What we have to do is recognize the Bible is relevant. I get a little worn out by people saying we’ve got to make the Bible relevant and God relevant. God is relevant. The Bible is relevant in every culture. The problem is we have to help people to see that’s the case and then let the Bible set the agenda to that. So in my sermon preparation I put Scripture first—I let it shape the agenda and direction of my message. But after that and before I’m about to speak I ask, “Why should these people care about this?” So I start with Scripture but introduce the beginning with “Why should I care to listen to what the Scripture has to say?” I think that’s true in every culture, and we have to figure out how people learn and how they think to communicate to them in biblical and transformative ways.
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It’s interesting that you say that because for a long time we’ve talked about the “so what” factor. In your preaching you have to have a “so what” factor—a demonstration of why what I am saying matters. In sermons for earlier generations the “so what” factor came near the end. Perhaps now the “so what” factor needs to come at the beginning—that you have to connect with some of those listeners early on to help them understand why should they even be engaged with this topic?
Stetzer: Yeah, I think that’s just a missiological reality. We did a study recently at Lifeway Research; we looked at teenagers who had dropped out of church. We found certain factors became statistically significant to their staying. (Your readers can download it at Lifewayresearch.com. It’s all free, and they can download it.) And one of those things was that they found the sermons at their church relevant. There were a few other factors, like having parental involvement, having married parents who went to church. But there were only four or five that really rose to the level of being statistically significant, and relevant sermons was one of them.
Part of the problem is that some who have called for relevant sermons have de-emphasized the role of the biblical text. We get concerned about that. So we want to go the other way. Well, let’s not make it a pendulum. Let’s not make it an
either-or but a
both-and. We’ve got this tyranny of the “or.” Is it culturally relevant or is it biblically faithful? How about and? I think ultimately what we’ve got to ask is: if we have this message that’s relevant in every time, what’s keeping them from seeing it? The answer is probably us and our communication of it. So I think it’s really important that we take the time to learn to communicate in those ways.
Preaching: Some argue that our culture has fallen victim to the “Tyranny of the Therapeutic.” The mistake we sometimes make is to put the emphasis on the therapeutic element when, in fact, if we’re biblically focused Scripture always is healing. Scripture takes care of the therapy if we will just be faithful in expressing it.
