because we're going to talk about style in lecture 19. So obviously we have to go real fast now guys, but let me tell you my quick story here. When I was pastoring a small rural church while I was in seminary, one of the motions that a man who was an elder made in a session meeting was, nobody in our community, none of the young men, beyond high school, where's a code in tie? I mean basically they buy a sport coat for their high school graduation with a tie and that's the last time either is put on until, of course, a funeral somewhere down the road that they have to get formal for. So he said, you know, we're all coming with coats and ties which means all young men in our community feel uncomfortable when they come to our church. So I make a motion that none of the elders in this church will wear a tie and coat to church anymore. Now another story, another church I went to, some years later, and I was actually working on my washing machine one Saturday morning, all greasy and messed up, found out I didn't have a tool that I needed, went over to one of my elder's homes, knocked on the door, he opened the door, and he looked at me and he said, what are you doing visiting me looking like that? I said, I'm not visiting you, I'm just borrowing a tool. Now listen, one of the elders in a church I served said, we are too formal, we need to dress down. Another elder said, with a different concern, in this community, you are not formal enough, you need to dress up. Who was right? Trick question, right? They were probably both right. What were they doing? They were aware of the task and they were aware of the people and they were trying to make credential judgment for the sake of the gospel, both concerning the sacredness of the task and the necessity of connecting with the people. As we talk about dress and style, that's what we're going to be trying to remember. If you think of the goal for this lesson, it's to understand how messages can be delivered with greater effectiveness by considering how the preacher can identify with his congregation in dress and delivery. Probably there's no better scripture for this than us considering seriously 1 Corinthians 9. Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. Whose rights was Paul primarily concerned about? The rights of people to hear the gospel and the right of the spirit to minister to them. Now, for that sake, he was willing to put his own rights secondary. For us in this culture, the great difficulty, we begin to talk about things like style and how we dress is, we typically think only in terms of my rights, instead of to whom am I ministering and what will be most effective for their sakes and the sake of the gospel. As we think about styles of dressing, the watch word is appropriate and it's appropriate for this, appropriate to honor the task and identify with the people, to honor the task and identify the people. Now, there is an obvious and forever tension in those two things, to honor the task and to identify with the people. So, what we are trying to do is to say we want to present ourselves appropriately for the situation. Tell me, you do this, what do we have to consider? I am thinking, how am I going to dress so I have to communicate the word effectively and the kind, what do I have to take into account? Okay, what do I have to think about the people? Aaron, what do I have to consider? Okay, how are they going to interpret the way that I am looking? What are they going to use to make that interpretation? They are going to look at my clothes, what in their context are they going to be using? What is their lens? Okay, age, generation is going to be one thing that will be, they will use to interpret, what else? Sociedal context in which they are, that could be their socioeconomic level, it could be their region of the country, it could be their nationality, it could be the demographics on the age spectrum, all kinds of things going to, it could be their own history of what do they expect of men of God to look like and to represent themselves. Now are all these societal standards good? Not necessarily, are they all bad? Not necessarily. So we have to be making judgments that are pastoral for the sake of them and the gospel. Not for the sake of, but I have had this code since I was in high school and I like it. It is not our rights that are being defended, it is their rights that we are being concerned about. I will tell you for us most of the time, the decisions that we make about dress and style, we know they are appropriate when they disappear, when it is not an issue. I typically know that my choices are inappropriate when how I am dressing becomes an issue. Now, is it possible that I might want it to be an issue, that I think the societal standards are inappropriate and I want to challenge them? Yes, that could very well happen, but if that is not my intent, if it is not my intent to challenge the societal norm, then I should be aware of what some of the societal norms are. Or else I am just kind of creating barriers I don't intend. Remember Paul said, I want to put no stumbling block in the way of the gospel. So if you are not trying to cause, now you may want people to question what they are doing. Remember the elder who said, I want us to stop wearing coat and ties, we are becoming a barrier to young men coming into our church. I don't want to put a stumbling block, I want us to take off our ties. On the other hand, another elder said, if you don't dress appropriately in my community, people won't hear you. And he was aware of that stumbling block. So having put all those, hopefully parameters in place, can we talk quickly about some of the things to be aware of as we think about presenting ourselves as a testimony to others in what we are doing? We are trying to avoid what is either uncaring or unkempt. We are trying to avoid what is uncaring or unkempt. Can we do this quickly without too much offending one another? Tell me what the major issues will always be. They will be hair, glare, and costs. Those will be the issues. Hair, glare, and costs. What will be the issues of hair? How long it is on your head and where it is on your face? I'm sorry, it's just this culture. Now you say, but Jesus had a beard. Probably, probably. Some of you have been salesmen in this culture. Some of you have been responsible for making a living by doing sales, Michael. What do they tell you about your facial hair? They would say, do not have it. Why? In this culture, beards, communicate. I don't mean this, but I mean it's just the way this culture is. It communicates counter-culture of some way. I'm trying to be rebellious. I'm trying to look older than I am. I don't like dealing with people and so I'm reacting negatively to what our societal norms are. Now, mustaches are different. I think sales in this community typically, we're talking Midwest standards and people typically will accept mustaches. Beards, they are less accepting of. Listen guys, don't cut off your beards. It's an academic community. Nobody cares here. But you might think about it when you're out looking for a job in a small Midwestern town. You might think about it. Now you might say, well that's unfair and that's an unreasonable societal norm. I'll agree with you and maybe after a few years you can convince them of that. You make choices, right? And you just become aware of where society is. Length of hair, you know, how long is long? I don't know. But obviously it's something that people are concerned about in this culture. Tell me about glare. Here I'm talking about the paisley dinner jacket that you wear into the pulpit. Feel what? What in the world? Tell me the norms. Again, I'm not trying to formalize this or make it norm. But just tell me what people expect in this culture. Now you have to be somewhat regionally aware here. If you are north of the Florida line and you are east of the Rockies, tell me what people normally expect for the preacher to wear if you're not a Gen X church. What do people normally expect the preacher to wear if you are north of Florida and you are east of the Rockies? I, more than cut and tie, somebody said suit and the answer is suit. At least on a Sunday morning formal, you know, and the expectation is it will not be what I'm wearing today. It will not be a sports jacket and slacks. It would be a suit and tie. Tell me the color of the suit. I'm sorry, just know the norms and then vary when you need to. What's the color of the suit? Aaron says it's dark. It is dark. And of course, you know, the tie does not have loony tunes on it. You know, it's not that. Unless, of course, you are the children's minister or the youth pastor. And then, of course, everything goes. Now, we're teasing about it. But did you mean to make an issue of it? Or did you not? Now, there are times I will tell you when we need to make an issue of it. I so respect the elder who said, I want us to stop wearing ties. You know, now he still wants the preacher to wear a tie. I need one of the rest of the elders not to. Because he knew in his community for the preacher not to wear a tie would be to cut his respect. Now, on the other hand, with all the genetics and emerging church movements to those preachers typically wear ties. Obviously not. They're trying to connect to another aspect of society that is not so churched and doesn't have those expectations. So here now, there is the identification with people that moves a different way. Now, what are other things in identification? To go down into a poor community and wear a thousand dollar suit may be a problem. On the other hand, to go to an affluent community and wear the suit that your mom got you while you were in high school may be a problem too. So what is appropriate? Now, you may say, but the affluent people need not to judge people by their clothes and the people who are in urban communities may not need to judge persons according to what I recognize all that. Were you trying to make an issue? Great. If you're trying to make an issue and correct Biblically people's ideas power to you. But if you're just stepping on landmines that you don't know about and don't intend, best to adjust so that it's not an issue if you didn't mean to make it an issue. Things like, again, communities in which I was raised and still I just do it all the time. When I go into churches I don't know. I always know to button my coat. When I don't button my coat in many communities it's not saying informal. It's showing lack of respect. So if I don't button my coat I know in many communities I go to there will be people who will be mad at me after the service. Not for anything I said. But simply because I did not show respect. It'd be like wearing a hat into church in many communities. You know, you would know not to do that. Now you may say, who cares? Well, you and I know it's not something in the Bible. But we know people are not going to hear us if we wear a hat into a formal worship setting. In some communities the same will be true about buttoning coats and things like that. I'm going to move very quickly now. We're talking about appropriateness. The last thing I mentioned about cost is not only cost of suits but expensive jewelry and of course where your rings are these days. You know, not just on your hands but in your ears or your nose or whatever eyebrows. I will grant you there are some communities where that is very effective. When my son began to minister in a downtown arts community, he said, Dad, I got to wear a ring in my ear. I'll just tell you. I'm white, blonde-headed and small. And if I simply look like a suburban, I'll not work in this community. Not to be a minister. So he wanted to do that, to say, I've got to be able to identify with these people, power to him. He knew what he was wanting to do, he knew what he was wanting to do, to minister in that community. But of course for him to now go try to get a job in a suburban community would be difficulty in that way. Consider the drama of the communication event. Here's what I'm asking you to do to recognize everything communicates something. Everything communicates something. Let me just show you one that's fairly common. I've got to reach down to do this. Just imagine this. I've said to you, we've just finished the reading of the word, O Lord, my strength and my fortress. You are my refuge and time of distress. Now what we want to talk about today is, what did I just do? I closed the Bible and put it away. Now it may be in my notes, the verses I'm going to comment on. But what did I just communicate? We've dispensed with the preliminaries of the Bible, and now we're going to get to the important stuff, my message. Now I didn't mean to say that, but what I just communicated by what I did was a message. And I'm asking you just to think about everything is a message and to weigh it as you consider your responsibilities before the Lord. Those responsibilities include concerning a style of delivery. I would encourage you in this generation particularly to develop a personal style. That means number one, do not be afraid to be self-revealing. I will tell you it is a generation that virtually demands this. Two generations ago to speak about yourself in the pulpit was anathema. Now not to speak about yourself. It's self will dead in your ministry. It is the expectation. Now it is redemptive vulnerability. It is not unjust a terrible person. It is, you know, we all struggle with this, but God helps. To identify with the struggle as you point toward the hope of the gospel. It is not just saying I am a terrible person. It's redemptive vulnerability. Two, speak as though explaining across the kitchen table. Remember that Spurgeon spoke to a thousand as though he spoke to one? You can do that. If you can just talk to people in normal ways, they will long to hear you. Three, speak to particular situations rather than particular people. Speak to particular situations rather than to particular people. Come into their lives, know them, love them. Remember the Westminster Divines, the way they said it? Conversation and residence with your people know what you should be addressing. Four, use lots of we's, the we of direct address. We struggle with, we understand, we will be helped by. To identify with people is a very personal style to learn the we of direct address. By the way, that's not the royal we referring to yourself in the plural. Last week, we spoke to you about, you know, you got a mouse in your pocket? What are you talking about? We spoke to you about, you know, sounds very arrogant as opposed to involving people. Last week, we understood that though we struggle with this. God has provided help. Use conversational speech. Use conversational speech. The rules of thumb are clarity increases as sentence link decreases. Clarity increases as sentence link decreases. We cultivate a plain style by speaking in plain terms, speaking in plain terms. I would encourage you just to look at that second Corinthians three passage there, you see it? Seeing that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. I love that. Our hope is so important, we use great plainness of speech. Listen, it is entertaining to say simple things cleverly. It is impressive to say important things in a complex way. But it is ministry to say profound things in simple ways. And by the way, it is the greater intellectual task to say profound things in simple ways. It is not hard to say profound things in complex ways, particularly using the vernacular that you have learned in seminary. The greater intellectual task is to say profound things in very simple and graspable ways. Some principles for plain speaking use regular words. I am not going to do all of these right now because we are moving quickly. Remember what the Westminster larger catechism said number 159. We are speaking to the necessities and the capacities of the people. We speak to the necessities and the capacities of the people. Not to the necessities of the people and the capacities of the preacher. The necessity and the capacities of the people should be guiding us in our style. Ultimately we are trying to speak naturally. Now that doesn't mean ungramatically. If people are just being jarred by the language you are using, that will not hear you. But they are not looking for a formal essay. They are looking for you to be conversational even as you speak with authority. And that natural speak is typically what we want most these days. It is being conversationaly articulate. Now I told you we would have some fun today and my hope was to have you think about just some aspects of delivery that will fun and even funny at times to think about. But the reason I did that is I want you to remember this. We could have turned this whole course into a classroom on delivery and style. I really want you to recognize those are the lesser matters of preaching. They really are the lesser matters. What God calls you to is to communicate well. But he says, study to show yourself a proved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. That's our primary calling. To recognize it's not our delivery. It is the Holy Spirit working by and with the word in people's hearts that is the profound task to which we are called. Think about it for a minute. The angels are looking on with the departed saints. The Holy Spirit is present and working. Christ is interceding before the Father in behalf of you and the people. And the Father Himself is listening to what you are saying for the sake of His children. It is a profound task and a very good one. May God bless you in it as you for the sake of His people and His word. Preach the word. Lord bless you.