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Summer 2009 | Volume 67, No. 4
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An Easy Sell: How To Talk A 25-Year-Old Into Giving The Rest Of His Life To Text-Driven Preaching
by Steven Smith
Standing in front of a classroom of young men, mostly in their 20s and early 30s, I try to convince them to give their life to text-driven preaching.
Fifty years ago, I could have appealed to their sense of tradition. You know, “Preach like this, and you could sound like this preacher in our denomination.” The problem is, most of the preachers they podcast did not go to seminary, and some are even pejorative about seminary education, and even more so about denominationalism.
I could appeal to their sense of ambition to go to the nebulous “next level” in ministry, but they have heard so many mega-church pastors who do not preach expository sermons.
I could try to convince them that the expository style of preaching is the best. However, I don’t believe that.
Just to be clear, Southwestern is not committed to the expository style of preaching. This is because expository, text-driven preaching is not a style; rather, it is a theologically driven philosophy of preaching.
So, we do not appeal to ambition, tradition, or style. We appeal to their theology.
A student has to ask himself two questions: Has God exclusively revealed Himself in Christ? and Has Christ exclusively revealed Himself in Scripture? If I can convince a young man that Christ is revealed in Scripture and that God is revealed in Christ, then logic forces him to admit that every ministry should be driven by the explanation of texts. Only the Holy Spirit-inspired and -illuminated Scriptures can lead us to Christ, and only Christ can lead us to the Father.
Once the student understands this, he can go into any context, anywhere, with any style, in any venue, and lead people to God. Specifically, he can lead them to God through Christ, and to Christ through the Word. This removes the pressure of trying to defend exposition as a style or trying to defend it with some tangentially related proof text. Students are too smart for that anyway.
Dr. W.A. Criswell stands as a veracious model of exposition. Perhaps you think Criswell is not a good model for a modern 20-something since their ministries are 50 years removed. You might wonder, “Do 20-year-olds really want to sound like Criswell?” That question really makes the point for me. Whom exactly did Criswell sound like? Well, nobody really. His preaching stood alone for the fact that it was not built on the imitation of another. While I do not want a student to imitate the preaching style of Criswell, I do want him to imitate Criswell’s text-driven ministry—someone who will not let tradition or the latest trends set the course of his ministry but sets out on his own course, beholden only to Scripture.
In the country pastorate of First Baptist Church of Muskogee, Okla., Wally Amos Criswell decided he had run out of material to preach. So, he decided to commit his life to the exposition of texts of Scripture systematically through the Bible. What is worthy of imitation is Criswell’s refusal to imitate. To have no models forced upon you by tradition or by trend, but to be your own man in the pulpit, fully given to Christ as revealed in His Word—this is what we want. If we can get a student there, we are extending the legacy of Criswell and his like.
So, it’s an easy sell. It’s clear enough at least. The problem is not really with the sales pitch; it’s the price tag. The cost of faithful exposition is a life-trajectory of challenging, soul-searching, gut-wrenching, and rewarding years in the study—high front-end investment with the greatest yield coming at the end.
At the close of this magazine, allow me to challenge you to commit your life to the explanation of Scripture—to have a text-driven ministry. God may manifest this in preaching, teaching, missions, counseling, or student ministry. Context becomes less important because ministry is not driven by the context. Ministry is driven by the explanation of text and submitted—or adapted—to the context.
Would you join us in that lifelong pursuit? All it demands is everything. Like I said, it’s an easy sell.
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Steven Smith is assistant professor of preaching, associate dean for the professional doctoral program, and occupies the James T. Draper, Jr., Chair of Pastoral Ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
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