I can happily spend twenty hours a week in Bible study. But put me in a pew for a twenty-minute sermon that never opens the text, and I’d rather be outside shoveling rocks.
Sean Lucas’s post “The difference between a lecture and a sermon” helped me understand why. He explains:
“Whereas my major goal in lecturing is information, my major goal in preaching is transformation.” He concludes: “And perhaps the way to keep this in mind is to ask this question: ‘How does this sermon, as currently written/prepared, move my people’s affections in such ways that they will love Christ more as a result of hearing this?'”
But here’s the conviction that drives my work: in the Christian life, there is no lasting transformation without true information. Move my affections without showing me how the passage means what you say it means, and you’ve given me whipped cream without coffee. Tasty for a moment. Not nourishing for a life
Transformation grows from truth
Scripture doesn’t change us by osmosis or hype. It changes us when we understand it. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable… that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Understanding is the doorway to repentance, hope, and obedience.
So when a teacher unfolds a passage—authorial intent, context in the book and in the canon, the flow of thought, historical setting, key words and metaphors, even helpful notes from the original languages—my heart sings.
Show me how you got there from the text, and I will gladly ask God to change my mind, habits, and loves. Tell me the conclusion without the path, and I’m left thinking, That’s one person’s opinion.
Emotion without exegesis is a sugar rush
Stories can illuminate; they just can’t substitute. If a sermon aims mainly to “move the room,” it may deliver a spike of feeling but little substance to sustain faith on Monday morning. The Bible’s power isn’t in our performance; it’s in God’s Word rightly explained. Give me the coffee—the hot, bracing substance of the passage—and the cream will take care of itself
What I’m asking from the pulpit
- Open the text. Read it. Keep referring back to it. Let the congregation see the connections for themselves.
- Show your work. Why does this point follow from this verse? How does this paragraph relate to the whole book?
- Honor context. Quote carefully. Resist using a verse as a springboard to talk about something else.
- Let application grow organically. When the meaning is clear, the implications land with weight and grace.
When preaching persuades with the plain meaning of Scripture, I repent. When it aims to steer my feelings without persuading my mind, I leave wondering what God would say about what we just heard.
The bottom line
Lasting change comes as our understanding of God’s Word deepens. Transformation follows from truth. If you give me context, clarity, and careful exegesis, I will gladly follow you into conviction and worship. But skip the hard work with the text, and all you’ve handed me is a moment that fades.
Omitting the deep exegesis of Scripture to move emotion is like scooping the whipped cream from the top of a cup of coffee. The sugar-rush will transform my short-term emotional experience, but I need the hot coffee to warm and nourish my soul
For more see: 3 Tips for Bible Study in a “post-truth” world
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.
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