See theme

Preachers have to be more than "fellow strugglers." No one is helped by "You're a loser; I'm a loser; let's keep losing together."

People want to believe you have taken your own advice, and, while you've not arrived, you're on the way. You'll never learn to be a .300 hitter by watching three .100 hitters. You study a .325 hitter. Although he will occasionally strike out, he knows how to hit.

Likewise, people want to listen to somebody who knows what the struggle is, but who has taken the Bible's message seriously and knows how to hit.

Of course, we identify with the needs and experiences of our people; we're every bit as human as they are. But our task is to speak a word that is qualitatively different from normal conversation. Effective preaching combines the two and gives people hope that they can be better than they are.

When the combination is right, we preach with authority, which is different from being an authoritarian. Preaching with authority means you've done your homework. You know your people's struggles and hurts. But you also know the Bible and theology. You can explain the Bible clearly. Preachers aren't being authoritarian when they point people to the Bible. When Billy Graham explains, "The Bible says..." he's relying not on his own authority but another — God's Word — and he shows how that authority makes sense. We help our credibility when we practice biblical preaching.

The authoritarian, on the other hand, is someone who speaks about biblical and nonbiblical things in the same tone of voice. Whether the subject is the Super Bowl or the Second Coming, the verdict is delivered with the same certainty and conviction.

I realized the distinction one night when my wife, Bonnie, said to me, "You've been around the Bible too much. Any opinion from politics to sports has the same ring as your sermon on Galatians." It's easy to fall into that. An authoritative tone without genuine biblical authority is sound and fury signifying nothing.

When we speak with authority, we preach the Bible's message without embarrassment.

Haddon Robinson is senior editor of PreachingToday.com; Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; and author of "Biblical Preaching."

Haddon Robinson was a preacher and teacher of preachers all over the world. His last teaching position was as the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.