I have noticed something recently as I have been visiting various churches and listening to different pastors preach. They have stopped preaching the text they read before their sermon. Often the sermons they preach are very good, biblically sound, and practical to the Chrisitan life, but they do not relate to the passage. They could have read almost any passage of Scripture and preached the same sermon.
This seems to be the case among almost every different “label” – the “young, restless, and reformed” do it and the emergents do it; women do it and men do it; Anglicans and Catholics; liberals and conservatives; mainline and evangelical; pro-war baptists and peace loving Mennonites. It is the case among those who believe that a church service has not occurred unless there is screaming and an altar call. It is the case among those who thing that expositional preaching that verges of theological lecture is the only way to preach. It is the way among health and wealth preachers, the religious right and religious left, the priests who preach 5-10 minute homilies, the pastors who yell for well over an hour, or even those who would rather have a dialogue than stand up and talk at people for 30 minutes.
So I have a suggestion – Stop reading the Bible before you preach. Or at the very least stop telling the people gathered for worship “this is the text I will preach today.” Just get up and talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Hey Robert – good to see you back in posting action! And I like the new look.
I think you’re making a good point here. At the same time, I have noticed that some preachers stick very closely to the text but do so in a way that comes out as a lecture rather than a sermon. I think it’s hard to bring Scripture to life without killing the spirit of the text. Generic sermons do nobody any good!
Thanks for commenting Amanda. I am trying to get more consistent in blogging. We’ll see how it goes.
I agree with you completely. I have seen way too many lectures on Sunday mornings, especially being raised in the PCA. We have to find a balance. So I am actually not arguing for expositonal preaching all the time. The ideal, which is hard to find, is a sermon preached from a heart that loves the people listening, from a heart that loves Chirst, and also is related to the text or texts of the week. You’re absolutely right, generic sermons do nobody any good.