It used to be that Christians would walk miles to hear a good sermon.
It used to be that Christians would feel cheated by a sermon that was less than an hour in length. 
It used to be that people read sermons, discussed them at Sunday dinner, and readily compared the merits of different preachers they heard on a regular basis - but not now.

In the minds of many modern Christians the sermon has become the equivalent of the 7th inning stretch - no more than a break between the opening hymn and the closing prayer.  And today, any preacher who dares to go longer than 15 - 20 minutes is in danger of incurring the wrath of an impatient congregation.  Some churches have replaced the regular exposition of the Word with a 12-minute “life application talk,” or a dramatic skit.  There seems to be a crisis in preaching.

The secular media picked up on this crisis of preaching in the church, decades ago.  Time magazine, for its final issue of 1979, published a cover story posing this question: American Preaching: A Dying Art?  The editor of that issue, in that cover story, wryly made this statement:  “Whereas 200 years ago the preaching of Jonathan Edwards made all of New England quake in its boots, today the chilling of the Word has become a major contributor to the evident malaise in many large Protestant denominations.”

Hugh Latimer, the first Protestant Bishop of Worcester, and English Reformer and martyr, in a sermon preached before the King’s Majesty in April of 1549, tells the story of a young woman in London who was asked by a neighbor, “Mistress, whither go ye?” “Marry,” she said, “I am going to St. Thomas of Acres to the sermon; I could not sleep all this last night, and I am going now thither; I never failed of a good nap there.”

Theologian Thomas Allan wrote: “It takes a great amount of skill to take the gospel and make it boring, tedious and dull.  Our preachers today, it seems to me, have mastered that skill right well.”

And this humorous short poem to further illustrate the point:
I never see my preacher’s eyes
Tho’ they with light may shine -
For when he prays he closes his,
And when he preaches, I close mine!

We love to have new people visit our church.  In fact, we’ve enjoyed some new families join our congregation in the past few months.  This is exciting.  This past Sunday there was another new couple visiting with us.  The other pastor at our church had a chance to speak with them after church.  The couple said they liked everything at our church; the worship, the preaching, and the children’s ministry. 

The next thing they said was surprising.  They shared where they had been attending on a regular basis.  It is a fairly new church in our community and claims to be an evangelical Bible-believing church.   The couple said they had grown dissatisfied with the church because during the entire time they had been part of that church they never heard the word “sin” or “hell” mentioned.  They went on to say that their understanding of the church philosophy of ministry is that nothing will ever be said that will, in any way, scare off a newcomer.   Sermons were aimed at non-believers and baby Christians.  They said that nothing challenging ever comes from the pulpit.  This is sad, and possibly more prevalent than we realize.

There is a cutting power in preaching.  Preaching is a heart cry, a bold declaration.  It is not an explanation but a heralding and a proclamation.  It is not an apology.  It is the urgency of the Master Himself ringing out through His yielded vessel.  It is an outpouring of the river of God that slays the enemy.

Saints of old were preachers.  Not performers.  Men and women who could stand up anywhere and declare, "Jesus Saves"  It was no suave, five point sermon, but a passionate plea that rent the hearts of the hearers and paved the way for the Holy Spirit.  It was bold declarations springing from the heart that was on fire with God’s message that demanded a response.  The hearers had to do something.  They had to repent or reject.  But they could not keep quiet.  Some people say all that is passé and old fashioned now. 

In an open air crusade, a young zealous and untaught pastor was exhorting the crowd to worship God. But how could they?  There were many unconverted in that crowd, many who had not accepted the Savior.  The music built up to a crescendo and the pastor cried out, "God is very close to you.  There is no need for preaching now.  Reach out and touch Him."  A state of expectancy had been built up, but that was all.

When the time came to preach, the man of God opened his mouth and out of his innermost being, the river of God began to flow.  Like a mighty river, his words poured out, cutting through the crowd, even to the hearts of the watchers and the passersby on the nearby roads.  It was not with the wisdom of man's words, but it filled the hearts of hungry hearers.  His words shut the mouth of the enemies of righteousness and paved the way for the Kingdom of the Most High.  Dozens were saved and born again by the washing away of sins and the operation of the Holy Spirit.

In some churches today, much time is spent with lesser things and when the man with the Bible comes to preach before the people, he is pressured to watch the time and finish the message in the "accepted time".  What a tragedy.  I am not, in any way suggesting that a long church service is any guarantee that the Holy Spirit has moved.  In fact one time a guest at our church said that preaching is like drilling for water; if you haven’t hit anything after 20 minutes, stop boring.

There are counterfeit ministers and counterfeit sermons just as there is counterfeit money.  We must distinguish biblical preaching from its pale imitations.  In Isaiah 55:11 God declares: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

John Stott, the former rector of All Souls, London, put it this way: “Preaching”, he said, “is indispensable to Christianity.  Without preaching a necessary part of its authenticity has been lost.  For Christianity is, in its very essence, a religion of the Word of God.  No attempt to understand Christianity can succeed which overlooks or denies the truth that the living God has taken the initiative to reveal himself savingly to fallen humanity; or that his self-revelation has been given by the most straightforward means of communication known to us, namely, by a word and words; or that he calls upon those who have heard his Word to speak it to others.”

Bishop Hugh Latimer, in his sermon before King Edward the VI in 1549, which was alluded to earlier, also said this:
“For the preaching of the Word of God unto the people is called meat.  Scripture calleth it meat, not strawberries,  that come but once a year, and tarry not long but are soon gone.  But it is meat; it is no dainties.  The people must have meat that must be familiar and continually given unto them to feed upon.  Many make a strawberry of it, ministering it but once a year; but such do not the office of a good pastor.”

Preaching is God’s way of meeting the needs of sinful men through the proclamation of His revealed truth by one of His chosen messengers.

God, help us to be faithful in our calling as shepherds.

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