I don't know that I've ever processed this in words, but that is why I love blogging. Blogging helps me think through how I do what I do and why I do what I do.
Here's a preaching principal.
When I talk on a tough topic that I know might send people on a guilt trip I try to focus on the future. I don't want to bury people with guilt. Our messages can actually cause unintended consequences like defeatism if we aren't careful. That's what happens if we focus on the past. People just wallow in their past. So when I preach on a tough topic I try to remind our congregation that what you did yesterday isn't nearly as important as what you do tomorrow!
For example, if you're talking about sexual purity there is a danger of sending people on a long guilt trip. But that isn't the goal. The goal is to help people reestablish godly sexual boundaries.
I've found that when I say I'm not as concerned about yesterday as I am about tomorrow, it's like our congregation breathes as sigh of relief.
Keep it future-tense!
Isn't that what Jesus did when he said: "Go and sin no more."
Here's a preaching principal.
When I talk on a tough topic that I know might send people on a guilt trip I try to focus on the future. I don't want to bury people with guilt. Our messages can actually cause unintended consequences like defeatism if we aren't careful. That's what happens if we focus on the past. People just wallow in their past. So when I preach on a tough topic I try to remind our congregation that what you did yesterday isn't nearly as important as what you do tomorrow!
For example, if you're talking about sexual purity there is a danger of sending people on a long guilt trip. But that isn't the goal. The goal is to help people reestablish godly sexual boundaries.
I've found that when I say I'm not as concerned about yesterday as I am about tomorrow, it's like our congregation breathes as sigh of relief.
Keep it future-tense!
Isn't that what Jesus did when he said: "Go and sin no more."
6 Comments:
Mark,
Long time reader, first time commenter. So appreciate your thoughts (not just this particular blog). I loved some of your phrasing in this blog. This is a principle I try to live with as I communicate each Sunday. We often say, "your legacy might not be what you wished it was, but your heritage can be more than you ever dreamed." Keep on leading, keep on blogging. Thanks for keeping me learning and growing from a distance.
Mark,
you hit on one of the foundational aspects of homiletics. Every sermon must be a bridge to future behavior. Proper exegesis will bidge the then to the now with a jump to the not yet. As Calvin said any sermon without application is nothing but a running commentary. However, ever sermon we preach should include the HOW so people do not walk out and say "So what"
Henry Judy
"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
--Jesus
PREACH RIGHT THERE FOR A WHILE!!!
People want hope! They want to live right and be right! It's in us all, and we need to be challenged and encouraged to live it out!
Great nugget... thanks
Great idea! That is what we do in Neuro Linguistic Program. Instead of focusing on what went wrong and putting people on guilt trips, its far more effective to highlight the benefits of doing things right and this gets hammered in their conscious and subconscious minds which will produce a change in people's behaviour for good.
Good work! Keep going.
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