As I wrote earlier, preaching is an interesting experience (as is listening to preaching). One of the most challenging questions for preachers is to consider the people to whom he will speak. There is a great noise in the land today that preachers ought to target "felt needs" of the congregation. We are told that the most important thing is for us to determine what their "felt needs" are and to draft a sermon aimed at those needs.
The trouble, of course, is that this assumes we have knowledge we do not have, which is that everyone has the same problems. Every time I stand to preach, I know that I am confronted by a vast assemblage of problems of all kinds. Assuming a small congregation (100 or so adults), I can be almost sure of the following:
Someone in that congregation is deeply troubled by sin in their life, including sin they never hear anyone discuss.
Someone in that congregation had a fight in their household this morning.
Someone is sitting next to a husband or wife they, right now, wish they had not married.
Someone is in deep financial trouble.
Someone is about to lose a job and they know it.
Someone has cancer or has a loved one with cancer.
Someone has had an affair outside of marriage.
Someone's teenager is falling in with a bad crowd.
Someone's doctor is doing tests to figure out what is wrong with him.
Someone needs some theological support.
Someone is struggling with online issues like pornography or illicit relationships.
Someone is hiding something and is deeply afraid they will be found out.
To whom am I to preach? If the "felt needs" people are right, who gets left out?
I think that, long ago, Charles Spurgeon had it right when he advised preachers not to try to guess what people want to hear or need to hear. As he noted, we cannot actually know what is happening in all their lives and, if we did, we would not know what to say.
Instead, preach the truth. Preach it all the time. Do not let your fears or beliefs qualify the truth or weaken it. Preach with love, because God commands love and people need to be loved. Preach with conviction, because we are convinced that God is true and people need to hear conviction. Preach with hope, because God is our hope and people need to have hope.
The trouble, of course, is that this assumes we have knowledge we do not have, which is that everyone has the same problems. Every time I stand to preach, I know that I am confronted by a vast assemblage of problems of all kinds. Assuming a small congregation (100 or so adults), I can be almost sure of the following:
Someone in that congregation is deeply troubled by sin in their life, including sin they never hear anyone discuss.
Someone in that congregation had a fight in their household this morning.
Someone is sitting next to a husband or wife they, right now, wish they had not married.
Someone is in deep financial trouble.
Someone is about to lose a job and they know it.
Someone has cancer or has a loved one with cancer.
Someone has had an affair outside of marriage.
Someone's teenager is falling in with a bad crowd.
Someone's doctor is doing tests to figure out what is wrong with him.
Someone needs some theological support.
Someone is struggling with online issues like pornography or illicit relationships.
Someone is hiding something and is deeply afraid they will be found out.
To whom am I to preach? If the "felt needs" people are right, who gets left out?
I think that, long ago, Charles Spurgeon had it right when he advised preachers not to try to guess what people want to hear or need to hear. As he noted, we cannot actually know what is happening in all their lives and, if we did, we would not know what to say.
Instead, preach the truth. Preach it all the time. Do not let your fears or beliefs qualify the truth or weaken it. Preach with love, because God commands love and people need to be loved. Preach with conviction, because we are convinced that God is true and people need to hear conviction. Preach with hope, because God is our hope and people need to have hope.