NOW, THAT’S A SERMON

NOW, THAT’S A SERMON!

Acts 2:14-41

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

June 12, 2005

It was a good way to start off a seminary class on preaching. Though it could have started off in a number of ways, it all began with a question from the professor: “What makes for a good sermon?”

If you had been sitting in that classroom on that particular day, how would you have answered such a question? What principles are necessary toward making a sermon a good one? What are the essential building blocks that make for a good sermon?

This morning, as we look at Peter’s sermon given on the day of Pentecost, we may note this as a good sermon, as a model sermon, as a most powerful sermon in light of the response. We are told that, “When the people heard this (sermon), they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” When Peter told them exactly what to do, warning them and even pleading with them, there was a great response. “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

Now, good preaching does not always guarantee such a response as this. Faithfulness in the pulpit will not always mean faithfulness in the pew! But here we have an example of good preaching, of faithful preaching - the kind that should be expected from this pulpit, and every pulpit. And so, this morning, let’s look at what makes for good and faithful preaching, based upon Peter’s sermon.

FAITHFUL PREACHING

WILL BE BIBLICALLY GROUNDED.

Peter began his sermon with Scripture and he continued with Scripture. He did not bring forth his own preconceived ideas, but rather brought forth the truth of God’s Word. He preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the foundation of Scripture, quoting from Psalm 16 and 110.

Note also that Peter did not interpret Scripture in the light of personal experience, but he interpreted experience in the light of Scripture. This is a very important distinction we all must be careful to make, for the reason that so many are living today by the authority of personal experience, rather than by God’s Word as the ultimate authority.

Peter interpreted the present experience in the light of Scripture. “Let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only 9 in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel …” Peter went on to explain how Joel had prophesied and predicted the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and that was precisely what was happening at that time before their very eyes!

Good preaching will always be biblically grounded for the reason that God’s Word is powerful. The author of Hebrews makes this point as he describes this characteristic of the Word of God: “The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” [i] God’s Word is like a surgeon’s scalpel, which the Holy Spirit uses through the preacher to bring forth salvation and spiritual health. Not surprisingly, then, Luke records that in hearing this sermon, the people were “cut to the heart.”

Puritan John Bunyan had this in mind in writing The Pilgrim’s Progress. This classic is an allegory that addresses the Christian’s journey in life, from the very beginning on into Heaven’s embrace. The characters are all given symbolic names, such as the chief character, “Christian.”

In one scene, two warrior heroes, Mr. Great-heart and Mr. Valiant-for-truth, are in focus. They talk together during a respite following a very intense battle. As they sit down to catch their breath, Mr. Great-heart says approvingly to Mr. Valiant-for-truth:

Thou has worthily behaved thyself. Let me see thy sword.” So he showed it to him. When he had taken it into his hand and looked thereon awhile, he said, “Ha! It is a right Jerusalem blade.”

Then said Mr. Valiant-for-truth, “It is so. Let a man have one of these blades, with a hand to wield it and skill to use it, and he may venture upon an angel with it …Its edges will never blunt; it will cut flesh, and bones, and soul, and spirit, and all.” [ii]

Indeed it will! For this very reason then, in all of its power, the Word of God makes for faithful preaching.

FAITHFUL PREACHING

WILL ALSO BE CHRIST-CENTERED.

If the sermon is biblically grounded and the Bible is ultimately about Jesus Christ and our life in Him, then it naturally follows that faithful preaching will inevitably be Christ-centered.

In this one sermon, Peter manages to say a great deal about Christ. Peter speaks of His ministry, His crucifixion, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension and His present, ongoing ministry in sending forth the promised Holy Spirit.

Although not every sermon will bring forth so many elements of the person, work and ministry of our Lord, faithful preaching will always have Jesus Christ at the very heart of it all. After all, He Himself declared that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. If our life is found in Him, then good preaching will take us to Him every time.

A story I have told some of you before illustrates well, I believe, the need for this kind of preaching. Though now deceased, Dr. E.V. Hill was a prominent preacher and pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in California. He would tell others of the ministry of an elderly woman in his church, and it was an unusual but very significant ministry.

Affectionately named “1800” because no one knew how old she was, she would always sit in the very first pew and listen intently to the sermon. If the particular preacher of the day did not lift up Christ, she would speak up and say, “Get Him up!” She watched and listened closely and, if needed, she would say it again. After a while, if the preacher still wasn’t lifting Christ up, she would shout out: “Get Him up!”

Now “1800” was not a theologian, nor was she a preacher. But she had sharp instincts and a deep spiritual sensitivity towards what makes for faithful preaching – and lifting up Jesus Christ in the very heart of the sermon is what makes for faithful preaching.

For this reason, you certainly will not offend me if I hear from any of you on a Sunday morning, “Get Him up!” For again, faithful preaching will always be Christ-centered; it will lift Christ up before others.

III

FAITHFUL PREACHING

WILL BE HOLY SPIRIT – EMPOWERED.

After Jesus’ resurrection, He spoke to his disciples of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He spoke of how the Spirit would dwell not only in their midst, but within them, and empower them to proclaim the Gospel. Though they certainly had the knowledge, and three years of “seminary training” in being with Jesus on a day to day basis, it still wasn’t enough!

Would this empowerment by the Spirit truly make a difference? Consider for a moment the man who preached this sermon. It certainly made a difference for him! The one who barely raised his voice in answer to a servant girl in the High Priest’s courtyard, denying even knowing Jesus,[iii] now deliberately raises his voice, and addresses a large crowd at great length, and in the very midst of the Temple courts! What answer can be given for this change but the empowerment of the Holy Spirit!

Let me be very clear in saying to you that no preacher is ever qualified to enter the pulpit, convinced that such a sacred anointing is unnecessary. Consider, if you will, the witness of Paul the apostle regarding his own ministry before the Corinthians:

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. [iv]

Paul did not rely so much upon himself, or upon the use of wise and persuasive words as the Greek orators did, as he relied upon the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would not only give Paul the words to say, but He would carry those words into the very mind and heart of his listeners.

This is precisely why the preacher in the pulpit and the people in the pew need to pray. The Holy Spirit’s power is unleashed when people confess their need of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in prayer. Such has been the case of Dr. Kent Hughes, the pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, who tells of a special time when this happened.

Hughes was invited to speak at a breakfast where those in county and local governments would be honored. More than one thousand people would attend, many who were not Christians, or even church-goers. He was given only nineteen minutes, but he knew that God could use each one of them.

So, months in advance, he prayed; he met with the breakfast committee and prayed; he wrote to friends asking for prayer; and he had his own congregation pray for him. As a result, as he tells it, “During those nineteen minutes, I sensed the power of the Holy Spirit as I had few times in my life.”[v]

Dear friends, preaching and prayer must always go together. The Holy Spirit is present in power when God’s people pray, both in humble dependence, as well as in fervent expectation.

LASTLY, AND NOT UNCONNECTED TO THIS,

FAITHFUL PREACHING IS COURAGEOUS PREACHING.

Clearly, the Holy Spirit was with and upon Peter as he preached. The Holy Spirit anointed his preaching to the extent that three thousand people believed and were baptized.

The fact of this empowerment lies not only in the impressive result, however, but in how Peter preached. Peter preached in such a way that could be described as being “up front & personal,” in fact, very personal! In fact, you might even say Peter was meddling!

In referring to Jesus, and then pointedly to his hearers, Peter preached: “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing Him to the cross.” Yes, there’s the sovereign purpose and planning of God for our redemption. But then Peter gets “personal” by bringing up human responsibility, in particular … theirs! For after all, they were the ones who had shouted out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” They had asked the Romans to crucify Jesus.

Peter went on in such a way that they were most definitely not put at ease. No, they were “cut to the heart,” and when they asked Peter what they were to do, he began by saying “Repent …!” He wanted to see a change of mind and heart, and not only a change in attitude, but a change in action as well!

Quite frankly, not every preacher is willing to go this far in preaching. Some preachers are very willing to comfort the afflicted and those facing trials. But when it comes to the necessary pruning and inward and outward change that must accompany the Christian life, some preachers are not so inclined. They are inclined to state only that “God loves you and has a perfect plan for your life,” but then to leave it at that.

Faithful preaching will certainly include comfort and consolation. But it will not be faithful preaching unless it also calls forth a transformation of life that quite honestly can be painful at times – painful but necessary; necessary for the health of the Christian and for the Body of Christ.

Phillips Brooks understood this very well. Brooks was an Episcopal pastor who served first in Philadelphia, and then at Trinity Church in Boston from 1869-1891. You may not be familiar with his ministry, but you are with his composition. He is the author of the Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

Brooks was also quite a preacher. He was called “the Prince of the Pulpit” in his day, with his preaching being forceful and eloquent at the same time. His evangelical ministry helped considerably in stemming the tide of the Unitarian movement in New England at the time.

When given the honor of presenting lectures on preaching to seminary students at Yale Divinity School, he had this to say, in part:

Courage is the indispensable requisite of any true ministry … If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. Go and make shoes to fit them. Go even and paint pictures which you know are bad but which suit their bad taste. But do not keep on all your life preaching sermons which shall say not what God sent you to declare, but what they hire you to say. Be courageous. Be independent. [vi]

For preachers, there will always be the temptation to “say not what God sent you to declare.” But to succumb to this temptation, such preaching would no longer be the kind of preaching God desires. It would not be courageous, nor would it be faithful.

What then makes for a good sermon? I believe we need only turn to Peter’s sermon given on the day of Pentecost to find the answer. May God grant that from this pulpit, and from every pulpit, that there will be faithful preaching: biblically grounded, Christ centered, Holy Spirit empowered, and courageously presented. May it be so!