How to Spot a Good Sermon
By Tim Cantrell, Lecturer & Pastor at Christ Seminary & Christ Baptist Church
Polokwane, South Africa
2004
Evaluating sermons has been a favourite pastime of Christians for centuries. Yet despite all our experience, it is still rare to find those who are good at biblically critiquing a sermon – whether their own sermon, or another’s. We are so easily sidetracked by the peripheral concerns over the preacher’s appearance, style, personality, or the structure or length of his sermon. Sure, any of these can ruin a sermon – but are they what make a good sermon? In this article I first want to convince you of the need for rightly evaluating preaching, and then I’ll suggest a tool for doing this.
The Need for Evaluating Preaching
Getting a handle on how to biblically evaluate preaching is critical to the health of both the preacher and the hearers. Most of us are convinced already of the need for our hearers to carefully evaluate every sermon, like good “Bereans”, so that they are not led astray (Acts 17:11; cf. 1 Thess. 5:21). But such evaluations are no less crucial for the preacher himself. Like it or not, we as preachers have a God-given, built in self-evaluation system called the conscience. I’ve often pled, ‘Lord, help me to forget myself entirely!’ But the answer to that prayer is not as simple as we might like. As persons made in God’s image (a God who reflects on His work - e.g., Gen. 1), the cure is not to avoid all self-reflection, but rather to “think about ourselves with sober judgement (sound thinking)” (Rom. 12:3; cf. Gal. 6:3-4).
Many preachers drift into dangerous waters through either an overactive conscience (‘Oh, I’m such a failure! When will I ever preach those perfect, stunning sermons like other preachers?’) or an underactive conscience (‘I’ve outgrown the need to evaluate my preaching any more.’). The oversensitive conscience must learn to simply apply a biblical grid to his sermons and only allow himself to ask one question, “Was I faithful to what God expects of me as a preacher?” (And then he must learn to be content and trust the Lord with the aspects of his preaching, his giftedness, and his ministry that he cannot change.)
The under-sensitive conscience must come down from his proud pedestal and have the humility to heed God’s mandate that “your progress” should be “evident to all” (I.e., Are you still visibly improving as a preacher?). In the next verse, God further requires that we “Watch [our]…teaching closely” for our sake and the sake of our hearers (1 Tim. 4:15-16). When was the last time you asked your wife, or your church leaders, “Please tell me honestly how I could improve my preaching?”
We’ve all had the Sunday roller-coaster ride of going, in five minutes or less, from one person’s compliment (“Wow, preacher. Best sermon I’ve ever heard!”) to another person’s criticism (“Gee, pastor, you lost me halfway through your introduction.”). If our conscience is not anchored in a solidly biblical view of what defines faithful preaching, we will be swept away by the shifting winds of fickle feedback from our hearers. In a recent survey of African pastors, I asked this question:
“How do you know when you have been a faithful preacher who gave God’s message to others?” (only one correct answer)
a.You know you have properly taught the Bible when the people tell you they enjoyed the message.
b.You know you have properly taught the Bible when you feel that the Holy Spirit was really speaking through you.
c.You know you have properly taught the Bible when people clearly understand the correct meaning of that passage of Scripture and know how to apply it to their lives.
d.You know you have properly taught the Bible when many people make decisions and come forward during the altar call.
How would you answer? Sadly, over half of the respondents did not choose “c.” Instead, they chose one of the other answers, which suggests that their preaching is being moulded by dangerously subjective, unreliable criteria.
Paul perfectly summarizes the bottom line for evaluating any preaching: “For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends” (2 Cor. 10:18; cf. 1 Cor. 4:1-5; 2 Tim. 4:1). This truth is either a comfort or a threat, based upon how sure you are that yours is the kind of preaching that the Lord approves. How dreadful to think that my preaching is ‘spot-on’, only to find out one day that the Chief Shepherd Himself was displeased. What follows is a tool to help increase your certainty over what God expects of any preacher.
The ‘Big Five’ Criteria for Evaluating Preaching
Why is it that some sermons can meet all of the criteria on a typical evaluation (crit’) sheet in a preaching class or homiletics lab, and yet they are boring and ineffective? And why is it that some of the greatest preachers and sermons violate half of the ‘hallowed’ homiletical rules? I think one reason is that the evaluation sheets stand in need of being evaluated!
After being perplexed with this for a few years at Christ Seminary (in Polokwane, South Africa, where we are training preachers of the Word for Africa – ), I’ve crafted a simplified critique sheet that would be more helpful in discerning between good and bad preaching. This has helped to frame our class discussions and feedback after each sermon, steering us away from thinking that perfect structure alone is what makes or breaks the sermon (That kind of thinking is about like saying that you know a horse is healthy when you can see its whole skeleton!).
[Please realize that this list emerges from, and assumes that one is grounded in, the key biblical texts which outline the preacher’s job description: Ezra 7:10; Neh. 8; Mal. 2:6-7; 2 Tim. 2:15; 4:2; 1 Pet. 4:11. In my preaching class, this sheet is only introduced after weeks of laying the exegetical foundation for defining what true expository preaching is and is not.]
Here then, straight out of Africa, is our ‘Big Five’ that we use in evaluating preaching:
1.Was the Word of God clearly explained to you in such a way that you now understand the original author’s meaning and purpose in this passage? Write it out in your own words in 1-2 sentences: (20 pts.)
2.Describe how the Word of God was directly applied to you in such a way that you are convinced of God’s message (promise, command, etc.) to you from this specific passage: (20 pts.)
3.Was the Word of God preached to you in such a dynamic, passionate, interesting way that you were motivated to understand it and obey it? Or were you bored, confused, or distracted by the preacher? Please describe: (20 pts.)
4.How well did the preacher use homiletical tools? Such as: a good introduction?; a memorable thesis/purpose/summary statement?; a clear outline?; effective illustrations and word pictures?; a good conclusion? (20 pts.)
5.How was his body language (gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, or any other mannerisms)? Did it contribute to the message or detract from it? (20 pts.)
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