What to do when the sermon is really that bad?

The other day, I gave what I believed was a pretty ordinary sermon. I’ve given some good one’s before, and I’ve given some – well I guess you could say, sermons where I felt like I wanted to crawl into a cave and commit spiritual Hari Kari ie taking my bible and using it to slice my bowels open.

Preaching doesn’t come naturally to me. I guess I’m a pretty average preacher. Some of my friends are real hot shots. Unfortunately I’m not one of them. No, I’m your Rev. average run of the mill preacher.

Unfortunately, whether we like or not, preaching is a central part of the ministry. Many people I know leave because the preaching at the church was down right pathetic, boring, irrelevant or totally incomprehensible. By the same token people are drawn to churches because of the hotshot preaching. And many of the hot names floating around today in Christian circles are noted primarily for their preaching. Sure they might be growing mega churches but their real claim to fame is that they are hotshot preachers.

However as I reflect on the state of things, I guess (and this is my guess only) most preachers in the world are pretty average. There are few really star preachers. However most of them are just like me, pretty average. Admittedly, some are just below average. Still others are really bad. It is not that they’re preaching heresy (Although I dare say there are some who are like this), it is just that they are down right BORING, or IRRELEVANT, or INCOMPREHENSIBLE, or just way off the MARK. It is not that they are ungodly, or immoral, or don’t care for people. It is just that they are not really on the mark with preaching.

However if preaching is so important in the life of the church, what do you do when the preaching in your church just really !@$!#!@$!@#$? Do you pick up and leave?

Well here are a few tips to members who go to a church where the preaching is not really that hot. I guess I have a vested interest in this. So if you want to hear me preach please take note:

Anyway here it goes:

Firstly pray for your pastor. My biggest mistake growing up in my church was to spend more time complaining about the preaching rather than praying for the preacher. As people complain to me about the preaching in their churches I always ask them: “Do you pray for your pastor?” and in most cases they don’t. So the first thing to do is to regularly pray for your pastor. As well as this, when others complain to you about the preaching, don’t join in the complaining. Get down on your knees with them, give thanks to God for the preacher and pray for him. (I’m assuming he’s not an outright wolf in sheep clothing, in which case, pray that he will repent or be kicked out)

Secondly, always remember that we’re dealing with God’s word. For this reason we need to be humble before it regardless of how good (or how boring) the preacher is. Remember the words of Isaiah 66:2. The man God esteems is the one who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles before his Word. This passage doesn’t apply only when the preaching is good. It has nothing to do with how good the preacher is but everything to do with the character of God’s word.   I remember once I was in a church and when the preacher got up I automatically switched off. Why? Because I knew he wasn’t that great. But the Lord ministered to me and rebuked me for not being humble. Anyway I pulled out  a pen and paper and started taking notes from the message. At the end of the sermon I was greatly encouraged by the message but greatly ashamed of my arrogance.

Thirdly,  know that there will ALWAYS be one thing, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it might seem, that you can learn from the message no matter how bad the sermon was. Therefore take the one thing you’ve learnt, give thanks to God for it, pray over it and don’t worry about the rest.

Fourthly, avoid asking each other: “How was the sermon?” This is one of the most useless and unedifying question to ask someone else because it is tempting to focus on style, delivery, packaging, impact etc etc. I often found myself asking this question of others and discovered that we’d end up merely critiquing and complaining about the sermon. Some better questions to ask

• What is one thing you’ve learnt from the sermon?
• I missed what he was saying. Can you explain it to me?
• I didn’t understand what he was saying. Can you explain it to me?

There might be other or better questions. I think you get my gist. Ask questions that will get you talking about the message in a constructive helpful and edifying way, rather than mulling over the packaging. As I said, most of us are pretty Mr Average.

Fifthly, distinguish between whether the preacher preached from the text or he preached from the bible. In other words the message may have been totally way off mark regarding the passage, nevertheless what he said was still true of the bible. I remember a church member coming up to me and complained about the message. He said the preacher (It wasn’t me. It was a guest preacher) had totally missed the mark of the passage and my friend was steaming. Anyway I asked him if there was anything the preacher had said that was wrong. To which he said no. So I said – “give thanks”. This is not an excuse for sloppy exegesis, but a reason for graciousness.

Lastly,  remember that the teaching of God’s word is much larger than the Sunday Sermon and the responsibility is wider than that of the preacher. At the end of the day we are all responsible to teach each other. Even moreso when we remember our reformation roots that believed very strongly in the priesthood of all believers. I think we need to keep remembering Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

If we remember this we’d probably do less complaining and spend more time helping each other out when the sermon really falls flat.

This really hit home to me a few years ago. I had invited a friend to hear a hotshot evangelistic preacher. Unfortunately the preacher was not in good form. Actually the preacher was really really bad on the night. I was so embarrassed and had one of the Hari Kari moments.  However one of my church friends, who is normally Mr Quiet, and never says a word, turned to my friend and explained what the message was all about. It was awesome. Where the preacher had failed my friend had delivered the message. Crystal clear! And my guest went home understanding the gospel.

This helped me to realise that the responsibility of teaching the congregation, while primarily that of the pastor, is not solely the responsibility of the pastor. We are all responsible to teach the word of God to each other. So when the sermon fails, or misses the mark, or whatever, instead of complaining (even if it deserves it) we need help each other out. Of course we have to be careful here not to do so in a way that undermines the preacher. This would only do irreparable damage.

Anyway these are some initial thoughts. Ok now, back to my sermon prep. Ughhh!