Where Thou is it Written

I just finished preaching in our outdoor service at Library Square in Hutchinson. The biblical text was Colossians 3:1-4. It is hard to preach when all you notes are flying in the wind. Ironically, we sang "I'll Fly Away" just before I preached. But it is the sermon prep that I want to make an observation on.

After I finish my sermon, I will check the internet to see how others approached the text or perhaps look for an illustration if I am stuck. So yesterday I looked at what the world-wide had on this passage. My favorite preachers (ones that have a research team to support them) do very good job on the text. Also, I found one pastor who seemed to me to nail the passage, though what I could read was the bare outline. He had it right.

What disturbed me most was the poor sermons I came across, those purporting to be on Col. 3:1-4, but never came close. One was from a denomination that uses a certain reading for the particular Sunday. I was pleased to find one Sunday on Col. 3:1-4. Though the preacher started in Job, I patiently waited for reference to my passage. Through twists and turns, the preacher's conclusion was something like this: "And know we see that we end up where we began with the passage of today, Col. 3:1-4." I was aghast! The sermon never once touched the passage.

Another fellow, perhaps due to lack of time, or some more devious design, stated his passage as Col. 3:1-4, then gave his congregation as talk on Rick Warren's five purposes of the church (I did not check to see if it was verbatim or not). Not once did he mention Col. 3:1-4 in the body of the sermon. Woe are us preachers if we handle God's word in such a dishonest way. At least he should have been honest enough to credit Rick Warren.

A few more of the internet offerings were so man-focused that they hardly mentioned Christ, the main character certainly in the apostle Paul's passage. Most put the focus on man's activities and life without realizing that Colossians is about Christ's Supremacy.

All my findings confirm Spurgeon's advice to his students, that they should keep their old sermons so that every five years or so, they can weep over them. I have my share of poorer sermons, but God help me if I do not treat the text with respect to attempt to convey its meaning.