I was once asked by a younger leader, "how can I teach or lead someone in something that I haven't figured out? I would be a hypocrite!"
Now, the truth of this statement should not be ignored! It is quite true that we cannot lead someone where we have not been ourselves. It is quite true that we cannot teach what we do not know. It is quite true that we cannot give away what we do not have. However...
...my response to my friend was this, "when we preach Jesus, we will always be preaching something that is beyond ourselves. This is not hypocrisy, but faithfulness to the Scriptures. If we were only preaching what we had ourselves mastered, then we would not be faithful to the whole counsel of the Kingdom."
So how do we reconcile these two opposing truths?
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I was taught by my pastor to preach to 'us,' and to rarely if ever preach to 'you.' I have learned that there are rarely appropriate times to speak in the language of 'you people' but they are most certainly not when speaking difficult truths. Even though I am a preacher, I am myself included in the congregation who is being preached to. I must hear the words pronounced; I must receive the revelation, correction, admonition, challenge, encouragement, teaching, blessing, and wisdom. Are you a teacher or a leader? Number yourself among those who are taught and led!
Hearing my pastor preach this way modeled for me a humility before Christ, and before the church that I hope to emulate. It also, however, provided an open door to hear the difficult call to carry the Cross of Christ. The posture of humility from the preacher, including himself in the challenge, allowed me to be challenged as well.
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Then we come to the three magic words...
...I will never forget them. I heard them often on the lips of my pastor, but the first time I heard him say them, he was standing in the pulpit. I had never heard a pastor utter these words before. I don't think I had ever heard a Christian speak them, certainly not about spiritual or theological matters. They were a shock to my system, but a good shock. Like cool water on a hot day, or the unexpected arrival of beautiful music that perfectly matches the mood of the moment, or a word of encouragement when rebuke was expected, came these words:
"I don't know."
Again, the posture of humility allows for our walls to come down, and for Christ to be revealed before us in all of His glory, all of His mercy, and all of His judgment. We can hear the difficult words of challenge, when they come with a recognition of our common need for His grace, His wisdom, and His Kingdom.
Showing posts with label Preaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Preaching. Show all posts
2.03.2014
12 Rules for Preaching on Contentious Issues
How should pastors and Christian leaders talk about issues on which the Church is divided, or where there are strong tensions within our culture? For example, how should a pastor speak about political issues like cash benefits for poor families? Or, how should a church leader speak about cultural hot-potatoes like Homosexuality? And what about theological positions upon which the church has been historically divided like Pacifism?
Here are my 12 Rules in no particular order:
1) Maintain Unity:
We must create and maintain space in our fellowship for faithful people who disagree as a matter of conscience. Whether we affirm the views or not, we must repeatedly affirm the people who say them and their right to be at the table. (Galatians 2:11-21 and other 'unity' passages may not be speaking directly about the contentious theological and cultural issues of our day, but the principles apply.)
2) Embrace Mystery:
We must create space for a healthy amount of tension and cognitive dissonance around contentious issues. We must be willing to declare that there are truths to be held in tension. We must acknowledge that there are mysteries to be embraced and not understood. (Romans 11:33-36 Paul's Doxology makes clear that we can never plumb the depths of God's whole truth.)
3) Speak with the Church:
We should, as forthrightly as possible, distinguish between a) statements that are merely our opinions, b) statements that are minority opinions within the scope of the historical church, c) statements that are majority opinions, and d) statements that are simply quotations from Scripture. (1Corinthians 7:10-12 is perhaps one of the most interesting verses in Scripture, especially for those of us who hold Scripture to be inspired.)
4) Speak Clearly:
We must speak as honestly and transparently as possible. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Paul did not preach with a pretentious message or manner, neither should we.)
5) Maintain Focus:
We must continue to point at 'heart issues' in our teaching. The most important thing is sincere discipleship unto Jesus; desiring God, yearning for righteousness, hoping for justice, longing to bless our 'enemies.' This means that our preaching is not primarily about 'informing the mind,' but rather 'forming the will.' (Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus instructs us to 'love God' with our whole being, not simply with our mind.)
6) Speak to the Whole Person:
We must understand the pastoral ramifications of what we are about to say in the actual lives of the people we are teaching. We must understand how it will effect other issues; their view of God, or of Scripture; their relationship to the Church, or to others. We must understand the 'hidden curriculum;' the unintended message that people will hear. We must understand 'the question behind the question.' (Matthew 19:1-12 Jesus explains Moses' teaching on divorce as motivated by this pastoral sensitivity.)
7) Speak Humbly:
We must acknowledge our own fallibility as teachers, (James 3:13-18 requires that wisdom be humble) as well as our own failings as human beings. (1 John 1:8-10 requires our acknowledgement of our own sinfulness.)
8) Don't be a Jerk:
We must recognize that 'truth' is not the primary rubric for Christian speech. (John 13:35 The defining marker of our lives is to be 'love' and not 'truth.')
9) Speak Blessing:
We must love those to whom we are speaking. Christian love (agape) is a resolute commitment to work for the blessedness of the object of that love. We must speak from exactly this posture. This means that we must speak 'love' and not necessarily 'kindness,' but we must also speak 'love' and not necessarily 'correctness.'
10) Be Prophetic:
We must be led by the Spirit. Sometimes people need to be shocked, sometimes wooed, sometimes chastened, sometimes healed; the Spirit of God desires to effect change in the hearts and lives of our hearers, not merely to inform them.
11) Be Responsible:
We must stick around to deal with the consequences of what has been said, or at least we must make some avenue for follow up to be possible. (John 21:15-19 records Jesus simultaneously rebuking and restoring Peter, our teaching should be equally responsible.)
12) Trust God:
We must be willing to step out in faith (remember, Faith is spelled R.I.S.K.), our own faith journey requires us to trust God in our speaking. We cannot preach from fear, pride, or any other false motive. We must trust Him.
Here are my 12 Rules in no particular order:
1) Maintain Unity:
We must create and maintain space in our fellowship for faithful people who disagree as a matter of conscience. Whether we affirm the views or not, we must repeatedly affirm the people who say them and their right to be at the table. (Galatians 2:11-21 and other 'unity' passages may not be speaking directly about the contentious theological and cultural issues of our day, but the principles apply.)
2) Embrace Mystery:
We must create space for a healthy amount of tension and cognitive dissonance around contentious issues. We must be willing to declare that there are truths to be held in tension. We must acknowledge that there are mysteries to be embraced and not understood. (Romans 11:33-36 Paul's Doxology makes clear that we can never plumb the depths of God's whole truth.)
3) Speak with the Church:
We should, as forthrightly as possible, distinguish between a) statements that are merely our opinions, b) statements that are minority opinions within the scope of the historical church, c) statements that are majority opinions, and d) statements that are simply quotations from Scripture. (1Corinthians 7:10-12 is perhaps one of the most interesting verses in Scripture, especially for those of us who hold Scripture to be inspired.)
4) Speak Clearly:
We must speak as honestly and transparently as possible. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Paul did not preach with a pretentious message or manner, neither should we.)
5) Maintain Focus:
We must continue to point at 'heart issues' in our teaching. The most important thing is sincere discipleship unto Jesus; desiring God, yearning for righteousness, hoping for justice, longing to bless our 'enemies.' This means that our preaching is not primarily about 'informing the mind,' but rather 'forming the will.' (Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus instructs us to 'love God' with our whole being, not simply with our mind.)
6) Speak to the Whole Person:
We must understand the pastoral ramifications of what we are about to say in the actual lives of the people we are teaching. We must understand how it will effect other issues; their view of God, or of Scripture; their relationship to the Church, or to others. We must understand the 'hidden curriculum;' the unintended message that people will hear. We must understand 'the question behind the question.' (Matthew 19:1-12 Jesus explains Moses' teaching on divorce as motivated by this pastoral sensitivity.)
7) Speak Humbly:
We must acknowledge our own fallibility as teachers, (James 3:13-18 requires that wisdom be humble) as well as our own failings as human beings. (1 John 1:8-10 requires our acknowledgement of our own sinfulness.)
8) Don't be a Jerk:
We must recognize that 'truth' is not the primary rubric for Christian speech. (John 13:35 The defining marker of our lives is to be 'love' and not 'truth.')
9) Speak Blessing:
We must love those to whom we are speaking. Christian love (agape) is a resolute commitment to work for the blessedness of the object of that love. We must speak from exactly this posture. This means that we must speak 'love' and not necessarily 'kindness,' but we must also speak 'love' and not necessarily 'correctness.'
10) Be Prophetic:
We must be led by the Spirit. Sometimes people need to be shocked, sometimes wooed, sometimes chastened, sometimes healed; the Spirit of God desires to effect change in the hearts and lives of our hearers, not merely to inform them.
11) Be Responsible:
We must stick around to deal with the consequences of what has been said, or at least we must make some avenue for follow up to be possible. (John 21:15-19 records Jesus simultaneously rebuking and restoring Peter, our teaching should be equally responsible.)
12) Trust God:
We must be willing to step out in faith (remember, Faith is spelled R.I.S.K.), our own faith journey requires us to trust God in our speaking. We cannot preach from fear, pride, or any other false motive. We must trust Him.
1.09.2011
1.07.2011
What I Say and What I Do
In the link above he shares the Barna statistic detailing how only 9% of evangelicals have a biblical worldview. Then he asks, "what are pastors preaching?"
The assumption, of course, is that pastor's preaching has a significant effect on what people believe!!!
Preaching is important, but it is far from central!
In short, the preaching isn't the problem.
The problem is the hidden curriculum of the church. We can preach something till we are blue in the face (eg" pick up your cross and follow me"), but if our lifestyle, our church culture, and even the very programs of the church itself, are communicating the opposite message (eg "come and receive our comfort-inducing programs and services"), our preaching will only serve as music on the deck of a sinking ship. The only thing this might actually accomplish is to lull people into forgetting that the ship is sinking! ("We aren't worshipping the idols of individualism, consumerism, and materialism, look at how biblical our preaching is!" says the man who doesn't know the name of a single person in his church nor in his neighborhood, has no meaningful ministry to anyone, and regularly attends the high dollar production the church puts on every Sunday morning.)
The assumption, of course, is that pastor's preaching has a significant effect on what people believe!!!
Preaching is important, but it is far from central!
In short, the preaching isn't the problem.
The problem is the hidden curriculum of the church. We can preach something till we are blue in the face (eg" pick up your cross and follow me"), but if our lifestyle, our church culture, and even the very programs of the church itself, are communicating the opposite message (eg "come and receive our comfort-inducing programs and services"), our preaching will only serve as music on the deck of a sinking ship. The only thing this might actually accomplish is to lull people into forgetting that the ship is sinking! ("We aren't worshipping the idols of individualism, consumerism, and materialism, look at how biblical our preaching is!" says the man who doesn't know the name of a single person in his church nor in his neighborhood, has no meaningful ministry to anyone, and regularly attends the high dollar production the church puts on every Sunday morning.)
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