“Lord not my words spoken, but yours.
Filter out that which is impure so that only your pure gospel may be
heard. Make me an instrument of your
love. Amen.”
Introduction
I ask this prayer each time I preach. It comes right after the scripture reading, and before I even begin to try and share what God has given me to say to those I am about to address. It is a prayer that says much in regards to what I believe about preaching. There is something God does through preaching that is beyond my abilities. In fact, if left to my ability alone, I am sure no one would come to Christian discipleship through my preaching. It is only by the grace of God that anyone hears, and by the grace of God that anyone responds to Him. Despite this, God chooses preaching through broken people to be one of the primary means of sharing His words with others, and so we study, we pray, we prepare, and we preach. God acts.
In this paper, I seek to lay out my theology of preaching. I will cover the role of scripture, what God-centered preaching looks like, what to preach, and what I believe preaching accomplishes.
Scripture
In my understanding of preaching we begin with scripture. Over 90% of my sermons begin with a lectionary reading. Those few times I do preach topically, there is serious study of scripture intertwined into the sermon. The scripture itself does not bring eternal life, but it is a pointer to the one who does bring it.
I have been told that my understanding of scripture is similar to Barth. I see the scriptures as “words about God” written by those who walked with God. What elevates scriptures above other words written about God is what God does through the scriptures. God has consistently used the scriptures to draw people to Him for nearly twenty centuries. The Scripture is an instrument of God by which we can count on God using it to talk with those who would listen.
Many
will say the bible is the Word of God, but the scriptures say that the Word of
God is Jesus (John 1:1-14). The reason
for my hesitancy in calling the scripture the Word of God comes from the ways I
have seen the bible used. I have seen it
used as a bludgeon to beat on and manipulate people. This is a far cry from using it as a sword to
combat evil (Ephesians
And so, the scripture has authority in my preaching, and that authority comes from the way that God uses it to change people’s lives not only in the here and now, but in ages past. Therefore we begin with scripture. Scripture becomes the Word of God when God moves through it and spiritually feeds His people. Hence we can say that man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God, the Christ who lives, who speaks to us through scriptures.
Choosing Scripture
In the three years I preached on a regular basis, I generally preached from the revised common lectionary (%90+ of the time). It is what I grew up on, and it solved many problems for me. By using the lectionary, I could share notes and thoughts with some of my other lectionary preaching pastors. It also cut down on the time it took to decide what I wanted/needed to preach on. The lectionary provided me with the breadth of scriptures that prevented me from focusing on a single topic and preaching the same basic sermon over and over.
When I began to dialog with conservative Christians over matters of theology, grave and trivial, I found that I knew more scripture than many of them. I attribute this to the regular reading of three passages of scripture each worship service, whether the passages were preached on or not.
Context! Context! Context!
As noted above, the scriptures were written nearly two millennia ago. They were written in a series of cultures, spanning several thousand years, from the time of Moses to the writing of the gospels. The world view changed even within the time of the writing, and has changed many times ever since then. What this requires us to do then is to learn as much about the world view as possible so that we can glean from the stories and letters what it meant to those who heard them. Study is not an option, it is a requirement.
One
of the most important reasons for study is so that, with our hermeneutical
lenses, we can separate that which is a “universal” timeless concept, and that
which is only applicable to the culture it was written in. A specific case of this might be that Paul
tells the church in
God did not open the skies up and drop a systematic theology, nor did He give us an answer book. What we do have is a pointer to the right relationship we can have with Him so that we can be properly led of the Spirit to please Him.
The Study of Scripture
The discovery of the gems of scripture requires time, energy and the movement of the Holy Spirit. How do we know what to look closely at? We learn through experience. There are several methods of bible study. There are many lists of questions to ask of scripture to help us determine what it might have said to those who heard it first.
We might do inductive bible study as we have learned it in our seminary courses. We may begin with a close reading of the text, as suggested by Dr. Joel Green. We could use the steps outlined in the chapter called “Biblical Exegesis for Preaching” in Thomas Long’s, The Witness of Preaching. Or we might even use the notes from our preaching class to begin to ask the questions which will get us to that meaning, in the context it was written in.
A
sample of the questions and areas to look at:
1. Are there textual critical problems with the text? (Check foot notes in RSV)
2. Are the boundaries of the pericope correct?
3. How does this passage fit in when reading left to right (R to L in OT)?
4. If this is a lectionary passage, did they skip verses? Why?
5. Read several translations of the text, and then write a paraphrase of the text.
6. If it is a narrative, get into the shoes of each character or group. How did they feel?
7. What is/are the critical point(s) of the passage?
8. What can be learned through biblical language study of these points?
9. What parts of this passage are “universal” and which are only culturally relevant?
As I noted above, this is just the beginning of the steps for getting at the original meaning. We then can go to commentaries to check our work, and gain other insights on the passage. Only at this point can we move solidly into the transition from text to sermon.
From Text to Sermon
The lenses we use to look at scriptures are called hermeneutics. The hermeneutic I use a majority of the time is about asking certain questions.
1. What does this passage tell us about the nature of God?
2. What does this passage tell us about the nature of humankind?
3. What does this passage tell us about our relationship to God, (right and broken)?
4. How does this passage affect or illuminate “radical discipleship?”
5. How does this passage illuminate the “law of love?”
We will not be able to prevent ourselves from beginning to ask these questions while we are in the previous step of discovery, but we need to take specific time to make sure we visit these questions. It is in this step that we begin to find out where this passage is applicable to us.
Listening to God and Congregation
It
is at this point I put down my studies and ask God, “What do you want me to do
with this passage for your people here?”
Listening prayer is not an option, it is a requirement. If we are not listening to God as to what to
tell His people, why do we preach? Is it
to hear our self? God forbid! (2 Cor 4:5 NRSV) For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. Jesus as Lord means listening to Him as to
what to speak.
At this point we also take into consideration the needs and rights of the listeners. The listeners in the pews have the right to hear the truth spoken in love, not some sentimental mushy stories which do not spur people to growth. Love has a corrective nature, for love does not rejoice in evil but rejoices in truth. But they also have the right to hear this in a way they can hear it.
In the study of rhetoric, pathos takes into consideration the listener when putting together the words that communicate. We must speak in metaphors and methods that people can understand and relate to. It will not do well to speak of farming in the middle of the inner city unless we do some education, but the agricultural metaphors of the scriptures can be related to inner city concepts that communicate to such people.
Actually preaching style has play in this as well. If the listeners are used to quiet by passionate preaching and one comes in screaming and shouting, I am not sure they will hear what is said. If they are used to hearing the mushy feel good stories, and we come with straight solid biblical preaching, it will take them time to adjust, but they will. And I believe they will ultimately appreciate the true preaching that empowers them to live abundant life.
Sermon Elements
So far, I have noted that we being with scripture, study and listening prayer. We have looked at the needs of the congregation and how we need to communicate in ways they can relate to. But there are also some essential elements to most, if not all sermons.
I believe sermons should be focused on God first, and then on God’s relationship to us.
This is not a god image which is limited to a narrow agenda. It is not a god image which can be duped or manipulated. It is not a god image which is about making us feel good. It is not a god image that promises smooth sailing all the time. We introduce people to the living God of the Scriptures.
This living God is summarized in the concept of gospel, or good news. One of my favorite lines is, “God loves us right where we are… and loves us enough not to leave us in such shape.” This is good news. It begins with God’s love for us despite ourselves. But love will not leave us in such sad shape. Love draws us to closeness with God, and the closer to God we get, the more we will look like Him, Christ-likeness.
That is what Christ is all about. The love of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. He laid down His life and we killed Him. Rather than turn us into dust, God chooses to raise Jesus from the dead and then turn and offer resurrection life to us.
Not only should a sermon bring some form of the good news about God and His relationship with us. I believe a sermon should call us to change. I do not believe we should have evangelistic altar calls every worship service. But each sermon should challenge us to be changed, or at least open up the possibilities to us that we can be changed. In my preaching style, this manifests itself as a series of questions at the end of each sermon, followed by a brief time to meditate on them.
The Aim of Preaching
All
of this boils down to what I believe preaching is designed to do. Preaching is one of the primary ways of
introducing people to the God who changes lives. It is one way we complete the great
commission, to make disciples. Preaching
is designed to make “radical disciples” of Christ, not just those who are along
for the ride. It is to draw people
closer into intimate contact with God whereby they are Spirit led and living
Christ-like lives. It is about being transformed by the renewing of our minds
by the Spirit and power of the Word of God.
It is about empowering the church to become the
Odds and Ends
I want to reiterate that I believe the Spirit is the one who talks through preaching. I do not think preaching is merely a cognitive exercise in education and exhortation. When I was pastoring, I had a man who regularly fell asleep in my sermons. When I was asked if he should be woken up, I replied no. The way I figured it, his cognitive defenses were down and the message could go strait from the ears into the heart where God could continue the change He had begun in this mans heart.
This also highlights another aspect of “normal” preaching. I believe the routine preaching of the Word is a feeding of people. If you bring good solid food to the table each week, they will eat, and in turn, they will grow. There are special feasts, such as “revival” services, and there we might expect a few radical changes in people’s lives. But for the most part, we just need to bring a good variety of good food to the table.
Finally, the gospel is not limited to preaching. St. Francis noted that, “we are to preach the gospel, and use words as necessary.” If our ethos is not in order, if we are not living the gospel, how can we ever expect anyone to ever hear us? I know that God works through broken preachers, for none of us are perfect. It has been said, “I am sorry, I can’t hear you because your actions drown out your words.” For the gospel to be clearly heard, it requires us to model the grace of God in our lives, to in effect, prove that it “works”.
On a final note, I have been set free from having to change people. Only God can transform people’s lives, I am only an instrument that God uses, along with scripture, to bring His power into people’s lives. I am responsible to pray and prepare, He is responsible for the results. This is freedom in the pulpit.