The Heart of a Sermon

   For you preachers out there, along with you sermon enthusiasts: A sermon is a delicate arrangement as an art and a science.  With “art” being one key component, any given sermon will appeal to some but not others, just as certain types of music appeal to some but not others.  All people are unique, and all people have different tastes.  And each preacher has a unique personality and unique interests, presenting information and giving illustrations in a personal way.

   “Personal” is key here.  Why?  Jesus was personal.  Jesus, being fully God, became fully human in order to minister to us people on our level.  When you, as a man or woman saved by Jesus and gifted to preach, carry out the craft of creating a sermon to be presented to willing listeners, be personable as Christ was personable.  As a human saved by Jesus, you are a new creation in Christ, but you were once in the darkness as many are now.  Remember that point in humility, and you will get the attention of folks who are not Christians.  We are saved because Christ bore our sins because He loves everyone!  That is a message a person may only hear from you.  Regarding your fellow followers of Jesus who listen to your preaching, your faith in Jesus in the midst of the countless challenges and struggles in this fallen messed up world will shine through.

   The “science” is the fact a sermon needs to give a message from the Bible.  Jesus preached personally, yet He also preached with authority as the Messiah.  A person giving a hermeneutical message of the Bible is a person is giving a message from God.  Failure to do so results in a person giving his or her own message, which is done every day in countless venues outside of Christian preaching.  Jesus said, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations” (Mark 13:10).  That gospel comes from the revelations of God given in the inspired Scripture.

   You are a creative herald, and relying on the help of the Holy Spirit to be personable, and relying on the authority of Scripture to offer God’s messages, you will bear fruit as a person who is talking to people as one of them.

   And what is at the root of both the art and the science of preaching: the heart.  As a successful preacher, D. Stuart Brisco wrote: “Thankfully, I learned a big lesson early.  A preacher’s motives matter more than a preacher’s methods.” (1)

   I encourage you fellow preachers to allow God to keep improving your heart for great preaching.  And my next piece will address another point for successful preaching, so your loving heart will be heard.

Hunter Irvine

(1)  D. Stuart Briscoe, Fresh Air in the Pulpit

(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 72.

Why does God allow so much suffering?

   As a student at Virginia Tech in the 1980’s, I served as a Resident Advisor.  At the end of my junior year after students had vacated their dorm rooms, I had to do room inspection to make sure each room was in good order.  In one room, a former resident had left a small wooden plaque on the wall.  Pictured was a small country church nestled in a low rolling mountain valley.  The church was bright, whereas the landscape was dark, and the sky was filled with dark clouds.  A rainbow, obviously imposed, arched from the sky right down on the church.  And a statement was written to the side, speaking of the light in the darkness.

   As someone who was not a Christian, yet who in a gentle way was seeking God, I was touched by the plaque.  I felt it was God speaking to me in some soft way.

   About a year after graduating from Virginia Tech, I gave my heart to Jesus.  And jumping ahead all these years, every year on this day there is some pain in my spiritual heart.  Today is the 14th memorial of when 32 students were murdered at Virginia Tech.  I prayed for the families this morning before I even got out of bed.  Fourteen years later, families and friends surely still have some pain in their hearts.

   So my question, “Why does God allow so much suffering?”  I do not know.  What I do know is the Bible reveals why there is suffering, which is because of the separation between God and people, a separation which is due to the disobedience of the first two people.  And not only did it result in suffering, but it resulted in eventual physical and spiritual death for all people.

   Yet the Bible also reveals there can be a uniting with God which results in everlasting life.  That is because Jesus, God the Son, came into this world to be the atoning sacrifice for the penalty of sins.  The consequence of sins is physical and spiritual death.  Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute.  And then Jesus was resurrected.  If any person believes in Jesus as her or his Savior and Lord, she or he has eternal life.

   Having followed Jesus for 31 years, I recognize more and more the “darkness” which results from going against the will of God.  I also have learned the hard way a random church is not a light in the darkness.  The light in the darkness is Jesus.  “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).  And people who are genuine followers of Jesus, though we still have our flaws, are enabled to be little lights in this world with the joy and peace which we have gained from Jesus.

   If you are not a follower of Jesus, I invite you to believe in Jesus.  Believing is how you receive His love and are united with Him.  You will still suffer in this world.  Yet you will have eternal life with Jesus!

   Jesus loves you!

Hunter Irvine