The Unresponsive Church Pt.5

In our present series of posts, seasoned pastor (and long-time pastor of pastors) John Benton has been steering us through what unresponsiveness is, what causes it and how we can handle it if we are serving the Saviour in the local church. Having painstakingly diagnosed the problem and prescribed concerted prayer in previous articles, Dr Benton now leads us through the kinds of preaching that can face unresponsiveness head on:

God’s men address the issue. They don’t avoid it or shy away from it. In facing unresponsive people and congregations in Scripture, we find God’s spokesmen addressing the problem using at least four different strategies, which may sometimes be combined. Let’s just identify them and then look more fully at one example.

Preaching warning

You have to start here. If people are not warned of their disobedience and its consequences you can hardly expect them to change. You find many such warnings from the OT prophets. They spelled out the consequences of turning a deaf ear to God, (Proverbs 28.9). This is what we find the Lord Jesus doing in the seven letters of Revelation.

Perhaps in today’s churches people don’t want to hear about God’s chastisement of Christians and the church. In a therapy culture, we want God to be our therapist, not our judge or King. We just want to be told about God’s grace and how much he loves us. Well, ‘the Lord disciplines those he loves, and punishes everyone he accepts as a son’ (Hebrews 12.6). People need to hear things they don’t want to hear.

Preaching from the blind-side

This is preaching which suddenly turns the tables on people. You’ve captured their attention because you are saying all the things the people want to hear. Often it is propositions that their self-righteousness would approve. But suddenly – like a left-hook from a boxer, out of the blue- they are hit from a direction they just weren’t expecting. Their self-righteousness backfires on them! ‘Amens’ turn to agony!

There’s an example of this in 1 Kings 20. Contrary to God’s command, King Ahab had let Ben Hadad live after the Lord had given Ahab victory in battle.

By the word of the LORD one of the company of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me with your weapon,” but he refused. So the prophet said, “Because you have not obeyed the LORD, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.” And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him. The prophet found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” So the man struck him and wounded him. Then the prophet went and stood by the road waiting for the king. He disguised himself with his headband down over his eyes. As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, “Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, ‘Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life for his life, or you must pay a talent of silver. While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.” “That is your sentence,” the king of Israel said. “You have pronounced it yourself.” Then the prophet quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. He said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life folf his life, your people for his people!” Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria. (1 Kings 20.35-43)

Ahab was not easily receptive to God’s word – but the message had got through.

Not quite the same, but think of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. There’s no preaching here – but it simply shows the power of turning the tables on the conscience. Judah has dealt unfairly with the widowed Tamar and then used his daughter-in-law (without realising it) as a prostitute and has left his seal and staff. Later Tamar is said to have committed prostitution and is pregnant. In all his self-righteousness, Judah says she should be burned to death. But then we read,

As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognise whose seal and cord and staff these are.” Judah recognised them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” (Genesis 38.25, 26)

He is so conscience-stricken he repents! He’s been totally blindsided.

Preaching in parables

The idea here is that the congregation won’t be told, so provoke them to ask questions. They’ve heard it all before and know all the answers. So don’t tell them the answers. Set them questions.

This, of course, is the method of the Lord Jesus Christ as he preaches to a hardened generation (of Pharisees). It is interesting that it is after the rejection of Jesus in Matthew that he begins to preach in parables.

Pastor, they are on the look out to fend off your assertions, your answers – but if you set the right question in their hearts, the answer might come at them by surprise. Under the Spirit’s working, answers might come from the inside, not the outside, from their own hearts and not from the preacher. You’ve got past the defences.

So there is the parable of the sower: it leaves people wondering what it means. When people are asking questions, they are open. The disciples – those in whom God is working – want to know. Tell us what it means. He explains, and they are open.

There is the parable of the prodigal son. The Pharisees have been condemning Jesus for eating with sinners (Luke 15:1-2). They are drawn in by the story of a young profligate. There’s the repentance of the younger son. ‘Yes, that’s what these wretched sinners need to do’, say the Pharisees in their hearts. But the story doesn’t stop there. ‘Who is this older brother? Oh no. of course, it is us!’ And does the older brother go into the feast or not? What should he do?’ The Pharisees are left wondering.

Ezekiel’s acted out parables are in this category. The exiles were a pretty hard-hearted bunch. They thought, ‘God has been unkind to us. We would be better back in Jerusalem – why us? – it’s not fair!’ But here is a prophet laying on one side day after day? What’s this about?’ they think to themselves. ‘Ezekiel has built a model that looks rather like Jerusalem. It seems to be under siege.

Will it fall? If it does, perhaps we are better off here. Perhaps God has been good to us. We have completely misrepresented him. We need to repent.’ The parables provoke questions which get in under the radar.

Preaching prophetically

The book of Malachi is a good book to preach through to an unresponsive congregation. Malachi is preaching to those who have returned from the Exile, but for whom their faith has gone stale. They were just keeping up appearances. They offered sacrifices to God – but only damaged and diseased animals. They brought tithes – but not the full tithe. They had become sexually lax.

Malachi is written as a series of disputes with God. Complaints against God which people harboured in their hearts but which they would never air in public are addressed by God. It dawns on them that God knows what they are thinking. The way they rationalise their half-heartedness is exposed, and hypocrisy is answered in a way no one would have expected. In a new way, they realise God is the living God, and he knows all about them. Such a shock might well bring repentance. This is prophetic preaching. As a preacher seeks God, he can lead him to say things which no one could possibly know but God himself. That makes a congregation sit up and take notice!

Perhaps the great example to dwell on is the preaching strategy of the prophet Nathan to David after the adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. We find this in 2 Samuel 12.1-15. We can imagine David has silenced his conscience, hardened his heart against any feelings of guilt. He did not want the embarrassment of the truth coming out. Perhaps he was excusing himself by telling himself something like, ‘well she was so beautiful I couldn’t help myself.! There’s no sign of sorrow over what he’s done. But God is displeased. Nathan comes to David. In his message we find a number of our strategies combined tabring repentance to an unresponsive heart.

First, there is the clever story, or parable, of the poor man’s one sheep being taken by the rich man with vast flocks, simply to feed a guest. The story is calculated to draw in David, the ex-shepherd boy, and raise in him a sense of righteous anger, v5,6. Burning with anger, David blurts out, ‘the man deserves to die!’ He’s listening!

Second, suddenly, totally blind-sided by his own sense of righteous anger, David is in for a shock. In comes the left hook from the prophet: You are the man!’ (v7a). And Nathan lays it on thick – how good God has been to David and then for him to repay the Lord like this, (vv7b-8). David is shocked.

Third, because he has done this, though he is forgiven, there will be judgment on his house. ‘The sword will never depart from your house’ (v10). God will chastise. There will be civil war. All this is unfolded and comes to pass in 2 Samuel with the story of Absalom. And now David confesses and repents. His defences have been breached. ‘I have sinned against the LORD’, admits David (v13). There is forgiveness, but there will still be consequences in chastisement.

From all of this you can see how wise the preacher must be in pursuing such a preaching strategy. It calls for real insight. That’s why preparation for such preaching needs prayer: God-given wisdom.

Dr Benton has graciously allowed us to share materials on this theme which originally appeared in booklet form on his Pasta Pastor website. In the final instalment next week, we will consider how powerful preaching must be backed up with consistent practice in the local church, in order that unresponsiveness might be undone.