Serving Good Sermons

Dr. Bruce Waltke tells the story of his wife’s days in home economics in college. They did a test on two white mice, feeding them two completely different diets. They fed the first mouse whole milk, wheat bread, oatmeal, carrots, and fruit juices. They fed the second mouse coffee and doughnuts for breakfast, white bread and jelly for lunch, candy, potato chips, and Coke for supper. Can you guess the results?

In less than ten days there were marked differences in the two mice. One was healthy and robust, dancing around in the cage. The other one was already showing signs of ill health, losing its hair, becoming irritable, and preferring solitude. As the diet continued, the second mouse soon lay down completely listless and shortly thereafter, died. Why?

Wrong diet.

Let’s apply this to our pulpits. If we feed our congregations the wrong food—spiritually speaking—they will wind up listless, irritable, weak, and lacking inner peace. But if we feed them the right diet of God’s Word and the living water of life, the difference in their spiritual health will be remarkable.

I heard of a young minister who frequently boasted that all the time he needed to prepare his Sunday sermon was the few moments it took to walk to the church from the parsonage next door. You could probably guess what the congregation voted to do: They bought a new parsonage eight miles away!

True, serving good, healthy sermons is hard work, my brothers. But what a difference it will make on others . . . and in ourselves!

—Chuck