On application

I had the great pleasure of learning from Archie Poulos over the weekend on the topic of 'God, ministry and emotions.' He made an interesting throwaway comment during question time that has got me thinking on the place of application in the sermon.

The problem with only applying at the end of the sermon is that people don't want to hear the reason for change, they only want to know what they have to do. If we only apply at the end, then all people hear is "blah, blah, blah, now do this."

Underlying Archie's observation is (I think) that all theology is applied and inherently practical, that we should point these out as we go along, and in crafting a sermon beware what is implied through the method. A similar point is made by Gordon Cheng in his article on sexual immorality in Corinth here.