Contemporary Preaching

How does the ancient text influence contemporary preaching?

Maintains biblical balance. Peering into the Greek and Hebrew texts keeps the preacher focused upon a kingdom message and its Gospel orientation of good news. Conclusive study, along with spiritual insight, then allows you to preach with passion sermons which have deep roots in biblical truth-words. Inviting the ancient text to become your late-night friend balances preaching, keeping it from veering too far off the road to personal opinion or soap-boxing on your favorite topic or trying to impress the crowd with a story that serves no purpose.

Improves creativity. I discover that Hebrew and Greek words squeeze my creative juices and cause them to flow. Preaching can be like eating a boring apple or banana, a little taste with not much zip. Preaching which transfers creativity to the hearer is more like eating a lemon, an instant "zing" which increases all the senses. Preaching alerts the hearer's senses to the crux of the Gospel, the cross, and its companions of conviction, encouragement, and spiritual guidance.

Not long ago, I preached a revival. I preached the Luke 15 passage about the prodigal son. Luke 15:13 in the NKJV describes the son who left home with his inheritance as one "who wasted his possessions with prodigal living." The NIV uses the words "wild living" while the KJV uses the words "riotous living." The Greek word asotus means "one who cannot save." When I preached the passage I described the prodigal as "a rebellious spendthrift who drove to New York, rented a high-rent apartment, bought a red Corvette convertible and was driving down the streets of Manhattan listening to the Dixie Chicks sing 'Earl.'"

I got the idea from a word study which led me to think about ways we waste money: buying homes with high mortgages, purchasing cars we cannot afford, joining music clubs where we pay for CDs with pointless songs. The word asotos, in essence, painted the preaching picture I wished to portray: a rebellious child loose with no thought of responsibility wasting every penny of his inheritance.

The ancient text and its value add creative zing to preaching. What does the zing accomplish when it lands in the listener's ear?

Identifies with contemporary hearers. The practical application of the sermon proves the strongest appeal for the Erasmus-method of preaching preparation. If creativity improves description of words to the hearer, then accurate word meanings produce a plethora of applications. Any preacher who applies the scripture asks questions during the application preparation. What doe the text mean today? How does this apply to a single mother raising two children? How does the text speak to families? To bosses? To employees? To teenagers? To seniors? To your congregation?

Application means walking into the word's past and then crossing the bridge to put the word in its present situation. Good preaching always crosses over from yesterday to today with ease.