What is a sermon?

This is a good question for members of a congregation to think about. What do you expect your pastor to do each week as he prepares to deliver a sermon? What elements must a sermon include to actually be a sermon?

 

 There are probably several factors that make up a good sermon, but at its most basic level, a sermon must include at least two critical elements.

1. Sermons must explain a text of scripture.

Most pastors spend years at a university or seminary learning various tools and skills like hermenutics, exegesis, exposition and homiletics*, plus learning basic to advanced Greek and Hebrew, in order to be better equipped to dig into a passage of scripture to explain its meaning.

If your pastor uses a word or phrase in the Bible as a springboard to launch into a rant about some social or political issue, you’re not listening to a sermon. I’ve seen pastors quote a verse at the beginning of a “sermon” and then spend the rest of their “message” talking about issues in a way purely opposite the meaning of the quoted verse. I’ve seen pastors place their Bible on the podium, read a verse, then spend the rest of their time walking around raving about a topic without ever returning to the Bible. This may be a “speech” or a “talk,” but it's definitely not a sermon.

2. Sermons must relate the truth of scripture to the heart of the hearers.

If you have the explanation of a text of scripture without application, you are listening to a lecture, not a sermon.

Hebrews 4:12-13 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

The purpose of scripture is to expose our sin and train us to be more like Christ.

Pastors must take into account the congregation’s background and situation in order to make the application of a text. Aside from committing intellectual theft, this is one of the great weaknesses of a pastor who plagiarizes. He skips the part of preparation where he applies the text of scripture to the people he shepherds.

It is natural for the congregation of a plagiarizing pastor to feel that their worship services are empty and lifeless. Plagiarized sermons often feel bland and generic. It’s because your pastor is simply relating the application another pastor has made to a different congregation.

In my experience at a church with a plagiarizing pastor, the singing portion of worship had to be extra-emotional to make up for the dismal sermons. The nonbelievers in our congregation were not being confronted with the truth of scripture and the believers were not being fed. The shepherd was starving the sheep.

If this describes your church, I encourage you to speak to a pastor or elder about these issues as soon as possible. 

*Definitions

Hermenutics: The study of interpretation.

Exegesis: The study of interpreting and explaining the original meaning of a text.

Exposition: The process of setting forth the meaning of a text.

Homiletics: The process of writing and delivering a sermon.