- "The bones and marrow of the sermon are composed of theology. Yet theological preaching is rare. Listeners fear that too much theology will make the sermon impractical. Many preachers shy away from theological content. Aware of the small window of opportunity given to capture the interest of the audience, preachers are tempted to rush to application. The result is a sermon that begins with the need of the audience, touches lightly on the biblical text, and then moves to concrete implication. In the process, the sermon skips the important step of identifying and stating theological principles upon which the practical application is based. Haddon Robinson has wryly observed: 'More heresy is preached in application than in Bible exegesis.'"
From my personal experience, not many preachers preach theological in my circle of preachers. So I have changeded my circle of preachers. While I love all my preachers friends, and they all love the Lord, many of them just like to preach and leave out the theology.
All the preachers I know from this camp, would say they believe they are preaching the Word of God. They just like to leave out the theological aspect of it in their preaching. Some started out wanting to preach theological and then got caught up in wanting to get more people saved and have a bigger church, so they cut out the theological teaching, and went with the pop - cultural - easy listening - twenty minute sermon. And they go their bigger church attendance.
I am so glad over the last years to get to know many preachers who are totally committed to preaching from a theological concept.
- I have often heard people say, "Charles is a teacher, not a preacher."
The truth is all preaching is teaching what one believes about what the Bible is teaching.
- THE KEY IS LEARNING WHAT THE BIBLE IS TEACHING.
I am in my 45 years of learning what the Bible is saying.
And almost every day, I am humbled by what I just learned today.
Maybe we should try to preach or teach so it doesn't sound so theological!
Charles Spurgeon once observed
- that the young preacher is primarily concerned with matters of style while those with more experience tend to focus their attention on content. In effect, the younger preacher asks, "How shall I say it?" while the older preacher thinks, "What shall I say?" The theological preacher must ask both questions. It is by giving careful attention to the theology of the text and the need of the audience that the preacher learns what must be said about it and how to say it.
