George Bernard Shaw is quoted as saying: “No conflict, no drama.”
Conflict drives our stories. The hero engages in single combat with the villain. Two suitors vie for the attention of an attractive and intelligent woman. The detective’s wits are pitted against the cunning of the criminal. Scripture, likewise, is full of stories, drama, and conflict. Whether it’s God vs idols, Jesus vs the Pharisees, Paul vs the false teachers, or the Spirit vs the flesh, the Bible is replete with military, emotional, ideological, relational, and intellectual conflict, often all at once!
As preachers, we can help our churches by bringing out these conflicts of Scripture in our preaching. Doing so aids the clarity of our preaching – it helps the Christian to know not just what Jesus is for, but also what He’s against. It also drives interest, as hearers wish to see how these conflicts will be resolved.
A good rule of thumb when preaching, therefore, is, “Whenever you say what something is, also say what it is not,” or, “Whenever you say something true, also say what is false.” Doing so follows Paul’s instruction to men of God, who do not just teach and encourage, but also rebuke and correct (2 Tim 3:16-17). Preaching should draw attention to the conflict in the text, as well as the conflicts in our hearts.
Conflict in the text
When God speaks through Haggai that Israel should be building His house, He also says that they’re too preoccupied with their own houses. When Jesus states that He came to serve, He also says that He did not come to be served. When Paul writes that we’re saved by grace through faith, he also says that we’re not saved by works.
When preaching, it’s helpful to outline the opposing sides in these conflicts, and not just who they are, but what they stand for, their values and ideas. For example, depending on the text, Jesus’ conflicts with the Pharisees might be specifically with their self-righteousness, hypocrisy, greed, or their legalistic reading of God’s Word.
In my preparation, I find it helpful to ask, “What is this text arguing against?” or, “Who or what is the villain of this text?” Understanding the conflicts that the Biblical writers faced helps us to better apply Scripture to our people – to address the conflict in our hearts.
Conflict in our hearts
This kind of conflict is where the teaching of Scripture rubs against our attitudes, behaviours, ideas, and values – in other words, where the Spirit wars against the flesh. We should be able to see at least a little bit of ourselves in the ‘villains’ of any Scripture text, and good preachers are able to draw convincing parallels between their thoughts and behaviours and ours.
This, in turn, helps our applications to become more impactful – we will hear not just what not to do, but the thinking and desires behind the wrong things we do (as Scripture often illuminates these). We also see the kinds of people our sinful thoughts and deeds are associated with, and how they are soundly rebuked by Jesus and His apostles.
For example, the Pharisees’ ridiculing Jesus in Luke 16:14-15 stemmed from a legalistic reading of the Law that allowed them to serve both God and money, while still looking righteous in front of their fellow Jews – an attitude that Jesus soundly rebuked by saying that God knew their greedy hearts. When preaching this, we could highlight the legalistic excuses we use to justify our love of money (Jesus died for my sins, so I’m saved anyway; it’s not money that’s the root of all evil, but the love of money; God just wants me to give cheerfully). God knows our hearts.
Some cautions about conflict
While conflict is often unavoidable, it is also dangerous, because there are many ways to do it poorly. A few cautions on preaching conflict:
First, a preacher should not manufacture conflict where it doesn’t exist. A preacher might proudly disparage a caricature or straw-man of well-meaning Christians from different denominations who have no relation to their congregation, or use a text of Scripture as a springboard to attack their political opponents. Such preaching belies an “unhealthy craving for controversy” (1 Tim 6:4) which is what false teachers engage in. Conflict that is credible is clearly observable in the text itself and relevant to the congregation a preacher is speaking to.
Second, when engaging in conflict, a preacher must not be belligerent or combative. Christians are called to avoid quarrelling, be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people (Titus 2:2) and the Lord’s servants are to gently correct their opponents with the hope of repentance (2 Tim 2:25). Especially when it comes to conflict, Christians must not go about it like the world does.
The impossible application
David Cook, the founder of EPTrust, writes in How to prepare a Bible talk about the Impossible Application: the application that Scripture says we shouldn’t do, but that we do anyway. The conflict in the text, and the conflict in our hearts, is against the Impossible Application. A preacher who is clear on the conflict in their passage is better equipped to be clear in their preaching and impactful upon their people.
Michael Leong