First, I hope you’ve seen the Princess Bride. But, that’s not important right now.
If you’re an expositor, you spend a lot of sermon time defining key terms in your preaching portion. For instance, how many times over the years have you explained that grace is God’s unmerited favor? That is a good starter-definition, but it needs some fleshing out.
For instance, what is the “favor” part? We probably do a better job explaining the “unmerited” part. But the “favor” part is very important. Especially since the word, “grace,” to most of our listeners doesn’t do anything to them. Grace does something for them (even though they might not know exactly what that is).
So, I try to be careful to define my definitions as much as possible/needed. In the case of grace, for instance, I want to make sure everyone in the house knows that the unmerited “favor includes things like God’s forgiveness and cleansing and supernatural assistance to live for Him. Stuff like that.
Carefully defining our definitions is especially helpful with very familiar Christian terms like grace, mercy, and salvation.
Before Sunday, see if your sermon contains key terms that needed extra special attention. Look for those terms that you keep using in the sermon and make sure your definitions are defined. This will add another layer of theological depth and clarity to your preaching. Plus, you may find there are some well-known definitions that could use a makeover.
Preach well for the sake of God’s reputation in the Church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).
Randal
I minister and preach in a strong Catholic country. I can never just use some words or define them simply. I fear that sometimes I bore the people by repeating things like you mention above, but I found I can never assume people know what I mean. And where I am, the word “unmerited” requires extra explanation as well!
It was good to get this reminder about terms we use. It is easy to focus on some words, and forget others.
Thank you for reading and responding. It scares me to think about how much we say during a sermon that does not really communicate. I fear my explanations often need explaining. Preach well!
For sure! I have a saying (in fact, I told it to the congregation this past Sunday), that I am quite skillful at taking simple subjects and complicating them beyond all recognition. 🙂 I have to work really hard to make things clear–and I probably fail more often than succeed. 🙂
Thanks for your blog, btw. Today was the first time I’ve written, but I’ve been faithfully reading for several months now.
I’m glad to hear the blog is helping some. I don’t expect readers to spend a ton of extra time, but don’t hesitate to contribute ideas. That will only help us all. Thanks for reading.