In Communicating for Change, Andy Stanley gives us three possible goals for preaching:
- Teach the Bible to people.
- Teach people the Bible.
- Teach people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles, and truths of the Bible.
The third is Andy’s preferred goal, and he leaves room for you to differ with him. So I’m going to differ. He writes:
“We have enough hearers…We need doers, appliers. That means we need sermons that are loaded with application and preaching that is communicated with inspiration.” (99) “
Loaded with application? I agree that we all need to apply God’s Word and that preachers should aid the church in applying the ancient truths of the Bible to contemporary challenges, but I’m not sure that loading our sermons with application is the key. Often, our hearers know “what” to do, but aren’t convinced that they should do it. For instance, they know they shouldn’t envy their neighbor’s stuff, but their heart’s aren’t convinced that God offers anything better than their neighbor’s stuff. Their mind has bought the lie that envy is more satisfying that contentment. The trick is that they would never say it like that. So we ge to say it to them with broken-hearted love and Spirit-enabled power. The goal of preaching, I believe, is to convince the heart to cherish God and his Word so much that Spirit-enabled obedience is the result. I do not believe that the main goal of preaching is to load people up with “what” to do, with application. I do agree that “our goal should be life change,” provided a couple other things are in place.
First, we should preach, not for lives to change just when they leave the sermon and apply them afterwards, but for lives to change while you are preaching. The ancient concept of Spirit-empowered preaching that affects a person’s soul while listening has been lost in modern pulpits. Williams Perkins referred to this kind of preaching as “the art of prophesying.” Jonathan Edwards says it like this:
“The main benefit obtained by preaching is by an impression made upon the mind at the time, and not by an effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered.“
Tim Keller refers to it as “preaching that changes on the spot.” And here’s the first point, preach in the Spirit. Don’t preach the technique or simply for post-sermon application. Plead for the Spirit to change you in preparation, to preach to you in rehearsal, and to transform your people’s hearts, affections, loyalties during the sermon. Preaching is about Spirit-motivated change, not application-driven change. Note that Stanley’s goal is to “teach people how.” I suggest that we preach for change in the Spirit now. This puts the onus on God, not on your material, humor, delivery, or change goals. The Scriptures are filled with commands to preach, teach, live, speak, counsel, pray in the Spirit, but that prepositional phrase is a hidden endnote for most of us. We don’t look it up, consider it, or aim for it. We pay attention to the verbs, not the prepositions. As a result, we preach application, not Spirit-anointed messages.
Second, we should preach for change by preaching in the Spirit and to the heart. As many have noted, the heart is the control center of our every action. Edwards illustrates helpfully here. He asks if a man who surrenders his wallet while held at gunpoint is actually doing what he wants to do. Does he really want to part with cash? Ultimately, Edwards answers, yes. Even though the man was at gunpoint, he did what he desired to to most–live! C.S. Lewis remarked that we are all creatures of pleasure; we do what we desire most, we act from the heart. Therefore, if the heart is the control center of every decision, then preachers do well—best—to preach, not to the the will (application) or the mind (doctrine), but to the heart. To remind the heart of the one Person that can meet, correct, and surpass every legitimate and illegitimate desire. To remind the heart that it finds its true joy and rest in no one other than God.
And guess what? If your goal in preaching is convince the heart to cherish God and his Word so much that Spirit-enabled obedience is the result, then you don’t have to craft perfect sermons, impeccable rhetoric, mind-blowing illustrations, application for every demographic. Your greatest goal, then, becomes pleading for the Spirit to fall on you as you prepare and on your people as you preach. For God to change your heart now, not how to apply for change.
How does Andy’s goal compare to your goal in preaching? I don’t think I am on board with Andy, but I’m still reading and reflecting. He does make the good point that, whatever your goal in preaching, your approach to communicating must reflect it. And I need to work on that. He also mentions the importance of the “preacher’s burden,” “the one thing you must communicate.” Unfortunatley, this is not developed as Spirit-enpowered, heart-focused preaching.
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August 2, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Jacob Vanhorn
I have found that in preparation and practice, my primary goals are to exalt Christ, renew the mind through the truths of scripture and life, to place our story in the biblical story, to reveal idols, to stir the affections of the heart toward Christ and to ask for empowerment from the HS while making intentional steps of worshipful obedience.
Most of the time, I tend to emphasize exalting Christ, renewing the mind and seeking empowerment. But since I am still relatively new to preaching, I do all of this clumsily and I tend to assume that the listener has more knowledge than they do. I am working on it though.
August 6, 2008 at 7:20 pm
learning to preach
You are a novice church planter. I am a novice preacher. I am 2/3 of the way through a doctoral program in preaching – not because I am a good preacher, but because I am still trying to figure this thing out. Like you, I’m a big fan of Piper, Edwards & Keller (maybe even in that order). In a tri-perspectival view of gifting (the idea that pastors as individuals tend to gravitate toward the role of prophet, priest or king and that each has a necessary place in the church) these guys would be prophets, proclaiming Christ-centered theology and calling people to God. it seems that you (and me for that matter) both would fall in the “prophet” space.
But I think there is a place for guys like Andy Stanley & Rick Warren who are more kingly in their gifts and focus. These are guys looking for ways to systematize – to figure out what works. In the course of learning about preaching, I’ve read and listened to a ton of guys. Rick Warren’s “Preaching for Life Change” wore me out – but there was some great stuff in there about application. He does a great job of showing the percentage of Jesus’ teaching was application & how much of the epistles are application. There is certainly something to it that should not be ignored. And that is the case with Stanley’s book. It has some important things to say that should not be ignored. In fact, I have read literally scores of books on preaching because of my studies and yet this is only one of two books that has changed my preaching. Now do I preach exactly as he prescribes? No. But what he wrote gave me a great frame work for designing messages that allow people to connect with the life-changing Gospel that I am proclaiming.
Too many of us who are reformed, Christ-centered guys have sloppy preaching that does not intersect with the lives of people. We err on the side of sovereignty & excuse our poor delivery as “having left room for the Spirit.” Am I committed to proclaiming the glory of God in the face of Christ? Yes. Do I believe that moral formation is the enemy of the Gospel because it causes people to seek righteous apart from Jesus? Yes. But do I avoid application? No. As Howard Hendricks said it, interpretation and explanation without application is abortion. People need to experience God “in the moment” as we preach bu that is part of what naturally happens every time we preach (Eph 5:18ff tells us that we are filled with the Spirit through the way that we corporately worship, proclaim truth to each other and give thanks with each other). But if people are not also taught how to do the truth that they hear, they will become the “hearers of the word” that James talks about that deceive themselves because they are not “doers also.”
So I propose a little more balance. Read Bryan Chapell. Read Goldsworthy & Greidanus. But also consider how a guy like Andy Stanley can help you connect with people personally. How he can help you connect what a passage says to what a person needs. (His “Me, We, God, You, We” outline can be an awesome to for Christ-centered preachers. It fits so well in a redemptive format:
ME: I have a problem.
WE: We all have the problem.
GOD: Jesus is the answer to our problem and offers redemption from the problem
YOU: This is how you should appropriately respond to Jesus your solution. (individual response)
WE: Lets envision an pray for church that all embraces Jesus’ redemptive work in this area of our lives (corporate response).
This little tool is worth the price of the book. It personalizes the preacher & puts him in the right redemptive light (a sinner who is being redeemed instead of an expert with all the answers) It allows the congregation to consider their fallen condition and need for redemption. It points people to the Living Word, Jesus, by pointing them to the Written Word, the Bible. And it is concluded with both an individual response and a corporate response to the Truth that has been taught. In my mind, it is genius. In my preaching, it has made me more effective and less of an obstacle to the Gospel.
But like I said, I’m still figuring it out.
August 6, 2008 at 7:56 pm
jdodson
Thanks for the comments and tips! Yes, I am aware of the tri-perspectival lens advocated by Frame, Poythress, and it’s adaptation for leadership (though i’m a little hesitant to push it). I’ve read Chappell and Goldsworthy but not Gred.
Perhaps my post came off as “anti-application”? I hope not. And I certainly am not throwing stones at Stanley or whoever. Rather, I am trying to articulate the PLACE of application, which is critical. If application is our focus, we preach to the will (Gred), but if we preach to the heart, we enable Spirit-led application. As you know, Keller advocates we raise the “problem of application” and solve it with the gospel. I like that approach. Application should definitely figure into sermons; the question is how and whether or not it should be the central aim.
Grace, bro.
September 6, 2008 at 12:35 am
the 7 | relevintage
[…] Jonathan Dodson pushes back on Andy Stanley’s paradigm for preaching. Good […]
November 25, 2008 at 9:10 pm
ryan
Church Planting Novice
…thoughts from a missional church planter
more like
Church Planting Novice
…thoughts from someone who doesn’t like it that his way isn’t the only way
better yet
Church Planting Novice
…thoughts from my arrogant self-absorbed head
November 25, 2008 at 9:58 pm
jdodson
Ryan,
I think you have misunderstood my post here, and it grieves me that you would conclude that I think my way is the only way or that I somehow have the corner on preaching. I believe quite the contrary and, as I pointed out in the post, Andy does many great things. He is a much better preacher than me, and I thank God for his ministry. What I tried to bring into focus is the role of the gospel in addressing our heart issues. Although I am certainly not above being self-absorbed, and need Jesus for all my failures in humilty, I believe you have misunderstood my intent and the spirit behind my post. I hope you’ll reconsider your accusations.
Kindly,
Jonathan
November 26, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Justin
Jonathan,
I did not take the post as “anti-application” or self-absorbed in any form. It may come from the reality that I understand your context, being from Austin, but I think that’s a portion of the point, context. Austin is a different breed, a beautiful, intelligent, creative place. A place that is the convergence of traditional infused, Bible belt culture mixed with a modern prospective on life. These factors influence how God is using you and saw your response as just that a response from your context, working in your area. Nothing more.
November 27, 2008 at 8:49 pm
jdodson
Thanks for your affirmation of my intent, Justin. Hope things are going well for you!
January 8, 2012 at 2:36 am
carinleseure
I think honestly that you and Andy are not so far apart. I don’t know if you read his book completely, or have listened to any of his teaching, but he actually does what you say you value in his teaching as well, and I personally find it very effective. Learning from him has made me a much more effective communicator. The way I understood his directive with regard to application is to frame the message in application so that people are hungry for the answer that Scripture provides by the time you start sharing it….though there are times that’s not really how it works, and the Scripture tells a story, he encourages to really TELL the story…don’t just read the scripture. So, his method helps bring out people’s hunger for Scriptural truth, using application and life context to get them to realize how much they need it and apply…and where does he get the message, the thing they need to take away….from the Holy Spirit…in the planning stage. My personal opinion is that it IS the Holy Spirit that does the convincing…we do a lot of legwork, and the Spirit is with us every step of that journey, telling us as communicators we need to communicate. Andy doesn’t encourage pastors to focus on the mind-blowing illustrations, or perfectly crafted rhetoric….it’s quite the opposite…. he encourages simplicity: One point…one main thing that the Spirit has pressed upon you to convey. Then…what is they need to know? Why do they need to know it? What are they supposed to do about it? Why do they need to do it? Once you can answer those questions….you don’t need rhetoric or perfect crafting….but you know which illustration leads to your point…. what I learned from Andy has not taken the Spirit out of my preaching, but made it a whole lot clearer. But that’s me… š
January 8, 2012 at 2:37 am
carinleseure
By the way….TOTALLY appreciate your whole website….and encourage you!!