I recently wrote about the dangers of over applying in a sermon. I said that I’d come back to the question of what we do with all the other helpful applications we want to make. So, here are a few thoughts about what to do when you’ve got more application to include than you’ve got time and space to in your sermon.
- Teach the congregation to apply God’s Word to themselves
I’ve talked before about how, if we make one application, it is possible for others to apply it by way of analogy to their own situation. In fact, we are often already doing this when we make an application to our context from an already very practical passage. How often have you preached about whether or not your congregation members should eat meat sacrificed to idols, welcome uncircumcised believers to their table or even specifically step in to protect a co-worker from circumcision? So every time we preach through 1 Corinthians and Galatians we apply by way of analogy. We say “This is not exactly the same but it is related.”
So, one thing we can be doing is encouraging people to listen in to the situations we deal with and encourage them to think about how this might relate to their own circumstances. I may encourage a student to work diligently towards their exams whilst not seeing their worth in their results. An office worker by analogy should do their best to deliver the tasks given to them but should not seek value in their bosses’ praise or the bonus received.
“But this means that I still don’t get to use the application,” I hear myself saying. This should be a good thing though. The important thing isn’t that I get to use all my material but that the congregation grow in Christ.
- Preach shorter Bible passages
If Scripture is already applied and if I find myself spotting two or three applications, then maybe I have taken too big a portion. It may be better to preach on 4 or 5 verses, identify the specific point they are making on it and make that one point than to preach on a chapter in order to make 3 points.
- Be patient, allow the application to come out throughout the preaching series
Sometimes, we spot the kernel of an application as we are preaching on chapter 1 of a book of the Bible and we feel the pressure to share it immediately but in fact the application will come up later on in the book and be more fully formed. Of course, again this means that you may not get the opportunity to share your own discovery if you are part of a team but the priority is that people get to hear what God is saying.
- Signpost incidental side points clearly
Sometimes an application is not the primary point of the passage but it is something that strikes us as we are preparing and sometimes even on the day as we are preaching. I think we have to be careful about not overdoing it but sometimes it is okay to share the side point as long as we are clear that this is what it is to help people follow along.
- Use other opportunities to share material
Don’t expect the sermon to take all the weight of everything that could be said and taught. This is where you can make use of small group programmes in the week that link into the Sunday teaching. Why not also develop blog and podcast options to help people take things further.
This also means that we should be thinking about those pastoral/discipleship opportunities one to one. If there’s application for specific people, why not visit them to share it with them?
Faithroots 