Transparency by the preacher makes a powerful impact on listeners. You know that, and I know that, too. Yet, I was still surprised last Sunday at the effect of sharing a brief internal struggle which played out in my mind a few days prior to my sermon.
My text last Sunday was Revelation 17-18. I challenged my listeners to “come out of the city” – the city of Babylon which represents humanity’s attempt to create paradise apart from God. One of the ways to “come out of the city,” I argued, is to practice contentment. Babylon, the ‘city of man,’ tells us that we need stuff which is bigger, better, and faster.
To illustrate the struggle we face with contentment, I shared the following anecdote. Last Wednesday, I used my new 24" snow-blower for the first time. I purchased it at Sears a couple months ago, and I was excited to hear the forecast for about six inches of snow by Wednesday morning. My wife even accused me of jumping out of bed at dawn on Wednesday like a little boy on Christmas morning! The snow-blower worked great. I was thrilled with it! That is, at first. But things changed later that afternoon. That’s when a friend of mine asked me for help in loading his new snow-blower into the back of his SUV. He had also purchased his at Sears. But when I took my first look at his, I realized that he had purchased the 26" model.
Suddenly, my new 24" snow-blower wasn’t good enough! In the space of about half a minute, I had thoughts like: “I should have spent the extra hundred bucks and bought the 26" model instead of the 24" model! I wonder if it’s too late to take mine back and trade it in? Maybe I can sell mine. I’ve got to get the 26" model.” Never mind that my 24" snow-blower shoots the snow almost to my neighbor’s lawn! “Where did this come from?” I asked my listeners. “Babylon. That’s the lure of Babylon. I get sucked into the city all the time, and I’m sure you do, too.”
It was apparent to me in that moment, as well as in conversations after our worship services, that I made a connection with people. Now admittedly, my transparency was rather tame. Sharing that anecdote did not involve taking a big risk. But people related to it, and people related to me through it as well.
Let me add a qualification here. I’m convinced that we preachers need to share deeper struggles or our listeners may think that the biggest problems we have are only fleeting moments of low-level greed. In other words, transparency only about minor sins or struggles may reflect pride and an unwillingness to display true vulnerability. Still, starting small is better than not displaying transparency at all.
Sunday’s experience has prompted me to work harder at being transparent and vulnerable. Some weeks, it doesn’t occur to me to share about my fears or struggles. But I need to work harder at this. It’s not that transparency is an end in itself. But it’s a way for preachers to gain a hearing when they present the gospel of Christ and the lifestyle which flows out of it. If Paul was transparent about his struggles (see Romans 7:15-25, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10), then we’re in good company when we’re transparent, too.
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 12:16 PM on December 11, 2007
