The Pastor's Place

After Sunday’s message on hypocrisy & authenticity, I read a blog by John Piper confirming much of what I felt in preaching a "hard" sermon.  Mr. Piper addressed the need to temper personality to the tone of the Biblical text.  (You can read it at: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/what-tone-should-preachers-aim-at) In my sermon, I wanted to accurately convey how grieved God is by our insincerity and how great the call to authenticity really is.

As I studied and prepared from Matthew 6, I truly looked forward to preaching the message.  When I stood in the pulpit on Sunday morning, I was surprised at how difficult relaying the message became.  This wasn’t a lack of preparation (be there, done that), I just didn’t want to come across to my congregation as an angry accuser and yet, Jesus’ instruction is pointed (but not quite like Matthew 23).


While I was prepared to preach the sermon, I found myself emotionally unprepared to preach a hard word.  I am certain that the majority of this was the tunnel vision of study and preparation.  Sometimes, I get so locked down on the text and forget who I will conveying that message to.  It's important to note here that Jesus had complete “situational awareness” and that is why He communicated with such graceful authority.  And since Jesus sets the bar for us preachers, our goal should be to follow His example.  That, my friends, is a very tall order indeed.

Achieving the balance of tone and personality is a constant struggle for me in the pulpit.  (As several of my family and friends have noted, I have a personality.)  In my church there are a number of people who enjoy it when I “preach,” as opposed to when I “teach.”  Preaching defined as, “I love it when you get in my face and stomp on my toes, Pastor.” And teaching defined as, “Pastor, you were kind of mellow today. Are you feeling OK?”
 
I am as prone, I suppose, as any preacher, to desire instant response and consistent affirmation to the message that God lays on my heart.  But this is simply unrealistic. As I was reminded yesterday that a lack of affirmation, or “at-a-boys,” may reveal that God is taking the message much further into the hearts and lives of my congregation. They may actually be convicted and that rarely feels good!

I must depend on God to take the Word where I can not.  As I scatter the seed, the Holy Spirit must move the words from head to heart.  I have talked before about the "cumulative" affect of preaching God's Word.  In other words, it is rarely a miracle grow moment on Sundays. For many in my congregation, it means slow growth and change.  As a preacher and sower of the Word, I've got to trust Jesus with the results (short or long term) and apart from Him, I can do nothing of lasting value.

That dependence does not absolve me of the great responsibility in preparation and preaching God’s Word.  I don't want to be careless or flippant or simply "play to the crowd."  I also don't want to be so heavy-handed and "angry-sounding" that people misread the tone and miss the message.  Every preacher of the Gospel needs a reminder that finding, and maintaining, the balance between personality and Scriptural tone must be an every Sunday occurrence.

This much I know:  No matter how hard the message, God always has a way of exceeding my limitations, and my expectations, in this ministry of the Word.

Labels: preachers, preaching, sermon preparation, sermons