THS-01-1. The Nature of the Sermon

1. The Nature of the Sermon

What is a sermon? The well-known definition of Phelps, in his "The Theory ofPreaching," is useful: "A sermon is an oral address to the popular mind upon religious truth as contained in the Scriptures, and elaborately treated with a view to persuasion." Each phrase is important. Perhaps the most important are the references to the Scriptures and to persuasion. The address will not be a sermon unless it deals with Scriptural truth, and it should have a purpose affecting the hearts and lives of the hearers. In many churches it is common to devote the morning sermon to teaching Christian people, and the evening sermon, to preaching the gospel to the unsaved. In each case it will have a Scriptural basis, and be done "with a view to persuasion."

There will be times when the purpose is more in the way of instruction than of persuasion, but the ultimate purpose is always Persuasion. It is a mistake to avoid the persuasive note in sermons to Christian people, as though they did not need it since they had accepted the gospel. The apostle Paul said the gospel is the power of God "to us which are being saved". (1 Corinthians 1:18). The Christian still has great decisions to make, and heights to attain and an exhortation to Christian people may well close with an earnest persuasive note leading to "great resolves of heart" (Judges 5:15).

Vital Preaching

Preaching is vital only when it is directed to people’s need. The need may be either unrealized or felt. The preacher will seek to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), whether his hearers realize their need of it or not. Such subjects as God, the Savior, the Holy Spirit, Sin, Salvation, Prayer, Christian Duties, and the Christian Life, constitute a system of truth which every preacher will desire to bring to his congregation. If you want to be a helpful preacher you will give particular attention to the needs of your audience. Dr. Jowett said that when he was preparing a sermon he would bring before his mind a number of people who he knew would be in his congregation--a doctor, a business man, a servant girl, a mother, a clerk--and keep them in view while he constructed his sermon. The idea was not to preach at them (you must never do that), but to preach to them in such a way as to meet their special problems. Try it out. Realize your audience in the day of preparation. Ask yourself Who will be there? How can I help them? Don’t preach to the absent. Don’t preach to yourself, in the sense that you merely follow some line of study in which you are interested, and which you inflict without scruple on your audience. If you are observant at all you will know of tempted people, of worried, tired, sad people, to whom you may bring a message of hope.

Thus preaching at its best is the message of God’s Word, brought into contact with human need. Yet this must be done with delicacy and good taste. The indirect line of approach is generally better than the direct. You should not preach to a person’s need so directly that he is embarrassed, because he knows, and knows that everybody else knows, that it is intended for him. When you wish to condemn wrong, never let it be by a personal attack upon individuals in the audience. The pulpit is a sheltered and sacred place-it must not be violated to administer personal rebuke. Such work is better done in a personal way, face to face. Until we can do such a duty personally, we are not, qualified to do it at all. Even then, it might better be done by the indirect method. Do you remember how the prophet Nathan told King David he was a murderer? (2 Samuel 12:1-6). A direct attack might easily have cost the prophet his head; by the indirect approach David was brought to penitence. If you knew there would be people in the congregation with a spirit of resentment towards one another, it probably would not be wise to preach on the subject, The Sin of Resentment. Such a subject would certainly help other people to enjoy the sermon-folk like sermons that are manifestly directed at the sins of others. It would not, however, kill the spirit of resentment. It would be better to preach a sermon on the forgiving love of Christ (Luke 23:34).

Essential Qualities

Preach with confidence and conviction. The Bible is accepted by your hearers as the Word of God. You do not need to argue about it. There is little need to prove the Bible is inspired. People who come to church already believe it. Proclaim "Thus saith the Lord," "O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord" (Jeremiah 22:29).

Preach with sympathy. To be of service, a preacher must love people, all kinds of people, with their virtues, and vices, their greatness and their pettiness, their sorrows and their struggles. He will be a man of understanding and patience, not critical of people’s weakness, nor overbearing towards their faults.

Preach with sincerity. Men yearn for reality today perhaps more than anything else. They hate sham and pretense. Do not try to preach if you are not genuine and sincere and true. It you are not, you cannot hide the fact for long. You may not have the gifts that make a great orator. You may never be eloquent. Few are. Yet you may have those qualities which will make men want to hear you. People like to listen to a man who is genuinely true and sincere. The personal factor in preaching is of primary importance. Do not be a mere wire, carrying a message, nor a talking machine. The only perfect expression in preaching is through a preacher’s own heart and life. It is, the large infusion of personal force that makes men flock to hear H. Emerson Fosdick, E. Stanley Jones, J. Fort Newton, and others of whom we know. We may never be great preachers, but we may have that essential quality--sincerity. Kennard, in "Psychic Power in Preaching," said: "The preacher’s soul is a prism through which the white and dazzling light of spiritual truth passes, and, receives in its passing human coloring and refraction along the lines of human want and sensibility." If you aspire to share in the ministry of preaching in the Church, yield yourself to God in full consecration. Strive with eager care that you may be worthy before God, to whom all hearts are open, and all desires known--that will be your best commendation to the people to whom you preach. After you have acquired the art of sermon building, there will be other things to learn if you are to be a good preacher For instance, you must make your sermon interesting. The outline of the sermon,, which we are to study definitely will help in that direction. But more than that will be necessary. A sermon may be technically correct in its construction, but deadly dull in its delivery, or in its development of thought. Someone has said, "There are preachers whom you cannot listen to, there are preachers whom you can listen to, and there are preachers whom you must listen to." J. Paterson Smyth used to tell his students, "You CAN make people listen." Many elements enter into it--clearness, directness, illustration, diction, and the will to succeed. A great English preacher said: "Whenever I address men I determine that they shall listen." And they did. Let us keep these things in mind as we address ourselves to our special task of sermon building.