Preach The Word

Chuck Swindoll: Declare the truth as you have been built to declare it. Explanation of the meaning and the application of holy scripture. It is the most effective method of getting knowledge from the page of the Bible into the hearts and minds of the believer.

Aaron Massey: Pastor Chuck Swindoll has proven to be one of the best preachers of our time. He has preached thousands of sermons spanning more than 60 years. If you asked him for one principle that has really helped him preach well, he would not start by giving you a technique. Instead, he would share a wonderful little statement, a punchy axiom that he likes to come back to. I want to read it for you from his book on preaching, *Saying it Well*, but before I do, I want you to hear this principle in action with this fun story from Chuck's series on Titus.

Chuck Swindoll: I got a nice letter this week from the Plano Police Department. I thought, "How great. They want me to speak at the police banquet, I bet." How nice. Personally addressed, nice envelope. I opened it up and I said, "Man, they really care. They have got a picture of my pickup in here!"

I read it and I read it again, and I realize that department is run by a bunch of legalists. They are. There were harsh words and there was a deadline. I looked at the pictures and I saw I approached, and I turned—zoom! It is kind of a blur, that last one, as I ran that light.

Of course, who should find the envelope but Mother Superior Cynthia? I thought my mother would just say, "I am proud of you, son." But my mother used to burn rubber out of the driveway. Taking off! "Why don't they move? Don't they realize? Lights are too long!"

In honor of my father, I sent $75 to the Plano Police Department. I remember that I am not there yet. Then we shall be where we would be. Then we shall be what we should be. Things that are not now nor could be soon will be our own. Not now, then.

If you don't know Christ, your end is nothing like that. It is nothing like that. You can't imagine how horrible it would be. So let's take care of that. I'd like you to bow your heads.

The grace of God has appeared. The epiphany has happened. The ladder has been dropped. How great is that? There is no age requirement, no gender, no church required. Nothing in your hands you bring; simply to the cross you cling.

Aaron Massey: I really like this clip because we can sense the freedom that Chuck feels behind the pulpit. First, so that you know who I am, my name is Aaron Massey, and it is my joy and privilege to serve at Insight for Living and to bring you this special Preach the Word series. Through it, we are offering insights on preaching based on the preaching of Chuck Swindoll.

This clip shows us Chuck's freedom expressing itself in two ways. On the one hand, there is this freedom that allows him to be transparent and honest about his ticket and even have fun with the story. On the other hand, it is the same freedom that allows him to slide right into the closing remarks of his sermon to help his hearers center their minds on Christ and to respond to the message.

Chuck discovered a principle for reaching this freedom back in the early 1960s. When he was training for ministry at Dallas Theological Seminary, he spent a summer in California with Pastor Ray Stedman doing an internship. In *Saying it Well*, Chuck's book on preaching, he writes this: "My time with Ray made me aware of something I lacked. I didn't have a strong sense of identity. I then set out to achieve a threefold objective that would guide the rest of my career: Know who you are, accept who you are, be who you are."

If you wanted one principle from Chuck on preaching, he starts right there. Without that principle, you'll be insecure in your study when you're all alone, and you'll be insecure behind the pulpit before your people. Furthermore, without that principle, your hearers are going to be able to sense your discomfort, your lack of authenticity, and they will get distracted and even grow uncomfortable themselves.

The Apostle Paul actually touches on this principle in 1 Thessalonians chapter two, verse four, where he wrote this: "For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts." Chuck's threefold objective helps us to stand secure before God. Chuck starts right there in his advice to preachers because no technique can overcome the absence of security, sincerity, and authenticity.

Now, of course, if you're like me, a warning sign might be firing off in your mind. It is this caution against developing some kind of personality cult where our listeners are more enamored with you as the preacher than with your subject, Christ. Chuck is the first to say, "Watch out for that. Guard against it." For all sermons and all churches and all pulpits, we want Christ and his gospel. We want his insight for living. We want him and his truth to be the dominant subject, the obvious magnet of our message that attracts our hearers.

With that said, here is the inescapable fact: Jesus spreads his gospel and builds his kingdom through people, from person to person, mind to mind, heart to heart. Phillips Brooks, in 1877, said this in a lecture: "Preaching is the bringing of truth through personality." Let's not make that statement more than what it actually is, but it hits nicely on this fact that Jesus uses persons and personalities, and that ministry happens best through authentic people.

If you are a preacher, being authentic can be a really tough place to get to. It took Chuck years and years to get there. I want you to listen to his conversation about this that he had with Michael Easley.

Michael Easley: Something comes out really deep out of Chuck Swindoll because this comes out of your pores. Your laughter, your self-deprecating humor, the way you throw your head in the pulpit when you preach. There is a compelling "I wish I could love life like that guy." Help us.

Chuck Swindoll: I will tell you in one word: freedom. I am free. I am really free. I cannot tell you how much I said it last night at the banquet we were at—I can't wait until Sunday.

Michael Easley: Was there a defining moment in your life when you started tasting freedom?

Chuck Swindoll: I write about it in my book, *Saying it Well*. I found out who I was, I accepted who I am. I didn't like everything about it, but I accepted the person God made inside this skin. Then I began to be who I am. I wasn't this way at the first. We were in New England and it was miserable. I was making it miserable.

I said to Cynthia one Sunday afternoon, "What is wrong? This is just really tough." She said, "Well, you're not who you really are when you get in the pulpit." I said, "What does that mean?" Because you and I both had studied under the greats. I was like the beast in Daniel 2. I was a little bit of every one of them, especially the clay feet.

I was trying to be a little bit of Bruce Waltke, a little bit of John Walvoord, a little bit of Dwight Pentecost, and this is the way Hendricks would say it, and this is the way—now, how would Zane Hodges have said this? You name it, you could name them. She said, "I just—you're so much fun at home. I just wish you would be you in the pulpit."

I said, "I can't do that. I can't be that." As is true of many guys, you learn your best stuff from your wife. She didn't let up. She said, "You can be that. You can be." I said, "Honey, this is New England." She said, "All the more reason. Be who you are." The old country preacher says, "Be who you is, because if you ain't who you is, you is who you ain't."

I was who I wasn't and I didn't even know it. When I got in the pulpit, it was severe. A lot of reproof, driving the sheep, a lot of frowns. We have got to get this straight, these are biblical principles, eternity is at stake. She said, "We all know all of those things, but we just need to be charmed into righteousness," which is a line Reinhold Niebuhr used in one of his works. People need to be charmed into righteousness.

Michael, I risked that. We moved and I came to a little church in Irving, Texas. I decided on my way I am going to use this whole new approach. I am going to be who I am. For four years there and then when we went to Fullerton, California, I really began to hit my stride.

Michael Easley: Was that scary when you started stepping out from behind that?

Chuck Swindoll: Yeah, it was. It was scary.

Aaron Massey: It can be scary. Fear and uncertainty creep in. You compare yourself with others who preach so well, and then you feel inadequate. Or you are thinking of so-and-so in your congregation and you let their opinion shape what you say or even how you say it. In both cases, you're not preaching with authenticity. You can't. Instead of standing behind the pulpit responding to Christ, delivering his message, and connecting with his people, you're letting someone else or something else control that moment and restrict your freedom in the task at hand.

That is why Chuck would start right here for preaching: Know who you are, accept who you are, be who you are. It is not this instant switch that we can just turn on. We wish, right? It takes time. It takes patience, effort, failure, and resilience. Listen to what Chuck writes about this in *Saying it Well*: "In many ways, the quest to know yourself, accept yourself, and then be yourself is a lifelong journey. It never really ends. But over time, you can reach a place of reasonable confidence from which you can speak from the heart with relative ease."

If there is anything that we want you to take away from this video, it is this deep sigh of relief. We want you to feel confident in God's wisdom in making you as you are. God doesn't want you to be anyone else other than you. Your personality, when you're being authentic, is able to connect with and reach people that other personalities can't reach.

To end, I want you to hear one more piece of encouragement from Chuck. He preached on the life of David in 1977 and 1978. This clip is from his sermon on David and Goliath, during the part of the story where tall and muscular King Saul put his own armor on David and David was like, "I can't use this." It is great. Enjoy.

Chuck Swindoll: If you are called to preach, be you. It took me four years to get graduate school education and almost forty years to get over it. Get into seminary, get it done, and get over it, for the Lord's sake. Declare the truth as you have been built to declare it, not like someone else. That is his armor and it works for him. That was a great breakthrough in my life when I suddenly discovered I could be me and God would use it.

Aaron Massey: That's it for this video. Again, I'm Aaron with Insight for Living, and it's our privilege and joy to serve you as you lead God's people and preach his word. Before we go, let me point you to a few resources. First, be sure to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and then check out our Preach the Word playlist where we're posting Chuck's best insights on this important calling.

Second, if you don't own a copy of Chuck's book on preaching, *Saying it Well*, we highly recommend it. It's his preaching memoir that also is like this practical preaching manual. It is one that you're just not going to be able to put down. I promise, you'll love it.

Third, Insight for Living has a section on our website for church leaders where you can find hundreds of articles and sign up for our weekly email bringing you an insight from Chuck. One week you'll get this technical tip for preaching and then the next you might get a biblical principle for shepherding. Find all the info you need in the description below. Thank you so much for listening. Preach the word and say it well.