Interesting is not the aim of the pulpit

Hopefully, when I come away from hearing a sermon, I don’t have either of the following reactions…

That was interesting.

That was clever.

Neither of these should be my lingering reaction.

Why?

Because I shouldn’t, primarily, be academically impressed by what was shared from the pulpit on a Sunday.

Of course, everything should hold up to academic scrutiny, but I shouldn’t feel like I’ve just heard an impressive university lecture.

A sermon should encourage.

A sermon should convict.

A sermon should be faithful to the biblical text.

Most of all, a sermon should point someone towards Jesus.

What it need not be is an intellectual spectacle or an intriguing thought experiment.