Figuring Out What to Preach and When

How Ministers Consider the Text For Morning and Evening Worship

Good Morning,

Of all the questions I receive at times as a pastor the one that gets brought up more than any other is: how do I plan, or know, what to preach on every Sunday. In other words what goes into making a decision on the text of the Bible that is proclaimed in both the morning and the evening. We’ll talk some more about the differences (and similarities) between the morning worship service and the evening at a later time, but obviously in both cases my call is to teach the whole counsel of God found in the whole word of God. For todays look at the Westminster Directory we will be hearing how our forefathers in the faith were told to do that.

I must say that not much, at least in my preparation, has changed, outside of my asking the elders, and the congregation at times what would be the most fitting or what it is they are desiring to hear about for the blessing of their own soul. Sometimes of course it’s not that spiritual, to be honest. There are moments fancy strikes in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that’s what is taken up. As we are breaking this section into two let’s go ahead and read the first portion:

Ordinarily, the subject of his sermon is to be some text of scripture, holding forth some principle or head of religion, or suitable to some special occasion emergent; or he may go on in some chapter, psalm, or book of the holy scripture, as he shall see fit.

Let the introduction to his text be brief and perspicuous, drawn from the text itself, or context, or some parallel place, or general sentence of scripture.

If the text be long, (as in histories or parables it sometimes must be,) let him give a brief sum of it; if short, a paraphrase thereof, if need be: in both, looking diligently to the scope of the text, and pointing at the chief heads and grounds of doctrine which he is to raise from it.

These three highlighted paragraphs provide helpful boundaries for the preacher to consider. First of all, and this seems captain obvious territory, the sermon should come from the Bible. The content being taken care of the purpose comes next. Based on providence either the moment calls for teaching a head of religion, which means something like we are doing now in the evening where I am helping us as a congregation understand more about the humanity of Jesus Christ. Those texts are not chronological, or even from the same book, but are based more out of building a case one-by-one. So far we’ve been in Hebrews for the most part, but soon we’ll be hitting Isaiah and some other prophets. However, in the morning it is far more likely, and outside of a few cases this has been the norm for my seven years here, that we take the third of the ideas presented in the opening paragraph. I take a chapter, a psalm, or a book and work through it verse-by-verse. In honesty I am not sure I have ever preached a one-off based on some event.

It is not necessary that the morning be given over to expository one after the other preaching and the evening be more for doctrinal or subject/topic-oriented sermons. That is how our Dutch brothers and sisters do it historically though. They refer to the second service as a catechetical worship time. What that means is they ordinarily follow the Heidelberg Catechism’s division into fifty-two Lord’s Days and teach through the Catechism, emphasizing different aspects of it year-by-year. There is a good case for why this kind of proclamation is effective in raising up good, strong Christians. Imbibing the doctrine of the church is a key part of creating a culture of faith that is more united in thought and deed. In Presbyterian history it is largely true that the evening service is a carbon copy of the morning service often sans offering, but otherwise fundamentally looking and sounding the same. We at Bethany on the other hand have taken a little bit different tact. Our evening service is more in the Dutch model in that we use it for doctrinal instruction along with having added public prayer time. Whatever floats your boat, but at least meet twice.

Back to preaching for a second. The other two paragraphs are more concerned with content than source. All sermons need to have an introduction. My normal pattern is to kind of combine the two notes listed. I am not a big storyteller in preaching. I usually open the sermon with a summary of where we have been and short statement on where we are going. Most contemporary teachers of preaching tell you that you need some kind of dramatic opening. Something to capture the attention of the hearer, that you are then to use at the end to tie everything together. I’m not saying one is right and the other wrong. However, one of the things we will see next week is that the Directory is interested in defending a style of preaching that is hardcore tied to the text and using the time we have in the pulpit wisely. It is interesting to me that often people will remember the story or the quip, but not the message they were meant to convey. It can be the case that the introduction then overwhelms what the preacher is actually there to do, which is teach God’s word and call men to repentance and faith. We can sow confusion in what the sermon is actually for in the plan of the Lord when we make it more about oratory than action.

In closing, the reason why the Westminster divines felt the need to include a section on preaching in their document on worship is not just because in Protestantism it is the high point of the gathering (not the table, like some would like to make it), but because doing it well and rightly can make all the difference in the world. Entire countries have been changed by preaching, just ask Columba and Scotland, or Jonah and Nineveh. If we are just interested in a good time and maybe a little emotional uplift from the pulpit each week the point is being lost. We can get that anywhere. There are lots of people gifted with public speaking, but there are few called by the Holy Spirit to be God’s ambassadors of truth. Picking texts and organizing a sermon are a vital part of encouraging the saints, building them up in faith, and doing the work of discipleship. As we look at the rest of this section in a couple of weeks, we’ll see that even more clearly.

Another word:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-should-i-preach-next/

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church