The sermon is a catalyst in revealing the harmful addictive nature of church going when it is a co-dependency experience.

Jeff gives one clue near the end of the sermon when he mentions about "identity"
This principle needs to be taken at least one step further. The concept of PURPOSE is imperative.
A little more than 5 minutes into the sermon, Jeff alludes to his testimony inspiring or encouraging the listener for the benefit of ther journey or quest.

This is too vague and ambiguous.
Scripture gives clues as to what the purpose of the gospel is. It is for reconciliation, restoration and then ministry to others.

Church is to be a life enrichment center and a training ground to reach and enrich the life of the unchurched. It is not to be a place where sermon soaked, doctrinally constipated pew potatoes meet together to become fanatic , insubordinate, gainsayers infected with pride , paranoia, and passivity...as they play church.

Dear People,

I don't care about dress.

Did it work for the Israelites?

Don't look.

Shhh.

Listen.

Sincerely,

God

Alex

The medium IS the message. Tom Z

The text of this “sermon” called me back to John M. Fowler’s book: Ephesians—Chosen in Christ. John Fowler at the time of the writing was Associate Education Director of the General Conference. He had spent 32 years in India as a pastor and teacher.(R &H 2005)

In his introduction Elder Fowler cites Ephesians as John Calvin’s favorite letter, William Barclay called it the Queen of Epistles, Charles Dodd the Crown of Paulinism and Edgar Goodspeed a Rhapsody on the worth of salvation. The point Elder Fowler makes throughout the book is caught in these few sentences: “The Epistle to the Ephesians can be read for its doctrine of Christ, and for its doctrine of salvation by grace alone. But the primary focus of the Epistle is Christ the reconciler—the one who reconciles God and humanity, and the one who abolishes all the walls of brokenness between people, bringing about the unity envisioned at Creation.” Page 16.

Elder Fowler makes three points on the verses Ephesians 3:13-21

1. Gratitude for the Mystery of the Kenosis
2. Prayer for the strengthening of the inner being.
3. Prayer for full comprehension of the mystery of God’s Love in all its dimensions.
Elder Fowler closes his commentary on this passage with these words.
“His grace is unfathomable. His promises are exceedingly precious and abundant. He is the God who makes the impossible possible.”

Elder Fowler makes 30 references to Ellen White, 6 to John Stott, 5 to Barclay, 6 to the SDA Commentary, 3 to Lloyd-Jones, and 9 to others.

Elder Fowler makes Ephesians clear and compelling—an excellent read.

Tom Z

Alex

If it was a typo; what was the intended text? A page number from the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings or some other tale from J. R. R. Tolkien.? The context should make the text obivous.

The greater puzzle is the insistences of the G.C. that only men would be ordianed--making reference to Old Testament useage. If so--why not extend the Old Testament culture to the dress code for the priest--as outlined in Lev. 16:32,33 " The priest who is anointed (ordianed) is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for th Most Holy Place--after (1844) for the Tend of the Meeting, and the altar, and for the priest, and all the people of the community."
and obivous requrirement to who accept the call to preach. but not necessarily all who presume to entertain.

What ever comes after the Seventh-day Adventist Church should be an institution of substance, decorum, and Grace. The call to go into the highways and the byways didn't include dressing like a bum. Tom Z

It was a GREAT "sermon" because there was no proof texting, no Daniel and Revelation, no FEAR mongering, no Power Point, and Pastor Gang dressed and spoke conversationally instead of trying to sell a new car on a one day only sale price.

For Charles Parker..it was a GREAT sermon.

Charles Reid, implies it is reasonable to present a sermon without any scripture, using Jesus as a model.

Is there any reasonable consensus among SDA seminary homiletic professors as to what is the criteria for a GREAT sermon?

In my opinion...this sermon by Jeff was FAR from being a great sermon.
Too late ..to do a follow up survey asking his audience what he preached on the previous sabbath.(This sermon)
I have heard over 2000 sermons presented by SDA pastors and less than 1% were even competent.
Almost all SDA pastors do not know what they should do in the pulpit.

So the questions are...
What is the purpose of a sermon?
What is the purpose of a pastor?

Matthew 7:28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Matthew 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Jim...I apologize. I ran your first two sentences together in my thinking and reacted. In retrospect, you did represent me correctly. While I don't think it is a norm to present a meaningful sermon without Scripture, I do think it is possible based on the example of Jesus. Best...Charles

What is the purpose of a sermon?

This is more difficult to answer, and I'm not sure there is one right answer. More than once I've been attending a church where a preacher is in the middle of a sermon series, but has to temporarily abandon the series to speak to a more urgent theme. Many pastors seem to think the point of a sermon is really no different than being the Sabbath School teacher in a class where no one else gets to talk. Much of what we hear from the pulpit is really Bible study delivered in the form of oration. But if we return to my notion that the purpose of a pastor is really to equip the laity, then what a sermon is about on any given week should serve that purpose.

Dear Jim,

I've read the articles...I'm not sure what GW is.

I serve as H&S leader for our Adventist Elementary School...and I totally identify with some of the points discussed concerning burnout. I've been noting to people that my strength has never been delegating. As a result, many things don't get done well...and what does get done is exhausting.

I have known some pastors who are striving for the NON-burnout model. This is also tiring...requiring patience...but the payoff is huge. Anytime we help others grow, the teacher experiences the payoff as well. I can say that congregations that are really growing tend to have the second pastoral model. The church is not the pastor and his flock...it is the people...and everyone must do his/her part.

So, where does the blame lie? I'm probably not equipped to answer that, but I'll take a stab. I know where it doesn't lie...in general, it is not the pastor...the pastor is a product of the system and culture. It is also not the laity. The laity behave in the way they've been conditioned to behave. So, I place the blame in two places:

1. Education and definition of ministers: Most seminaries offer degrees of ordination in many different fields. Southwestern in Dallas graduates ordained ministers of the gospel, of music, of education, of youth, of children's ministry, etc. All of these ministers go into the churches and help the laity to use the talents God has bequeathed. Our seminary basically produces pastors who essentially have learned how to preach and defend our doctrines. Our seminaries and universities should be approaching ministry from a much broader angle. People would naturally question, how can we accept additional ministers when our conferences are currently reducing our pastorate? So I see this a little like the baseball movie...if you build it, they will come...or, if we train them, some churches will take the chance and hire them...and then reap the rewards...and then it will become common and accepted practice.

2. Education and definition of membership: Many Adventists believe that our membership standards are among the more exacting, but that isn't really true. We have a long list of doctrines to which we expect acceptance and compliance, but they can ALL be lumped into the simple category of believing what we believe. Beyond that, we expect attendance and tithing (in particular of money...but also talents.) That's all we require...believe the right stuff, show up, turn in your tithe and offerings.

I prefer the model used by the Saddleback Valley Church. We could make our own version...but the point is that membership = ownership in the ministry. Saddleback goes so far as to divide membership into four categories/levels: 1 - Accept Christ as Savior, be baptized, come to church (the basics) 2 - Commit to tithing and attending a weekly small group bible study (or being discipled) 3 - All of the above, plus becoming active in other ministries of the church and perhaps leading a small group (becoming a discipler and minister) - 4. All of the above...and becoming a missionary to your own community (becoming someone who shares the gospel.) This completes the circle by generating new members. It is my feeling that many of our members believe they are in good standing just because they attend church each Sabbath, pay their tithe, and agree with our doctrines. Another rule at Saddleback, they actually tell visitors to their church something to the effect of: if you are looking for a church with a great worship service but don't intend to get involved in our ministries, we do not have room for you. Please pick up the brochure in the foyer listing several wonderful church services in the surrounding area.

We should be requiring more from ourselves. But this is partly cultural. It is difficult to turn the tide when so many people feel satisfied. To turn the tide...we need to be re-educated. This requires ministers to help lead and transform the laity.

Our small churches are dwindling and dying because the only standard we hold ourselves to is a traditional Sabbath morning structure. If that structure is eating up ALL of the resources of the congregation, it should scrap tradition to make room for real ministry. One example: I heard of a church on one of the great lakes. It was a small congregation that never grew. One day, the church voted to try to change things. Since the people were not coming into their church building for church, they decided to move their worship services out onto the ice in a tent and invite all the fishermen. This creative action turned the congregation around and it started to grow.

Our pastorate needs to lead the charge by equipping the church. To grow, our members must take ownership of their local congregation. Our healthy 'pride' must be derived from the wonderful things God is doing in our local congregations. Currently, the model is upside down. In many congregations, the people are so stuck that they look to the church at large, to ADRA, to 3ABN, or even to Spectrum in search of something to take ownership of. The feel like a missionary because they send an offering to ADRA. They feel like they are witnessing because they spar it out in the forum on Spectrum. They delude themselves into believing they belong to a vibrant and growing congregation because of explosive growth in other parts of the world. But the real focus must be on our local congregation. If all of our local congregations were healthy and growing, how strong would the world church be?

"Who knows what thin ice the Spirit might lead locally invested independently healthy congregations onto..."

Brent...you make a good point...even if it is a little tongue and cheek. Based on my personal experiences with church plants and creation of ministry, the leading of the Spirit almost always heads in unexpected directions. In fact, if the outcome is exactly as planned by the planning committee, isn't it fair to wonder if God had any part in it?

When we were working in Hoboken, the bookstore that grew out of our church plant came from left field. It wasn't in any of the research. When God plopped it into our laps, we attempted to turn it into an ABC branch. Total failure. When we finally stopped pushing our agenda (Just let go...let God...), amazing things started to happen. But there was always a nagging problem...I knew that whatever church congregation could grow out of this gathering would not be accepted by cultural Adventists.