BLOG #11: FOCUS ON YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

BLOG #11

PREACH AND TEACH TO CHANGE LIVES

Step 4:  FOCUS ON YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE.

The bottom half of our diagram deals the MESSENGER; the top half deals with the HEARER.  In our simple model of communication HEY! YOU… SEE? SO., the HEY underlines the importance of knowing, understanding,  and focusing on your target your audience.  The old illustration of the shotgun versus the rifle is apt.  Some people preach/teach as if they are blasting a shotgun at their audience.  The pellets of the shotgun blast cover a large area and some of those pellets will surely hit someone.  But the focused single shot of the sniper rifle is more effective in hitting the heart.  Someone said, “If you aim at nothing, you will surely hit it.”  Another said, “If you try to talk to everybody, you’ll end up talking to nobody.”

What do we mean by focusing on your target audience?  We mean three things:

·      Focus on the goal of the spiritual journey.

·      Know at what stage of the spiritual journey your audience is at present.

·      Aim to bring your audience one step closer to the goal.

THE GOAL

Let’s begin with the GOAL.  The Christian life is a spiritual journey with a very clear goal or destination.   This goal has two aspects: IN THIS LIFE and BEYOND THIS LIFE.  Please look at our diagram.

(1)  BEYOND THIS LIFE:  PERFECT LIKE CHRIST

This aspect of the goal is beyond this life because it will be accomplished at the Second Coming of Christ.  This will be the culmination of salvation described as glorification, in which the believer will share in the perfect humanity of the resurrected Jesus, in body, soul and spirit.

Ephesians 4:13: Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Romans 8:29-30:  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Philippians 3:20-21: 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

(2)  IN THIS LIFE: MATURE IN CHRIST

Every Christian is called by God to grow to full spiritual maturity in this life.  Maturity is not the same as perfection; maturity is achieving your God-given potential (in character and service) in this world short of perfection.

Ephesians 4:12, 14-16:  12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ… 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Colossians 2:6-7:  6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Every time you preach/teach keep your eyes on the goal of the spiritual journey.  Your purpose is not to inform merely, or to encourage merely, or to challenge merely.  Look at every person in your audience and praise God in  your heart and say: “God, thank You this person will become mature in Christ in this life, and perfect like Your Son someday.”

You preach/teach like Paul with all your might because of the greatness of the goal:

Colossians 1:27-29:  27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

And you must undergird your preaching/teaching with the same fervency of prayer exemplified by the apostle Paul as well as by a local church leader like Epaphras:

Feel the passion of the apostle Paul as a spiritual parent: Galatians 4:19: My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you

Share in Epaphras’ uncompromising commitment to the goal:  Colossians 4:12:  Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

THREE STAGES

As in the physical life even so in the spiritual life, the Christian goes through three stages in his/her spiritual journey toward maturity: baby stage, youth stage, parent stage.  Please look at our diagram again.

1 John 2:12-14: 12 I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.  14 I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

A newborn baby is the sweetest thing in the world.  But if that baby stays a baby and does not grow normally toward the next stage of development, parents become concerned as they should be.  In the Philippines we have a name for a person that develops physically to the size of a grown man but whose mind remains that of a baby; we call that person BONDYING (pronounced bon-djing).  We often use that term for fun, but there is nothing more tragic and more sad for parents than for their baby to grow into a BONDYING.

The New Testament strongly warns against believers remaining BONDYINGS.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3:   1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Hebrews 5:12-13: 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

How do we protect the people in  our care from remaining spiritual BONDYING?  We do this by making sure they get the knowledge, disciplines, skills, attitudes and character qualities that they need at each stage of the spiritual journey.  Again, let’s remind ourselves that we do this through two tracks, TEACHING TRACK and PREACHING TRACK.

Here the TEACHING TRACK is foundational.  The PREACHING TRACK assists as a trouble-shooter.  What do we mean?

TEACHING TRACK

Every group or congregation must have a curriculum of Bible studies, which progresses from evangelism on to the baby stage and the youth stage and the parent stage.  And everyone who becomes a regular attender (and eventually a member) of the congregation must be enrolled in that curriculum.  Remember the Campus Crusades’ TEN STEPS?  The Navigators’ 10 book-series called Lessons in Christian Living?  These lessons are designed to take a person from the start of the spiritual journey up to a certain level of maturity.    This kind of step-by-step, systematic curriculum is the best way – the ONLY WAY – to ensure that every member of the congregation gets the needed teaching and training at every stage of the spiritual journey. 

NOTE: NEXT BLOG

For purposes of illustration, the next blog posting will give the outline of my 10-book  NewLife Discipleship Training Series (available free in word.doc electronic file upon request at pastor.bien@yahoo.com).  The NewLife Series utilizes Hand Illustrations, which contain the knowledge, disciplines, skills, attitudes and character qualities needed at each stage.