Fail #2: Make someone other than Jesus the hero.
This fail usually goes hand-in-hand with preaching good advice instead of Good News. When speaking to a group of young pastors, the prince of preachers Charles Spurgeon said, “No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching!”
We need to show our young people that the Bible isn’t a disjointed book of heroes and villains with a moral punch-line to each story, but is one book with one hero: Jesus. The Old Testament shadows, foretells and anticipates him. The New Testament reveals him and continually points God’s people back to him. Every time we open the Bible, our goal must be to show our students that while the Bible is for them, it’s not about them. It’s about Jesus.
Only the sin-destroying, affection-transforming message of Christ’s finished work on the cross can transform our young people’s hearts.
To practice this or to see how this works out practically, sit down and read The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. One of my greatest joys as a daddy is having my three kids pile onto my lap each night before bed and reading a story together. They know that no matter what part of the Bible we are reading, we are going to get to hear about Jesus.
Young preacher: Whatever the text, whatever the topic, get to the cross and preach Jesus as the hero.
Fail #3: Judge your sermon by laughter instead of conviction.
I love preachers who can make me laugh. Humor is a powerful tool in the preacher’s armory when used well. Laughing helps break down resistance and builds rapport with your listeners. Spurgeon writes, “I sometimes tickle my oyster until he opens his shell, and then I slip the knife in. He would not have opened for my knife, but he did for something else; and that is the way to do for people.”
While I enjoy a good laugh, and it feels great when the joke lands, I need to be reminded that I have wandered into dangerous territory when those things define whether or not I preached a good sermon. Laughter is a helpful tool, but a dangerous metric when used to evaluate our effectiveness as a preacher.
Preaching that exchanges proclamation for entertainment is about as helpful as giving the passengers on the Titanic laughing gas instead of lifeboats. Everyone might be giggling, but it doesn’t change the outcome. A good sermon is not one where our young people slap their knees in hysterics, but bend them in repentance.
One day, you and I will stand before King Jesus, and his response to us will not be based on how funny our stories were, but how faithful we were to speak on his behalf.
Young preacher: You are not an entertainer, but a messenger. Preach the word!
