Sermon "A Good Sermon"
Rev. Lonnie Richardson
Sunday, November 7, 1999
James 1:16-27
Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves." (James 1:22)
After an exceptionally long and boring sermon the congregation filed out of the church not saying a word to the pastor. After a while a man shook the pastor's hand and said, "Pastor, that sermon reminded me of the peace and love of God!" The pastor was ecstatic. "No one has ever said anything like that about one of my sermons before! Tell me, how did it remind you of the peace and love of God?" "Well", said the man, "it reminded me of the peace of God because it passed all human understanding and it reminded me of the love of God because it endured forever!" What is a good sermon?
"I would rather see a sermon than hear one." You've heard that old saying many times. Maybe you have even said it yourself. It has an origin with James. "Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers...” James (1:22). We already know this. But knowing this -- be doers of the word, and not merely hearers -- is not the problem. Here, doing is the problem. This may be hard for us because we live in a time which says “knowledge is power.” And yet here we are told that knowing what to do, is not as important as doing what you know to do.
Jesus never asked his hearers, "Do you agree with me?" Or "Does this sound reasonable to most of you?" Or "Get my drift?" Jesus wanted more than mere agreement. Most of the time they called Jesus "teacher," but he seems to be about more than mere dispenser of knowledge. What Jesus said was, "Follow me." He was after discipleship, not just simple intellectual agreement or a learning event. Churches can be so concerned with learning to the extent that the doing never takes place. There comes a time when you have to get out of the comfort zone and do ministry. To teach is to create a space in which obedience to the truth may be practiced.
Perhaps that's why we tend to turn the gospel into some kind of intellectual problem. Upon hearing scripture, we tend to ask, "Now, how could that have happened?" Or, "Now let me think about that."
This reminds me of the story of nine-year-old Joey who was asked by his mother what he learned in Sunday school. This was his answer: “Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge, and all the people walked across safely. He used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters and call in an air strike. They sent in bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.” “Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?” His mother asked. “Well, no, Mom, but if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!”
Scripture doesn't just want to be understood. It longs to be put into action. So maybe that's why we step back, ponder, think, consider, reflect when the Bible longs for us to get moving, get into the act, perform the text rather than just speak or hear it.
Years ago I remember discussing with a group of lay people what they looked for in a good sermon. "I like a sermon which helps me to think about things in a new way," was a predominate response. I like a sermon which engages my mind, which spurs my thinking and reflection.
The more I thought about it, I wondered if their response was not quite right. There really is something about us which loves to think that all worship is about is sitting, listening, taking in. Is this why today's text from James links our inaction to deceit? "Be doers of the word, not hearers only who deceive themselves." Some kind of link is being made here between our inaction, our inability to put the word into motion, and lying. We deceive ourselves into thinking that we have done the faith when we have merely listened, reflected, pondered, agreed. Beliefs must be embodied, enacted in order to be real.
Sometimes I have heard people say of church on Sunday morning, "I think of church as a filling station. I come here empty, and during the service I get filled so I can make it through he week." That sounds like passive, receptive, not active. It makes church into a place where we come, sit back and say, "OK preacher, choir, organist, do it to me, fill me up."
No. The test for good worship, the mark of a good church is not what we do here, during this hour of worship; it's what we do outside those doors for the rest of the week. The acts of kindness to others ... yet here, as elsewhere, after all is said and done, more is said than done. We do not have to settle for this. Today we have an opportunity for action.
The world is quite right in judging the truth of the gospel on the basis of the sort of lives the gospel is able to produce. Do we really look like the God whom we praise here on Sunday morning? Have our songs and prayers changed us, made us into that which we profess? That is the test, says James. That is the “good sermon” of our being.
And we already know that. We know that any sermon which is "seen," in deeds of love and justice, is more effective than one which is only spoken and heard. How many people have been turned off with the church, have gone away from Jesus, because they have been hurt or scandalized by the actions or lack of action on the part of those who profess to follow Jesus?
So the sermon ends. The test for the sermon, the mark of whether or not this was a "good" sermon, a "good" service of worship, is about to come upon us. You already agree with the sermon. You already understand the biblical text for today. Agreement, understanding are not the problem. The issue is now before us, now for the final question: what will we do with that which we have said, sung, and heard?
"Pastor, that was a wonderful sermon," said the parishioner at the door after the service..."that remains to be seen," said the preacher.
