Proverbs 19:2 Knowledge as well as enthusiasm

Desire without knowledge is not good - how much more will hasty feet miss the way!

Paul tells us that to desire to be an overseer is a good thing. To wnat to be a preacher is good. It is right that Christan men should want to see people converted and the saints built up. If that desre is to be met, this proverb reminds us, then knowledge is necessary. If a preacher is to be of any use then he needs to know certain things. He needs to know his Bible and a knowledge of systematic theology, church history, pastoral work and other matters will also be a great asset. In the rush to be out there sharing the gospel, it would be foolish to fail to get the requisite training simply becasue a man cannot wait the few years it takes to get such a training.

Proverbs 20:5 Drawing people out

The purposes of a person's heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.

One thing a good preacher should be able to do is to draw people out. It is important that we remember that those who hear us may well have all sorts of things hidden in their hearts - ambitions and desires and sins and fears - that we will certainly not see in their faces and are not likely to discern simply by talking to them briefly. If we are able to preach as we ought, however, then we will be able to bring these things to the surface and begin to deal with them in ways laid down in Scripture. We need to learn to be searching preachers.

Thomas Prince writing about Gilbert Tennent in The Great Awakening in America in the 18th century characterises it as a searching ministry. He says his ministry was "frequently both terrible and searching." He wrote
"Such were the convictions wrought in many hundreds in this town by Mr. Tennent's searching ministry: and such was the case of those many scores of several other congregations as well as mine, who came to me and others for direction under them. And indeed by all their converse I found, it was not so much the terror as the searching nature of his ministry, that was the principal means of their conviction. It was not merely, nor so much, his laying open the terrors of the law and wrath of God, or damnation of hell; (for this they could pretty well bear, as long as they hoped these belonged not to them, or they could easily avoid them) as his laying open their many vain and secret shifts and refuges, counterfeit resemblances of grace, delusive and damning hopes, their utter impotence, and impending danger of destruction; whereby they found all their hopes and refuges of lies to fail them, and themselves exposed to eternal ruin, unable to help themselves, and in a lost condition. This searching preaching was both the suitable and principal means of their conviction."
Ezekiel Hopkins referring to Psalm 26:2 and noting how "God, indeed, hath many ways of trying us; but especially by the word and ministry" asks his readers
"Do you love the word of God, because it is a searching word because it brings home convictions to you, and shakes your carnal confidences and presumptions Do you love a soul-searching ministry, that speaks as closely and particularly to you, as if it were another conscience without you; a ministry, that ransacks your very souls, and tells you all that ever you did Do you delight in a ministry, that forceth you to turn inward upon yourselves; that makes you tremble and look pale at every word, for fear it should be the sentence of your damnation ? This is a sign, that your condition is good, because you are so willing to be searched. He, that doeth evil, saith our Saviour, John iii. 20. hateth the light; neither cometh he to it, lest his deeds should be reproved. But, if you are pleased only with a formal, general ministry; and such prophets, as sing only pleasant songs to you; such, as never touch the conscience to the quick, that keep aloof off, and, instead of brandishing the word that is sharper than a two-edged sword, rending the heart with it, only make a flourish of it: if you can brook no other, but such a quiet, unconcerning ministry as this is, this is a bad sign, that yet you are unsound.£

Proverbs 20:4 Be warned against laziness

Sluggards do not plough in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.

This proverb against laziness and drawing on agricultural metaphors is applicable to many situations. The pastoral ministry is a particularly obvious one, especially given that the work of the minister is chiefly one of ploughing (and sowing) with the prospect of a harvest in due time. One clear disadvantage is if the pastor is lazy and neglects the work. There can be no harvest then.

Martin Luther has written

It is the devil, it is the world, it is our flesh that are raging and raving against us. Therefore, dear sirs and brethren, pastors and preachers, pray, read, study, be diligent. Truly, this evil, shameful time is not the season for being lazy, for sleeping and snoring. Use the gift that has been entrusted to you, and reveal the mystery of Christ.

And

Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good. They rely on these and other good books to get a sermon out of them. They do not pray; they do not study; they do not read; they do not search the Scripture. It is just as if there were no need to read the Bible for this purpose. They use such books as offer them homiletical helps in order to earn their yearly living; they are nothing but parrots and jackdaws, which learn to repeat without understanding, though our purpose and the purpose of these theologians is to direct preachers to Scripture with such books and exhort them to plan to defend our Christian faith after our death, against the devil, the world, and the flesh.

Proverbs 20:29 Preachers young and old

The glory of young men is their strength, grey hair the splendour of the old.

The point of this proverb is not to suggest that the young are better than the old or the old better than the young. The point is that each has his glory, his particular contribution. If you want help moving house then get a young man in. He will probably be best able to help you. But if you want advice on how you can handle arguments you are having with your wife, you might be better to consult an older man. When it comes to preaching there are differences too and although young and old can have their weaknesses they also both have their strengths.

We are in danger of caricaturing but we can say two things.

Firstly, the young can be nervous, too quiet, poor at dividing the material and not very good at application. They can be insensitive and too cerebral. However, ideally, there is a zeal and a directness, a freshness and excitement that older preachers can often lack. The younger man takes no prisoners and hearers are disarmed by the powerfully exaltation of Christ and the eager call to follow him. His thorough preparation and his careful exegesis give him authority. 

Older preachers, on the other hand, can ramble, have too many illustrations, lack exegetical rigour and make applications that are off the mark. Ideally, however, they speak with a depth of experience, a warmness and love that melts the hearts of their hearers in a way that too often does not happen with younger preachers. They avoid exegetical and homiletic pitfalls that younger preachers do not and avoid wasting the congregation's time on theological points of interest only to seminary students.

It is useful for preachers old and young alike to rightly assess their strengths and weaknesses. Young men will preach young me's sermons and old men old men's sermons but is they can be the best that they can preach that is all to the good.

Proverbs 21:5 The importance of preparation

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. 

More than one proverb recommends the importance of proper planning and preparation. Most preachers know that this is an essential if their preaching is ever to be successful. This proverb puts things both in a positive and a negative manner. Positively, The plans of the diligent lead to profit; negatively, haste leads to poverty.

If we take them in reverse and apply them to preaching, we can summarise like this - hastiness when preparing to preach leads to a poor sermon and careful planning with a diligent use of means will lead to a profitable sermon.

The need for preparation applies both to preparing the sermon and preparing oneself. Tim Keller has written “The temptation will be to let the pulpit drive you to the Word, but instead you must let the Word drive you to the pulpit. Prepare the preacher more than you prepare the sermon.”
E M Bounds says

We have emphasised sermon-preparation until we have lost sight of the important thing to be prepared - the heart. A prepared heart is much better than a prepared sermon. A prepared heart will make a prepared sermon ... It would not do to say that preachers study too much. Some of them do not study at all; others do not study enough. Numbers do not study the right way to show themselves workmen approved of God. But our great lack is not in head culture, but in heart culture; not lack of knowledge but lack of holiness is our sad and telling defect - not that we know too much, but that we do not meditate on God and his word and watch and fast and pray enough. The heart is the great hindrance to our preaching ....

Both long term and short term preparation is needed. A man needs to prepare himself for a life of ministry and with each time of preaching that he has in mind.

Proverbs 22:3 Know when to stop

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

A very practical proverb like this one has more than one application for the preacher. It is undoubtedly good to preach series of sermons from books of the Bible but if you find your series wearying the congregation, better to leave it and move on to something else. One reason Spurgeon gave for avoiding lengthy series was his boyhood experience with a preacher's interminable series on Hebrews.

He recalled

I have a very lively, or rather a deadly, recollection of a certain series of discourses on the Hebrews, which made a deep impression on my mind of the most undesirable kind. I wished frequently that the Hebrews had kept the Epistle to themselves, for it sadly bored one poor Gentile lad. By the time the seventh or eighth discourse had been delivered, only the very good people could stand it: these, of course, declared that they never heard more valuable expositions, but to those of a more carnal judgement it appeared that each sermon increased in dullness. Paul, in that Epistle, exhorts us to suffer the word of exhortation, and we did so. I also recollect hearing in my younger days long passages out of Daniel, which might have been exceedingly instructive to me if I had obtained the remotest conception of what they meant.

I heard of a man who never announced a series but would always say he was preaching from Chapter 1 and see how it went.

The same danger lurks in the individual sermon. Martin Luther warns “Some plague the people with too long sermons; for the faculty of listening is a tender thing, and soon becomes weary and satiated.” Prayers are another area where the proverb could apply. Spurgeon again complained about people who "pray us into a good frame of mind and heart, and then, by their long prayer, pray us out of it again". He recalls John MacDonald saying “When I am in a bad frame of mind I always pray short prayers, because my prayer will not be of any use, and when I am in a good frame of mind and heart, I pray short prayers, because if other people are in a good frame too, I might, if I kept on longer, pray them into a bad frame.”
An anecdote is told of D L Moody that in one of his meetings in the East End in 1885 someone was leading in prayer but went on too long. After a while, Moody stood and said, "Let us sing a hymn while our brother finishes his prayer." The source of the story is Dr. W. T. Grenfell. In his autobiography, A Labrador Doctor he tells how the prayer had so wearied him he was about to leave. Moody's prompt action kept Grenfell there and he was converted and went on to be a great medical missionary. 

Proverbs 23:9 Ignore fools

Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words

When we preach we want to cast the net as widely as is possible. However, we need to recognise that there are some whom it is impossible to reach through the ordinary preaching of the Word. Fools, that is those who are morally deficient and without faith and here wilfully and persistently deaf to the gospel, cannot be reached by this means. Such people will scorn your prudent words. They will not listen. This is why Jesus (Matthew 7:6) warned his disciples not to throw pigs to pearls or what is sacred to dogs. Indeed, he suggests that it may be worse than the proverb intimates - they may turn on you and harm you. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing and so although God himself can break through preaching to fools cannot of itself. From time to time people will turn up at church who have no intention of doing anything but scorning the Word. They will not be persuaded.