I found this over at Justin Taylor's blog. I have not idea who this guy is but what he says very challenging. Since Connexion has been more topical this year this comes as a great reminder to keep the sermons Christian (preach in a way that a Muslim would disagree) and gospel focused. (Oh, and does he use a lot of hand gestures or what?).
3 comments:
How come he switches to speaking Christianese in a creepy voice when he gets to the Godliness part?! haha. And yes, he should probably cut down on the pantomime (unless his audience was like the guy at the end of Mark 7--we talked about the effectiveness of Jesus' pantomime at group tonight).
In all serious though, I agree with the concept. But I think the focus should be on the gospel, not on making others disagree. Not that conflicts shouldn't be addressed, but that the disagreement should be a result not the initial purpose. If the sermons are gospel-centered and scripture-driven, the differences, offenses, and disagreements will present themselves naturally. Would you agree, or not?
On the serious part we have no disagreement - conflict isnt' the purpose, BUT it's a good test to see if what we're preaching is gospel or not. I said it when I interviewed for the job here at ECC that each week I want to preach in a way that would be me kicked off Oprah. To me that means no fuzzy God talk - it has to be Christ and him crucified. Or, as I said it here, I want to preach in a way that a Muslim would disagree with. Why? They can agree with much of our morals, they can nod their heads to fuzzy God talk. But they won't agree with preaching Christ. That's what I meant. Offense and disagreement aren't the goal, but sometime a good test.
Agreed. Thanks for the clarification. :)
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