CRITICISM of our preaching falls into three categories: ‘mindless’ criticism and therefore not worth worrying about except to try graciously to correct; negative criticism but worth swallowing our pride, taking notice of and responding to; and positive criticism, so thankfully received as it spurs us on to greater endeavour.
‘Mindless’ criticism, in my experience over more than 50 years of preaching, and for want of a better term, is generally criticism of preaching which cuts across the critic’s darling sins and from which the critic is not willing to depart but which the preacher needs to continue to plough through. Either this, or one’s preaching contradicts the critic’s wrongly but strongly held views which arise from what is erroneously called a ‘liberal’ interpretation of God’s Word and generally attack the uniqueness of Christ, His divinity, His atoning sacrifice on the cross, His virgin birth, His resurrection from the dead His second coming and judgment.
Long ago and far away there was a lady in my parish who constantly came to me with the plea that I stop preaching on sin. ‘All you ever preach about is sin, and everyone is sick of it!’ she would say. Eventually I put a pile of my sermons preached over the previous three months on a corner of my desk. One day when she came to the door and my wife was home I invited her into the study. I asked her to leaf through them and see that from time to time I did in fact preach about sin but always moved on to tell them the remedy for sin and plead with them to repent and trust in Christ for forgiveness and new life in Him.
This didn’t seem to make much of an impression but many years later I met up with a friend who had been assistant to the minister who followed me and had a long and splendid ministry there. To his astonishment I asked how he’d got along with this lady. To my astonishment he told me that she had been born again under my successor’s ministry and was nothing like my description of her. Grace really is amazing, as they say.
Our concern for these people can be most effective in pastoral care. During the early years of the continuation of the Presbyterian Church after the inauguration of the Uniting Church, the Presbyterian Church had a remnant of ‘liberals’, mostly among the elderly. Whenever I heard of one of them being in hospital I would give them a visit majoring on Bible reading and prayer, studiously avoiding platitudes such as, ‘Cheer up old boy, you can always find someone worse off than yourself’ (Spurgeon said that only a fiend would say such a thing). A good number of them came to or back to full-orbed faith.
Negative criticism is often worth taking on board, even if it is just about some minor irritation which nevertheless takes the critic’s attention away from the main thing. More importantly though, if it concerns some mistaken handling of God’s Word on the preacher’s part then it’s ’back to the books’ to make further explanation in due course.
Often, criticism is not of the preacher as an individual but as a member of a particular cohort, usually one called ‘fundamentalist’ by the unnuanced. To them I say that they can call me a ‘fundamentalist’ if they must, but simply to call me ‘a Bible-believing Christian’ would be sufficiently accurate and would avoid any guilt-by-association with fundamentalists of other religions.
Positive or constructive criticism is ‘worth far more than rubies’. We all need encouragement, and in fact we are all bidden in Scripture to ‘encourage one another and build each other up’. (1 Thess 5.11). Back in those long ago and faraway days there was another lady, Mrs Rhoda, a veritable daughter of encouragement. If I was preaching on the Psalms of Ascent, say Psalm 121, she would say on the way out of church, ‘I liked the way you stressed that we don’t get our inspiration from the hills, but from the God who made them.’ Next Lord’s Day she would say on the way into church, ‘I’ve read Psalm 122 and I hope you’re going to say what a joy and delight it is to go to the House of the Lord.’
So I soon fell into the habit of asking myself in sermon preparation, ‘Would Mrs Rhoda “get” this?’ This habit transferred nicely into my later ministry as editor of Australian Presbyterian Life and later still New Life. I called it ‘The Mrs Rhoda Principle’.
Is there a Mrs Rhoda in your church? If so, give thanks for her. If not, pray that the Lord will send you one – SOON! – Bob Thomas