Appropriate Length of Time in Preaching

Introduction to the Seventh Axiom: Appropriate Sermon Length

0:03 Well, assuming that you listened on tape to the principles relative to ministering the Word of God in simplicity of speech and earthiness and found, I hope, profit from those matters, we're going to move on today to further deal with the axioms relative to all kinds of sermonic exercises. And this will be our seventh axiom, and I'll state it for you, say a few things by way of introduction, and then we'll move into the heart of our lecture for today.

0:44 The seventh axiom pertaining to the content and form of all kinds of sermons is this. The proclamation, explanation, and application of scriptural truths for a reasonable and an appropriate length of time must be our constant practice. The proclamation, explanation, and application of scriptural truths for a reasonable and an appropriate length of time

1:26 must be our constant practice.

1:33 Now, by way of introduction, let me say that I'm very much aware of the fact that what constitutes reasonableness and appropriateness in the length of the sermon is in no little measure conditioned by the actual dynamics involved in the act of preaching itself, ranging all the way from the measure of unction resting upon the preacher to the weather patterns and to the condition of the preacher's voice. And some of those things we'll consider later on in the lecture. Some of them will have to await the actual treatment of the act of preaching, however, as a general rule,

2:16 the factors which determine the proper length of a sermon are the factors related to the discipline of the study rather than the dynamics of the pulpit. As a general rule, the factors which determine the proper length of the sermon are factors related to the disciplines of the study rather than the dynamics of the pulpit. Therefore, under the board of an가락, one cannot angry, broad heading of the content and form of the sermon, I'm treating this subject. I'm doing so because I'm convinced that the appropriateness and the reasonableness of the length of your sermons

Three Conditioning Factors for Sermon Length

3:00 will be determined primarily at the point of the formal preparation in the study and not in the actual delivery of the sermon in the pulpit. Now, in seeking to give you some working principles by which to determine what constitutes a reasonable and an appropriate length for a sermon, let me first of all make three assertions that I would call the three conditioning factors in all that follows. Number one, there are no fixed time limits appropriate to all preachers

3:42 in all circumstances. There are no fixed time limits appropriate to all preachers in all circumstances. There are no fixed time limits appropriate to all preachers in all circumstances. There are no fixed time limits appropriate to all preachers in all circumstances. Since the Bible does not

3:58 absolutize on this issue, and since all of the factors which determine both reasonableness and appropriateness vary, it is irresponsible to make absolute or rigid rules in this area. Now, Spurgeon comes very close to absolutizing where he had no business doing so when he writes on page 134 in lecturing to his students under the subject of attention, in order to maintain attention, avoid being too long. And there he's right. An old preacher used to say to a young man who preached an hour, quote,

4:41 My dear friend, I do not care what else you preach about, but I wish you would always preach about, quote, 40 minutes, end quote. We ought seldom to go much beyond that, 40 minutes or, say, three-quarters of an hour. If a fellow cannot say all he has to say in that time, when will he say it? But someone said he liked to do justice to his subject. Well, but ought he not to do justice to his people, or at least have

5:14 a little mercy upon them and not keep them too long? Well, you see, Spurgeon comes very close to absolutizing the time of 40 to 45 minutes. Now, I assert under this first statement that there are no fixed time limits appropriate to all preachers in all circumstances, that there are times when it would be sinfully selfish to preach more than 30 minutes, and other times when it would be sinful to limit your preaching to 30 minutes. The great principle that must constantly press in upon us in this area, as in all areas of public ministry, is, let all things be done

5:58 unto edification. And in no little measure, it is the optimum edification of our people which determines the appropriateness and the reasonableness of the length of our sermons. But now I want to make a second conditioning assertion, and it's this. There are no fixed time limits.

6:20 Appropriate to any one preacher at all times and in all circumstances. You see the progression. I first of all asserted no fixed time limits appropriate to all preachers in all circumstances. Now I'm narrowing it. There are no fixed time limits appropriate to any one preacher at all

6:44 times and in all circumstances. The scripture commands us, quench not the spirit. Therefore, I must not allow you to preach. I must not allow you to preach. I must not allow you to preach.

6:55 I must not allow myself to get boxed into the idea that I am in all places and in all circumstances for all time until I'm buried, a 30-minute man, a one-hour man, or a 48-minute man. Now no doubt you will find yourself locking into a general pattern at various stages in your ministry, and that's perfectly natural and appropriate. But don't allow that general pattern to be locked into a general pattern. Don't allow that general pattern to be locked into a general pattern at any one time in your ministry to become your straitjacket. You were

7:32 bought with a price. Be not the slaves of men. 1 Corinthians 7.23, and certainly that means don't be a slave of yourself if you're a man, as well as other men. All things are to be done decently

7:49 and in order. It is right that generally people can expect that they will be out of a service within a general pattern. But don't allow that general pattern to be locked into a general pattern. So that they can responsibly plan for the meeting of the needs of their children, the cooking of meals, etc. But in all of that, we must remember that there are no fixed time limits appropriate

8:12 to any one preacher at all times and in all circumstances. Then the third assertion I want to make, which is a conditioning assertion, is this. If you have agreed to a given time limit, it is unethical not to honor that agreement. If you have agreed to a given time limit,

8:37 it is unethical not to honor that agreement. The scripture says that the righteous swears to his own hurt and keeps it. And we are commanded so to speak that our yea is yea and our nay is nay. Now you're under no obligation to make a contract with respect to time if you feel that the contract is unwise, unthoughtful, or unrighteous. If you feel that the contract is unwise, unthoughtful,

9:01 or unfair, or unreasonable. I've been asked to preach in certain situations and when they set out the terms of it, I said, no, I'm sorry, I will not accept the offer. Under those circumstances, I could not with good conscience commit myself to that arrangement because if I had, I would have felt it ethical or my ethical duty to stick to it. But if you are convinced before God that any given situation of ministry, in which you previously to ministering agree to a certain time limit, once you've done that, if you believe you can righteously do it, then stick to those terms. Otherwise, you'll violate

Factors Present in the Preacher

9:46 the injunction of scripture, let not your good be evil spoken of. Now with these three introductory or qualifying or conditioning assertions before us and bringing as it were their pressure upon all that follows, let me suggest three major categories of factors which will determine the reasonableness and the appropriateness of the length of your sermons at any given point in your ministry. Now as I've already suggested, there is some overlap into the act of preaching, but the majority of these

10:26 issues can be reckoned with and settled at the stage of preparation. Now the first thing we shall consider is, what I will call factors present in the preacher. So we're going to look at three categories that should condition this matter of appropriateness and reasonableness in the length of our sermons. The first category is factors present in the preacher. Now Dr. Lloyd-Jones addresses this

10:55 issue very directly and perceptively when he writes on page 241 of his work, Preaching and Preachers, My final word, and it is not inappropriate at this point, is the length of the sermon. And I would say that we must not be mechanical or too rigid either way. What determines the length of the sermon? First and foremost, the preacher. Time is a very relative thing, is it not? Ten minutes

11:28 from some men seems like an age, while an hour from another passes like a few minutes. That is not simply my personal view. It is what congregations say. As it thus varies with the man, it is therefore ridiculous to lay down a flat rule with regard to the length for all preachers. Well, you see, the doctor understood very clearly that factors present in the preacher

11:59 himself greatly determine what is an appropriate and reasonable length of time for him to preach. In other words, he does not need to preach in any given preaching situation. And let me give you three headings under these factors present in the preacher. What are those factors? Well, number one,

12:18 the measure of his gift to hold attention. The measure of his gift to hold attention. Now many factors combine to determine how easily a man both gains and holds the attention of his people. Some of them are the fact that he is a man of great value. Some of them are the fact that he is a man of great value.

12:39 Some of them are organizational. Some of them are the voice, the vivid imagery of his words, the measure of his spiritual unction, physical animation, variety. A host of things determine the measure of a man's gift to hold attention. Therefore, the admonition of Romans chapter 12 is very vital for us at every stage in the development of our ministry.

13:09 And our own development as preachers. Romans 12, 3, I say through the grace given me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but so to think as to think soberly according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith. Now you and I must learn to face realistically if God has given us at any point in our lives a measure of faith. In our ministry, under ordinary circumstances, the ability to hold people with interest for 40 minutes, we're fools if we try to preach for 50 minutes or an hour. Because that last 20 minutes

13:53 in which we lose a grip on their attention casts its negative shadow backward over the whole sermon. And it begins to build up resentment. It begins to build up attitudes between you and your people which undermine your ongoing usefulness. And so the factors present in the preacher, perhaps supreme in all of them, is the measure of the preacher's gift to hold attention. And as in so many other things, we ought to be secure

14:24 enough in our calling to seek the counsel of competent assessors and critics of our ministry as to whether or not we are preaching beyond the level of our ability to hold the attention of our people. Because just as surely as Paul says, the man who speaks in an unknown tongue may as well be speaking into the air. If you're speaking to a group of people whose attention you've lost, you may as well be speaking in an unknown language. But then there's a second factor present in the preacher, not only the measure of his gift to hold attention, but secondly, the measure of his growth

15:02 as a preacher. The measure of his growth as a preacher. He may be able, only to sustain interest and have substantial matter for half an hour in the early days of his ministry. He may find preparation so demanding that on a given situation he can only say something worthwhile saying in 20 minutes, and if he stretches it out to 30, the extra 10 is nothing but filler, and it would not be unto edification. On the other hand, he may be a naturally loquacious

15:40 person, and he may be a naturally loquacious person, and he may be a naturally loquacious person, and realizing the danger of his loquaciousness, he may restrict himself until his thought is richer, more dense, more concentrated, and therefore more useful. And all of this has to do with the measure of our own growth as preachers. So in this whole question, much vexed, much agitated, discussed by the writers on homiletics, we start with factors present. The measure of his gift to hold attention, the measure of his growth as a preacher. And here

16:18 Spurgeon speaks very wise words. On page 135 of Lectures to My Students, he says, When the preacher first settles, no, wrong quote. That's for the next point. If you ask me how you may shorten your sermons, I say, study them better. Spend more time in the study that you may need

16:41 less in the pulpit. We are generally longest when we have the least to say. A man with a great deal of well-prepared matter will probably not exceed forty minutes. When he has less to say, he will go on for fifty minutes. And when he has absolutely nothing to say, he'll need an hour in which to say it.

17:01 Attend to these minor things, and they will help to retain attention. Well, again, there's a bit of tongue-in-cheek in what Spurgeon is saying, but there's a great element of truth. So, we must be sensitive to our growth as preachers. But then, a third factor present in the preacher, the measure of his physical and mental strength. The measure of his physical and mental strength.

17:29 As I shall attempt to demonstrate from the scriptures, when we come to the act of preaching, it is the whole man who preaches. Preaching is not a merely cerebral and vocal exercise. It is an exercise of the whole. It is an exercise of the whole. It is an exercise of the whole. It is an

17:44 exercise of the whole man. Now, if God has given to some men physical and vocal and mental strength in which they can maintain optimum vigor for fifty minutes, they may preach with profit for fifty minutes. But if God has not given them such strength, and if it cannot be cultivated in the use of the ordinary means for them to try to preach for fifty minutes, when the last ten minutes does nothing but elicit the power of God, then it is not a matter of strength. It is not a matter of pity of the people that the poor man's vocal cords are strained. He is out of breath like an old

18:20 horse ready to go to the glue factory. Certainly, the pulpit is not a place to elicit congregational pity. And there are some men that it is the last ten to fifteen minutes that undoes everything because they are going beyond the physical and mental, vocal, emotional strength with which God has endowed them. And here you see again one of the most important things that God has done.

18:45 And it is a matter of our fundamental elements in our theology of preaching, weaving itself into all that I have said, that there is no warfare between nature and grace. And we must constantly reckon upon these realities. So, as you seek to determine how long shall I preach, face realistically the factors present in yourself as a preacher. The measure of your gift to hold attention, the measure of your growth as a preacher, and the measure of your physical and mental strength. But then there is a second category

Factors Present in the People

19:20 of factors. Factors present in the people. Factors present in the people. Now, if our concern in preaching is to deliver the message of God to our people, we must be sensitive to who and where our people are. We are not simply concerned to give vent to something that is pent up within us. We

19:48 are concerned to give vent to something that is pent up within us. We are concerned to give vent to something that is pent up within us. We are concerned to minister to our people. So, we must ask certain questions. I give you four key questions. First of all, who are you addressing? Who are you

20:02 addressing? This will greatly affect the appropriateness of the length of time in which you address your people. For example, when I am addressing a gathering of ministers, I know I am addressing people whose minds are trained to serve God. I am addressing people whose minds are trained to think more clearly, to think with greater intensity for a longer period of time. Generally,

20:28 if ministers come together for a conference, they have a very high level of motivation and appetite, and there is a sense in which to give them less than an hour, an hour and fifteen minutes, is to cheat them. But, if you are preaching to a small congregation in which you have a dozen families, and this will be true of many of you in the early days of your ministry, a dozen adult couples, who, like most Reformed Baptist couples, are very fecund and fruitful, there will be about three dozen little kids sitting around with that dozen adult couples. Well, it is obvious that if you are to hold the attention, you have got to take into consideration

21:12 the complexion of that congregation. And likewise, as the congregation grows and develops, and you pass through different stages, you ought constantly to be asking, who am I addressing? And the factors present in the people, in terms of the complexion of the congregation, will greatly influence how long you preach. Second question about the people, what is the general spiritual climate of those whom I am addressing? What is the general spiritual

21:51 climate? Are we to be sensitive to this? Yes. Hebrews 5, 1 Corinthians 3, and the words of our Lord, I have many things to say unto you, you are not yet able to bear them, are the three texts that are paramount in underscoring this principle. The writer to the Hebrews says,

22:12 there are many things I would like to tell you about Melchizedek, but I am not going to, seeing you are dull of hearing. And though it has reference more to the content, certainly by analogy, it has to do with the length. People with healthy, wholesome spiritual appetites can take more than those who have an unhealthy spiritual appetite, just as a healthy man or woman can sit down to a five-course meal, whereas someone in the midst of a flu will only be able to sip a little soup. And there the apostle in 1 Corinthians 3 says, I am not able to feed you with meat, but with milk. You were not able to bear it in the past, but with the

22:53 past you are still not able to bear it, and he didn't give it to them. So what is the general spiritual condition of those to whom I am ministering? Well, that will greatly affect the length of the sermon. Are they an eager, hungry, spiritually healthy people? Or are they

23:13 eager and hungry, but those who through lack of proper diet for years have their spiritual stomachs shrunk, and all they can take is a half an hour until their stomachs have shrunk? Stomachs are stretched. And if you go beyond half an hour, it's not because they're not eager and hungry, it's because their spiritual stomachs have shriveled. So do not unnecessarily alienate people. If you err, err on the side of assuming their spiritual condition to be less than what

23:44 it is until they prove otherwise. Have half the congregation scold you week in and week out for three months when you stop at half an hour or forty minutes, and then as you give them out, forty minutes, and the same group come and says, ah, that's much better for three months, then maybe assume you can move to forty-five. But if you err, err on the side of being a bit too brief, and let the people say, hey, you're sending us away from the table still hungry. Give us more. If you err, err on that side. What is the general spiritual condition? And that will

24:21 vary from place to place. It varies from time to time within one congregation. And then the third question you've got to ask, a factor present in the people, who are you addressing? What is their general spiritual condition? What is your present relationship to the people? Are you a relative

24:41 stranger and a newcomer among them? Then don't talk to them as though you were an old, well-known, well-loved patriarch. You'll make an ass of yourself. And I've been in situations where young men did that. And they stood up in a congregation and spoke as though they spoke

25:00 out of the context of the congregation. And they spoke out of the context of the congregation. And they spoke out of the context of years of intimate relationship with the people. And you could almost see the ears and the tail growing on them before your very eyes. And their preaching

25:12 sounded more like the braying of a donkey. What is your relationship to the people at this particular point in time? I can get away with things now which, if I tried 15 years ago, I'd have been given my walking papers. But the years of intimate interaction with one congregation have created a context, both with regard to content and time, that are peculiar to the chemistry of that relationship. Now, here's the other quote from page 135, the one at the

25:48 bottom of the page. When the preacher first settles, this is Spurgeon now, he cannot expect that his congregation will give him that solemn, earnest attention which those obtain who stand up like fathers among their own children. Beard to their people by a thousand memories, and esteemed for age and experience. Our whole life must be such as to add weight to our words, so that in after years we shall be able to wield the invincible eloquence of a long-sustained character, and obtain not merely the attention, but the affectionate veneration of our flock. If by our prayers and tears and labors our people become

26:32 spiritually healthy, we will be able to live a life of peace and happiness. We will not have to fear that we shall lose their attention. A people hungering after righteousness and a minister anxious to feed their souls will act in sweetest harmony with each other when their common theme is the word of the Lord. So you've got to ask yourself, what is my relationship to these people? I was struck with that again. It hardly seems possible that this was the 20th year

27:01 since my first visit to Leicester. Many of those men who were younger men when I first went there, now having grayed or gone bald much quicker than I'm graying, it struck me how good God has been to build up a long-term relationship that makes it right for me to say things now, which if I'd attempted to say 20 years ago, I doubt I ever would have received a second invitation. It would have been foolish to have said them. So you've got to constantly be asking that question, with reference to factors in the people. What is my relationship to the people?

27:39 But then there's a fourth factor relative to the people, and it's this. What are the physical and natural circumstances in which I'm addressing the people? We are not preaching to disembodied spirits or to individuals with no horizontal relationship. The spiritual circumstances are the people that are in charge of the people who are people.

28:12 We are not preaching to the people. We are not preaching to the people who are not going. We are preaching to the people who are not going. What's the deal with this?

28:20 By the way, what's the deal with this? They're nothing but materialize that are part of our life. That's how God even died. He was a man who once gave us these ways, faith, and grace.

28:30 The earth and the sky, all are part of our life. We are nothing but spiritual beings, and we are all living in a holy, holy, holy life. Let's take a look at Paul. Let's take a look at Paul.

28:37 you go too long, but the people will. In some country places, in the afternoon especially, the farmers have to milk their cows. And one farmer bitterly complained to me about a young man, I think from this college. Quote, Sir, he ought to have stopped at four o'clock, but he kept on till half past, and there were all my cows waiting to be milked.

29:00 How would he have liked it if he had been a cow? End quote. There was a great deal of sense in that question. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ought to have prosecuted that young sinner. How can farmers hear to their

29:19 prophet when they have cows on the brain? The mother feels morally certain during that extra ten minutes of your sermon that the baby is crying, the fire is out, and she cannot and will not give her heart to your preaching. You're keeping her in the house, and you're keeping her in the house. You're keeping her in the house. You're keeping her in the house. You're

29:34 keeping her ten minutes longer than she bargained for, and she looks upon it as a piece of injustice on your part. There is a kind of moral compact between you and your congregation that you will not weary them more than an hour and a half, he means the entire service, and if you keep them longer, it amounts to an infraction of a treaty and a piece of practical dishonesty of which you ought not to be guilty. Brevity is a virtue within the reach of all of us. Do not let us lose the opportunity of gaining the credit which it brings. So you've got to ask yourself, what are the factors, physical

30:11 and those related to the surroundings of our people? I can remember the days when in the old cracker box we had no air conditioning, and when we'd have 180 or 200 people packed in that place, and that's before we had insulation blown into the roof, it would have been cruel both to myself and to the people to have gone on for the length of time it's appropriate to do here in the summer where you sit in here and it never gets warmer than 70 degrees in the hottest weather. Well, that's a very vital factor in the whole area of the length of your preaching. And here our Lord is the great example. You remember when the multitudes were so spiritually hungry

30:50 that they forgot about food, he did not. He said, give them to eat. When shall we get food for so many out here in the wilderness? The Lord himself, in the midst of preaching to hungry-hearted people, did not forget. He said, give them to eat. When shall we get

Factors Present in the Content of the Sermon

31:04 the physical circumstances? So there are factors in the preacher that determine the length of the sermon. There are factors in the people. Now there's a third category of factors. Factors

31:18 present in the content of the sermon. Factors present in the content of the sermon. Now in the light of previously established principles such as unity of discourse, thrust of application, and of factors yet to be determined, some sermons demand, and I say the word guardedly but purposefully, some sermons demand 35 to

31:54 40 minutes of spreading out the exposition. And that sermon demands another 20 to 30 minutes of application to even to begin to do justice. So what do you do? Well, it may not be the part of wisdom for you to preach a 70-minute sermon.

32:17 Rather, it may be the part of wisdom to tell your people, today I'm going to open up the passage. Next week, God willing, after a brief review, I shall apply the passage. So you see, those are factors present in the content of the sermon itself. And if you try to condense 20 to 30 minutes of application, which the passage demands, deserves, and your people need, and you're convinced of their need in the light of your pastoral intimacy, for you to try to condense that into five to seven minutes and tack it on, is to do injustice to the impact of that portion

33:00 of the word. On the other hand, if you try to condense the 35 or 40 minutes of exposition needed to convince their judgment that the applications you make are valid, and you condense that down to 15 minutes, your application will have no teeth because you haven't carried the judgment of their mind. What you are building on the text really will bear the weight that you're putting on it. You see the point I'm making? Sometimes you simply have to take enough time to lay out the exposition so

33:31 that when you plant your big 15-inch cannonball guns, you've got enough reinforced concrete underneath to hold it. And there are times when men, in their zeal not to stint in the application, cheat on the exposition, but it doesn't carry weight. Because they haven't carried the judgment of the average listener sitting before them. So those factors present in the content of the sermon will greatly influence the length of any given sermon. So on that particular Lord's Day, you may just be 35 minutes. But on the next Lord's

34:08 Day, with your review and your application, you may be 40 minutes. Broadus speaks to this issue very wisely on page 536 of the Dargan edition. Quote him in your hearing. As to the length of a sermon, it would be well for a pastor to get it understood that he may sometimes make the sermon very short, sometimes quite long. There are subjects which can be made

34:34 very interesting and instructive for 20 minutes. But to occupy 30 or 40 minutes, it would be necessary to introduce matter really foreign, and such as will lessen the effect, or so to hammer out the style as to make it less impressive. Many a preacher has thought of subjectivity or text of precisely this description, and has been compelled either to abandon them or to spoil them in one of the ways indicated. Why not occasionally preach a short sermon of 20 or even 15 minutes? In that case, if circumstances warrant, the other services might, without remark,

35:09 be made longer than usual, pains being taken to render them interesting and impressive. On the other hand, there are subjects which imperatively demand an extended treatment, and cannot well be divided. And the preacher, especially when at home, ought to feel at liberty to occupy a full hour, or in rare cases even more, provided he is sure the sermon will have such a variety of distinct points, such stirring movement from beginning to end, and such sustained energy of delivery, as will keep the people interested in a high degree. Within these limits, the proper average in towns will probably be from 30 to 45 minutes, the former being best where the habitual number of people is less than the average.

35:51 The habitual mode of treating a subject is condensed and concentrated, the latter where it is more discursive and varied. You see how he's taking many of my principles and mingling them all together? He's saying in certain circumstances where people are accustomed to more closely reasoned thought, you'll take less time. In others, you'll be more discursive, more illustrative, and it will take a greater length of time. So you must be sensitive to

Factors Relative to the Presence of God

36:18 the factors present in the content of the sermon. But then there's a fourth category. I think I may have told you in the beginning we only had three. There are four major categories. Factors relative to the presence, capital

36:32 P. In deciding the appropriateness and reasonableness of the length of the sermon, you must not only take into consideration factors in the creature, factors in the people, factors in the content of the sermon, but factors relative to the content of the sermon. Now, God is always present in a true gathering of his people. Matthew 18. If the candlestick

37:02 has not been removed, and if it is not a period when the Holy Spirit is so grievously grieved that we could legitimately say the Lord was not present, we have his promise where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. However, God is not always consciously present. He is always present in the present. He is always present in the present, experimentally and congregationally present to the same degree. And when he draws

37:35 near in a special way, his presence is known in the act of preaching in terms of peculiar unction, unusual authority, unusual meltingness, movingness, and all of these other factors that I put under the heading factors relative to the content of the sermon. Now, when this is so, when God draws near in an unusual measure of his felt presence in preaching, time becomes relatively a non-factor. I have often thought of it in terms of the

38:16 phrase in Hebrews 6 of apostates who have tasted the powers of the world to come. And one of the elements of the world to come is timelessness. Timelessness, as we now reckon time. And haven't you known that when God is drawn near in preaching, though you're very conscious of still being in the flesh and all of the other factors related to your humanity, there's a sense in which that's been suspended for a brief period of time and you've utterly lost track of the clock and you've looked and said, where did that half hour go? And the preacher's conscious of that and the people

38:55 are conscious of that. Well, certainly that must enter into the question, how long is an appropriate length of time? If we are tasting the powers of the world to come and we are determined to quench not the spirit, then we will give due allowance for those factors relative to the Presence, capital P. And time and experience will help you in judging this matter, even though, no amount of time and experience will ever make you infallible. But certainly we need

39:34 to be sensitive to these matters. Now, having given you three major qualifying cautions about the length of your sermons, four major categories of factors which should influence the length of your sermons, I then want to give you some practical exhortations and then discuss several practical problems in connection with your sermon. So, let's take a break now and then we'll come back and I'm going to give you four practical exhortations and then take up two practical problems and then round it off with some good advice from some of the old masters. And I want to give you some juicy quotes.

Practical Exhortations for Sermon Length

40:14 All right? Now, brethren, we'll move into what I promised you at the end of the last hour, the practical exhortations and then wrestle with several practical problems relative to this matter of the length of our sermon. And here are the four practical exhortations. Number one, if you err, and that's the proper way to pronounce E-double-R, if you do not pronounce err-err, you are in error. If you err, err on the side of being too brief. And

40:55 I constantly, when addressing this subject, use the analogy of a good meal. You've enjoyed a meal over a course of forty-five minutes and your host or hostess or hostess or hostess offers you a big heaping pile of dessert and you say to yourself, I'm afraid if I take it, I'm going to feel so stuffed. All I'm going to be conscious of is being stuffed and having a bloodied conscience for being a glutton. Yet if I don't take it, I may offend my hostess. And so you rationalize and you take it. And what it does is it effectively

41:29 neutralizes all of the delight you had for the forty-five minutes putting down the legitimate food and legitimate amounts. Well, in the same way, in preaching, you can ruin by five or ten minutes beyond what your people are taking comfortably. You can force feed them and stuff them to the point where all they remember is the discomfort of the last course.

41:57 And remember that most of you are working on the long haul perspective and in the long haul context. So even though that thing you may feel is so important to you, it's not important, but it's going to take another ten minutes to give it. Remember, you'll have another chance to say it at another time. So if you err, err on the side of being too brief. I'd rather have a hundred people say, I'm disappointed you stopped when you did

42:24 than one person say, brother, you just wore me out with that last fifteen minutes. All right? Practical exhortation number two. Do not be overly sensitive to a malcontent minority of unspiritual people who may chronically complain about the length of your sermons.

42:50 Don't be overly sensitive to a malcontent minority of unspiritual people who may chronically complain about the length of your sermons. Never forget Matthew 11, 16 and following. I have been so thankful for this passage in so many ways over the years of ministry. Jesus, speaking with reference to his ministry and the ministry of John the Baptist and the rejection of both by the religious leaders, said, where unto shall I liken this generation? It's like

43:27 unto children sitting in the marketplaces who call to their fellows and say, we piped unto you and you did not dance. We wanted to play happy time and you said, no, let's play funeral. So we wailed and you did not mourn. We said, let's play funeral. And you

43:43 said, no, no, let's play happy time. And you said, no, no, let's play happy time. And you said, no, no, let's play happy time. And you said, no, no, let's play happy time. And you

43:43 said, no, no, let's play happy time. And you said, no, no, let's play happy time. And you said, no, no, let's play happy times. For John came neither eating nor drinking, that is, ordinary food, and they say he's a weirdo. He's got a demon. Son of man comes eating and drinking

43:55 ordinary food, and behold, they say, a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. Wisdom is justified by her works. Now, if you've got some unspiritual people, carnally-minded people, if you preach too long, in their estimation, but only a length which shows careful preparation and responsible delivery, in their estimation, you're too long, you're too insensitive. So, if you cut back and give them only half of what you've been giving, then they say, if he's only going to preach that long, let's cut his salary in half. What is he doing with all

44:33 his time? So, there's some people, if you're too long, you're too insensitive. If you're too short, they are like children in the marketplaces. Don't be overly sensitive to a malcontent minority. But then, thirdly, and here's where some young men especially err, don't be overly

44:50 influenced by the excessive enthusiasm of a hungry but insensitive minority. Don't be overly influenced by the excessive enthusiasm of a hungry but insensitive minority. Especially, you'll find this among some of your singles. They have no children.

45:18 They've got no cows that need milking. They've got no cow wife that needs to give milk. They don't know what it is to have a wife feeling uncomfortable when she goes a half hour beyond nursing time and she's so programmed she can hear the kid cry and her milk is coming in in the middle of the sermon and she's hurting and squirting and all the rest. And some of you married men know exactly what I'm talking about.

45:42 And those single people come up and they say, Oh, I wish you'd gone on for another hour. Well, you see, that's heady stuff. Here you are wondering, you know, am I coming across? Am I making it as a preacher?

45:55 And you're insecure and you don't quite have the measure of confidence. I mean, that's heady wine. I mean, that's hundred-proof stuff going to your brain to have somebody come up and make you feel like you're Whitfield back from the dead. And some men have just...

46:12 It's turned... It's in their head.

46:13 And they figured, well, one or two of these people saying I should go on for an hour. And what happened? They were overly influenced by the excessive enthusiasm of a hungry but insensitive minority. So I would warn you, don't forget the nursing moms.

46:27 Don't forget about your own self. Remember what Paul and Silas said to the jailer? Sir, do thyself no harm. Well, remember that.

46:36 Thou shalt not kill. That means don't kill yourself. There are times when if I preached up to what people wanted me to do, I'd have been to my grave a long time ago. All they know is they get blessed and they don't care if I get killed in the process.

46:51 All right. So, fourth practical exhortation. Master, master the time-saving devices.

47:02 Master the time-saving devices. And what are they? And this is experience teaching. I didn't find this in any book.

47:11 Limit your parallel citations. When you're seeking to establish a truth and you want to...

47:17 Buck your scripture with scripture and there are five scriptures that do it. Choose the front rank, one or two. Limit your parallel citations.

47:30 Secondly, quote or read your parallel citations without having your people turn to them all the time. A lot of time is consumed in a sermon if you have people turning to 15 or 20 passages. It takes 10 to 15 seconds for them to turn it and find it. You figure it out.

47:48 That can take five, seven minutes in a sermon. So, limit your parallel citations. Quote or read the parallel citations without asking your people to turn to them. Thirdly, be prepared to omit good but secondary material.

48:09 You're never going to be able to say all that can be said on a given text. I'm listening for the second time to an old sermon of Professor Murray's. I'm going to have copies made for you men on Genesis 3.15 and it struck me.

48:21 As I was listening through for the second time driving here today, as he began to open the text, he was stating, as only Professor Murray could, that no sermon can ever exhaust the mind of God in any one given passage of Scripture. Well, understanding that, then be prepared to omit secondary material.

48:42 Fourth time-saving device, stick closely to your notes or your manuscript in the teaching or explication segment of your sermon.

48:55 Stick closely to your notes. I didn't say keep your eyes glued on your paper, but stick closely to the tracts that were worked and laid in the study, particularly in the explication or the opening up of the text.

49:12 It's here where you can save a lot of time. In the study, labor to state things with lucid brevity.

49:23 And then fifth time-saving device, have prepared summations, summations available in your notes. When you're moving from one head to another, often in summarizing extemporaneously, you lose a lot of time because as it comes out, you say, well, that hasn't quite pulled it all together. That hasn't quite pulled it. Where if you did the work in the study and wrote out word for word, a summarizing statement, you would have been able to save a minute or two here, a minute or two there.

49:56 At the end, you've saved ten minutes. Well, these are some of the time-saving devices. Try to be aware of those in your preaching. What are they?

50:05 And then become master of them. All right?

Practical Problems: Expanding Sermons

50:11 Those are my four practical exhortations. Now I want to take up two very practical problems. If you haven't faced them already, you'll face them very early in your ministry. Number one, what should I do if in my intermediate or advanced preparation, what should I do if in my, intermediate or advanced preparation, things expand beyond a reasonable limit?

50:40 Here I thought I could handle the next paragraph in the epistle or the passage, the narrative I'm handling from the Old or the New Testament. I've gone through the work of exegesis. I see the basic structure. I've got my heads to the sermon.

50:56 But somewhere at the intermediate or advanced preparation stage, it's quite clear that things have expanded beyond a reasonable limit of time. What do I do?

51:08 Well, number one, reform your goals for that particular sermon. It may be that you started out with the goal to expound the whole paragraph and to give even application of all of its truth. Well, you may have to reform your goal and say, no, the central truth in that paragraph is what is found in the first two verses. And though I'm going to expound the whole, I will be uneven in my application.

51:35 Rather than my initial goal, which was to be uniform in my application of the whole, reform your goals for that particular sermon to make it workable within the time frame allotted. Then secondly, exercise the discipline of exclusion.

51:58 Exercise the discipline of exclusion.

52:04 From a rhetorical standpoint, few things undermine effective speaking. More effectively than being too discursive, running off in too many directions. All of them may be biblical, but if the sermon is to have grip and bite and is going to impinge upon the consciences of the people, then it must have movement toward a given end. And therefore, many times, the problem with excessive use of time is that we've not exercised in our preparation the discipline of exclusion or in the act of preaching as your own mind becomes warm to the subject.

52:48 A thousand other thoughts rush in that are connected biblically and are true, but they really have nothing to do with the overall thrust of the message. And you have got to be master of your own spirit. The fruit of the spirit is self-control. And exercise the discipline of exclusion.

53:08 Thirdly, it may be that what you need to do in this, particular instance, is divide the material into two or more sermons. We have an example of someone doing that in front of us all the time. Pastor Nichols saying, I think, but I don't know. I make no promises.

53:25 We'll see.

53:28 Then we see. But at least he's being honest that he's not sure. So, divide the material into two or more sermons if necessary.

53:38 And then there may be times when you must just beg the indulgence of your people and preach a longer sermon and tell them at the outset. As I've wrestled with the passage and with our needs as a congregation, I'm convinced that it's going to take me longer than normal today to deliver my soul. I beg your indulgence. I trust God will so come that it will not be burdensome.

54:01 And then you launch into it and you do what you've got to do.

54:06 Alright, so that's a practical problem that you'll face. But then there's a second major practical problem and it's this. What should I do if in the act of preaching things expand beyond what I expected?

54:21 See, our first question had to do with what happens if in our preparation at the desk things expand beyond a reasonable limit. But now, what shall I do if in the act of preaching things expand beyond what I expected? Well, in some cases, my advice would be bring the sermon to a close at the point where you struck fire. Maybe a bit untidy, homiletically, but it may be powerful from a spiritual and rhetorical standpoint.

54:54 I had an experience and an example of this when I was over there in England dealing with new material, male-female relationships and roles and I had three headings in which I was opening up the materials out of Genesis and the related passages in the New Testament, the original role concepts in creation, then the effect on those role relationships by the fall and then their restoration and redemption. I found when I got into the creation the eyes were getting larger and larger and I sensed that this was the way it was just like new material to these young people. So I just winged it and I just kept preaching away on that stuff and I just said, I've got two more heads. I said, I'll just give you the stuff in straight didactic method

55:38 in the discussion period planned for the afternoon. Now, that other stuff was eminently preachable, but I could tell I was striking fire under that first heading, so that afternoon I said, I'm not going to preach the material to the next two heads. One or two of the young people said, preach it to us. I said, no, we'll never get through by suppertime.

55:54 We've got a contract to be in there, so I'm just going to read off my heads to you. And that's what I did. Kept my hands on the lectern. I didn't preach.

56:02 I just read off the heads. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So, this principle is very real to me. Existentially, I've just come through it.

56:10 Bring the sermon to a close at the point where you strike fire. And it meant an untidy sermon, but it also meant that the Spirit of God struck fire and dealt with people at the point of their need. And another counsel under this heading is continue, even though the thing has gotten larger than you expected, continue if you have reasonable assurance that the people are both willing and able to take more.

56:39 And if God is in the thing, often what He will do in those cases is He will increase the capacity of the people, something we alluded to earlier, make them unconscious of time, the weight and the glory and the pressure of truth in the context of preaching altogether. So, conspire that you are able to carry the people through that more than ordinary length of preaching. But again, make sure if someone says preach on when you say I better quit, it's not one of those overly enthusiastic insensitive singles. If it's someone that's got three or four kids and a few gray hairs on his temples and he says it and a few others like him, well, then maybe you ought to preach on.

Wisdom from the Old Masters

57:23 But make sure you're getting your advice from the right source. Okay? Then, I conclude with some good advice from some of the old masters on this subject and I'll refer you to the sections that you can read on your own. Most of you have William Taylor's, I believe, The Ministry of the Word on pages 125 to 128.

57:49 Three pages of some of the most sagacious advice I've ever read on the subject of the length of a sermon.

58:05 As I say, you can read this as well as I, but to give you a little idea of the flavor of it. I only add in this connection that a sermon to be effective must not be inordinately long. When weariness begins to be felt by the hearer, edification ends. When weariness is felt, edification ends.

58:25 And sometimes the latter portion of the discourse only effaces the impression which the earlier has made. No matter how many other excellencies a preacher may have, they will all be neutralized if he habitually errs in this respect. Even such eloquence as that of Edward Irving could not hold an audience Sabbath after Sabbath for two and a half hours, which he was resolved, quote, he would have the privilege of, end of quote. And there is such a thing yet in the pulpit as flailing away at overthresh straw until the ears of the hearers deafened by the din seek refuge in the unconsciousness of sleep.

59:04 Now, as I say, he has a lot of good advice and he ends with this. A little common, common sense will be of more use to us than any rigid rule in determining the length of our discourse. And I'd say a little more than a little common sense. Get as much of it as you can.

59:20 One of the best commodities in the ministry. But then something you won't have access to, Hoppin, page 274 and 275, has some very helpful advice.

59:34 He says, as to the length of sermons, we would add a word. The history of this subject is somewhat suggestive as well as amusing. The sermons of the first five centuries varied in length according to preacher, place, circumstances as they do now. But Moule remarks that as a general rule the discourses of the Greek fathers are the longer and of the Latin fathers very considerably the shorter of the two.

59:58 The delivery of the latter could rarely have occupied more than half an hour, often not more than ten minutes. And then he goes on to give some account of this. Long sermons were the product of the post-Reformation, especially of Puritan times. Yet some of the earlier divines were lengthy.

60:15 And then he mentions people preaching by the hourglass. And the time was measured by the hourglass standing on the pulpit. When the hour was finished, the preacher turning it over would invite his hearers to another glass. And that's the way they would express it.

60:31 Invite the hearers to another glass. Turn the hourglass up. And I've actually seen some of the old pulpits where the hourglass was there and visible. Now it might be well for some of us to get one underneath for ourselves and know that as the sand drips down when the last grain goes through, we've got to bring the thing to an end.

60:50 There is, in fact, no rigid rule to be laid down. Subjects make their own time in treating them. Some subjects imperatively demand lengthy treatment. But whatever our theory of preaching may be, whether we view it as a constituent part of worship or a didactic exercise, religious feeling and good sense point generally to a forcible brevity in preaching, though some topics will not suffer themselves to be handled in a short time.

61:22 And then he goes on to quote some of the old masters who've addressed the subject. And then another book you likely will not come upon, The Heart of the Yale Lectures by Baxel Barrett Baxter. And this is very helpful in that under topical headings, this man is taking the cream of the Yale Lectures on preaching over many years and culls out some of the best material from the various lecturers. And on page 220, he has seven or eight brief quotes from some of the old masters on the subject of the length of sermons.

62:00 Simpson, whoever he was, I don't know if he was a relation to David or not, says, the question then arises, how long should the sermon be? The only safe rule is to quit before taxing and to quit before taxing the attention and patience of the congregation so that they'd be unwilling to return again to the house of God. Long sermons also are a strain upon the minister who delivers them, which if he possesses earnestness of manner will very unlikely unfit him for a protracted ministry. So if you see a congregation growing and people maturing in grace, then you can assume that with respect to the length of the sermons, the man has struck a happy medium.

62:43 But if you find people who are otherwise spiritually minded, reluctant to come, it may be that they're just being tortured week after week with excessively long sermons. Taylor was another who was opposed to long sermons and then he quotes from the section in William Taylor. This is one of the Yale series, so I'll not weary you with that. Watson suggested, when the sermon has culminated after a natural fashion, it ought to end, leaving its effect to rest not on rhetoric but on truth.

63:14 There may be times when for the effect the sermon may cease suddenly some letters before Z because the audience has surrendered without terms and the sermon has served its purpose. So he's saying if the word of God has carried the people and the issue has been settled, then why go on if the end for which you stood to preach has been realized? On the length of sermons, Beecher said, one word is to the length of sermons. That never should be determined by the clock, but upon broader considerations.

63:47 Short sermons for small subjects, long sermons for large subjects. It doesn't require that sermons should be of any uniform length. Let one be short, the next long, and the next intermediate. The true way to shorten a sermon is to make it more interesting.

64:07 John Brown mentioned Alexander McLaren as one who sometimes ended his sermons earlier than expected. And this is a fact. This is what John Brown said. Further, that his, Alexander McLaren's mode of preparation had this effect sometimes that his material did not always last as long as he had expected.

64:25 In such cases, when his wool was done, he had the courage to leave off spinning.

64:31 When he ran out of wool, he didn't just sit there and keep the spinning wheel going. The Scottish friends have a word for that. Blethering. I love it.

64:40 Doesn't that just say blethering? That's running off at the mouth. Just blethering. He didn't go on in blether.

64:46 When his wool was done, he had the courage to leave off spinning. He would never condescend to empty talk merely for the sake of filling up what had come to be regarded as the canonical time. He has been known to sit down at the end of twelve minutes simply remarking he had no more to say. And I do not know why a minister should go on talking when he has no more to say.

65:08 Though it's evident there are many ministers who do. End quote.

65:15 I remember one of the most powerful sermons I ever heard from the late Dr. A. W. Tozer brought you right up to a point of shattering pressure from the word.

65:27 And he stopped and said, well, no one ever did teach me how to close a sermon. I'm done. Sat down. It was like that.

65:37 Well, the effect of the sermon was tremendous and he didn't ruin it by trying to wind the thing down in a way that was artificial. He just admitted he said no one ever taught me how to close a sermon, he said, so I'm done. Sat down. And when he sat down and you caught your breath, the impact of where he brought you was very, very much still upon the spirit.

65:56 So, under this whole heading, brethren, listen to the old masters and you see amidst all of the diversity there is a cord of unity, of common sense, sensitivity to your people. If we err, err on the side of being too brief and far better to be done and leave our people expecting more and desiring more, and desiring more, than to glut them and to leave them restless and irritable and having to fight in their own hearts. And this is what you'll do with sensitive people. They'll say, I should love the word of God.

66:27 It's unspiritual to be restless and you will bring godly people under false guilt if you preach longer than you ought to in good sense dictates. And that's one of the most cruel things about preachers who preach too long. They bring the godly, sensitive members of their flock under false guilt who are sitting there saying, well, when I get to heaven, won't I sit at my Lord's feet forever and the pastor's giving me nothing but Bible and he's not just running off at the mouth. There must be some remaining sin in me and they go through all this when it's just their behinds have gotten sore.

67:02 And you've just taxed them beyond what they can take. So, may God make us to be men of good sense and sensitivity to our people and not so insecure that we feel that we've got to run off and cry for a week. Because someone has said, Pastor, you blew it. I believe you went ten minutes too long.

67:22 If only you'd stopped sooner, I believe you'd have blessed us all. Well, thank them for their straightforward honesty and say, by God's grace, I'll do better the next time. And then maybe set up some hand signals with them. Say, when you think I've reached a point, you know, reach up and scratch your right ear and just keep holding it until I look at you and nod.

67:42 You know, set up some hands. Do whatever you've got to do to get a readout from your people. And in every situation that will differ. Well,