"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)
Granted it was a long time ago when we attended Bible college. At that time, we were told in homiletics class, approximately 80% of preaching should be expository. Expository preaching broadly means to expound or explain the meaning of Bible verses. We were taught and encouraged to study the Bible in such a way as to be able to understand and teach the meanings of the verses under consideration according to their original intent. To that end we took basic Hebrew and Greek classes and studied the scriptures diligently. Expository preaching was, we were told, to be preferred to either textual or topical sermons.
We are at a loss to remember the last expository sermon we heard. This is not an indictment against any particular church as we have been to many different churches recently. Expository preaching seems to have been lost in the race to be relevant somewhere in the past few decades. In the church's haste to be relevant in society, we seem to have lost sight of the concept that the Bible has been and is always relevant. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16) Speaking of Timothy, he was told to, "Preach the word..." (2 Timothy 4:2), not "Tell the people what you think."
The mode du jour for preaching seems to be the topical sermon. The preacher chooses a topic, from daily life or from the Bible, and searches out other Bible verses to validate his or her opinion on the topic at hand. Interestingly, we have had weeks when the Holy Spirit has put things together in such a way, that we have heard a recurring theme several times in the same week. These occurrences have come via Sunday sermons, Bible studies, morning devotionals, and materials that have been given to us personally. That kind of thing cannot be all bad. So what is the big deal about expository preaching if the Holy Spirit is weaving together topics that Christians should know? Were our college professors wrong? Perhaps expository preaching has simply run it's course and is no longer relevant?
Review the scripture verses in italics above. Now let us look at what they do NOT say. Neither of them says anything remotely resembling "The word of the Sunday morning speaker, small group leader or Bible study teacher." Nor do they include writers of devotionals, books about the Bible, etc. God is the sole author of truth. Any truth that is spoken, written or taught is simply a reiteration of His truth.
It probably would not be so bad that we have done away with expository preaching, but most churches have also done away with Sunday School and have replaced Bible studies with "fellowship groups" under whatever name they have chosen for them. Not having either of those times of teaching the Bible has created a generation of Christians that is largely ignorant of basic, Bible doctrines (teachings) and their application to daily life. As a result, there is little sound, consistent doctrine throughout the church. Many Christians believe anything they hear from a pulpit on Sunday morning because they to not have the understanding and discernment to know whether the preacher is telling them the truth.
Most all preachers endeavor to tell the truth, and even go to the Bible to validate their version of it. A large percentage of the time they are correct, but the times they are not could mean the difference between spirit and soul, truth and error, life and death, heaven and hell. (Sorry to be quite so blunt there.) This is why Christians generally do no better at living the zoe, the God kind of life, than do unbelievers. That is also why The Church in Santa Maria has failed to recognize the insidious affects of the religious spirit that rules in this valley. As Pastor Jack Hayford has often said, "A diluted Gospel has produced deluded Christians."
I am guessing I probably get a C for effort in shortening these posts. Still some room for improvement there. I am working on improving that mark and still saying everything I am hearing. God bless!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
there does seem to be a lot of "thumb- sucking" Christians out there. let's hope they are not 100% relying on the preacher on Sunday morning and have a true relationship with God
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I need to ask – by shortening your posts might you be deluding the Word God is giving you? They should be as long as they need to be. If you are writing everything you are hearing from God through the Spirit, then who is to say it’s too long? I would say that anyone asking you to shorten them is unknowingly stifling the Spirit. I wonder if David had anyone tell him “you need to shorten up the Psalms.”
ReplyDeleteThe reason we have so many “thumb-sucking” Christians is because anyone who disagrees with the theology of the pastor is likely to be asked to leave their church. We have personally seen this happen. And what is most interesting about this is the more people seek God and read their bible, the more they may begin to question what is being taught – and the local church can’t have that. Less people in the seats means less money in the baskets. What would they do? We have also attended many churches lately, and the first question we always get is, “What’s the pastor like?” It’s never about the message we received there. It has gone from worshipping God to celebrity-like pastors. How many friends does your pastor have on Facebook?
This past Sunday I went to a church where the pastor taught on emotional spirituality. Talk about oxymoron considering emotion is a part of the soul. The Word of God separates the two. I guess they haven’t read the part that says love is a fruit of the Spirit, not an emotion. It’d be nice to get back to expository teaching where the pastor wouldn’t fear a mass exodus because he teaches on the actual Word of God. The government has gotten away from “Don’t ask, Don’t tell.” Why can’t the church? I mean this to say that the Word of God should be preached as it is, not in fear of what a “thumb-sucking” Christian might feel about it. To quote a pastor, “If you want to have theological discussions, I’ll find you a church where you can do that. We’re not going to have that in my church. We’ll open up the yellow pages and find you one that will.”
Of course this is our opinion, we could be wrong.