In 1523 the German reformer Martin Luther argued that one of the most important tasks of people sitting in the pews is to judge doctrine. By that he meant that people who are the recipients of a sermon need to know what the difference between a sermon that freely gives Christ's gifts and one that offers what St. Paul called "a different gospel." The church is stronger when its people know how to spot what is and isn’t the Gospel.

 

By involving congregational members in conversations about sermons, the church's proclamation and its people's understanding of the faith can be honed. Preaching can become compelling indeed. To that end here are some categories for evaluating sermons, including some specific items to think about and preaching pitfalls to be on the lookout for.

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Delivery/Presentation

This is the general public-speaking category. Look for things you would find in a good public speaker:  speaking clearly, eye contact, speaking with authority, a steady pace, a solid stance. Note anything that might detract from the presentation: speaking too quietly or mumbling, too much reliance on the manuscript, speaking too rapidly or slowly, shifting weight, monotonous intonation, irritating mannerisms. Though it isn’t a beauty contest, a preacher’s appearance can also be important. Think about whether your preacher shows respect for the office they’re called to and to those they’re preaching to.

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Faithfulness to the Word

From the very first post-resurrection sermon that Jesus preached to Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus, Christian proclamation has always begun with the text of God’s Word. One of the hard things for people nowadays in approaching the Bible, is that they don’t know it very well. And even when people do know the biblical stories, the world we encounter in those ancient stories is vastly different from ours. In this section, please think about how your preacher connected with the Word. Consider whether the sermon you heard was driven by a specific passage of Scripture or if it cherry-picked Bible passages to support a pre-determined point. In addition, think about if your preacher helped you enter the biblical world in a way that helped you understand what was happening in it.

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Structure and rhetoric

This is the category where you are called on to draw on all your old high school and college skills in composition. You don’t need to know the difference between adverbs and propositions. Just be a good listener. Think about the logical progression of the ideas presented. Can you clearly identify the points your preacher made? Good rhetoric also pays attention to the need to speak to different audiences in ways appropriate for them. In addition, sometimes preachers don’t get rolling until a page into their manuscript or don’t know when to stop. Good preachers get right to the point and then leave you with the most important Good News to take home in your pocket for the week.

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Illustrations

One of the ways a preacher can bridge the chasm between the ancient world of a biblical passage and the world that pew-sitters live in is by using illustrations. Illustrations can come from scripture itself (see 2 Timothy 3:16 — “All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” NIV), from history, literature, and personal experience. Think about how the illustrations are connected with the Word.

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Language

From the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the Word has been present. And John refers to Jesus himself as the Word made flesh. From the formless void in Genesis to the burning bush, from the singed lips of Isaiah to Jesus’ charge to the disciples to “go and tell,” God has been present in the Word. For the church’s public proclaimers, language is thus of utmost importance. We need to get Christ’s benefits delivered without the package being damaged. Think about how your preacher used language in this sermon. Maybe there was a turn of phrase that sticks with you as particularly clever, beautiful, or vivid. Was the sermon too intellectual, casual, or slangy? Was it authentic?

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Theology

You may not realize it, but you are a theologian every day of your life, as you seek to put your experience into some sort of framework and reconcile it with what you know about our relationship with God. Now you get to put this sermon into some theological boxes and see how it fits. A helpful way to think about preaching uses the categories we find in the two ways God speaks to you: Law and Gospel.

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A strong sermon includes both Law and Gospel. It understands God’s will for us and God’s judgment on our not heeding that will. What’s more knows how life’s demands often judge us as strictly as God does. But that strong sermon won’t leave you hanging with judgment or place more demands on you. It will give you the free Gospel gift of Christ’s benefits gained for you on his cross and secured in his resurrection.

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Give it a try

If you'd like to try assessing a sermon, here's one by a member of the Project staff. Read it and click on this link to try out the same form our congregational teams and our stable of Sermon Whisperers use to provide feedback to our Preaching Fellows.