An Interview with Max Lucado: Preaching John 3:16...Continued from page 1
Preaching: Did the book come out of a sermon series?
Lucado: All of my books do that. I’m a preacher first and a writer second, although my role is changing a bit at the church. I’m going to bring on a co-teacher, but I’ll still be a pastor and a writer. But I don’t think I’ll be going to budget meetings, so I’m excited about that!
You know what? Our church loved studying John 3:16. I think one of the reasons they did is it’s familiar. We can make the assumption that people don’t want to hear the familiar, but they really do – they love to be reacquainted with the 23rd Psalm, the Lord’s Prayer. Bring me that old friend into the room, let’s sit back and talk about it, and take me just a little bit deeper on it. When you teach on a familiar text, you’re capitalizing on common knowledge. When you teach on an unfamiliar text, you’re having to build a bridge of understanding, and we need to do that as well. But the wonder of this familiar text is the listener says, “Oh, I know this verse. I’ve been there before. Tell me something new about it.”
Preaching: What are your favorite passages for preaching?
Lucado: My favorite in all history is the 23rd Psalm. I just love standing in front of a crowd and say, “I’m going to start a verse and you finish it. The Lord is my . . .” and you can just hear people say, “shepherd.” Everybody’s heard that, so I love teaching out of the 23rd Psalm. But again it’s the same reason, that familiarity, then taking people a little deeper – giving them some nuggets that they haven’t thought of.
Now it’s John 3:16. I guess I’ll preach on John 3:16 the rest of my life. Billy Graham is famous for the statement he’s spent his whole life trying to preach from John 3:16; that’s his life passage. What better verse to dedicate your life to?
Preaching: As you were doing the series, were there some particular new insights for you? Sometimes as we read a familiar passage, there are some new things that jump out at us and surprise us. Any of those kinds of insights for you?
Lucado: If you had asked me that question when I began the study, which word in 3:16 was my favorite, it would not have been the one that’s now my favorite. My favorite word now is whoever. “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” I just love that thought – whoever, the wide gates to heaven. Every person is a whoever; who’s not a whoever? So to tell every person: whoever you are, however you land – that’s such great news.