Proclaimer Blog
Preaching evangelistically without preaching a bolt on
At Cornhill we've just moved from preaching classes to evangelistic preaching classes necessitating a slight change in emphasis and feedback – it's not nearly as straightforward as you might think. In particular, the temptation to go all over the place rather than concentrate on the Bible passage (and not have confidence in the Bible passage) is very great. I confess to finding Ramesh Richard's approach (in Preparing Evangelistic Sermons) a little formulaic – but there is some real wisdom here:
A sacred compulsion to preach evangelistically cannot downplay the internal authenticity needed to confirm and affirm that you are faithful to the text of Scripture. Sacred compulsion may give you competence before unbelievers, but spiritual confidence in the text comes from using a text as intended. If the author could have attracted unbelievers in his audience to Jesus, you too can preach….to attract them to Jesus' salvation. However, be very careful that you are not circumventing the author with interpretive gymnastics buttressed by raised volume, ardent fervour, and entertaining delivery when the textual, theological or audience foundations are weak.
In other words, stick to the text! For example, consider Matthew 14.22-33 – Jesus walking on the water. Where does the text take us? It takes us to the identity of Jesus – IT IS I. He is truly the Son of God (v33). You can believe it or doubt it. As Peter did – and as Peter discovered the consequences when he tried to walk towards Jesus. Jesus the Saviour is the Son of God. There is your gospel message (needs some work, I admit). And the gospel call, if that is what you want to call it, is surely to see who Jesus is, what he does (less of a theme) and respond appropriately. You don't need to bolt on a tract at the end of a sermon.
Perhaps our worry is that if we haven't mentioned creation, fall, covenant, incarnation, atonement, resurrection (or something like that list), we haven't preached the gospel. But that seems a slightly naive understanding of the richness of the gospel and the power of the word. At root, we need to have a better confidence in the word of life that Christ has given us.
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