Category Archives: Preaching

Preaching: monologue or dialogue?

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Most evangelicals would, I suppose, think that ‘proper’ preaching consists of a prepared speech, delivered without interruption to a group a silent listeners.  The use of dialogue would be thought to ‘water down’ the content and authority of the message, by allowing what was being said to be questioned or even doubted.

But these assumptions should themselves be questioned, writes Ian Paul (here,here and here).

Consider the biblical evidence.  Ian Paul quotes Jeremy Thomson:

Much of Jesus’ teaching was given ‘on the way’ and involved a high degree of interaction with the audience (Mark 8.27–10.52).  …

Why your sermons shouldn’t be too short, or too long

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Here’s a precis (with a little bit of re-jigging of wording and order) of Jared Wilson’s helpful post.

Your sermons shouldn’t be too short, because:

  • The church should subvert (and not support) today’s convenience culture
  • Sunday may be the only day when some of your people get any Bible
  • Hearing from God should have a prominent place in our meetings
  • Scripture is worthy of sustained attention, not brief snippets
  • God’s word to us is profoundly relevant and eternally important

Your sermons should be too long, because:

  • Over-long sermons usually try to achieve too much
  • A sermon’s aim is communion with God, not exhaustive knowledge
  • People will become too fatigued to be able to listen or respond
  • It is good to leave people wanting more!
…

Matthew 18:20 – ‘Where two or three are gathered…’

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Matthew 18:20 “Where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.”

Christians regularly appeal to this saying in order to reassure themselves that, no matter how few their numbers when they gather for public worship or for prayer, Jesus himself will be present.

Matthew Henry:

‘Every believer has the presence of Christ with him; but the promise here refers to the meetings where two or three are gathered in his name, not only for discipline, but for religious worship, or any act of Christian communion.’

…

Luke 2:8 – Shepherds: a despised class?

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It is sometimes thought (and said, by preachers) that shepherds were a despised class in Israel at this time.

This opinion has been voiced by scholars both old and new.  For example, Butler (2000) wrote,

‘Shepherding had changed from a family business as in David’s time to a despised occupation.’

Stein (1992), wrote:

‘In general, shepherds were dishonest and unclean according to the standards of the law. They represent the outcasts and sinners for whom Jesus came.’

…

Luke 2:7 – ‘No place in the inn’

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Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

So translated by AV, ESV, NASB, RSV, NRSV, God’s Word, Good News.

NIV – ‘…because there was no guest room available for them.’

New Living Translation – ‘…because there was no lodging available for them.’

Unravelling fact and fancy

The traditional translation (‘No room at the inn’) has become engraved in the popular mind and, along with an unfriendly inn-keeper, in many a nativity scene.…

A disaster class in application

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With tongue very firmly in cheek, Colin Adams offers vital advice for anyone who wants to make a train-wreck of sermon application.

1. Interpret the text wrong. The key question to ask is: ‘What do you want the text to say?’  This approach cuts out all the pointless hard work with the text and eliminates the need to reach for those stuffy commentaries.

2. Ignore application or minimise it. Application is hard work for both preacher and hearer. …

How gullible are we?

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A student won first prize at a Science Fair.

He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or a total ban on the chemical “dihydrogen monoxide.”

And for plenty of good reasons, since:

  1. It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting.
  2. It is a major component in acid rain.
…

Preachers and their preaching – Phillips Brooks

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Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) famously defined preaching as ‘the bringing of truth through personality’.

I have long considered this definition to be pregnant with meaning, for it seems to suggest a number of important corollaries.  It suggests that in addition to the non-negotiable truth content that is fundamental to the preacher’s message:-

  • the preacher is not ‘anonymous’, but is a real person, speaking to real persons
  • each preacher should have something distinctive (unique, perhaps) to offer by way of style and emphasis that arises from the distinctive (unique, perhaps) aspects of his own personality
  • it is proper (desirable, perhaps) for the preacher to draw on his personal characteristics and life experiences while shaping his message
  • Christian truth which has not been, and cannot be, ‘lived’, is mere theorising
  • this seems to confirm John Owen’s dictum that, ‘no man preaches that sermon well to others that doth not first preach it to his own heart.’
…

Three levels of sermon application

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In his book Teaching Acts David Cook writes about three kinds, or levels, of preaching application:-

1. The necessary application.  This comes directly from the meaning of the text, and demonstrates how the text applies to all hearers at all times.  For example, some beliefs and attitudes are always wrong and are therefore to be repented of, while others are always right and are therefore to be adopted and nurtured.

2. The impossible application.  It can be helpful, says Cook to show what sorts of application do not flow from the text. …

The 500 word manuscript

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I’ve written previously about the dangers and pitfalls of preaching from a full manuscript.  I recognise, too, the problems associated with preaching from no written notes at all.

I won’t go into either of these polarities again just at the moment.  But it leaves the question, how long should a preaching manuscript be?  I have found myself, in recent times, using either of two approaches:-

(a) preparing a Powerpoint presentation is precise and detailed enough to give me the prompts that I need, without recourse to any further notes.…