The Preaching Life

by Adam Hamilton

Preaching is at one and the same time the activity pastors love, and dread. There is nothing like standing before a congregation knowing that you have something worth saying—a word from God for their lives, a word that is relevant, about which you are passionate, and for which you are prepared to speak. Such preaching is exhilarating. Part of the joy of this experience is that you are being used by God; God is at work in that moment of preaching and you are the mouthpiece.

Yet preaching is also dreadful! Each week the pastor must hear from God, must study and prepare so that when Sunday comes the word that is delivered is relevant, fresh, inspiring, well-prepared, and faithful to the scripture from which it is drawn. There will be an entire congregation gathered to listen—a congregation expecting God to speak through you. And every pastor knows the feeling of showing up on Sunday not having adequately prepared. I have at times wanted to apologize after the sermon and say, “Please come back next week. I know that today’s message was not as helpful as it could have been.” And though we comfort ourselves as pastors with stories of parishioners who come up after those particularly poor sermons to tell us that it was “your best sermon ever,” we also know that many of those folks are just being compassionate.

This leads us to the questions, “What is preaching, really?” and, “What is the intention of a sermon?” When we look to the New Testament we go first to the model that Jesus offers us. Only a fraction of Jesus’ first sermons is preserved for us in the Gospels. We read in Mark 1:14-15, “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’” From this and other sermon fragments of Jesus preserved in the Gospels we find the following characteristics:

1. Urgency (“The time has come”)

 2. Conviction (Jesus preached with absolute conviction)

 3. Proclamation of truth (“the kingdom of God is near”)

 4. A clear invitation to respond (“Repent and believe the good news!”)

 5. A basic conviction that truth is always good news (mentioned twice in these two verses)

 6. Utilized stories from the life experience of the hearers (especially so in the parables)

 7. Was surprisingly “seeker sensitive”; Jesus offered grace and compassion to the lost in his message (“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened” in Matthew 11:28)

 8. Was prophetic and confrontational toward those who considered themselves religious.

 9. Was practical, dealing with real-life issues (worry, materialism, marriage and divorce, hatred, forgiveness, and ill will)

10. Taught persons how to connect with God (dealing with prayer, fasting, worship, giving, and other matters of how one practices faith).

We must make these same characteristics a part of our preaching today.

Excerpt from Leading Beyond the Walls: Developing Congregations with a Heart for the Unchurched, Adam Hamilton. Chapter 9, “Preaching”, pp. 76-78. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002). Used by permission. Adam Hamilton’s latest book is Unleashing the Word: Preaching with Relevance, Purpose, and Passion by Abingdon Press.