Transformative Preaching: How the Holy Spirit Empowers
PREFACE
This book is the English version of the book KOTBAH TRANSFORMATIF (Peran Roh Kudus Dalam Kotbah yang mengubahkan Iman) and I hope this book can reach a wider audience. It is my earnest prayer that the Lord will use these pages to stir the hearts of His people and to remind every preacher and believer that without the Spirit of God, our words are empty.
True preaching is not the wisdom of man, nor the art of persuasion, but the work of the Holy Spirit. Only He can convict of sin, awaken faith, and bring a sinner to the foot of the cross. As the Apostle Paul declared, “My speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4–5).
May this book encourage pastors, evangelists, and all who handle the Word of God to depend wholly upon the Spirit in every sermon and every testimony. May it remind the Church that transformation is not born of eloquence, but of Christ crucified and risen, preached in the power of the Spirit.
To Him be the glory, now and forever. Amen.
CHAPTER I
CHALLENGES IN PULPIT MINISTRY
The ongoing challenge in pulpit ministry throughout time lies in its impact: can preaching truly bring about life transformation in its listeners? If so, why is the impact often felt to be so minimal? [2] In countries that are formally known as Christian or Catholic—such as many in Europe, the United States, and nearby regions—hedonistic lifestyles prevail, along with sexual immorality, high divorce rates, and the production and export of pornography, narcotics, and alcoholic beverages. In recent years, these same countries have even legalized same-sex marriage, which is clearly prohibited by the Bible, under the now familiar term LGBT. [3]
Curtis Barbarick, pastor and author serving at North Street Church of Christ in Nacogdoches, Texas, has expressed deep concern over the limited transformative power of preaching:
“There is evidence that there is not much transformation happening among Christians in North America. A number of studies suggest that the lifestyle of Christians is not significantly different than that of non-Christians.” [4]
As Curtis notes, the reality is that the United States ranks among the nations with the highest incarceration rate and total prison population in the world.
At the beginning of 2008, more than 2.3 million Americans were incarcerated, with a ratio of one in every 100 adults. The current imprisonment rate has increased nearly sevenfold since 1980, and is three times higher than that of Poland—the OECD country with the second-highest incarceration rate. The number of African American men in prison is four times that of white men, and three times that of Hispanic men. The high incarceration rate in the United States is largely the result of sentencing policies and drug-related offenses. [5]
Among developed nations, the United States also has one of the highest crime rates. The most common crimes involve armed violence and homicide.
In 2011, there were 4.7 murder cases per thousand inhabitants—14.5% lower than in 2000 (5.5 cases), and 19.0% lower than in 2006 (5.8 cases). Firearm ownership in the U.S. remains a topic of intense political debate. Each year, approximately 20 million criminal cases are recorded in the United States. According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice Statistics Office, crime rates involving theft and homicide rose sharply in 2009.
The same spokesperson noted that more than 4.3 million of these cases were related to rape, robbery, and assault. There were 15.6 million reported cases of burglary and car theft, while pickpocketing accounted for 133 reported cases. The report also stated that among the U.S. population of 300 million, seven out of every hundred individuals became victims of crime or theft. [6]
These statistical data offer a general picture of a nation whose population is predominantly Christian. According to the 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, about 78.4% of adults in the United States identified as Christian—a decline from 86.4% in 1990.
Protestants make up the largest Christian denomination in the United States, accounting for approximately 51.3%, while Roman Catholics represent the second-largest denomination at around 23.9%. Adherents of non-Christian religions in 2007 totaled about 4.7%, up from 3.3% in 1990. [118] These include Judaism (1.7%), Buddhism (0.7%), Islam (0.6%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). [117] The same survey also reported that around 16.1% of Americans identified as agnostic, atheist, or unaffiliated—up from 8.2% in 1990. [7]
It Is striking that, despite being a nation with a Christian majority, the United States maintains a very high crime rate. For this reason, many American theologians continue to question the limited impact of preaching on believers’ daily lives. With sermons delivered weekly in churches, Bibles owned by nearly every family, and numerous television programs dedicated to Christian ministry, why does crime remain so rampant? This reality has led many scholars and preachers to conclude that sermons still fall far short of producing the desired transformative impact.
The website Numbeo [8] published a World Crime Index for 2016. The ten cities with the highest crime rates were:
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Crime Index: 88.18
Safety Index: 11.82
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Crime Index: 87.10
Safety Index: 12.90
Fortaleza, Brazil
Crime Index: 85.66
Safety Index: 14.34
Johannesburg, South Africa
Crime Index: 83.36
Safety Index: 16.64
Pretoria, South Africa
Crime Index: 80.77
Safety Index: 19.23
Durban, South Africa
Crime Index: 79.90
Safety Index: 20.10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Crime Index: 77.19
Safety Index: 22.81
San Salvador, El Salvador
Crime Index: 77.02
Safety Index: 22.98
Detroit, United States
Crime Index: 76.23
Safety Index: 23.77
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Crime Index: 75.99
Safety Index: 24.01 [9]
Meanwhile, according to Numbeo’s ranking of countries with the highest crime levels:
Venezuela
Crime Index: 84.44
Safety Index: 15.56
South Sudan
Crime Index: 81.32
Safety Index: 18.68
South Africa
Crime Index: 78.43
Safety Index: 21.57
Papua New Guinea
Crime Index: 77.58
Safety Index: 22.42
Honduras
Crime Index: 76.43
Safety Index: 23.57
Nigeria
Crime Index: 74.14
Safety Index: 25.86
Trinidad and Tobago
Crime Index: 72.60
Safety Index: 27.40
El Salvador
Crime Index: 72.04
Safety Index: 27.96
Brazil
Crime Index: 71.23
Safety Index: 28.77
Kenya
Crime Index: 69.49
Safety Index: 30.51 [10]
San Pedro Sula, which ranks first as the most crime-ridden city in the world, is located in Honduras, Central America. Venezuela, which tops the list of countries with the highest crime rate, lies in South America. Both Honduras and Venezuela are former Spanish colonies, Spanish-speaking, and have populations that are more than 94% Roman Catholic. This serves as a troubling illustration that even within predominantly Catholic societies, preaching seems powerless to influence social morality or public behavior—despite widespread confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and acceptance of the Bible as the supreme guide to life.
In Indonesia, Western cultural influences have begun to produce similar problems. What has occurred in Europe and America is now emerging in Indonesia as well. Preachers face the same challenge: the minimal impact of sermons on congregational life. The prominent research organization Indonesia Research Center (IRC) released a survey ranking the ten least safe cities in Indonesia:
Medan – Safety Level: 3.2%
Samarinda – 31.6%
Palembang – 33.3%
Makassar – 44.0%
Jakarta – 48.9%
Lampung – 50.0%
Surabaya – 50.9%
Denpasar – 51.5%
Bandung – 61.9%
Semarang – 63.2% [11]
Indonesia, of course, cannot be directly compared with Western nations that are formally Christian. Medan, ranked as the least safe city—thus having the highest crime rate—has the following religious demographics:
Islam: 68.83%
Protestant Christianity: 20.27%
Buddhism: 8.79%
Roman Catholicism: 2.79%
Hinduism: 0.44%
Others: 0.85% [12]
Christians are not the majority in Medan. However, with 20.27% Protestants and 2.79% Catholics, their proportion is still higher than in most other Indonesian cities outside traditional Christian strongholds such as Sulawesi and Papua. Although no official data from the Indonesian Bureau of Statistics (BPS) links criminal activity with religious affiliation, the combined 23% Christian population appears to have little effect on the city’s safety level compared to cities where Christians represent less than 10%.
If preaching has limited impact within the church, it has even less influence beyond the church walls.
Internet Sources:
Sean Cole. Transformational Preaching. http://www.preachleadlove.com/single-post/2017/03/01/Transformational-Preaching. Accessed July 13, 2017.
Peter Mead. “What does transformational preaching transform?” (https://biblicalpreaching.net/2014/10/25/what-does-transformational-preaching-transform/) Accessed July 13, 2017.
Ed Stetzer. Preaching Transformation: The Change We Need. (https://www.sermoncentral.com/content/Ed-Stetzer-Preaching-Transformation-Change?Page=1&ac=true&csplit=9060). Accessed July 14, 2017.
https://staff.blog.ui.ac.id/arif51/2008/04/08/definisi/. Accessed July 14, 2017.
J. Tyler Scarlett. “Eye, Eye, Preacher!” Preaching July/August 2015. Preaching.com.
Rakyatku.com (May 14, 2016). UNM Sociologist: 82 Suicide Cases in Indonesia in a Single Day. Accessed February 2, 2017.
http://www.preachleadlove.com/single-post/2017/03/01/Transformational-Preaching. Accessed July 13, 2017.
https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doa_Syahadat_Nicea).
Notes:
2. The topic of preaching and life transformation is discussed in an article written by John Ortberg, titled “Biblical Preaching Is Preaching About Life Change, Not Its Form,” published in the book The Art & Craft of Biblical Preaching, Volume 2.
3. LGBT is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. According to the Indonesian-language Wikipedia, this term has been used since the 1990s to replace the term “Gay Community.” This information was taken from https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT, accessed June 30, 2017.
4. Curtis Barbarick. Preaching That Leads to Transform. Discernment, Theology and the Practice Ministry. Volume 1, Issue 1, Article 2, 2015. http://digitalcommons.acu.edu/discernment/vol1/iss1/2. Accessed July 11, 2017.
5. Law Enforcement and Criminality in the United States. https://beritasepuluh.com/2014/03/23/penegakan-hukum-dan-kriminalitas-di-amerika-serikat/. Accessed July 1, 2017.
6. Ibid.
7. Religion. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika_Serikat. Accessed July 1, 2017.
8. Numbeo is a collaborative online database founded in April 2009 by Mladen Adamovic, a former Google software engineer. It was initially created for users to share and compare information about living costs between countries and cities. In 2011, it began collecting data on crime, pollution, healthcare, and traffic.
9. http://koran-sindo.com/page/news/2016-01-13/0/25/Kota_dan_Negara_dengan_Kejahatan_Tertinggi_di_Dunia. Accessed June 30, 2017.
10. Ibid.
11. http://harian.analisadaily.com/opini/news/medan-peringkat-satu-kota-tidak-aman/261246/2016/09/06. Accessed June 30, 2017.
12. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kota_Medan. Accessed June 30, 2017.
CHAPTER II
THE PROBLEM OF PREACHING
Finding the root cause behind the minimal impact or influence of preaching on the congregation’s life is not an easy task. Michael K. Shipman, in his book Biblical Preaching That Is Communicative and Authoritative, raises a key question about the problem of modern preaching: “Have the people who listen to your sermons ever (or perhaps often) become bored?” This may well happen when the sermon’s communication is either poorly delivered or poorly received, resulting in boredom among the congregation.[13]
In truth, preaching plays an important role in building individuals and communities to live better lives. Yet here lies the problem—when preaching fails to produce life-changing impact. Dr. Johnson T. K. Lim, in his book Power in Preaching, raises a question: Whose fault is it? The preacher or the listener? Is it a communication problem or a spiritual problem?[14]
The answer, of course, may vary depending on one’s point of view. A preacher may blame the congregation for not listening attentively. The congregation may blame the preacher for being dull. A neutral observer might see the issue as one of poor communication or ineffective message delivery. A spiritual-minded person may point to a deeper issue—a lack of spiritual maturity. In truth, the problem may be a complex mix of all four: the preacher, the listener, the delivery method, and spiritual immaturity.
The preacher, however, bears the greater responsibility, and thus the focus is often directed toward the preacher himself: Why do some preachers preach so poorly? What is the problem? Researchers have even described much of contemporary preaching as passionless, purposeless, impersonal, perfunctory, monotonous, lifeless, and dull.[15] It must be acknowledged that the preacher should be the first to take responsibility for evaluating this issue—for preaching is his calling, and proclaiming God’s Word is his duty.
A rather unfavorable description of preaching once appeared in an article in the Jews for Jesus Newsletter:
“It has been said that the greatest sin in the church today is not theft or adultery—the thief harms himself and others; the adulterer defiles his own body. Rather, the greatest sin in the church today is the boredom of the congregation. Such boredom brings shame upon God’s reputation!”[16]
However, the problem does not lie solely with the preacher. The surrounding culture also contributes significantly to the issue of preaching. Haddon W. Robinson explains this well: preaching today takes place in a communication-saturated society. Every day, the mass media bombard us with tens of thousands of “messages.” Television and radio present salesmen who deliver their “sponsored messages” with all the sincerity of an evangelist. In such a context, the preacher’s voice may sound like that of a street vendor who, as John Ruskin once said, performs “a stage play using doctrines of life and death as his deceitful props.”[17]
It is clear, then, that preaching has entered an era full of challenges. Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Church, is keenly aware of this issue. He agrees that “many styles of preaching that were once effective are now less so for those who do not yet believe.”[18] Even though homiletical methods have been refreshed by experts, they still seem to fall short of producing the desired impact. It is striking how Cranfield, as early as 1950, gave a warning that has become increasingly relevant in our time. He said:
“A sad fact about the church today is that many congregations demand sermons that are shorter, lighter, and more entertaining—and not a few standing in the pulpit are eager to comply. This creates a vicious cycle: shallow congregations produce shallow preachers, and shallow preachers make congregations even shallower.”[19]
Since George Barna published his book Marketing the Church[20] in 1988, a shift in the orientation of Christian ministry began. Not only did churches become market-driven, but preaching also became market-oriented. This led many to view the congregation not as a flock needing nourishment, but as customers to be satisfied—using sermons to help them solve their personal spiritual struggles.[21]
This consumer-oriented preaching has come to dominate pulpits in churches around the world—originating in North America and spreading globally. Whereas the prophets of old delivered God’s message calling people to follow His will, today it is often the congregation who set the agenda for the pulpit. Could this be one reason why preaching has lost its transformative power? For preaching rooted in deep biblical exposition has been replaced by preaching rooted in understanding the audience.
A preacher’s sermon should bring transformation to the listener’s life. Yet, at the same time, we must realize that no human being has the power to change another person’s life to align with God’s will. Therefore, this study will also discuss the relationship between the Holy Spirit and preaching that transforms lives.
The Preacher’s Convictions
The tupoksi (core duties and functions) of a preacher is to proclaim God’s message to the world. This message must be carried with a heart full of obedience and deep responsibility. The preacher must not distort the content or purpose of God’s message. Therefore, every preacher should hold to several foundational convictions necessary to fulfill his calling faithfully:
The Bible is the Word of God, the infallible and perfect guide for human faith and conduct, as stated in 2 Timothy 3:16–17:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The Bible remains relevant for all time. Its truth is eternal, even though it was written by more than forty authors over a span of 1,500 years. Its accuracy and relevance have never changed.
The goal of preaching is life transformation, not to entertain listeners, display rhetorical skill, or achieve popularity.
Only the Holy Spirit can change lives. Even the most sophisticated preaching methods or communication skills cannot turn a sinful heart toward repentance and holiness before God.
Prayer plays a vital role in the preaching process. A sermon that is conceived through prayer and delivered in the power of prayer creates a mutual partnership between the preacher and the Holy Spirit.
Sound preaching method and communication skill remain necessary. A life-changing sermon is the product of sound homiletical principles combined with communication mastery and the anointing power of the Holy Spirit.
Notes:
13. Michael K. Shipman, Biblical Preaching That Is Communicative and Authoritative (Bandung: Lembaga Literatur Baptis, 2003), 21.
14. Johnson T. K. Lim, Power in Preaching (Singapore: Word N Works, 2005), 3.
15. Ibid.
16. Donald K. Smith, Creating Understanding (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 6–7.
17. Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching (Yogyakarta: Penerbit ANDI, 2001), 10.
18. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Malang: Gandum Mas, 1995), 313.
19. John Stott and Greg Scharf, The Challenge of Preaching (Jakarta: Yayasan Bina Kasih, 2014), 24.
20. George Barna is an evangelical who graduated summa cum laude from Boston College (bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in religion), earned his master’s degree from Rutgers University, and his doctorate from Dallas Baptist University. His book Marketing the Church begins with the presupposition that the concept of church growth is a perspective not typically gained in seminary. Building on that idea, Barna presents the importance of marketing for modern church growth. The ten chapters of the book argue for the role and implementation of marketing within the context of the church.
21. Thomas G. Long, “No News Is Bad News,” in Mike Graves, ed., What’s the Matter with Preaching Today? (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004), 146–147.
