In This Book
Art & Craft of Biblical Preaching
A Comprehensive Resource for Today’s Communicators
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The High Call of Preaching
- 1 Core Convictions of Biblical Preaching
- 2 A Definition of Biblical Preaching
- 3 A Weekly Dose of Compressed Dignity
- 4 Overfed, Underchallenged
- 5 Theology of Powerful Preaching
- 6 Preaching That Raises Our Sights
- 7 Leading and Feeding: How Preaching and Leadership Intersect
- 8 John 3:16 in the Key of C
- 9 Spiritual Formation through Preaching
- 10 Preaching Life into the Church
- 11 My Theory of Homiletics
- 12 Staying on the Line
- 13 History of Preaching
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The Spiritual Life of a Preacher
- 14 A Cup Running Over
- 15 The Patented Preacher
- 16 I Prayed for My Preaching
- 17 How Does Unction Function?
- 18 Squeaky Clean
- 19 Required Reading
- 20 Rightly Dividing the Preaching Load
- 21 Preaching Through Personal Pain
- 22 A Prophet among You
- 23 Burning Clean Fuel
- 24 Backdraft Preaching
- 25 Why I Pace Before I Preach
- 26 Preaching to Convulse the Demons
- 27 Holy Expectation
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Considering Hearers
- 28 Preaching to Everyone in Particular
- 29 The Power of Simplicity
- 30 View from the Pew
- 31 Preaching to Ordinary People
- 32 Why Serious Preachers Use Humor
- 33 Connect Hearers through Dialogue
- 34 Self-Disclosure That Glorifies Christ
- 35 How to Be Heard
- 36 Opening the Closed American Mind
- 37 Turning an Audience into the Church
- 38 Preaching to Change the Heart
- 39 Preaching Truth, Justice, and the American Way
- 40 Preaching Morality in an Amoral Age
- 41 The Intentional Bridge Builder
- 42 Connecting with Postmoderns
- 43 Preaching Amid Pluralism
- 44 Connecting with Non-Christians
- 45 How to Translate Male Sermons to Women
- 46 He Said, She Heard
- 47 Connecting with Men
- 48 Creating a Singles-Friendly Sermon
- 49 Preaching to Preschoolers
- 50 Hispanic American Preaching
- 51 African American Preaching
- 52 Asian American Preaching
- 53 Work Wins?
- 54 One Sermon, Two Messages
- 55 The Playful Preacher
- 56 What Authority Do We Have Anymore?
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Interpretation and Application
- 57 Why the Sermon?
- 58 Getting the Gold from the Text
- 59 Faithful First
- 60 God’s Letter of Intent
- 61 Five Bird-dogging Questions for Biblical Exposition
- 62 The Rules of the Game
- 63 Why All the Best Preachers Are–What a Concept!–Theological
- 64 Letting the Listeners Make the Discoveries
- 65 Conviction and Compassion
- 66 The Inadequacy of “Yes” Theology
- 67 What Great Coaches and Preachers Know
- 68 Preaching That Opens Ears and Hearts
- 69 Fundamentals of Genre
- 70 From B.C. to 11 a.m.
- 71 The Big Idea of Narrative Preaching
- 72 Apply Within
- 73 Application Without Moralism
- 74 Blending Bible Content and Life Application
- 75 Showing Promise
- 76 Helping Hearers Practice What We Preach
- 77 The Heresy of Application
- 78 Preaching for True Holiness
- 79 Less Joe, More Jesus
- 80 Preaching That Promotes Self-Centeredness
- 81 The Danger of Practical Preaching
- 82 Grace: A license to Wander?
- 83 The Rich Sound of Grace and Holiness
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Structure
- 84 Set Free from the Cookie Cutter
- 85 Say and Do
- 86 Connecting Biblical Content with Contemporary Audiences
- 87 Clearly
- 88 Skills of Oral Clarity
- 89 Questions That Put Muscle on Bones
- 90 Better Big Ideas
- 91 The Power of Sequence
- 92 Outlines That Work for You, Not against You
- 93 The Tension Between Clarity and Suspense
- 94 Lifeblood of Preaching
- 95 Alliteration Downfalls
- 96 Modulating Tension
- 97 The Purpose-Driven Title
- 98 Why Should I Listen to You?
- 99 Satisfying Conclusions
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Style
- 100 Determining Your Strengths and Weaknesses
- 101 Interesting Preaching
- 102 Crafting an Experience
- 103 Seven Habits of Highly Effective Preachers
- 104 The Sermon’s Mood
- 105 Teaching the Whole Bible
- 106 Dramatic Expository Preaching
- 107 Verse-by-Verse Sermons That Really Preach
- 108 What Makes Textual Preaching Unique?
- 109 Can Topical Preaching Be Expository?
- 110 Topical Preaching Can Be Truly Biblical
- 111 Topical Preaching on Bible Characters
- 112 Topical Preaching on Contemporary Issues
- 113 Topical Preaching on Theological Themes
- 114 Making the Most of Biblical Paradoxes
- 115 Getting the Most from the Sermon Series
- 116 The Next Big Thing
- 117 The Compelling Series
- 118 First Person Narrative Sermons
- 119 Biblical Preaching Is about Life Change, Not Sermon Style
- 120 Seven Timeless Principles for Reaching Lost People
- 121 Evangelistic Preaching in the Local Church
- 122 Felt-Needs Preaching
- 123 How to Preach Boldly in a “Whatever” Culture
- 124 Preaching with a Leader’s Heart
- 125 Critique of the New Homiletic
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Preparation
- 142 Why I Pat the Bible on My Nightstand
- 143 Busting Out of Sermon Block
- 144 Centered
- 145 A Long, Rich Conversation with God
- 146 A Mysterious Impulse to Pray
- 147 Preparing the Messenger
- 148 The Hard Work of Illumination
- 149 Heart-to-Heart Preaching
- 150 Imagination: The Preacher’s Neglected Ally
- 151 Preaching That Magnifies God
- 152 When Is a Sermon Good Enough?
- 153 How to Build a First-Rate Library
- 154 What Makes a Sermon Deep?
- 155 Before You Preach
- 156 Inspiration Points
- 157 Simplify
- 158 Using Someone Else’s Sermon
- 159 Planning for a Richer, Deeper Sermon Series
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Delivery
- 160 The Source of Passion
- 161 Place of Pathos in Preaching
- 162 Preaching with Intensity
- 163 No Notes, Lots of Notes, Brief Notes
- 164 In the Eye of the Hearer
- 165 No Voice, No Preach
- 166 Eliminating My Um, Um, Annoying Pulpit Mannerisms
- 167 Reading Scripture in Public
- 168 The Importance of Being Urgent
- 169 The Day I Lost My Nerve
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Special Topics
- 170 When You Don’t Look Forward to Special Days
- 171 Preaching the Terrors
- 172 Preparing People to Suffer
- 173 Preaching Hell in a Tolerant Age
- 174 Speaking into Crisis
- 175 When the News Intrudes
- 176 Redemptive Sermons for Weddings and Funerals
- 177 The Landmark Sermon
- 178 You Had to Bring It Up
- 179 Preaching on Contemporary Issues
- 180 Preaching Sex with Compassion and Conviction
- 181 The Ever-More-Difficult Marriage Sermon
- 182 When the Sermon Goes to Work
- 183 Bridging the Marketplace Gap
- 184 Sermons on Giving That People Actually Like!
One honor of being a minister is to be welcomed into the lives of people during deeply personal moments. One such honor is preaching sermons for funerals and weddings. These messages are different from almost every other type of sermon because they are directed at very specific people—the wedding party or the grieving family—as well as being intended for the larger congregation.
Though the services are vastly different in tone and purpose, the principles for preaching at weddings and funerals are surprisingly similar. As we prepare sermons for weddings and funerals, we should pray for a word from God that fits these unique people and this special day and strive to craft messages demonstrating the following qualities.
1. Biblical content
When we are called upon to preach at a wedding or funeral, we are more than a master of ceremonies; we are God's messenger for that hour. We should resist the temptation merely to eulogize the deceased or to give the bride and groom commendations for a happy life together. While there is a time and place for the aforementioned types of speeches, our sermon should aim for a deeper purpose: to communicate a timely message from God's Word. Though the sermon for the wedding or funeral service will be short, it must be biblical.
2. Personal appeal
Some aspects of weddings and funerals are present each time the services are performed. In every wedding, however, two unique persons are being joined together before God. We should honor the individuality of the bride and groom with a wedding sermon tailored especially for them. In the same way, each funeral sermon deserves a distinctive and personal treatment. Subjects and texts for sermons will be repeated, but we should avoid the impression we are pulling out an all-purpose wedding or funeral message from the file and reciting it once again, with only the names changed.
To make the sermon personal, we might include a brief mention of how the couple met, the couple's faith in God, or some other personal reference. The message should include application directed toward the couple, in which we address the bride and groom by name.
We can personalize a funeral service by quoting one of the deceased's favorite passages of Scripture, or relating an experience we had with the departed. We can share some of the family and friends' memories and impressions of the deceased. Even if we did not know the deceased, we can gather personal remembrances from the family in preparation for the funeral. We should take care to refer to the deceased and the closest family members by name during the sermon.
The delivery of the sermon also can make the message more personal. Recognizing the emotional significance of these services, we should speak conversationally and with warmth. Though we might consider using brief notes in order to control the sermon's length, we should deliver the sermon with as much eye contact and empathy as possible.
Making the sermon special does not require preparing a message from scratch every time we preside at a wedding or funeral. In fact, the ceremonies may be better served if we modify existing messages that have been refined over time. One pastor makes it a practice to keep on file a dozen good funeral messages that clearly and concisely set out the Christian view of death and hope in Christ. He has preached some of these messages previously in regular church services but then condensed and polished them for use in funerals. Using this method allows us to prepare a personal message quickly, customizing the sermon to suit the particular occasion with relevant personal details.
3. Abbreviated length
Sermons for weddings and funerals should be relatively short. The sermon is not central in the attention of most who attend. Few people—especially the bride and groom or the mourning family—go to these ceremonies thinking, I wonder what the pastor will preach about today? A well-planned wedding or funeral sermon can have impact on the listeners, however, if we bear in mind that the message tends to increase in effectiveness as it decreases in length.
In most cases, we should aim for the entire wedding or funeral service to last about thirty minutes. Ceremonial elements and music will require more than half of that time, especially for weddings. For that reason, the wedding sermon should be no longer than five to seven minutes. The funeral sermon can last a little longer, but should not exceed fifteen minutes in most circumstances.
A wedding sermon should normally not have multiple points. Instead, it is better to draw one major idea from a passage of Scripture, which we then explain, illustrate, and apply. For the funeral sermon, we may use a more conventional sermon outline. Even then, however, we should condense the sermon's content. Because listeners are unlikely to have Bibles with them at weddings and funerals, we should limit the details of technical exposition.
4. Redemptive purpose
In many congregations, weddings and funerals are among the largest groups we address. Moreover, there are often greater numbers of non-Christians present for these occasions than at typical church services. Ultimately, the goal of wedding and funeral sermons should be the same as in any sermon—to point listeners to Jesus Christ. All of the biblical themes associated with wedding and funeral sermons can be readily connected to faith in God's Son. We should find opportunities to focus on Jesus throughout the sermon and to proclaim the redemption available through faith in Christ.
