[Music] now I want to talk to you about something that is a little more free-flowing but is very important to what I think preaching is trying to accomplish I want to talk to you about the aim of preaching so if you can find a space to take some notes about that there is a lot of confusion and discussion about what preaching is trying to do you can read book upon book upon book upon book upon book about what preaching is trying to do and sometimes find people disagreeing all over the place I have one book that some friends of mine wrote about seven of them and they all had their own version of what preaching was trying to do each one gave a different chapter and no conclusion at the end what is preaching trying to do the reason there's so much confusion about that is often we talk about what preaching is trying to do and we define it by how we do what preaching does we have to divide some things but all the way back to the very first homiletic textbook written by Augustine his book on Christian teaching or on Christian doctrine that was the most influential preaching book all across Christian history up until after the Middle Ages more reproduced in the Middle Ages than any other book and then all through homological history there is an aim that endures if you're looking for it if you know where to look and I'm gonna give it to you then describe why I think it's so important the aim of preaching what it's trying to do is to send a doxological community we're gonna talk about some of these words so if you don't understand them just wait and hold on send a doxological community in to the world through the proclamation of the gospel now I don't have time to get into every single angle of what all of this means there's a lot of depth into it but I read over a course of a few years every single homiletics textbook that had any influence all the way back to Agustin in the 300s all the way up through the multiplying of preaching books in the 1700s 1800s 1900s and 2000s I was reading seven hundred a thousand sometimes 1,400 pages a week and I was looking just for this and this is the summation of what has endured across all of Christian history across all of those cultures from the great African Bishop Agustin all the way over to the Franciscan friars all the way up to the the Methodists revival the Reformers swingley Luther etc and some any tradition will resonate with some part of this more than others but all traditions resonate with this at some level so what preaching is trying to do first of all is to send preachings goal is not to gather preaching is trying to send the aim of preaching is not building a church the aim of preaching is not measured by how many people are coming now that's almost not worth counting we have to count it for logistics sometimes and it does do some things for us for viability sustainability etc but a much more important question to me is how many are we sending how many people are leading others to Christ disciple in them and helping them learn how to lead others to Christ and how many of those who are being led to Christ discipled and raised in the leadership are being sent out into the world proclaiming the gospel somewhere else yes this is a missional movement it's part of why my heart matches with it so deeply if it wasn't I'm not sure I'd want to spend much time in it we have a mission and that's to send the next phrase is a doxological community doxological means it comes from the word glory doxa to give glory to doxology is a short hymn of praise glorifying God so the the adjective doxological is is modifying community it is a community that in its way of life is a hymn of praise to God not just with its words but in the structures of its community how it lives how it spends its time what are that community's habits practices virtues ways of being in the world and if that community is not doxological and we're sending it into the world the world will spit it out of its mouth and say you're just a bunch of hypocrites I hear what you say but I see what you do and what you're doing is speaking so loudly I can't hear what you're saying and so our preaching can't just send any type of people into the world so Antioch that great early sending community was the place they were first called you've got it Christians little Christ's the part of the reason why Antioch was such a great sending missional community was they figured this out it wasn't just about gathering three thousand were added to their number that day it wasn't just about adding it was about transforming community and they met at each other's homes they were breaking bread under they shared everything in common and they were giving to anyone as they had need you see and then Antioch took that up so they were so different that they were called little Christ's Christians so the community we send out has to have a character to its interrelationships that the world says who are these people how in the world do you live this way who goes into a prison to meet the purse who shot them in the face and says I forgive you what does that come from who sells their property and gives all of the proceeds away to the poor keeping none for themselves who does that who are these people that aren't eating for an entire week and seem happy about it gathering together to pray what is this going on who are these people that are mentoring the poor lifting them up out of poverty and not just helping them be friending them loving them treating them like family we sending a doxological community into the world we're not just trying to reach a community sometimes I hear pastors say if you're called a pastor you're called to a community and I always say no that's true but if you're called a pastor your call to the world period you can't just be called to your little in this in the United States zip code you can't just be called to your little part of the metro area you can't just be called to your province can't just be called to your village even can't just be called to your nation you're called to have a vision of the world and what you're doing in that burg or that zip code or that village or that province is being done with a mindset that is looking at what happens when this community gets transformed and sent what happens to the world through very important this is the means so the through word is a word that gives you the means the instrument by which this is done the proclaiming of the gospel the good news now Proclamation of course that's preaching but there are many ways that we proclaim preaching is one of them and if the gospel means that it's focused not just on the fact that Jesus died was buried resurrected on the third day therefore we can have our sins forgiven the spirit can live with us I live within us and then we can go to heaven forever that's part of it the gospel is also the fact that the Spirit can guide us everyday the fact that the father is our true and perfect parent and can heal any parental wounds we've had you see it's that when we do give we get more than we give that's the gospel we have to narrow of view of the gospel if we don't understand the gospel includes all of the goodness of God and how living God's Way is actually good news it's not just a moral law it's not that humans were created for the law rather than the law created for humans to use a paraphrase of Jesus's words Sabbath wasn't you know if man wasn't created for Sabbath Sabbath was created for men there's a reason that a 24-hour rest period from sunset to sunset is a really good thing and by the way if you're not practicing that as a preacher it's good news to go sunset to sunset has a lot of wisdom in it a lot more than going morning to evening especially since you sometimes pulling an all-nighter if you got a lot of things going on you've worked late into the evening the night before well I gotta have my Sabbath and you wake up that right know you've never done that it's good news but it's a broader good news then just getting saved as though just could ever be added to getting saved I was saved I am saved I'm being saved I will be saved and that salvation is touching every part of my life when I'm baptized I don't hold my wallet out of the water when I'm baptized I don't keep my mind above the water right when I'm baptized I don't keep my marriage ring outside the gospel touches every part of every person's life period there's nothing it doesn't change it changes our finances changes our friendships changes our families changes our marriages changes the way we pastor proclaim the gospel this is the aim ever-moving ripples of God's kingdom going out into the world and preaching is like a piston a spark plug that drives the Pistons of discipleship so preaching gets the whole engine of the church's discipleship going and you're preaching therefore needs to be connected to all of the ways that you are moving people forward and discipleship and intentional ways so that as the energy the power of the gospel being proclaimed hits the people there is a place into which that is channeled so the whole discipleship engine works to send that community into the world there's so much here and I don't have enough time to talk about it but it's extremely exciting this is what preaching is trying to do if you're shooting for a good sermon you're shooting way too low if you're shooting for a single convert today you're shooting way too low if you're shooting for a shaking of the hand great sermon pastor you're way below the mark what's the point of that anyway we don't need that praise it might hurt us anyway if we handle it wrongly we're not shooting for that if it comes great we're shooting for this don't set your sights too low don't measure the wrong thing because interestingly enough when I aim for this performance goes down in terms of performance anxiety when I aim for a good sermon performance anxiety goes up which brings me to the next thing what is preaching doing how does preaching accomplish those things yes would you mind erasing that for me thank you just take notes anywhere you can I want to give you these four functions of preaching the reason we often confuse what the aim of preaching is is we think the functions or the aim so how preaching does that is important thank you let me just give you the first we will write them on the board later the first function for preaching is to teach so one of the ways that preaching accomplishes this aim is by teaching and we put this first and by the way these come through all of the history of homiletics as well we'd put teaching first because it's very important that we teach not just that we say stuff inspire people that's the first one we have content we're trying to give and we're going to talk about that more as we go through the day today but preaching teaches every now not every sermon is completely a teaching sermon so these will overlap but there usually is some kind of teaching component so in many ways this one is the most common but that's not the only thing we do with preaching so some people who are strong components of expository preaching think that the only way to preach is to be exposed Tori because the purpose of preaching is to teach no that's not the purpose that this is the purpose this is a function and sometimes teaching isn't the most important thing the second is to save the second function of preaching is to save now teaching would include equipping for ministry it would include clarity on doctrine it would include statements about Christ the Trinitarian believes etcetera there's all kinds of things that we teach including equipping people from industry how tell me how Pastor tell me how saving includes all of the what we call Ordo salutis so the Ordo salutis is Latin for way of salvation or the order of salvation that so it includes the Praveena grace of God or the sovereign predestiny election of God all those things way back before the creation of the world it includes convicting grace where people before they come to Christ feel a deep disturbance it includes justifying grace where they're forgiven it includes the filling of the Spirit initially it includes repentance the grace to help us repent it includes growth and grace as they grow in Christ it includes the moment where the spirit fills us yes it includes the the missional movement the spirit then and how we move into the world it includes the growth in grace while we're filled with the spirit it includes glorification we were finally saved all of that is included right here so it's not just getting their little tails into heaven if you'll forgive me for being crass we want to get you there hope you don't smell too much like smoke once in a fire you know we're trying to get them all the way saved fully saved gloriously slave complete completely saved and in a way I suppose it is slaved slave to Jesus Christ third so teach save heal and there's several components of this one is the literal and there is physical healing that comes through the proclamation of the gospel remember praying for a young man who is a world-class athlete but broke his leg on him on a semi-professional soccer team and wasn't going to be able to go to the London Olympics pray for him because the brace was on completely broken to multiple places supposedly they're never going to be able to walk again he takes off the brace in the moment stands up never puts the brace back on and then God told him you're still not going to the Olympics your life's mine preach the gospel I don't know why God doesn't always heal but I knew I do know he does he'll still I have a dear friend of mine who was completely paralyzed completely paralyzed from the neck down so I'm going to prayed over her and within 15 minutes she was doing jumping jacks and we know the people who knew her when she was paralyzed we know the specialists who said there's no way she'll ever be able to walk again she'll never be able to have children she has beautiful wonderful glorious children now praise God right and it comes to the proclamation of the good news that God has supernatural power and he can use it when he will he doesn't always don't act like he does preach carefully he's sovereign and he chooses sometimes we suffer that's the normal thing right in this life you will suffer but he does bring physical healing as a sign as a as a gift he bring also brings spiritual healing this is more metaphorical but there are forces of evil in this world that are oppressing people and I know that this discussion right now that is hitting in waves in my culture hitting in waves as we're located at least currently in the Philippines and I know not everyone watching this is going to be in the Philippines but it's going to keep hitting in waves all around the world the the arguments and the debates about same-sex attraction and gender confusion and my experience even in this last week two individuals with a sense of demonic oppression in their lives directly connected to that my experience has been there is a spiritual healing that needs to occur not just some sort of mental conviction and convincing I can't just teach my way there there is some level of spiritual healing that needs to occur there's also psychological and those overlap by the way sometimes our psychological effects are physical and it's psychosomatic sometimes our spiritual effects are psychological etc but there's psychological healing in many ways I felt like my most important goal on a recent sermon that I just did you might have heard on the Fatherhood of God was a healing sermon I wanted to start the healing process for men who had deep wounds from other men so it does heal it also frees it liberates preaching stands up to the injustice 'iz of the world names the injustice of the world and says that's not the way God made it to be that's not the way God means for it to be take care of the orphan take care of the widow that is important don't encroach on the fields of the fatherless don't move the boundary stones and if you aren't familiar with those images of Scripture I encourage you to study them read the minor prophets preach the minor prophets and you will be preaching about justice racial discrimination prejudice sexism chauvinism nativism all of those prejudices and in justices that keep hitting the world it is our job as preachers from time to time to preach them but we have to prepare people for it and we need to remember that we are a part of a Ministry of reconciliation and we have to remember that if we're going to send a doxological community into the world that is united we can't preach about injustice is saying we want to free the captives in such a way that divides people because we also need to free the captors their injustice they're forcing on others is enslaving themselves in ways they don't know and we have to do it through the proclamation of the gospel it has to become good news for them you see we can't judge condemned her rang and drive people into the ground as though we don't have any participation in it we should ask even when we're preaching about justice how does this change my life this week what part do I play teaching saving healing and freeing sometimes the servant is primarily this or primarily that and secondarily another one sometimes its primary secondary tertiary sometimes it's only one or the other but we need to ask over the course of a year have I ever preached one that does this a freeing sermon have I ever preached one that heals how often have I given people a chance to move forward in their salvation in Jesus Christ what do I need to teach that I haven't taught we'll talk about that more as we move through the day but those are the functions of preaching that's how it accomplishes its aim to send a doxological community a community that glorifies God that the world looks at and says who are these people through the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ you see okay what is transformational preaching we talked about the power of preaching we asked what is the power of preaching it's God's power to change lives transform lives let's talk about some of those things from the sense of a gospel focused preaching a it connects the message of the text with the person and work of Jesus Christ transformational preaching somehow connects us to the work of I would adjust this a little bit and say the triune God through Jesus Christ right we serve a Father Son and Holy Spirit but our only way through the only way to the work of God in the triune as' of God Father Son and Holy Spirit is through Jesus Christ so we have to find how Christ is the doorway to whatever this the person of God is doing so in some texts it emphasizes the father of God some text it emphasizes the Spirit of Christ some texts it would definitely point to Christ we have to discern what those is and try to see how they connect next it's gospel centered so yes we're connecting it to the work and person of Jesus Christ but through that gospel centered lens the gospel is not just a way to enter the kingdom it's fundamental dynamic for all of how we live we don't want to say now that you're saved follow these 17,000 rules now that you're saved here that here are the works that you have to do remember Galatians oh you foolish Galatians who bewitched you are you so easily deceived have you so soon turned away from the gospel deep was it by works that you were saved but now they're turning to works now they're turning to external signs so our preaching has stay gospel-centered even when we talk about good works people are to do next preaching leads to worship that causes internal transformation so the gospel is giving us a solution to a problem in the human condition but it leads won't understand what the gospel is - an attitude of worship of praising God of thank goodness if in your preaching it feels like the load is getting heavier for them you're not to the gospel yet if what you're telling them is a lot of do upon do rule upon rule these are just rules made up by men this is from the Bible I'm quoting the Bible Jesus says you'll go all the way across the ocean to make a single convert and make them twice the son of hell you are because you tie up heavy loads on bin shoulders and don't lift a finger to help do you recognize all of these words so we have to make sure that our preaching is lifting the load opening up possibilities gives them a sense of worship because they feel like the load is lightened how do we help them be what Christ wants them to be how does the goodness of the character of God show them a new way of being and that takes work and discernment it takes discernment that's part of our job so how do we do that it's the question let's go to some strategies for creating transformational sermons how do we get there first of all locate the place of the text within the central storyline of the Bible that's important you need to know where in the storyline of salvation that's happened this is happening because that might qualify how you read the text what is God doing to save God's people where is this in the Ark of salvation history what's God trying to accomplish sometimes he's using a means then he wouldn't use now because that's in a different time a different place in the Ark of salvation history arc meaning Direction movement and shape of where history is going so for example Tamar in Genesis 38 right in the middle of the Joseph story many preachers use this text to talk about prostitution the sexual misconduct but if you think about Christ if you think about the gospel how it functions in redemptive history Tamar later becomes one of the interesting grandmothers of Jesus in other words she is being used to actually redeem all of those things many preachers are condemning and angrily preaching against I don't know if you've ever worked with prostitutes but I've never met a redeemed person who once was a prostitute that's no longer her identity or his identity who moved into that because they just wanted to something happened that was broken some situation pressed them in a way they didn't know how to get out and to preach against those things condemning Lea is to miss the whole point of salvation history and why Tamar's included she's actually allowed to be a grandmother of Jesus Christ you see that no matter how fallen you are God can redeem there is no stain of sin God cannot cleanse there is no place of brokenness to which you descend that God can't bring healing that's the point of Tamar okay discerned the fallen conditioned focus of the text number two what is the fallen condition of humanity so the first thing you're asking is what is God really doing in the big picture the second thing you're asking is how does this diagnose the human condition how does this show us how we are not necessarily how we should be so for example David's fight against Goliath many preachers in their sermons with the challenge do you dare to be like David face your Giants but in many ways David wasn't a very good example right rape in a way because power is there and authority is there how could she say no murder so if you read the text in context you realize the fallen condition is humanity's need for a champion to fight his battles David only fulfills that in one moment fails it in many others David stayed home at the time when Kings went to war that's the opening of the Bathsheba narrative he was no longer the champion that was needed so a sermon could they have 20 elements of a confrontation by Christ content about Christ talking about how Christ is the lens through which we read this that Christ is the champion that fights for us when others fail Christ is the one who sacrifices himself for us when others only serve themselves etc that's one way of dealing with it what we could deal with it in other ways three state your practical applications in light of what Christ has done so the New Testament writers consistently go back and read the Old Testament with the cross with Christ right here as if they're always thinking now how do I reread this now that I know what Christ has done maybe better yet right here as a lens through which they look like a secret decoder ring sorts it makes some things just jump off the page when you look through the lens of Christ and our application has to come that way too so when you write the application make sure it's not just a bunch of moralistic advice could Oprah say it could Tony Robbins say it great motivational speaker if you don't know who that is he's sort of a big self-help guru could self-help people say it if so we're not really preaching the gospel there needs to be good news that's driving the whole thing there needs to be a way let me this is the way I often say it where God's character and activity Gospels the human condition I'll say that again I think you'd want to write this down where God's character and activity Gospels the human condition so I've seen the fallen condition I've seen what God's trying to do I've seen how that is opening up a way forward for people they might not have seen otherwise and because I can summarize my sermon in a sentence or two with how God's character and activity Gospels that particular human condition I now know I'm not telling people dudududu I'm giving them ways forward for example let's go back to Tamar I might say to them as an application trust that God can cleanse any stain of sin that's an application because I want her to know whoever Tamar is in this moment that the key for her is not just repent it's believe and repent because repentance comes from belief and belief in what good news you haven't done anything so wrong Christ can't forgive it and that opens up a new possibility right so trust that there is no stain of sin God can't redeem believe God's promise that he can use even you see those kind of applications coming out and there might be others that would come out of the Tamar story I'm just beginning at the front end of it but you get the idea so state your practical applications in the light of the cross of Christ now you hear that I'm not necessarily naming the cross right then I'm not saying Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus all the time I might point to the Fatherhood of God I might point to the cleansing work of the Spirit I might point to forgiveness through the blood of Christ all of those are the character and activities of God we have access to them because what Christ has done does that make sense all right for point your listeners to the finished work of Jesus Christ so for example when God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac on Mount Moriah Genesis chapter 22 that story teaches us at least for two things first Abraham's faith was being tested right in an extremely perhaps the most possible most difficult way possible it was being tested second that God was actually pointing to the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ right yes Abraham's faith was being tested but we don't turn that into a moralistic statement you see we point to Christ and that Christ's work finishes that I've heard some very troubling sermons on that by the way that came very close to something like child abuse because of a sacrifice of a child that's not the point if we don't see it in the Ark of salvation if we don't see what God is trying to do in the big picture we might make an application that's very strange that sounds gruesome to the world right okay so not all passages of Scripture are easy to connect to Christ so here's some thoughts about that to point to Jesus here are some ways to think about it highlight the ethical demand of the text what is it commanding us to do what is it seeming to demand that we do then explain to yourself how could we can't do that here's a phrase I often used with preachers they're doing the best they know how they're doing the best they know how unless you give them other ways forward they won't be able to move forward so explain to them why they can't move forward isn't this true aren't these the obstacles aren't these the resistances isn't this why it's so hard for you to live this way then reveal how Jesus fulfills that ethical demand or the character of God the activity of God fulfills it and then how we can participate in it so at number five exposed the functional Savior's the text reveals by using the Gospel approach to salvation functional saviors what are those the ways we try to make other Savior's Martha tries to prove she's a good woman by working in the kitchen she's trying to present herself to the Lord as acceptable and Jesus says you don't have to work to gain my approval she already knows she has my approval she's sitting at my feet you see it exposes a functional attempt at creating your own Savior show how that's revealed in the text there are other examples but for the sake of time let's move on number six show how the triune God is actively redeeming the conflict in every story this is very important to me you don't have to do a pole vault to Jesus some crazy leap where you just all of a sudden throw Jesus in there that makes no sense from the text draw out from the text what God is doing the Bible is always about God what does this teach me about the character of God what does this show me about how God acts in this kind of situation how is God acting in an unexpected way which person of the Trinity is being emphasized there for my sermon will emphasize that person of the Trinity so if it's about the Spirit by the way preach about the Spirit it is the Spirit of Christ we have access to the Spirit through Christ this is true yet don't diminish the Spirit by always preaching Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus we actually need more preaching on the Holy Spirit than we often have it's very important and it is the means through which we please God if you keep in step with the spirit you won't gratify the desires of the carnal nature right and you hear how that's not moralism if you just do what the Spirit tells you to do each and every step of the way simple step by simple step by simple step hour by hour minute by minute day by day you won't gratify those sinful desires that makes a way forward for them so make preaching an act of worship of the character and activity of God giving glory to him for what he has done to enable us to be healed and and move forward from our human condition when we do that we not only honor God we make disciples through transformational preaching that changes lives if we just push them to be better people again and again and again and again it will wear them out brief testimony that we'll move to a time of processing I rejected the Christian faith and rejected the existence of God and ran from God and rebelled and harmed many people in my life because I was given a religion that was doo-doo-doo-doo be a better person be a better person be a better person and the condemnation of that way of thinking was something I just couldn't receive perhaps for very good reason it's not the gospel it's not who God [Music] you [Music]