How Biblical is our Preaching Today ?

Some people use their sermons to preach the Bible, while others use Bible to preach their sermons!

Philipose Vaidyar

“We have more preachers today than practitioners” and “preachers should walk the talk and talk the walk” are not the points for this discussion; nor is this an academic exercise on good Biblical preaching.  Textual, Topical and Expository sermons have its own importance and place in Biblical preaching according to the relevance of the situations but we should be aware of the danger sides of textual and topical messages with too many references.  More often we wonder why the preacher turns to different books and verses, without completing exposition on the scripture portion already selected and read out. I would like to bring into our attention on the subject from my observations on sermons over several these past years and what preachers do with their sermon time. (We would mean here ‘preaching’, ‘sermon’, and ‘message’ for Biblical Preaching and would use these three words interchangeably in this discussion). 

1.      Study before preaching: Any sermon should be the byproduct of a serious Bible study or exposition. There is a great difference between Bible study and a sermon. Books are available on ‘How to Study Bible’, ‘Inductive Bible Study’,‘Biblical Interpretation’, ‘Hermeneutics’ etc. There are also books available on Biblical preaching. Buy such a handbook and learn to do it yourself instead of buying sermon outlines and ready-made messages of preachers or teachers.

2.      Express, not impress: Biblical preaching is not to impress but to express. It is not to show off ones’ knowledge on Bible verses or skills in quoting, rather to express the message of God from the Word of God, which should have relevance to the hearers.

3.      Do not just inform, help people change: Biblical Sermons should not serve just knowledge and information, but lead into Application by the listeners.  A message with information, observations and interpretations does not do any good to the listeners if it fails to lead people to applying it to their personal lives. It should not be like fireworks but like firing. Fire-works brings joy to the one who light it and others who watch would appreciate for that moment but has no lasting result on anyone. Firing should hit the target and bring the desired result. Even if you miss a firing, don’t shoot without a bullet even for practice. It should not just produce light, sound and smoke. Let the message be packed with applications, drawn from the contemporary meaning of the Biblical text. If you the preacher could not apply it for yourself and did not know its implications and applications, your hearers don’t either. We often hear a lot of messages without knowing for sure what the preacher suggests us to do. Biblical preaching should lead to transformation, change in attitudes, character and conduct.  

    

4.      Rule of a book, a news paper and a letter! Bible is unique and is different from other literature; but one should not take it as if it is not a literature at all. Bible’s content has historical accounts, narratives, correspondence/letters, poems, prophesies so and so forth. Do not take any verse from anywhere and use it to serve our purpose.  In most of the sermons we hear, preachers use scores of Bible references, more often each one bringing a new point even though it is taken from the cross reference aid.

None of us read a book taking different sentences from different pages. When we read a daily newspaper, we don’t pull out sentences from different articles or news items. When I read mails or letters, I do not try to make sense out of different mails from different senders or of different dates. A mail should be studied fully to understand the message and we may refer other relevant mails if needed. Similar sentences (verses) used by different authors should not be put together without knowing the context just to make a sermon on a theme. I am surprised often, why a preacher start with a verse and go around several books of the Bible for the second, third and fourth points. At times, a passage is read, started off with a verse and soon left for other portions of the Bible. Here the preacher uses Bible verses to preach his message rather than expounding on the portion selected.  

Is it necessary that every message should have eighteen cross-references? A small unit of text/ a paragraph to a chapter of the Bible (depending on the literary form) is more than enough to preach a great sermon with many points and applications.

5.      Too many verses often spoil the sermon

Cross-references and comparisons are good and can enhance the message, provided it is suitable and you have already expounded enough of the text  you had already selected. If you have selected a narrative or a parable, stay there and complete the observation, interpretations/ implications and applications. I have heard many preachers taking off their sermon- whichever portion is it from to several Characters and heroes like Moses, Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham and so forth, making all those massages similar. Hearers who often appreciate nice sermon of a preacher fail to recollect the message of the sermon.

6.      The Purpose and Message of the Sermon

Many a time, several preachers seemed to be unclear on what they want to achieve, or what they want people to do in response to their message. The intent of the message should be clear first to the preacher. If the preacher cannot phrase the message in a sentence or two precisely (the proposition) and the desired response, he would leave the hearers only in a mental satisfaction of listening to a sermon if not leaving them in a full confusion. They may not complain as a Sunday sermon has a ritual role at least.

7.      Quality matters more than the Quantity:

Some of them can preach only if they have 45 minutes or an hour depending on the tradition or culture of their denomination. If the preacher has done his homework and is thorough with his sermon and its message, he can preach it for 45 minutes or even in 10 minutes. If All India Radio can air national news in 10 minutes, a preacher can do more without complaints of time if he is clear about the message he wants to deliver.  

8.      Too many illustrations and stories: Some preachers share more stories and illustrations often irrelevantly and dilute the message. Stories stay better in the mind of people and if they do not know why the illustration/ story were used, you have not achieved the purpose. Stories or illustrations are said to be windows to the Word, like windows to a room. Too many widows and too many light will divert the purpose of the room.  

9.      Personal family Stories. Personal stories are good but better for personal sharing times. Some have the habit of taking illustrations always from their life where their family members are the characters. “When our daughter was very small she used to …” “When we were newly married we were living in a small apartment where we used to have a vegetable seller…” all these are good for personal testimony time not always for a sermon. And if you have the habit of taking your family story every time you preach, remember they are hearing you more than listening to. Use your learning or experience wisely to tell the concept if your goal is to help the audience understand your point better.

10.  Forgetting the Context. Many preachers often forget the context. ‘Who said/wrote to whom in what circumstance with what effect’, is more important to understand the original meaning of the verse or portion before one can understand the contemporary meaning of the text to apply to our context. Every Biblical passage/ writing has an original speaker/writer and original recipient(s). Bible is God’s Word for us and the Spirit of God will speak to us through it today. But we should not forget that it has a historical context and historical readers from where we move on to the contemporary meaning and message for us so that we can take the message for our situation or apply it to our context today.  Moreover, every verse has its own context. Meaning of a word can be understood from the context of the other words of the same verse (sentence) and the meaning of a verse should be understood in the context of the paragraph, chapter, and the book and in the wider context of the whole Bible.

Conclusion

Read the Word, meditate and study it to apply it relevantly and personally so that it will transform us and can transform others.  Inductive or Expository preaching needs homework but is powerful and can impact us and our hearers. As a humble learner, invest your time, be creative, and not just imitate. Avoid shortcuts and don't just borrow sermons ! 

Salvation, Grace, Faith and Baptism

Here is a dialogue as narrated by a pastor between him and a pastor of another denomination:

Pastor 1: “Baptism must be received by adults who should be able to believe in Christ and confess their faith”.

Pastor 2: “Pastor, do you believe in Grace of God?”.

Pastor 1 : “Yes, I certainly believe in the Grace of God”.

Pastor 2: If only adult baptism right, where is the grace of God? We then are giving importance not to the Grace but to the person. When we baptize children, we commit them into the Grace of God.

I don’t know what really these pastors shared each other. But Bible- on faith and doctrines or sacraments and observations, does not confuse us; though pastors with their denominational bias and agendas do.

Ephesians 2:8-9 New International Version (NIV)

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

 Ephesians 2:8-9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and ^[a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 International Standard Version (ISV)

⁸ For by such grace you have been saved through faith. This does not come from you; it is the gift of God ⁹ and not the result of actions, to put a stop to all boasting.^[a]

There is not a topic like this that denominational leaders debate about. Those who practice immersion and adult baptism will not accept the practice of infants’ sprinkling in the name of baptism. Those who practice infant’s ‘baptism’ goes even to the point of arguing that every baptism mentioned in the Bible are not talking about water baptism, (Its true) but when it comes to the Great Commission, they will say, the Baptism mentioned here is certainly identification with Christ, not really water Baptism.

Is Baptism a command or a sacrament? If it is a command, is it the foremost one?

Is Baptism essential to become a believer of Christ and to enter heaven?

What was the baptism of Jesus? Did Jesus baptize people or only His disciples? Before the death and crucifixion of Christ, what was the meaning of Baptism that Jesus/Disciples administered?

The Word of God is written for ordinary people, and its teaching and history can be understood, literally, culturally, historically and spiritually by any ordinary persons who are interested to study or meditate on it. Read all the accounts or instances of Baptism and all the sayings or writing about it in the Bible with an open mind and the Spirit of God will lead you to all truth when you depend on Him.  

Here are a few of my observations from the Bible. You may read it for yourself and understand it and if you follow the principles of Biblical interpretation you would be able to help others by interpreting it rightly, as God’s Word does not contradict itself as we do.

Entering into God’s Kingdom:

Jesus Christ taught much about who enters to His Kingdom.

1.       Being born again- spiritually born

³ Jesus replied to him, “Truly, I tell you^[a] emphatically; unless a person is born from above^[b] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 International Standard Version (ISV)

As God’s family is Spiritual family, one is born into God’s family through a spiritual birth, made by faith by one’s own acceptance of God’s Salvation through Christ. Natural birth can by the choice of parents and with God’s blessings, but not so with spiritual birth.

2.       Obeying the teaching of Christ as found in Matthew 5-7  After teaching – on the mount (sermon on the mount, Matthew chapters 5-7), Jesus said:

²¹ “Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom from^[a] heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, drove out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name, didn’t we?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who practice evil!’”^[b]  Matthew 7:21-23

Jesus further illustrates this with the case of a wise builder and the foolish builder. The teachings of Christ are compared to the rock which is the foundation; and the house, to our deeds/life. The house that stands again the rain and flood is compared to eternal life.

 

3.    Without holiness, no one will see God, says the writer to the Hebrews.

“Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness,without which no one will see the Lord”. Hebrews 12:14

There are numerous teachings on how one receives eternal life. Nowhere Baptism is mentioned.

Luke 18:18

[ A Rich Man Comes to Jesus ] Then an official asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

John 3:15

so that everyone who believes in him would have eternal life.

John 3:16

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his uniquely existing Son so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life.

John 3:36

The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

Where do we place Baptism as to salvation; and Grace of God in the act of sprinkling on a Child in the name as an act of Baptism? Salvation is the gift of God, and it can be achieved only by faith not by acts. But faith without works is dead!

Words have meaning in people. A word has its meaning in the context and the context of other words used along. We should not try to build a theology out of a word taken out of context. What is ‘faith’ then and what is ‘grace’? In the Bible, faith is referring to faith in the son of God, His atoning sacrifice, remission of sins that He offers freely; and accepting Him through repentance and by confession of sins.

If a child is old enough to understand this, he/she can have faith in God and be born again. A ‘water baptism’ administered either to an adult or to an infant cannot give them any faith or grace. But one who has the faith here can witness his/her faith through water baptism. In the light of the Bible we need to think if we consider Baptism as a means to faith/salvation or as expression of one’s faith. We also need to think if an infant can witness its faith in Christ or an infant ‘baptism’ leads to the shower Grace for salvation! We should not miss out the Salvation of God while majoring on minor and minoring on major!

  

LIGHT YOUR WORLD, LITTER NO LONGER!

Most often we do not consider several little things that can make bigger changes while it does not even cost us. We just need to develop best practices and tell of it to our children we love and the students we train. Teach values and best practices to the younger generation and the world is going to be different and better place to live. We may think, ‘how can just me make a difference…?  We can, at least for one, at a time...!

I believe many things we say or do, intentionally or unknowingly, are just because of our value system; the way we are. That’s why we need an attitudinal change in everything. What we are is more important than what we say or do; our saying and doing come out of our being. Many of us do not want to change, or throw away our old habits while we want others to change!   

LIGHT YOUR WORLD, LITTER NO LONGER!

We need to get rid of some of our bad habits and ways of life. But should we throw away what we want to discard? We need to learn to dispose, bury and burn. (Not plastics and rubber!).

  Fresh in my mind, is from a recent conference that I had attended.  Over 2,150 people were there at the conference. The prior registration was limited and not anybody could walk in. All of us where senior leaders, young professionals, graduate and university students who are mentored by us and of course, some of our grown up children; I mean, all of us were part of a homogenous group, at least for belief and life style. On the night of 31st December 2014, we lit thousands of candles, representing to 'light the world'.  By the New Year day, we had littered the grounds quite well. There were several hundreds of packets, and disposable cups lying all around in spite of the dust bins placed at the site. I think this is a crucial negligence that we cannot afford to go unnoticed. If somebody can pack and serve a cake, buying it from somewhere and bringing it to my hand; make, carry and serve a cup of tea or coffee into my hand, what’s wrong with me if I cannot be thoughtful to drop the disposable cups that I used and the wrapper of the cake I munched? 

This is a lifestyle that we are carrying on with us- throwing stuff all the time, spitting all around. We can’t hold on. We don't want to keep it any longer, let it be somebody's head ache, job or service. I agree that we don’t have any waste management system in India, but good dumping systems (Forgive if there a couple of them in some cities).  At least let us consider those who have to clear it and those who are moving it to the dumping yards. 

We don’t manage waste, we only move it!

We don’t like waste around us, so we push it to the neighbour’s plot, the public property, or to the traffic! I mean roads and rivers. The streams and rivers that were meant to bring us water from the high land to the low land are now channels to carry our filth. We assume roads can burn our wastes and streams and rivers will carry it to the sea. Many believe an old saying that means, “flowing water has no dirt”. For that reason, coovam does not flow. The blackest stretches seen on Google map of Chennai are not tarred roads but the Coovam! We keep throwing. This is true for the rea-cups that we sip from, peels of the banana we eat or the wastes of the chickens they dress! We do keep many employed! Some of us leave our trashes on the railway plat forms for the sweepers in charge of the platform to push it down to the track (at least in several places). Others of us help throwing it to the railway track directly as there are separate sweeper class employed for tracks alone.  Many of us faithfully dispose it to the right garbage bins. There are employees appointed by the corporation to move it further. At the last of the chain, they dump it in the government vacant land known as ‘dumping yards’. It’s just a matter of distance.  We dump, the sweepers and waste collectors dump, and the Corporation dump.  We do not really dispose or manage our wastes but push it or move it to a bit more far. I should stop here as I have no solutions to offer at this point. But I am really concerned that we at least could move it to the right place.  

If at home why not wherever we go?

If not for the garbage on the roadside and the wastes that lie around, Indian cities and towns will look like Hong Kong, Chiang Mai and Phnom Penh. (Sorry, I have only been to these places outside of the country). In 1986 I had been to a campsite called of UESI – Higfield in Kotagiri on the Nilgiris, for nearly two months for a camp. On day one, we were told not to litter the campus. None of us littered there. If we had eaten a chocolate, we had carried the peel in the pocket to dispose it at the right place.  I am sure anyone who goes to Highfield still will not litter around. If we could do it there, why did not we do it in Sriperumbudur ? If we practiced it in our home and campuses, why did not we tell it to our disciples?  Let us learn the best practices and pass it on. Let us light the world we live in and not litter it!

The Word: Let us ‘consider others better than ourselves’ and ‘do unto men and women what we want them to do unto us’.  If we have had put into application what we have been meditating, we should have added much meaning to many. We still can make a difference. We need to get rid of certain things, put on a few more things and focus a bit more. We should bury what can be buried, burn what can be burned. Light, but litter no longer!    Philipose Vaidyar

Cycle can Tell us Stories, Teach us Lessons

I used my cycle for 15 years...! 

If motorcycles can be used for 25 years or more, a cycle can be used much more. “I know missions well and every missionary in the organization should work as I worked in my native place”, is a serious attitude and a major management issue. This cycle’s story that I am going to tell briefly, can teach us more than what we can think.  

'Mr.Bicycle' belonged to a missionary couple who lived in a remote village in Maharashtra. There was a bus that came to the village twice a day. One of the missionary families lived here and there were a few other families in still farthest distances from here as far as ten kilometres, all trying to serve one particular people group. The main means of transport for people as well as missionaries here was either walking or cycling. The team was united; they met frequently for fellowship and prayer and visited every family that they could for sharing the gospel in their heart language. This was a wonderful team in acquiring the language, speaking it like a native speaker and sharing the gospel and reaching the area with the love of Christ.

Every missionary in the organization loved to have a motor bike one day and several had enrolled them for a bike to receive in the field. “Everyone wants a motorbike, but the problem did not end with giving a bike; then will come the petrol bill and maintenance every month”, said one of the leaders in the mission.  Two decades ago not everybody had a bike though. But if the missionary asked for a bicycle, the mission will grant it sooner. A good brand bicycle with a dynamo and light set costs about Rs.1,000 those days ! Our missionary here had been using his cycle thoroughly for eight years and felt he could sell it and buy a new one instead of spending more on repairing it. Using a carbon paper, taking copies, he wrote and posted an application to the concerned leaders in charge- his immediate team leader and to the Administrative Secretary in the head office in South India. There were no emails nor phones or mobiles those days. After two weeks the reply from the Administrative Secretary reached the field. He is responsible for all land, property and assets including vehicles. The most important portion of his letter had more questions like this: “How old is the cycle? When did you purchase it?” The missionary replied the next day with carbon copies duly marked to the concerned, and cycled to the post office to send his reply which communicated:  “The cycle is 8 years old, we bought it in …. But it is really worn out and maintaining it is more difficult; it will be good to buy new one”. He waited patiently another ten days for the response with the hope of changing the cycle. It did come in time.

The communications at the other end was always clear and faster, given the technology of the time. There were secretaries at the head office for every leader in charge, who typed and send those letters and file it properly with copies that will go to each file, including the file in the name of the missionary! After two weeks the reply had reached the mission filed. The main body of the letter read: “I have used a cycle at home for more than 15 years...It is better to maintain it and use your cycle instead of buying a new one”.

You can imagine the frustration the missionary couple had. Of course,  the whole team members in the field were aware of the communications so far. They shared everything in the field and encouraged one another as they met every week. It was almost one month now. The team too felt bad about it. But they had a solution. The missionary had bought the cycle eight years ago. But every missionary can get a cycle easily. So they decided to apply for one more cycle in the name of the missionary's wife who was also a missionary! The next afternoon bus from the village carried the post office mail bag to the district post office. It had the missionary’s application for a new cycle. After two weeks, the request was granted, the following field allowance cheque had the amount for the new cycle too.

The team had a new bicycle. But what happened to the old bicycle? It rested in peace, leaning on the back wall of the missionary's  rented hut, rusted well. When I happened to see the bicycle swollen with rust, my curiosity wakened and the answer I got is the story told so far. I had learned a lot about administration and leadership from this resting rusted bicycle. But the story does not end there.

The missionaries have moved out to different locations, so also everyone in the leadership. A few years later the administrative secretary too left the organization before retiring. Now he rides a Mahindra car. How this car came to him will be another story beyond the scope. But I have a few questions here; you can find the answers…

   1.How do we respond to needs and requests of others when we are in a better situation- be it a poor wanderer, a staff or a missionary of the organization we work?

   2.How do we treat individuals and do we consider them better than ourselves?

   3.Is a leadership position to show authority and control or a responsibility to serve?

   4. Do we ever think, we are passing by and we are not in charge all the time?

   5. What are the impressions others paint in their minds of us- our team and “subordinates”?

   6.Ultimately who are going to lose or win?

-  - Philipose Vaidyar

    

   (Pictures used are only illustrations)

Why doesn't Laxmibai Get Rid of it…?

A person cured of leprosy needs to be careful for the rest of his life with self care. Many even today do not know that leprosy is treatable and curable. 

Before we go to meet Laxmibai*, healed of leprosy, I should say a few things about leprosy that I have learned. It is wrong and a big mistake to call a person by his disease, at least today. (Of course, we have the word leper used in the Bible in older versions. I am yet to check if it is corrected in the latest versions). It’s only some years ago I had learned that leprosy is the least communicable disease. I am sure you will be interested to read and learn more about it from sources that are just a click away from you, while you cannot learn about Laxmibai unless I tell it myself to you.

I had met Laxmibai in her village in Andhra Pradesh during one of my footprint documentation trips on a leprosy rehab project. She had been severely affected by the disease several years ago and developed deformities in her foot and hands.  She went through all the treatments and procedures.

Now Laxmibai joins along with a few others for self-care exercises everyday at the veranda of a public office in the village. She wears a pair of Microcellular rubber (MCR) sandals specially made for her size to save her foot. The MCR sandal should protect her foot that have lost its sensations. The footwear was really worn out.  She complained of the new pair given to her as not so comfortable as the old one she was wearing.  We asked her to show us the new pair she had collected some time ago. In no time she hurried and returned with the new sandals. We asked her to remove her old sandals that were put on.  It was repaired by a local cobbler and had a lot of nails on it!!!

As I leave the rest of the story for you to guess, let me ask you why Laxmibai did not want to forsake her old sandals. There is a Laxmibai in each of us most of the time. We do not like to get rid of certain things that we are so used to for a long time. It can be artifacts, our own habits and practices.  Whether we lead people or deal with people, follow or make a following, this should be seriously considered. If I am a preacher and others can not follow my model; if I am a counselor and am vulnerable to become myself an abuser; if I am a translator of the Word and my life is not at all transformed, and I do not believe the Word for myself, I think I need to get rid of those things that are so stuck to me.  

In some of our worlds (sphere of activity, work or community) a person abused does not come out openly to accuse or expose the abuser; a follower will not like to point his finger at a leader (like a lamb at the shepherd). Which is easier, belling a cat or blowing a whistle? I believe both are not easier or less risky. So many of our elephants can walk like a cat and most of our culprits can go a cake walk!!!

Shall we put off those worn-out falsehood and habits and put on what we need to, so that we will be genuine and good in our words and deeds. May be the sharpness of our guilty conscience had been smoothened and every time we continue on our strong points (some say ‘weak points’) it soothes  ing effect. Or we must have lost our sensations so that we do not recognize sins any more. May be we have gone too far from the grace and become so wicked that repentance is near to impossible.  Probably we are moving from a cliff to a deepest pit.  But now, can we pause a minute and identify those items in our lives to put off and help ourselves? 

Let us linger no longer.

- Philipose Vaidyar

______________________

*name changed

Isn't the person in us more important??!!

Isn’t the person inside more important than the dress?

The home inside the house, and the family more than the jobs?

Isn’t the soul so significant and the Spirit more central than our service?

Though we convince the whole world but don’t believe the Word we‘re reading

Be it teaching or preaching or even translating?

Whether our word is for all or we hang on to the cliff

If our yes is not Yes and our no, not No, do we know we deceive ourselves?!! 

Remember: LEADERS and DEALERS are made of the same thing but they are different!!!

CHEATERS and TEACHERS are created of the same stuff but they are not the same!!!

Recount: if you need a reshuffle, do it right away, daring to be different

Tail peace: Are we preaching the Word or using the Word to preach our message?

Philipose Vaidyar