Wasting Precious Time During The Sermon?

I recently had the privilege of evaluating a young pastor-in-training who preached in two venues in our faith-family.  One thing that discouraged him was that he ran out of time and couldn't preach some of the more important sections of his preaching portion.  Do you ever get to the end of your allotted teaching time and feel you don't have sufficient time for key theological insights and application?  One thing I've noticed is that we don't always economize time like we should.  For instance, there are two ways to approach contextual information.  One is to ask, "How much context do I need to provide in order for my listeners to get the big picture?"  I find most pastors asking that question.  Another is to ask, "How much contextual information do I need to give them in order for them to understand my preaching portion?"  The second question usually results in a significant paring of the contextual data I give in the sermon.  Economy of time takes place when I only give what is absolutely necessary in order to make sense of the preaching portion.  Preaching is too important for me to waste time.

The Individual Instruction Is Almost Always a Little Idea

The individual instructions or commands in Scripture, such as Romans 13:8-10 can stand alone and preach very well.  Sermons more accurately teach those commands, however, when the command "to love each other", for instance, is explained in light of the teaching which started the list of instructions.  So, in the case of loving each other, this is all part of discerning "the will of God" or a part of how the "renewed mind" of the Christian lives life or a part of being "transformed" or a part of not being "conformed to this world" (all taken from Romans 13:2).  Or, we could say that the individual commandment of Romans 13:8 is one thing that happens when Christians present their "bodies as a living sacrifice...to God" (cf. Romans 13:1).  Loving each other is simply one of many ways in which the Christian life is lived out.  In this sense, although the instruction can stand alone, it's clearer and maybe more accurate to place the instruction into the immediate context and allow that context--whichever part above you choose--to be the base or foundation for the individual commandment.

Preaching Little Ideas

Expecting God To Do Great Things

I've just completed Lloyd-Jones' excellent book, Preaching & Preachers (40 anniversary edition).  His final chapter is all about the need for preachers to be endowed with special power from the Spirit.  What great exhortation!  L-J asks, "Do you always look for and seek this unction, this anointing before preaching? Has this been your greatest concern? There is no more thorough and revealing test to apply to a preacher" (p. 322).  I was a bit embarrassed to think that often my greatest concern is not whether I have the Spirit's unction, but whether I have "got it right," "it" being the sermon and the truth of Scripture.  L-J challenged me again to keep highlight both, not one or the other.  I don't want to preach the truth by myself (without the Spirit's power).  I don't want to preach something that's biblical, but not biblical enough, with the Spirit's power (if that is even possible?!).  God help us be both Spirit-empowered and accurate in our preaching.  Then, we can expect God to do miracles in all our lives.  L-J encourages us preachers: "But go beyond seeking Him; expect Him. Do you expect anything to happen when you get up to preach in a pulpit....Are you expecting it to be the turning point in someone's life?" (p. 340).