matter any thought.
Delivery matters. It either helps or hinders your attempts to communicate God’s Word with your listeners. Improving your delivery is both an act of love for your listeners and a matter of good stewardship of your ministry before God. It is about making sure your good study and preparation is given a chance to get through, and it is about making it as easy as possible for the listeners to hear God’s word.
What if the best message is presented at too low a volume, with a persistent cough, distracting vocal mannerisms, and you can’t quite see the preacher – is it possible for you to listen to that sermon? While it’s possible to hear and still be impacted by the sermon, it will take extra effort on your part to fully absorb what’s being said. As a preacher, it’s an act of love to minimize the effort required for your listeners to truly engage with your message.
In this episode of the podcast, I present a simple three-step process to improve your delivery. It is not complicated. But the question is, will you follow this process and improve?
I’d love to hear from you – what is the one thing that you need to work on next? Also, what have you worked on in the past and what did you find helpful? Please do comment on this post, or after the podcast episode. Please click here to watch Episode 11.
So we have covered five principles for preaching to a mixed crowd in part 1, and in part 2. Now, I’d like to share a starter guide to evaluating the mix that makes up your congregation. Take this list and prayerfully think through it, making notes about the different groups in your church. Consider which groups are bigger, and which are smaller but still present. Then, perhaps share your thoughts with someone else involved in the leadership of your church. Together, you will be able to pray for your church and preach more effectively to your church.
1. Believers and not-yet-believers – what is the mix? How would you describe the believers? How would you describe the not-yet-believers?
2. Bible literate and Bible unaware – what is the range of biblical awareness in your church? Where do the majority currently stand on that continuum?
3. Churched and unchurched (guests/newcomers) – how often do you get visitors coming to the church? Do people feel confident to bring guests along?
4. Mix of ages in the church – what is the proportion of children, youth, students, young adults, established adults, older working-aged adults, retirees, and older seniors?
5. Lifestages in the church – as you consider the ages, how would you describe the life stages? Are people out of work, jumping between jobs, established in their careers? Are the empty nesters settled or struggling? What is the nature of the life experience of the seniors in the church?
6. The gender mix in the church – there are two options, but what do you observe about numbers? In couples where only one is a believer, which gender is typically a believer?
7. Education and employment – what type and level of education do people have in the church? How many had no higher education? What about university educated? What about vocationally trained? Or higher degrees? What type of employment do people have? How financially stable and secure are the households in the congregation?
8. Family dynamics – consider the make-up of the church in terms of married and single. Are the married couples doing well relationally? And what about the single people? How many are content long-term single, disappointed long-term single, young adults, newly single by divorce, etc.? And what about parents? Parents of young, of teens, of adults? Broken marriages? Blended families? What about those with responsibilities for elderly parents?
9. Nationality and culture – how many of the church are local first language speakers? What about non-local first-language speakers? And non-local second language speakers? Are internationals newly arrived or more settled? Are the internationals from various nations, or are there larger groups from specific countries? What are the dynamics within those groups and between the groups?
10. Is the congregation typical of the locality, or is the congregation “travelling in” to a central hub? Do people live in the community the church is trying to reach? Where do guests come from? Are guests able to connect with church regulars?
11. What other factors come to mind as you evaluate your congregation?
When we preach, we always have a mixed crowd, so we are thinking about five principles to help us preach effectively. Yesterday, we started by affirming that it is possible to preach effectively to a mixed crowd and by assuming that we have a greater mix than we can see. (Remember, for our discussion of different mixes at play, please check out the latest episode of The Biblical Preaching Podcast.)
So, continuing our list:
3. We need to learn about our listeners. When it comes to our own church, we can consider several levels of analysis. We can think about the culture in which our church exists and the specifics of the locality. Is it urban, suburban, or rural? Is it close to the cultural centre of society or at a distance from what is happening in the “big smoke?” Then we can think about our congregation: What are the typical profiles of people? Are there many people in a certain age and stage of life? What about typical education levels or employment types? There is a more specific analysis, too – pastorally, to get to know the individual people and families in the church. (As a guest speaker, you may only be able to analyse the level of culture, locality, and a brief guess at typical profile, but your preaching will still be better for it!)
4. We need to preach sermons that aim to land in the lives of our listeners. It is tempting to preach generic biblical truth and hope that listeners will grab hold of that truth for themselves. Don’t settle for vague generalisations. Our task is not only to be comfortable in the world of the biblical text but also to be targeted in our relevance to specific situations. Listeners will translate and personalise specifics but allow generalisations to float on by. Authentic expository preaching is not only faithful to the biblical text, but it also requires effective communication from the preacher that emphasizes relevance to the listener. True expository preaching also relies on God to be at work:
5. We need to pray for God to work in a profoundly personal way. We know that God cares about congregations with an awareness of the groupings within that congregation. Take, for instance, how God inspired Paul to give Titus specific instructions for each group in the church (Titus 2:1-10), or to help Timothy think about different groups in the Ephesian church (1 Timothy 5:1-2). We know that God cares about individuals (for instance, see Psalm 17:6-8). And we can be confident that God wants to continue his work in his people and complete what he has begun (Philippians 1:6). So let’s be sure to pray that as we preach, God will land the message in very targeted and specific ways in those that hear us.
Please check out the conversation on the latest episode of the podcast. We really appreciate any help in getting the word out about this new resource. In the next post, I will offer a starter guide for evaluating the mix that makes up your congregation.
We always preach to a mixed crowd. The mix may differ, but the one thing we can be sure of is that there will be a mix. Older and younger, male and female, biblically aware, newcomers to the Bible, church regulars and guests, and so on. In fact, in the latest episode of The Biblical Preaching Podcast, we work through six types of mix that we often have in our churches.
In this series of posts, I will share five principles to think through as preachers:
1. We must believe the Bible can be effectively presented to mixed groups simultaneously. Traditionally, many churches have targeted their preaching at either believers or not-yet-believers. So you might have an evangelistic event and a Bible study separately. However, it is possible to preach the Bible to believers and non-believers simultaneously. And if we do that, we might avoid some of the mistakes that come from assuming Christians have moved past the gospel (see Galatians 3:1-3 for a strong warning on this!)
2. We should assume a greater mix than we can see in a congregation. There are two reasons for this. First, because there is a greater mix than we can see. People may look similar on the outside but be very different in reality. And second, we should assume a greater mix because we want a greater mix than we can see. For example, how will people in a small church that often has no guests present be confident to bring guests in? One way will be for the preacher to consistently preach as if guests are present so that church members grow in confidence that they can bring a guest and it won’t feel awkward. Preach to the mix you have, and preach for the mix you want.
Biblical Preaching 