Lee Eclov, pastor of village church in lincolnshire, illinois writes two splendid posts at out of ur on the dangers of the current preaching form found within many of our congregations today.
[part 1] why people need more than the bottom line
[part 2] allowing scripture to civilize our thinking
i have been harping on the current state of preaching in our congregations for some time now and i couldn’t agree more with the assertions that lee is making. allow me to give you a little snippet:
“The Bible spends much more time on shaping the spiritual mind than commanding particular behavior. We need far more training in the ways of grace, of spiritual perceptions, and of what God is really like, than we do in how to communicate with our spouse. Understanding the glory of Christ is far more practical than our listeners imagine. Properly preached, every sermon based on a passage of Scripture is fundamentally practical. Every author of Scripture wrote to effect change in God’s people. It is our job as preachers to find the persuasive logic of that author and put that clearly and persuasively before our people through biblical exposition.”
why did we ever lose this as our charge? sometimes as preachers/teachers we must realize that what the people want is not what is always best for them. it’s when you fall to the demands and whims of the people that you end up with nothing at all. now i’m not advocating a dictatorship from the pulpit, but there are certain things within the church that should be non-negotialble, and the substance found within preaching should be one of them. is it no wonder that we are in one of the most biblically-illiterate churched cultures ever?
Related posts:
- preaching Jesus.
- sermonic drivel… the underlying reason for my disdain.
- manifesto of frustration./// (a rant)
- csi, abortion, and the bible.
- the way of Jesus.
