The answer to "What is the purpose of preaching?" might seem obvious. We preachers spend hours in study and preparation to have a sermon to preach. If someone were to observe us from start to finish, it might look like that our goal is to prepare the perfect sermon.
Not being a heretic, but the end result of our preaching is NOT a Perfect Sermon! I remember that I had fallen into the track of trying to develop, prepare, and preach perfect sermons. Not that I articulated it that way, but if you observed my approach in preparation, study, and the intensity involved it appeared that I was motivated to concoct "the perfect sermon."
The reality is that even if I were given a perfect sermon, it would not be perfect any longer after I preached it.
If our objective is not a perfect sermon, then what is our goal?
Dr. Timothy Warren of Dallas Theological Seminary says that, "perfection is not our goal... Our goal in preaching is to stimulate faith and motivate life change for the glory of God."
Now by all means we must be faithful to the text; do our study; take time to prepare the message; and spend time preparing the delivery of the message. But the end goal is not for you or me to prepare a perfect sermon. Relieve the stress and tension!
The question we should ask ourselves is does this sermon stimulate faith and motivate life change to the glory of God? That doesn't happen without the work of the Holy Spirit in the midst of our preparation and preaching.
I'm sure this has happened to you. There have been sermons that I spent twenty to twenty-five hours preparing, and yet they dropped like a bomb! And there have been sermons that I had ten hours or less to prepare and they were like the Fourth of July! (That's not meant to be a reason to slack off in our study and preparation!) It shows it's not about you or me. Even our preaching is about God!
We should do the best we can in study, preparation, and delivery of the sermon message. We should pursue preparation with a passion, but not for you or me to prepare a perfect sermon.
The sermon is only perfect in the hands of God! when His will is being accomplished in the moment and/or years down the road.
I once heard a preacher say, we preach not for information, but for transformation!
Be encouraged and preach the Word!
1 comments:
Bless you Rev. Ausberry. Well said. I pray that those of us who preach also realize the "sermons" that are preached through the way we live our daily lives.
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