Moving Sermons

There's a long standing preacher joke about moving sermons, you know, the kind that after you preach them, you have to move.

I have done some thinking today, after sitting through twelve sermons in three hours for preaching class, about what a moving sermon is and should be. I have come to the conclusion that there are three kinds.

One, there is the kind of moving sermon where you preach that Jesus was a homosexual, or that God is a female, or that Muslims are the same as Christians. Blatantly erroneous teaching ought to precipitate a move. Duh.

Two, there is the kind of moving sermon where what is heard is not what is actually said. Sometimes people don't hear the message accurately. Oh, their ears work, but there's no connection between their interpretation of the sermon and the actual sermon itself. Sometimes these misunderstandings lead to a move. I've been there. You never actually get to explain what you actually said, or what you meant, or anything, because you never get the chance to on your way out of town. (Plus, they already know what you said, at least they say they do.)

Three, there is the kind of moving sermon where you preach a truth that is too true to be heard well. (I think my last sermon at Walnut was one of those.) Put it however you like: the pioneers get the arrows, people kill prophets, or whatever. I have noticed a tendency among humanity, myself included. If a preacher preaches a sermon that should be particularly convicting of a certain behavior in which I am engaged, my reaction is not to be humbled or convicted, but to be angry at the preacher for getting in my business. This is from Satan. Think Pharisees and Jesus, think Jeremiah, think Elijah, if you really need a biblical example. People kill prophets.

In our preaching class, we were required to preach our sermons as if to a specific congregation. I chose Walnut, it being the congregation with which I had the most familiarity. The sermon I preached tonight from Romans 3 was too true to be heard, although it was one of the less inflammatory and convicting sermons that could be preached to Walnut from Romans. My plan is to tweak it a bit to clarify a couple of points of potential misunderstanding, and then to post it here. (Can I be fired twice?) If I can get 300 hits a week by accidentally saying something, surely those who recognize the truth in the sermon can hit the forward button as vigorously as those who would do harm. If only people would be as diligent and enthusiastic about spreading the truth as they are about perpetuating discord and misinformation. We'll see, I guess. Give me a couple of days to get it ready.
Jason