Radical Jesus Followers or Behavior Change Specialists

The other day as part of a group of seminary alumni I was asked by a professor to make a few comments to his homiletics class (instruction on how to preach a sermon). The challenge posed to us was to finish the following statement: “My best advice to preachers is . . . .” O.K. So I took my first swing saying, “Lift up Jesus. The noble calling of preaching demands nothing less. The world is replete with anthropocentric preaching on tips and techniques for a better, more fulfilled life. Focus on Christ and let the Holy Spirit work. Jesus calls us to an uncompromising, self-sacrificing life of uncalculated devotion to Him because He alone is worthy. You and I are not clever enough to change a life-draw a crowd maybe-but real Kingdom work is in the full counsel of God where He is all in all. Preach it from your life so you can be bold as a lion in the pulpit.”

I thought I hit it out of the ball park. Until another man chimed in saying, “At the risk of polarizing some of the family here [me] . . . . One of our key responsibilities is to help listeners CHANGE BEHAVIOR.” He went on to say, “You must create accountability and action to change their behavior in order to do more than serve up a good message. If a good message is the end goal, we’ve fallen far short of putting into play the transformation power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

What my colleague said was not necessarily out of bounds so I let it be for a while. But it bothered me like ‘splinter in my mind.’ What he said is said by so many so called preachers in so many different ways and it is this: God is interested in our happiness. Happiness occurs when you have the right formulaic mix of right actions. When we finally do all the things we are supposed to do then we will be holy and happy.

So what’s wrong with that? This is a man-centered view. The Bible I read does not ask man to think more of himself and improve his behavior so that God will be pleased. The Koran says that. Buddha says that. A Christianity of pithy statements, tips and techniques for a better more fulfilled you is a fat lot of beaver biscuits. So what do you think I said? I said . . .

“Polarization is exactly what preachers are about as representatives of a Holy God in an unholy world. Understanding and excepting the complexities and skills associated with compelling rhetoric and with all due respect; are preachers behavior modification specialists or radical Jesus followers? Nevertheless, it is not the preacher’s job to ‘Change Behavior’ but rather to preach unsullied truth which will apply without constraint or compartment, ubiquitously to the whole of a person’s life. To be clear, without an acute awareness of personal enslavement to sin and the elegant, graceful solution offered by Jesus on the cross one cannot be born again nor have the context to live free from the constraint of sinful behavior. People don’t need behavior modification they need heart transplants and reminders thereto. Acting differently will necessarily happen when rightly related to God. What this means is that people need to ‘be’ different first which they cannot effect apart from the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit. Once that happens they will then be free to act differently, more consistently with the character and nature of their Father in their daily activities as a son, father, employee, supervisor, activist, etc. Certainly the process of sanctification is iterative or cyclical for the believer where the preacher can and should have influence. But true faith is the only real behavior modifier as ‘faith without works is dead.’ Everything else is still sin and religious legalism complete with its attendant guilt when failure is finally realized. As I am sure you would agree works do not create the faith. Rather true repentant faith always desires total obedience to the will of our LORD. What the world needs is not more preachers with tips and techniques on how to live a better life. That’s irrelevant within the general context of a fallen world. What is actually more relevant are tell-it-like-it-is prophets boldly denouncing the sin of this world wherever it is and in whatever form it takes without thought of how people, communities, and governments will respond. Preachers are forth-telling prophets or they are nothing at all. Dare I say America has a damn sight fewer than she needs and we are reaping Hell’s rewards because of it (i.e. consumer debt, divorce, fatherlessness, pornography, political corruption, sexual exploitation, abortion, etc).”

No response.

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