Category Archives: preacher

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Our Privilege as Preachers to Play a Part in the “Cure of Souls”

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Soul-Cure is an ancient profession!

I recently put aside some hermeneutics reading to invest some time thinking about pastoral ministry and preaching. That involved reading a delightful book, Augustine and the Cure of Souls: Revising a Classical Ideal, by Paul R. Kolbet

On the very first page I struck gold with this quote:

“Who, then, will be this doctor of souls? What will his drugs be like, and what form will the regimen he prescribes take?” (Maximus of Tyre, Diss. 28.1)

Maximus is a late 2nd century rhetorician and philosopher or sophist. A couple of centuries later Augustine will emerge as one of these “doctor of souls.” While I knew that Greek rhetoric greatly affected Augustine’s preaching ministry, I did not know that his pastoral ministry was also influenced by Greek thinking.

In the coming weeks I will continue to share some insights from this helpful book. For now I wanted to begin by saying that we preachers are “doctor of souls” and the Word of God is our written prescription. In the broadest of terms, every time we apply our lives to the Bible we are showing elements of “the regimen” required for the cure of souls.

One part of sacred Scripture that guides my thinking is Hebrews 13:17

 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 13:17.

God has given us a tremendous privilege to “watch over…souls” each Sunday. I hope you know how important you are to your flock’s spiritual health. It’s all because of the gift He’s given you.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we faithfully prepare for this coming weekend’s preaching ministry.

Randal

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From Cicero to Augustine to our Preaching

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Cicero influenced Augustine who, in turn, has influenced all of us!

The last few weeks I’ve been sharing key thoughts from Augustine’s, On Christian Doctrine (translated by Robertson). Because of my emphasis through the years of the intersection of homiletics and hermeneutics, I have read very little on ancient rhetoric. However, Augustine has given me a glimpse of it in this book and another that I began last week (Augustine and the Cure of Souls: Revising a Classical Ideal, by Paul R. Kolbet [not Stephen Colbert!].

You might be interested in the following quote from Augustine citing Cicero in the context of your own teaching and preaching work:

“Therefore a certain eloquent man said, and said truly, that he who is eloquent should speak in such a way that he teaches, delights, and moves. Then he added, ‘To teach is a necessity, to please is a sweetness, to persuade is a victory.'” (p. 136).

You and I are not interested in eloquence for eloquence’s sake.

However, we are interested in teaching. I had the privilege this morning again to teach the sacred Scriptures. It was my responsibility to interpret a section in Matthew’s Gospel in such a way that it functioned for my faith-family. We give biblical information and instruction.

We might not think about the second one, “delights.” Maybe because we’re not into entertaining. But what if I changed the angle with a quote from my mentor, Haddon Robinson: “It’s a sin to bore people with the Word of God.” So, if you struggle with the thought of delighting your listeners, you probably don’t struggle with trying to avoid boring your congregants with the Bible.

Finally, the third element, persuasion, is one that I expected to hear, even with my limited reading of ancient rhetoric. And this is one that you and I are extremely interested in. All our efforts to teach serve the goal of persuading our congregants to respond properly to sacred Scripture. Preachers talk about application or persuading listeners to apply their lives to the Bible.

N.B. You may recall from earlier posts that authorized persuasion is organically connected to theological exegesis. This requires skill to identify meaning of a passage that includes what God intends for that passage to do to listeners.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we begin preparing for victory in our next preaching/teaching assignment.

Randal

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Assisting our “Silent Learners”: Augustine on Preaching

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Some of Our Listeners may Be Silent, but They Are Thinking.

I wrote recently that I finally read Augustine’s classic little paperback, On Christian Doctrine (translated by Robertson). Augustine provides a look at one challenge of the traditional, monologue sermon. He instructs his students,

“In a conversation anyone may ask questions. But where all are silent that one may be heard and all are intent upon him, it is neither customary nor proper that anyone inquire about what he does not understand. For this reason the teacher should be especially careful to assist the silent learner. [emphasis added]” (p. 134)

You can see that, in Augustine’s day, preachers didn’t engage in dialogue with their listeners. In his era, all were “silent that one may be heard and all are intent upon him.” Probably your preaching resembles that too. You preach and your parishioners listen without asking questions about what they don’t understand.

Here are some things to think about as you develop this week’s sermon(s) that will help you “to assist the silent learner”:

  1. As you study your preaching portion, make a list of all the questions you have of this text.
  2. Try to anticipate the kinds of questions that someone who has not studied as much as you might ask of that text.
  3. Try also to anticipate the disagreements they may have with you as you preach. One homiletician called these push-backs, contrapuntals (I knew you’d like that word!).
  4. During the sermon, ask your listeners questions in such a way that they know you expect them to answer. Even if you don’t expect them or necessarily want them to answer, still ask a question sincerely to help them think with you. I say that because, through the years, I’ve seen more than one preaching ask their congregants a question in such a way they knew he really didn’t expect an answer.

Our typical monologue-method on Sunday mornings presents some real problems for communicating biblical truth. Through the years I’ve found a conversational style to be more effective than the one-way method. Most of my listeners are used to monologue sermons, but appreciate the conversation.

If you find that you fit into Augustine’s mode of preaching, may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you carefully assist your silent learners.

Randal

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Current Preaching Challenges from our 18th Century Brothers

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The 18th Century Gave Us Edwards, but Some Troubles Too!

One of the unexpected takeaways from Marsden’s, An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the Twenty-First Century, is to learn some of the traits or tendencies in 18th century evangelicalism that affects our pastoral ministry and preaching.

The first two are big ones:

(1) “distrust of established institutional authority and

(2) increasing trust in individual experience.” (p. 82)

You and I continue to preach in this context. It’s an uphill, yet winnable situation as God gives ears to hear. Part of making it winnable is you and I being aware of these tendencies and being able to address them when appropriate in our preaching portions.

An interesting factoid is that George Whitefield and John Wesley contributed to this! Marsden writes, “Both were ordained Anglicans, but each effectively ignored most formal church authority” (p. 83).

Marsden goes on to add other tendencies that continue to plague us:

“to favor strong, inspiring, individual leadership over institutional tradition [later Marsden called it, “the rise of celebrity culture”, p. 89], to divide over differing doctrines and practices, and to grow through splitting” (p. 83).

The first tendency is something that we and our leadership must keep in mind. We do need to lead from the pulpit and part of that leadership involves championing the local church.

The second tendency requires an all-out effort “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). We need wisdom to proclaim doctrine humbly and to shut down unbiblical divisiveness.

What scared me the most through those pages was thinking of how great preachers like W&W can contribute to negative elements in the church. God help us!

I find it helpful to have this kind of information in my mind as I think about the challenges of preaching. May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you minister in this context which began in the 18th century.

Randal

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A Worship Response Fitting For All Sermons

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Helping our Listeners Enjoy “The Dynamic Beauty of God”

“The Dynamic Beauty of God” is the title of Marsden’s chapter 3 in, An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the Twenty-First Century.

I am suggesting you might consider making God’s beauty foundational for all kinds of sermon applications. This means, of course, preaching Scripture that, either in the text or immediate context, contains an element of God’s beauty, explicitly or implicitly.

[For a second, think about the last few sermons or lessons you’ve taught and the kind of application you developed and communicated.]

In, Religious Affections, Edwards wrote,

“God is God, and to be chiefly distinguished from all other beings, and exalted about them, chiefly by his divine beauty” (p. 64 in Marsden).

And of all the things that make God beautiful, nothing, according to Edwards is more beautiful about God than His love. Marsden summarizes Edwards, “God has created the universe in order to share the Trinity’s love with other persons who are capable of meaningful love” (p. 64) That includes our listeners who have ears to hear.

Edwards would tell us preachers to urge our folks to see God in all His beauty and respond appropriately with worship. Marsden writes that when God’s beauty is “at the center of reality…recognizing it will spark joy and delight” (p. 64). He summarizes with: “The primary purpose for which the mighty God has created this universe, then, is so that creatures might live in the infinite pleasure of the joy of God’s love” (p. 65). In my setting, I have to lead the way to this worship by smiling at my congregants as a result of my own joy and pleasure of knowing God as most beautiful.

So, Marsden and Edwards have helped me think about the wisdom of making sure that, with all our attempts to apply life to Scripture, we should urge our folks to respond to the dynamic beauty of God. May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we encourage that most-appropriate worship response.

Randal

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How to Apply Part of Jesus’s High Priestly Prayer

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How to Locate the Worship Response to Jesus’s Prayer

Happy New Year to you!

Usually, at the start of each year I create a mini-series on some aspect of being a part of a local church. This year I am spending four Sundays on our four core values. Calvary Bible Church is:

  • biblically-shaped (we stand on God’s unchanging Word in an ever-changing world)
  • worshipful (we offer Him all that we are because of all that He is)
  • Disciple-making (we are new creations going to our neighbors and nations)
  • faith-family (we have been adopted by the Father, so we live and love like family)

But, that’s not important right now. What is is that this past Sunday we focused on being biblically-shaped from Jesus’s prayer in John 17:14-19: “Sanctify them in the truth…”

Preaching that text gave me an excellent opportunity to teach our congregants how God intends for them to worship Him through Jesus’s prayer. It is a unique aspect of theological interpretation. How is an ancient prayer of Jesus intended to function for the church?

The answer lies in God’s desire that His people would hear Jesus pray and then ask themselves,

“Am I experiencing a walk with God that Jesus prayed about?”

To use the brief excerpt above, Jesus asks His Father to sanctify His disciples in the truth. By implication our worship response is to make sure by the grace of God that we are being sanctified by the truth of God’s Word. This helps answer one of the most important theological questions about this prayer: does God automatically answer this prayer of Jesus or does it take a response from Jesus’s disciples?

Pretty simple.

You will run into this regularly. There are no imperatives in Jesus’s prayer: He says things to God and asks things of God, all intended for use in church. This approach is necessary for any attempts to worship with texts such as Pauline benedictions or prayers.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you preach and teach such Scripture that describe experiences intended for all God’s people.

Randal

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An Example of Christ-Centered Preaching from Jonathan Edwards’s Letter to Lady Mary Pepperell, 1751

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Jonathan Edwards Practiced Cross-Eyed Preaching

In Marsden’s, An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the 21st Century, he records a lengthy paragraph Edwards wrote to Lady Mary Pepperell in 1751. The excerpt provides an example of how Edwards preached Christ. Marsden writes that Pepperell had recently lost her only son and Edwards wrote to console her:

“[Christ suffered, that we might be delivered. His soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death, to take away the sting of sorrow and that we might have everlasting consolation. He was oppressed and afflicted, that we might be supported. He was overwhelmed in the darkness of death and hell, that we might have the light of life. He was cast into the furnace of God’s wrath, that we might swim in the rivers of pleasure. His heart was overwhelmed in a flood of sorrow and anguish, that our hearts might be filled and overwhelmed with a flood of eternal joy.” (p. 55)

This pattern, “He was…that we might…,” might help you form your own Christ-centered seconds near the end of your sermons as you move from the wording of the Text to the cross, urge faith, and then urge love and obedience from the Text.

If you’ve read some of my earlier posts on Christ-centered preaching, you can see how easy it is to move from statements like Edwards’s above to asking our listeners…

“Do you believe this good news about the Lord Jesus Christ?”

My goal on Sunday is to move from the biblical text/preaching portion to the Gospel from the specific wording of the preaching portion. [Edwards’s excerpt is missing any biblical text.] Then, the announcement of the Gospel leads to a faith-first application. I want to give everyone an opportunity to affirm their faith in the Gospel. Then, after urging faith–at this point non-Christians in attendance overhearing worship could believe–I can move to the primary application in the preaching portion.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we continue to preach Christ each Sunday.

Randal

P.S. Blessed Christmas and New Year!

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The Attitudes that Affect the Way We Respond to God’s Word

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Things that get in the way of applying life to the Bible

In my last post I began summarizing some of the things I’m learning from Marsden’s, An Infinite Fountain of Light. In the book he highlights a number of ways in which Jonathan Edwards is relevant for our day. Much of Edwards’s enduring value stems from the similarities between our listeners and those in the eighteenth century.

Here are some excerpts that help us know what is in the air we breathe:

“the autonomous individual is the fundamental unity of society” (p. 33). Which explains why it is very difficult to get a local church to think about community or to even think that the church is important enough to commit to.

“the God within” (p. 33). Virtually everyone in our society has been trained to think that listening to their own voice or following their own heart is the way to success. Each weekend you and I give them another word, a Word from God that is outside of themselves.

“the privatization of meaning” (p. 33). This is a spinoff from the one above. People in our day are ditching parents or a close knit group of neighbors or spiritual community and opting to discover their own meaning. Again, on Sundays we confront them with God’s Word and His meaning, but it’s not easy because deep down they believe they are the final authority on meaning.

That’s only three of them, but they are big ones that we face. What’s fascinating is to read how all this started with someone like Benjamin Franklin (remember, he and Edwards are contemporaries). Marsden points out one huge difference between their society and ours: they believed that there was some kind of transcendent basis for their values; our society does not.

This kind of analysis reminds me that when I am preaching, listeners are hearing God’s Word in the context of their cultural values. These attitudes always affect the way people interact with God’s revelation. As you head into this Christmas week and prepare to teach and preach on Christmas Eve, keep this in mind. See if your Scripture speaks directly to these attitudes and may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Learning 21st Century Characteristics From 18th Century, Jonathan Edwards?!? Who Knew?!?

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A Look at What’s in the Heart of all of Us

Over my recent vacation I was able to order a few new books and finished George Marsden’s, An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the Twenty-First Century. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know how much I love reading Edwards. Marsden’s book offers something unique: a look at the abiding influence of Edwards because of how similar today’s mindset is to Edwards’s. I didn’t expect that. I certainly didn’t expect that the similarity is due to the influence of Ben Franklin’s thinking.

I read this kind of material to continue learning about the kinds of listeners I preach to (and the kind of man I am). When we preach God’s Word, what kinds of influences affect the way we fight for faith and righteousness?

How about this list?

  • ever-increasing technology
  • aggressive market capitalism
  • celebration of self
  • trying to balance liberty and equality
  • materialism
  • permissive sensuality
  • nationalism

Sound familiar?

If you enjoy history, you’ll appreciate Marsden’s work on Edwards and Franklin. If you enjoy thinking about preaching to your listeners, you’ll benefit from keeping these cultural characteristics in mind. They influence all of us; they’re in the air we breathe. And Marsden suggests that all of this 18th century “semi-Christian or cultural Protestant” outlook continues today.

If he’s correct, this means that many of our listeners each Sunday believe in God but are most concerned with their own personal flourishing.

And if you have teenagers in your church, here’s their “most typical religious outlook…even those who had been reared in traditionalist Christian churches… ‘moralistic therapeutic deism.’ They tended to believe that there was a benevolent , mostly distant God who wanted people to be good and who might be called on in times of sickness or crisis for help and comfort. At the same time they believed in developing one’s now self-identity.” (p. 26, Marsden quoting Christian Smith’s, Soul Searching: The Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers)

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you and I continue to exegete our listeners while expositing sacred Scripture.

Randal

For all the care you put into artistry, visual polish frequently doesn’t matter if you are getting the story right.

Ed Catmull, former President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (NYC: Random House, 2014), 37