Now that the Super Bowl is over, the boys of summer are warming up. I grew up playing football and baseball, but I don’t follow sports these days. You don’t have to be a baseball fan to know what it means to hit a home run. We use that term to describe any tremendous accomplishment, something that checks all the boxes and puts points on the board.
Everyone wants to hit a home run when they approach the plate. We want to run a victory lap around the bases while our team awaits us with high fives. We want the approval of the coaching staff and the applause of our fans. Regardless of the arena of life, we long to succeed in our God-given task and be an asset to the team. We want to deliver in dramatic fashion.
As a pastor who spent 14 years in the same pulpit, I will admit I haven’t preached many “home run sermons.” Honestly, I have many less-than-stellar sermons to my name. These messages often seemed powerful and profound in the study, but only puffed and puttered before the saints. I could fill this entire paper with speculation about why sermons flop from time to time, but I don’t think it would prevent the preacher from preaching them. They happen.
Nevertheless, let’s look briefly at a few key reasons why sermons sometimes stink. The number one reason is poor sermon preparation. You will never have a great garden without plowing, planting, weeding, and watering. A great message from God requires you to spend time with God. Then the preacher must ascertain a working knowledge of His Word and make it applicable.
The second big blunder in delivering a flat sermon is overconfidence or self-confidence. When the preacher relies on his own wit and wisdom to feed his flock, the sheep go hungry. A message built on human ability alone will never be of any spiritual benefit. There must be a dependence on God in every great message.
There is another common reason for an ineffective sermon. This one has nothing to do with the preacher; it’s a problem in the pew. I liken it to preaching uphill when the people have no interest in hearing from the Lord. It is very difficult to preach and plead with a church who doesn’t want to be there. Add in a critical spirit, and it’s much worse.
For the sake of this article, let’s pretend the pastor has drawn close to the Lord and studied his text thoroughly. He has thoroughly prepared himself and his message. He is trusting solely in the power of God to give his efforts life. He has pleaded with God to make the message food for the sheep and a lifeline to the lost.
Now imagine the church where each believer has been in private intercession with the Lord to empower the day’s service. They have assembled with the hopes of hearing from their Lord and Savior today. Their thoughts are focused on worship and fellowship around the Word of God.
Would the God of Heaven withhold this church from hearing from Him today? Would He send them a weak, watered-down, self-help devotional geared toward worldly achievements? How could He turn a deaf ear to the pleas and preparations of a humble preacher and hungry people? He couldn’t, and He wouldn’t ignore their cry!
The reason I have failed to preach a home run sermon and even strike out sometimes is because I am a flawed human. I fail to do the work required to produce a real message from God. I get distracted by the cares of this world. Often, I get comfortable with a routine and simply go through the motions.
Sometimes personal ministry eats my study time. A pastor can be so overwhelmed with his shepherding ministry that he doesn’t have the time to prepare a sermon as he should. His enemy is not always laziness; it can be busyness, too.
The church can fall victim to the same errors as the pastor. The biggest danger is when we settle for less, and average becomes our aim. We no longer hope for a home run because we haven’t seen one in a while. The church who has grown comfortable with the scoreboard needs a home run the most.
You may say, “We will never hit a home run every time.” You are not wrong, but I bet we can certainly get our batting average up. We can be more productive every time we go to bat by removing the hindrances that cause us to miss. Batting practice for the church is not accomplished by preaching practice, but by practicing what we preach.
If a church and her pastor desire to see more runs batted in — or should I say sinners brought to Christ — we need to swing the bats like never before. We are in the latter innings, and I don’t know how many more at-bats I’ll have.
The writer may never hit another home run from the pulpit. But maybe I can stay at bat long enough to make the Devil go to the bullpen for another pitcher. Ok, I’m running out of baseball references here; allow me one final exhortation.
Not every church, and not every preacher, is known for their home-run abilities. We are known simply as players on the Lord’s team. The Holy Spirit is our coach, Jesus Christ is our owner, and the Bible is our playbook.
In light of these facts, let us lace up our cleats and take the field with confidence, knowing our team’s rich history. Let us train our minds and bodies for the privileged positions we play. When God calls us to the plate, let us anticipate a home run. If we follow His playbook and listen to our Coach, how could we strikeout wearing the jersey of our Owner? Swing for the fences, church!
