Is New Testament Preaching Outdated?

In today’s society man is more interested in being entertained than he is in being taught. Many churches are looking for a preacher than can captivate his audience with either eloquent or motivational speeches.

Preachers are aware of this trend and many have abandoned sound speech so they can “keep their jobs.” The “fire and brimstone” sermons are rarely if ever heard. They are replaced with “feel good, cotton candy” sermons.

A wide variety of excuses are given as to why churches might move in this trend, but in the end they are all simply excuses. The message preached then is JUST as relevant today. Let us look at a few of these excuses.

The Audience Gets Easily Offended

More often then not I have heard this excuse as to why the nature of sermons must change. There are several audiences that fall into this group. Let us examine each of them.

The Denominational Visitor. This is not a “new” group. We just fail to see into which bible audience this group actually fits. The denominational visitor is nothing more than a spiritually minded person. Their beliefs are generally described as honest and sincere. However, their practices are not always in harmony with the Word of God. Is there a “bible group” that fits this description? Yes. Jews, God-fearing Greeks, and even many Pantheon worshipping Greeks would fall into this category. How was the Gospel presented to them? The Hebrew writer told the Jews that their doctrines, the Mosaic Law, was obsolete (Heb. 8:13). Peter told Cornelius, a God fearing Greek, that he was not in a saved condition and that changes were necessary in his life (Acts 10). Apollos, a preacher, was taken aside and taught more accurately concerning Jesus (Acts 18:25-26). Paul told the Athenians that he recognized that they were religious people, but that their religion was all wrong (Acts 17:22-31). Did these preachers avoid the important subjects? NO. Did they preach what the audience needed to hear? Yes. Did it offend some? Paul said that it would, “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness (I Cor. 1:23).” Some Jews were so offended that they murdered preachers (Acts 7:54-58). Some Greeks were so offended that they mocked the preacher (Acts 17:32). The message was not sugar coated to keep the audience coming to services.

The Erring Brother. Some feel that “tough” preaching needs stopped because a brother or sister in Christ would stop coming to services. Was this a concern of Jesus’ when he commissioned John to write the letters to the churches in Asia? Five of the seven letters received strict warnings. “Repent of else” was Christ’s message (Rev. 2-3). One church was rebuked so strictly that Christ had nothing good to say about anyone who worshipped there (Rev. 3:14-22). Was Peter concerned that Simon would stop attending services when he was rebuked (Acts 8:20-23). If a brother, or brethren is erring is it better to let them continue in that error? Will some get offended? Certainly. But we cannot allow that to deter us from preaching the whole council of God.

The Sensitive Brother. Some people are just overly sensitive. They take “offense” to anything someone might say. To that let me explain that the modern definition of offending and the bible definition of offending a brother are two different things. Today people use the word offended because their feeling get hurt. They are offended because they do not like something. The Bible definition of offending is to cause to sin. Do we cause someone to sin when we teach them the truth? Let us not sugar coat the message to appease the audience.

The Audience Wants a Show

This too has become a common cry. As stated in the introduction, people today seem more interested in being entertained than educated. Everything has to be exciting, funny, or shocking. However, things have not changed that much over the last 2000 years. Jews sought for a sign (I Cor. 1:22). What makes that particularly interesting is that all sorts of signs were offered and they still sought them. On one occasion when the Pharisee’s sought for a sign, they had just witnessed one and attributed it to the work of the devil, and not to God (Matt. 12:22-40). Another group of Jews sought to be fed with earthly food (John 6:26). These audiences were not interested in the truth. They were interested in filly their carnal minds and bellies. They were no different than some of the audiences today. Did Christ change his message for these people? No. He told the Pharisee’s the only sign they would receive was His resurrection, and Christ refused to feed those who sought the earthly food. Should we “spice up” the services to meet the “needs” of these audiences? Our master didn’t, so why should we?

The Audience is not Interested

Are there some people today that just are not interested in spiritual minded things? Absolutely. These same audiences have always existed. It does not matter where we travel in life, we will always find those who do not care to listen to the word of Jesus. This does not mean that we change the message into something that they would be interested in. I have seen preachers teach classes on meeting earthly goals. I have heard sermons on how to balance your financial lives. These lessons cut God out of the picture in order to fill pews.

Did you ever read a sermon in the Bible that was not spiritually minded? Ever read a book in the bible that didn’t focus on what God does. Even the books that do not mention God’s name (Ruth) or have God speaking to man (Esther) have spiritual messages!

Let us never alter the message to appease the crowd. God’s word will work if presented the way God intended.

-WTK