by Barney Wells, DMin
Director, The Fred Craddock Center for Preaching Excellence
With the mid-term elections over, and the next general elections campaigns not quite yet begun, I thought maybe this would be a good (safe) time for the Sermon Crafting Blog to consider preaching and politics. Not everyone will agree completely with what I’m about to say, and that’s alright. Some church traditions will take a different view on some points. Yet, I think it may be helpful to share a few thoughts specifically about preaching in politically or (perhaps more accurately) philosophically charged environment.
First, the purpose of preaching is to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom, to edify and encourage the believers, and to deliver the Word that the Spirit uses to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Our primary purpose is to preach Jesus Christ as resurrected Lord and Savior. Making disciples and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded will certainly have ethical and therefore political implications, but our central task in preaching is making disciples of Jesus. The political implications part comes much further down the list of priorities.
It is important for the preacher to consider the audience. Have you noticed that in the lists of the apostles that several of them are described by a family relationship—who their brothers or fathers are—but only two are described by a non-family relationship. Matthew is described in his own gospel as a “tax collector” and Simon is described as a “Zealot.” You could not have had two more politically distanced guys in a group of twelve apostles. Simon, as a member of the Zealots, was a staunch libertarian and violently so. Matthew collected taxes for the Romans and as such was seen as collaborator with foreign occupying power. It is hard to imagine two people more politically opposite, yet Jesus called them both to be His disciples, and they came. They are both still in the core group of Jesus followers in Acts 1. It is likely that, no matter how much you think your congregation is all of one mind politically, you almost certainly are preaching to people who at least privately if not publicly disagree with one another about politics. Not only will you have people on opposite sides of a national issue, but you are also even more likely to have people on opposite sides of local issues. If you have ladies in your congregation that were in high school or college from the mid-1970s or even earlier, it is very likely that some of them have had abortions, whether you are aware or not, and they may carry load of guilt which manifests as remorse or as defensive anger. Just keeping in mind that the congregation will contain folks who may not think like you do will help you prepare a sermon that is biblically truthful yet full of grace, drawing people together in Christ. Be fair in your descriptions of those you think are wrong, looking at things from their viewpoint before you preach, and be honest in assessing the weaknesses of positions who hold to be correct. All your audience will be more convicted by your preaching if they see you are being fair, honest, and humble.
Just as important as considering the audience is proclaiming the Word accurately and completely. For example, there has been many a sermon preached from 1 Corinthians 6:9, blasting several forms of sexual immorality. But the verse doesn’t end there. Equally condemned are thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers. Somehow the economic sins seem to get less mention than the sexual sins, but the Bible puts them all in the same list. The same Scripture that exhorts us to purity and hard work also repeated tells us to welcome and care for the alien and the poor. The point is it’s fine to step on toes, just be sure that all the toes get equal treatment.
In the third section of His prayer in John 17, Jesus prays that those who believe through the apostles’ message may be one, brought into complete unity, as a testimony to the world that God loves us and sent Christ for us. Jesus prayed that for us. As we preach in the second quarter of the Twenty-first century, that is still as much His prayer as it was in the second quarter of the first century.