Category Archives: pastoral preaching

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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.