This is Not a Sermon on Sexual Immorality

You know that things are going down in church when your pastor rates a sermon as PG-13. My church has been studying the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians. The series is entitled A Beautiful Mess because the Corinthian church was sinful, but the people loved Jesus. This past Sunday, on December 3, my pastor, Paul Anderson, travelled through 1 Corinthians 5. In the beginning of the sermon, he drew a graph that demonstrated the proportional relationship between Confrontation and Commitment; meaning that, as a part of the church, it is the Christian’s duty to commit to love their brother or sister in Christ, and to confront them of their sin--sexual immorality.

Unholy sex was everywhere in the Corinthian church. The problem is, it was considered normal. My pastor used the graph to explain how Paul wanted the Corinthians to act, as well as how we should act.

If the graphical relationship was too close to Confrontation, you could be considered a jerk. If the relationship was too close to commitment, the n you could be considered a coward. A jerk, because you might just point out the flaws in other people without having love or grace. A coward, because you may not want to point out the sin as much as you want to ‘love’ them. However, for the church to be a church centered on Christ, Christians must be willing to point out sin while loving their brothers and sisters.

I have always found my pastor’s sermons, including this one, engaging. He tells a lot of jokes and hands out humor, which is a way to reel people in with pathos. He also puts up pictures to help the audience visualize the topic. And being a pastor with a good educational background, he has a reliable ethos. His walks scripture also provide a Christian authority. Finally, for logos, he made the Confrontation vs. Commitment chart and named specific scriptural references to support it. He also displayed the key texts and map locations on screens so the audience could follow along.

These days, it can be hard to find a pastor who knows the Bible, teaches it well, and loves Jesus--all at the same time. I am very grateful for my pastor, because he has made learning the Bible fun. His use of rhetoric and the three means of persuasion are imperative in creating a sermon that is enticing, Bible-based, and logically sound.

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