Generic Sermons

Is it possible to have a generic sermon?  That is, a sermon that is applicable to all people, to any church?  A sermon that is essentially lacking in specific character?  A sermon that is essentially untargeted?  The question should not be, is it possible, but rather, is it beneficial?

A sermon that is generically targeted toward all Christians, or all possible audiences, does have some advantages.  It allows for repetition in multiple settings without consideration of the listeners this time.  It allows for a pastor to reuse a set of sermons from an old church in the new church.  It allows for time to be freed up from preparation for other exciting ministry pursuits.

However…and it’s a big however…generic preaching is essentially guaranteed to be inadequate preaching, incomplete preaching.  A generic sermon is in some ways a disabled sermon.  Why?  Because a genuine biblical sermon is not only made up of biblical truth presented through the words and life of a preacher.  It is also targeted at a specific group of listeners both in delivery and prayerful preparation.  A generic sermon may be complete in respect to the Bible element and the preacher element, but it will be lacking or completely shrivelled in respect to the listener element and the Holy Spirit element.

Next time you’re tempted to preach a generic, untargeted, audience non-specific, sermon . . . don’t.  That doesn’t mean you can’t preach that sermon again.  It does mean that we need to put in the time in prayerful consideration of the particular listeners in order to make sure the sermon is not generic, but is targeted.

Generic may be possible, and in certain circumstances maybe even permissible, but it is not beneficial.  If real estate is location, location, location . . . then for this post at least, preaching is target, target, target.