Simplistic preaching

As a young preacher, one pastor liked to pick out hymns on Sunday nights and preach on them. Problem was, he treated hymns like the Bible, and would take phrases and try to make application.

One in particular.

How great thou art.

And when I think of God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,


He took that last line about him gladly bearing our burdens and spent an entire evening talking about how we were to gladly bear the burden of others, and one point was that the huge building fund debt was a burden, or something like that, and that we should gladly give our lives to pay it off.
 
Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

You can't talk about "simplistic preaching" without talking about those who fall "hook, line and sinker" for anything that comes their way.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Yes. The "things of God" are often "complex". "Very complex". Yet, we have to have a simple truth as our foundation.

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.





 
christundivided said:
Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

You can't talk about "simplistic preaching" without talking about those who fall "hook, line and sinker" for anything that comes their way.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Yes. The "things of God" are often "complex". "Very complex". Yet, we have to have a simple truth as our foundation.

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Click to expand...

And your conclusion? Are you concluding that we should be simplistic?

Martin Luther said that his goal was to preach the great truths of the bible so that his 10 year old understood, but I doubt it was simplistic.
 
CU.  I'm not for over-complicating the simple scripture.  You may have missed the point of the post.
From my blog post:
Everybody should aim to keep things as simple as possible. When we take truth and present it in a complex, difficult way we are doing people a great disservice. “Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” People need to clearly see what God’s Word says, or else they will perish. Our spiritual eyes can only handle so much complexity.
Click to expand...
 
I would say you are on point if you are saying that the preacher/teacher should not be a reductionist but an expositor.  I think the aim should be to preach in such a way that everyone in the audience understands and is confident that they can understand the Bible without you.  This can be accomplished without stripping truth of its many nuances and facets (i.e. salvation=regeneration, redemption, atonement, propitiation, etc.).
 
graceandtruth said:
I would say you are on point if you are saying that the preacher/teacher should not be a reductionist but an expositor.  I think the aim should be to preach in such a way that everyone in the audience understands and is confident that they can understand the Bible without you.  This can be accomplished without stripping truth of its many nuances and facets (i.e. salvation=regeneration, redemption, atonement, propitiation, etc.).
Click to expand...

Yep.  Part of my goal in preaching is not just to tell them what it says and what they should do about it, but to model how I got there.  I think a steady diet of Bible preaching is like an ongoing class on how to study and apply the Bible.  Good point.
 
Torrent v.3 said:
christundivided said:
Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

You can't talk about "simplistic preaching" without talking about those who fall "hook, line and sinker" for anything that comes their way.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Yes. The "things of God" are often "complex". "Very complex". Yet, we have to have a simple truth as our foundation.

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Click to expand...

And your conclusion? Are you concluding that we should be simplistic?

Martin Luther said that his goal was to preach the great truths of the bible so that his 10 year old understood, but I doubt it was simplistic.
Click to expand...

You misunderstand what I wrote. Its not only about pastors.... some people are just easily influenced. They are often won over by overly simplistic understandings of the Scriptures.

At the same time, The foundation of Christ is very simple. Its not overly complex.
 
pastorryanhayden said:
CU.  I'm not for over-complicating the simple scripture.  You may have missed the point of the post.
From my blog post:
Everybody should aim to keep things as simple as possible. When we take truth and present it in a complex, difficult way we are doing people a great disservice. “Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” People need to clearly see what God’s Word says, or else they will perish. Our spiritual eyes can only handle so much complexity.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I didn't intend it to be a criticism. I was simply point out that people are prone to accepting over simplistic teachings. Especially if they don't understand what is being taught. No kick at you. Its part of human nature. This is one of the reason I am so against the standard teachings of Calvinism. I think they are entirely too simplistic and childish.
 
CU.  You are right.  Unfortunately, simplistic teaching prevails because it's often what people want. 
 
christundivided said:
Torrent v.3 said:
christundivided said:
Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

You can't talk about "simplistic preaching" without talking about those who fall "hook, line and sinker" for anything that comes their way.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Yes. The "things of God" are often "complex". "Very complex". Yet, we have to have a simple truth as our foundation.

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Click to expand...

And your conclusion? Are you concluding that we should be simplistic?

Martin Luther said that his goal was to preach the great truths of the bible so that his 10 year old understood, but I doubt it was simplistic.
Click to expand...

You misunderstand what I wrote. Its not only about pastors.... some people are just easily influenced. They are often won over by overly simplistic understandings of the Scriptures.

At the same time, The foundation of Christ is very simple. Its not overly complex.
Click to expand...

True. Some people. Most people need solid truth.
 
pastorryanhayden said:
CU.  You are right.  Unfortunately, simplistic teaching prevails because it's often what people want.
Click to expand...

It's not what this people wants! When choosing a church and pastor, I look for a scholarly approach to preaching. Ideally, I like to feel like I'm hearing a seminary lecture rather than a sermon. I know that's not what most parishioners want, but I'm a little unusual.





 
How about using "...because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved" as a justification for some 1-2-3 pray after me type of salvation philosophy?
 
Dr Falwell used to say those who can, do...those who can't think they can, but don't.
Some post here reminded me of that....... :)
 
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