Sermons that Stick

1. Enter Their World

Preachers who engage their listeners consider what their world looks like. Jesus did that. Preaching to a mostly agrarian society, His sermons were full of plowing, sowing and reaping analogies. He knew His culture, and He preached into that culture.

Paul followed a similar pattern. In his sermon at Mars Hill, recorded in Acts 17, Paul appealed to his listeners' own spiritual system, to their "unknown god." He also consistently used athletic imagery to capture the attention of his hearers. The Greek culture was obsessed with fitness and athletics. Paul's references to contests (1 Thes. 2:2) and winning (Phil. 3:14) were designed to enliven the imagination of the engaged mind and gain the attention of the wandering mind.

How can we do the same today? Capturing the attention of contemporary listeners without trivializing our message is a delicate balance to strike. Popular culture constantly is engaged and experienced via a deluge of media; but we can provide rich, attention-grabbing ideas that create a bridge to God's Word.

Entering the world of your listener may be as simple as starting your sermons with their personal context. Learn to ask the right questions in preparing your messages. How does the text interact with their lives? What real-world questions do they bring to church with them? What distracts and hinders them from obeying this text?

My preference is to take them to the text—by introducing them to why the text matters to them. According to our surveys, many of you are doing just that: The survey of pastors' preferences showed that 37 percent prefer to start their sermons with their listeners' context by addressing issues, such as a current question or decision their listeners are facing. Preachers in their 40s and 50s are most likely to do this. On the other hand, only a third of pastors under 40 prefer to start their sermons with their listeners' context.

My guess is that many people say, "I start with the text," but they do so with some contextual introduction. It's what I like to do, as well. I would prefer to stand up, read a verse and say, "No donuts, no coffee, just the Bible…come and get it"; but I realize humans—even our church attendees—are looking for the "So what?" factor in everything. To better engage your listeners, connect their daily context with the eternal Word. I think it matters that the text sets the agenda of our message and we find contextual ways to help people see why it always matters.

This reality may be reflected in the other study, the one focused on the actual sermons preached, which found that more than half (52 percent) of preachers started most of their sermon points with today's context. It's safe to say more than half our preachers are at least attempting to address the ever-changing needs, struggles and issues of today with the unchanging truth of the Bible.