SERMON TEXT DISLOCATION SYNDROME
Fundamentalists love preaching. Most love it hot and heavy. We enjoy getting our toes stomped and our hearts tugged. We thrive on a sin-naming, righteousness-exalting, hell fire-& brimstone, Bibl-packed preaching from the 1611 KJV.
Let me just say, I understand there are many pulpits that have not undergone a dislocation from the text to the sermon.
I cannot go to an Independent, Fundamental, Baptist, Fellowship meeting and not have this kind of feeling from the meeting. These godly preachers say they preach from the 1611 KJV, but in reality have most likely never seen one. Then they take a text and when they read the text and the sermon begins they somehow get disconnected from the text. I often say, the text they just read has nothing to do with what they are saying. Of course, that is the whole point. They are not preaching the text-- they are shooting from the hip. What they are saying in the sermon is not necessarily “unbiblical”, it’s just that what the preacher is saying is not what the text is saying
What I am learning, {Growing By Learning} is that we are critical of Billy Graham’s preaching, or Joel Osteen’s method of preaching, and we don’t like Rick Warren’s style and a host of other preachers, while a host of WBF/BBF/IBF,etc. do the same things. What do you mean? Both groups start with a text and read into the text what THEY want the text to say.
Often what they are saying is true, good stuff, but it's just that they did not get it from the text they have just read. Well, they might take a statement from the text and try to make it say what they are saying. It happens a lot. The danger here is, if you can make a text say things they do not say, then you can as easily make the passage say things the Bible doesn’t say.
One blogger called this the Pulpit Injuries: Severe Sermon Text Dislocations. I could not have said it better, and I have been saying this point for years.
For years I suffered from sermon text dislocation. I didn't know you could preach a sermon and use the passage of scripture as a starting point and stay with the meaning of the text. One such sermon I used, and what a surprise to learn that the "streets" mentioned in Proverbs 26:13 ¶ The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. I used "streets" in three ways, Street of Sin, the street of salvation, the street of service, etc. Well, it was a good loud sermon, but not within the text I was preaching. I was really good at spiritualizing the Old Testament stories. But often I would stray from the meaning of the text. It’s no wonder that the people in our churches have no real idea what the Bible really is teaching.
What I have discovered from hearing these preachers preaching is they say they are preaching the Bible, but they mean that what they are saying is in there somewhere. And that the only Bible is the KJV 1611. Preaching, to most of these godly men that I know, is not supposed to be teaching. I was asked to preach at a WBF Ohio meeting some time ago, (my last time to be asked) and I preached from Ephesians 4:1-6. I followed the expositional view of preaching. I remember now that I heard no amens. After I finished, one of my good preacher friends said, “Charles, that was a great teaching lesson, but that was not good preaching.”
I was invited to preach in a church that my mother went to in Danville, Virginia. I must have preached one of Spurgeon’s sermons, followed the flow of the text, and the people just looked at me funny. After the service my mother said, “Charles, they have not heard a Bible text sermon ever in this church. They were totally lost in your message.”
So when did I come to realize that you needed an adjustment to get the sermon and text in alignment? That is for another post.
Fundamentalists love preaching. Most love it hot and heavy. We enjoy getting our toes stomped and our hearts tugged. We thrive on a sin-naming, righteousness-exalting, hell fire-& brimstone, Bibl-packed preaching from the 1611 KJV.
Let me just say, I understand there are many pulpits that have not undergone a dislocation from the text to the sermon.
I cannot go to an Independent, Fundamental, Baptist, Fellowship meeting and not have this kind of feeling from the meeting. These godly preachers say they preach from the 1611 KJV, but in reality have most likely never seen one. Then they take a text and when they read the text and the sermon begins they somehow get disconnected from the text. I often say, the text they just read has nothing to do with what they are saying. Of course, that is the whole point. They are not preaching the text-- they are shooting from the hip. What they are saying in the sermon is not necessarily “unbiblical”, it’s just that what the preacher is saying is not what the text is saying
What I am learning, {Growing By Learning} is that we are critical of Billy Graham’s preaching, or Joel Osteen’s method of preaching, and we don’t like Rick Warren’s style and a host of other preachers, while a host of WBF/BBF/IBF,etc. do the same things. What do you mean? Both groups start with a text and read into the text what THEY want the text to say.
Often what they are saying is true, good stuff, but it's just that they did not get it from the text they have just read. Well, they might take a statement from the text and try to make it say what they are saying. It happens a lot. The danger here is, if you can make a text say things they do not say, then you can as easily make the passage say things the Bible doesn’t say.
One blogger called this the Pulpit Injuries: Severe Sermon Text Dislocations. I could not have said it better, and I have been saying this point for years.
For years I suffered from sermon text dislocation. I didn't know you could preach a sermon and use the passage of scripture as a starting point and stay with the meaning of the text. One such sermon I used, and what a surprise to learn that the "streets" mentioned in Proverbs 26:13 ¶ The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. I used "streets" in three ways, Street of Sin, the street of salvation, the street of service, etc. Well, it was a good loud sermon, but not within the text I was preaching. I was really good at spiritualizing the Old Testament stories. But often I would stray from the meaning of the text. It’s no wonder that the people in our churches have no real idea what the Bible really is teaching.
What I have discovered from hearing these preachers preaching is they say they are preaching the Bible, but they mean that what they are saying is in there somewhere. And that the only Bible is the KJV 1611. Preaching, to most of these godly men that I know, is not supposed to be teaching. I was asked to preach at a WBF Ohio meeting some time ago, (my last time to be asked) and I preached from Ephesians 4:1-6. I followed the expositional view of preaching. I remember now that I heard no amens. After I finished, one of my good preacher friends said, “Charles, that was a great teaching lesson, but that was not good preaching.”
I was invited to preach in a church that my mother went to in Danville, Virginia. I must have preached one of Spurgeon’s sermons, followed the flow of the text, and the people just looked at me funny. After the service my mother said, “Charles, they have not heard a Bible text sermon ever in this church. They were totally lost in your message.”
So when did I come to realize that you needed an adjustment to get the sermon and text in alignment? That is for another post.
Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant Proof/Truth Checked by Charity Whisnant
