If your church uses the 3-year lectionary from Lutheran Service Book, you heard the gospel lesson from Matthew 13 which began “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.”  Alas, sometimes the treasure is so hidden that it doesn’t even really make it into the sermon.

If you are a frequent listener of Issues Etc., you probably have heard Todd Wilken do sermon reviews of the likes of Joel Osteen and Rick Warren and some good Lutheran pastors (with some good sermons).  Todd provides a “3 Step Plan” for diagnosing a sermon and adds a bonus 4th Step.

What is our primary reason for going to church?  I would say we are there first and foremost to receive God’s gifts — one of which is to hear God’s word.

Todd’s diagnostic plan, while certainly not perfect, guides us to see if Christ is the center of the sermon.  Next week, why not give it a try.  Or if you’re a pastor, consider it while preparing your sermon.

1. How often is Jesus mentioned? (Just a simple tally)
2. If (1) is true: Is Jesus the subject of the verbs?  (Is it what Jesus has done for you or what you do for Jesus?)
3. If (2) is true: What are those verbs that are used?  (e.g., the helping Jesus, the saving Jesus, the dying/crucifed Jesus).
4. Bonus Question:  What has the preacher told me is my problem and what solution did he give me for the problem?

A related and worthwhile read from a few months back is Soaked In Christ’s Blood.

In my previous post I shared a snippet of the Hammer of God related to the communion liturgy.  In the first novella we find a pastor who is maturing in his vocation.  Savonius begins as a reluctant academic, but eventually ends with a better understanding of Law and Gospel and how he applies/preaches this to the flock.

Here is another quote that immediately precedes the quote from the previous post.  At this point Savonius is saying the communion liturgy.

Here, nothing depended on himself [Savonius].  Here he was simply a steward, a nameless link in the long succession of hands which Christ had used throughout the ages to distribute His gifts to men.  For the first time he felt it a relief, rather than a compulsion, to be nothing but a servant of the church, without any contribution of his own, and with no other glory to seek than to steward the holy heritage honorably. (Pg 34-35, 1973 edition)

That is the pastor I want — a steward of the gifts God gives through His Word and Sacraments.  I don’t need a psychologist or an administrator.  I don’t need a motivational speaker or an academic.  I need the gifts God gives — and Christ uses pastors to do this.

Over at Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary, Rev. Cholak writes a vivid post on pastors soaking their flock with Christ’s blood as they preach Christ and the forgiveness of sins. It is well worth the read. He reminds us that God uses his servants to speak to us and that pastors should be preaching Christ – and consequently not some pop-philosophy or purpose driven drivel. He writes,

Pastors bring the forgiveness of sins from the cross and wrap you with it, like a warm blanket on a cold, winter’s night. They take his blood and wash you with it. Like a mother after you’ve played in the mud, a pastor scrubs you clean (even behind the ears) with Christ’s blood.

Yes . . . we need that scrubbing. We also probably need some high pressure washing. He concludes:

Expect to be soaking in Christ’s blood when the pastor says, “Amen.” Expect to be alive because Christ has wrapped you with his love and breathed new life into your ears. Not only should you expect it, you should demand it. It is your heritage. It is God’s good gift. AND…it’s yours.

If you’ve read this far, you need to read his whole blog post. Please click here.

As a side note: The imagery in Rev. Cholak’s post reminds me of my current bedtime reading – a collection of sermons by Chad Bird called “Christ Crucified“.