If All Else Fails … and It Will

This morning as I walked into our living room to sit in my writing chair, I passed by a bookshelf that houses some of the library that contains study books I used for 35 years as a pastor. Those books helped me unpack Scripture and create thousands of weekly sermons. In our home, there are other bookshelves filled with yet more books.

As a young pastor, I read Paul’s instructions to Timothy and took his words seriously, “Preach the Word.” Paul didn’t say, “Preach your opinions,” “Preach what the people want to hear,” or “Preach something that will get you noticed.” It was the preaching of God’s word alone that had the power to release a miraculous transformation in the hearts of people. God’s word is alive and sharper than a two-edged sword able to cut through and define what is true or false. It’s not our opinions, what people want to hear, or our ministerial ambition or showmanship that serves those we are called to shepherd. Those things are nothing more than dull instruments unable to cut through the lies, deception, and confusion that people face.

For all those years of preparing weekly messages, my go-to Sunday routine was to preach through a book of the Bible. To those seeking yet another spiritual thrill or the latest prophetic word, that can sound boring. It would always amaze me how the next text of Scripture I was preparing to preach would align with the events of life that were taking place that week. Those messages had the ability to answer many of the questions about life that people brought with them into our sanctuary.

If developing issues that were taking in our nation and community were front and center in the minds of people that week, I had the freedom to break away from a verse-by-verse format and address the subject head-on, but still using Scripture. At other times, I would make the issue a matter of prayer before I began teaching what was planned and still cover the needed bases. No one was left uninformed about what was happening in our world when they went home.

I have always encouraged pastors, when they are pastoring in times of social discord and uncertainty, to simply preach the word. That is a challenging decision when so many people have opinions about what is happening that seem to be moving 180 degrees away from each other. Inviting people to move toward the truth of Scripture will begin to move them toward each other, releasing the possibility of a unity not found in the demand that everyone think alike on all things.

Each week as I prepared my weekly message, I would always ask two questions, “What is God’s heart in this text” and “What should our response be to His heart?” Those two questions kept my teaching focused on the essentials and allowed the people to leave our weekly gathering with a personal assignment on how to live in the coming week. That focus never failed to produce Kingdom results if a person’s heart was tender and open to God.