Homiletic Question #1: So What?
One of my homiletics professors stated that one of the most important questions every preacher should ask of every sermon, is “So What?” What my homiletics professor was pushing me to do was ask the question, “What do I want the people to do with this?” Or “What difference does the sermon make?” As I have written before, Too many sermons are “Lectures” and Not “Sermons.” The people are given facts or are given an argument that a fact is true and then the sermon ends without the people knowing what to do with the information.
I have written on another blog about Eugene Lowry’s statement that a sermon is a problem placed next to the gospel. He then tells us that if we want to preach on a doctrine, like the trinity for example, we should have in mind what bind the doctrine gets us out of? What question does it answer? Asking this question will bring a depth of relevance to all of our preaching.
So before you preach that next sermon ask yourself what everyone in your congregation are asking….”So What?” If you can’t give an answer, your sermon is not ready to be preached.
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