Every week in America, it is estimated that 55 million people listen to more than a billion words in sermons. Billions more words are spoken from pulpits around the world.
The number one complaint from the people in most congregations is this: “Sermons are boring and unrelated to my life.”
PREACHING IS FOR SPIRITUAL LIFE-CHANGE
Preaching is not simply to educate and inform, it is to bring about spiritual transformation.
George Gallup the pollster said, “Never before in the history of the United States has the gospel of Jesus Christ made such inroads while at the same time making so little difference in how people actually live.”
The fact is, we are producing many hearers but few doers; we’re getting informed followers but very few transformed disciples.
John Calvin said, “The Word of God is not to teach us to prattle or be eloquent and subtle … but to reform our lives, so that we desire to serve God, to give ourselves entirely to him and to conform ourselves to his good will.”
D. L. Moody wrote, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.”
After nearly 50 years of ministry, I have observed that information-based preaching produces nothing more than modern-day Pharisees. Yet the majority of preaching falls into this category.
Here are some basic principles that must be in place if a sermon is to ring the bell and accomplish its purposes.
1. It must be interesting or no one will listen
Make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. (Titus 2:10)
What’s attractive to listeners? They are interested in things they value, things that are new or unique and things that threaten them or which they fear.
If people are going to listen to what I have to say, I must first gain their attention and second, I need to keep their attention.
What made Jesus’ preaching interesting? He dealt with the listeners’ self-interest, he spent considerable time on application and his sermons were spiced with humor. He not only addressed the needs of his listeners, he engaged his listeners by interacting with them and asking questions that aroused their curiosity.
One way a sermon can maintain interest is to ask rhetorical questions. Anticipate questions. Say things like, “Some of you are thinking…” or “Perhaps this is what’s going through your minds.” Effective preachers engage their listeners.
I make some basic assumptions when I stand up to preach. No matter how successful people seem, their lives are empty without Christ. Everyone needs and wants to be loved. All people want their lives to count and have significance. Guilt is common and I don’t need to increase it; I need to offer a solution. Most, if not all people, are fearful of death.
These are all issues I can legitimately address from the Scripture and as I do, I will increase the attentiveness of those in the audience.
Here’s what Chuck Swindoll said. “If you think the gathering of biblical facts and standing up with a Bible in your hand will automatically equip you to communicate well, you are deeply mistaken. It will not. You must work at being interesting. Boredom is a gross violation, being dull is a grave offense, and irrelevance is a disgrace to the Gospel. Too often these three crimes go unpunished and we preachers are the criminals.”
2. It must be intelligible or it will not be understood
As I sit in church listening to a preacher, I ask myself, “Would my non-Christian Jewish friend understand what is being said?” Sometimes I picture my unchurched and ungodly barber sitting there and I wonder if what is being said would be understood.
This is not a new issue. The Ethiopian Eunuch travelled to Jerusalem, seeking spiritual answers then was heading home. While travelling, he was still reading the Bible, but it was completely unintelligible to him. When Philip asked him if he understood, the Ethiopian replied, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?”
Paul said he was “… to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make it plain to everyone…” (Ephesians 1:8).
How do we make our preaching intelligible so it will be understood?
Remember the entry level of your audience. You don’t start with what you learned in seminary, you start with what the listener understands. Then you apply the Scripture.
Remember to simplify your vocabulary. There is great danger in using vocabulary that is beyond the scope of your audience. The great magazines and books are written with the vocabulary of someone young. A preacher’s mission is not to demonstrate how much he has learned but to help his listeners spiritually comprehend the greatness of Jesus and how he wants to interact with them. Use the conversational language of the people. The gospel is profound but it isn’t complex.
Remember to keep your basic ideas simple rather than complex. The more complicated your thoughts and concepts, the more your audience will struggle to grasp what you are trying to say.
Remember to have a basic logic to your outline. Building a sermon is like constructing something. Keep it simple. Follow a logical plan. A logical outline helps people follow what you are saying as well as remember what you have said.
3. It must be relevant or it has no effect
A sermon must speak to the needs of the day. It must address the needs of those present. It should speak with a knowledge of the people listening. Each listener needs to know how to apply to his own life what is being taught. Any Bible college graduate can explain the meaning of the words in a text; it takes a godly craftsman to show me what it means in my life. Anyone can expound the text; great preachers apply the text to life situations.
Illustrations must be relevant. Illustrations from 200 years ago don’t resonate with the audience.
The topics dealt with must be current. Answer the questions of today, not yesterday.
The sermon must relate to what people are experiencing now. The sermon must draw practical applications from the Bible, to address what people are going through now. As one person said, “Pastor, I am not worried about getting to heaven. Those issues have been settled. Pastor, I want to know how to make it to next Sunday!”
4. It must edify or it will do no good
I’ve had a habit of writing a brief note to myself at the top of my sermon notes as a final reminder to me as I actually started to preach. Sometimes the note simply says, “Lift up Jesus,” reminding me that if Jesus is lifted up, he will draw people to himself. Other times the note says, “Love the people,” or “Encourage the people.” These words reminded my to be careful of my attitude and tone of voice.
A sermon must build up, not tear down. It’s purpose is not to make people feel guilty but to point them to the Savior who has dealt with their guilt. The sermon is to offer freedom not add to the listeners’ bondage.
5. It must persuade or it gets no response.
The task of preaching is really quite daunting. We are to persuade people who aren’t sure whether there even is a God, to believe that he exists and that he has a Son and to invite him into their lives. We are to get people who have no interest in biblical things to start following Jesus. The task of a preacher is to get people who are overwhelmed with despair and the cares of this world to accept that Jesus wants to walk through life with them. The purpose of the sermon is to get people who are in bondage to sinful habits to invite Jesus to set them free. Our job is to turn skeptics , atheists and agnostics into followers of the living Christ.
Of course we can’t argue anyone into the kingdom of God with clever debating. Only the Spirit of God can bring about life-change. But the Spirit will use our words and logic if they are honoring to God. While I rely on the Spirit to do his work, I use all my ability to persuade men to surrender to Jesus. This is what the Apostle Paul did.
Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:4).
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. (2 Corinthians 5:11).
6. It must be biblical or it has no authority
No matter how clever my illustrations and how persuasive my vocabulary, my words and logic have no authority in the spiritual world. It is the Scripture that the Holy Spirit uses to bring about conversion and transfers people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
Paul gave the commission about preaching to us all.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15).
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:2).
Biblical preaching connects the people and their needs to God’s word. Biblical preaching takes the text and applies its primary meaning to the audience.
7. It must be anointed or it has no power
There is no style of preaching that definitively demonstrates “preaching with the anointing.” Just because a preacher is animated, sweats a great deal and uses a certain tone of voice does not mean he is anointed. All those things can be duplicated with human effort. Don’t ever reduce the anointing to a particular style of speaking.
One of the most famous preachers in American history, Jonathan Edwards gave the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” People in the congregation felt such divine conviction that they said they could smell the flames of hell then and there.
Edwards, who had poor eyesight, read every word and his eyes were never more than 18 inches from his notes. He looked at no one as he spoke. Yet that message was the starting point of one of the greatest spiritual awakenings in American history. It had nothing to do with a flamboyant style; it had everything to do with the presence of the Holy Spirit who made the Bible come alive in the spirits of the listeners.
Jesus said, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed… (Luke 4:18).
Paul said, My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words , but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:4).
A complete directory of articles can be found at http://calsinsights.com/
You can receive this material regularly by email – just fill in your email address at the bottom left side of the home page under subscription options and you will receive a copy of each new article as it is posted.
To forward the material to someone else, press the “share this” button and fill in an email address.
I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.