Six Days 'til Sunday

Instruct. Delight. Persuade.

Before we get started, I have a confession to make: I am not an Augustinian scholar by any measure. I know enough to think that starting this email with a "confession" is pretty clever, and I can recognize his icon as the one with all the crosses, but that's about all I've got.

So I've decided to read a little Augustine in my spare time; and, since my work is focused on preachers and preaching, I'm starting with Book IV of his "On Christian Doctrine," which is all about preachers and preaching.

Augustine was teaching about preaching 1,000+ years before there were even pews in churches (let alone cameras or sound systems!), but what he says feels deeply relevant to 21st century preaching.

With a nod to the great orator Cicero (chapter 12), Augustine applies the three goals of any speaker to the particular work of preachers: [1] to instruct the audience by clearly sharing and explaining the text; [2] to please or delight the audience with beautiful words and polished presentation; and [3] to persuade the audience to act on what they know.

The first goal has everything to do with what we say; the other two are concerned with how we say it.

"The man who cannot speak both eloquently and wisely should speak wisely without eloquence, rather than eloquently without wisdom"
--St. Augustine of Hippo, "On Christian Doctrine"

INSTRUCT: As teaching elders, this first goal should come as no surprise. Each time we proclaim the Gospel, we need to be mindful of the fact that we are sharing important Truth with people who may never have heard it--or may not understand it, even if the words are familiar. Our goal is always to present the Gospel in ways our audience can understand.
1. Augustine insists that if we fail in this area, the other two are irrelevant. Delightful and persuasive speech that doesn't advance the Gospel may be entertaining, but it is not preaching. Fair enough.
DELIGHT: People will never understand what we are trying to say if they aren't even listening. Augustine uses words like "beauty" and "eloquence" to describe the sort of speech that captures an audience's attention. Present the truth clearly--and present it well.
1. Stories, illustrations, and clever word play can all be useful tools for "delighting" people as you teach them. Just make sure that they all serve to make your instruction clearer.
2. The way you structure the sermon, the words you choose, and the transitions you make from one point to the next are all opportunities to keep people engaged (or to lose them!) as you make your way through the text.
PERSUADE: It's not enough to merely hear the truth--or even to be entertained by it. The end goal is to inspire "hearers" to become "doers" (James 1:22-25). Bridging the gap between knowing / believing something and living it in our daily lives is not an easy task, and it's not going to happen unless the Spirit is at work in listeners' lives. However, that's not an excuse for us preachers to avoid even trying to move people toward a deeper and more faithful walk with Christ. If "changed lives" are the ultimate goal, we need to be willing to do our part to encourage those changes.
1. Augustine counsels that whenever "something is to be done, and we are speaking to those who ought--but are not willing--to do it, then great matters must be spoken of with power, and in a manner calculated to sway the mind" (ch. 19).

Instruct. Delight. Persuade.
Which one feels most "natural" to you?
Which do you need to work on?

Instruct. Delight. Persuade.
It's a big calling to undertake this work week after week, but it IS a calling; and since God is the one doing the calling, we know we don't have to do this work alone.

As you prepare next Sunday's sermon, I pray the Spirit will guide your steps through the text, fill you with delight in the Truth of it, and inspire you to share it with the sort of urgency and excitement that moves "hearers" to become "doers."

To God be the glory!
--Jen

Dr. Melinda Quivik's last name would score a lot of points in a game of Scrabble.

Unfortunately for me, proper names aren't allowed in Scrabble.

Fortunately for you, her short video is an excellent (delightful?!) introduction to Augustine's instruction on preaching.

If you want to read more from Augustine, you can do that online for free OR you can register for this week's give-away.

CONGRATULATIONS to CYNTHIA BARTON (Trinity Presbytery), winner of last week's books! Your 2-volume set of the IVP Bible Background Commentary will be on its way this week!

The Louisa Woosley Preaching Initiative is a five-year program of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church funded by a Compelling Preaching Grant from the Lilly Endowment.

Our goal is to equip ministers and candidates for ministry to preach compelling sermons to today's diverse and often divided world.

For more information about the initiative and our programs, or to read past issues of this email, visit our webpage.

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