Christmas Preaching Needs Resurrecting!

A REPRINT FROM AN ARTICLE BY Chris Surber

Scripture: Luke 11:24-12:23

Matthew 1:21

Mark 11:1-11:10

If we want Christmas preaching to matter, we've got to preach like Christmas matters.

I am tired of preaching about the birth of Jesus. I’m tired of little silly manger statues.  Most of all, I’m sick of blessing trees and cleaning candle wax off the carpet after the Christmas Eve candlelight service. In fact, this year I’d rather skip Advent, forego Christmas altogether, forget about the ascension, and head right for Easter. How many times can one man really breathe life into sermons whose titles are based on the themes from leftover bulletin covers from the back of the church secretary's office?

Why bother? Aren’t those in the pews numb to the birth story anyway? Even most unbelievers know the basics of the story. Year in and year out we sing the same songs and spend countless hours preparing children’s plays and practicing cantatas. Preaching the birth of Jesus can easily become just another part of the routine of doing church. Preachers and church members alike become so familiar with the birth narrative of Jesus that we fail to recall its importance in the life of Christ and the life that Christ gives. We abdicate Advent because we are too familiar with the terms. We muddle the message with a halfhearted attitude.

We’ve got to resurrect Christmas. If we want Christmas preaching to matter, we’ve got to preach like Christmas matters. We’ve got to move beyond sentimentalism, holiday tradition and stockings into proclaiming the glory of God in Christ. Before we can do that, we’ve got to recognize the core of the problem. Preaching at Christmas becomes dull and lifeless because:

1. We are too familiar with the terms.

 2. We are too familiar with the story.

 3. We have forgotten the importance of the incarnation.

 4. We have forgotten the importance of His coming.

It has, of course, been said that familiarity breeds contempt. In this case, it breeds callousness to the message. We must preach the birth of Jesus with insight, passion and vigor, because the very opposite of our calloused assumptions about Christmas is true. We need to preach the Christmas message with passion and vigor because:

1. The terms are preposterous!

We are so familiar with the terms that we forget the claims of the incarnation are outrageous. At Christmas we use terms like "incarnation" and "virgin birth." God becoming man is a ridiculous notion. It can only be understood by the spiritual mind. As such, we have an obligation—no, we are privileged—to stand in front of our people, visitors, friends, family and infrequent attenders and proclaim the biblical truth that God has walked among men ... and His salvation presently beckons them to come.

If a young woman from the Galilee region of northern Israel was found to be pregnant as a virgin, the news media and modern science would explode with interest. Yet we stand in front of people every Christmas season and speak of Mary as though her pregnancy with Jesus is just an appendage to the story, like some kind of footnote to the real story of twelve tiny reindeer. God dwelt in Mary’s womb. How can the ludicrousness of that statement—coupled with the fact that it is true—not rouse passion for preaching Christmas? God, as though He were the ocean, poured Himself into the thimble of a young virgin’s womb.

2. The story is astonishing!

There is really nothing mundane about the biblical account of the incarnation, the virgin birth or the Christ child. Even on a literary level, this is just plain good stuff. From the claim of pregnancy with no father on the part of a betrothed girl, to an angel visiting the skeptical hurting betrothed husband to assure him, to the wise men following the signaling of an astrological phenomenon to come worship the baby, the story is filled with emotion, intrigue, plotting and scandal. Let’s not forget that Herod lied to the wise men and wanted the baby killed. The story has all of the makings for the next great television mini-series drama. If presented on its own terms, there’s nothing here to put people to sleep. 

3. The incarnation is the basis for our entire faith!

We have the audacity to preach the quiet crashing of God into human flesh as though we were talking about a man putting his hand into a glove. Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote, “Filling the world he lies in a manger.” To say that God became Jesus of Nazareth is a bit like saying that Genghis Khan was a fairly influential politician. God crashed into human history through the birth pains of a virgin girl in an obscure village near the Sea of Galilee. But, don’t be mistaken, in that manger the glory of the Creator of the very universe upon which the Sea of Galilee sits like an infinitesimal speck of dust on a space ship was wrapped up in a baby boy.

4. The importance of Christ coming cannot possibly be overstated!

The story of the incarnation isn’t a story. It is the central theme of God’s salvation to humanity and His outworking of making Himself known to His creation. We need Christmas the way flood victims need rescue workers. Christmas is a time for celebration in an infinitely greater manner than the celebration of a dozen trapped mine workers upon being rescued after ten days in the dark.

The coming of Christ is chief among all doctrines of the Church because it is the foundation of the Church. Speaking to the disciples, Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”(Matthew 16:18b ESV). The incarnation of God the Son means everything to the church. Christ’s coming means that we who are called according to His purpose through faith in the Song of God have a means of present grace, a worthwhile purpose in this life, an eternal hope and a glorious future.

Thank God that He has given us so wondrous a salvation as this, that apart from the gift of faith we could never—would never—be able to believe it. The Gospel is the message that Jesus, a man from the little town of Nazareth who had a mother but no earthly father, is the Savior of the world? That claim is as outrageous as it is true. It’s crazy. Apart from the gift of faith, it takes a fool to believe it. Yet that is how the Architect of the universe has chosen to construct the salvation of mankind.

We who are called to proclaim the truth of that message can’t allow it to become so commonplace that we lose passion for familiarity with the terms and the story. We can’t forget the importance of the incarnation or of His coming or allow the people to whom we preach to do the same.

We’ve got to resurrect Christmas, because the power of the resurrection is only available to those who understand the incarnation. 

A message to friends

 Across the world, people are concerned about how their selves may look or what to receive this Christmas, as they hunger for friendships and fondness. They tend to forget the authenticity of the spiritual message of the season, which is the work of God reconciling us back to Himself in a unity of love accomplished through his son, Jesus, who came as the light of the world, like a sunrise breaking radiantly over the horizon of human history. He dwelt with us and became the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE LIGHT OF CHRIST MINISTRY

3 Building Blocks of a Truly Memorable Sermon

A REPRINT FROM AN ARTICLE BY Sherman Cox

Scripture: Hebrews 11:35-11:40

I was talking to a laymember the other day who was very excited about a sermon he had heard. The member gave me all four of the points of the sermon and was excited about applying the sermon to his daily life. Interestingly enough, he searched on the Internet to try to find this sermon and other sermons by the same preacher.

The preacher was a white American preacher. This preacher didn’t yell. His voice did keep a pleasant rising and lowering due to a natural conversational tone. The preacher didn’t whoop or use any other “stylistic” components of the African American preaching tradition. So what did the preacher do?

Clear Points

The preacher did three things that I have written on in other posts that can help any preacher’s sermons. The first thing he did was have clear and easily identifiable points. The people did not have to guess about what was important; the preacher simply told them. The preacher clearly defined the points and clearly defined what he meant by the points. We as preachers cannot expect anyone to remember our points if they don’t even know what they are.

Illustrate Each Point Well

The second thing the preacher did was clearly illustrate the points with stories. Each and every main point had a story connected to it. These stories were memorable and clearly connected to the point. Sometimes we tell stories that are only tangentially related to the point. Stop doing that. It takes away from your message. However, if you have a clear point and a relevant memorable story, you are well on the way to a sermon that people will remember.

Each Point Stronger Than the Previous One

Finally, the preacher’s stories were more intense as the sermon continued. The layperson told me that each story and point was “stronger” than the other one. Please note that I am not talking about yelling to manufacture intensity; I am talking about the content being stronger. So point two was stronger than point one, and point three was stronger than point two, and point four was stronger than point three. Here was a use of the “whooping curve” without necessarily whooping. We must leave people with the strongest content at the end, and that content should be related to the point illustrated and the main point of the sermon.

Here was an effective preacher who had content that the people remembered. And the people were ready to apply it to their daily lives. If we are to learn from this preacher, we must clearly define our points, illustrate them well with stories and make each point progressively intense. Then the people will understand and be ready to apply the sermon.

You Exegete Your Text, but Do You Exegete Your People?

REPRINT FROM AN ARTICLE BY Leslie Holmes

"Bob Easley may not have gone beyond sixth grade, but he taught this quasi-educated preacher that there's a lot more to be learned about preaching than I ever got inside a book."

Walking through a bookstore the other day, I was surprised by the selection of For Dummies Series of books. Starting with DOS for Dummies, this extensive series of instructional-reference books is intended to present a non-intimidating series of guides for readers who want to better understand a large variety of topics. Each of the more than 1,600 topics sports a distinctive yellow and black cover and a blackboard style logo.

Whatever one's interest or problem, it seems quite likely that someone figured that there would be at least one dummy who would need a book on that subject. There is a book called The Bible for Dummies and another called Prayer for Dummies. There's also one called Biblical Hebrew for Dummies!

I could not, however, find a For Dummies book on preaching. I thought such a book might offer some insight about what the people we preach to each Sunday say makes for a good sermon. More importantly, and to paraphrase Micah's great question, what does the Lord require of those of us who are charged with delivering His message to the people each time we enter the pulpit?

It seems we not only need to exegete our preaching text, but also exegete our congregation. Remember, the word exegete finds its roots in the 18th century Greek word exegeisthai, meaning "to interpret." To properly understand and relate to our congregation, we need to ask ourselves, "What are the interests of my flock?"

What is my congregation's probable level of knowledge about my sermon topic? What are the people's fixed beliefs and values? How can I best connect with them when I preach? What do I want my congregation to think as a result of what I will tell them? What do I want to change about them? What do I want them to do after hearing me that they are not doing now? These are just some of the questions we need to ask ourselves if we really are to preach.

I recall from my early days as a young preacher that I spent long hours gathering information about my text, ferreting out fine details, salivating over subtle differences or shades of meaning in my Greek text. All that work fascinated me, and I looked forward with glee to impressing the good people of my rural Mississippi congregation with how smart I was. Then one Sunday evening, Bob Easley stunned me at the door with this simple statement, "I didn't know we had a bunch of Greeks in our congregation. What you said went way over my head!"

Bob was a greatly beloved and hard-working farmer who, like many members of our church family, had perhaps a sixth-grade education. He loved the Lord, and when he offered grace before a meal you knew somehow that heaven really paid attention to the sincere words of Bob's heart. Bob and his wife, Lois, were founding members of our church. As long as she was alive, Lois had a reputation for "keeping Bob straight." After Lois died, we got used to Bob's unvarnished straight talk.

Truth be told, Bob's plain words spoke for a lot of people in our little congregation. What Bob was telling me in his own way that Sunday evening was that now that I had a college education, my sermons were shooting over the people's heads. His was "a word fitly spoken" (Prov. 25:11). If we do not know the people to whom we preach, we likely will shoot wide of our intended targets many times.

Here are five home-grown truths I learned as I later reflected on Bob's words:

First, the KISS rule still works, so Keep It Simple Sir (or Senorita)!

Second, keep it focused! Avoid the temptation to stray off the track. That story you really want to tell always must fit the moment of your message. If it doesn't, save it for another time.

Third, make it live! Tell a good story to help make the Bible come alive for the people.

Fourth, make it portable! Be sure your congregants have something they can carry out to where they live out their lives.

Fifth, make it gripping! Information that does not include "Here's why this is important, and this is what you must do with it" is soon forgotten and bears no lasting fruit.

Bob Easley may not have gone beyond sixth grade, but he taught this quasi-educated preacher that there's a lot more to be learned about preaching than I ever got inside a book.

Do you have that conviction and certainty?

Hebrew 11:1

INTRO: Faith is defined as something that is believed especially with strong conviction. It is also the belief and trust in and loyalty to God.

I.                FAITH DEFINED (v1)

A. Assurance of things hoped for (promise)

B.  Conviction of things not seen (principle)

II.            FAITH COMMENDED (v2)

A. The people of old (those called by God and responded)

B.  Those enlightened and understood God’s power

III.       FAITH DISPLAYED (v3)

A. Through preaching the word of God (2 Timothy 4:2)

B.  Through faith coupled with works (James 1:22)

CONCLUSION:  Fight the good fight of faith, finish the race and keep the faith (2 Timothy 4:7) by guarding the pledge entrusted to you, avoiding derisive talks of nonsense and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge.” (1Timothy 6:28).