On Boring Preaching

This post is written by my outstanding friend and former colleague, Dr. Bill Bagents. Bill serves as the extremely capable Vice President of Academics at Heritage Christian University in Florence, Alabama.

We preachers tend to be highly insulted when potential listeners find our preaching boring. There are far better options than feeling miffed.

1) Was the sermon boring because I failed to prepare at a level that honored God and respected the gospel? If so, repentance is essential. No one has the right to present the gospel in a careless or incompetent manner (Romans 1:16-17, Hebrews 4:12).

2) Was the sermon boring because I made no preparation at all; I just borrowed it from the internet? It’s tough to find passion for a lesson we had no role in creating.

3) Was the sermon boring because it was shallow, failing to include both milk and meat (Hebrews 5:12-6:3)? We love the famous quotation, “The Bible is a pool in which a child can wade, and an elephant can swim.” Biblical balance is beautiful.

4) Was the sermon boring because it failed to call for transformative action (Romans 12:1-2)? It’s hard to be bored when one is being challenged to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and take up the mantle of Christ (1 Peter 2:21-25).

5) Was the sermon boring because it served my needs as a preacher rather than serving the broader needs of the church? Hebrews 10:24 speaks to every Christian, including preachers. Our desire is to stir up love and good works by helping all hearers grasp the sense, power, and urgency of God’s word (Nehemiah 8:8).

6) Was the sermon boring because my life contradicted the words of the sermon? We love consistency and congruence, especially the perfect example of Jesus (Acts 1:1). Our actions should always support the gospel (Titus 2:6-8).

7) To shift perspectives to the listener, was the sermon boring because of my lack of spiritual interest as a hearer? When God’s people stopped listening to Him, there was a prophetic silence of some 430 years between Malachi and John the Baptizer. An effective sermon needs both a faithful, biblical message and a God-seeking hearer (Hebrews 5:11).

8) Was the sermon boring because of a warped world view? In ancient Athens, some lived for nothing but “either to tell or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21). Their descendants live among us today, asserting that only the novel and the surprising merit their attention.

9) Was the sermon boring because I failed to pray for both the preacher and the hearers? We tend to prepare for events and activities that we deem important. We assert that God hears and helps when we pray within His will. Every sermon should be bathed in prayer from every direction.

10) Was the sermon boring because it’s easier to choose boredom than to welcome the challenge to grow into the image of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16)? We can always find a preacher who will tell us exactly what we enjoy hearing (2 Timothy 4:3-4).