Let’s face it – Pastors have a reputation for loving books, and I guess that is well-deserved and a good thing. Pastors, and all Christians for that matter, should be readers. We should be seeking to grow and be challenged. So, my not-so-little-kids got me Burning Hearts – Preaching to the Affections
for Father’s Day off of my Amazon list…and yes…it’s September and I’m just now getting around to doing the review. Hey – it’s been a busy Summer!
As a regular preacher of God’s word, I’m always wrestling with the challenge of not being just a conveyor of information, but God’s word being living and active has to impact hearts and affect how we live. I’m not up there to just summarize and explain Scripture. It has to be made applicable, and a big part of that is how it affects me, before I bring it to the church.
I can’t remember how I heard about this book, but that’s the beauty of the Amazon wish list, when I hear someone recommend a book I put it on and then I won’t forget. [Sometimes…I’m smart…] Moody and Weekes approach this very important topic in a logical and accessible way.
Logically, that would with a definition of terms. They define affections as “the movement of our thoughts, feelings and will towards a desired object, person or event. An affection is what inclines us to something (whereas as effect is what results from something). Affections are what move us toward action.” It’s also important to define what this therefore does NOT mean as related to preaching. It is not “sentimental, touchy-feely, or lacking in intellectual rigor or content.” AMEN. Preaching to the affections means preaching that targets the heart – where emotion and reason come together – the core of the person. [14-15]
That leads to more important general observations – affections are part of the brains response to data and they are necessary for rational functioning. However, reason and emotion are both fallen due to sin and therefore we need to wrestle them to be inline with God’s Word. Affections are oriented towards godly desires in the godly person, however affections are not proof in themselves that someone is spiritual. I think we’ve all probably known a few very emotional Christians who aren’t spiritual and rather superficial. As the authors wisely point out – salvation is evidenced by sanctification, gradually growing as a Christian. What causes this growth is the power of the gospel – the pure Word of God, which produces faith in our hearts, gradually producing the fruit of increasing Christlikeness as the believer perseveres in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
Now that the foundations of affections have been set, the authors move on to setting the foundation for preaching. They define preaching as “the God-ordained means by which He meets with His people through His Word and by his Spirit in such a way that His people’s eyes are opened to see Jesus and be captivated by Him.” [25] They immediately refine this mean that this is done best through the systematic, continuous exposition of the Scriptures. AMEN! I’m not hating on topical preaching, sometimes it is necessary to address any issues in detail for church health, but the default setting for preaching should be the expositional teaching of God’s Word!
Bringing both affections and preaching together then – the authors rightly surmise that we use preaching to raise the affections of the supremacy of Jesus Christ. [with an appropriate nod to Jonathan Edwards on that – as one would expect, he is quoted heavily.] Practically this means that “one of the ways that we can do this is by remembering that we are preaching a person, not just teaching a passage. What we are doing is presenting Christ.” [31]
Why would we preach to the affections? The authors provide a few reasons (1) because of biblical precedent [Acts 2:37…they were ‘cut to the heart.]; (2) because of biblical warning [‘these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…’]; (3) because of biblical promise. [God promises to transform in the gospel, and preaching the gospel softens hearts and changes lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.]; (4) because of historical examples. [ex. Edwards “Religious Affections”; (5) because of global examples [this was their weakest reason IMHO, I didn’t connect with this one, the church is global and not sure how this helped the point.]; (6) because of evangelistic effectiveness [though they didn’t articulate it as such, people must get the feeling that we passionately believe in what we are preaching!]; (7) because of pastoral winsomeness [as we preach to engage the affections, our heart is open wide and gives the congregation a sense of our affection.]; (8) because of missional opportunity [conveying not only an agenda, but sacrificial service to the community.]; (9) because of the purity of the church [‘it is insufficient simply to tell people that a certain behavior or attitude is wrong. We need to know why it is wrong and see affectionally how other behaviors and attitudes are better, sweeter, more wonderful, of more value.’];(10) because of the glory of God. [ultimately, because heart change honors God and glorifies Him.]
How do you preach to the affections? As a precursor, and something I’m glad it was drilled into me in seminary, we can’t expect someone to be moved by a passage that hasn’t already moved us. We need to be personally affected by the text before we can affect anyone else. The truth has to be “massaged into our hearts so that God’s Word does not inform us, but transforms us.” [52]. The authors then give well thought out considerations of how to accomplish this. (1) Look out for the affections in the text. [what affection words are there?]; (2) Think Christ, live Christ, apply Christ. [we should be looking for Christ in whatever part of the Bible we are in.]; (3) Probe the workings of the heart [expose deep-rooted idols, again by pointing to the supremacy of Christ. Nod to Chalmers here and the ‘expulsive power of a new affection.’]; (4) Preach the pathos as well as the logos of the passage. [the logic as well as the resulting emotion of it]; (5) Learn from those who preach to the affections. [Again – Edwards…Puritans for example]; (6) Raise the affections with the truth. [it’s not enough to get the text right, we must go to the next step and ask “In what way to do the truths of this text raise my affections and those to whom I am preaching?”]; (7) Prayer. [infuse our preparation with prayer]; (8) Preach with an awakened heart [this becomes a challenge for us regular preachers…]
The authors wrap up the book with an appeal to preach boldly the Word of God and engage the affections…in the changing culture we live in and will live in. Bring the unchanging Word of god to bear on a changing culture and be in tune with both.
Moody and Weekes also give us a few examples of sermons with running commentary. Oddly enough, I found this less helpful than the first part of the book, perhaps I was distracted by the commentary or I’m more of a linear thinker. Nevertheless, they provide solid practical examples which are still valuable.
Preachers and aspiring preachers – READ THIS BOOK. It is definitely helpful for growth in this very important area. So many sermons are either one extreme or the other – dry lifeless presentation of information or overly emotional shallow pragmatism. The authors diligently define and balance the two necessary aspects of logos and pathos and hopefully will encourage many to savor the supremacy of preaching God’s word with knowledge and passion.
Mike Ruel 