Question: What is the best technique to use when preaching to an unbeliever?
Answer: Avoid sugar-coated eloquence in your preaching: The mark of a faithful preacher is one who faithfully preaches the full counsel of God and who does not depend on eloquent speech. He does not shrink from preaching things that may sound unpleasant to the ears of his hearers, nor does he use all kinds of worldly entertainment to make church more appealing to unbelievers. Rather, the faithful preacher depends on the Holy Spirit to move and to save those who are his. Consider what Paul says in 1 Cor 1:17, “ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
Why would eloquent wisdom empty the cross of its power?
Until a preacher/evangelist understands this, he has not grasp the essence of effective biblical evangelism. In contrast to all the worldly gimmicks used in modern day evangelism, we read: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (c.f. 1 Cor 1:31) The person who accepts the Lord’s teaching concerning this has “the mind of Christ.” (c.f. 1 Cor 2:16), while the one who disagrees with this is given a rebuke by the Apostle Paul–effectively asking him who he thinks he is to instruct God concerning effective evangelism (c.f. 1 Cor 2:16)
1 Cor 2:14-16 (ESV) 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. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
In preaching the full counsel of God in its plainness, the preacher moves not “in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (c.f. 2 Cor 5). In direct contrast to the seeker-sensitive movement, the Apostle Paul taught that sugar-coated preaching of eloquent words, empty the cross of its power. (c.f. 1 Cor 1:17). In short, if you want to avoid making false converts, and if you want to be faithful in preaching the word of God; if you want to be an effective evangelist pleasing before God; and if you want to see God move in the Spirit to convict hearts, preach the full counsel of God in its plainness. The Lord will save those who belongs to him, and the Spirit will convict hardened hearts. Remove unnecessary gimmicks in your preaching and focus on the word. The modern day preacher only has a short amount of time to teach a whole list of biblical truths. Use that time wisely. Preach the word with clarity and as plainly as possible, and pray that the Lord moves in power to save those only he can save. Do not water down your sermons, but preach the deep things of God. It is the Spirit who illuminates the eyes and ears of your hearers and give them understanding, not you.
There is also a popular trend to limit the preaching of a sermon to only three points. In some churches, they now limit this to one point! These preachers claim that if we teach more than three points in a sermon, people are not able to absorb what is being taught. To be an effective preacher and communicator, they say, a preacher should limit his sermon to only three points. How tragic. By those standards, we must conclude that Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets must have been the worst preachers. They preach ten… even twenty point sermons. Preach the word in its entirety. It is the Lord who brings understanding to them, not you. And if the Spirit so wishes, he is able to cause your hearers understand everything you preach to them, and cause them to remember it all, and even reveal truth to them through your sermon that you might not have thought about. Three point sermons are nothing more than a disguised attempt at manipulating the sermon with eloquent wisdom. No. Seek to preach the text in its entirety to the best of your ability. It is God who gives understanding and discernment of his word. You want to know how to move in the Spirit? Begin first by getting rid of all these gimmicks. Trust the Lord to illuminate their minds. Preach the word plainly, and the pray.
This my friend, is the most important lesson an evangelist/preacher must learn. Preach the full counsel of God in its plainness. Sadly, this simple truth is one of the most neglected teaching in evangelism/mission course.
Consider what the Apostle Paul says on this very subject:
1 Cor 1:17-25;1 Cor 2:1-5 (ESV)
1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
A man after God's own heart 