Dear Pastor, Please Exegete Your Church
By Trevin Wax on Feb 17, 2009 in Preaching | 
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I never remember a time when I did not devote considerable effort to achieving good grades in school. In fact, until a few years ago, I always thought good grades were the primary goal of education.
So you can imagine how surprised I was to hear a seminary professor make this statement to the class before an exam: “For some of you, it will be a sin if you do not receive an A in this class. Your talents, giftings, and circumstances will be wasted if you do not do your best and earn an A. For others of you, it will be a sin if you do receive an A, as you will have chosen to sacrifice important things (like family) for a good GPA.”
For those of us who see good grades as something “good” in and of themselves, the professor’s point serves as a helpful corrective.
But I wonder if his point might also apply to preaching. Some of us measure good preaching by the time we spent in preparation. But what if preparing sermons that would receive an “A” in preaching class sometimes cost us in terms of long-term effectiveness in our local congregations?
I believe Scripture views preaching as the central purpose of those who shepherd God’s church. But “primary” does not mean “only.” Pastors have a variety of biblical responsibilities. Neglect of other pastoral duties can lead to a lackluster pulpit presence – no matter how well the pastor may understand the text he is preaching.
Many well-known pastors emphasize the many hours they spend every week in sermon preparation. Perhaps this practice is possible for pastors of larger churches who have considerable help in fulfilling other pastoral duties.
But I am concerned about the pressure this emphasis puts upon pastors of smaller churches. What happens to the small-church pastor devoted to faithful exposition who, out of a sincere desire to emulate a favorite preacher, takes this emphasis on biblical exegesis to an extreme? Can extensive sermon preparation ever shortchange a preacher and his church?
It depends on how we define “sermon prep.” If our idea of sermon preparation is a pastor locked up in his study with Greek books and Bible commentaries, then the answer is yes: this type of preparation may indeed keep pastors from fulfilling other important duties.
But true sermon preparation does not end when the pastor has successfully exegeted the text. True sermon preparation includes the efforts of faithful pastors to exegete their churches too.
Church exegesis has been going on since the New Testament times. The Apostle Paul did not write a series of letters to “the Church” in general. He knew the problems in Corinth, Galatia, and Thessalonica. So based upon the written revelation of God in the Old Testament Scriptures and the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Living Word, Paul wrote particular letters to particular churches. Why should our messages be any different?
Sermon preparation does not end with good exegesis of the Bible; it always includes good exegesis of the local congregation. The preacher who can parse Greek verbs must also be able to discern the imperatives and indicatives his own people are living by.
Great preachers not only know how to preach a particular text; they know how to preach a particular text to a particular people.
And that brings us to the practical side of sermon preparation. In order to faithfully exegete our church, we must know our people. The church is not a preaching station where individual Christians show up once a week to hear great oratory. The church is a community of believers who live together under the lordship of Christ. The preacher’s role in this community is to know the Scriptures and his people well enough to discern (through the power of the Holy Spirit) how best to exhort them faithfully and biblically.
If our enthusiasm for ”good preaching” keeps us constantly isolated from our congregation in sermon preparation, we might be shortchanging God’s people. If we are to preach effectively, we must spend time with our people, understanding how best to use the Word to train them, rebuke them, correct them, and comfort them.
Biblical exegesis and church exegesis go hand in hand.
Whenever we study the text, the faces of our people who need a word from God should be leaping from the pages.
Whenever we are in situations that necessitate pastoral counseling and comfort, the Word of God should be flowing from our hearts to our lips.
God, give us pastors who love the Word and love their people…
who know the Word and know their people…
who live in the Word and live among their people.
written by Trevin Wax © 2009 Kingdom People blog
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Let me quote Tim Keller from else where:
“3. How long (on average) does it take you to prepare a sermon?
I pastor a large church and have a large staff and so I give special prominence to preparing the sermon. I give it 15-20 hours a week. I would not advise younger ministers to spend so much time, however. The main way to become a good preacher is to preach a lot, and to spend tons of time in people work–that is how you grow from becoming not just a Bible commentator but a flesh and blood preacher. When I was a pastor without a large staff I put in 6-8 hours on a sermon.”
Tim Keller @Unashamed Worman
This is really helpful. Good sermons are written by people who connect with their listeners.
Questions is does this apply to blogging too?
Tim Wilson | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
Trevin,
I think “balance” is the issue here. My former Senior Pastor, a man I have great respect for and who is an outstanding teacher, once told me that he purposefully limits the time that he spends on church stuff (sermon prep, counseling, visitation, etc.) so that he can ensure that the main things stayed the main things. He defined these “main things” as personal time in prayer, family/free time, and moderate exercise. It is so easy to live on the extremes in all areas of life. IMO balance is the real need.
Grace and Peace.
Charlie | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
Trevin, excellent post. I think you have touched on the differences between being a good preacher and being a good pastor. They are really two different things. I think good pastors are usually good preachers, but often good preachers are not good pastors.
Jimmy Fine | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
Excellent post. I spent six years in a smaller, rural church and have to confess that I regret not doing a better job of this myself. Now that I’m in associate role in a bigger church I’m seeing that the basic concept and principle still applies.
Curt | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
In my opinion, the greater problem today is pastors who do not prepare their messages, but rather download them off the internet and preach other preachers’ material. This has become very common, especially with Rick Warren and others encouraging them to do it. The pastor who spends too much time in sermon preparation is, in my experience, extremely rare. That said, I also think that for the average Joe like me, it is not possible to prepare a true expository sermon of any length (30-35 minutes) in 6-8 hours like Tim Keller. He probably is truly exceptional in the Greek and Hebrew, and he probably has a terrific method of finding and keeping illustrations for future reference. I think the old “rule of thumb” of 1/2 hour of prep for every minute in the pulpit is probably about right for the average preacher who is both grappling with the text and trying to say it and illustrate it well. May God help us know his word, preach it clearly, love our people and pray for them. Thanks for your blog, Trevin.
Dana | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
The comments about knowing your people are right on. How can you share someone’s burden if you don’t know them or it? Excellent post!
Kevin | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
While I agree, as a pastor of a small congregation that has two services a Sunday most of my week is taken up preparing and writing sermons. Maybe some people can write a sermon is 6-8 hours, I cannot. It takes me that long to get the text to sink into me. At that point I would not be ready to preach it. I would like it if it were different, but the shortest it takes me to get a sermon to the point of actually typing things out is 10 hours. That means for two sermons a week 20 hours minimum are filled with in the study working on sermons. Usually it is longer. I sort of doubt I am alone in this. All this means that with everything else that is part of pastoring, my week is quite long. Hence I guard my day off quite strictly.
I guess my question is where does a plurality of elders fit into this? The longer I am in ministry, the more I am convinced that pastoral ministry cannot be effectively done in a congregation, much less a small one, without a plurality of elders who actually do the task God has called them to.
Jim Vellenga | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
Trevin, a great word! My associate pastor reminded me a few months ago of the necessity of being sensitive to my congregation as well as to God’s Word.
craig2381 | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
Jim (#7),
I hear what you are saying, but some of the best sermon prep can occur while driving to the hospital, a lunch meeting with a man in the church, etc. Preparing “on the go,” while not replacing time in the study, sure can allow that text to “sink in.” Some of my best reflection upon a text is while I’m on the go (and in the shower).
Also, if you have a plurality of elders would you allow them an opportunity to preach? Just curious.
Trevin,
Great post. I think you are so right on this. By the way, was that seminary professor Dr. David Pluckett?
Scott Eaton | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
Reformed pastoral theology emphasized visitation – up to 50 pastoral visits per week in Scottish parishes – to learn to “know the Congregation” and know how to best communicate the word. As you suggest Trevin, we have often emulated “Reformed Preaching” but abstracted it from Reformed pastoral methodology. May God help us be faithful to deliver the word publicly and from house to house (Acts 20:20)
Reformatus | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
Reformatus that sounds an excellent idea!
Tim Wilson | Feb 19, 2009 | Reply
This was a very helpful post Trevin.
Danny Slavich | Feb 19, 2009 | Reply