I recently had the privilege of evaluating a young pastor-in-training who preached in two venues in our faith-family. One thing that discouraged him was that he ran out of time and couldn’t preach some of the more important sections of his preaching portion. Do you ever get to the end of your allotted teaching time and feel you don’t have sufficient time for key theological insights and application? One thing I’ve noticed is that we don’t always economize time like we should. For instance, there are two ways to approach contextual information. One is to ask, “How much context do I need to provide in order for my listeners to get the big picture?” I find most pastors asking that question. Another is to ask, “How much contextual information do I need to give them in order for them to understand my preaching portion?” The second question usually results in a significant paring of the contextual data I give in the sermon. Economy of time takes place when I only give what is absolutely necessary in order to make sense of the preaching portion. Preaching is too important for me to waste time.
The Individual Instruction Is Almost Always a Little Idea
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The individual instructions or commands in Scripture, such as Romans 13:8-10 can stand alone and preach very well. Sermons more accurately teach those commands, however, when the command “to love each other”, for instance, is explained in light of the teaching which started the list of instructions. So, in the case of loving each other, this is all part of discerning “the will of God” or a part of how the “renewed mind” of the Christian lives life or a part of being “transformed” or a part of not being “conformed to this world” (all taken from Romans 13:2). Or, we could say that the individual commandment of Romans 13:8 is one thing that happens when Christians present their “bodies as a living sacrifice…to God” (cf. Romans 13:1). Loving each other is simply one of many ways in which the Christian life is lived out. In this sense, although the instruction can stand alone, it’s clearer and maybe more accurate to place the instruction into the immediate context and allow that context–whichever part above you choose–to be the base or foundation for the individual commandment.
Preaching Little Ideas
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Expecting God To Do Great Things
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I’ve just completed Lloyd-Jones’ excellent book, Preaching & Preachers (40 anniversary edition). His final chapter is all about the need for preachers to be endowed with special power from the Spirit. What great exhortation! L-J asks, “Do you always look for and seek this unction, this anointing before preaching? Has this been your greatest concern? There is no more thorough and revealing test to apply to a preacher” (p. 322). I was a bit embarrassed to think that often my greatest concern is not whether I have the Spirit’s unction, but whether I have “got it right,” “it” being the sermon and the truth of Scripture. L-J challenged me again to keep highlight both, not one or the other. I don’t want to preach the truth by myself (without the Spirit’s power). I don’t want to preach something that’s biblical, but not biblical enough, with the Spirit’s power (if that is even possible?!). God help us be both Spirit-empowered and accurate in our preaching. Then, we can expect God to do miracles in all our lives. L-J encourages us preachers: “But go beyond seeking Him; expect Him. Do you expect anything to happen when you get up to preach in a pulpit….Are you expecting it to be the turning point in someone’s life?” (p. 340).
Instructions That Make Us Uncomfortable
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This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching on Romans 12:16 “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited.” Sometimes it’s helpful to make people see the awkwardness of carrying out some commands. For instance, in order to “associate with the lowly,” you must make a judgment call on them; you must acknowledge that they are actually in that category. The term “lowly” doesn’t reflect God’s estimate of them, but their estimate of themselves and possibly the estimate of some in the faith-family. Anyway, don’t shy away from pointing out how uncomfortable such a command can be. One congregant said to me afterwards, “I hope too many people don’t come up to talk to me after this teaching because it will make me feel like I’m lowly.” Exactly. We have to come to grips with how uncomfortable a command is for us at times, before we can know what it means and how to apply our lives to such Scripture.
LLoyd-Jones On How Long We Should Preach
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While I’m in our series on Romans 12-16, I have time to share some insights from my readings. I have thoroughly enjoyed, Preaching & Preachers. A few days ago I read Lloyd-Jones’ take on how long sermons should be. He helped me when he said besides considering your preaching style (“Ten minutes from some men seems like an age, while an hour from another passes like a few minutes” pp. 252-253), “The length of the sermon should also vary, I think, with the matter. Some things can be said in a short time, in a brief compass, and we should always handle them accordingly, and not feel that we have to spin it out so as to last for a given length of time” (p. 253). This helped because I tend to create sermons that are 40-45 minutes long, no matter the size or subject matter of the selected preaching portion. Being in Romans 12 right now provides opportunities for shorter sermons due to the, sometimes, brief commands. While it’s true that some churches limited time for preaching (many now around 15 minutes) may indicate a devaluing of Scripture, it doesn’t have to be that way for all preaching portions. Shorter sermons don’t always indicate that we’ve short-changed Scripture.
Meaning Through Contrast
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Romans 12:12 reads, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” I have found it helpful to explain the meaning of commands by exploring the opposites of these attitudes and actions. If you decide, for instance, to preach verse 12, each command becomes one major thought block. Each thought block might contain a brief segment on how the un-renewed mind thinks and acts (cf. the context of Romans 12:2 where the renewing of your mind is the way the transformation of a Christian occurs). So, instead of being patient in tribulation, the un-renewed mind is focused on the irritation the troubling circumstances are causing and wants out. The contrast helps everyone understand the meaning of being patient in tribulation.
The Chief Thing According to LLoyd-Jones
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My current preaching series in church on Romans 12-16 does not present as many hermeneutical issues as the previous series in Isaiah or Joshua. This gives me some time to talk about other important matters that pertain to those of us who preach. I’m currently enjoying the 40th anniversary edition of Preaching & Preachers which began as a series of lectures LLoyd-Jones gave at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in the late 60’s. In pages 130-131 he makes us homileticians squirm, but helps us all refocus when he writes, “The chief thing is the love of God, the love or souls, a knowledge of the Truth, and the Holy Spirit within you. These are the things that make the preacher….That is the big thing.” (p. 131).
Preaching Little Ideas
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Find Meaning in the Transitions
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Recently, I completed a series through Isaiah 1-40 and have begun the latter part of Romans (chapters 12-16). It’s been a while since I was in an epistle and I had forgotten how important the transitions are. The logical connections within and between verses often create meaning. That means, for instance, that when you’re preaching on 12:3 and the subject of humility, the character traits means something in relation to understanding the will of God (v. 2). Having an accurate or proper assessment of yourself serves the larger thought of living out God’s will. Of course, in a relatively short section like the first few verses of chapter 12, you can keep allowing the connections and transitions to flesh out meaning. Work your way back up through the paragraph so that you see every connection. Then decide how far back to you have to take your congregants in order to allow v. 3 and humility to mean what God intended through all those connections and transitions. This is easier at the beginning of a section like chapter 12, but gets more difficult to remember and implement the further you get into a lengthy section of epistolary instructions.