Goodbye Jesus: An Evangelical Preacher's Journey Beyond Faith by Sledge Tim

Author:Sledge, Tim [Sledge, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Insighting Growth Publications Inc.
Published: 2018-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

56 – Under Scrutiny

A s 1995 began, it was hard not to feel that my back was against a wall. I was defending the biblical foundations of my sermons, preparing a response to criticisms from the Pastor’s Support and Accountability Group, and getting ready for my annual performance review with the personnel committee. I was making a genuine effort to be accountable while not accepting criticisms I did not believe to be accurate or meaningful.

A small group of people in my church complained that my sermons were not always biblical. Since the Bible—in the theologically conservative view—is the inspired, inerrant word from God, a sermon had to be based on the Bible. Otherwise, it wouldn’t ring with the authority of God. From my perspective, in 36 years of ministry I had never preached a sermon that wasn’t biblical.

My seminary training had taught me at least four ways to preach a biblical sermon, and I always followed that training. An expository sermon is one in which the main points and the first point under each main point are sourced directly from the biblical text. A textual sermon is one in which the main points come from the biblical text, but the minor points under the main points come from the topic of the sermon or some other source. A homily is a free-form sermon presented as verse-by-verse comments on the biblical text without a structure of main points. A topical sermon addresses a specific topic without reference to a primary sermon text. The topical sermon is based on biblical truths, but the connection to the biblical sources may not be as obvious as in the other sermon types. [41]

Regardless of type, a biblical sermon always had three elements: explaining the original meaning of biblical concepts, discussing how the ancient truths applied to modern life, and illustrating with one or more stories, personal experiences, or current events in a way that would capture the listener’s attention and drive home the truth that was being shared.

Virtually none of the laypersons in my congregation knew the four types of biblical sermons nor the three elements of a biblical sermon, and there was no reason they should. But all the members of Congregation One were certain they knew a biblical sermon—or an un-biblical one—when they heard it. Unfortunately, their view of what made a sermon biblical was narrower than the guidelines I learned in seminary—my very conservative seminary at that. With the Congregation One group, a sermon had to be expository, or better still, a homily, or it wasn’t biblical.

When the biblical text was read at the beginning of the sermon and was referred to constantly throughout, this group felt reassured and more relaxed about the content they were hearing. And they enjoyed it when I encouraged listeners to keep their Bibles open throughout the sermon and were happiest when I was holding my open Bible in my hand as I spoke .

Congregation One also liked a considerable amount of explanation of the biblical text.

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