Of all the things that a minister must do, the most difficult is, not raising In-gathering funds or building churches, but preaching. He will find preaching to be the most strenuous and exacting of all forms of labor that he is called upon to do. Perhaps no profession demands more from a man than that of being a successful preacher.
A lawyer's work is difficult and tedious. It is no easy thing to apply human law to the tangled affairs of men and women in this complex age. The work of a physician requires great skill and knowledge as he ministers to the sick. Years of hard study are required to fit him to perform his work. But he who ministers to the minds and hearts of sin-sick, conscience-stricken men and women must be possessed of a knowledge and power unknown to other professions. The man who stands as a mouthpiece of God and properly discharges the responsibilities resting upon him is engaged in the most exacting form of all labor.
No doubt history will show that the. pulpit has done as much to determine the course of nations as any other one factor in the world. But history shows too that it is easy for the pulpit to decay. The tendency is ever to degenerate, to fall from the exalted place as a mouthpiece of God, to the performing of ceremonies and the serving of tables.
The church of the living God has prospered when it has had great preachers. The Reformation was ushered in by a great preacher. As long as it had men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, and others the Reformation fires were kept burning. Darkness came, as it always does, when the preachers lost their message.
The great need today is for ministers, men who are powerful in the pulpit. The churches want preachers who can preach. They will forgive almost everything else, but they will not long give their presence willingly to a man who cannot preach. Could this be the reason why some men cannot hold their crowds?
When a new pastor comes, the people do not generally ask, "Does he have a diploma?" They are not particularly interested in his degrees. The one thing above all others that interests them is, Can he preach? If he can, they will overlook most all other deficiencies.
People in the world judge Christianity by two things. First, they judge it by the lives of the people who profess it. Second, it is judged by the sermons that are preached by its ministers. Dull sermons, to the man of the world, means dull religion. One thing is certain: the world will never be stirred by poor preaching.
Much has been written and said as to what goes to make up a good sermon. A sermon cannot be judged on what is put into it, but rather by the results that come from it. What happens as the result of the sermon must be the rule by which it is judged. If the sermon leaves the audience unchallenged, regardless of how well it may have been preached, it is a failure. The sermon on the day of Pentecost reaped results. It challenged the people, and stirred them to action. It put unto their hearts a desir to get right with God. This was a successful sermon.
Some have read the sermons of great preachers and attempted to find the secret of their power. But the sermons of many of the great preachers are found to be pretty dull reading. Some have been unable to see why their sermons produced such great results. Some ministers compare themselves with these mighty men that have gone before—their ideas, their illustrations, their language—then shake their heads and say, "I can't see in these sermons what made these men so powerful."
Peter's Pentecostal sermon, as recorded in the book of Acts., was logical and to the point; yet some would call it pretty tame reading. But there is one part of that great sermon that Luke could not report, and it was the most important, the most prominent part. It was impossible to put this part of the sermon into print. The spoken words may be transcribed and put into printed form. The setting of the sermon is accurately given, but the spiritual power that used those words cannot be printed.
The tendency on the part of ministers is to depend upon the structure of their sermons for their success. We all know that successful preachers must have good sermons, well outlined, with definite points to be presented, as well as a terminal to be reached. But there is such a thing as depending too much on the structure of the sermon. It is the spirit, rather than the outline, that will give power and life to the sermon. Someone has said that ministers should work more on themselves than on their sermons.
Many preachers do not stay long enough in one place to build up a strong, successful work. This is especially true in our denomination. The shortness of so many pastorates has no doubt served to retard, rather than build up, the work. One observer said that preachers are like a band of nomads running here and there looking for greener pastures.
Some pastors have been imposed upon by their congregations. In their desire to please the people they have been doing chores, running errands, inspecting the machinery, and all the hundred and one things that somebody must do in connection with the church and its members. Some preachers would rather do this errand running than preach. It is easier, requires less mental effort, is less exacting, and takes less out of a man's life than does preaching. There are many things to be done in every church, and many bearings to oil, in order to keep the church machinery running smoothly; yet this is not the work for which preachers are ordained.
More than all others, ministers must pray. Few pray enough. Praying is hard work. It is taxing and exhausting. Some minds are too undisciplined and some hearts too worldly to come easily into communion with God.. It is hard to concentrate and bring all faculties into subjection, and prostrate them before the throne of God. It requires an energy which even the strongest men are capable of for only a short period.
It is said that when Luther was the busiest he prayed the most. But most ministers pray the least when they are the busiest. The apostles put praying before preaching. "We will continue steadfastly in prayer and the ministry of the word."
Those who preach should be masters of their subject. The preacher influences his congregation not only by what he says but by what he says nothing about. A great pitacher must have a reserve power, and this comes from a storehouse of knowledge. He must be an expert in his field. The mind, like the soil, must be built up if it is to produce good crops. The mind is built up and strengthened by study and much reading.
The preacher who reads and studies has a freshness and a vitality about his sermons that breathes life and energy into the congregation.
