When our church gathers for worship on the weekend, I am passionate about preaching the Word to help God's people become more like Christ and reflect God's design for the church. But I'm also concerned about helping nonbelievers understand the Word so that they can see Christ in all of his glory. Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, challenges preachers with this observation: "If you speak and discourse as if your whole neighborhood is present eventually more and more of your neighborhood will find their way in or be invited." So what does this look like?
In every sermon I preach, I try to emphasize that our obedience to God's commands should be "grace-based" rather than "guilt-based." Both believers and nonbelievers need to hear that redeemed, justified people obey God because they have already been accepted, not in order to gain acceptance.
I also try to anticipate and identify with objections. I'll preface comments with statements like, "I know this sounds crazy," or "I know that this will sound controversial to 21st century residents of Chicagoland." I don't make these statements out of embarrassment. I'm simply trying to relate to the perspective of a non-believer who can't stomach propitiation or who can't process the idea of judgment.
Another tactic is to speak respectfully and fairly about people or groups of people with whom I disagree. I cannot afford to misrepresent or malign others. I try to help people understand what the Scripture teaches, and only then to help them draw conclusions (on the basis of Scripture!) to the teachings of Oprah or the Dalai Lama or whoever.
So, the point of Tim Keller's comment is to watch your tone. There's a way of speaking the truth without compromising and without appearing arrogant, judgmental, harsh, etc. Here's another related issue: how do you help nonbelievers who are unfamiliar with the Bible and its basic storyline?
I do a couple things. First, I always give page numbers our of the blue-covered Bibles which are available to those who attend our worship. In fact, I even preach out of one of these Bibles. I'm also big on explaining or illustrating difficult concepts. For example, I won't shy away from a concept like propitiation when I'm in Romans 3:21-26. But I'll acknowledge that it's a big word which we don't hear in everyday conversation. Then, I'll define it ("to satisfy God's outrage against sin"). I'll also use an illustration about my allergic reaction to pollen (yes, hay fever!). I find that believers benefit, too, because a lot of them have heard words like grace, redemption, propitiation, and holy so often that they get used to these words and have no clue as to what they really mean.
What are you doing to connect with the nonbelievers who hear you preach God's Word? What has been especially effective?
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 11:55 AM on July 31, 2007
