Month: July 2014

Don’t Waste Your Life

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

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Last night, as we finished our study of Psalm 91, I pointed out that God protects us for a purpose; He preserves us with a plan. After 15 verses that describe the abundant protection of God, Psalm 91:16 ends the psalm with these words, “With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

This reminded me of a powerful illustration that John Piper gave in his book, Don’t Wast Your Life. I’ve reproduced it below. Remember, God preserves His children for His purposes, so that we will use our redeemed life in His service. Don’t waste your life.

In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly. I asked my congregation: Was that a tragedy? Two lives, driven by one great passion, namely, to be spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ—even two decades after most of their American counterparts had retired to throw away their lives on trifles. No, that is not a tragedy. That is a glory. These lives were not wasted. And these lives were not lost. “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35).

I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.

—John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, 45-46.

Salvation By Works Gives No Hope

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“And next I think it will be admitted by all, that the way of salvation by good works would be self-evidently unsuitable to a considerable number. I will take a case. I am sent for in an emergency, and it is the dead of night. A man is dying, smitten suddenly by the death-blast. I go to his bedside, as requested. Consciousness remains, but he is evidently in mortal agony. He has lived an ungodly life—and he is about to die. I am asked by his wife and friends to speak to him a word that may bless him. Shall I tell him that he can only be saved by good works? Where is the time for works? Where is the possibility of them? While I am speaking, his life is struggling to escape him! He looks at me in the agony of his soul, and he stammers out, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ Shall I read to him the Moral Law? Shall I expound to him the Ten Commandments and tell him that he must keep all these? He would shake his head and say, ‘I have broken them all; I am condemned by them all!’ If salvation is of works, what more have I to say? I am of no use here. What can I say? The man is utterly lost! There is no remedy for him. How can I tell him the cruel dogma of ‘modern thought’ that his own personal character is everything? How can I tell him that there is no value in belief, no help for the soul in looking to Another—even to Jesus, the Substitute? There is no whisper of hope for a dying man in the hard and stony doctrine of salvation by works!”

—CH Spurgeon

Help For New Expositors: Applying the Bible to Your Hearers

/ Richard Bargas / 4 Comments

Preaching

In some circles, there is a question whether the preacher needs to apply the Word of God or whether that is strictly the domain of the Holy Spirit. I don’t think there needs to be an either/or question about application. When John the Baptist preached about repentance, those who heard him asked what exactly they were to do to prove they had truly repented (Lk 3:10-14). John gladly gave specifics for each  group of people present. The fact remains that you are to bring the Word of God to bear upon the hearts and lives of your hearers. This is assumed in the preaching act.

  1. Find the universal principle(s) given in the biblical text. Some passages have clear applications while others you will need to find the timeless, universal principle that can be applied to your hearers.
  2. Meditate on how you will respond to the text.
    • Does this text impact your life?
    • What will you now do, believe, be thankful for or repent of?
    • If you can’t answer, neither will your listener know what to do, either.
  3. Think about your listeners.
    • Who are they? (What are their careers, education, marital status, children, etc.?)
    • What are they going through right now? (joys, trials, spiritual life)
    • How will this text impact them when they hear it?
    • Will it help them? How?
  4. Be pointed and specific.
    • Don’t fall into the trap of just telling people to “pray more” or “read your Bible more” or “have more faith.” Tell them how.
    • Be specific enough that they have a few ideas about how they can apply the text—this is helpful for the newer believer.
    • Be generic enough that the more mature believers can see other application in their own life outside of your suggestions.
    • Use “You” in your application. Don’t shy away from being the messenger of God. He is speaking to them through his Word.
  5. Point people to the Cross and the Holy Spirit
    • You don’t want to err into moralism, where your sermon application simply tells the listener to “be better” or “do more.” Unbelievers and believers alike need to know that the imperatives can only be accomplished because of Christ’s atoning work on the cross through the power of the Holy Spirit.
    • Preach the need for Christ to unbelievers who are unable to obey without salvation. If you do not, at best you will frustrate your hearers; at worst you will lull them into a self-righteousness that only condemns.
    • Preach the necessary power of the Holy Spirit for the believer to change.
    • Preach the Gospel! As Spurgeon said, “Make a bee-line to the cross.”

 

Find help for other sermon preparation skills here:

Sermon Preparation Checklist

Help With Introductions

Help With Illustrations

Help for New Expositors: Improving Your Sermon Illustrations

/ Richard Bargas / 1 Comment

Preaching

It has been said that sermon illustrations are like windows that let the light in so that people can better see the truths we are preaching about. There is a danger of making our sermons like a dungeon, with no light for the common man to see the truth. Below is a list of 5 truths that need to be kept in mind regarding the proper use of illustrations in sermon preparation. My posts on sermon prep checklist and 10 Do’s and Don’ts of Sermon Introductions will also be helpful to many newer expositors. As always, ask your questions in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them.

  1. Illustrations should illustrate
    • That powerful story that you found in the magazine or the funny story that you can’t wait to share is not a reason to use an illustration, so don’t force it. Remember that illustrations serve a purpose and shouldn’t be used simply for their own sake.
    • That means they should take your listener from the abstract or theological content to a concrete concept. Begin with what the average man on the street knows and move forward to the concept you are trying to illustrate.
    • The Bible can be effectively used to illustrate itself. But be aware that cross-references are not necessarily illustrations, but are used to clarify the biblical concept of analogia Scriptura, comparing Scripture with Scripture in order to drive home a point to your hearers.
    • A biblical illustration proper most often points to a narrative account of the concept you are making, i.e., Samson’s spiritual weakness, David’s dance of rejoicing, Paul’s fight of faith.
  2. Care should be taken with regard to the length of the illustration
    • Lengthy illustrations are seldom appropriate for a biblical expositor. You are a teacher of the sacred text, not a storyteller or entertainer. More time telling a story leaves less time to explain and apply the text.
    • Word pictures and biblical allusions are handy to shed light on an idea. Spurgeon often used illustrations from nature and life—following in the footsteps of Christ.
    • Details are often unnecessary in re-telling a personal story or other narrative. Get to the point quickly, removing all unnecessary material from the illustration.
  3. Illustrate each major point. Since each point needs to stand on its own and point to the central theme, make sure that you bring clarity to each part as you build your biblical argument.
  4. Make your illustrations work for you. Choose illustrations that can do double duty. Contemporary illustrations often help the listener to see how they can apply the text to their lives immediately. Take advantage of this and smoothly transition into your application if you are able.
  5. Make sure your illustrations fit a broad audience.
    • Be sensitive to your audience. On other words, be aware of how older people are slower to adapt the latest technology. Younger people can be ignorant to your references to old movies, modern history and older TV shows. Some people are not as into sports as you might be. And you might find that many people are no longer as familiar with ancient history, feeling easily overwhelmed with too many dates and details.
    • Be particularly aware of using lengthy quotes from Puritans or other older writers who wrote in English that has become outdate, along with complicated grammar and sentence structures.
    • Make sure you are cautious about references to movies, music, books and media that might be construed as a wholesale endorsement of the whole. You might have forgotten the a particular movie or book had some objectionable language or sexual themes in it, but your audience might not have forgotten.

The Value of Faith in Christ

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

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“One grain of this faith is worth more than a diamond the size of the world—yes, though you should thread such jewels together, as many as the stars of heaven for number, they would be worth nothing compared with the smallest atom of faith in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God!”

—CH Spurgeon