When I was in seminary, it was pretty commonplace to hear my fellow classmates lamenting the lack of deep biblical preaching in churches today. These were pastors, teachers, and missionaries in training, and, certainly, their passion for the preaching office in the church is to be lauded. However, I think that in our zeal for deep preaching, it would be easy to develop an overly critical attitude when listening to sermons being preached. Nevertheless, as listeners, we must be discerning of what we hear. The difficulty is that the very concept of deep preaching is somewhat nebulous. What makes a particular sermon deep? What are the defining characteristics of a deep sermon? It is probably easier to define what deep preaching is not as opposed to what it is, so in that regard, what follows are some guidelines for identifying what deep preaching is not.

Deep preaching is not a seminary lecture. Preaching is not the time for an information dump of all that a preacher knows about a given passage. A seminary lecture has as its primary purpose to educate and to inform, and it is set in a classroom setting that is focused primarily on learning. Now, while these purposes certainly overlap with that of a sermon, they are still two quite distinct entities. A sermon must be catered to the audience and context for which it is intended, and it must be more than the dissemination of information.

Deep preaching is not a lesson in Greek or Hebrew. Studying the original languages of Holy Scripture is certainly a valuable, and I think it is a necessary resource for sharpening a pastor’s understanding of a given passage. But the pulpit is not the place to be giving vocabulary lessons. Use the original languages to inform your study, but then translate that meaning into the sermon in a way that people who have never been exposed to the original languages can understand. And don’t try to pronounce or include words from the original language in order to impress people with how much you know.

Deep preaching is not locked in the past. Here again, historical analysis and socio-cultural insights are important and helpful for understanding a given passage, and as those details serve to make the meaning of the text clearer, they can and should be included in the sermon to help listeners understand the text. However, a sermon that remains in the past and never brings the meaning forward to the present is not deep. It is merely a history lesson.

Deep preaching is not unnecessarily complex. All of the above leads us to this, that deep preaching is not complex for the sake of being complex. Literary, linguistic, historical, and cultural details all must serve the ultimate purpose of making the meaning of the text clear. Certainly some passages and genres are more demanding than others making the various contextual details necessary, but, ultimately, everything that is said and done in a sermon must relate to overall meaning of the text and serve to make it clear.

Deep preaching is not interested in self help, nor does it seek to entertain. This is perhaps what my seminary peers were concerned with in their laments, but ultimately the purpose of a sermon is not to give helpful advice for life, to make people laugh or feel good about themselves or their lives. The purpose of a sermon is to present listeners with the risen Lord Jesus Christ, to point them to the Gospel and their need for a savior, and to be the avenue the Spirit uses to call people to repentance and faith.

Now, let me be clear, I love studying the literary/grammatical and historical sociocultural contexts of the Bible, but expository preaching must not content itself with what the Biblical authors once said. No, it must move forward to what the Spirit is saying. So, in that light, let us move on to what deep preaching is.

Deep preaching is focused on the text. Let the main thing be the main thing, and the main thing in preaching is the text of Holy Scripture. It is the text that is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is the text that the Spirit uses to touch hearts and change lives, and it the text that ultimately holds up Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. In the sermon, pastors should not be giving their opinions or addressing their favorite soapboxes or hobbyhorses or whatever may be the hot topic from the news cycle that week. As Paul told the young pastor Timothy, “Preach the Word!” (2 Tim. 4:2)

Deep preaching is geared toward life change. The Bible refers to it as edification, but all that really means is that preaching is for the purpose of making more faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. That should be the goal in all we do from pulpit to piano to parking lot, to equip people for living this thing called the Christian life. Ultimately, we know that true life change is brought about by the Spirit, and the Word is His sword. Preachers are the handles of that sword as they faithfully proclaim the Spirit inspired message of Holy Scripture week in and week out, so that the Spirit can do His work of transforming sinful human beings into the image of Jesus Christ.

Deep preaching comes from a place of personal conviction. If a pastor has not been personally touched, convicted, comforted, challenged, or changed by a particular passage or sermon, then he should not be preaching it. This means that in addition to historical and literary study of the text, the preacher should be spending time in those classic word centered spiritual disciplines, i.e. meditation, prayer, and fasting, so that the truth of the Scripture is burned into his very soul. Preaching from a place of Spirit led conviction yields spiritual power, authenticity, and real life to the sermon being preached. If you want your listeners to be changed by the sermon you are preaching, then you had better be changed by it too.

See also Edwards, J. Kent. Deep Preaching: Creating Sermons that Go Beyond the Superficial. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Academic, 2009.