Five Reasons We Avoid Application
The following is a guest post by Adam S. Tisdale, Pastor of North Hills Church in Meridianville, AL. Adam blogs at helpmyunbelief.wordpress.com about the intersection of his faith and cancer.
Let’s admit it, applying our sermons are one of the hardest parts of sermon preparation and delivery. Why is that? What are we afraid of and what do we lack?
If we read and listen to Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, we don’t see any lack in application. Peter clearly believes in the power of the Word of God to transform hardened hearts. And he clearly does not lack courage. He was in dangerous territory, but the Word did do it’s work. He certainly applies his sermon at the end when the Jews ask what they are to do. “Repent and be baptized!” There is no clearer application than that. So why do we avoid sermon application?
1. Lack of Experience
I can’t use this excuse after 300 some sermons, but it does take time to learn the Word of God and the people whom you serve. We do not become experts in the Word overnight. And we need to spend ample time with the hearts of our people. I think that application is the hardest part of sermon preparation.
2. Fear
Fear of man is common in the pulpit. After all, our bosses sit in the pews and hold our jobs in their hands (or so we fear). Sometime we are fearful that the the man struggling we talking right to him or the woman who has lost his job, or the student who just cheated on an exam. And so we avoid speaking directly to them. A fearful preacher leads to a powerless pulpit.
3. Power Outage
A third reason is due to our own lack of trust in the Word of God. We think we have to do the work of ministry alone and so we enter the pulpit in the power of man. Instead of the power of the Spirit. But God’s Word is powerful and we need to trust and believe that he will work through us. It may not come in waves, but small ripples can have a tremendous effect on the congregation.
4. Lack of Authority
Sometimes this is tied to our inexperience, but if we are called by God to preach then we must believe that He will grant us the authority to preach. Even if we are younger than half the congregation. No our authority is not in ourselves and pulpit authority can be abused, but if we are ambassadors, then we have the authority to represent Christ.
5. Moralism
I think moralism should be avoided at all costs, except the cost of application. Moralism makes the Scriptures about us and not about God. How many sermons have been preached where the hero of David and Goliath is David, rather than the Lord who conquers? This makes the Bible a self-help manual. Too many “be-like” sermons are preached week after week. But the Bible does speak to the hearts of men and does so to transform them into the likeness of Christ. We should not avoid that!
Can you think of other reasons we avoid not listed above?
Further Reading:
Putting the Truth to Work: The Theory and Practice of Biblical Application by Daniel M. Doriani
Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell
