The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: Contemporary Preaching

Bad Preaching:

Contrary to popular opinion, bad preaching isn’t when the preacher reads his sermon, mumbles or bores his audience. That is merely bad delivery. No, bad preaching is preaching that does not rightly proclaim God’s Word of Law and God’s Word of Gospel to sinners. Here are some all–too–familiar examples:

1. The Gospel–Afterthought Sermon. Also known as The Gospel– Footnote Sermon

• This is the minimalist approach to preaching the Gospel. The sermon itself can be about anything. But whatever the sermon is really about, the message of Christ crucified gets tacked on at the end, with no connection to anything else that has been said. The Gospel gets the final word, but only barely. Just don’t blink; you might miss it.

2. The Gospel–Law Sermon.

• The Gospel is preached first, then the Law. This is like putting the answer before the question. This kind of preaching either turns the Gospel into a license to sin, or portrays the salvation as dependent on obedience to the law.

3. The Gospel–Sandwich Sermon.

• This kind of sermon has a three–part outline: Law, Gospel, Law—a slice of Gospel between two slices of Law. The Gospel Sandwich is also a favorite among pastors who just don’t trust the Gospel to motivate and produce good works in believers. So, after they have preached Law and Gospel, they return to the Law once again for a list of do’s and don’ts.

Worse Preaching:

Today’s preachers are finding new ways NOT to preach the Gospel. There are some sermons that are worse than bad. While even a bad sermon contains the bare elements of the Gospel, these sermons have no Gospel at all.

1. The Golawspel Sermon.

• This is a classic example of confusing Law and Gospel, so that neither is clearly preached. Golawspel preaching neither wounds nor heals, neither kills nor makes alive, neither accuses nor absolves.

2. The Gospel–Assumption Sermon.

• In this kind of sermon, the preacher almost preaches the Gospel. He might refer to Jesus as Savior; he might talk about God’s love, forgiveness, and mercy.

3. The God–Loves–You–Anyway Sermon.

• Pioneered by Robert Schuller and perfected by Joel Osteen, this kind of sermon presents what I have called “a gospel without sin.” In this kind of sermon, your problem is not sin, it is failing to reach your potential. But don’t worry, be happy,and keep trying, God loves you anyway.

4. The Little–Engine–That–Could Sermon.

• In this kind of sermon the preacher talks a lot about how hard your life is. Stress, not sin, is your problem. Instead of Jesus on the cross to save you, the preacher proclaims Jesus in your heart to empower and encourage you to keep trying.

5. The Sinners–Someplace–Else Sermon.

• The preacher proclaims the Law, but not to his audience. He preaches against the sins of sinners someplace else: politicians, homosexuals, abortionists, secular humanists, Hollywood, and all the other sinners “out there.” Everyone goes home secure, thanking God they aren’t like other men—but not justified.

6. The “Life–Application” Sermon.

• This is the classic example of preaching the Christian instead of the Christ. Promoted by Rick Warren and others, these sermons are by far the most common kind of worse preaching. In this case, the preacher is convinced that the ultimate goal of preaching is to teach people how to LIVE. In the “Life–Application” sermon, Jesus becomes just anotherparadigm for you to live by.

Not Christian Preaching at All:

There are sermons being preached from Christian pulpits that cannot be called Christian in any sense of the word; they can hardly he called sermons. They have neither Law nor Gospel, neither sin nor grace. They fall into the category of what the Bible calls “smooth talk and flattery,” “empty words,” “godless chatter” and “hollow philosophy.”

1. Three Stories and a Moral.

• This kind of preaching usually happens when the preacher decides to “wing it.” He consults no biblical text. Perhaps he talks about a story in the news, recalls an incident from his childhood, and uses a time– tested sermon illustration. He wraps it all up by saying, “I think there’s something we can all learn from this.” No Law, no Gospel. In fact, not much of anything.

2. Things That Make You Go, Hmmm…

• The preacher’s goal here is “to make people think.” He has forgotten that the goal of Christian preaching is to call sinners to repent and to believe in Jesus. The sermon is designed to make the audience feel as though the preacher has said something profound. People leave deep in thought, and still deep in their sin.

3. Informed and Uninformed Opinions.

• The preacher decides to preach a “topical” sermon. He chooses his topic: history, politics, social policy, the war, or any other subject. The audience leaves knowing exactly what the preacher thinks, nothing more. 

4. Random Thoughts. Also known as Points without a Point or simply Vamping.

• Here the preacher has nothing on his mind. As the mind of the preacher wanders, so does his sermon. The listener checks his watch until it is over, then goes home to watch football. The whole incident is quickly forgotten.

Excerpt from A Listener’s Guide to the Pulpit by Todd Wilken. Definitely worth a whole read!