Category Archives: repentance

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Are You Achieving this Balance in Your Preaching?

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How to challenge hypocrites without unduly stressing out the saints!

I’m not quite finished with Bavinck’s one volume theology, but couldn’t help starting to read, Theoretical-Practical Theology, written by Petrus Van Mastricht in the late 17th century. I was excited to read it because he wrote the theology book to train pastors. For instance, it contains a wonderful first section, The Best Method of Preaching. What a way to begin a systematic theology book!

In it, Mastricht speaks to a subject matter that may be difficult to do in some churches because of their goals. However, it is impossible to avoid if a pastor is committed to preaching through books of the Bible.

That subject matter is challenging the saints to make sure their lifestyle matches their profession of faith. In other words, the Scriptures regularly urge the saints in church to a faith that expresses itself in required virtues.

Of course, this kind of preaching will create some angst in those who know they are saved. So Mastricht writes,

“…from one perspective, we would not without cause lead the consciences of the pious into doubts and anxieties from which afterward we could not so easily lead them out; from another perspective, so that we would not also strengthen hypocrites and harden them in their carnal security” (vol. 1, p. 23).

That’s the tension that can be created in preaching the Word of God to both kinds of listeners. It’s the kind of preaching that some preaching portions demand.

When the Text demands it, may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) because of your faithfulness in not strengthening the hypocrites without pricking the consciences of the saints without cause.

Randal

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Preaching Grace in the Sermon on the Mount

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The famous Sermon raises the righteousness bar: “Unless your righteousness exceeds…”

I have been enjoying preaching through Matthew’s gospel for several months this year. The Sermon on the Mount beginning in chapter 5 has been especially enjoyable.

If you are interested in the elements of grace in what is often known as more of a law-kind of text, here are some things I have experienced.

First, because of my recent Ph.D. dissertation on Psalm 119, I had a hyper-awareness to the similarity between the “blessed” in the Psalm and the Beatitudes. It is important that Jesus’s sermon begins with the announcement of blessing. No requirements or rules. Not yet.

Second, Jesus’s first recorded sermon contains the command to “repent” (4:17). So, as Jesus continues to preach about the necessary righteousness, each element of righteousness is a form of repentance, which we know is granted as a gift (cf. Acts 11:18).

Third, and probably the most subtle, is found after the Sermon ends. Matthew 8 begins with two characters displaying tremendous faith in Jesus to heal, first the leper and then the centurion. Matthew positions these narratives in such a way to help readers realize that success in reaching the ultra-righteousness called for in the Sermon is found only through faith in Jesus.

Watch your parishioners while your preaching the Sermon. The bar is raised so high, over and over again. Watch the smiles emerge as you remind them that Jesus commands what He creates. There is no longer the thought of, “I can’t do that!” He has done it and now provides a new desire and capacity for the ultra-righteousness He demands.

Those smiles, sourced in God’s grace, will continue to contribute to His glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Preaching Repentance From Judges 10

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One of the benefits of preaching through the book of Judges is that chapter 10 provides a glimpse into the doctrine of repentance. Repentance is not a doctrine that gets much press these days. You probably are aware that it is a critical doctrine that greatly affects one’s justification and sanctification. Judges, however, is not the place you would likely look to find teaching on repentance.

Actually two kinds of repentance are mentioned. The first one is readily acknowledge: the repentance of God’s people. The second one is hotly debated: the repentance of God.

First, after committing more idolatry, God’s people finally say in vv. 15-16 “‘We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.’ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord…” God’s people finally repent of their idolatry.

Notice two parts of their repentance: (1) they stopped worshiping “the foreign gods”; (2) they started (re-started?) serving “the Lord.” They stopped sinning and started serving. It’s a pretty simple definition of repentance.

Second, after severely judging His people, God finally responds to Israel’s repentance. The omniscient narrator tells us: “and [the Lord] became impatient over the misery of Israel” (v. 16). The Lord stopped punishing and started saving even though He said back in v. 13, “Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.”

I don’t claim to understand what was happening in the mind of God. Neither arguments for or against God being able to repent have been completely satisfying.

I am convinced, however, that our congregants need to hear the importance of confessing their sins, turning from their sins, and replacing their sins with righteousness.

Preach repentance and our Lord will continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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How Evangelistic Encounters in the Gospels Speak to Christians

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It is important to remember that the evangelistic encounters we preachers encounter in the Gospels are designed to speak to Christians, not non-Christians (at least not primarily to non-Christians).

So, for instance, in Luke 19:1-10 Jesus meets Zacchaeus. In this narrative Zacchaeus becomes a Christian. Jesus announces in verse 9, “Today salvation has come to this house…”

It would be very easy to preach this narrative as an evangelistic sermon. You might reason that since it shows Zack getting saved, it should function well as a sermon geared toward seeing non-Christian listeners come to faith too.

I suggest two alternatives:

(1) Stick with the overall purpose of the Gospel and focus on the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 19:1-10 does tell us about who Jesus is and what He came to do: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (v. 10). These narratives are a time to remind Christians what Jesus has done for them. In the process of doing so, any non-Christians overhearing worship have an opportunity to hear the Gospel and respond with saving faith.

(2) Focus attention on what the narrative says about what saving faith is. Zack’s reaction to Jesus helps us see that saving faith includes repentance. In a day when easy-believism continues to show itself in our congregations, we do our Lord and His people a great service by fleshing out what it means to believe. In verse 8 Zack says, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” Was that necessary? Could Zack have been saved without this radical change? Now, we all have an opportunity to assess whether our faith is working like Zack’s.

Before Sunday, see if your preaching portion contains any information about becoming a Christian. Then, look for similar ways to show how that information speaks to Christians about their Savior and their relationship to Him.

Preach well for His glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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The Value of Linking Sin With Unbelief

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There is an organic connection between faith and obedience. That means there is also an organic link between unbelief and disobedience. I learned this from reading Hafemann’s book, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith.

So, if it’s true that every act of disobedience is first and foremost an act of unbelief, then we attack disobedience by attacking unbelief. For instance, in Luke 12:22-31 Jesus teaches us not to worry. The sin of worrying is a good example of this approach because in v. 28 Jesus addresses His worry-wart disciples as, “O you of little faith!” Our lack of faith in God’s ability to take care of us is the root cause of worrying. So, in order to repent of the sin of worrying, we need to link that sin to our unbelief.

When I worry, I’m saying to God, “God, I don’t trust you.” Doesn’t that sound worse than saying, “God, I worry about ________”? Imagine having to tell God face-to-face that you don’t trust Him.

Unlike the sin of greed, which is rarely, if ever, confessed, worrying appears to be the sin that is frequently admitted, but rarely conquered. It might help if, instead of giving five ways to be worry-free, we link worrying to unbelief and talk about reasons why we can trust our Heavenly Father.

Use this approach with other sins that are censured in your upcoming preaching portions. Ask how sin X links with unbelief. Explore with your congregants how a particular sin links with unbelief. If the sin is unrighteous anger, how does unbelief fuel that emotion? You want to repent of worrying? Increase your faith. You want to repent of anger? Increase your faith in what God has provided in Christ and His Spirit.

As you practice this approach each Sunday, you will help everyone attack the hidden sin behind the visible sin. Instead of only providing advice to keep anger in check (and that’s probably all our “five ways to curb anger” are), you will also get to the heart of one’s relationship with Christ.

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

Randal

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How to Balance Saint-Sanctifying and Seeker-Sensitive Preaching (part 4)

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This series of blog posts is built off the premise that seekers can be reached with messages that are designed for the saints (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 and the outsider that is reached with an insider-directed message). What follows is another way in which effective preachers, ancient (Jonathan Edwards), past (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones), and current (Tim Keller), reach both kinds of audiences with the same message.

They motivate their listeners through both love and fear.

Edwards, for instance, writes: “No other principles will ever make men conscientious, but one of these two, fear or love….Hence, God has wisely ordained, that these two opposite principles of love and fear, should rise and fall, like the two opposite scales of a balance; when one rises the other sinks” (p. 376 in Carrick’s, The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards, quoting Edwards’ Religious Affections).

First, motivating through love means inquiring about our listeners’ love for God (not God’s love for us). Motivating through fear does refer to our being afraid of the wrath of our holy God.

You’ll notice in Edwards’ quote that he is arguing for both of these elements being included in our sermons. It caused me to look at my preaching and ask, first, if I am motivating my listeners to respond appropriately to the Text and, second, how I am motivating my listeners to respond to the Text.

Some of our preaching portions actually do motivate through one or the other, so when that happens, we simply urge everyone along just as God Himself does. Yesterday I preached on Hebrews 10:24-31 which contains the terrifying warning: “a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries….It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” And that was meant for the Saints!

However, many, if not most, preaching portions do not contain explicit motivation from either angle. In those Texts, during the application segment(s) of our sermons, it is important for us to motivate through love for God and fear of God. According to Edwards, this is one way to unmask the listener and bring him or her to faith.

Preach well for the sake of His reputation in the Church and in the world.

Randal

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Helping Guard Your Congregants Against the Rarely Confessed Sin of Greed

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In over 20 years of pastoral ministry, no one has ever entered my study to confess their sin of greed or covetousness. They’ve confessed other sins, but not that one. Is that true of your ministry too? If it is true of your ministry context, then preaching Jesus’ teaching in Luke 12:13-21 is extremely important.

In verse 15 Jesus commands, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness…” He follows that up with a frightening parable. I realized that if I was going to be faithful to this Text, I needed to do what God was doing. God was putting the fear of God in us.

Last week I had the privilege of conducting a preaching workshop at Lancaster Bible College. One of the segments included observations about how Jonathan Edwards motivated his listeners to apply the Scriptures by moving back and forth between fear and love (fear of God and love for God). Jesus clearly employs a scare tactic (you might decide that term needs an adjustment) when He says in v. 20, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you…”

I doubt that many, if any, of our parishioners realize the power and presence of this sin. But I know you won’t let them remain in that condition for long. Sooner or later, you’ll preach a Text and/or topic that will provide an opportunity to guard them against this rarely confessed sin.

Preach well for the reputation of Christ in the Church and in the world.

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Monitoring Our Level Of Obedience

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There are times preaching through the Gospel of Luke (and many other places throughout the Scriptures, for that matter) when we are forced to monitor our spiritual progress. For instance, in Luke 11:28 Jesus says, “Blessed…are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” The rest of the paragraph describes in general terms, through the imagery of light and darkness, what it’s like when we allow Jesus’ teaching to enlighten every area of our sin-infected hearts.

I found it helpful to create a slide that lists some prominent sins. I wanted us to ask if we commit these sins just as much as the non-Christian. You don’t have to use a slide. You could use a handout or simply read the list to your hearers. The key is to somehow help the faith-family monitor their level of obedience. Are we hearing the word of God and keeping it? How do we know?

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Take the same list and transform it into LifePlus character traits. It’s easy now to ask which list, or, more likely, which one(s) on the two lists best describe us.

The Bible forces us to evaluate our lifestyle to help us be sure our faith in Christ is living. This approach is not the only way, but I’ve found I can get a lot of mileage out of these contrasting lists.

If you desire to stay away from moralistic preaching, simply remind everyone that Jesus died in literal darkness (Luke 23:44ff.) so we could be “full of light” (Luke 11:34). The second slide describes the genuine Believer. It’s the difference between a morally restrained heart and a supernaturally changed heart.

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

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Isaiah 59 Turning Rebels into Righteous Christians

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The bulk of Isaiah 59 describes the terrible state of God’s people (cf. Isaiah 59:1-2). Then, in Isaiah 59:16 God steps in to do what human beings could not do. Theology is being conveyed through prophetic description (what God promises to do for His people). So we have to ask ourselves: “Is this description true to some extent now in our lives?” However, before we get to our response, we should note Isaiah 59:17. Long before Paul instructs Christians to put on the whole armor of God (cf. Ephesians 6:11, 13), Isaiah tells us that our God put on the armor. The clothing tells what God was going to do–bring righteousness and salvation to His people. While God is ready to do battle against his enemies (cf. Isaiah 59:17-18), He is also ready to deliver those who repent (cf. Isaiah 59:20). Isaiah 59:21 explains what is true of every repentant Christian. It’s time to ask ourselves in church whether we’ll be on the receiving end of “repayment to his enemies” or “a Redeemer…to those…who turn from transgression.” Isaiah continues his assault on all who profess faith in Christ, but do not show evidence of a living faith at work. We have the desire and capacity for righteous living because, on the cross, our Savior experienced God’s wrath aimed at his adversaries (cf. Isaiah 59:18).