Category Archives: results

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Where Does Your Church Stand With Doctrine?

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We will continue to face enormous pressure to rescind certain doctrine!

A couple of weeks ago, as I was preparing for upcoming lectures on theological interpretation, I came across this “plausible and sobering picture” in the Preface of Vanhoozer’s, The Drama of Doctrine (p. xii).

Vanhoozer quotes Alan Wolfe, sociologist from Boston College, who wrote a book back in 2003, The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith. He wrote,

“Evangelical churches lack doctrine because they want to attract new members. Mainline churches lack doctrine because they want to hold on to those declining numbers of members they have.”

Notice that Wolfe treats both sides, evangelicals and mainliners. So he recognized this phenomenon 20 years ago.

Do you think the situation has gotten better or worse? Do you ever feel that pressure?

This made me reflect on the Apostle Paul’s statement to the elders in Ephesus recorded in Acts 20:27

for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 20:27.

It made me wonder what could possibly cause Paul to shy away from certain Scripture in his day.

Wolfe identified the problem in our day. Vanhoozer wrote, “Christian doctrine is necessary for human flourishing: only doctrine shows us who we are, why we are here, and what we are to do” (p. xiii).

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we preach and teach as much of His Word as He gives us time and energy to do so.

Randal

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Transformation, Not Just Information: One Challenge for Preaching on Easter Sunday

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Blessed Easter!

There are many challenges accompanying the Easter morning sermon. One of the most difficult is keeping the sermon aimed at transformation instead of only information.

It’s an important goal for every sermon, but especially important on a day that emphasizes an event such as the resurrection of Christ.

Transformation is also an important goal because both preacher and parishioner expect “spiritual growth” to be the result of preaching. That’s what Carroll discovered in her research (Preaching That Matters, pp. 43-45). The problem is:

“although pastors intend for their preaching to bring about change and parishioners listen desiring spiritual growth, transformative results are rare. The vast majority of sermons accomplish the purpose of reinforcing listeners’ already-held beliefs. Of the hundreds of sermons analyzed throughout this CECL study, more than 95 percent inform rather than transform” (p. 45, emphasis added).

Now, think about Easter sermons. Certainly we’re reinforcing already-held beliefs about the resurrection. So, even more important for us to think carefully about how we’re transformed by such sermons.

When I woke up this morning, the need to aim for transformation and a response to Christ’s resurrection was on my mind. I quickly went to the computer and added the following to the end of my introduction and conclusion:

  • I believe it.
  • I live it.
  • I put my hope in it.

Immediately after the service I greeted someone who was up front and they responded with: “Thank you for ending that sermon in a way that helped me see how the resurrection demands a response.”

May our Lord continue to help us aim for transformative results and trust the Holy Spirit to generate them so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Watch Seminar On YouTube: Creating Saint-Sanctifying, Seeker-Sensitive Sermons

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Over the past several weeks I’ve been posting 9 observations from three preachers, way past, past, and present, who were and are effective in reaching both insiders and outsiders with an insider-directed message. In other words, they preach to mature the saints, but also address non-Christians as well with the same message. Those preachers are Jonathan Edwards, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Timothy Keller.

If you haven’t see the posts, here’s a brief summary. These preachers…

  1. Categorize listeners according to their spiritual condition
  2. Search the heart with probing questions
  3. Motivate listeners through both love for God and fear of God
  4. Attack the sin behind the sins
  5. Speak the thoughts of sinners (both the justified and unjustified)
  6. Identify our idols
  7. Show how the Gospel works to recreate the human heart
  8. Contrast what the world says with what God says.
  9. Plunge deep beneath the surface of theological terms.

If you are interested in exploring this topic further with me, I invite you to watch the YouTube presentation below. I had the privilege of spending an afternoon on April 3, 2014 on the campus of Capital Seminary and Graduate School. A huge thank you goes out to Debra Ross, Online Education Developer, who graciously videoed and edited the session. I also want to thank Derrick Seegers, Director of Church and Community Relations for hosting the seminar.

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, Seeker-Sensitive Preaching (part 10)

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Have you ever tried balancing on a bongo board? Okay, I probably should ask it this way: Have you ever tried balancing on a bongo board at my age?!? Unless you’re extremely blessed, it’s usually a struggle to stay on for long; even tougher to stay on while you attempt to move around on it. I find it difficult to balance preaching to insiders and outsiders with the same insider-directed message. As you may have read when this little series began, 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 shows us it can be done, but it’s not easy to do.

So, my goal in this series is to list and briefly explain how three effective pastors reached and, in one case, still reach both insiders and outsiders with the same insider-directed message. The three are Jonathan Edwards, D. M. Lloyd-Jones, and Tim Keller. They are not your typical seeker-sensitive preachers and yet they were, and are, effective in reaching non-Christians while they preach theologically loaded sermons to the Christians. How? So far we’ve looked at the following aspects of their method. They:

  1. Categorize listeners according to their spiritual condition
  2. Search the heart with probing questions
  3. Motivate listeners through both love for God and fear of God
  4. Attack the sin behind the sins
  5. Speak the thoughts of sinners (both the justified and unjustified)
  6. Identify our idols
  7. Show how the Gospel works to recreate the human heart
  8. Contrast what the world says with what God says.

Now, #9: They plunge beneath the surface of theological terms.

This may sound counter-intuitive. We might think it’s best to reach non-Christians by avoiding heavy theological language. But all three pastors excelled in preaching sermons that included (and include) lengthy explanation, illustration, and application of theological terms. Listen to how Keller tackled repentance (sorry, I do not have the actual sermon; Logos footnoted this only from, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013):

“If you hold grudges, if you’re full of pride….In other words, when you do things wrong, it sets up strains in the fabric of reality and eventually, they lead to breakdown. When the breakdowns come, when the circumstances hit you, when there’s some kind of meltdown, then you suddenly say, ‘Whew! What have I been doing? What has been wrong? How could I have thought that? What’s the matter with me?'”

Keller helps us know what repentance means by showing us how it happens in someone’s mind. It’s like what the young prodigal son might have thought as he was coming to his senses in Luke 15. Check out some of the overlap with #5 above. If your preaching portion contains theological language, fight the temptation to lighten them and delve deep into its meaning.

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

Randal

P.S. One of the most helpful little books I’ve read on this topic is Willimon’s, Peculiar Speech: Preaching to the Baptized. It will remind you of who we’re preaching to and help shape your perspective on crafting sermons.

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How To Balance Saint-Sanctifying, Seeker-Sensitive Preaching (part 9)

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My goal in this series is to list and briefly explain how three effective pastors reach both insiders and outsiders with the same insider-directed message. In other words, how do Edwards (as in, Jonathan), Lloyd-Jones, and Keller preach theologically loaded sermons to the saints and still manage to reach sinners? The three are not your typical seeker-sensitive preachers.

So far we’ve looked at the following aspects of their method:

  1. Categorizing listeners according to their spiritual condition
  2. Searching the hearts with probing questions
  3. Motivating listeners through both love for God and fear of God
  4. Attacking the sin behind the sins
  5. Speaking the thoughts of sinners (both the justified and unjustified)
  6. Identifying our idols
  7. Showing how the Gospel works to recreate the human heart.

Now, #8 is: Contrasting what the world says with what God says.

A few weeks ago the concept of meekness came up in a preaching portion. Almost everyone knew the world’s take on it: meekness is________? Right. Meekness is weakness. Defining what biblical meekness is is one thing, a good and necessary component of biblical preaching. However, we are more effective when we can contrast God’s view of meekness with the world’s view on it.

Why does God’s salvation include such a character trait (another way of getting at #7 above)? Why does the human heart have an allergic reaction to it (another way of thinking about #5 above: “Because the weak get run over in the ‘real’ world!”)? Let your listeners see just how diametrically opposed God’s kingdom and the kingdom of darkness are. Let them know why the two are opposite and why the kingdom of God is the better quality of life (both here and now and in eternity). That kind of analysis is good for saint and sinner alike.

Preaching well for the sake of God’s reputation.

Randal

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How To Balance Saint-Sanctifying, Seeker-Sensitive Preaching (part 7)

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Work-Life-Balance

For those that have been reading this series, I thought you might enjoy a different image this time. Pretty incredible balance and power too!

In this series, I’m summarizing some of the things effective preachers do to hit both outsiders (unbelievers) and insiders (saints who entered the building with ears to hear) with an insider-directed message (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 for an example).These are ways in which men like Jonathan Edwards, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Tim Keller (of Redeemer Presb’ in NYC) reach both audiences.

So far we’ve noted the following effective rhetorical devices:

  1. Categorizing your listeners according to their spiritual condition
  2. Searching the hearts with probing questions
  3. Motivating listeners through both love for God and fear of God
  4. Attack the sin behind the sins
  5. Speak the thoughts of sinners (both the justified and unjustified)

Today’s tip is: Identify our idols.

There are times in our sermons where we can highlight the false gods we tend to worship. This is one way to attack the sin behind the sins (#4 in this series). It’s a way to analyze our sins in more detail. Identifying our idols is a way of uncovering the kinds of things that have captured our affections. Someone has said that the human heart is an idol factory. Preaching that uncovers idolatry effectively matures the saints, while also showing unbelievers that they too are worshiping something or someone other than God.

One effective way I’ve found to help identify my particular idolatry is to ask myself two questions: (1) What brings me greatest joy? (2) What brings me greatest sadness? Usually, the answer to either question helps me see what has captured my affections. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend Keller’s book, Counterfeit Gods.

Preach well for the sake of God’s reputation…

Randal

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How To Balance Saint-Sanctifying, Seeker-Sensitive Preaching (part 6)

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In this series, I’m summarizing some of the things effective preachers do to hit both outsiders (unbelievers) and insiders (saints who entered the building with ears to hear) with an insider-directed message (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 for an example). These are ways in which men like Jonathan Edwards, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Tim Keller (of Redeemer Presb’ in NYC) reach both audiences.

So far we’ve noted the following effective rhetorical devices:

  1. Categorizing your listeners according to their spiritual condition
  2. Searching the hearts with probing questions
  3. Motivating listeners through both love for God and fear of God
  4. Attack the sin behind the sins

Today’s tip is: Speak the thoughts and reasoning of sinners (both the justified and unjustified)

In describing Edwards’ approach, Carrick highlights the need to try to put your finger on “the secret language” of the hearts of our listeners (The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards, p. 302). This involves trying to figure out what the non-Christian and Christian might be thinking about the particular theology being communicated.

Apart from Keller’s unique, Christ-centered hermeneutic/homiletic, the one thing I’ve benefited from from Keller’s approach is his ability to articulate how his listeners are thinking about the preaching portion. This involves, of course, reading and listening to commentaries about our culture (newspaper, news reports, magazines, books, films). It involves listening to what people are saying whenever they declare their thoughts about life.

Carrick described Edwards as having “an incisive knowledge of the human heart” (p. 269). Add to that the ability to put words in our listener’s mouths, the things they should be saying. It’s an effective combination that helps “unmask the man.”

I must admit that this is the one area I’ve had to work on the most and am still working on. I find it much easier to exegete the Text than the pew. I’ve also found that the more I study my own depraved heart, the easier it is for me to speak the secret language of the hearts of my congregants.

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

Randal

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Does a certain kind of sermon create “ears to hear”?

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“Even before the minister begins to preach, the conflict between God and Satan determines the listener’s situation, every listener’s situation.”

Gustaf Wingren, The Living Word: A Theological Study of Preaching and the Church, p. 72

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How to Balance Saint-Sanctifying, Seeker-Sensitive Preaching (part 5)

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In this series, I’m summarizing some of the things effective preachers do to hit both outsiders (unbelievers) and insiders (saints who entered the building with ears to hear) with an insider-directed message (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 for an example). These are ways in which men like Jonathan Edwards, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Tim Keller (of Redeemer Presb’ in NYC) reach both audiences.

So far we’ve noted the following effective rhetorical devices:

  1. Categorizing your listeners according to their spiritual condition
  2. Searching the hearts with probing questions
  3. Motivating listeners through both love for God and fear of God

Today’s tip is attacking the sin behind the sins.

In Murray’s introduction to Lloyd-Jones’, Old Testament Evangelistic Sermons, he writes, “Sin must never be preached as though it were primarily a matter of actions. Sinfulness is a graver problem than sins” (p. xxiv).

It’s easy to preach against sin-as-a-matter-of-action because that is what the preaching portion is often doing. In order to reach both kinds of listeners, effective preacher/theologians attack the sin behind the sins. That means talking about one’s unbelief and alienation from God.

So, for instance, think about the common, “Five ways to manage your anger”-type sermon. It’s important to delve into a discussion of what’s in the human heart that’s causing the anger. Then, if you feel the need to offer the five ways, you’re not only addressing the sin, but the sin behind the sin. As you’ve probably heard before, we don’t only want to address the symptoms, but the cause too. In the following example, the first Q & A deals with the symptom; the second with the cause:

Why are you angry? Because I didn’t get my way.

Why are you angry? Because getting my way is what makes me happy. Now we’re onto something that can be addressed by the Gospel. As you develop your sermon for this weekend and, if your preaching portion pinpoints a particular sin to be avoided, ask yourself is you are attacking only that sin or the sin behind the sin.

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