What Are You Asking of Your Listeners? An honest Sermon Counts the Cost
Why does it seem like a good sermon isn't enough to cause hearts to be changed?
If the Holy Spirit is really at work and the Gospel is preached with clarity and conviction, how come as soon as we hear the Good News we don't we embrace it and change course immediately?
The answer, simply put, is that the price of the Gospel is often higher than we're willing to pay.
It's higher than any of us are willing to pay.
Thank God Jesus forgives and loves us just the same!
The Gospel asks us over and over again to lose our selves in order to gain our selves.
While we know in theory it must be a worthwhile exchange, few will change without seriously reckoning with the loss in our hearts.
Sermons are listened to when we acknowledge what the Gospel is offering AND what the Gospel is asking us to give up.
Consider these four costs preachers need to "price" or acknowledge for their listeners.
Four prices
Competing Loyalties
We live with competing loyalties, and sometimes the Gospel asks us to choose.
Give everything we have to the poor? "Not if we want send our kids to college."
Respect the dignity of every human being? "Not if it means we have to denounce hateful comments by our neighbors—and still live peaceably with them afterwards."
Honor the Sabbath? "Not if our kids are in soccer games on Sunday mornings."
Competing loyalties are a daily reality.
If the sermons asks for Jesus to “win," then we need to respect and name just as seriously what we “lose.”
The Devil We Know
When we repeat something one time, a pattern starts to get entrenched.
For example, as soon as a decision is made the second time, we show how decisions are made and who makes them, what's allowed to be talked about and what's off-limits.
No matter how dysfunctional patterns are, once established they're hard to change.
The more we persist in trying to change them the more resistance we can expect.
After all, because systems often favor some over others, those on top have little incentive to change no matter how "Good" the "Good News" is.
Minutes
For many of us, if not most, time is the most precious commodity we have, more precious than money.
We all have to choose what to do with the minutes we have.
Deciding how to allocate the precious minutes of the day for the nonessentials is a tough decision.
Prayer and bible reading?
After taking care of the daily essentials, are they essential?
Are they essential when compared to other competing goods like exercise, reading to the kids, or cooking for an elderly neighbor?
What price in minutes does the Gospel ask us to pay?
emotional BandWidth
People are overwhelmed.
The behavior of politicians is so awful, I wonder whether they have a secret bet amongst themselves to see who can most out-awful the others!
Fear is constantly stoked on television.
Change is happening in real time in multiple realms that affect real people, including climate change, health care, voting rights, human rights, immigration, war, inflation, and jobs.
To accept that the Gospel opens us to care for others (including "others" we've never met) alongside our own can feel life-threatening, not life-giving.
The sermon message may ask people to live the Gospel in ways they don't have the wherewithal for right now.
But what’s the opportunity cost we pay if we don't?
These are just three examples of the price we're asked to pay to follow Christ.
Yes, the price is high; Jesus emphasized it would be.
So that the price we pay is one that can be accepted, here are some suggestions to guide our sermons.
Count the cost, Literally and figuratively.
As you prepare, consider not only yourself but for others in your congregation with different backgrounds who are in various stages of life.
Imagine (or better, ask them) what price they would pay if they were to follow Christ before and against all others based on the lessons.
What cost would you have to pay to follow your own message?
Empathize
Let people know you know what's being asked of them.
Acknowledge the pain, the dilemmas, the tough choices.
Let them know you know because you, too, have to make the same choices every day.
Trust
People have various tolerances for the pain of loss and grief, no matter how minor it may seem to us.
Indeed, the pain and price of the Gospel may be higher than they feel able to pay.
Trust they're doing the best they can, and what matters to them, matters to them.
Most importantly, trust God to work it out with them.
Have compassion For thyself
We're also making these decisions, right?
Trust yourself that you're doing the best you can, and what matters to you, matters to you.
Talk to yourself like you do to your best friend: tell yourself that what you're doing is really hard.
Most importantly, trust the Spirit to work it out with you.
Keep preaching
Just because listeners haven't "gotten it" yet doesn't mean we quit preaching the Gospel!
No one "outpaces the rate of grace," as Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, O.S.B., says.
We embrace the Gospel at the rate we're able.
Thank God, once again, that the grace of Jesus Christ fills in the gap!
Finally, for Your Own Sake, Grow with Colleagues
Finding colleagues with whom we can share challenges and count the cost in our lives will help us remain courageous and authentic in our own preaching.
If you’re looking for colleagues and a mentor to work with you on your sermons during these fraught days, consider the Backstory Preaching Mentorship.
Graduates say it’s “transformational” and “worth your time and money!”
We’ve been offering The Mentorship since 2016, and in every exit survey the preacher recommends this program.
What’s the before and after of the Mentorship?
Before: Sermons are written on your (supposed) day off.
After: Sermons are completed during your work week and you get a day off!
Before: Sermon prep is something to “get done.”
After: Sermon prep is spiritual respite.
Before: You receive comments like “Good sermon, Pastor” but don’t know why it worked—or didn’t.
After: Because of the process to appraise a sermon and having received and offered many, you’ll know how to appraise your own sermons for continued growth.
Before: Sermon prep is a solo job.
After: Sermon prep is communal.
Before: Sermon prep feels “academic.”
After: Sermon prep is a process of discovery between the text, your spirit, the Holy Spirit, and those who will listen.
If you relate to even a couple of the above, discerning whether this is your year for the Mentorship is your next step!
Start praying now about applying for our year-long, online, intensive Mentorship for 2026-2027.
Want to learn more? Interested in ways to fund this kind of investment? We have an event coming up to share details along with practical strategies to make this program possible. Click the link to register:
Weds, 4/29 @ noon CT: "Find the Funding: A Working Session"
Applications open May 31st, so there's plenty of time to prepare.