Preaching is one of the most challenging, enjoyable and dangerous things any pastor will do. The responsibility is tremendous and the world allies with our sinful flesh to make preachers deliver poor sermons and to distract inattentive hearers.
The newly minted pastors leaving the seminary for their first calls have had excellent homiletical training from the finest professors. They’ve immersed themselves in the study of sacred writ. They have engaged energetically with doctrinal writings and historical texts. Now they are ready to preach. Yes and no. Preaching is as much an art as it is a science. One can compose a technically fine sermon but one that lacks beauty or warmth.
There are many types of preachers. And I know a number of very excellent Lutheran preachers who have dramatically different styles. What works for one fellow in his particular setting might not fly for another elsewhere. There is no one size fits all. However, as one who is still terrified, excited and challenged every time he stands in a pulpit, these are my “tips” for preaching. It’s certainly possible that some preachers will take exception with this or that point. They are in no particular order. FWIW
- Whether you use an outline or a manuscript, when you write the sermon, write for the ear, not for the eye. Your words will primarily be heard, not read. That should make a big difference in how you write.
- Use everyday language. Your sermon is not an English lesson. Your objective is not to expand people’s vocabulary. Use good grammar, but be flexible. Speak in the manner your parishoners are accustomed to. When you write, imagine you are having a one-to-one conversation with a typical member of the congregation.
- Reviewing sermons from the fathers of the church for insights is commendable, but don’t adopt the flowery Victorian style of many translations.
- Be natural. Avoid all pulpit-tone. Unless you hail from the British Isles, do not anglocize your speech. It’s pretentious.
- Preach with authority but without being pompous or bullying.
- Keep all non-biblical quotations to a minimum, and brief.
- Humor can be helpful or it can be harmful. It’s like salt on your potato. A dab will do. Don’t use jokes or puns to draw attention to yourself.
- Do use illustrations. Don’t over-use them. And make certain the illustration really does help proclaim the gospel and isn’t just a cute story you can’t resist using.
- Preaching is not about you. If it ever becomes about you, repent.
- Preach Jesus Christ crucified. If you haven’t declared the cross and its benefits, you haven’t preached.
- Be specific and direct in preaching the law to convict. Never use the law as a means to puff up the self-righteous. It kills. Kill them with it.
- The gospel raises us to life again. Pierce and crush them with the hammer. Resurrect them, specifically and directly, with the gospel.
- Preach the law with compassion and sympathy. Don’t water it down, but don’t be spiteful. You don’t have the right.
- Have someone critique your gestures and body language.
- Make sure people understand you. If you ramble or use too much highfalutin vocabulary and thus aren’t being understood, you may as well be speaking in Klingon.
- Don’t be wordy or long-winded. Verbosity is an atrocity.
- The gospel works. Don’t get in its way.
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I think I would add a couple more to this:
* Preach so that your people long for the Sacrament of the Altar.
* Read, read, read, read, read. You can’t read too many great sermons. The best way to learn how to preach is to lean to recognize good preaching when you read it and hear it.
I’m going to muse on this more. It’s a good topic.
Rev. Todd Peperkorn’s last blog post..Exaudi 2008 - He Will Testify of Me
That has to be the creepiest picture I’ve ever seen.
The Law doesn’t kill. Sin kills.
I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But *sin,* taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, *which was to bring life*, I found to bring death. For *sin*, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? *Certainly not!* But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. (Romans 7:7-13 [show]Romans 7:7-13
)
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. (ESV)
Anastasia Theodoridi’s last blog post..God’s Law Never Killed Anyone
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!”
2 Cor. 3:6-9 [show]2 Corinthians 3:6-9
who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. (ESV)
I guess I just don’t get it. If it’s the letter that kills, surely you aren’t suggesting pastors preach the letter of the Law?
But even the letter isn’t what kills us; it’s *walking according to that letter*, which is to deny walking by the Spirit, favoring written words above real Life. Right?
Anastasia Theodoridi’s last blog post..Holy Handkerchief! (What Would You DO With One?)
Ana,
You say, “surely you aren’t suggesting pastors preach the letter of the Law?”
Of course, that is exactly what I am saying. It’s God’s Law. Do you think we should not speak God’s Law? Let’s take an example. “Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods.” I say preach it. Or this one: “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.” Again, I say preach it. And when the Law of God is preached properly it will kill the Old Adam, the sinful flesh, as well it should (Rom 6 [show]Romans 6
).
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)
Earlier you said that it is not God’s law that kills, but sin. Sin kills. But as the Apostle wrote, “the power of sin is . . . the Law (1 Cor 15 [show]1 Corinthians 15
).”
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals." Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
"O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (ESV)
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