Today’s Reading, Acts 18-20
Focal Scripture: Acts 18:5 “When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.”
Do you critique the messages that you listen to at church and from other pastors? If you do not, I highly encourage you to do so immediately. I need to be clear about what I am referring to in this context. Critiquing the message is not based off of personal opinions. It is also not rooted in being mean or hyper critical. The purpose is to have a standard of biblical preaching. This standard can’t change no matter the context or the setting. Biblical preaching serves two main goals and that is to build up the church and point people to Jesus.
In today’s reading we clearly see the standard that Paul had when it comes to preaching. The text tells us that when he got some help in his ministry context he devoted himself to preaching the word and telling the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. Paul understood that the message he was to proclaim was already given. His job was to explain that message so people could understand what the Torah was teaching. Paul was also passionate about pointing people to Jesus and making sure they knew he was the savior of the world.
So what does this topic have to do with the person sitting in a pew listening to messages? Too often I have come across professing believers who are unable to articulate what biblical preaching looks like. I have also come across people who listen to preachers who never explain or dive into scripture. So how can the average person critique a message? Here are a few tips that every sermon and message should be filtered through.
- Was the word of God opened and read?
- Did they explain the context the verse or passage was being read from?
- Were the verses explained and preached or did they tell stories the entire time?
- Was the text tied back to Jesus and how he is the one who changes lives?
I know this list seems obvious but when you critique sermons you find out quickly that many are a platform for the preacher not God. I witnessed one sermon where I was walking a group of teenagers through this quick guide. They realized quickly how the message was about the preachers personal stories and pet peeves instead of the text and Jesus. They asked the right question after realizing what happened they said “How can lives be changed when God is not the center of a message?”
That is a very good question. So what about you? When you preach do you stay on point and keep the text the main thing? When you listen to a sermon do you have a standard that can be fair and applicable to any message you hear? I challenge you to have a high standard for preaching. It matters more than you know. It sets the tone for a church and a community. Biblical preaching is not fancy or popular. However, it will produce true and powerful results.
Have high expectations for the word preached to yourself and others.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Acts 21-23
