Yesterday I posted a video of a talk given by Tim Keller on the role of persuasion in preaching the Gospel. As a follow up I wanted to provide an explanation of what Keller means by persuasion. The following is a paraphrase of Keller’s definition.
Persuasion is seeking to understand your audience so what you say to them will address their concerns and overcome their objections. In doing so, the barriers that formerly prevented your listeners from giving thought to the message you proclaim will be taken away and they can begin to see the attractiveness of the Gospel.
I encourage you to watch or listen to Keller’s talk in its entirety (see yesterday’s post).
At the 2008 Dwell Conference in New York City Tim Keller spoke on the topic of persuasion in preaching. I appreciated how at the very beginning of the session Keller addressed some of the common objections to the use of persuasion in preaching the Gospel. Video of the session is embedded below.
You can also download the audio and notes at the Acts 29 website.
In the following promotional video for Redeemer Church Planting Center Tim Keller and other church planters explain why planting churches in the world’s big cities is so crucial.
Keller’s emphasis on cities has certainly caught my attention over the last few years. I’m still trying to figure out what to do about it on a personal level.
Matt Leighton is a missionary, local church elder, and professor at El Colegio Bíblica de la Gracia in Spain. Over the last few years he’s produced, in Spanish, a number of theological resources from a Reformed perspective. The resources (audio and papers) are all available for *free* at the website of Grace Bible Church (see below).
Please pass on the link to anyone you think may be interested in these excellent resources.
Jim Elliff’s Loving Even the Cantankerous is a brief article full of sound advice on dealing with difficult individuals in the church.
He was one of the most cantankerous men I had ever known. When all the church wished to move forward into a new area of ministry, you could count on him confronting the elders about it in a negative way. In fact, “negative” was his middle name. Our system of decision-making did not allow his views to be buried in a hidden vote, but brought him straight into contact with the leaders with whom he almost always disagreed. Time after time, there he was, the only “aginner.”
My good friend Jason has begun blogging at Personal Theology. Today he asks the following questions.
What above all else characterizes a Christian? The Republican party? Opposition to abortion and gay marriage? Is it creationism vs. evolution(ism)? Is it morality? The 10 commandments? The location of the 10 commandments in public places? Is it boycotts of offensive/immoral movies? Is it 7 steps to how to live life to its fullest? Is it don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew (or go with girls who do)? If one were to take a poll of non-Christians—heck, if a poll were taken of Christians themselves—what would be said to be the defining characteristic of a Christian? What would be that sine qua non of Christianity?
[Other than attending church] how do you decide what else you should or should not do on Sunday?
Whitney then summarizes what he sees as the three prominent views among Christians regarding how Sunday is to be approached.
Christian Sabbath view – according to this view the Fourth Commandment (“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” [Exodus 20:8]) is a “perpetual, moral law of God and remains intact under the New Covenant…Except for the ceremonial aspects of the Jewish Sabbath, all the other Sabbath laws should be embraced by Christians today, just as much as any of the other Ten Commandments” (Donald S. Whitney, Simplify Your Spiritual Life, 165).
Lord’s Day view – this view argues that “the Sabbath pointed to Christ. Jesus is the true Sabbath…when we rest from (that is, stop relying upon) our good works as the way to be right with God and rest by faith in the finished work of Christ on our behalf, we ‘keep the Sabbath’” (Whitney, 165).
Oblivious view – this view is not really a view, but rather the absence of a position regarding the Sabbath due primarily to a lack of consideration about what the Bible says on the matter.
Sadly, it seems many Christians fall into the third category. Most of us simply don’t give much thought to what we do or don’t do on Sundays. Yet whatever we do or don’t do on Sundays we’re to do it to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). In light of this Whitney concludes with an important exhortation for us to consider.
I want to encourage you to base your decisions about your Lord’s Day activities — whatever they may be — more intentionally upon the Bible. That’s what a Christian really wants to do in everything, isn’t it?…Study the issue, be persuaded in your own mind, and then act accordingly. Believe that it’s always more blessed by God and glorifying to God to choose to live biblically (Whitney, 166).
