Proclaimer Blog
How to avoid being a sermon hack
OK, I hope you spotted that this was a spoof – a little bit of irony. But it hurts, because it's rather close to the mark for many of us. Here's my antidote – five tips for avoiding being a sermon hack. This time, irony-free.
- Don't take on too much. I don't just mean the admin of pastoring, I mean too much preaching. Some exceptional preachers can cope with preparing three messages a week. I would suggest they are few. If your preaching schedule has made you into a hack, don't accept it, rework the schedule. Be honest with your church leaders (they would much rather you were!). If a sermon takes 10 hours of thorough preparation, it's unlikely you'll be able to do three a week. It's pretty unlikely you can do two a week for a sustainable period of time.
- Read and study a passage before. Our esteemed Jacko (David Jackman to me) suggests reading through a book in personal devotions six months before preaching it. I think that's good advice. Let it be deep in your heart and mind before you come to study it for preaching. I also think you should start thinking about your next passage before you have preached the current one – because just as you want to relate backwards in a Bible series, you should be thinking about how it relates forwards. I used to set aside a few hours on a Friday when Sunday's message is coming together to think about the following week.
- Use commentaries selectively. Frankly, I find devotional type commentaries derived from sermons pretty unhelpful, not because they aren't brilliant and contain useful insights, but because I can't read a Stott book and then not preach his sermon! I leave them until the end. So, for me, Tyndale over BST and NICOT/NICNT over NIV Application. Work it out yourself.
- Work on the big idea carefully. This is a key step which sermon "experts" often overlook. You may not realise it, but if your sermon (supposedly expounding the passage) and the passage don't match up, then the message is seriously undermined. I was reminded in a Cornhill sermon group last week of what a significant difference it makes if the preacher has grasped the main thing. Don't be formulaic about this. The last thing we want is formulaic preaching. But recognise that the hard work of asking "what is this passage about?" is a key step in preaching well. "This is sweaty, difficult work, but it has to be done" (Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching p70).
- Pray. Duh! We don't believe in works, but as Stuart Olyott pointed out in last year's Resource Guide, the ministry of the word (Acts 6.4) "is an and". Of course, God has been gracious to you and me when we have been prayer-less – but let's not presume on his grace.
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