Lousy Sermons
By Joe R. Barnett
“Horrible sermon!”
“I didn’t get anything out of it either!”
We’ve all heard sermons which left us cold. The message did nothing to motivate us to do anything other than grumbling.
Maybe the preacher cheated on his study and went to the pulpit unprepared. Perhaps he was dealing with a subject he didn’t know much about. Possibly he was a dedicated man with a strong desire to preach but who really didn’t have the equipment for the job.
But there was another possibility — one which has nothing to do with the message or the preacher; but, rather, the hearer. Hebrews 4:2 notes, “…the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers.” Some received no profit from the message “because it did not meet with the faith in the healers.”
A “good” sermon is the result of a proper mix between presentation and reception. Many ingredients are essential in presentation: truth, order, delivery, etc. Reception also includes many ingredients: alertness, open-mindedness, desire for improvement, and above all, faith.
A message on God’s plan for salvation does not benefit some. Perhaps the delivery is poor, but the primary reason it does not bear fruit is that the hearer does not believe. He thinks God will save him some other way.
A message on stewardship does not benefit some. Perhaps the delivery is poor, but the primary reason it does not bear fruit is that the hearer does not believe. He thinks it is more blessed to get than to give.
Of 600,000 full-grown Israelites only two entered Canaan. All heard the same message, but except for Joshua and Caleb, “it did not meet with faith in the hearers.”
Unless message and faith meet, the result is certain to be, “the message which they heard but did not benefit them…”
via church bulletin Park Avenue, Charleston, WV
Let’s always keep our hearts open to the Lord’s message.