Ten Commandments for Preaching

Listening to such great preachers is like watching a grand Fourth of July fireworks display. You sit back, relax, watch and "Ooo" and "Ahh" with everyone else. You should be amazed at it and enjoy it, but you shouldn't go home and try to duplicate it in your backyard. You can't. There's no sense in trying. The same is true with preaching. When you preach, be yourself.

7. Thou shalt not open a commentary until thou hast read the passage 100 times.

This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's an important reminder. Which would you rather eat:  Grandma's made-from-scratch, warm, fluffy biscuits or a frozen biscuit that's been nuked in the microwave? Reheated food is never as good or fresh. The same is true with sermons.

The biggest temptation, I think, for the current generation of preachers is to jump directly into the commentaries or click over to the sermon Web sites without thoroughly meditating on the passage first for him or herself. As Robert Smith once commented: There are far too many preachers who preach only from the neck up. The truth is most powerful when it is from the lips of a person whose heart and mind have marinated extensively on God's Word.

8. Honor thine context above all else, so that it may go well with thee in thy message.

The battle cry of the soldiers of the Texas Revolution was "Remember the Alamo!" The battle cry for today's preachers should be "Remember, context is king!" I often tell people they don't need to know Greek and Hebrew to teach the Bible well, but they must know the context well.

The role of context in preaching and teaching cannot be underestimated or over stressed. Without context, I could preach a sermon that said, "and [Judas] went away and hanged himself" and the Lord Jesus said, "Go and do the same." While there may not be anyone promoting suicide from the pulpit, if we don't pay close attention to context, the result may be spiritual suicide. Don't ever lose the context.

9. Thou shalt make the point of the text the point of the message.

The title of John Stott's timeless book says it all: Between Two Worlds. The preacher of the Word of God finds him or herself with one foot in the biblical world and one foot in the modern world. It falls upon the preacher to straddle these two with balance. Don't ever forget that what God said 2,000 or 3,000 years ago is exactly the same message people need to hear today.

Some will argue, "Yeah, but what about all the history, culture and differences in language from biblical to modern times? My people don't understand all that stuff." Well, guess what? You should teach it to them.

Don't dumb-down the Bible; smarten-up the people. The Bible is the most relevant thing in the universe because God is the most relevant Being in the universe.

10. Thou shalt preach and teach doctrine above all else.

Many churches are weak and lifeless because they have spiritual anemia. What they lack is doctrinal iron in their bloodstreams. All week long, people hear messages from other people.  "What people need," as Robert McCracken once said, "is to hear a word beyond themselves."  Doctrine  feeds the soul. It reassures the faithless. It matures the child. It's what keeps churches healthy and alive. Without it, pastors speak without preaching, and churches sing without worshiping. Preach doctrinally rich sermons!

The great problem in today's pulpits is not a lack of preaching, but an abundance of dreadful preaching. This is largely because many preachers are not as careful and mindful of the task as they should be. Not only does the church need us preachers to keep these Ten Commandments, but more importantly God and His Word deserves the effort required.