3 Parts: (1) Clarifications, (2) Foundations, (3) Exhortations.

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Stewart Banks
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1 PREACHING AND CONTEXTUALIZATION A BETTER TITLE WOULD BE: PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL FAITHFULLY AND EFFECTIVELY TO EVERYONE IN THE ROOM, AS WELL AS THOSE WHO AREN'T IN THE ROOM YET... Learning to communicate faithfully and effectively is a journey of a lifetime. 3 Parts: (1) Clarifications, (2) Foundations, (3) Exhortations. I want to talk a lot about Jesus, and give some considerations about audience sensitivity. You may leave wishing there was more of the latter, sort of like the story Driscoll tells about speaking on "how to reach Gen X.... The fact is many church planters know how to connect well with their audience. I want to encourage you to make the main thing every week as you reach out to those far from God. At the same time, I don't want to pretend that contextualization isn't important. Everyone contextualizes: suits aren t in the Bible, neither are microphones, media, lights, etc. The question is are we doing it in a way that is faithful and effective. I. CLARIFICATIONS WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? Contextualization is a buzzword. Let s start with a little 101. A. What I m not Talking About Being Hip. Contextualization isn t about being a hipster pastor. The goal isn t to be cool, but to see people saved. Effective contextualization is less about style, and more about situational application in the sermon. Wearing Skinny Jeans. That s not contextualization; that s just uncomfortable. Using Foul Language. That s just sin. Using a stool instead of a pulpit. That's an open handed issue. I don't care. I care about having a Bible. Lots of guys have a pulpit but no Bible. Compromising the message. Some here contextualization as just tell them what they want to hear. No. We must contextualize without compromise.

2 Fitting in with the patterns of the world evolution, gender, marriage, etc. How can you be faithful to the gospel, and effective in communication? That's the burden of a gospel herald with a heart for people? B. What Others Talk About i. Missiologists often use the term contextualization to talk about the challenge of communicating the gospel across cultures. Some cultures have seven primary colors, others recognize only four, and some only have the ideas of shiny and dull (Sills). So how would you translate verses that speak of different colors (cf., Isaiah 1:18)? How would you translate snow when people have never seen it? Zulu people have 120 words for "walking" so which is best for describing how Jesus walks to Emmaus or on the water? (Sills) The danger in two fold: syncretism (adapting too much) and irrelevance (not saying anything that makes sense). I think an example of hyper-contextualization is changing Son of God in some Bible translations in Moslem cultures replacing it with Prophet.... It s a challenge to communicate to the various tribes and people without changing the content. ii. Pragmatists often use it to talk about what types of ministries should a church do in order to reach people. Will a rap concert work in your area? In some it will. In some it won t. Sometimes churches in areas of prostitution try to develop ministries to those in this world; obviously, not every place has exotic dance clubs. Our typical Sunday/Wednesday services were built around contextual principles, particularly farming responsibilities. High Culture, Pop Culture, Urban Culture, Folk Culture C. What I m Talking About While the missiological principles and pragmatic questions are related in some ways to what I m talking about, I want to talk

3 about it as a homiletician. I use it at times to refer to audiencesensitivity. The question is: How can you preach to various groups of people in a way that is faithful and effective, in a way that addresses the heart and mind with the life-changing gospel? The preacher has a great challenge. He is to preach the gospel faithfully, and that takes hard work and intentionality (as I will mention in a moment). He also has to try to actually communicate to people. Contextualization is about communication. He is to communicate without compromising the message. Further, the best pastors who engage outsiders speak to them without diluting the content. Tim Keller says that if you preach to the unbeliever, then they will show up for one of two reasons. Either, one, they hear that someone will speak to their questions and concerns, or two, because their friends will bring them because they know you will speak to them. Now, full disclosure, I m an expository preacher. I move through books of the Bible. I m also long-winded. I go about 50 minutes. But what I also work hard at doing, in addition to exegetical work, is what this talk is about preaching the gospel to various people in the room, without watering down the content. I want to be what Zack Eswine calls an Expository Evangelists. II. FOUNDATIONS WHAT ARE SOME BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF FAITHFULNESS AND EFFECTIVENESS? Turn to 1 Cor. 9:16-27 First, notice the emphasis on preaching and gospel. This is primary to Paul. You also notice the word steward. He isn t making up the message; he is simply delivering it. Many want to do away with proclamation in an effort to contextualize. In this passage, proclamation precedes his comments on contextualization. Proclamation is primary. There is no substitute for proclamation.

4 This emphasis has been stated earlier in the letter (cf., 1 Cor. 2:1-5), and later (1 Cor. 15:1-58) serving as bookends to the letter. Paul is passionate about proclaiming gospel! I will say more about this in a minute. There are some today that want to just give up preaching (saying we just need dialogue or to meet at the pub), or they want to give up the gospel. While dialogue is needed in some contexts (like small groups), (1) It fails to be true preaching (2). It invites misguided people into the discussion. (3) Practically, this method cannot accommodate for large growth either. How do you have a dialogue with two thousand people in attendance? (4) Theologically, there also seems to be a failure to understand how the body of Christ works. The ones who have the gift of teaching and preaching should be doing it. The dialogue idea seems to suggest that church is exclusively for Sundays. People with some spiritual gifts find their context of service elsewhere like in orphanages, the mission field, and administration. (5) Much of it has less do about theology, and now about a rejection of authority. Paul doesn t minimize proclamation. He does both faithfully and effectively. Maybe you're considering throwing out proclamation. Don't! God speaks. The OT and NT are full of preachers. Jesus came preaching. He has appointed pastors-teachers to equip the saints. There is a place for dialogue: Small Groups. Jude says that we must contend for the gospel. Athletic term. Sometimes the people arguing for the dialogue meetings in coffee shops, are just angry church kids. 2 Tim. 4:3 Paul says preach it because they don t want it! There is no sense that he is to capitulate to the culture. He does the opposite of what many do, oh, this is what they want. No. Paul says there s even more reason for you to teach sound doctrine people don t want it. Example: Our Recent Trip to Boston reading Unitarian beliefs... I wouldn t say in light of all these statements, now don t preach. I

5 would say that s why we must preach. This is the very reason we must preach it. Second, notice audience sensitivity. Paul is aware (again without getting into a detailed exposition) that he will minister to different groups of people and he should remain sensitive to them. He was not unaware of culture, theology and customs. Craig Blomberg, in his excellent commentary on this book applies this text saying: "In light of verses 19-23, it is hard to justify the prevailing patterns of evangelism by formula: using identical tracts, sets of questions, or prepackaged approaches on everyone with whom we want to share Christ. Paul's model far more closely approximates "friendship evangelism" - coming along side and getting to know unbelievers, valuing them as God's creation in his image in and of themselves, and not just as potential objects of conversions. Then as we become familiar with each person's unique hopes and fears, we may contextualize the gospel in such a way as to speak most directly to those concerns (188). 6 biblical Examples: 1. Paul mentions this idea again in 10:31-11:1. 2. Athens vs. Synagogues. Acts 17:16-ff., speaking at Mars Hill, as he was in speaking to the Synagogues. Steve Timmis, Paul never treated one group of people the same way as another; he always preached the Gospel, but he knew his context. In every situation, there needs to be a point of contact with the people (understand their values, history, communication style) and a point of conflict that reveals how their own narrative conflicts with that of the Gospel. It is impossible to be contextneutral so we need to be context savvy. While we can t be indifferent to culture, we also can t be enslaved by it because that will cause us to be blind to the point of conflict." 3. The Epistles are examples of this! The Spirit inspired his word with a contextualization idea. Some have said that all theology is contextualized. 4. Corporate worship in 1 Cor. 14: Intelligibility. 5. More examples of contextualization include the Four Gospels.

6 6. Another example is the ministry of Jesus. In the incarnation, Jesus took on customs, language, and communicated the message. Let me mention a few general statements about this An Extreme to Avoid We must avoid sinning in order to contextualize. Notice Paul mentions one of the most intense passages on selfcontrol in the whole NT immediately after this. SO, it s not a it doesn t really matter what you do so long as you make the gospel known. Speak effectively? Yes. Change the message? No. Sin in the name of contextualizing? No. Contextualization as Love In a sense, every pastor will contextualize if they love their people. Being sensitive to people is just about being a good shepherd. o Parents - you handle each child differently with same values; every good coach does this. o Good parents know the condition of the kids, and tries to feed them and nurture them. o Paul says, I became a servant to them all. Who does that sound like? Jesus (Phil. 2:5-11). III. EXHORTATIONS WHAT SHOULD I DO? I want to press these things because I run into two groups. One group thinks there preaching the gospel every week, when there not. They think I m talking about someone else. They aren t going far enough in gospel clarity. The other group isn t going far enough in audience sensitivity. That s where Keller has pressed me. That s my default mode. Just exegete and deliver. But I think if we will just go down a little deeper preparation we can be more effective. 1. Preach the Gospel Faithfully Every Week 2. Preach the Gospel Effectively Every Week

7 EXHORTATION #1: PREACH THE GOSPEL FAITHFULLY EVERY WEEK Go to 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. Because the tomb is empty, there are innumerable blessings for believers. Because the tomb is empty, we have something to proclaim. But it seems that many preachers and teachers have missed the big E on the eye chart. Instead of making the good news explicit each week, Christ s death and resurrection is often overlooked, assumed, minimized, and/or replaced.. we haven t only missed the point, we ve also started down a path that will eventually lead to the loss of the gospel altogether; for what is assumed or ignored will eventually be abandoned. What s the solution? It s this: saturate every message you prepare with the gospel. Paul highlights several awesome truths 1 Corinthians 15. Take note of how he says the gospel is of first importance (3).... What s the most important thing you know? I think he would say, It s the gospel. Notice also how Paul says that he received the message. He didn t make it up. The goal is not innovation with the gospel. He also says that he wanted to remind the Corinthians of the message (15:1). (cf., Rom. 15:15; 2 Pet. 1:12-13). relentlessly. The Nature of the Gospel-Centered Preaching First, the gospel is Christological. It s about Jesus. Paul says, Christ died for our sins he was buried he was raised (3-4). John Stott says, The gospel is not preached, if Christ is not preached Calvin says that the whole gospel is included in Christ if any removes one step from Christ, he withdraws himself from the gospel (Calvin, Romans, 43). Luther says, The gospel centers in the Son of God (Luther, Romans, 35). Is Christ exalted in your messages? Colossians 1:28; 2 Cor. 4:5; Phil. 1:18

8 Today we hear some popular evangelicals calling for the need to preach and teach for life-change. I m all for life change. We must understand that in order to preach life-changing sermons, we must keep the Life-Changer at the heart of the sermon. Second, the gospel is biblical. Twice Paul says this message of Christ is in accordance with the Scriptures (3-4). In this context, Scriptures refer to the Old Testament. Paul s pattern was to preach the gospel from the Old Testament. Make the hero of the Bible the hero of every sermon. The Bible isn t an inspired book of virtues. It s a Him Book. It s possible to know Bible stories but miss the story of the Bible. Let your motive match your message! The goal is to have them say what a great sermon, but what a great Savior Will this get redundant? 1. If you are boring. 2. Hearing my wife say she loves me doesn t get old. 3. Not if you consider the riches of his glory. unsearchable. 4. Not if you consider the fact that everyone is longing for glory. 5. Not when you do the math! 50 weeks! 6. Not if you remember that this is the way you are to grow! 7. Not if you consider everyone needs it! (Nigeria) 8. Root imperatives in gospel. Third, the gospel is historical. There was a real cross, real blood, and a real tomb that is empty in the Middle East. Fourth, the gospel is doctrinal. The gospel contains certain foundational truths that must be explained: substitution. Many want to ignore this central doctrine. Seeker sensitive was about believing it but not saying it. Fill your messages with gospel doctrine, explaining concepts like sin and grace, repentance, propitiation, justification by faith alone, redemption, and reconciliation. If people don t understand these truths, then the gospel won t be good news. We have to explain gospel doctrines.

9 Fifth, the gospel is personal... The gospel demands that individuals personally respond in genuine, persevering faith. This is why we must think through contextualization because we want people to understand it and be saved. Sixth, the gospel is practical. The gospel isn t the A, B, C s of Christianity. It s the A-Z of Christianity: humility, passion (Hard work) and unity. Finally, Paul shows us that the gospel is doxological. An understanding of the gospel leads to praise. Paul gets to the end of this chapter and he erupts into worship (1 Cor. 15:55). The goal of preaching is adoration not just application. Make the Main Thing the Plain Thing Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel (2 Tim. 2:8). EXHORTATION #2: DELIVER THE GOSPEL EFFECTIVELY EVERY WEEK (PREPARE MORE CAREFULLY EVERY WEEK - WITH DIFFERENT AUDIENCES IN VIEW) Five Steps Rethink a Few Aspects in order to have better audience sensitivity and effectiveness. 5 Different Parts of Preparation Overall Preparation, Explanation, Illustration, Application, and Leadership Part #1: In Overall Preparation 1. Expect Different World-views Origin Different Beliefs on where we came from Meaning Different beliefs on purpose (Live it up, Make money, "good for you" etc) Morality Different beliefs on morality (It saves, or it is all relative)

10 Destiny Different beliefs on where we are going (Pluralism, Naturalism) Enter the worldview of the skeptic, sympathize with their worldview, and then show them how it falls flat, and how Christ is their only hope. Contextualization ins t about making the gospel relevant, it s about showing the relevance of the gospel. It s about showing a point of contact, and a point of conflict. 2. Remember Aristotle s Philosophy of Persuasion (Ethos, Logos Pathos) a. Paul 1 Thess. 4:5 b. Jesus As one with authority, friend of Sinners c. John 13 Final Apologetic d. Orphan Care/Justice e. Titus 2:5 "a model of good works" 3 Keep Your Language Understandable We should try to be seeker sensible, not seeker sensitive if by that we mean not mentioning central truths. Preach to your old Self! Don t preach to your peers. Define your terms. It s going to take a while. Luther 1. Be able to teach so that people can follow you; 2. Have a good sense of humor; 3. Be able to speak well; 4. Have a good voice; 5. Have a good memory; 6. Know when to stop; 7. Be sure of one's doctrine; 8. Be ready to venture body and blood, wealth and honor, for the word of God; 9. Suffer oneself to be mocked and jeered at by all; 10. Be ready to accept patiently the fact that nothing is seen more quickly in preachers than their faults.

11 At the heart of the reformation was good contextualization: putting the gospel in the language of the people. Part #2: In Explanation 1. Expect Biblical Cluelessness Being in my first Bible Study (Are you Amos?) Some feel like oh, this is for insiders Union University George Guthrie story. Give the Grand Narrative Often. They don t know it. Terms that we assume Born Again? Part #3: In Illustrations 1. Avoid Canned Illustrations 2. Consider different types for different crowds. 3. Utilize testimonies. They are great for people new to the church. 4. Use humor appropriately. John Stott said, It seems to be generally agreed that humor was one of the weapons in the armory of the Master Teacher. Part #4: In Application 1. First, remember to go deeper than just behavioral steps when talking about how people change. Consider the idols of the heart that are below one s behavior. Try to get at the heart issues of people and call them to repentance. I highly recommend Keller s Counterfeit Gods as a helpful study on understanding the nature of idolatry. 2. Engage the prodigal, the older brother, and the genuine Christian. That means learn to apply the message to the believer, the (lost) religious person, and the irreligious (lost) person. Show each of them how the text relates to all three groups. Remember to diversify your context. Read widely. Spend time with unbelievers. Do some counseling. Think about the different groups as you prepare.

12 The tendency for preachers is to preach to other preachers or just believers. 3. You should also think about how to address the church as a whole as you apply the text. Let the vision of the church drip in your sermons so that they hear it regularly. This is how you lead from the pulpit. You don t lead from the pulpit by having a once a year vision sermon. You should practice the drip method of application, constantly inserting comments about the vision and mission of the church. Not a pour method but a drip method. 4. Use running and collected application. As you are explaining the text, make application along the way, and when you arrive at the end of your text make strong Christ-centered application as well. 5. Aim for adoration, not just application. The goal of explaining and applying the text is for people to behold Christ and change. Pray and work toward this end. Part #5: In Leadership 1. Consider Sermon Based Small Groups 2. Offer an Ask Anything time for the congregation.

A. The Principle 2 Corinthians 4:15; cf. Ephesians 3:21; Romans 11:36; 1 Cor 10:31

A. The Principle 2 Corinthians 4:15; cf. Ephesians 3:21; Romans 11:36; 1 Cor 10:31 Proclaim: The Pure Gospel Pastors' Track 29 30 th May 2015 Dr. David M. Doran The Church exists to honor God by making and maturing disciples who together are becoming like the Lord Jesus Christ. Introduction: