Good Preaching

Soon we will have the sermons from our church conference up on the web.  They were, to put it mildly, remarkable.  I’m not sure I’ve heard better preaching in my life.  Don’t worry about who the speaker is, that’s not the point of this post (you all know my aversion to the mutual admiration society).  But, after having spoken with many who attended the conference, I want to offer some reasons why I thought the sermons were so powerful.  Now, for those who were there, please feel free to offer some of your own points (I know you’re reading …).  In so doing, I hope this will help aspiring preachers and those who are already in the ministry.

1.  I’ve always been struck by preachers who seem to be in total command of the Scriptures.  Now, I hope you wont misunderstand me.  I’m not talking about being “in command” in the same way our Lord was.  However, I am speaking about preachers, and they are few in my experience, who seem to be able to draw for any portion of Scripture; that is, they quote freely from various passages in an attempt to prove their point.  When they ask us to turn to certain portions of Scripture, they don’t just ask the listeners to read and then move on.  Rather, they exegete the text and bring out the force of the passage.  Yeah, yeah, we’re all told to do this in Seminary. But why is it that so much of today’s preaching is littered with stories, jokes, and, dare I say it, the confessions (or laborious quotes from John Owen)?  Typically, quoting Owen or the confessions makes for pretty boring preaching (this, from someone who loves the WCF).   Again, this brings me back to a point I’ve made in the past, preachers should be experts in both the content and meaning of Scripture.

2.   Another thing many spoke of was the power behind the preaching.  Seminary students should be told by their homiletics profs that speaking/yelling loudly is not co-extensive with powerful preaching.  The power lay in the both the content and the delivery.  Sometimes the Spirit works on a preacher and it doesn’t matter whether he’s talking or yelling, you can feel the power.  I’ve only seen this rarely.

3.  Older, more experienced, men have credibility in a way that younger, less experienced, men don’t.  It’s just a fact!  To know that a preacher lives what he preaches, has been crushed by God, and has experienced the realities of what he preaches about, is something that very few young preachers possess.  Of course, I know there are the M’Cheyne’s and Spurgeon’s of the world.  But they represent the (very small) exception.  And I was made aware of that (not so subtly) by more than a few of my friends.

4.  Application, application, application.  Many were stunned by the application.  There was real power in the exhortations and, far from moralizing, the speaker left several in tears.  I know, I had to shake their hands on the way out.  The application was direct, but graciously done.

So, those were just some of the highlights from a wonderful conference at our church this past week-end. I’m in the middle of writing my bio on Goodwin, so posts will be sparring in the coming days.  Perhaps there will be a few interesting anecdotes concerning Goodwin’s life?