Proclaimer Blog
Two fundamental preaching mistakes (1)
There are many mistakes we can make in preaching – right from the moment we open our Bibles on a Monday morning through to the delivery of the sermon and what happens afterwards, there are many traps into which we could fall. But to those committed to expository preaching, there are two fundamental preaching mistakes, two wrong philosophies (if you like) that we can be tempted to embrace. During my preaching life I’ve committed both of these, although (almost certainly like you) one is more of a tendency than the other.
The first fundamental preaching mistake is to pursue style at the expense of substance. Frankly, this is the current worldly trend. We think that, in order to be engaging, style is everything and so we give everything to this cause with the result that our exposition becomes exposition-lite. In fact, it is so thin, it becomes a kind of jus de chausette: so weak, insipid and tasteless that it is no earthly good whatsoever.
Herein lies the great challenge. A sermon can sound great, look great, feel great (people might even say it is great) – but if it has no content, it is NOT great. It cannot be. Period. A sermon without substance is not a sermon. A preacher is not a great preacher if his preaching is without substance.
And there is always a danger that this is the kind of preacher we might become and the kind of preaching we might propagate. We are so keen to communicate to today’s generation in a vivid, engaging, contemporary, eye-catching and memorable way that style trumps substance every time. It’s a fundamental preaching mistake.