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Article by Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley, first published in Irish Baptist magazine, Nov. 1986
“The only way to preach well is to begin ten years
ago”, advises James Black – much to the discomfiture of the preacher! These
words are a timely reminder that sermon preparation is not just the work of a
few hours or days before the message is preached. A sermon is the outflow of a
life and is a reflection of the whole intellectual and spiritual development of
the preacher over many years. The future does not come to us out of tomorrow but
out of yesterday and today.
These factors help to set sermon
preparation in its true context and caution the preacher that his ministry in
coming days will be largely determined by the kind of man he was, and is now.
The depth of a man’s communion with God and his spiritual experience in all
the varied circumstances of life will be mirrored in the quality and character
of his preaching. What was said of Robert Murray McCheyne is true of every
preacher – “His teaching was in a manner the development of his soul’s
experience. It was a giving out of the inward life.”
But this is only one of the many
ingredients which play an essential part in indirectly preparing a man for his
pulpit ministry. There is also unremitting Bible study which James Stewart
describes as the one condition for the Lord to provide sufficient material for
the constant demands of the pulpit as the weeks and years go by. In addition to
his Bible and theological study, the preacher will also benefit from reading
“thought breeding” books and those which stretch his mental muscles. He will
also discover great value in reading books whose stance is very different from
his own for they will force him to think clearly and honestly about his own
convictions. Through the use of the newspaper, the television, and many other
sources of information, he will be made aware of what is happening in the world
in which his congregation have to live their lives. As he accumulates
information he will also endeavour to be a thinker and never be content to
peddle other men’s opinion in the pulpit.
But the preacher must not only
know books; he must know people as well. As he carefully studies human nature in
its many moods he will be aware of men’s struggles, problems and ways of
thinking. Faithful pastoral visitation will be particularly helpful in getting
to know intimately the congregation to whom he ministers – though naturally he
will be most careful never to betray any confidence which has been entrusted to
him.
There is therefore a sense in
which the preacher is always on duty as he goes through life with a watchful eye
and a listening ear, since all that he learns and all that happens to him is
certain to have some relevance to his ministry. In the light of these things it
is obvious that an inseparable companion of the preacher will be a good notebook
in which he can immediately make a permanent record of all the material that he
gathers. In this will go sermon outlines on a number of themes as ideas come to
him and as he acquires information and facts which will provide colour and
illustration for his sermons. The man who cultivates the habit of using his
notebook and who regularly replenishes his store of outlines is never likely to
be in a state of desperation late on a Saturday night. His people will never be
among those hungry sheep, described by Milton, who “look up and are not
fed.”
Since the richness of a preacher’s ministry is in strict proportion to the richness of his mind and soul there will always be a freshness and vigour about the ministry of a man who is constantly preparing himself. It is a tragedy that the preaching of such men, even when it remains absolutely true to the Word, is not always appreciated as it ought to be. “Not a few”, laments R.E.O.White, “will judge the sermon by the faithfulness of the preacher in treading the path which, given that text, “sound” preachers have always followed. This attitude kills preaching as it kills all Bible study and spells death to all spiritual life and Christian progress.”
In response to the prayerful reading of the Scriptures it
is frequently the experience of the preacher that a text will give him a hearty
grip from which there is no release. On other occasions a relevant sermon will
be prompted by an assessment of the spiritual condition and needs of a
congregation. The wise preacher will also make full use of the Christian year
which White describes as “the finest aid to Christian education and to
Christian witness”. In other words the basic Christian truths represented by
Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and Whitsun will be preached on at the
appropriate times in the year. In commending this practice, Martin Lloyd Jones
comments, “I believe that the danger confronting most of us is to become so
interested in the implications and the outworking of the Christian faith that we
tend to forget the essence and the very foundations of the faith. We assume them
but perhaps never preach them … So these special occasions have great value in
this respect, that they, in a sense, compel us to go back, and to remind
ourselves of these things which after all are the fundamentals on which our
whole position rests.” In addition the New Year, Harvest, Bible Sunday and
similar anniversaries all suggest prominent Biblical themes about which the
congregation need a regular reminder if they are not going to be spiritually
impoverished.
As they are considering the next
subject with which they should deal, men in the fulltime ministry sometimes
review their pulpit work up to the present. This can be a very salutary
experience, for they are often astonished and disturbed as they wake up to the
serious gaps in their preaching despite their best endeavours to present the
whole counsel of God. How often has the congregation been confronted with the
full range of Christian doctrine, ethical duty, and spiritual experience? How
often have the people heard sermons based on the various kinds of Biblical
literature each interpreted according to its distinctive nature – history,
prayers, psalms, proverbs, biography, character study, and laws? How often have
sermons been preached on Old Testament subjects in comparison with those which
are based on the New Testament? How often has the teaching of Jesus Christ in
the Synoptic Gospels been expounded, compared with the very extensive use which
has normally been made of the Pauline Epistles? How often have the particular
concerns and problems of the various kinds of people who are found in the
congregation been dealt with from the pulpit? Well does Spurgeon urge us, “Let
us abhor all one-sidedness, all exaggeration of one truth and disparagement of
another and let us endeavour to paint the portrait of truth with balanced
features and blended colours.”
Whatever choice of sermon is
made the preacher will be well advised to avoid eccentric, fanciful and
sensational subjects and keep to deep and abiding truths. These are the themes
which quicken the thought and arouse the heart of the preacher and which leave
their mark on the congregation. “You cannot drop the big themes and create
great saints”, warns J.H.Jowett.
It is sometimes debated whether
a pastor should preach sermons on what can be called “odd texts” or as a
connected series. Surely there is room for both. If the Spirit can guide a man
to preach on individual texts he can also guide him to a series. The advantage
of the latter is that it provides the congregation with consecutive teaching on
one theme, while it relieves the preacher of the weekly search for a text. But
it is vital that he is not imprisoned by his plan for the series but is always
open to fresh guidance from the Spirit.
The subjects for series are
legion. Among many others which could be mentioned are: the people who met
Jesus, the paragraph by paragraph exposition of a book, the symbols of the Holy
Spirit, a book expounded by the problems or events mentioned in it, the “I
am’s” of Jesus, the minor prophets and modern problems, heroes of the faith,
the miracles and parables of Jesus, Christian foundations, the Lord’s prayer,
Paul’s missionary journeys and the Sermon on the Mount. In planning different
series it is highly desirable to ring the changes because variety is essential
to hold the interest of the congregation.
The length of the series depends
very much on the ability of the preacher and the capacity of the congregation
and so it is impossible to lay down rigid rules for every case. But unless he is
very experienced, a man would be well advised to begin modestly, making three
months the maximum at first. He ought at all costs to avoid the mistake of the
Puritan preacher Joseph Caryl who over a period of seven years is said to have
subjected every verse of the book of Job to a microscope examination. Commencing
with a congregation of eight hundred he was left at the end with eight persons
– “faint yet pursuing”! Looking back over his youth Spurgeon records that
he had a lively or rather a deadly recollection of a certain series on Hebrews
which made a deep impression of the most undesirable kind on his mind. “I
wished frequently that the Hebrews had kept the epistle to themselves for it
sadly bored one Gentile lad.” The epistle exhorts men to “suffer” the word
of exhortation and “we did so” he adds grimly. The same epistle proved a
problem to Graham Scroggie in his early ministry. After four or five sermons he
noticed that the attendance was not increasing and one person wrote saying he
would return when he heard that the series was finished! “Since then”, he
said, “I have never ventured upon a series of more than four addresses, at
most five.”
Needless to say every sermon in a series should be complete in itself. There is little point in telling visitors who are present for one Sunday only that if they want to hear the conclusion of the matter they must turn up to the next week’s thrilling instalment! And if in introducing the sermon a brief resume is given of last week’s message in the series, let it be brief.
James Black has suggested that sermon preparation
requires three tools – a spade to dig into the subject for its meaning, a rake
to gather together all available ideas and illustrations, and a riddle to sort
out those things which are strictly relevant from those which have no direct
bearing on the subject of the sermon.
In examining the passage on which his sermon will be based, the preacher will note its real thrust together with its relationship to the immediate context and to the wider context of the book in which it is found. As questions are put to the passage so it yields up its secrets and its real significance. In this connection many have found help in remembering some famous lines of Rudyard Kipling:-
“I
keep six honest serving men
(They
taught me all I know)
Their
names are what and why and when
And
how and where and who.”
In the process of gathering material it is helpful to
write down everything which may possibly be of value – the meaning of the
original, the ways in which various versions have rendered the text,
illustrations, ideas noted during indirect preparation, Biblical connections and
parallels, insights from others who have preached on the passage (though an
honest man will make sure he does not preach their sermons!) problems and
questions which are likely to arise in the minds of his listeners and the ways
in which the text may be applied.
At this point everything must
then be brought under the scrutiny of the theme and purpose of the sermon. All
the masters of homiletics insist that in every sermon there must be one
over-riding aim which can preferably be expressed in a single sentence. What is
the objective of the sermon? What truth is it meant to teach? What response is
sought from the congregation? The preacher ought always to aim to do one thing
and to do it well. Those who aim at nothing invariably hit it! And if the
purpose is not crystal clear to the man in the pulpit there is not the slightest
chance that it will be clear to the man in the pew. As J.C.Ryle put it, “If
you begin in a fog you may depend upon it that you will leave your people in the
darkness.” Changing the picture somewhat, Haddon Robinson compares some
sermons to a dropped lemon meringue pie – “they splatter over everything but
hit nothing very hard.”
As he sees the end from the
beginning the preacher will carefully sift his material and retain only those
things which unmistakably contribute to the accomplishment of his purpose. It is
of course difficult for him to be ruthless and so reject information or
illustrations which are often valuable in themselves and which have cost a lot
of time to unearth. Yet reject them he must, if they are not strictly relevant
else the congregation will be led down a series of cul-de-sacs and will never
arrive at their true destination.
While every sermon ought to
contain substantial teaching which will really feed the listeners, it is utter
folly for a man to try to put all his theology into one sermon. If he does, he
need not be surprised if his congregation are reduced to a state of total
bewilderment after being assailed by a mass of unrelated ideas. A sermon should
be a bullet and not buckshot.
It is very helpful for a text to
be chosen early in the week even though the finished product may not see the
light of day until Friday or Saturday. In this way the material can simmer in
the subconscious as the preacher is engaged on other tasks or while he is
asleep. While the conscious mind drops the theme the subconscious continues to
work on it, gathering, organizing and ferreting out half forgotten facts. Many a
man has discovered after a period of sleep that material hitherto undigested and
in a disorderly shape has been reduced to order and has come to maturity of
expression.
Preachers frequently discuss
whether it is better to write a sermon in full or to preach it from notes,
relying on natural fluency of speech. It is impossible to lay down rigid rules,
for men differ widely in temperament and gift. Writing out a sermon in full
develops precision, clarity, ordered thought, terseness of expression and at the
same time restrains the trivial off-the-cuff remark. If reading makes a full
man, writing makes an exact man. Many have also discovered that the very act of
writing helps to stimulate thought and generate ideas. On the other hand it can
be argued that writing can imprison a preacher and prevent him from being open
to new ideas during the course of delivering his sermon. It can also create a
barrier between him and his listeners. Others prefer, therefore, to preach from
brief notes and so cultivate a free and spontaneous style. But this method,
however, also has its disadvantages because its practitioners sometimes can
become at best monotonously repetitive and at worst mere windbags who have
finished long ago but are quite unable to stop!
W.E.Sangster’s practice for many years was to use one method for the morning sermons and the other for the evening sermon so that each method helped the other. Gradually the need to write out the sermon in full receded and he would then write out only the beginning and the end together with the more closely reasoned parts of the sermon. Another way to secure the benefits of both methods is to write out the sermon in full in the study, but to be so familiar with its contents that it can be preached from brief notes in the pulpit. There is no doubt that it is a great advantage for the man in the pulpit to look his congregation in the face in order to maintain as much contact with them as possible, and also to observe their reactions.
A sermon is not an essay or a theological lecture but a
message spoken from one heart to another. It follows, therefore, that the
preacher ought to try to visualize his congregation in their different needs and
circumstances, as he prepares his theme, choice of words, illustrations and
applications. As far as is humanly possible it should be his concern through his
ministry to help everyone in the congregation.
In the pulpit the preacher may
be enjoying himself declaiming and theologizing but what does it all mean to the
congregation? White challenges preachers to ask themselves, “Will this message
really interest anyone other than myself?” He goes on to say that the man who
can bring himself to ask the question and honestly answer it, is on the way to
becoming a compelling speaker. A complaint which is constantly heard is that
sermons are just not earthed so that they become relevant to the listeners. They
are strong on exposition but weak on application, and many a long suffering
congregation will confirm the opinion of A.W.Tozer that there is nothing so dull
as Bible doctrine taught for its own sake. As duties should be preached
doctrinally, so doctrines should be preached practically. Haddon Robinson
expresses the point very bluntly when he says, “Seldom do normal people lose
sleep over the Jebusites, the Canaanites or the Perizzites, or even about what
Abraham, Moses and Paul had said or done. They lie awake wondering about grocery
prices, crop failures, quarrels with a girlfriend, diagnosis of a malignancy, a
frustrating sex life, and the rat race where only rats seem to win. If the
sermon does not make much difference in that world, they wonder if it makes any
difference at all.” One who has regularly occupied a pew for years and endured
not a few irrelevant sermons has suggested that these words ought to be written
in letters of gold on the walls of every preacher’s study!
Every time a congregation assembles there are always represented in its ranks the basic human problems – the search for God, the burden arising from a sense of guilt, an inquiry about purpose of life, the difficulty of coping with life’s problems, the need to come to terms with the mystery of suffering, secret fears about health and the future, the way to find hope in despair, the shock of sudden bereavement, the answer to current social problems, and the urgency of overcoming the fear of death. The congregation’s point of need is the preacher’s point of contact. In being sensitive to the condition of his congregation he will endeavour to lead them to the living Christ who is able to deal with the human situation in all its variety, and show them how to appropriate all his resources as they walk the Christian way.
But at the end of the day it is also important to realize that preparing a sermon is not the same as preparing to preach. Before he can proclaim the Word of God effectively the preacher must prepare himself. Since one important aspect of preaching is “truth through personality” let him ensure that his personality, together with all his individual gifts, is fully consecrated to the Lord. He must be under the authority of the Holy Spirit not only in the preparation of the message but also in its delivery else it will be a hollow performance indeed. After hearing a particularly impressive sermon by Alexander Whyte a listener remarked to him, “You preached as if you came straight from the presence.” “Perhaps I did”, was the reply.
