The sermon is more than just human words; it carries a divine authority. Conversely, this also meant that the preacher should be dependent upon God for the message because “Where God does not provide the message, a sermon is useless… For wherever God does not suggest the words, there is no sermon at all, or it is a vain and pernicious sermon.”23
Therefore, as Luther quipped, “the pastor must be sure that God speaks through his mouth. Otherwise it is time for him to be quiet.”24
John W. Doberstein, in his introduction to Luther’s collected sermons, concludes: “What it all boils down to is a searching challenge to the preacher to believe that God speaks through preaching and preaching alone.”25
Luther was compelled by this concept that God’s Word came alive when read and preached aloud. Consequently, he brought the preaching of God’s Word to a place of primacy in the church in a time when it was neglected and abused.
Luther was influential in refocusing the church on using God’s Word as the foundation for its sermons. And because of his influence, many churches today when considering how to preach still base their preaching on the faithful exposition of Scripture.
Some churches still stray. Some preachers still twist and misinterpret Scripture. But the majority of preachers today seek to be faithful to God’s Word, and we can thank Luther’s influence for helping steer the church back in this direction in their philosophy of how to preach.
3. HOW TO PREACH: PREACHING SHOULD BE IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE
This may sound obvious to us today, but it wasn’t back in the 16th century.
The Catholic Mass was held in Latin, and when preachers spoke in the language of people, they often flaunted their academic knowledge—speaking in ways that ordinary, uneducated people could not easily understand.
Luther may be known for giving the German people a German Bible that they could understand, but he also gave them German preaching that they could understand.
His preaching was intentionally simple. He expelled anything that would difficult for the average person to comprehend.26
Luther’s inspiration for simple preaching was Jesus.
“When Christ preached,” Luther said, “He proceeded quickly to a parable and spoke about sheep, shepherds, wolves, vineyards, fig trees, seeds, fields, plowing. The poor lay people were able to comprehend these things.”27
