Having heard the word read, sung, and prayed, it is now time for the word of God to be preached in the sermon. But what is preaching? And where does it come from? Who is a preacher? And what is his task?
I.
On the one hand preaching is given by the example of Christ who began his earthly ministry by “preaching the gospel of God” saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel!” (Mk 1:15). Jesus’ ministry continues to be defined by his publicly proclaiming the word of God and teaching the people from it, either in the synagogue, from the shore, or on mountain tops. In fact, Jesus says to Peter that his primary purpose in ministry is to preach (Mk 1:38). But on the other hand, and perhaps most importantly, preaching is given by the express mandate of Christ to his Apostles when he says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them… and teaching them…” (Mt 28:19) and again, “repentance and forgiveness should be preached in my name to all nations… You are witnesses of these things” (Lk 24:47-48). This charge to preach is reiterated by the Apostle Paul to Timothy, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead… preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tm 4:1-2). The inverse of this apostolic command is the prohibition of certain persons from the preaching office, such as those who are new converts, easily angered, drunkards, unable to govern their household, polygamist, and women (1 Tim 2:10; 3:1-7, 8-13; Ti 1:5-9; 1 Co 14:34-35). Of the sermon, Paul says elsewhere, “it pleased God through the folly of a sermon to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Co 1:21-24).
From these passages we can deduce that preaching comes both by the example and mandate of Christ to his chosen apostles, that it is a proclamation of God’s two words of command and promise or Law and Gospel, for the purpose of working repentance and faith. As a proclamation of the word of God, it carries the full power of the very word of God which is living and active (Hb 4:12), which creates out of nothing (Ps 33:6, 9), which kills, brings low, and humbles (1 Sm 1:6-8), which quickens, exalts, and glorifies (Rm 4:17; 8:30), which instructs, encourages, and gives hope (Rm 15:3), which reproves, corrects, and trains in righteousness (2 Tm 3:16), and which finally saves (1 Pt 1:23). This clear biblical understanding of preaching clears up the common misconceptions about preaching both by pastors and laypeople that preaching is chiefly or merely for intellectual stimulation, moral formation, or therapeutic persuasion. Rather, as our Augsburg Confession says, it is “so that we may obtain such justifying faith, God instituted the office of preaching, giving the Gospel and the Sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the Gospel, which teaches that we have a gracious God, not through our merit but through Christ’s merit, when we so believe” (AC V. 1-3).
C. F. W. Walther writes in his Pastoral Theology that a sermon should meet seven chief requirements: 1) a sermon ought to contain only the word of God, pure and unadulterated, 2) it ought to rightly apply God’s words of Law and Gospel, 3) it ought to proclaim the whole counsel of God, 4) it ought to correspond to the needs of the hearers, 5) it ought to be contemporary to the time of its preaching, 6) it ought to be well structured, and finally 7) it ought not be overly long. By maintaining these disciplines Walther hoped to encourage sermons that are good according to the measure of the bible, not merely popular opinion or the tastes of the people.
II.
With a biblical and theological foreground of the sermon in place, we can move to the historical background of preaching. The exposition of God’s word through public preaching can be found in both the Old Testament (Ne 8:8) and the New Testament (Lk 4:17-21). In the early church, it is evident that the pattern of reading and expositing the scriptures is well established (1 Co 14). The testimony of the early church fathers through the collections of sermons that have been handed down to us (ANF/NF/PNF: Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, etc) is that preaching was very regular and followed the reading of the Lessons. It also appears that it was not unusual to have multiple preachers and multiple sermons within the same Divine Service according to the Apostolic Constitutions (2.57.5-9). During the Middle Ages preaching became more and more infrequent and was only given to those of a preaching order (Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinian Friars, etc.). If a priest didn’t belong to one of these preaching orders he would need to apply for a preaching license above and beyond his license to preside over the mass. But as such, preaching became highly limited and extremely scarce.
Because of this, one of the primary goals of the Reformation was a reformation in preaching, to restore the reading and preaching of God’s word to God’s people so that they were instructed in the chief things of the faith. In this spirit Luther goes so far as to say that Christians ought not gather at all unless there is preaching and exposition on the word of God (AE 53:11). To aid in this task Luther composed a collection of stock sermons for all the Sundays of the church year, both on the Epistle and the Gospel lessons, that pastors could use so that they could learn how to preach well and so the people could hear good sermons. These sermon collections or Postils have endured to this day for use in the church for public worship (Kirchenpostille) and the home for private devotion (Hauspostille). In the earliest days of Lutheranism in America because of an overwhelming scarcity of pastors many churches relied on Luther’s Postils for the purpose of hearing God’s word preached in the Divine Service. In this way, though lacking an ordinary pastor, Luther became their pastor in their time of need.
Under the dual influence of Pietism and Rationalism from the 17th to 19th centuries, the use of a lectionary declined and with it biblical preaching. Biblical sermons based on the lectionary were superseded by topical sermons on morals, politics, and practical life. However, this decay found the beginning of its remedy in the liturgical renewal of the 20th century which brought with it a concern for more historic liturgical forms and practices including lectionaries and lectionary based preaching.
III.
In the Missouri Synod, the standard practice that is encouraged today for the Sunday service is to preach from the lectionary, especially on the Gospel text. Typical sermons range from 10-25 minutes in length with varying rhetorical structures and styles (deductive, inductive, homiletical plot, etc.). The sermon is preached from the pulpit, practically so that people can see and hear the preacher, but theologically so that the preacher is subordinated to his office, not acting as a free individual, but a man in the office bound to God’s will and word. For my own part, I preach 10-12 minute inductive Law and Gospel sermons on the Gospel text from the pulpit in full vestments. I don’t discuss politics from the pulpit and I never will, nor will I ever say how or who I vote for. I also don’t make use of personal anecdotes or family stories often if ever, in part because want to protect and honor the reputation of my wife and daughter, in part because I don’t have very many stories, and in part because my stage in life is very different from the stage in life of the congregation and isn’t very relatable in many ways. Though I’ve been preaching for a number of years I’m always striving to improve my preaching skills.
For midweek services when there is no appointed text, preachers have the freedom to preach on the Old Testament, the Epistles, the Psalms, the chief parts of the catechism, a topic/theme of interest, or even the text of a hymn. With varying degrees of success, for Advent and Lent I’ve preached on the penitential psalms, the petitions of the Lord’s prayer, the Old Testament lessons for the Sunday upcoming, the three articles of the Apostles’ Creed, and the lives of the saints. Apart from Advent and Lent, another occasion for midweek services/preaching would be the days of Ember. These occur four times a year on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in the weeks following St. Lucy (Winter), the First Sunday of Lent (Spring), Pentecost (Summer), and Holy Cross (Fall). Most of Luther’s sermons on the Catechism from which the Large and Small Catechism arose were preached on the days of Ember. In 2025 the days of Ember will be March 12, 14, and 15, June 11, 13, and 14, September 17, 19, and 20, and December 17, 19, and 20. The days of Ember have served the church to mark the change of the seasons and to observe a time of fasting, prayer, and meditation.
Rev. Philip D. Bartelt
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
Eve of the Epiphany of Our Lord, 2024
