I was talking with one of my mentors the other day and we got on the topic of preaching. It seems pretty obvious to us that a lot of (maybe even most) preaching does not work. People and society are not being transformed but are getting worse. All too often, members of our congregations are sitting passively in our church services, leaving no closer to Jesus then when they walked in, and a hour later forgetting what was preached. What must be included for preaching to change lives? After talking about this we agreed that at least two things are essential (there may be more that are necessary for transformative preaching but these two things are required).
Biblical Centeredness The first thing we need is for Scripture to be central in all preaching. All of the power in preaching comes from God's Word and the degree of preaching's power is equal to the degree of its congruence to Scripture. When we preach, we must lift up the Word, share the Word, speak the Word, and make the Word known. Because God has promised to use His Word. It will accomplish His purpose (Isa 55:11); it penetrates hearts (Heb 4:12); it is useful for teaching and training in the way of God (2 Tim 3:16); and God reveals Himself through His Word (2 Sam 3:21).
But we do not make the Bible central. In most preaching the thoughts of the preacher are central. Modifying behavior is central. Jokes and stories are central. However, all of these other things lack the power to transform us into the image of Christ. People do not need good jokes, illustrations, applications, or thoughts, they need the Word. These other things only help when they point us deeper into the Word. In one sermon David Platt described this idea using the image of a pool. Many preachers treat the Word like the diving board, they use it to get into what they really want to say. Other preachers use the Word like pool furniture, occasionally swimming over to it. But we want the Word to be like the pool, we want to dive into it, explore it and spend most of our time in it.
Big Challenges Another thing that is necessary is for the preacher to call his listeners to radical commitments. This steams from being Biblically centered, because Jesus called those who heard to Him to radical lifestyles (see Luke 14:25-35). People are not interested in living in lukewarm Christianity; that's boring. People want to live for something that is bigger than themselves. They do not get excited about small dreams but about big dreams. And when they are challenged to do big things they realize the ways their lives fall short and they begin to make changes to their lives. Preaching is most effective when speakers challenge their audience to make big, huge, radical changes.
And this make us realize that relevance is overrated. I think that sometimes preachers are soft on either Biblical centeredness or big challenges because they feel like they need to make sure that their preaching is relevant to the lives of the people. But Scripture is not concerned with being relevant; it is concerned with making a new relevance. It wants to show us that what we have valued is not of value because there is something of so much more value that we have missed. Scripture is about changing our values to such a degree that even what we consider to be relevant to our lives changes (because our very lives have changed).
What do you think? Are these essential for transformative preaching? What else may be essential for transformative preaching?
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