What and how we preach impacts both how the church sees God and how it follows Jesus as a Body. It isn’t the only thing shaping these important facets of life in Christ — it’s just the primary thing.
It took me years to embrace this reality, which I had always suspected. Once I did, it made me a more careful exegete, a more diligent preparer, and more attentive to the Holy Spirit as I prepared.
Preaching isn’t just a matter of teaching ideas. It’s also about leadership.
3. People remember true wisdom more than stories or illustrations.
Don’t get me wrong — I love good stories and illustrations. However, people can hear better jokes and stories elsewhere. Only Jesus has the words of life.
So I pay even more attention to the substance of the sermon than ever before. I used to think stories were remembered more because they were better. Then I considered another possibility — they are the only things we say that are memorable (yikes).
Illustrations are great — even vital to good preaching. They are not, however, a sermon.
A biblical sermon focuses on the living and active Word of God. That’s what separates a preacher from Jay Leno or Garrison Keillor. People today need most what God’s Word provides.
Of course, part of the task is to not make a living word a dead or dull word. But I’ve come to realize truth changes lives — not stories or jokes.
Stories and jokes I share can contain truth, and they can accentuate truth. They themselves, however, are unlikely to change lives. The Word of God, on the other hand …
Those are three for me. How about you?
