Sermons, Why Bother?

Why should we still bother with sermons? Why not simply bypass them or do as many churches do and simply turn them into Bible Studies?

Is there a difference between a Bible Study and a Sermon? Many people think not. Yet I cannot imagine a single person counting standing in a grocery store checkout line as being the same as being called to the supper table. What is the difference? In the first instance the food items are gathered together and bagged and carried home. In the second instance the food items are prepared as a succulent meal and served to those hungrily awaiting to gobble it down.

A sermon is not merely gathering together facts to present to people in an organized manner. A sermon is not merely a lecture. A sermon is a prepared feast that is fed to those who have been called together to gobble it down. This feast is not mere facts and information. This feast is the very Word of God, the Lord Jesus Himself, fed aurally to those who have come to receive Him into their hearts yet again. The sermon is also preparation, like an appetizer, for the greater feast of the body and blood of the Lord in His Holy Supper of everlasting Communion.

Sermons are without a doubt a lot of work to prepare. The initial stages are sheer agony. But the pastor receives more than he exerts, and what he receives he delivers to those whom the Lord has entrusted to his pastoral care. They in turn receive what their loving pastor feeds to them and they carry it with them wherever they go throughout the week, sharing morsels with others whom they encounter in their daily journey.

† † †

A Blessed Thanksgiving Day

Today has been for me a very blessed Thanksgiving Day. It has been a day that has been jam-packed full of God's goodness. It has been a day of Gospel joy.

Thanksgiving is for me a wonderful excuse for spending a day wrestling with God to receive from Him the blessing of hearing from Him more fully what He has revealed in His Holy Scriptures. Sermon preparation usually takes me about eight hours. Sometimes I cut it a bit shorter. Sometimes it goes longer. It usually takes at least 4 to 6 hours before I am content with the outline that has developed. Then only another two or three or four hours are needed for actually writing the sermon, proof reading it, and printing it. Sometimes the outline is exactly the same as the last time that I preached the text, but the sermon content has expanded. My immersion into the text has become deeper. I have been richly blessed beyond measure. Then I am privileged to preach it and hear it yet again.

Today, after preaching today's text, I felt full and content. The meal that my wife prepared was waiting, but I felt full. She prepared a wonderful meal. It was truly delicious and I enjoyed it immensely. Yet it seemed unnecessary after the feast that the Lord had prepared and fed to me. Not only the message that flowed from the text, but also, and even more satisfying, was the Feast of the Eucharist (Thanksgiving).

The meal that my wife prepared was truly wonderful, too, but it was primarily for my flesh. It was truly cause for giving thanks, too, both to my wife and to the Lord. This year she purchased and prepared a free range turkey. The stuffing was organic, with her added fixings of mixed nuts, cranberries, homemade turkey stock, celery, carrots, onions, garlic cloves, and more! She made sweet potatoes, prepared apples and grapes, and more. The only junk food was the croissants that she purchased at Sam’s Club (with many scary ingredients, but tasty).

Thankfully, even more cause for thanksgiving, my wife understands fully what I mean when I say that the Lord’s banquet is what made the day. Even though I do not believe that I have ever had a more wonderful turkey and other culinary delights, the Lord’s banquet completely satisfied me.

Now, this blessed eventide, I am pleased that the sermon has been uploaded and the turkey has been put away in the refrigerator, and we will enjoy my wife’s labors for perhaps as long as a week. How wonderful to have these treasures upon which to feast our palates! Moreover, even regarding the Lord’s feast we have His marvelous promise:

     Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (Matthew 13:52)