Marks of Good Preaching - Don't Avoid the Growing Pains
To the Reader: If you have not already done so, please read the introduction to this series, ”Thoughts on Sermon Criticism”, before reading this article.
This is a follow up to “Less is More”.
In the previous article, I suggest that fewer sermons per week would allow for more quality and time in the development of preaching. Less quantity can allow better quality. But the real question is, “Quality in what way?” I hope to answer that below.
I suspect that many churches with too much going on suffer from an extended diet of preaching “milk” to the exclusion of those who need “meat.” I believe that is a far more common problem in our circles than that of too much meat and not enough milk.
I have known preachers who preach so heady and lofty that few really understand what they are saying. However, what I have much more commonly encountered among our Baptist brethren are the opposite sentiments:
“I try to put my preaching on the bottom shelf.”
“I want my preaching to reach to the lowest level of understanding in the congregation.”
“I only ever give the listeners ten percent of what I’ve studied.”
"They have no idea about that issue so I don’t cover it."
I don’t know all of the preacher’s reasons for these decisions, so I cannot say with certainty why this is done. But often, a verse or passage is skipped, a concept is skipped, a doctrine is avoided in favor of alleged simplicity. Please understand, while simplicity is sometimes a virtue, it is not always a virtue. This is especially true when, in the name of simplicity, the preacher does not represent the whole counsel of God to the people. This leaves the mature listener frustrated while leaving the immature, well, still immature.
I have sometimes heard preachers reference 2 Corinthians 1:12 and 11:3 as justification for preaching “simple”, “topical”, or “practical” messages. This ignores the actual meaning of the Greek word in those passages which would be better translated as “sincere” or “pure”, the idea of not being duplicitous. It does not have in view the idea of being devoid of complexity.
An evangelist once told me that he rejects expository preaching because Jesus spoke mostly in parables. The astute reader will remember that in Mark 4:10-12 Jesus explained that His parables were not designed as teaching aids, but for most listeners, parables were intended to not be understood at all! Parables were a judgment on the unwilling ear. And that was meant to fulfill prophecy (Isaiah 6:9-10). So therefore, parables were not intended to be a model for our preaching. And they are most certainly not a justification to preach “simple” messages.
Many preachers assume by the above passages that there is virtue in not talking about difficult doctrines. But as you can see, that comes from misapplying the aforementioned passages. As a side note, the word ἁπλότης translated "simplicity" in those verses is sometimes translated "bountifully" or "plentifully", which is almost the complete opposite idea to "simple" as modern English understands it (c.f. 2 Corinthians 8:2; 9:11, 13).
Simple preaching may be a pendulum swing away from the lofty, seminarian-types who sometimes just want people to see how smart they. Or maybe the simple preacher just wants to seem relatable. Maybe he’s afraid of his views being challenged. Whatever the reason for bottom-shelf preaching, the pendulum has swung too far in that direction. The result is that simple people are never stretched and do not grow much. Tim Challies illustrated this church phenomenon using a Bonsai tree. These trees are intentionally kept tiny. They’re more manageable that way. But they also never become giants.
Conversely, the mature believers (if there are any still attending) are rarely fed spiritually to a sufficient extent when there is only simple preaching. They tend to seek greener pastures of preaching. Remember that by preaching only to the new Christians you are isolating the mature.
The best preaching can cover incredibly technical aspects of the Bible when needed, in a way that brings the understanding of the people up to it. There truly is a gift to this sort of preaching. It stretches people reasonably. Too far above their reach, and they are frustrated. Too easily within their reach, and it does little for them. They may tell you afterwards, “That was heavy, but I got it.” It’s good if you hear that a lot. These are normal growing pains. Don’t avoid them. People tend to enjoy attainable growth.
Additionally, I believe God inspired some parts of Scripture to be intentionally challenging to all of us. Perhaps the reason for that is to draw us to prayer and into a deeper dependence and faith that He is right and good no matter what difficult truths we discover. We all need that.
I’ve also heard more than one preacher in recent years explain that in the internet age they have to build “A.D.D. breaks” into their sermons. These are moments where the preacher launches out into an extended story or illustration because he senses the people are growing bored. While I agree that the average attention span is shorter than it used to be, we must not blame this short attention span entirely on the internet. The simple preacher is somewhat at fault as well. By continuing a steady diet of simple preaching, the people never learn to give attention to the complex. You’ve essentially created in them a boredom with anything more than milk.
To only give the listeners “low preaching” is also the soft bigotry of low expectations. I believe real Christians are longing to understand more than just simple concepts we can all say "amen" to. They want to know their God better and deeper, and simple preaching can only take them so far. To relegate them to that because you think they can’t handle more is an admission of what you think of them. You think they're dumb. If you're gifted to preach, the Lord will use you make even the simplest of people more versed in Bible truth.
One final growing pain in good preaching happens (or should happen) in the preacher himself. If your preacher has never later revised something he’s said, or changed his mind about something, there may be cause for concern. The concept that a man can go to Bible college in his late teens and early twenties, get advanced degrees and still has never had to revise his position on anything for the rest of his life, is a strange concept. And it’s arrogant and small-minded. A preacher who’s never had to revise his theology has likely never really grown much himself. And that may be the major reason why his preaching is still overly simple - he’s afraid the Lord will change his mind. Thus, good preaching will not only stretch the people, but it will show how God has stretched the preacher.