My Featured Preacher of the month, Steven Lawson of Mobile, Alabama has kindly answered Unashamed Workman’s ‘10 Questions for Expositors’. The answers are really inspiring but full so I’ll post the first five today and the second five early next week.

I am also delighted to report that Dr Lawson will be one of the two keynote speakers at our first Expositors’ Summer School in Edinburgh in August 2009. Initial details are available here

1. Where do you place the importance of preaching in the grand scheme of church life?
I place the preaching of the Word of God in the very center place in the life of the church. To be sure, the Scripture certainly assigns the pulpit this primary role. Preaching is what was primary in the public ministry of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:14-15, 38-39). Contained in the Great Commission is the primacy of preaching, specifically, preaching repentance (Luke 24:47) and teaching all that Christ taught (Matthew 28:20). When the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost, it was the result of the preaching of Peter (Acts 2:14-40). Further, preaching and teaching the Word immediately became the primary ministry in the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42). “The apostles’ teaching” is listed first for a reason. In addition, the missionary journeys of the apostle Paul reveal that preaching was central in his extended ministry (Acts 13-19). Moreover, the pastoral epistles assign preaching the place of first importance (1 Timothy 4:13), and it was Paul’s dying charge to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:2). Finally, ministering the Word is what Christ assigned to the pastors of the seven churches of Asia Minor (Revelation 2-3). They were messengers of the divine revelation entrusted to them to those congregations. From all these passages, it is clear that the primary responsibility of the church is to minister this Word, for it is “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).

2. In a paragraph, how did you discover your gifts in preaching?
There were various areas that came together in my life that enabled me to discover my God-given gift to preach. This occurred in my life while I was in college and in the days that immediately followed. First, I suddenly experienced an insatiable desire to study the Word of God. I began to read my Bible day and night, day after day. While I was not given to extensive study while I was in college (I simply wanted to play football), I nevertheless began to devour the Scripture. This was so unlike me—it was God at work within me. Second, I felt a strong compulsion to stand on my feet before a group of people and speak the Word of God to them. Various doors were opened to me to do this, and the more I did it, the more I loved it. It soon became that this was all I thought about. I had to do this. Third, people began to be converted under my ministry of the Word. Others became excited and enthusiastic for Christ. Each person who responded favourably to my preaching became a confirmation of God’s giftedness. Fourth, people began to indicate to me that they recognized that God had gifted me to do this. Finally, God began to open more doors for me to minister His Word. It seemed that God was in this. All these together spoke with one voice that God had gifted me to preach.

3. How long (on average) does it take you to prepare a sermon?
The length of time that it requires me to prepare a sermon differs with each passage of Scripture. When I first began my pastoral ministry, it required more than twenty hours of cumulative study for each message. I have now been preaching three to four times a week for almost the last thirty years, and the amount of time that is required is less. The reason for this is because all of my study from previous years carries forward to the preparation of each sermon. I can now pull together an expository sermon in eight to ten hours of study. However, some messages will still require a greater investment of time. Sometimes, it may require less. But the truth is, it requires an entire lifetime of study to prepare each sermon. Also, there is the factor of becoming more familiar with my books, which shortens the time to access the information that I need.

4. Is it important to you that a sermon contain one major theme or idea? If so, how do you crystallise it?
It is essential that each sermon have one central theme that runs throughout the entirety of the message. From the introduction, through the main body of the sermon, and to the end of the conclusion, there should be one dominant, driving thrust. There should be one laser beam of thought that penetrates through the sermon. This is determined by the authorial intent of the biblical writer. What did he intend to communicate to the original audience? That should be the big idea of the sermon. An isolated verse out of a larger context may be used to communicate what that one verse says, but it must always be tied back to the larger section.

5. What is the most important aspect of a preacher’s style and what should he avoid?

I believe that passion is the most important component of a preacher’s delivery. If you have to say something, you will find a way to get it across. Included in the virtue of passion are attributes such features as fervency, earnestness, sincerity, and a deep conviction of the truthfulness of this text of Scripture and what he is saying. Thomas Chalmers called it being “blood-earnest.” There must be an inner fire within the preacher—a fire in his bones—that must come out as he preaches the Word. Therefore, apathy and insincerity should be avoided like the plague.