Preaching to a congregation is obviously a very different scenario from teaching a class on logic in a University or Seminary setting. Yet I believe that we as ministers can teach the Scriptures using logical arguments without having to resort to using technical language which the vast majority of folk would not be able to understand.
I am sure that all of us as preachers have at times been guilty of speaking over the heads of our people. Yet one of the ways to remedy this is to simply be constantly aware of this tendency. Then we need to apply the discipline of working out how to say the exact same thing we would say to a group of intellectuals (using the same logic) to the people in the congregation, by using language and explanations which all can follow. This takes work – sometimes a great deal of work. Yet I do believe it is very much possible to bring logic into a sermon.
For instance, when I was preaching on the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16 to our congregation, I spoke of the need to think through what the verse actually said, rather than assume its meaning, which is something we all tend to do. The text reads:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 teaches that God’s love for the world is seen by the giving of His Son so that
all who A (believe in Him)
will not B (perish)
but will have C (eternal life).
There is no possibility of someone believing in Christ and then perishing, but all who believe will have eternal life. That’s what the text clearly teaches.
I then asked the congregation, what does this verse teach us concerning who it is who has the ability to believe? Continue reading →
(1) Michael Brown joins James White to discuss his (Brown’s) new book, “A Queer Thing Happened to America.” This is one of the most important cultural issues of our day, and we dare not ignore it. Here’s the program.