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written an inspiring and responsible theological reflection on the proclamation of the Word. This book is full of meaty insights, such as his points that
to preach is to inflect the Word of God and that preaching is an exercise not
just in communication but also in incarnation. Indeed, Koessler challenges
us with the inspiring and sobering truth that to preach is to prepare others
for eternity.
Dr. Chris Brauns, Pastor, The Red Brick Church,
Stillman Valley, Illinois; author, Unpacking Forgiveness
and When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search
Preaching is the sweetest agony in the world. I know of nothing that is more
rewarding, more haunting, more ego smashing, and more gratifying than
the ministry of proclamation. Every once in a while a book on preaching
comes along that helps us ramp up the sweetness and reduce the agony. John
Koesslers Folly, Grace, and Power is one of those books. Whether you are a
seasoned preacher or just getting started, if you care about being an effective
preacher, this book is a must-read for you.
Dr. Joseph M. Stowell, President, Cornerstone University
John Koessler reminds us that preaching is nothing less than raising the
dead. This book makes me want to preach! Folly, Grace, and Power will
give you fresh courage to preach your guts out through the power that Jesus
supplies.
Justin Buzzard, Lead Pastor, Garden City Church,
San Jose; blogger, BuzzardBlog
John Koessler has written a fine book, an unyielding reminder that preachers
are theologians who must not capitulate to the idols of popularity or success,
and a steady encouragement that God uses the foolishness of preaching to
minister with grace and power. This well-written book is thoughtful, full
of images, blending narrative and proposition will help pastors meditate on
their calling.
Jeffrey Arthurs, Professor of Preaching and Communication,
Chair of the Division of Practical Theology,
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Once, years ago, I toured a nuclear power plant. I didnt see power, of course,
but I saw the astonishing interior engineering of power before it courses out
to our homes. This book, Folly, Grace, and Power, took me into the interior powerhouse of preaching. John Koesslers vivid language and freshly
wrapped theology of preaching made me restless for next Sunday and the
pulpit that awaits me.
Lee Eclov, Pastor, Village Church of Lincolnshire
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In Folly, Grace, and Power John Koessler gives us a theology of preaching that
can rescue the voice of the church from the mechanical drone of informative
but powerless lectures, and from clich spiritual soundbites that neither challenge nor transform. The church needs to listen carefully to Johns words,
which can, by Gods grace, restore dignity to the prophetic and priestly work
of proclamation by giving us a compelling picture of the nature, value, place,
power, and mystery of preaching Gods Word.
Joe Thorn, author, Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself
Koessler opens up preachings paradox of folly, grace, and power by stimulating us to think theologically. Several times this book made me pause and
wonder. Well-written, wearing its scholarship lightly, it makes a theology
of preaching accessible and sparkles with deft quotations and issues that all
preachers should wrestle with.
Michael J. Quicke, CW Koller Professor of Preaching,
Northern Seminary
John Koesslers Folly, Grace, and Power is filled with realism, truth, and
hope. Realism because it does not shun hard topics, such as death, to which
it devotes a chapter. It speaks truth to those who preach to a generation who
are unsure about truth. And above all, this book is infused with the hope
that comes from trusting the Spirit to use the Word to work immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine (Eph. 3:21). And if you ask me whether it is
well written, my answer is, It sparkles!
Robert A. Peterson, Professor of Systematic Theology,
Covenant Theological Seminary;
Pastor, Country Bible Church, Bunker Hill, Illinois
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Folly,
Grace, and
Power
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re a c
P
f
to
c
A
s
u
ir o
hing
The
ys
te
Folly,
Grace, and
Power
John
Koessler
Foreword by
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ZONDERVAN
Folly, Grace, and Power
Copyright 2011 by John Koessler
This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook. Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks.
This title is also availablein a Zondervan audioedition. Visit www.zondervan.fm.
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Koessler, John, 1953
Folly, grace, and power : the mysterious act of preaching / John Koessler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.143150).
ISBN 978-0-310-32561-1 (softcover) 1. Preaching. I. Title.
BV4211.3.K62 2011
251dc22 2011010574
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New
International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are
offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement
by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers
for the life of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy,
recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
Published in association with the literary agency of Mark Sweeney & Associates, Bonita
Springs, Florida 34135.
Cover design: Tammy Johnson
Cover photography or illustration: Randy Faris/CORBIS
Interior design: Michelle Espinoza
Printed in the United States of America
1112131415161718/DCI/2019181716151413121110987654321
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Contents
Preface
17
19
31
43
55
67
81
93
8. Preaching as Gospel
105
119
129
Acknowledgments
141
Notes
143
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Foreword
very veteran preacher knows the experience: you have just preached
the sermon that you are sure will send the elders board scurrying
to nominate a pulpit committee to find your replacement. You also
wonder how you could have managed to be so dull and so lacking in
insight or inspiration. You went through the motions of preaching,
but there was no fire in your gut and no joy in your performance.
Afterward, you stand at the rear door of the sanctuary thirsty for the
regulars to give their clichd and halfhearted, Good sermon, pastor.
Though the words usually turn your stomach, you know that today
these forced courtesies will provide the only drops of hope that there
is any reason for you ever to return to the pulpit. But then, extended
from the line of limp handshakes, comes a hand that takes yours with
an energy that seems determined to reach into your heart. Teary eyes
meet yours and a grateful voice says, Pastor, how did you know just
what to say to ease my pain? I had given up hope, but you have given
me reason to live again. Thank you for that word from God.
Of course, the opposite can occur. You imagine that the sermon
you have just preached will surely qualify for the next anthology of
messages meant to identify the modern successors of Whitfield and
Spurgeon. But then, while your thumbs grow red from being hooked
behind suspenders stretched taut by a chest puffed with pride, the line
9
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10
of parishioners passes in silence. No one mentions the oratorical masterpiece they have just heard, and your ego deflates as rapidly as your
estimation of the judgment of your listeners. All you know for certain
is that this preaching business is a mystery. Something beyond natural
processes governs the way the human heart receives Gods Word.
The apostle Paul confirms the mystery when he relates that natural
humanitythose persons in whom the Spirit of God is not working
hears the truths of the gospel as foolishness and cannot understand its
significance. Paul writes, The natural person does not accept the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1Cor. 2:14 ESV).
Natural reason, natural inclinations, and human nature will
reject the gospel unless some force beyond human reason, instinct,
and nature gets involved. The message that, despite our sin, we can be
reconciled to a holy God by faith in a Savior who rose from the dead
two thousand years ago sounds ridiculous to anyone who is not made
receptive to this good news by the Holy Spirit.
Not only are the things of God foolishness to humanity apart
from the supernatural influence of the Spirit, they cannot be known
without the Holy Spirits provision. This is not a matter of ignorance;
a Christian is not smarter than other people. Rather, people are incapable of perceiving as sensible or true what Gods Word communicates
about Christs provisions unless the Holy Spirit opens appropriate
receptors in heart and mind.
The apostle Paul contends that the spiritual dimensions of truth
cannot be recognized for their true significance without an inward
change of heart. Until the synapses of the soul have been completed
by the inward work of the Spirit, persons have a profound inability to
perceive the spiritual realities that are actually present. Comparable
to the mysteries of those magic eye optical illusions, a reality exists
beyond the ordered dots of religious tradition that first strike human
perception. With the illusion, one hopes that the synapses of the brain
ultimately will connect in such a way that the surface image dissolves
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Foreword
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Foreword
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the adequacy of the messenger. We may run from the task or seek
greater effectiveness in purely human techniques not because we
believe in any deficiency in the message but because we doubt the
adequacy of the human messenger. On such occasions, we must
remember the natural instruments as well as the scriptural words that
are means of the Spirits supernatural power.
Our skills or inadequacies ultimately are not the determiners of
the power of the preached Word. Paul says God put his message in
jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and
not from us (2Cor. 4:7). I do not understand all of how it happens
that God can take words from human lips and make them into instruments of divine transformation that will change the eternal destinies
of souls. But that is the way it works, even if I cannot explain how.
God may conform our thought to his own, or he may give us words we
did not plan to say, or he may channel our choice of words so aptly to
coincide with the needs of our listeners that they are astounded by the
suitability of our message for their situation. The Spirit may winnow
chaff from our words even as they enter another mind so that what
actually enters the heart of that person germinates as Gods own pure
wisdom. By such processes and ten thousand more, the Spirit continues his supernatural superintendence of his Word so that by merely
preaching the truth of Gods Word, he gives his people precisely what
they need to hear.
Our minds object that this aptitude of speech for so many different persons in so many different situations is not humanly possible.
We have neither the wisdom nor skill to speak so fitly to so many.
We do not know our listeners situations so intimately, and we do not
know Gods purposes so thoroughly, that we can speak of what so
many hearts need with appropriate care. We remain too weak, ignorant, and sinful to be adequate instruments of Gods purposes. Yes,
this is all true. Yet despite our weakness, failings, and sin, the Spirit
works through and beyond us. That is why the truth of Scripture may
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Foreword
15
succeed when our pulpit delivery limps, and why our oratorical flourishes are not determinative of the Spirits actual effects.
The truths of Scripture we proclaim accomplish the purposes of
the Spirit who gave them. This is the great mystery and blessing of
preaching. Its spiritual effects surpass human control, limitation, or
explanation. They cannot be bottled, canned, or tamed. And a book
that explores this mysterysuch a book as this by John Koessler
will bless those who come more fully to appreciate that the unsearchable riches of the Word of God are ours to share through supernatural
processes greater than any human scheme, technique, or limitation.
Such mystery stimulates our awe, and such awe will generate zeal for
this task of eternal consequence.
Bryan Chapell
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Preface
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18
speaking. As Webb puts it, Christianity and the fate of public speaking appear to be inextricably linked.3 Christianity is an oral faith.
The gospel, though committed to writing in the Scriptures, is conveyed primarily through proclamation. A decline in Christianity must
necessarily lead to a decline in the importance of public speaking.
But the reverse must also be true. A decline in the importance of
public speaking threatens the future of the Christian faith. Perhaps
my students were right after all. Preaching is an exercise in theological rhetoric.
There is a rhetorical dimension to preaching. But there is a divine
dimension as well. The words of the preacher remain his own. They
are ordinary, human words which retain their fallible quality. Yet they
are invested with supernatural power. The preachers words are not
like the words of Scripture. The preacher can err and may obstruct the
message. Yet the preacher is convinced that God will speak through
the sermon. What is more, and perhaps most mysterious of all, the
task of preaching assumes that the preacher is necessary to the task.
The preacher provides a living voice for the living Word. When we
preach, we inflect the Word of God for those who hear.
The sharp contrast between the common humanity of our words
and the unimaginable power of our message is aptly conveyed by Paul
when he describes the proclaimed gospel as a treasure in an earthen
vessel (2Cor. 4:7). Our preaching has the capacity to mediate the
true presence of Christ. We display the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Christ (2Cor. 4:6). This dignifies
preaching. But it does not elevate the preacher beyond measure. The
all-surpassing power comes from God, not from us. We are nothing;
God is everything (cf. 1Cor. 3:7).
This book is an exercise in theological reflection, not an exhaustive treatment. There is much more that could and should be said. If
it prompts the preacher and the listener to attend to the sermon with
a greater sense of wonder or expectation, it will have accomplished its
goal.
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ch a
er 1
pt
Chapter 1
Folly, Grace,
and Power
yler died on a Sunday morning. I had just walked in the door when
someone called to say there had been an automobile accident and
that I should come to the hospital right away. Details were sketchy, but
the caller thought it was bad. During the twenty-minute drive to the
hospital, I tried in vain to recall Tylers face. I knew he was one of the
children who participated in vacation Bible school, but I didnt think
we had ever talked. His mother, Gail, attended our church on and off.
His dad, Mike, did not come at all.
I got to the emergency room just as they wheeled the gurney bearing Tylers lifeless body through the door. Gail gave me a pleading
look and a hug. Mike and I shook hands awkwardly as I searched for
something comforting to say. What do you say to a mother who has
just watched her seven-year-old child die in her arms? How do you
explain such a tragedy to a father who on his best day is suspicious of
God? How do you tell them that God has not forsaken them? That he
is working out some mysterious purpose in their suffering? The only
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had a clear idea as to the reasons for the futility, dullness, and general
ineptitude of so much preaching, they might do something about it.
Customers usually have something to say about the quality of goods
supplied to them.1
Fosdick believed that the sermon should do something. He was
convinced that every sermon ought to have as its main goal the solving
of some human problem. Fosdick, however, did not think that the way
to do this was to place the primary focus on the biblical text. Instead,
he argued that the preacher should focus on the problem of the audience. No matter what ones theory about the Bible is, he explained,
this is the searchlight, not so much intended to be looked at as to be
thrown upon a shadowed spot.2
This metaphor is compelling enough to make expositors blink
twice. Have we been so blinded by the searchlight of Gods Word,
intent as we are upon the text, that we have failed to turn it in the
direction of the shadows in our listeners lives? This might have been
true a generation or two ago, but it certainly is not the case with most
expositors today. Despite Fosdicks low view of expository preaching, his project method is the norm for most modern expositors.
Whether we start with the audience or the text, most expositors recognize the importance of identifying congregational needs and addressing them in the sermon. Relevance is not the issue. If anything, we
have overcorrected in this area.
Objectifying God
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have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her
mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-lawa mans enemies will be the members of his own household (Matt. 10:3436).
Trivialized preaching is triumphalistic. Triumphalism is a perspective that grows out of our evangelical heritage of revivalism. The
revival tradition of preaching emphasizes the transforming moment,
when the listeners life is forever changed through an encounter with
God through his Word. Certainly this is true of the gospel. We are
forgiven in a moment. But the redemptive process takes much longer.
Triumphalistic sermons give the impression that any problem can be
solved simply by leaving it at the altar. Undoubtedly there have been
remarkable instances when this has been the case. Sinners plagued by
long-standing habits leave the church miraculously freed from bondage. Yet for many othersperhaps even most othersthe experience is different. For them, transformation is progressive rather than
instantaneous. These believers do not skip along the pilgrim path but
toil along the winding way, with painful steps and slow.
Preachers who do not acknowledge this resort instead to clichs
and platitudes. Their sermon themes are flaccid and the remedies they
offer mere placebos. Such sermons are unable to provide any real help
to those who hear. How can they, when truism stands in the place of
truth? We live between Eden and heaven, the God who was and the
God who will be, Don Hudson reminds us. In the story that God
is telling in our lives, he asks us to live in the stark reality of the cross
while we sight the glimmer of the resurrection.7 To be true to our
audiences experience, preaching must reflect the reality of living in
a post-Edenic world in anticipation of a new heavens and earth that
have not yet come to pass. Our sermons need to explore the full scope
of the redemptive experience, encompassing not only the triumph of
resurrection Sunday but the brutal pain of Good Friday and the divine
silence of Holy Saturday.
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Preaching which calls for no sacrifice and prepares for no suffering is both dishonest and dangerous. Preachers whose chief aim is to
offer neat solutions to their audiences problems risk replacing truth
with caricature. Instead of preparing Gods people to live out their
redemption in the real world, they offer a theme-park vision of what
it means to follow Jesus. This view does not resemble the true Chris
tian life, any more than Disney Worlds Main Street resembles life in
America today (or at any time). Such preaching may offer a kind of
cheap comfort to those who hear it but ultimately provides no real
help. It will not prepare a young mother to face the death of her sevenyear-old son. Nor will it prepare her to face her own death.
Preaching as Call and Response
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anticipation of suffering. The Son of God didnt divorce these realities of joy and suffering, and neither should we as the children of God
today. If our sermons are to genuinely reflect the experience of those
who have received the grace of Christ, they too must carry both lines.
Our sermons must proclaim the hope of the gospel even as they give
voice to the hard questions our listeners are afraid to speak aloud. The
preacher may stand alone behind the pulpit, but with him are all the
weighty and tragic realities of the lives of the worshipers in the pews.
Preaching may sound like a monologue, but it is really a dialogue
between the preacher and the listener.
But there is a third and even more important voice that must be
evident in the sermon. There is the voice of God, who speaks through
his Word and by his Spirit. Karl Barth underscores this when he
defines the sermon as Gods own speaking.9 For Barth, preaching
is a divine event. He acknowledges that there is a human element to
the process. The words used in the sermon are the preachers own
words, and those who hear come with their own concerns and must
feel that they have been addressed in a vital way. All these things may
well happen in a sermon, of course, Barth warns, but they are acts
which God himself wills to perform and which can never, therefore,
be a human task.10
We worry that Barth has overstated his case. Surely there is something we can do to confront our listeners with the reality of God.
The strength of our conviction on this matter is easily confirmed by
scanning the table of contents of any contemporary homiletics text.
As helpful as such texts are, it is hard not to come away from them
without the impression that preaching is simply an exercise in exegesis
and rhetoric.
The truth is, those who preach are in an awkward position, caught
between two independent forces and unable to control either of them.
On the one side is God, on whose behalf the preacher speaks. On the
other is the congregation, which expects God to speak through the
preacher. We who preach have the freedom to craft our sermons, but
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we do not control the message. We may use our own language and
select illustrations. We can draw whatever applications seem suitable
to us. But we cannot say whatever we please. This is what Calvin
means when he says that those who declare Gods Word are not to
bring anything of themselves, but to speak from the Lords mouth.11
Even we do not always like what we have to say. Like the prophet
Balaam, we are bound by office to the Word of God (Num. 22:38).
And like him, we sometimes find ourselves wanting to say one thing,
yet being compelled to say the opposite. How many times have we
wrestled with Gods Word like Jacob wrestling with the angel, refusing to let go until he has blessed us, only to be left scratching our
heads wondering why God chose to say that. We are confounded by
Gods choice of words almost as often as we are at a loss for our own.
Folly, Grace, and Power
The climate of worship in which we are called to deliver our message does not help matters. The preacher seems increasingly out of
place in the contemporary church, as superfluous to the churchs worship as the cadre of seventeen preachers Huck Finn imagined served
the king of England. When Mary Jane Wilks marveled at such a large
number and the time it would take them to complete the service,
Huck told her that not all of them preached.
Well, then, what does the rest of em do?
Oh, nothing much. Loll around, pass the plateand one thing
or another. But mainly they dont do nothing.
Well, then, what are they for?
Why theyre for style. Dont you know nothing?
Is Huck right? Is the preacher there mainly to give the service a
sense of style? In some churches today, the sermon feels more like a
rhetorical flourish than the culmination of the worship event. The
sermon functions as little more than a verbal accent wall in the overall scheme of things. In these settings, it is the worship team, not the
preacher, that bears the primary responsibility for mediating Gods
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