Each week I struggle with evaluating the sermon I preached ?last Sunday.' Oh, I can measure certain aspects of the sermon. Did I do the hard work of exegeting the text and presenting it creatively like Jesus and the prophets presented it? Did the transitions hold the various ideas together and create a good flow of thought? Did I give clear explanations of difficult issues in the text? But I struggle with evaluating last Sunday's sermon because God's knack for showing His strength through my weakness often turns my assessments upside down!
Some Sundays, I walk away thinking that I hit a home run with my sermon. Yet, the tepid response and the apparent lack of life-change makes me wonder if I merely tapped a weak grounder to the pitcher. Sometimes, I feel like crawling in a hole after I preach. But then, to my surprise, I hear reports and see evidence of God changing peoples' lives as a result of the sermon!
So, I'm always hesitant to pronounce a certain sermon a ?failure' or a ?success.' However, I have one particular criteria on which I rely to help me evaluate the effectiveness of last Sunday's sermon. It's the level at which the sermon grips me, stirs me, or challenges me. Of course, this is subjective. But when I sense God's Spirit stirring something in me through the sermon I preach, I have a high degree of confidence that he has used me to stir something in my listeners.
Last Sunday, I preached John 18:1-19:16. John crafts the account of Jesus' arrest and "trial" before the Jewish leaders to show that Jesus is in control of the situation. Then, in the account of Jesus trial before Pilate, John highlights Jesus' reign as king. The climax comes when the Jewish leaders announce to Pilate: "We have no king but Caesar." Of course, they were not expressing a deep conviction. They were simply trying to manipulate Pilate. But the statement is still blasphemous! The more I studied the text, the more convinced I became that John shaped his telling of the story to compel readers to cry out: "We have no king but Jesus!"
I'm working on ?this Sunday's sermon,' but I still can't get over ?last Sunday's sermon.' Every time I've faced a decision or a choice this week, this cry wells up within me: "We have no king but Jesus!" I can only attribute that to the Spirit's movement in my heart as a result of the preaching of God's Word. So, at least one life was changed ? mine! If I felt the Spirit's life-changing work through the Word, then I'm sure my sermon was sufficient for the Spirit to use it in the lives of others. That's enough for me to view last week's sermon as a success.
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 9:42 PM on March 27, 2007
Comments
Its a wonderful, but strange, business, isn't it, preaching the Word Sunday by Sunday? I think that at a fundamental level we need ,for all kinds of reasons, to get some feedback other than the kindly meant comments at the door as we say our goodbyes to one another. We very much need to hear words of affirmation regularly to encourage us to stay with the Word, because itis so easy otherwise to question the value of the effort we put into what we're doing. But we are such perverse people that we can very easily turn appreciation for the Word preached into an opportunity to give ourselves a pat on the back. Maybe once in a while it would be helpful for us to explain
how we feel about this to our congregation so that they understand a little better where we are coming from and can respond as they feel is right. I do think, however , that youre right in what you say about needing to feel the excitement of hearing God speak to us as we prepare and as we preach.That always makes it worthwhile!
Posted by: Gordon on April 2, 2007
Gordon's suggestion of telling our congregations a bit more of what it is like to preach intrigues me. Not only the struggles with pride when we are commended, but the whole process--how it churns and bubbles and gives us heart burn. Maybe they should know about that.
Posted by: Lee Eclov on April 3, 2007
Excellent insight. Over the past 2 years, I have become less and less concerned with "how I did" on Sunday. If I receive positive feedback from the sermon, I rejoice that God is able to take my small "loaf and fish" and multiply it to feed the souls of many. If I get little or negative feedback, I remember it's just a few minutes out of the hearer's life, and their spiritual growth is not going to crumble because (or if) I "struck out".
Your insight on how much the sermon has impacted the preacher himself is excellent. I'm going to hold on to that one.
Posted by: Brad on April 10, 2007