letting Jesus Love you is to Know Him ..." (my tweet on twitter hahe ya)
This Scene at the Athenian Academy of Plato
is used to depict the confluence of Religion, Philosophy, and Science.
(1Cor1:23)
But we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto the Greeks foolishness;
But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God,
and the wisdom of God.
(1Cor2:4-5)
"But the Message came through anyway.
God's Spirit and God's power did it,
which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God's power,
not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else."
(vs10)
"The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface,
dives into the depths of God,
and brings out what God planned all along."
(1Cor4:20)
"God's Way is not a matter of mere talk;
it's an empowered life."
-Should the sermon be the main event of the gathering of the church?
-Is the sermon needed for each meeting?
-Should the sermon be meticulously prepared or, delivered extemporaneously (carried out or performed with little or no preparation; impromptu.) so the Holy Spirit may influence the words.
-Is rhetorical (the art or study of using language effectively and persuasively) structure the aspiration in the sermon.
-Should the sermon be delivered from members of the whole church?
-Should the sermon be given only the pastor or a "qualified" visiting speaker?
"Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole,
not the other way around. [e.g. a mouth doesn't define the body!]
The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people.
Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of His Body."
(Ro.15:14)
"You seem to me to be well-motivated and well-instructed,
quite capable of guiding and advising one another."
[mutual encouragement and mutual ministry].
(Col.3:15-17)
"Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other.
None of this going off and doing your own thing.
And cultivate thankfulness.
Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house.
Give it plenty of room in your lives.
Instruct and direct one another using good common sense.
And sing, sing your hearts out to God!"
The seduction of the Greco-Roman Oratory.
500BC
Sophists produced refined rhetoric and could demand payment.
These expert debaters used emotional appeals, physical appearance, and sophisticated language to move the auditorium.
Orators of the eloquence of Chrysotom and Augustine brought their style to influence the previously dynamic nature of the Christian meeting.
A "multi"logue became a monologue.
The Reformers made the sermon the main attraction and were influenced by sermons from Augustine, Chrysostom, Origen and Pope Gregory (all influenced by greco-roman oratory).
Renaissance scholars provided sentence by sentence commentary on classical writings.
Calvin brought this analysis style to his church.
Puritans used this style to show flaws in Anglicanism.
Their sermons became highly structured, methodical, logical, verse by verse expositions of scripture.
The weaknesses of the "sermonator".
specialisation on subjects that are affecting the speaker,
rhetoric becomes a hallmark,
little audience interaction,
encourages group passivity,
entertainment expectancy when the speaker has little experience of the topic,
members become sermon connoisseurs judging the speaker's performance,
group dependency on the performer,
insinuates unworthy contributors,
practical equipping of the church comes from a "jack of all trades".
Systematic theology is the only basis for many ministries.
Outlining studies on:
God, Unity and Trinity, Creation,
Angelogy, Origin and character of man,
Soteriology, Pneumatology, and Eschatology,
using Greek philosophic principles and rhetoric.
[Worshiping and enjoying the Love & Spirit of Jesus should permeate a gathering - yes?]
ref. : Frank Viola and George Barna book - "Pagan Christianity"
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