Five Things to Look for in a Sermon
Five Things to Look for in a Sermon
I have often received the question, “How does the Vicar measure up to the others?” It's an understandable question, but it's also not a very fair one. Each man has his own unique gifts and talents. Each man has his own weaknesses and foibles. Just as God does not show partiality to us, I try my best not to show favoritism towards vicars! Recently, however, I received a new question: “How would you evaluate the Vicar's preaching?” This got me thinking about all the things I look for when evaluating and editing, whether a Vicar's sermon or my own! This month's newsletter article will answer that question and perhaps give you some insight into how you can evaluate sermons, which will help you listen more intently and get more out of them each week.
To make it simple, I will label this as the “The 5 "C"s for Preaching”. The first thing I always look for is whether or not the sermon is “Clear.” The message needs to have a clear line of thought. It needs to have clear explanations and use simple sentences. I remind the vicars all the time that clarity always trumps being clever. The Apostle Paul exhorts the young pastor Timothy to “rightly handle” – or divide – “the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15), making clear and proper distinctions such as Law and Gospel. This point and the following is where I'm looking for fidelity to the Scriptures. The sermon needs to be faithful!
The second thing I look for, then, is if it's “Catechetical.” The sermon needs to teach the Word of God. What does the text mean? What doctrines are explicitly taught in the readings and Propers for the day? Instruction is the first use of Scripture after all: 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching…” You may wonder why this is not point #1. If the writing is not clear, it does not matter how hard the preacher tries to be faithful in teaching, it will be a confused mess. If the sermon is unclear, the listener will spend more time trying to figure out what the preacher is talking about, and all efforts of instruction will be lost on them.
The third thing I look for is if it's “Concise.” The distinction between concise and clear is to ask the question during the editing process: “Is this necessary to say in the sermon?” Sometimes an entire paragraph can be deleted because it doesn't contribute to the theme or point of the message. Sometimes things can be redundant. Several years ago, I wrote a document called the “10 Keys to Better Writing” to assist vicars who struggle, and my first tip remains: “Brevity is the art of script”, a line taken from my favorite movie A River Runs Through It. The time we have in the pulpit is precious. Every minute preaching is another minute when you might lose the attention of the hearers. In addition, unnecessary “fluff” is not helpful. This is not to say illustrations and analogies cannot be used. They can indeed be very useful! They need to be done concisely, though. That's the point here. Repetition is the mother of memory, however, there's a fine line between being didactically repetitious and dully redundant.
The fourth thing I look for is if it's “Creative”. Here, I do NOT mean innovative. Pastors are not inventors and entrepreneurs. What I do mean is that a sermon should demonstrate some creative thinking. A sermon should not just recycle what is read in commentaries, foot notes, or other sermons. Creativity, however, needs to be tempered by the first three points: it needs to remain clear, catechetical, and concise. When a hearer thinks something preached or taught is “insightful”, that usually reflects its creative nature. The “creative” sermon dives deeper into a text or comes at it from a different perspective, while still staying in the bounds of the Scriptures and Confessions. This is why it is not to be innovative!
The last thing I look for is if it is “Connective” (or “Contemporary”). Does the sermon bridge the gap between the Biblical text and the life of the hearers? Contemporary applications are a challenge to the new preacher, especially when he does not know the congregation yet. Every preacher matures and gets better at this over time.
In addition to the content of a sermon, delivery and posture are important, too, but that's for another article in the future! I hope this little exercise in evaluating sermons is helpful to you, as it has been helpful for me to flesh out into a simple guideline. Thank you to the person who asked about this!
In Christ,
Pastor Hromowyk