Powerful Preaching? — A Case Study

~ fundyreformed ~ 23 Comments

One of my favorite posts on this blog, was one I did in March 2006 on fundamentalist preaching: Stomping Toes and Stomping Souls: The Moralistic Bent to Fundamentalist Preaching. The title might overstate my case a little, but the problem is all too real.

Recently, someone posted a smart comment on that post, lamenting that I hadn’t listened to the fundamentalist sermons I heard in college. That is not the first negative comment I’ve received from that post.

It is quite polarizing, in part, I believe, due to the subject matter. Anytime someone attempts to criticize preaching or preachers, he is sure to reap righteous indignation. To an extent, this is admirable.

I may not have come across as humble enough in my first critique on this subject. I do hold strongly to my opinion on this subject, as I believe much damage is being done in the name of “powerful preaching”. In this post, I hope to provide a case study to show what exactly I mean by “moralism”, and what exactly I find problematic with fundamentalist preaching. I would encourage you to read that first post, though, as background for this one.

Thesis

Here is my primary point: preaching that majors on heaping guilt on the hearers in an attempt to motivate them to do better is not “powerful”. It is possibly moralistic, and it is likely carnal. This preaching does more harm than good. Unfortunately it is quite common in fundamentalism, although it can be found in many other circles as well.

Case Study

Here is the passage for our case study: Mark 15:32-42. We will focus on Jesus’ admonition in vs. 38: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.” You know the story, Jesus’ disciples had fallen asleep when they should have been praying. Jesus admonishes them to watch and pray. And yet when he returns from another prayer session, he finds the disciples asleep again.

Now let me develop 2 approaches to this passage, which might easily be found in a Sunday morning message. In comparing and contrasting these approaches, I hope my point about moralistic sermons will come home.

A Moralistic Approach

This message would major on the commands “watch and pray”. It would highlight the results of either obeying or disobeying the commands. It would imply that most or all of the listeners have failed miserably in this respect. Based on “the flesh is weak”, the message would set up the listeners to expect to have to struggle in this area. The message would end by calling the listeners to do better and pray more. People might be encouraged to come forward and make decisions to rededicate themselves to fervent prayer, or to confess their failures to pray and vow to change.

This kind of message might be labelled “toe-stomping” or “hard hitting”, as the preacher might very well drive his point home forcefully through screaming, theatrical antics, or tear-jerking illustrations. The listeners would leave the message acutely aware of their guilt and mindful of the preacher’s challenge that they watch and pray much better than they have before.

A Christ-Centered Approach

This message would again stress the commands “watch and pray”. Yet it would also give the fuller context of the passage. The disciples did not watch and pray, whereas Jesus did. Jesus would be shown to be absolutely faithful, whereas even heroes of the Christian faith, the disciples, are seen to be very weak and unfaithful. The message would stress that it is important to watch and pray, as a failure to do so leads to temptation, even as illustrated by the desertion of Christ by these very disciples. Yet the message would stress Christ’s kindhearted response to this lack of faithfulness on the disciples’ part. Rather than harshly rebuking them the second time He found them sleeping, he acknowledged their weakness. He had said the “flesh is weak”.

The message would go on to stress that our very weakness, what makes it so difficult to watch and pray, is that for which Christ died. Jesus knows we are weak, and so Jesus prays for us, even when we don’t. The ultimate victory over temptation is won because Jesus overcame the world, not because we have the innate ability to. We can win, when we depend on Christ and the victory He purchased. The message would end with a call to depend on Christ more in the area of prayer. It would encourage people to trust Jesus and His faithfulness, even as it would call on the hearers to excercise more faith in watching and praying more faithfully.

The message might not be very “hard hitting”, but it would be encouraging and uplifting. The preacher may well get excited as he proclaims Christ’s faithfulness and work on our behalf, but he would be unlikely to scream at or belittle the hearers for their lack of faithfulness in prayer. The listeners would leave the message in a thankful and worshipful state of mind, as they ponder how wonderful is Christ’s faithfulness and work on their behalf, weak and sinful though they be. They would determine to love Christ more and desire to be more faithful in their prayer lives.

I hope this case study proves helpful. I hope that preachers will aim to proclaim the glories and faithfulness of Christ more consistently. We need to realize that in every step of our Christian life we need to trust Jesus more fully. He can help us obey, and it is because of Him that we can. Believers need to be reminded of these truths. They need to be pointed to Christ and encouraged to trust in Him more. They don’t need to have guilt heaped upon them without an offer of hope. There is no hope if I have to depend on my own determination to do better. There is plenty of hope, inexhaustible hope, if I am encouraged to lean on the work Jesus has done for me.

Related Posts

Stomping Toes and Stomping Souls: The Moralistic Bent to Fundamentalist Preaching

Moralism and Christ-less Sermons

Powerful Thoughts on Preaching

Casting Crowns & MercyMe: A Look at Motivations

~ fundyreformed ~ 11 Comments

Two of my favorite Christian music groups are Casting Crowns [“Who Am I”, “Voice of Truth”, “Lifesong”, “Set Me Free”, “Stained Glass Masquerade”] and MercyMe [“I Can Only Imagine”, “Word of God Speak”, “Homesick”]. I am not alone, as these are among the most popular Christian music groups today. Casting Crowns has sold 2.5 million records in less than 4 years, with both of their albums being certified Platinum (1 million CDs sold). MercyMe’s major record label debut Almost There is nearly a Triple Platinum, with one if not 2 other albums also being certified Platinum.

Recently, I purchased the special platinum edition of Almost There. The bonus disc contains an interview with Bart Millard the lead singer and songwriter for the group. I was fascinated by the story behind their hit “I Can Only Imagine” making it on secular radio. Two years or more after they released the song on Christian radio, a radio station in Dallas played their song after constant requests from a listener. The song was an instant hit and started spreading to other secular stations around the country. It peaked at #4 on the secular charts! Here is a retelling of the story I found from the time when it was just starting to gain momentum in the mainstream market. Here’s an industry report from Fall 2003 recounting the same thing.

What struck me the most in hearing Millard’s interview was his genuine Christian faith. He feels that the unlikely opportunity of his group consistently having songs played on secular stations is a calling from God to have a positive impact in mainstream music circles. Some criticize the group for “watering down” their lyrics, but I don’t think they are doing that. Millard says “…as long as the door to the mainstream market stays open, we wanna keep trying to walk thru it with messages that have a little more meaning than just a good pop hop hook or whatever.” And if you check out their CDs there are several overtly Christian (and more than that, meaningful and rich) songs. Rather than deviously trying to neuter their message to become popular, MercyMe is using the platform God gave them to proclaim Christ and the hope of the Gospel over secular airwaves. (Here is a recent online interview of Millard for further info.)

In researching this post, I was found out about Casting Crowns’ upcoming 3rd album to be released August 28. I am excited about that as their other two albums had such convicting and powerful messages. I’ve talked about the group’s amazing success before; and in a “sneak peek” video highlighting the upcoming album, I gained some more insight into the mission of Casting Crowns. As a group, they were content just targeting the youth in their home church and the local Atlanta region. But God called them into a more wide-reaching ministry, and now they are “singing to the Church”. Mark Hall, the lead singer and songwriter says they are not going to change much. They are speaking to the church, and so their songs are discipleship set to music. I’m sure you’ll be inspired and challenged by this video clip, and you’ll gain respect for Mark Hall and insight into his motivation for music ministry.

The point of this post is to highlight the motivations of popular Christian music groups. Many fundamentalists, even reforming fundamentalists, are uncomfortable with the rock style. Some fundamentalist leaders do their best to cast a shadow of suspicion on any, as they would say, “so-called” Christian Rock groups. I hope from what you’ve read above, that you will come to learn that these are distinctively Christian men who are ministering for God through music. This isn’t worthless “punk-rock”. This is extremely different from secular music. It may sound similar, but the message and the motivation are worlds apart. May God bless the ministry of these and other similar Christian music groups.

Another Republican Presidential Debate

~ fundyreformed ~ 7 Comments

I just finished watching the 3rd Republican presidential debate, and thought I would share some of my thoughts.

10 is too big of a number. It makes the debate difficult to follow. That many candidates deserve equal speaking time. But they don’t get it.

2 Tiers — there definitely are two tiers of candidates. If you are one of the top 3 (Guliani, McCain, and Romney), you get twice as long to speak, and get asked twice as many questions. Part of the disparity can be traced to these candidates’ ability to raise large amounts of money quickly, and part of it can be traced to early polls and media tampering. The media has made it into a 3-way race, with Thompson and Gingrich as possible would-be contenders. Sure, I’m biased, and the media often merely reports, yet I can’t help thinking that if the media didn’t hype certain candidates, things might be different.

Mike Huckabee (the guy I’m rooting for), might be wrong. He is banking on the fact that the nomination should be and will be won on the basis of ideas and positions, not on the basis of how much money you can earn, and which big-time donor you know.

I hope people watch the debates and research the issues, because this year there are many choices. But we are all lazy, and will wait for Iowa and New Hampshire to decide the race for us, I think.

I wish that some of the similar candidates that are alike in values and positions would bow out in deference to one of their number. This would allow there to be a conservative and also viable option available besides Romney to rally around. I just am not comfortable with Romney on a variety of fronts, and hope that Huckabee can gain steam. In a recent CNN poll, he was the highest among the other 7 candidates in the debates (even though that was only 3%). Perhaps that is a good sign.

The debate went poorly for Huckabee. I’m not saying he didn’t perform well. He shined, which has become par for the course with him. But he didn’t get chances to speak on very many key issues. As he himself remarked, he got all the questions on moral issues (since he was a pastor before he was a governor).

I also think his character is limiting him. The front runners have no qualms about stealing the limelight, and going beyond the time-limits allotted for them. Not so, Huckabee. He is polite and gracious to a fault in this regard.

Well, that about raps up my thoughts for now. But I have to leave you with a clip of his answer concerning evolution. It is a very passionate defense of the basic belief in creation. He allows room for differences with respect to six literal days or not, but again I think it will be great that this video clip is likely to get a lot of attention across America.

“The Christ of the Covenants” by O. Palmer Robertson

~ Bob Hayton ~ 16 Comments

This is a review I’ve been meaning to write for some time. My brother gave me this book, back when I was a fairly new convert to covenant theology (or better a new ex-dispensationalist), a couple years ago. With my poor reading habits, I started (and sometimes finished), a good many other books before I actually finished reading this one. Don’t get me wrong, I love books and I love reading. I just am not as disciplined a reader as I should be.

Anyways, this book is not a covenantal theology manual, as some might suspect. The Christ of the Covenants, by O. Palmer Robertson, is a book about the many Scriptural covenants: the covenant with Noah, Abraham, and David, to name a few. Robertson departs from many covenant theologians in refusing to call the pre-Creation Divine determination to redeem fallen man an actual covenant, even as he argues for the basic correctness of the covenantal position on Israel and the church.

What this book does best is show how the covenants (and not dispensations) truly structure Scripture. Indeed without understanding the covenants, one will inevitably fail to understand much of Scripture.

Being raised a dispensationalist, I had a somewhat vague understanding that there are several covenants mentioned in Scripture. But I never understood how important and influential they really are. Interestingly, in an excursus focusing on dispensationalism, Robertson compares the Old and New Scofield Bibles and shows that contemporary dispensationalism now also emphasizes the importance of the Biblical covenants.

Starting with the basics, Robertson defines the term “covenant” against the backdrop of ancient middle-eastern covenants. He concludes that in Scripture a covenant is “a bond in blood sovereignly administered.” Robertson delves into the technical discussions surrounding this concept, but at the same time manages to keep it somewhat simple. A relationship is established unilaterally, and loyalty is demanded on pain of death.

Robertson moves on to discuss the extent, the unity and the diversity of the Biblical covenants. He makes a good case for understanding the Gen. 1-2 in terms of a covenant of creation, citing Jeremiah 33 and Hosea 6:7 as proof. He contends that after the fall, the Biblical story is a progression of covenants each more specific and more glorious, culminating in the new covenant which was begun and inaugurated with the death of Christ. Yet he maintains that there are important differences worth noting between the covenants, and particularly between the Law and the new covenant.

Then he begins a discussion of all the important Biblical covenants, starting with the covenant of creation. He admits that the focus of that covenant is on the prohibition concerning eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but claims the covenant establishes a gracious relationship whereby man is called to rule God’s creation and given instruction concerning marriage and Sabbath observance (he contends that there is a binding Sabbath principle to be observed on Sundays still today). He rightly emphasizes that ignoring the foundational teaching of how man should relate with the rest of creation has negatively impacted how Christians relate with and think about culture today.

Then he takes up the covenant of redemption which he sees as started in Gen. 3:15, and progressively developed through the covenant with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and then the new covenant. He develops each covenant insightfully, focusing on the Scriptural passages which establish the covenant idea, and applying important truths in a fresh way for all of us today. His discussion of the new covenant, and particularly Jer. 31:3-34, is particularly rich and insightful.

That is Robertson’s book. Except I should note he stresses how the idea and promise of Christ is developed through each covenant. And he also has a great excursus chapter on dispensationalism. In that chapter he tries to show how dispensationalism has grown and changed. He finds contradictions within the system, however, and argues the point that dispensationalism depends on a false dualistic view that the physical and the spiritual must necessarily be distinguished. His chapter on dispensationalism (a mere 26 pages in length) alone is worth the price of the book. It would be well for those studying out the dispensational/covenant theology debate to listen to Robertson’s insights. Perhaps I will try to flesh out the arguments in that chapter in a later post.

In conclusion, I highly recommend Robertson’s book. After 300 pages one gets a thorough education in the Biblical covenants. At times it may be difficult reading, but the rewards gained are worth the effort spent. Mostly, Robertson has a gift for cutting to the heart of the matter. And a detailed study on the nature and teaching of the Biblical covenants demands the attention of any Biblical student. This book will help you understand Scripture better, and will increase your wonder at the glorious workings in God’s plan of redemption.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Westminster Bookstore, Amazon.com, or direct from P & R Publishing.

Happy Memorial Day

~ fundyreformed ~ 11 Comments

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. I thought I’d post about some of what’s been happening around here.

Recently our oldest daughter turned 4 years old. That is quite amazing to us. She is not a baby anymore. School is little more than a year away. And this was the age I was, when I first trusted Jesus. So we are all the more conscious of our responsibilities as Christian parents.

The number four has another meaning to us these days. We are expecting our fourth child. We have 3 girls; so we are hoping for a boy. Some may think less of us for being so undisciplined as to have four kids in a little more than 5 years, but we have determined to have as large a family as we are able to support for God’s glory. See my post, Christians, Contraceptives, and Children for more on that topic.

These thoughts about our responsibility as parents were deepened through an experience we shared yesterday. We survived a car accident which most likely totaled our only vehicle. We were going about 30-35 mph down a city street when a car pulled out in front of us hoping to cross in front of us. I didn’t see it coming until it was too late. Pray for a passenger in the other car who was ejected from the vehicle in the crash, and was taken to a hospital. Thankfully, we suffered no injuries and we have collision coverage on our insurance. We still can’t stop thinking about our near brush with tragedy. Our children are precious to us. May we be worthy stewards of them as we raise them for God’s service.

Finally, let us not forget to remember those who sacrificed for our freedom this Memorial Day. Praise God for the freedoms we enjoy in America. They truly are a foretaste of the complete redemption of the world, that Jesus and His Kingdom will effect one day. Until then let us be thankful and use our freedoms for the spread of Christ’s kingdom.