Category Archives: pastoral preaching

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Creating Saint-Sanctifying, Seeker-Sensitive Sermons: Working Towards A Balanced Approach

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A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of conducting a preaching workshop at Lancaster Bible College. Our afternoon focused on creating saint-sanctifying, seeker-sensitive sermons: working towards a balanced approach. This post begins a short series on this important topic. Lord willing, I’ll be conducting this seminar in detail at LBC’s campus in Greenbelt, MD on the afternoon of April 3, 2014.

The topic is important because:

  • Seeker-sensitive approaches continue to be very influential and many of us feel some measure of pressure to adopt effective methods.
  • We are creatures of extremes which means some of us might be out of balance (too seeker focused or too saint focused). Or, to put it another way, maybe you have totally dismissed the seeker-senstive approach or you have bought into it whole-hog.

First, let me ask you to analyze your own approach and setting. Do your sermons and approach lean more towards being seeker-senstive or saint-sensitive? What percentage of your listeners on an average Sunday morning would declare to you that they are non-Christian (an important question as we search for balance)?

Alright, let’s look at areas of theology and ministry that are affected by this discussion.

Theology: What did Jesus mean when He said, “Anyone who has ears to hear, let him hear”? Does a certain kind of sermon create ears that can hear?

Hermeneutics: Is the standard approach to reaching seekers the best way to read the Bible? Is, for instance, the “five ways to manage your anger”-type sermon the best interpretation of Scripture selected to support such a sermon (yes, my selection of the word, “support,” is loaded).

Homiletics: Have we paid so much attention to the interest of our listeners that we have forgotten the listener’s spiritual condition and need for theology (as opposed to self-help [defined as moralistic improvement from Scripture apart from faith in Christ)?

That being said, it is not my intention in this series to debunk seeker-senstive, topical preaching. I do want to help bring some clarity to what it means to be seeker-senstive. I especially want to show from 1 Cor. 14:23-25 that we should be and can be more seeker-sensitive with an insider-directed message from God’s Word.

1 Cor. 14:24-25 gives us hope: “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.”

So, the only way to be seeker-sensitive is not creating an outsider-directed message and delivering it on Sunday morning. We know from v. 22 that these words were “for believers.” Be assured that your sermons aimed at the saints have the potential to reach the outsiders who join us each Sunday morning. More on how that happens in future posts.

Preach well for the sake of Christ’s reputation in the Church/world.

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Do Your Congregants See Your Preaching Improving?

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Last week I had the privilege of spending a day with pastors of the Great Lakes Region of Evangelical Congregational churches in Youngstown, Ohio. My assignment was to help us all become more effective expositors of God’s Word. During one segment, we were all challenged by the instruction in 1 Timothy 4:14-16, especially the piling on of terms telling us we needed to work hard at getting better. The ESV reads: “Do not neglect…. Practice these things, devote yourself to them….Keep a close watch on….Persist in this…”

At one point I asked the pastors how they practice their craft. As you might imagine, none of us had much to say. Most of us are too busy ministering to spend time practicing. How does a pastor practice their hermeneutics and homiletics? It’s an appropriate question to ask in light of 1 Timothy 4:14-16.

And, then, the strangest thing is Paul’s reason for telling Timothy this. God says in verse 15: “Practice these things…so that all may see your progress.” That still seems odd to me. It’s not just that we practice these things so that we get better. No, God says it’s important that everyone in the faith-family sees our progress.

So, beyond studying for sermons and Bible lessons, what are you doing to regularly practice your hermeneutics and homiletics? Are you reading to gain competency (theologically rich books, journal articles, and blogs)? Are you engaged in informal or formal classroom instruction? How about seminars or workshops? As is true with so many disciplines, engaging in the process is more important than selecting the “right” resources.

May God help us progress for the sake of His reputation in the Church and in the world.

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A Preacher’s Manifesto: Ten Commitments That Drive Biblical Preaching

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Last week I published my first book. It’s a mini e-book called: A Preacher’s Manifesto: Ten Commitments That Drive Biblical Preaching. I enjoyed distilling my beliefs and practices into this format. Here’s a description of the book:

A Preacher’s Manifesto presents ten commitments that should drive biblical preaching. These ten commitments will guide pastors in creating their preaching calendar, help steer their sermon preparation, and remind them of the vital place preaching occupies in the local church. The commitments include topics ranging from pastoral theology (“preaching as a function of soul-watching”), hermeneutics (“not allow a selected topic to override the meaning of the biblical Text”), and pastoral ministry (“preach as though my spiritual life and the spiritual lives of my parishioners depend on it”). A Preacher’s Manifesto will challenge assumptions, cultivate new commitments, and bring about changes in preaching for the sake of enlarging God’s reputation in the Church.

If you’re interested, you can find the book at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com. Smashwords will give you several more reading options, including a PDF of the book. It will also allow you to download a percentage of the book to preview some content.

I hope the ole saying, You get what you pay for, is not true in this case. The book is $2.99, but I believe it will stimulate your thinking.

Again, thank you for thinking about preaching with me.

Preach well for the sake of God’s reputation in the Church.

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Do You Let Your Listeners Know You Love Them While You’re Preaching And Does It Matter?

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I recently read the lead article of Crosswalk.com’s newsletter which arrived in my inbox on November 1, 2013. The article was, How to Spot a Healthy Church–Quickly, by Ray Pritchard. Ray suggests there are two indicators of a healthy church that visitors can spot immediately. The first one is hearty congregational singing. The second one caught my attention: obvious affection between the pastor and the congregation. It made me wonder what we can do while we preach to show genuine affection.

I’m a firm believer that people skills have a greater affect on a sermon’s hearing than exegetical skills. I must love my listeners as much as, if not more than, I love to study and preach to them. And the affect of interpersonal relationships on communication are well documented. Every communication event, including preaching, contains a content element and a relational element. The relational element affects how we receive the content and what we do with it. When our relationship with our congregants is healthy, they place more importance on our content. When our relationship is unhealthy, they place less importance on our content. In an unhealthy relationship, the words don’t mean as much or the same thing we intend. That’s part of the reason why when two people are arguing during tense times, you’ll hear something like, “That’s not what I meant!”

So, what can we do to let our listeners know we love them while we’re preaching?

  • smile at them
  • laugh with them
  • dialogue with them (besides being an effective teaching tool, dialogue during a teaching time is a great way to build rapport)
  • tell them (say things like, “you know I love you dearly…”, at appropriate times
  • join them as a fellow struggler on the Way
  • (add some others…)

Does your faith-family know you love them? Let it show while you’re preaching. Our best listeners are the ones who feel the love.

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Loving Those Who Don’t Listen

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If you’ve preached in church for a while and watched your listeners, you’ve probably noticed that some don’t listen. I realize some may be faking it; they may actually be listening even though they look like they’ve checked out. However, it is a reality of pastoral preaching that some parishioners don’t listen. Some do not hear God’s Word, don’t receive God’s Word, and are not changed by it. It’s very easy to get upset with them.

In Luke 9:54, Jesus’ disciples, James and John (a.k.a., sons of thunder!) ask Him, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” What a way to react to those who don’t listen! Yikes! Jesus’ abridged answer: “But he turned and rebuked them” (v. 55). That’s it. Ryken says, “it was still time for mercy.”

What were they thinking? Well, they were protecting Jesus; their Lord was being insulted. They were extremely zealous for God and for souls (OK, at least they were extremely zealous for God). It’s easy for us pastors to harbor ill-will towards those who don’t listen. It’s extremely difficult for us to shepherd people we wished weren’t there! However, Jesus made it very clear that His disciples’ plan of attack was inappropriate. Later on in Luke 23:34 we read our Lord saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” May our Lord extend grace to help us love those who don’t listen.

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“I must live th…

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“I must live the Christian life as well as, if not better than, I am able to explain it.”

Back on October 8, 1996 I was invited by Haddon Robinson to give a lecture to his preaching students at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary called, Life in the Trenches. I gave six principles (the number six, rather than seven, best portrays the realities of pastoral ministry!). The first principle was that character is greater than competency. The quote presents one implication of that principle.

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Preaching That Matches Jesus’ Sense Of Urgency

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I learned from Jesus’ application of His own parable of the four soils that every teaching time in church is urgent. He teaches us in Luke 8:18 “Take care then how you hear…” This is Jesus’ primary application, after He showed us four kinds of hearing of the Gospel. This means that every sermon requires immediate action or attention. I’ve identified four kinds of hearing that take place in faith-families (I’m sure you can add to this): Congregants can

  1. hear and not understand.
  2. hear and don’t care.
  3. hear, understand, care, but not change.
  4. hear, understand, care, and change.

Jesus’ stern warning in v. 18 has helped me realize how important it is each Sunday to explain why it’s important to hear and respond to God’s Word. In an earlier post I mentioned how Jesus continually divides us all into two categories. In this case, we have the have’s (“…for to the one who has, more will be given…”) and the have not’s (“and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”). Your theology will probably dictate how severe the warning is (loss of rewards–demotion, versus loss of spiritual life–destruction). Either way, I want to be sure my preaching matches Jesus’ sense of urgency. I do not want to be guilty of allowing parishioners to “think” they have what they don’t have.

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Two Ways to Cultivate Good Soil with Each Sermon

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Luke 8:4-15 contains Jesus’ parable of the four soils. It explains what happens every Sunday during the teaching time. Every congregant, including us pastors, are represented by one of the parable’s four scenarios. You know that the parable is designed to move us all in the direction of being the good soil. Here are two ways to do that.

First, attack the second and third scenarios head-on. In the second scenario in v. 13, “they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.” Each Sunday we’re preaching to parishioners experiencing trying times. We serve them well by urging them to continue to believe. In the third scenario, “as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (v. 14). We serve them well by urging them away from these dreadful distractions. In each case we’re attempting to preserve faith which, in turn, buys time for fruit to emerge and grow.

Second, each sermon is an opportunity to encourage everyone to find themselves in the good soil depicted in v. 15, “those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” Notice, again, the time element involved. Over time, due to ongoing faith and obedience, fruit appears. You may have realized that there is never a time in this life when any listener ever escapes the temptations of the second and third scenario. That means no listeners, ourselves included, can ever say, “I’ve moved into the category of the good soil for good.” No, that will depend on how we hear and respond to God’s Word each Sunday. 

Since preaching this parable last month, I have been more aware of it being played out each Sunday. This, in turn, guides me in the study and during the sermon.

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The Relationship Factor in Pastoral Preaching

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Which do you love more, the preaching or the people?  Yesterday Michele and I enjoyed the rare opportunity to worship with another faith-family.  The pastor, Lanny Kilgore, is a good friend of mine and a very good shepherd.  What struck me about seeing him preach was how much he enjoyed the parishioners during the sermon.  I could tell that he loved them as much as he loved preaching.  In his book, Preaching & Preachers, Lloyd-Jones quotes Anglican preacher, Richard Cecil: “To love to preach is one thing, to love those to whom we preach quite another” (p. 105). Sometimes when I hear sermons, I get the impression that the sermon would sound the same and the preacher would preach the same even if nobody was listening.  The people really didn’t matter to the preacher, but only the sermon mattered.  Ask yourself how much the presence of listeners affects your delivery.  May our Lord give us a heart that loves His people as much as we love the proclamation of His Word.