When Is A Sermon "Good Enough"

I went to the office this Wednesday to prepare for our "Walk through the Word Worship Service". The last few weeks have been extremely difficult because my computer died due to viruses. I tried to perform a computer resurrection miracle and say; "Computer come forth" like Jesus did with Lazarus. Needless to say, it didn't work. So without my tools, sermon and lesson preparation has been frustrating as well as difficult. This past weekend, I pulled down books like the days of old which was weird (I guess you can say I'm spoiled with being able to study using my computer material) but refreshing to know that computers are convenient but books require hard work in sermon preparation.

So Wednesday, I was not able print a handout for bible study so instead I taught with an handwritten outline. Before service, I started going through some of my files and found a folder with sermon preparation material from the beginning of my ministry when I started to take preaching serious. At Mt Sinai, Pastor Charles spent a considerable amount of time with the Associate Pastors of the church teaching us on expository preaching. Those times were some of the greatest for me and has prepared me for days like this during computer failures.

I found a copy of an article entitled "When Is A Sermon Good Enough". I can't tell who the author of the article is because the clipping is so old that the print as started to fade. I read the article and was encouraged because it deals with time constraints with sermon preparation and how to overcome them. One of my biggest challenges as a bi-vocational pastor is time to prepare for our Sunday morning and Wednesday night worship services. I have approximately 15-20 hours to prepare for Sunday and 4 hours for Wednesday each week. Thank God for His grace to allow me to learn more with the allotted time I'm given. I've listened to some of my sermons recently only to start praising God for His goodness towards me. Some of my sermons were on point while others were not so on point. I can tell those days when I was well prepared and those days when I lived in flunkersville during the sermon presentation.

The article reminded me of some questions I should ask myself when preparing for our church's bible study time together.

Question 1: Have I done my best under the current limitations? Many pastors experience numerous limitations with meetings, visitations, administrative, work (for me), etc. However, we can't neglect Peter's word in Acts 6 to appoint 7 good men to wait tables while spend time in the word and prayer. One thing I have to fight with each week is to not to be the best but to do my best. I find myself sometimes in competition with myself to out do the sermon the week before. That's stupid! Only God can determine the effectiveness of any sermon not me.

Question 2: Have I been honest with the text? Proper interpretation is so important when preaching/teaching the Word of God. I'll never forget preaching at a church anniversary celebration for a friend of mine, Hebrews 11: 11-12 "A Faith for Life's Impossibilities". At the end of the sermon, I stated that Isaac, the promised son to Abraham and Sarah, was the picture of Jesus who would come to save the world and if had not been for Isaac there would be no Jesus. During the climax of my sermon close, the church was in uproar and missed my comment but when I sat down, I realized what I said and knew it was totally incorrect. During my remarks before the benediction, I cleaned that comment up. Isaac was not the picture of Jesus who would come to save the world. Isaac was the second person to begin the genealogy of Jesus' birth (Matthew 1). To me this was important because many pastors make statements that are untrue but pride will not allow us to make the correction before we leave the preaching event allowing those who hear us to communicate bad interpretation with other people.

Question 3: Have I answered all questions I think the members would ask? As a pastor, I have the privilege to preach to people I minister to on a personal note each week. One of the greatest opportunities I have is not finding something to preach but having so much preach and trying to decide when to preach it. People enter our churches each week with questions to life's challenges. They have questions about scripture, God, the church, the members, holy living, etc. When I select a text I question the text from a theological and practical perspective. Theological to make sure my doctrine is write, practical to answer the questions of those who sit before me.

When is a sermon good enough? Only God can determine the answer to this question. It's our responsibility to use our time wisely in sermon preparation to insure accurate communication of God's word to God's people.

May you be enriched, encouraged, and equipped to do your best for God alone!