Jump Start # 1574
2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
We continue our series on preachers and preaching. One of the most asked questions of preachers is “Where do you get your ideas for sermons?” That is one of the challenges of preaching.
Here is what it looks from the preacher’s side of the pulpit. He has worked hard all week on a sermon. It takes time to get this thoughts on paper, research things, look up words, find good illustrations and chase the rabbits that come from his study. As he is writing his sermon, he realizes that some in the audience may have heard that topic preached a hundred times. He must find a way to make it challenging and interesting to them. At the same time, there may be some in the audience who have never heard this before. He must carefully explain things and not take things for granted. There is a huge balance in presenting his idea. The preacher realizes that his sermon must be more than just handing out facts. This is not a college lecture. He is moving the audience, or persuading the audience, to obedience in Christ. So in all of this, there must be applications and things easy for people to see what they are supposed to do. If he is too generic, the lesson may not do any good. If his application is too narrow, then many will not see that it fits them.
Our passage today says, “Preach the word.” That’s the theme of every sermon. The preacher is not promoting himself. He is not pushing his own agenda. He is not to use the pulpit to get back at people. This is not about him. It’s about the word of God. He is showing people God’s word and as Nehemiah 8 says, explaining it and making sense of it.
So where do the ideas come from? The good preacher is busy reading. He’s reading God’s word often. He’s reading other books. He is listening to what folks are talking about. He has a pulse on what is going on in the congregation and the neighborhood. When there has been some deaths, he may talk about death, life after death or resurrections. He will address moral topics. He will talk about things that teens need to know. He will talk about doctrinal matters. He’ll preach what was taught in the N.T. The preacher is always thinking. This is one of the down sides to preaching. He rarely turns his mind off. This is hard to explain and this is hard to cope with.
It’s a Sunday and the preacher has worked hard to present some lessons that he feels will help the congregation. He knows that one sermon doesn’t solve all problems. But he’s building bridges. He’s adding to faith. He’s trying to equip the brethren. And borrowing an expression from baseball, the preacher hits it out of the park. He delivers a great sermon. It helps a lot of people. It is loved. People take CD’s of that sermon to listen to it again and to pass along to others. Sunday ends and the preacher is tired. It’s been a long day. He’s taught classes, preached a couple of sermons and engaged in a lot of conversations. He is drained. He goes home and goes to bed. Monday comes and the whole process starts over. He must find a new idea and do all the things he did before.
Those that fill in for time to time realize how hard it is to come up with an idea. The preacher must do this every week. Not only that, most are writing bulletin articles and blogs. Then most are teaching two classes a week that demands time to study and research. Then there are the many private studies the preacher has. Some are face to face. Others take place through emails, texting and other forms. People ask him questions. He wants to answer them. Some need material and he must find it for them. For the young preacher this is hard. The demands of a young family pull him. His work isn’t something that can just be flipped on and off. If he is tired, stressed it is hard to get the mental thoughts going.
Even when the preacher takes a vacation, he doesn’t really get away from this. While his family sleeps in a hotel, he is up thinking and writing. When he gets home from his vacation, he must be ready to teach and preach. Often, before he leaves on a trip, he is writing bulletin articles in advance and preparing class material for those who will fill in.
And then there is the occasional bozo who loudly boasts, “I’d love to have your job. You only work one day a week.” The preacher smiles and musters every ounce of strength he can to keep from popping that guy in the nose. Statements like that come from those who are clueless, rude and out of touch.
Preaching is a different kind of work than those who work with their hands. Mentally it is exhausting. Most preachers would love to have six weeks to work on one sermon. They don’t. They must find the time to come out with two new sermons every week. The preacher today must like to read. He must be self driven. He must balance his time between studying and visiting people. Too much of either one and his work suffers.
Some preachers, myself included, like to preach a series of lessons. This affords us the time to really develop ideas and it helps us by knowing what we are going to preach next. “Do you ever run out of ideas?” The honest preacher will admit, “Yes.” If the preacher isn’t in the mood or interested in preaching a topic, it will be hard to make it interesting to the audience. He must have a passion about what he wants to preach. There are times the ideas run out. Some weeks, there have been so many other things going on that the preacher hasn’t had the time to develop a sermon. Sunday comes, whether the preacher is ready or not. Wanting to present the best lesson that he can, adds to the burden the preacher goes through.
Why are you saying all of these things, Roger? Because, “preach the word,” seems like such a simple idea. Just open your Bible and preach. Open it where? What is most needed? Make it interesting. Make it challenging. Make it practical. Make it textual. What have they already had? What do they need? These are the thoughts that run through the preacher’s mind. They run through his mind every week.
Why then do you do this? Because we love the Lord. Because we feel that God has blessed us with a talent and we want to glorify Him with that. Because we love you and we want to help you get to Heaven. There are ways that preachers find mental breaks. Some go to movies. Some golf. Most have hobbies. It’s during these times that the preacher is taking a little break, but deep in the mind, thoughts, deadlines, and ideas are still spinning round and round.
Where do you get ideas? Everywhere. I’ve been told that some have even used our Jump Starts for ideas for sermons. That puts a smile on my face. I’m glad to help out. I hope you can see from your side of the pulpit what takes place on the other side of the pulpit. The finished product, much like a cake, the restoration of an old car, the remolding of a house, involved a lot of effort. The finished product is amazing. It doesn’t just happen.
If you haven’t thanked your preacher in a while, do so. He puts hours and hours into trying to present something that will help you. And once he is done, it starts all over again, the next day. God bless the good men who are preaching their hearts out. They often go home Sunday evening tired, empty, drained and even sad because they tried their best to get someone to come to Christ. They tried their best to get you to be more like Jesus. And some days, many days, it seems like nothing changed. It seems like their words fell flat. And that eats them up on the inside. Back to the drawing board. Another idea. Another attempt. Another sermon. They are trying to shape us to be like Jesus. Bless each of their hearts.
Roger