I returned from Latvia yesterday. It was good to reconnect with students again after the summer break. Amongst other things we were thinking about how preaching makes connections between what Scripture is saying and what we should do about it.
I often speak about the three questions that preachers need to ask when they are preparing their sermons: What? So What? Now What?
What?
Some preachers never get beyond this question. Their sermons are an exercise in information transfer, in which hearers learn a lot about the context and content of Scripture, but the sermon never goes beyond that. This is one of the reasons I find the term “teaching the Bible,” to be a woefully inadequate description of preaching.
So What?
Preaching needs to move on to another question. Hearers need to be shown why what the preacher is saying matters. If this does not happen, preachers are showing that they are like one of Oscar Wilde’s characters: who know “… the cost of everything and the value of nothing!” Teaching can define and explain but it does not always show hearers the significance, nor does it make the pulse race with excitement.
Dr Lloyd-Jones used to communicate this idea by beginning his sermons with the comment “This is probably the most important text in Scripture.” They way he said that, and the way that he preached made the hearer feel that way too.
The preacher is going on a journey and the “So what?” question provides the reasons for why the hearers will want to get on board and take the journey with the preacher.
Yet preachers have not finished the job after asking the first two questions. The “What?” question helps us to file some information for future reference, the “So what?” question helps us to enjoy the ride, but the preacher has not finished before they ask, “Now What?”
Now What?
The preacher needs to help the hearers ask, “What is standing in the way of me doing something in response to this message?”
This is what is commonly called ‘application’ in preaching. ‘Application’ is an interesting word, describing something that adheres to something else, like glue that makes things stick together. Sticky sermons are ones that stay with us because they are memorable and move us to a response. The hearers can see how what is being said relates to their lives today.
Over the weekend in Riga we spoke about application and reminded the students that ‘implication’ might be a better word. Application has often been associated with being given a predictable list of things to do. But sometimes the “So What?” question suggests an implication about what we feel about the truths we have heard in the sermon. Sometimes the application is not a to-do-list, but a space to appreciate how much God loves us so that we can pause and delight in him.
It was a wise preacher who said that a congregation might not remember all preachers say, but they will remember how they made them feel.
Ah! That reminds me of Augustine’s three-word definition of preaching: “teach, delight, persuade”.
Preachers, let’s have a little bit more of that!
Photo by Balint Mendlik on Unsplash