Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Are You Ready for the Final Exam?
OK. It may seem like overkill on this subject, but when you're preparing to preach on a difficult subject, a lot of things end up on the cutting room floor. By the way, one of the great challenges of modern preaching is to get great Truths to fit inside of that barely tolerable 45-minute window I call a sermon. I say "modern" preaching because there was a time (not that long ago) that preachers averaged over an hour to communicate God's Word. Anything less was quaintly termed "sermonettes." (If you're used to the 20-30 minute message, I'm probably not your preacher of choice. And yes, I know all about series and I usually preach within them. AND I know that the mind can only retain what the seat can endure - which explains why we have comfy padded seats in our sanctuary.) Anyways, back to my reason for writing this blog...
I've been thinking a lot about what the
Bible says comes next for us after death, and the Judgment Day is a major event
on God's itinerary for us. This had me thinking
about when I was in college. Every professor gave us a syllabus for his or her
course. The syllabus gave us an outline and summary of the course. It
told us what the professor expected of us as students – attendance, term paper
requirements, and the dates of mid-term and final exams.
God has given us a
syllabus. It is called the Bible. In it, we discover God’s plan,
all that He wants to teach us, and what is expected of us – attendance
requirements, the practicum (where we apply what we’ve learned), and the
certainty of pop quizzes, tests, and a very final exam.
In college, I was a
procrastinator. I put off thinking about tests or term papers until I
absolutely had to. (Which might explain my less than stellar grades.)
Look, being all preoccupied with tests would have spoiled all the fun I was
having in college! I was away from home. I was the captain of my ship and
I couldn’t be bothered by petty professors who tried to make my life miserable
with more lame school work! But no matter how much I attempted to put it
off, or ignore it, those exams still came with an alarming sense of urgency
and...well, panic.
I believe that
many Christians would rather not think about the final exam when we stand
before God. That just cramps our style, doesn’t it? It makes us
uncomfortable because any serious consideration of our personal judgment would
probably make us pause and evaluate our lives. We might have to take life
more seriously and be more conscious of wasting our time on things that really
don’t matter in light of eternity. But here's what the syllabus says:
10...For we will all stand
before the judgment seat of God.
11 For it is written, “As I
live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give
praise to God.”
12 So then each one
of us will give an account of himself to God.
(Romans 14:10b-12,
NASB)
It is not wise to ignore the
inevitable or to put off facing the facts. (Apply this to almost any other area
of your life and isn't that an absolute understatement?!!?) In this
case, we will all be judged – both believer and unbeliever alike. The
Bible describes two separate judgments and according to scripture, they are a
serious certainty.
For we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done
in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Corinthians 5:10, ESV)
But the degree to which we are upset by
this topic is based on how ready we are for the final exam. Think about
it: When you waited till the last minute to get ready for your history test,
you were in full-blown panic mode. But when you had studied, and prepared
well in advance, there was some anxiety perhaps, but there was also a
confidence that you had prepared – you had done your part to get ready.
What’s amazing to me, as a
pastor, is how many people (both believers and nonbelievers) want me to talk
about end-time events, but don’t want to hear about the Judgment. Our
Final Exam IS a pretty significant end-time event. And we had better be
ready for it.
Labels: final exam, judgment, preaching
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Hard Preaching & Preaching is Hard
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
Monday, January 24, 2011
Ears to Hear
From time to time, my wife has accused me of "not listening." I know, can you imagine?!!? "Really, Gina!" (Did you hear the indignation in that exclamation?)
So, I was standing at the counter of the bank this morning, trying to remember what instructions she had given me. I know she said something, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what it was! The teller was being super patient, but for the life of me, I was drawing a blank. And the worst part, if I couldn't come through and remember this, it would just be further proof for Gina that I do have ADD issues. ugh!
I've read it several times now in my Bible. It's in at least three of the Gospels and Jesus repeats it in His address to the seven churches of Revelation. On several occasions, Matthew records this important admonition from Jesus, "Whoever has ears, let them hear” (11:15; 13:9, 43). It's as if He is telling the crowds (and His disciples) to, "Listen up! Pay attention now, because what I'm about to say could change your life forever...."
As a preacher and teacher, I can tell you that there have been many times over the years that I've implored those gathered to, "Pay attention and listen up!" (I've even been known to wake up an occasional sleeper.) Sometimes you just get a sense that the crowd is zoning out or that they're distracted by something going on around them. That's what is comforting to me about Jesus' admonition to His congregations! They ALWAYS paid attention to Him, right? He never had to deal with people who just didn't seem to be getting it. I'm not so sure...even His disciples didn't get it at times!
I believe that there are several key components to "hearing" what the Spirit is saying through a sermon or teaching or in our prayer time:
Give God your undivided attention today as you listen, understand, and apply His Word to your life!
P.S. By the way, I couldn't remember Gina's instructions, so I had to text her to repeat them to me. I'm off to make a second trip to the bank now and I'm sure I will hear about this later. *sigh* But the next time, I'm all ears!
So, I was standing at the counter of the bank this morning, trying to remember what instructions she had given me. I know she said something, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what it was! The teller was being super patient, but for the life of me, I was drawing a blank. And the worst part, if I couldn't come through and remember this, it would just be further proof for Gina that I do have ADD issues. ugh!
I've read it several times now in my Bible. It's in at least three of the Gospels and Jesus repeats it in His address to the seven churches of Revelation. On several occasions, Matthew records this important admonition from Jesus, "Whoever has ears, let them hear” (11:15; 13:9, 43). It's as if He is telling the crowds (and His disciples) to, "Listen up! Pay attention now, because what I'm about to say could change your life forever...."
As a preacher and teacher, I can tell you that there have been many times over the years that I've implored those gathered to, "Pay attention and listen up!" (I've even been known to wake up an occasional sleeper.) Sometimes you just get a sense that the crowd is zoning out or that they're distracted by something going on around them. That's what is comforting to me about Jesus' admonition to His congregations! They ALWAYS paid attention to Him, right? He never had to deal with people who just didn't seem to be getting it. I'm not so sure...even His disciples didn't get it at times!
I believe that there are several key components to "hearing" what the Spirit is saying through a sermon or teaching or in our prayer time:
- Listening: This part is not always as easy as we think. We battle constant distractions, not to mention our spiritual ADD. There will always be a supernatural element to this battle because the devil doesn't want you to hear the Truth; so he will do all that he can to distract you from it. Listening is a discipline and it requires concentration. We have come to believe that multi-tasking is a necessary skill in our world today. We even believe that we are being productive when we juggle several things that need our focus and attention. But multi-tasking can prevent us from hearing all that God wants to say! What Truth have we missed out on, because we feed our ADD with the erroneous belief that this is somehow more spiritually productive.
- Understanding: This is the ability to process what we've heard. Again, a supernatural component is at work, especially when we need discernment. Discernment is the ability to know good from bad, right from wrong, or truth from error. The psalmist prayed this way: "I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes" (Psalm 119:125). And if we don't understand, we need to follow the the disciples' example and ask!
- Application: God will give us the insight that we need, so that we can apply the instruction through our obedient response. This isn't just about "hearing" the message, it is about how we process and respond to what you've heard! That's why God speaks so pointedly through the apostle James: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (James 1:22). Listen to Jesus' instruction: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." Our response is the critical component to "hearing" what the Spirit is saying!
20My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words.
21Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
22for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.
P.S. By the way, I couldn't remember Gina's instructions, so I had to text her to repeat them to me. I'm off to make a second trip to the bank now and I'm sure I will hear about this later. *sigh* But the next time, I'm all ears!
Labels: application, discernment, listening, obedience, preaching, teaching, understanding
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
