Preaching In Shades of Gray

In my freshman year in Bible college, one of my professors told a class of eager preacher-wanna-be’s that the church lives or dies by its preaching.  He went on to say that before every great move of God in history God sent out a preacher.  Before the Flood, the Exodus, the coming of the Messiah there was a preacher.  The church began with twelve preachers on the day of Pentecost. The Reformation waited on the preacher.  You get the idea.  This dear old saint poured his life and heart into teaching us how to be good preachers.  But that begs the question, “What is good preaching?”

Is good preaching stylistic?  Is it the conveyance of theological truth?  Is it the ability to hold the attention of the audience?  I have been told that good preaching is the preaching that makes people feel good on Sunday, after a long Saturday night.  My own struggles with effective homiletic practices are well known to those who hear me speak.  But I have never met a preacher that didn’t want to improve his craft.  And most preachers believe they are good public speakers. 

Rather than address a whole range of homiletics, let’s focus on one key area of preaching where there is a profound shade of gray.  It is a place where the shades of gray are a weekly struggle in many of our sermons.
Preaching to the lowest common denominator
On one end of the spectrum the sermons ought to be simple and basic and ought to be understandable for persons who have no Christian understanding or context. Sermons should be very attractional with an intentional focus on style and content that will attract the un-churched to the worship of the church and inspire them to return each week. Often these sermons offer practical help in the struggles of life.  They present how the Christian life is the best choice.  These sermons are positive and upbeat; they focus on the good and if bad news is presented, it is done so in such a way that emphasis is on a quick easy fix.  As one preacher said, “I don’t allow any stinking thinking”. 

There is the danger that the preaching time degenerates into positive, mental attitude, Oprah-ish, self-help and results in telling people what they want to hear.
Preaching ought to move toward depth
At the other end of the continuum, preaching is focused on teaching Biblical and theological truths and leading the hearers to personal challenge and growth. Preaching of this sort tends to require much more of the listener and will not be as entertaining.  The hearers must have some theological or religious background to comprehend the concepts.  The language can become exclusive and only understood by those with the correct knowledge base.  Style is relatively unimportant so long as the precise nature of the doctrinal position is articulated.  By its very nature, it assumes the purpose of preaching is not so much evangelistic as edifying.

Taken to an extreme it becomes a theological lecture that may seem unrelated to daily living.  While effective to challenge and help mature left-brain Christians, it may leave half of the congregation waiting for the sermon to end or looking for a different church.

No preacher is ever and always at one extreme or the other.  We generally preach in the way that challenges and moves us.  Generally, finding the right place on the continuum is sole responsibility of the preaching minister. While he has that responsibility, he is wise and helped by a system of feed back concerning his sermons that helps him gain the perspective of people in the pews.