Five Insights for Preaching

Get to Jesus

In 1 Corinthians 2:2, Paul responds to some critiques from the Corinthians that he was not as sophisticated in his preaching as they thought some others were. His response is that he did not aim to make them think he was smart, and he didn’t preach a Messiah that pounded his enemies. What he preached was “Christ crucified.” He preached the Jesus who surrendered his power and took on the form of a servant (Phil. 2:6-7).

Rev. Ingersoll reminds us again that sermons should be “Christocentric.” If the sermon doesn’t get to Jesus, directly or indirectly, it is not a sermon. “If you’re not getting to Jesus, it’s not preaching.” 

Keep it simple but not superficial

You may have heard the acronym KISS, “Keep it simple,” something or another. The sermon is no place to show off how smart you are. (Be careful of yourself with Greek and Hebrew.) At the same time, a superficial sermon without any substance doesn’t do anyone any good. As Einstein once said of a good theory, it should be “as simple as possible without being too simple.” The goal is not to show off, but the goal is also not to skew the truth.

Quality trumps quantity

Rev. Ingersoll makes an excellent point about how quantity is not the goal, nor can it substitute for quantity. If a congregation stops listening 5 minutes into a 60-minute sermon, it is really only a 5-minute sermon. If you lose them from the beginning, you never preached. Fifteen minutes of quality proclamation trumps five hours of mere quantity.

An interesting life leads to interesting sermons

One of the more interesting points that Rev. Ingersoll makes is that it will be difficult for a preacher to have interesting sermons if the preacher’s own life is not interesting. In effect, he suggests that the aspiring preacher put some fun into his or her life. If the preacher’s life is interesting, there will be interesting stories to tell and interesting will be normative for the preacher. Accordingly, interesting will naturally make its way into sermons. If the preacher’s life is not interesting, he or she will want to borrow stimulating content from somewhere else.

The gospel will be both received and rejected

This is a sober truth. If you preach the word of God, you will find both delight and scorn among those listening. Not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” truly has the heart of Christ (Matt. 7:21-23). In Mark 4, Jesus indicates that his parables had a filtering effect. Those who had ears to hear responded with delight (Mark 4:11-12). But those without ears to hear rejected Jesus’ message and walked away (John 6:66).

No preacher or minister should think that everyone in the congregation will like him or her. On the one hand, there will always be personalities opposite ours around. But more importantly, if you preach truths that some do not want to hear, you will almost certainly have individuals get upset at you. Some will probably leave. Just make sure that they leave because you are really bringing a word from the Lord and not because your manner is offensive or you have preached something that is incorrect.