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In the 8th chapter of Christ-centered Preaching, Bryan Chapell explains the practice of application under five main headings. However, I prefer to limit this article to three subtopics, for I consider them relevant to my own situation. These three topics are:

• The inseparability of biblical truth and application

• The components of application, and

• Suggestions to overcome the difficulty of application

Inseparability of Biblical Truth and Application

Chapell mentions this subject under the functions of application. He starts with an assessment of Christian behavior in the West. Chapell shares a statistical report concerning a comparative study of Christian behavior before and after conversion on three social ills:

• use of illegal drugs

• driving while intoxicated, and

• marital infidelity

He reports that Christian behavior deteriorates in these three areas after conversion. Items 1 and 3 are doubled, whereas item 2 tripled. He adds that divorce is higher among evangelical Christians. Even Internet pornography sites are visited by 18% of surveyed born-again Christians.

Chapell, though admitting that the reasons for such inconsistent behavior varied, seems to imply that failure to connect biblical truth to daily living in preaching is the primary cause. This is why Chapell emphasizes that biblical exposition is incomplete unless application is its main focus. He states:

Application fulfills the obligations of exposition. Application is the present, personal consequence of scriptural truth. Without application, a preacher has no reason to preach, because truth without actual or potential application fulfills no redemptive purpose. This means that at its heart preaching is not merely the proclamation of truth but truth applied (p. 210).

The Westminster Shorter Catechism has been emphasizing the importance of application of biblical truth. It asks:

What do the Scriptures principally teach?

The reply:

What man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.

Seeing from this perspective, the Bible is always relevant. It is the “so what” aspect in preaching. David Veerman expands this application aspect of biblical truth by dividing it into “so what” and “now what.” The first question asks, “Why is this passage important to me?” The second question asks, “What should I do about it today?”

Chapell highlights this applicatory function of biblical truth by connecting it to FCF. Since FCF is an aspect of human fallenness that is constant and needs the healing power of the gospel, application is saying, “This is what you must do about that problem, need, or fault based on what this passage means” (p.212).

Chapell, though admonishing preachers to provide explanations of a text that demonstrate the validity of application, also issues a warning not to stand as the final authority in terms of dictating the behavior of the people. Members of the church are also told to ignore applications that have no clear biblical warrant. Such dictatorial tendency according to Chapell is actually a mark of immaturity among preachers. In terms of application, Chapell accentuates both the internal and the external aspects of human personality. He identifies four classes of application:

• attitudinal

• behavioral

• exhortation to action, and

• reinforcement of faith commitment

Examples of behavioral application are prohibitions against drinking, smoking, lust, and procrastination.

Examples of exhortation to action are responsibilities to share the gospel, turn from a sinful practice, and give to a worthy cause.

Examples of attitudinal application are prejudice, pride, and selfishness.

Examples of reinforcement of faith commitment are grasping the freedom of forgiveness, taking comfort in the truth of the resurrection, and renewing hope based on God’s sovereignty.

The Components of Application

Application has four components. These are:

• instructional particularity

• situational particularity

• motivation, and

• enablement

Instructional particularity answers the question “what.” Specifically, it answers the question “What does God now require of me?”

Instructional particularity is taken from biblical universal principles based on the text. These principles are then applied by giving instructions consistent with and derived from the text. This is usually done in a sermon by repeated emphasis of key terms and concepts.

Situational particularity answers the question “where.” It specifically answers the question “Where does God require it of me?” Two errors are to be avoided in order to practice situational particularity in applying the sermon. These are the errors of simplistic generalizations and instructional multiplication. Simplistic generalizations demonstrate a lack of reflection. Instructional multiplication is evidence of scattered thoughts and burdens the people instead of ministering to them.

Situational particularity is not satisfied with an admonition “to love one’s neighbor.” It seeks to identify that neighbor in particular. This could mean people who support a different political party, raise hateful children, laugh at your faith, and back into your car and drive away without leaving a note. Situational particularity makes the sermon real. It is the cure for current dullness in preaching. Brilliance cannot remedy the irrelevance of the pulpit. This is the reason why application is the most difficult task in expository preaching.

The text supplies instructional particularity. The preacher provides situational particularity as he contemplates the specific concrete problems his people are facing during weekdays. Examples of these concrete problems are classified under several categories:

• Building proper relationships (with God, family, friends, coworkers, church people, etc.)

• Reconciling conflicts (in marriage, family, work, church, etc.)

• Handling difficult situations (stress, debt, unemployment, grief, fatigue, etc.)

• Overcoming weakness and sin (dishonesty, anger, addiction, lust, doubt, lack of discipline, etc.)

• Lack of proper use of resources (time, treasures, talents, etc.)

• Meeting challenges and using opportunities (education, work in or out of church, witnessing, missions, etc.)

• Taking responsibility (home, church, work, finances, future, etc.)

• Concern for social problems (poverty, injustice, street children, OFWs, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, etc.)

The words of Norman Neaves are appropriate to conclude this section on the power of the particular over the universal. He states:

I’m tired of sermons that do not live where people live, that don’t connect with the real stories and struggles by which their lives are shaped, that never touch the earth or breathe the air that the congregation breathes. Maybe there are those who enjoy developing the universal sermon, the one that can be preached everywhere and anywhere, that has a quality of being timeless. But as far as I am concerned, everywhere and anywhere really means nowhere; and those who strive to be timeless are usually, simply not very timely….The particular is higher than the universal” (p. 227).

Motivation answers the question “why.” “Why must I do what God requires?” is the primary question in motivation. Since, according to Chapell, this motivation aspect in preaching will be fully discussed in part 3, it is sufficient at this point to just see the overview of the subject. Here he coined the 3 g’s of motivation in preaching. The two g’s to be avoided are greed and guilt. The remedy to both is grace.

Preaching is motivated by guilt when the message emphasizes the punishment of God when we do wrong. Preaching is motivated by greed when the message stresses personal advantage when we do right. The only motivation in preaching that would empower believers to serve God is neither fear of punishment nor expectation of personal advancement but out of loving gratitude for the redemption he freely and fully provides. And that is grace. Chapell said,

If we serve God primarily because we believe he will love us less if we do not, punish us more if we do less, or withhold blessing until we are sufficiently holy, then we are not obeying God for his glory but are pursuing our own self-interests (p. 219).

Enablement answers the question “how.” Specifically, it answers the question “How can I do what God requires?” Chapell issues a warning here against the danger of “self-help gospel.” He emphasizes that it is basic human inclination to seek God in one’s own strength. By doing so, what seems to be a holy practice is really just human striving. Man thinks he can do what God requires on the basis of his own resources. And that is the essence of salvation by works. This is why the role of the Holy Spirit as the Enabler is so crucial in application. The power to do what God requires resides in God. Our power to obey is entirely through our union with Christ (John 15:5). Application, therefore, in expository preaching must direct the people to seek and to depend on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Suggestions to Overcome the Difficulty of Application

The foregoing considerations show the difficulty of application. Chapell offers some practical suggestions in order to overcome this difficulty. Among nine suggestions, let me just revise them into five with concise description of each.

The first one is to avoid conclusive arguments by using disarming illustrations.

• Short-circuiting emotional responses

• Gaining a fair hearing rather than a more frontal, didactic approach.

• Better than confronting listeners with arguments that challenge their defenses

• Select quotations from respected experts may open listeners’ minds to ideas they might not consider on a preacher’s authority alone.

Second, utilize common sense proposals

• Realistic, relevant, and achievable

• Three types of application lack credibility

  • Pie-in-the-sky principles. Smile more every hour. Resolve never to fear again.
  • High hurdles. Application based on behaviors beyond the capacities of all but a few listeners. Learn Hebrew and Greek. Go to the Holy Land.
  • Narrow focus. Buy books.

Third, distinguish between biblical mandate and personal suggestion.

Fourth, recognize complexity.

Finally, spiritual integrity is vital.

• Personal trustworthiness

• Why should people listen to a preacher tell them what they do not want to do, have not done, or will need to change?

• Because they know the preacher loves them and the Lord too much to withhold the truth they need.

• Preachers’ lives will confirm the heart behind their applications of the Word.

• Sermons have power because the wisdom and compassion evident in preachers’ actions demonstrate the presence of the Spirit in their words.

• Ultimately, the Spirit alone can apply the truth of his Word, and its success depends on the preacher preaching for the Spirit’s purpose and relying on his work.

For the AI-generated song version of this article, kindly check From The Word to The Way.

Grace and peace!