Andy Stanley’s “Communicating For a Change” is one of the best books on preaching I’ve read. I use his relational outline every time I preach. In this book Stanley states his goal for every sermon: “To teach people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles and truths of the Bible. I want people to do something different, not just think about it.” The important thing is what people do with what they hear. He states, “We need far less information, far more application, far less explanation and far more inspiration.” If you’ve ever listened to Andy Stanley preach, he certainly knows how to be applicable! I feel no need to correct Stanley on this one, but I would make an addition.
How I preach with this goal in mind comes back to how I believe life transformation happens. Does it happen by being told to do something and how to do it in simple terms? Does it happen by following application points or steps? That would certainly be part of it. However, taken too far this can ruin preaching and will eventually the listeners. Given a steady diet of "application by steps and points" preaching (my words, not Stanley's), the hearers will begin to expect the preacher to just tell them exactly what they need to do and how to do it. And oftentimes he will oblige, and rightly so. But what if he doesn’t? Are the listeners off the hook for application? Has the preacher squandered the moment for life transformation? But there is a greater deficiency I would like to point out.
James tells us that the person who hears God’s word and does not do what itself is involved in dangerous and foolish self-deception. (James 1:23-25) By all means, when I preach I want people to do something different as a result. But I also want them to be different. James also tells us that before we can rightly apply the word we must continually “look intently” into the God’s word. To look intently is to fix your gaze with careful inspection. Our hearts must be inclined in the direction of the word (Psalm 119:36). I must love what I study. (Psalm 119:59). I must love the word I preach. Those who listen must love the word I preach or be on their way to doing so. Because what I love will have my attention, and what has my attention will change my life. I will be transformed into the very image of that which has my attention. That’s what 2 Corinthians 3:18 is all about. The Holy Spirit changes us as we behold the glory of God. When I preach, people should be able to see that the Bible is full of glorious truth and is far more amazing and wonderful than any movie they will ever see or any video game they will ever play or any of the other million things towards which their hearts are inclined. Life transformation will not just happen in Nike fashion, by just doing it. If that’s all I have in my preaching, I will be lending a hand in the creation of moralistic deists. Life transformation happens when I love the glorious truth and when my attention is captured by seeing in it the glorious God who wrote it.
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