Some people use their sermons to preach the Bible, while others use Bible to preach their sermons!
Philipose Vaidyar
“We have
more preachers today than practitioners” and “preachers should walk the talk
and talk the walk” are not the points for this discussion; nor is this an academic
exercise on good Biblical preaching. Textual, Topical and Expository sermons have its own importance and
place in Biblical preaching according to the relevance of the situations but we
should be aware of the danger sides of textual and topical messages with too
many references. More often we wonder
why the preacher turns to different books and verses, without completing
exposition on the scripture portion already selected and read out. I would like
to bring into our attention on the subject from my observations on sermons over
several these past years and what preachers do with their sermon time. (We
would mean here ‘preaching’, ‘sermon’, and ‘message’ for Biblical Preaching and
would use these three words interchangeably in this discussion).
1.
Study before preaching: Any sermon should be the
byproduct of a serious Bible study or exposition. There is a great difference
between Bible study and a sermon. Books are available on ‘How to Study Bible’, ‘Inductive
Bible Study’,‘Biblical Interpretation’, ‘Hermeneutics’ etc. There are also books
available on Biblical preaching. Buy such a handbook and learn to do it
yourself instead of buying sermon outlines and ready-made messages of preachers
or teachers.
2.
Express, not impress: Biblical preaching is not to
impress but to express. It is not to show off ones’ knowledge on Bible verses
or skills in quoting, rather to express the message of God from the Word of
God, which should have relevance to the hearers.
3.
Do not just inform, help people change:
Biblical Sermons
should not serve just knowledge and information, but lead into Application by
the listeners. A message with information, observations and
interpretations does not do any good to the listeners if it fails to lead people
to applying it to their personal lives. It should not be like fireworks but
like firing. Fire-works brings joy to the one who light it and others who watch
would appreciate for that moment but has no lasting result on anyone. Firing
should hit the target and bring the desired result. Even if you miss a firing,
don’t shoot without a bullet even for practice. It should not just produce
light, sound and smoke. Let the message be packed with applications, drawn from
the contemporary meaning of the Biblical text. If you the preacher could not
apply it for yourself and did not know its implications and applications, your
hearers don’t either. We often hear a lot of messages without knowing for sure
what the preacher suggests us to do. Biblical preaching should lead to transformation,
change in attitudes, character and conduct.
4.
Rule of a book, a news paper and
a letter! Bible
is unique and is different from other literature; but one should not take it as
if it is not a literature at all. Bible’s content has historical accounts,
narratives, correspondence/letters, poems, prophesies so and so forth. Do not
take any verse from anywhere and use it to serve our purpose. In most of the sermons we hear, preachers use
scores of Bible references, more often each one bringing a new point even
though it is taken from the cross reference aid.
None of us read a
book taking different sentences from different pages. When we read a daily newspaper,
we don’t pull out sentences from different articles or news items. When I read
mails or letters, I do not try to make sense out of different mails from
different senders or of different dates. A mail should be studied fully to
understand the message and we may refer other relevant mails if needed. Similar
sentences (verses) used by different authors should not be put together without
knowing the context just to make a sermon on a theme. I am surprised often, why
a preacher start with a verse and go around several books of the Bible for the
second, third and fourth points. At times, a passage is read, started off with
a verse and soon left for other portions of the Bible. Here the preacher uses
Bible verses to preach his message rather than expounding on the portion
selected.
Is it necessary that
every message should have eighteen cross-references? A small unit of text/ a
paragraph to a chapter of the Bible (depending on the literary form) is more
than enough to preach a great sermon with many points and applications.
5.
Too many verses often spoil the
sermon
Cross-references and
comparisons are good and can enhance the message, provided it is suitable and
you have already expounded enough of the text you had already selected. If you have selected
a narrative or a parable, stay there and complete the observation,
interpretations/ implications and applications. I have heard many preachers
taking off their sermon- whichever portion is it from to several Characters and
heroes like Moses, Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham and so forth, making all those
massages similar. Hearers who often appreciate nice sermon of a preacher fail
to recollect the message of the sermon.
6.
The Purpose and Message of the
Sermon
Many a time, several
preachers seemed to be unclear on what they want to achieve, or what they want
people to do in response to their message. The intent of the message should be
clear first to the preacher. If the preacher cannot phrase the message in a
sentence or two precisely (the proposition) and the desired response, he would
leave the hearers only in a mental satisfaction of listening to a sermon if not
leaving them in a full confusion. They may not complain as a Sunday sermon has
a ritual role at least.
7.
Quality matters more than the Quantity:
Some of them can
preach only if they have 45 minutes or an hour depending on the tradition or
culture of their denomination. If the preacher has done his homework and is
thorough with his sermon and its message, he can preach it for 45 minutes or
even in 10 minutes. If All India Radio can air national news in 10 minutes, a
preacher can do more without complaints of time if he is clear about the
message he wants to deliver.
8.
Too many illustrations and
stories: Some
preachers share more stories and illustrations often irrelevantly and dilute
the message. Stories stay better in the mind of people and if they do not know
why the illustration/ story were used, you have not achieved the purpose. Stories
or illustrations are said to be windows to the Word, like windows to a room.
Too many widows and too many light will divert the purpose of the room.
9.
Personal family Stories. Personal stories are good but
better for personal sharing times. Some have the habit of taking illustrations
always from their life where their family members are the characters. “When our
daughter was very small she used to …” “When we were newly married we were
living in a small apartment where we used to have a vegetable seller…” all these
are good for personal testimony time not always for a sermon. And if you have
the habit of taking your family story every time you preach, remember they are
hearing you more than listening to. Use your learning or experience wisely to
tell the concept if your goal is to help the audience understand your point
better.
10. Forgetting
the Context.
Many preachers often forget the context. ‘Who said/wrote to whom in what
circumstance with what effect’, is more important to understand the original
meaning of the verse or portion before one can understand the contemporary
meaning of the text to apply to our context. Every Biblical passage/ writing
has an original speaker/writer and original recipient(s). Bible is God’s Word
for us and the Spirit of God will speak to us through it today. But we should
not forget that it has a historical context and historical readers from where we
move on to the contemporary meaning and message for us so that we can take the
message for our situation or apply it to our context today. Moreover, every verse has its own context.
Meaning of a word can be understood from the context of the other words of the
same verse (sentence) and the meaning of a verse should be understood in the
context of the paragraph, chapter, and the book and in the wider context of the
whole Bible.
Conclusion
Read the Word,
meditate and study it to apply it relevantly and personally so that it will
transform us and can transform others. Inductive
or Expository preaching needs homework but is powerful and can impact us and our
hearers. As a humble learner, invest your time, be creative, and not just imitate. Avoid shortcuts and don't just borrow sermons !
