Preaching the Beatitudes (Part 2 of the Preacher Geek Series)

One of the preacher’s worst nightmares–besides working with a church that actually expects him to practice what he preaches–is to plan a six week series of teachings that turns out to be only five-and-a-half weeks long. By that, I mean that the preacher runs out of material before he gets to the end of the series. It happens!

This is a particular danger when doing a topical series. It is so easy to brainstorm six brilliant topics in August only to have one of them turn out to be more of a five minute meditation than a thirty minute sermon when it comes time to flesh it out in March.

I’ve never been a big fan of topical preaching, but when I have done it, I’ve still tried to root the topics in a specific text if at all possible. One example of this approach would be a series on the Beatitudes from Matthew 5. Rather than taking them on as a whole in one sermon, what if you preached from one beatitude each week?

I tried this a couple of years ago. I was nervous about it because I was afraid I would get to one of the later beatitudes and find I’d said everything that could be said about them. So I spent a few days doing some prep work before I started the series to make sure I would have enough stuff to fund them all.

It turned out to be a great series. I’d start with the beatitude of the week and then go back and trace its theme through the Old Testament so that we might better appreciate the scriptural echoes from each blessing he gave to the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the merciful, etc.

I was never short of material. Between talking about the group Jesus was blessing (the merciful) and their “reward” (inherit the earth), there was always plenty of material to teach. I was able to dig into concepts that get passed over when preaching the beatitudes as a whole (What exactly does “inherit the earth” mean?). I was also able to slowly lay a foundation for how we have to be thinking about the world in order for what Jesus says in the rest of his Sermon on the Mount to make sense.

Blessed are those who preach from each beatitude, for they will find material for eight great teachings.

Give it a try.