In chapter seven of Preaching and Preachers, Martyn Lloyd-Jones laments the “new trend” of the pew dictating the pulpit. One cannot help but imagine what Lloyd-Jones would think of this “trend” if he were still alive today. With the rise of seeker-sensitive churches perhaps more than ever the pew often dictates the pulpit.
Lloyd-Jones notes the strange fact that some argue the people in the pew are unable to sustain thought for long enough to listen to a sermon, and at the same time it is argued that modern man is too advanced to simply listen to a preacher exposit the Scriptures. Instead, it is argued that we ought to spend more time in the newspaper than in the Bible to prepare our sermons.
Of course we must make our sermons accessible and speak in a language which even “servant maids and the children” can understand. But it is a great fallacy to “think that you need a gospel for special types of people” (141). If folks do not appreciate God’s Word it is not because it has somehow been lost in translation and if we only spoke their language they’d treasure it. No, the problem is that they are unregenerate and cannot treasure God’s Word as they ought. This is why Lloyd-Jones encourages us to “beware of barriers that aren’t”.
We must be contemporary and there is a place for a certain type of contextualization but there are limits to our ability to contextualize. “Or methods must always be consistent and compatible with our message, and not contradict it.” (149) In fact if you look at the ministry of Jesus he attracted people not because he looked and sounded just like them, he attracted people because he was different. You cannot reason people into the kingdom of God and I believe Lloyd-Jones would also say you cannot “cool” people into the kingdom.
Preaching has power and it always will. Keep your hand to the plow.
Tweet Note:
Contrary to contemporary thought the pew must not dictate the pulpit. God’s Word holds power not human opinion on what ought to be preached.
Quotables:
The wise preacher keeps his eye on the servant maids and the children. (140)
There is no greater fallacy than to think that you need a gospel for special types of people (141)
Because he knows that all the people in front of him are suffering from the same disease, which is sin—every one of them. (145)
We have to show them that though they get rid of that particular sin they are still in as great need as they were before, and that the business of salvation is not merely to get rid of particular problems but to put the ‘whole man’ right in his relationship to God. (145)
This idea that you can win the world by showing that after all you are very similar to it, with scarcely any difference at all, or but a very slight one, is basically wrong not only theologically but even psychologically. (149)
Our object is not merely to get decisions, it is to bring people to a knowledge of the Truth. (151)
Questions:
In what ways do you see in our day the pew dictating the pulpit? Is this right or wrong?
What areas are you tempted to let the pew have priority?
How hard should preachers strain to be relevant? Is there a way in which we can “overswing” and wrongly take pleasure in using archaic phrases? What does error look like on both sides of this horse?
On page 144 Lloyd-Jones talks about the different types of services we’d need to have to please all the different types of people. What do you think Llloyd-Jones would say about our church plants based around certain affinity groups?
