Last week I was asked to teach a preaching class for Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary's extension in Greer, SC. The instructor is a dear friend of mine, and I was honored for the opportunity to share with the students. One of the topics I was given to speak on was: "Text-Driven vs. Agenda-Driven Preaching." Doesn't that sound riveting?
Actually, I think this is a hugely important subject for pastors to consider. Whether we are aware of it or not, as preachers we are tempted to craft a sermon around our personal agenda rather than around the Scripture that we are preaching. It is possible that our sermons are shaped more by what we want to say than what the Scripture says. In other words, we often times study a passage and think, "How does this passage let me say what I've been wanting to say? How do these verses let me 'share my heart' about something going on in the church? How can this sermon really rebuke some people that need to be rebuked? How can I use this sermon to move people to do what I need them to do so that our church will change?"
Every preacher has done this. There are times that the Scripture absolutely confronts us with a particular issue or need that we are facing as a local faith community. There are times that we as pastors need to speak "prophetically" to a problem or sin or deficiency in the lives of the people that we are serving. But those moments should naturally flow out of the text we are preaching. It should be the clear application of the text or passage. So, it is not always wrong to apply the message of the text to a particular situation that is going on in the life of the church.
But, more often than not, we are tempted to start the sermon with a particular situation in mind rather than starting with a clean sheet of paper in our study. Thus, we are apt to take a passage, and instead of exposing the message of the text we use it to expose the message we wanted to talk about. Instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to help us put together a text-driven sermon, we allow our flesh to craft a personal agenda-driven sermon. We have all crossed the line between preaching the Word into preaching "my" word. Why does this happen?
There are several reasons for this:
[1] You may be frustrated with the condition of the ministry. Maybe the church isn't growing as you had hoped. Maybe it is hard to get people to step up and lead. Maybe your are discouraged by what you sense to be a lack of support. When it's time to write the sermon, your mind is burdened by what you feel is a deficiency in the ministry, and amazingly, the text you choose to preach addresses it!
[2] You may be frustrated with complainers. Every pastor has had to deal with those who express displeasure over all sorts of things--the music, the temperature, the youth group, and just about anything that happens in the church. When you sit down to think through your sermon, your mind is consumed with those who have been particularly active in the complain department.
[3] You may be frustrated with critics. There is a difference between complainers and those who openly criticize us as pastors. The conversation shifts from "I don't like this" to "I don't like you." It is really easy in the midst of feeling criticism to want to strike back, and sometimes the best way we think we can do this is with the sermon. It is crazy in those times how the verses we are studying present the perfect opportunity to blast those who have been blasting us!
[4] You may be frustrated with challenges to your vision/mission. Perhaps people have left the church. Ideas that you want to act on, that you believe will move the church forward, are still lingering in committee discussions. Maybe the deacons have too many questions about something in your vision that seems so simple. People want to "go back to Egypt," so to speak, rather than march into the Promised Land that you are trying to lead them to.
Did you notice a common word in all those reasons? Frustrated.
Whenever our preaching ministry is coming from a place of frustration, then it is likely that our sermons, our messages, are not shaped supremely by the Word, but by our desire to alleviate our frustration in some way. We start with our idea, our frustration, our desire to say something rather than starting with the text. Thus, we wind up shaping the sermon around our agenda rather than around God's agenda for His church. Sometimes in our preaching it is hard to tell the difference between the two, and that can be quite detrimental to both pastor and people.
In the next few posts I want to discuss some indicators that you might be driven by agenda fueled preaching, as well as point out some guardrails that will keep us from driving off the path of text-driven preaching. But for now, if you are a pastor, simply ask yourself this question: "What drives my preaching? What shapes my sermons? Do I start with the text, or my agenda? What captures my mind when I am studying--my dissatisfaction with my ministry, the people, etc., or my satisfaction with Him?"
