How to Quickly Lose Your Listeners When Sharing the Word
Dressing!
Dressing is always the front page of your character. Don't believe the lie that what you wear doesn’t matter; it actually does. Here, my point is not about immoral dressing, but I am concerned about dressing the right way, but at the wrong place. Think of it like this: a farmer who goes to milk his cows wears a pair of khakis, while a painter puts on his blue overalls. That is my point. Church people have a certain dress code they expect from their members, especially the ministers of divine Scripture. I found myself in a certain church one day, and a guest preacher was summoned to the podium when it was time for the main message. He ascended to the pulpit with a pair of jean trousers, adidas tekkie shoes and a short sleeve casual T-shit. As if that was not strange enough, his hair was deliberately uncombed and his beard intentionally allowed to grow out of proportion. I am sorry, but I got nothing from that sermon. In fact, you will not believe how offended I was by that minister who dressed like he was going to the Luna Park. Of course, he explained at the end of his message that his dressing style was because he wanted to “relate with young people” so he could win them. Still, my question remained: who said dressing like somebody will help reach that person? Isn’t the Gospel the power of God to save, regardless of who you are trying to reach? And are you going to reach young people at the expense of losing older people? Anyways, my point is that what you dress can be either a stumbling block or a sweet aroma for people to continue listening to you. Dress like a decent minister of the Gospel and you will earn yourself decent listeners.
Boasting about yourself
I don’t know who came up with the idea that preaching is about yourself, your wife and your car. It is a prideful attitude that tries to use one’s worldly achievements to prove self-importance. Christ’s sheep belong to Him; they want to hear about their Saviour when they come to church. That is why they bring their Bibles. You see, our human nature cannot be easily and sincerely happy about another person's success. Hence the moment you boast about who you are, some people start to feel looked down upon, while some compare and compete. That is how, subconsciously, they lose interest in anything else you have to say. The best thing you can do is to talk about yourself as little as possible in your message – major in who Christ is and what He has done. Who you are, what you have, places you have gone; all that adds nothing to the salvation of souls. You are not the hero of the Christian faith, Christ is.
Ungodly lifestyle
There is not much to say on this one except the obvious. That is, the power of your sermon is backed up by your godly lifestyle. Therefore, when your hearers are already aware of who you are in terms of your immoral habits, guaranteed, your messages are nothing any more than a clinging cymbal.
Long sermon
Believe me or not, I am a big advocate for long sermons. I mean, if our people can sit for 5hours inside a football stadium. If they can watch the whole movie series in one day, can they not endure a few hours with something as glorious as the Word of God? Nevertheless, a long sermon must not be long for the sake of it, but long enough to get the message across. Each preacher must have a specific message or topic just for that day. Once he has delivered that message, why should he continue any longer, lest he risks losing his audience through boredom and repetition?
Here is another example from my experience. As always, I was listening and even learning from one minister at another church. He told us that he was going to talk about faith from Hebrews 11:1. Unfortunately, he only stayed 5 minutes on the topic of faith before he wandered off into every other topic in the Bible. In fact, the whole 2 hours was an agonising shuffling from one verse to another. We heard about Noah and the flood, about Judas and the betrayal, Adam and the serpent, about Daniel and the lion’s den, Peter and the rooster...so on, so forth – all in one sermon! I can tell you that even a computer would still find it impossible to remember what the sermon was about in the first place. You see, the less orderly a sermon is, the more time it must take. I have learned that most ministers don't value sermon structure in their notes; some don't even bring notes to their pulpits. Hence the only outcome is that they are limited to preach what comes to their minds as they go. And even that is often so shallow that they have no choice but to speak longer, as they try to compensate for the shallowness, losing the entire audience in the process. Others love long sermons because they love to see themselves perform. Hence the longer they stay on the platform, the more attention they bring to themselves. So my advice: if you are really concerned about giving your people something of value, preach long enough for them to get it, then close your Bible and sit down before they start yawning.
Short sermon
The opposite end of the above is another extreme. This time, is when you grieve your audience through a very short sermonette. There are ministers who have come to believe that God's people cannot handle a good 45-minute message, instead, according to them, we must speak as short as possible, 25 minutes at max and send them home. Here is where the frustration is: God's people spend the whole week feeding from the worldly sewer. When Sunday comes, they just cannot wait to hear something different for their souls; the Lord of heaven Himself speaks! Hence they come to church with much hunger and anticipation. They bring their Bibles, take out their pens, open their hearts and rejoice in their spirits when the ministers goes to the podium. Imagine you as that minister, and you insult them with a little sermon and sit down. It shows, at least to them, that you don't value their time at all. You are about preserving yourself from the inconvenience of searching out the riches of Christ through his word – such laziness! So how long should a sermon be? Long enough to do justice to the Bible verse through reading, clear explanation, illustration and application to people’s lives.
Dear comrades, indeed, preaching is a gift, but it is also a skill that can be learned and improved on. No one can doubt the power of the message of the Cross. Yet it is our duty to be clear conduits for that power. Let us, therefore, all examine ourselves and strive to improve in our Gospel communication. Do that and you will do well. Salute.
Sinothi Ncube
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