chapter 11 Leadership

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Church Service and the Sermon

This is the FUN part of the ministry. Very few preachers would wind up with ulcers or other job-induced ailments, if this were all there were to his responsibilibies. Yet it is the part which is first seen by others, and in the minds of many, the major part of his work. It IS a vital part of it and great thought should be given to how it is done.

While the Bible doesn’t prescribe a ritual to be followed in service, it does say,
1 Cor 14:40 ‘Let all things be done decently and in order.’
Friendliness is a great asset to any church, but when the service is delayed while the people visit, laugh and exchange pleasantries, it seems to those who visit, that God is taking a back seat to man’s pleasure. Remember, the meeting is taking place for the purpose of worshipping God. If the services cannot start on the appointed time, God is short-changed, but even more importantly, the people are robbed of a blessing. In a large measure, it will be up to the pastor to see that all is as it should be. Perhaps the best way to handle it, is to have a conference with the musicians and song leader and maybe the ushers and set a time for, and a consistent, ‘call to worship’. After a while, the people will learn to recognize it and, believe it or not, appreciate it!

Music has always played an important part in worship. It is not my intent to try to push any type nor to proscribe any. After all, tastes in music have changed from generation to generation, and even from locality to locality; Even the choice of instruments has varied from time to time, and the instructions for praise in the 150th Psalm seems to sanction any and all of them. The one thing that should be insisted upon , is that the songs should be scriptural! If the pastor preached some of the things the people often sing, they would charge him with heresy! Note the words of the hymns, and if they are not according to the Scripture, ask the people, or the song director not to use them. Is this important? YES! God cannot bless heresy, no matter how it is presented.

What about the sermon? How should you present it? There isn’t a great deal needed to be said on this subject.

First, this is so, because no one can choose your sermons for you. Many will try, but the choice is yours alone, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
The important thing is, that they be true to the Scripture.
DO NOT twist a scripture to try to present a pet theory you may have. Those who know better in your audience, will immediately notice and begin to doubt your honesty. . After all, if a preacher can’t deal honestly with the Word, can you trust him in anything?

Second, no one has a right to tell any preacher he should ’Preach more like ----.’
God called YOU to the ministry. Develop your own style of presentation. I have seen men who read their sermons with great effect. Others have had a quiet, mild delivery, while yet others have been fiery, pulpit-pounders. Whatever the manner of delivery, just be YOU. If God had desired clones, he would have made them.

I do feel it incumbent upon me to say something about the length of the message.
No, I don’t mean I am going to tell you how many minutes you should preach. What I mean is very simple; DO NOT PREACH YOURSELF OUT OF THE DESIRED RESULTS! Often a preacher becomes so wrapped up in his delivery of the message that he doesn’t ‘read’ the audience. When you see people lose interest, it is time to quit. Or, when you see deep conviction on a face, it is time to go to the invitation.

I recall a time when I had a most enjoyable topic. I was presenting Heaven as the home of the saved. After a few minutes, a young lady, ('a church member'), began to sob quietly. After five minutes more she was weeping loudly. I hadn’t been in the pulpit more than fifteen minutes, but asked the congregation to stand and presented them with the opportunity to come forward. The young lady came weeping her heart out and said, "I’m lost and don’t want to miss that place!" The services that Sunday morning were short but oh, so sweet. I will never know if she would have responded after another thirty minutes, but I don’t really care. She was saved!

I have listened to men who couldn’t seem to find a stopping place. On and on they go, until the listeners lose all interest. On one occasion, the preacher began quite late. It wasn’t his fault that the preliminaries had been so time consuming, but at ten p.m. . . . he began to preach. Around ten-thirty a few people left. After another thirty minutes people were leaving the building in 'droves' and he was still going strong! Concerning this kind of thing, I have only one thing to say, ‘DON'T!’
Sometimes we have a tendency to put a lot more material in our outlines than we can preach in a reasonable time. Don’t become a slave to your outline! Often you can be much more effective if you simply find a place to close and use the rest of the material for another message.. (If you do this, DO NOT announce that you have a lot more material but have to use it later) This will detract from the message you have just preached. You want the people to think of God’s will for them, and not the excellent knowledge of the preacher.

In the earliest part of my ministry, I had adopted the thought that there was a certain virtue in long sermons. Then, a young mother and her sons began to attend services. I couldn’t help but notice that she always left at the stroke of twelve, on Sunday mornings. This seemed rather rude to me and I was somewhat offended. I decided to speak to her about it. Her answer changed my entire outlook and my practice from that time on. She told me, without apology, that one of her sons was a severe diabetic and absolutely MUST have his meals on time. I made her a promise that from that time on, the service would be dismissed in time for her to stay for all of it. Shortly after that, her husband attended with her, and soon they were both saved and added to the church. Since then I have continued to try to follow the practice of quitting at a specified time, and have found many others who could not wait if I went over. Consider it!

Finally, a word about ‘Pastoral Authority’.
I Pet 1:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
These instructions of Peter are NOT in conflict with those of Paul to Titus in;
Titus 2: 15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority.

To illustrate, let us look once more to the example of Moses. He was able to preface his orders to Israel with the words, "Thus saith the Lord." He did this with ‘all authority', and fully expected God’s wishes to be carried out. However, not once did he command, "Thus saith Moses, God’s appointed leader". This is the full scriptural authority of a pastor; Teach the Word of God as a surety and lead the church to obey God’s demands, not to meet his.

The full impact of the Lord’s thoughts on this subject can be seen in his remarks concerning Nicolaitanism; (The word means, to rule over the people)
Rev.2: 6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
Rev.2: 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
Whether done from the pulpit or the pew, it is an abomination to God because it is an attempt to usurp the place of Christ as the Head of His Church.