Application Critique
By Anthony Casperson
9-14-24

In their podcast Intentionally Blank, friends and fellow authors Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells talk about a range of topics. Often narrowing in to stories, which makes sense, given their occupation.

For a recent episode, they got on the topic of things that take the audience out of a story. But Sanderson said that he so often finds himself too focused on how the author/filmmaker accomplishes their goal of telling a story that he basically is always “out of the story.” For the most part, he can’t just sit back and enjoy it as a part of the audience. And is rarely so invested in the story that some glaring issue pops him out of it.

He sees how well the storyteller builds an arc for a character instead of seeing the characters as people who grow along the way. Climactic payoffs become moments to consider how well the storyteller fulfilled their earlier promises, instead of moments to weep or cheer.

The inner critic often prevails over the enthusiastic audience member.

And honestly, I kinda understand it. Not just with stories—which I’m starting to notice more myself. But also occasionally in the area that I’ve had my own formal training. Preaching.

Though, it was far worse when I was fresh out of that training. Because for as much as preaching classes teach a person how to better perform this sacred craft, the students spend a lot of class time critiquing their fellow preachers’ sermons. So much time is spent ripping apart the faults—in the effort to help each other be better at building up later sermons—that it becomes second nature. And the more preaching classes one takes, the more time is spent doing this very thing.

It can be very difficult to just sit back and let the godly words lead you to worship God and grow in your relationship to him. The temptation to nitpick at every little thing pulls with One-ring-like strength.

However, there are also times when that inner critic is actually needed. Times when an author could say that if this one thing were changed, then the story would be much stronger. And times when a preacher could say, “I don’t think this person truly understood the passage.”

That’s where I found myself earlier this week while a person spoke about several biblical stories. He repeatedly claimed applications that were totally alien to the passages. Emphasized ways to be better people and members of society while completely strangling a direct reading of the text. And even equated the divine calling of the Creator of the universe with human conscience.

It was at that moment where I figured out the problem I’d felt all along with his applications. They were so humanocentric—so focused on human action and agency—that they forgot about the awesome glory of Yahweh.

The man reduced godliness to mere morality. Shrank holiness to only good ethics. Minimized our calling as a chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, and God’s unique possession, into a call to be nothing more than good citizens of our present society.

He spoke of bible stories in the abstract instead of proclaiming the word of God.

And I’m afraid that he’s not alone. Many who preach and teach from the bible have spent their time applying the stories in this humanocentric method. We focus so much on how to be good people who do good things, instead of being godly people who do godly things. And it ends up with us forgetting that God and his greatness should even factor into our application of his word.

It’s a trap that so many fall into. And I’m not excluded from this error from time to time either.

For an example of the type of application I’m talking about let’s look at the passage of 1 Samuel 17, often spoken of as David vs. Goliath. When this story comes up, people almost instantly moralize it as “facing our giants.” We’re placed into the role of underdogs who stand up to the seemingly big problems that want to crush us.

But this application fails to recognize that David wasn’t the underdog in the situation. He was the agent through whom God once again brought low the representation of human evil—which is the role that the Philistines play in the book of Samuel. Yahweh is the victor and main player of the passage.

And God is never the underdog.

Thus, the most direct application of the passage should be, “Don’t fear the evil of human sinfulness that defies Yahweh. Instead, join him in his victory by fighting on his side.”

Or as David himself puts it when speaking to the uncircumcised Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand” (1 Samuel 17:45-47, ESV, emphasis added).

Yes, David acted. And his hand performed the physical actions that led to Goliath’s death. But even David admitted that it was because of Yahweh that any of this was possible. It was for God’s glory and honor that David joined the fight. Because human evil will not be allowed to defy the God of Israel for long. That’s what an application that first focuses on God looks like.

When it comes to applying the word of God to our lives, we shouldn’t start with looking to ourselves. We should look first to our great and wondrous God. See who he is, and what he does. Then, in light of that truth, consider how we can grow into relationship with him.

We so often fail at this application because we’ve forgotten our purpose as human beings—as image-bearers of God. The Westminster Shorter Confession answers the question of humanity’s chief purpose well. “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13 likewise puts it, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (ESV).

And as I’ve thought about these two statements of humanity’s purpose and duty, I can’t help but also hear the words of our Savior when he speaks of the greatest commandment in Mark 12:29-31. “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (ESV).

The greatest command for humanity—our chief purpose and duty—is to glorify/fear/love Yahweh our God with everything that we are, and then eternally enjoy his presence as we keep his commands, which helps us love others in righteousness and holiness.

The verses and the confession are all connected. And all of them point us to God first. Our focus of application for the word of God in our lives should first be directed toward him. How his presence and actions and commands shown in the passages should draw us to be more like him. They call us to grow spiritually into godliness, not moral goodness.

Sure, godliness will often lead us to be good neighbors and good citizens and moral people. But that is as an outcome of our growth into godliness. The fruit of being connected through the Holy Spirit to the vine of our Savior Jesus. Thus, our first focus on God aids us to then show his image-bearers the proper honor and respect.

Humanity’s purpose isn’t self-centered. It’s not humanocentric. Humanity’s primary goal is focused on our relationship to God. And through that, we can then interact well with our fellow image-bearers. And anything that redirects or reduces that purpose—anything that convinces us to forget about our Creator and Savior—is a call against our God-given purpose.

It’s sin.

And it is through that God-focused application that we can then witness the manner in which our actions should line up with his commands. Once we’ve understood the vertical application, then we can also speak to the horizontal application of how we interact with our fellow image-bearers.

Because we won’t ever act properly toward the image until we’ve first experienced who the image represents.

It’s only when we’ve seen what the passage tells us about God that we can then realize where we need to grow. Both as an individual and as the people of God.

So, let’s stop reducing godliness to mere morality. Let’s seek how the application shows God to us, so that we can then grow our whole being to be more like him. And that includes growing in our interactions with each other.

And then we can enjoy God forever, while letting our inner critic get a rest too.