Making it plain

What sermons or Bible talk do you remember most? It's a really important question - and not just for you.

There are moments in sermons when God's Spirit speaks to us with such clarity and simplicity that they become turning points for our spiritual lives. There are moments when things just go "click" in our minds, and what was cloudy or opaque becomes suddenly crystal clear. It's what every preacher longs for, prays for, works for as they prepare week by week, and as they strive to develop and improve their craft.

My own observation is that it is the simplest and clearest of talks that have remained with me over the years. Of course I love to hear a talk that is filled with deep thoughts, has impressive cultural and biblical cross references, and stretches my thinking and understanding. But the ones that have stuck with me; the ones that have made a conscious change to my direction or motivation in following Christ have all had this in common: they were plain, simple and clear.

In talking with people at my own church after the meeting, a common question I ask is: "What struck you from this morning's meeting?" A frequent answer highlights what was taught in the children's spot - not the sermon. That's not to say that the preaching at my church is poor - quite the opposite. It's just to point out the truth of this simple formula:

simple + clear + relevant = memorable

It's a lesson that Martin Luther understood very clearly. If you are preacher, meditate on these fine words before you take a red pen to your notes for next Sunday:

Cursed be every preacher who aims at lofty topics in the church, looking for his own glory and selfishly desiring to please one individual or another. When I preach here I adapt myself to the circumstances of the common people. I don’t look at the doctors and masters, of whom scarcely forty are present, but at the hundred or the thousand young people and children. It’s to them that I preach, to them that I devote myself, for they too need to understand. If the others don’t want to listen, they can leave … We preach in public for the sake of plain people. Christ could have taught in a profound way, but he wished to deliver his message with the utmost simplicity in order that common people might understand.

(quoted from Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Volume 35, American Edition, ed. Jarislav Pelikan and Helmut Lehmann, Fortress Press, 1960, 235, 383