Ollie Land reminds us of the importance of remembering our audience
Having wrestled all week with 2 Samuel 6, I came ready to preach, only to see two teenagers in church for the first time. ‘Why today?!’ was the cry in my head! ‘I’ve found this passage difficult enough, what are they going to make of people dying for touch-ing the Ark, a king dancing half-naked through the streets, and then a marital barney which leads to life-long infertility! Lord – are you sure this was the right time to bring them in here?’
Rochester Baptist Church is a town centre church with an active church membership which means that we often have non-Christians attending our Sunday morning services. Fantastic! But does that mean our Bible teaching should just be short and simple, and that we should keep away from passages like 2 Samuel 6?
How should we be pitching our Sunday morning teaching? What is the purpose of our Sunday morning meeting? Is it worship? Should it be evangelistic? Who should we be focusing on during our Sunday meetings? The answer, I think, lies in remembering our audience:
1) We come before God
Yes, our worship of God involves all of our life, all of the time (Rom. 12:1). Yes, when the church body comes together it should engage every member and include fellowship, building up, and service (Heb. 10:24-25; Acts 2:42-47). But as Hebrews 12:22-29 portrays in glorious terms, when the church gathers, we are coming before the living God, with the angels in heaven, to worship the one who is our judge, Saviour, and a holy consuming fire.
As the principal of my seminary observes: ‘Our church gatherings are to anticipate heaven… the church triumphant is repeatedly spoken of as those gathered around the throne of God engaged in corporate acts of praise… praise and worship are the proper response to our glorious God.’
2) We gather to grow in our faith
Christians need to grow in their love for God. Love is to fuel ‘all of our life, all of the time.’ Love leads to worship of God. In fact, in Philippians 1:9-11, Paul links our growing love for God to our growing knowledge of God, which then leads to our growing worship and service of God as we grow in Christ-likeness. Conversely there are some pretty strong words towards those Christians that don’t grow in love (1 Cor. 3:1-2; Heb. 5:11-6:3).
How and when does such growth happen for most believers? We might think it is through our personal study, or our small group, or a one-to-one, or through the reading of a book or listening to a podcast. But in the New Testament the main emphasis is through preaching – the authoritative proclamation of God’s word in a corporate setting – which takes place historically, theologically and practically in our Sunday meetings.
If we reduce our Sunday teaching to a message which is basic and light, we will end up with a church where the people are malnourished. This not only does a disservice to them, but it dishonours God.
3) We expect unbelievers to be present
One of the things that strikes me in 1 Corinthians is that Paul assumes that unbelievers will be present in their meetings (1 Cor. 14:23). We also should expect the same. That means we need to ensure that the whole of our meeting, not just the sermon, is clear and accessible; that language and terms are explained, and that we are engaging. But that doesn’t mean light!
David Jackman once warned against pulpit journalism that trusts in clever speech rather than the power of the word of God. My first mentor said: ‘We do well to remember there is power in the word of God. Our aim in preaching ought to be the exposing of the Bible’s message and the releasing of the Bible’s saving and sanctifying power.’
We need to trust in the power of the word (Heb. 4) and the Spirit (1 Thess. 1:5). But we also need to remember that the gathered church worshipping God, celebrating their Saviour and seriously engaging in His word, is a very powerful witness to an unbeliever.
Last week I asked one of those teenagers whether she remembered that infamous 2 Samuel 6 Sunday. She replied: ‘I didn’t understand it all, but if I had, I wouldn’t have wanted to come back, because you wouldn’t have been offering anything different from everyone else. And even though I didn’t understand it all, I got that it was important, and I wanted to find out why.’
