Sunday is coming and it is time to prepare the sermon. What shall we preach? The short answer is: The Word of God (II Timothy 4:2?). Not just preach about the Word but from the Word. The ideal is that every sermon is Word-based, Spirit-anointed, Christ-centred, and God-honouring.
And, it is important that the Word preached is the Word received by the preacher. Downloading prepared sermons from the internet is not fresh manna.
Hungry Christians are complaining about what is preached. Here are some of the options:
1. Motivational messages: These can encourage people in practical areas (how to be successful, raise good children, build self-esteem) but tend to ignore basic sound doctrine like repentance, faith, sin, the resurrection and last judgement.
2. Politics: The pulpit is used to exhort people to back a political cause, often though not always from the left. Such sermons will often be politically correct.
3. Mish-mash: These are poorly-prepared, waffly comments that might be strung together but the necklace is not made of pearls.
4. Word of God: We need to proclaim and expound God’s Word, which is good seed to the non-Christian, milk to the baby in Christ, and strong meat to the mature. It is a lamp to our feet and light to our path, quick, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.
We can all agree that Number 4 is the only way. Yet, there is something else. We have to make the Word applicable to daily living. If we don’t, then it’s like healthy food whose nourishment is not absorbed into the digestive system, thus denying the benefits of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Burning Issues
A while ago I received an (group) email from a young Canadian Christian named Brady Shearer, who runs a business called Pro Church Tools https://prochurchtools.com
He did a survey about what people, particularly younger wants, wish their pastors would talk about. None of these are milquetoast items – they are hot, spicy, provocative, and potentially explosive. The topics are also very current. Yet, if the church won’t talk about these issues, be assured that the world will – and we will not like the answer they’re giving.
Using the topics Shearer gleaned, let’s look at these one-by-one. I would also like to make clear at the outset that I don’t claim to have great expertise on all these topics, nor do I claim to have the definitive answers. Yet, as one who has been observing and commenting on the world scene for years, I do have something to share. If any of my readers can come up with a better understanding of these subjects, from a Biblical view and with a good attitude, I would be more than happy to hear.
Shearer’s topics included:
1. Politics: abortion, ill treatment of immigrants, systemic racism, normalisation of sexual abuse.
2. Mental health
3. Domestic violence: 1 in 4 women will experience severe violence by an intimate partner in its lifetime.
4. Abuses of all forms: Spiritual, sexual, power
5. Pornography & masturbation
If you are a preacher, would you address some or all of these issues? If so, how would you do it?
In our next issue, we will look at the ‘hot potato’ issue of abortion. TO BE CONTINUED