I have now been preaching for nearly 20 years and have noticed patterns; patterns in myself and in others.  To be honest, I do not listen to other people’s sermons or podcasts.  I read a lot.  I read my bible and I read broadly.  I pray.  I strike up conversations with our parishioners and with people at the coffee shop and arenas.  John Stott coined the term ‘double listening’ to describe the way preachers ought to listen to the word of God and to the imaginations, dreams, desires and issues in today’s world.

Tim Keller addressed the Anglican 1000 Summit at the end of January.  He spoke on the complementary nature of institutional structure and movemental energy, the nature of revival, and contextualization of gospel preaching.  His talk on contextualization redeemed the notion for me.  He used an analogy, saying that good preaching is like exploding a large rock.  If you simply stick the explosive on the surface of the rock you will shatter shards from the outside.  This is the picture of preaching without contextual awareness; i.e., without ‘double listening’.  Rather, he proposed that good preaching drills into the rock of our contexts dropping the explosive of the gospel deep into the core of the rock and then lights the fuse.

So, here’s my concern.  Far too often I have seen preachers who drill into the rock neglecting to drop in the gospel dynamite much less light the fuse.  They conform the ‘gospel’ to social and cultural norms rather than allowing the biblical gospel of Jesus’ Kingdom to confront our broken world.

Keller mentioned an article by Don Carson entitled, Pastoral Pensees: Motivations to Appeal to in our Hearers When We Preach for Conversion.

Carson outlines the range of biblical preaching, demonstrating how Jesus, Paul and Peter appeal to different aspects of the gospel depending on their context.  That is to say, they presented the gospel to their audience with awareness.  Carson submits that there is a range of biblical contextualizaton in preaching and a robust grasp of the gospel, in all its beauty and with all of its implications, allows preachers to ‘double listen’ effectively.

Carson also shows that a comprehensive grasp of the gospel will include recognizing where the scriptures place emphasis.  Good preaching ought to listen well to the dreams and imaginations of the audience while employing the full range of biblical gospel truth, applying it to the needs and deep desires of the audience.

I guess I am an old preacher who is still learning.