Content/Material

Was the content of the sermon instructive? Was the material insightful? Most important, did the sermon scratch where people are itching? All the exegesis in the world will not amount to much if the sermon is not packaged in a palatable, captivating form. As preachers seek to be accurate as a result of their exegesis, so we must seek to be relevant in the way we construct and deliver our sermons.

One of the first questions that pop up in people's minds as preachers read their Scriptural passage and announce their title is, "Why did the preacher choose this passage for today?" Another is, "What does this have to do with me?" A variation of the second question is, "Will listening to this sermon make a difference in my life?" Perhaps more than anything else, listeners want to know that the preacher understands what they are going through and resonate with their needs. As much as they are interested in knowing what God had to say to His people of ancient times, listeners want to know that God understands their contemporary situation and is able to address, if not ameliorate, it.

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The challenge of the preacher, then, is to deliver a sermon that is not only exegetically sound but also contextually relevant. If we want to capture and hold the attention of people, we must be interesting, remembering that people tend to be interested in that which meets their needs. Thus, the preacher will not only exegete the biblical text, but the community as well.

The content of a sermon should be age-appropriate. The general rule is that a sermon should be pitched to the educational level of the 10-year-olds in the congregation, making for a delivery that has broad appeal. Additionally, sermons should reflect an awareness of the occasion, meaning that a baccalaureate sermon will be markedly different from a funeral homily. Whatever the occasion, the content of the sermon should be sound and sober, eschewing the trivial and banal. After all, the sermon is a word from God.

Supportive Material

Did the sermon reflect good use of illustrations? Supportive material make sermons interesting and relevant. As such, the content of a sermon should have an ample supply of stories, anecdotes, and other types of illustrations. These are like windows to the sermon, providing the hearer with an opportunity to "see" or experience in a captivating way what the preacher is talking about. It may also be said that an illustration is like a needed break that a swimmer needs to come up for a breath of fresh air. It is a break in the action, a time-out, if you please, during which the hearer regroups and adjusts. Without illustrations, a sermon is a dry discourse that is destined to bore.

Stories should never be told just for the sake of telling a story, and they should be serious and told in good taste. Stories help listeners experience, whereas explanations help them understand. Testimony and figures/numbers help listeners accept.