I have a question for you all today. And it's an important question to me because...well...it has to do with my job. The question is: why should I preach a sermon today? Or, maybe I can ask the question the other way around: why should you sit in your seats and listen to the sermon? I mean, does the sermon really matter? Sure, it takes up a lot of time during our worship service, but would we be better off or worse off if we replaced the sermon with...say...10 more minutes of praise and maybe a skit or two. What do you think? Is the sermon important?

Well, if you thought you were going to get out of a sermon today...sorry to disappoint you. I'm still going to preach. But, hopefully (and in faith I believe this to be true), together we will hear God's Word proclaimed today.

This is actually a very strange sermon to be giving. It feels very meta. Do you know what that means? It's like...teaching a class about teaching a class. Or it's like...I actually saw this on a commercial several months ago when the new Grand Theft Auto was the big gaming news—*Now, I'm definitely not promoting this game, as I've never played it, nor do I have any intention of playing it*—but one of the big features that a lot of gaming news sites were touting was how immersive the virtual world is that they created in this game. You could actually, in the video game, take your character and go to an internet cafe and sit down at a virtual computer and play a computer game. A computer game in a computer game. That's meta. And that's what this sermon is, because in this sermon we're asking the question, “Why do we have a sermon...preaching...as part of our Sunday worship?”

Now, as I was preparing this sermon, and thinking about why we preach, there were a few obvious answers that jumped into my head. Having been a missionary in Japan, my first thought was: Well, the purpose of the sermon is to spread the gospel. Preaching is part of the mission of the church.

And this sounds pretty good. After all, we have that passage in Matthew where it talks about preaching the gospel to all nations, right? Let's see...it's in Matthew 28:19-20...

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Oh...wait. It doesn't actually say anything about preaching, or even proclaiming the gospel in there, does it? I mean, maybe it's implied. It does talk about “making disciples” and “teaching them to obey,” and preaching definitely seems like one way to do that. But, if you think about it...mission cannot be the primary purpose of the sermon. I think there is definitely a missional element to it, but we're talking about preaching here at church. And, while there probably are some non-Christians who come to church seeking God, for the most part, a church is a gathering of Christians...a gathering of believers. So, what else is going on with the sermon?

Well, maybe it is a matter of teaching, then. After all, becoming a Christian is not like a cup of instant noodles—you know, you just add hot water and *poof*, 3 minutes later you have ramen. It is not as if we're baptized, dunked into the water, and then 3 minutes later *poof* Instant Christan...Cup Noodle Christian...and we suddenly know all of the Scriptures by heart, how to apply them to our lives, how to pray, and all of our bad habits are instantly gone. Or, at least, that's not how it worked for me.

So, maybe that's what the sermon is all about: teaching. Does that sound good?

Well, once again, there is certainly an element of teaching to the sermon, but that can't be all there is. After all, if the sermon is only about teaching, then how is it different from Bible Study. Or, instead of sitting in these chairs, listening to a pastor on Sunday morning, why don't we have desks and a chalkboard up front? Wouldn't that be a better way to teach?

So, you're probably starting to catch on to what I'm saying by now: we often think of the Sunday morning sermon as the pastor teaching us something, or a form of missions/evangelism. And, again, there are definitely elements of both of those things to preaching...but there must be something more to it, or, quite frankly, we wouldn't do it.

So here's the question: what is it that makes preaching, that makes the Sunday morning sermon important and different from the other activities of the church?

Well, let me try to get at an answer to this question by asking another question (don't you hate it when pastors do that?!): Why do we do all these other things that Christians do? So, in other words, Why do we pray? Why do we worship? Why do we give our money and our talents as offerings? Why do we go on mission trips? Why do we build really nice buildings for worship and fellowship? Why do we give money and time to help the poor, the homeless, and the oppressed? Why do we try our best to love each other?

If you've been here for the past several weeks, the other pastors have already helped to answer a few of these questions. Pastor Eunbee preached about why we give our offerings. Pastor KC preached about why we worship at church. And if you've been listening to them, you may have detected a common theme...

We do all of these things...all of the things I mentioned and everything else...in response to what God has done for us and continues to do for us. Isn't that right?

True worship is born out of our overflowing joy in the presence of God.

Our offerings are given in response to the recognition that we are God's people and that all of the goodness in our lives begins and ends with God.

As the apostle John famously wrote, We love because God first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

But what does this have to do with the sermon?

Well, what is a sermon? What is the pastor doing when he or she stands up here preaching?

A sermon is the proclamation of the Word of God.

And what is the Word of God? Here...it's this [the Bible], right?

But, you see, the amazing thing about the Word of God is that it is not just a static list of rules and laws that we have to follow. Is that what the Word of God is? No! Of course not! The Word of God is the gospel—it is the True story of a God who loves you so much that absolutely nothing will keep God from reaching you...not even death. You see, because the Word of God is the message of God's love, it's not something that can be trapped within the pages of a book. It is too huge...too great! That's the scary thing about God's love...it's not something we have in a bag that we can just pull out whenever we feel like we need a little more love. God loves us always...forever...eternally. Before you were born God loved you! And so...

God's Love applies to you even now.

When the preacher stands here and preaches the sermon, we are proclaiming the Truth of the Gospel...God's love for us...into our lives here and now. Through the sermon, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ is present to us. We encounter God's love through the sermon.

So, you see, because preaching is the proclamation of the Gospel, and through it we encounter God's love in our lives here and now...the sermon frames and puts into perspective all the other work that we do as the Church.
Why does the church do the things it does? Because God is with us. And the sermon bears witness to that fact.

Now, as I stand here before you, do I feel like my words are making Christ present to you? No, I don't. I share the prophet Isaiah's sentiments when he said, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips!”

But, just as Isaiah's tongue was purified by fire, and just as the church does its work with the faith that God will take our humble offerings in the midst of our sin and make them worthy of grace...so too do we, your pastors, proclaim the Gospel in faith that the Spirit of God is with us. The words I speak are not holy. I am not holy. But the God I proclaim is holy. So now, in the power of the Holy Spirit, encounter our amazing God, our Lord Jesus Christ...and respond. Everything you do, may it be a response to God's love for you.

This work is licensed by the author, Brian D. White, under a Creative Commons A-NC-SA License.