Applicationed to death

Bloggers have been publishing some worthwhile thoughts on application and preaching. Here's one from Steve Mathewson:

I’m a firm believer in helping my listeners apply the Scriptures to their lives. . . . But I find that incorporating application into my sermons on a week-to-week basis is a challenge.

For me, the challenge is reductionism. By this, I refer to the practice of reducing application to a list of ‘life application points’ at the end of each sermon. Our culture is fond of lists. Number them, or put bullet points in front of them. Either way, listeners are eager to write them down and then, we hope, to work on fleshing them out in their lives.

But one comment I heard a few years ago made me pause. A believer who attended a midwest church known for its pastor’s preaching ministry complained, “If my pastor gives me one more life application point, I’m going to scream. I’m still trying to work on the ones from four months ago!”

Good, uh, point. Peter Mead has posted this follow-up to Steve's essay.