Armed with a "big business" mentality, many in the seeker-sensitive movement have replaced Bible-based sermons with anecdote-filled talks. After all, that's the stuff that sells. What happens when preachers put the seeker before the Savior and abandon God's Word for ear-tickling entertainment. Often the result is superficial, marginally biblical preaching.
There are plenty of gifted communicators in the modern evangelical movement, but today's sermons tend to be short, shallow, topical homilies that massage people's egos and focus on fairly insipid subjects like human relationships, "successful" living, emotional issues, and other practical but worldly - and not definitively biblical-themes. Like the ubiquitous Plexiglas lecterns from which these messages are delivered, such preaching is lightweight and without substance, cheap and synthetic, leaving little more than an ephemeral impression on the minds of the hearers.
This article is an abridged version of John MacArthur's list of 15 negative effects of the superficial brand of preaching that is so rife in modern evangelicalism. These points are found in John MacArthur's book "Fool's Gold?: Discerning Truth In An Age Of Error"but you will also find them explained in detail - through the link at the bottom of this page.
It usurps the authority of God over the soul.
It removes the lordship of Christ from His church.
It hinders the work of the Holy Spirit.
It demonstrates appalling pride and a lack of submission.
It severs the preacher personally from the regular sanctifying grace of Scripture.
It clouds the true depth and transcendence of our message and therefore cripplesboth corporate and personal worship.
It prevents the preacher from fully developing the mind of Christ.
It depreciates by example the spiritual duty and priority of personal Bible study.
It prevents the preacher from being the voice of God on every issue of his time.
It breeds a congregation that is as weak and indifferent to the glory of God as their pastor.
It robs people of their only true source of help.
It encourages people to become indifferentto the Word of God and divine authority.
It lies to people about what they really need.
It strips the pulpit of power.
It puts the responsibility on the preacher to change people with his cleverness.
Church History
Listen to a shortaudio clip
By John MacArthur:The Preaching of the Reformers
What did they preach about in the 16th century,and how?
6 minutes, 750k MP3
Read the explanations for each of the 15 points, at: http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/plexiglas-sf1.htm
There are plenty of gifted communicators in the modern evangelical movement, but today's sermons tend to be short, shallow, topical homilies that massage people's egos and focus on fairly insipid subjects like human relationships, "successful" living, emotional issues, and other practical but worldly - and not definitively biblical-themes. Like the ubiquitous Plexiglas lecterns from which these messages are delivered, such preaching is lightweight and without substance, cheap and synthetic, leaving little more than an ephemeral impression on the minds of the hearers.
This article is an abridged version of John MacArthur's list of 15 negative effects of the superficial brand of preaching that is so rife in modern evangelicalism. These points are found in John MacArthur's book "Fool's Gold?: Discerning Truth In An Age Of Error"but you will also find them explained in detail - through the link at the bottom of this page.
It usurps the authority of God over the soul.
It removes the lordship of Christ from His church.
It hinders the work of the Holy Spirit.
It demonstrates appalling pride and a lack of submission.
It severs the preacher personally from the regular sanctifying grace of Scripture.
It clouds the true depth and transcendence of our message and therefore cripplesboth corporate and personal worship.
It prevents the preacher from fully developing the mind of Christ.
It depreciates by example the spiritual duty and priority of personal Bible study.
It prevents the preacher from being the voice of God on every issue of his time.
It breeds a congregation that is as weak and indifferent to the glory of God as their pastor.
It robs people of their only true source of help.
It encourages people to become indifferentto the Word of God and divine authority.
It lies to people about what they really need.
It strips the pulpit of power.
It puts the responsibility on the preacher to change people with his cleverness.
Church History
Listen to a shortaudio clip
By John MacArthur:The Preaching of the Reformers
What did they preach about in the 16th century,and how?
6 minutes, 750k MP3
Read the explanations for each of the 15 points, at: http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/plexiglas-sf1.htm
1 comment:
AMEN! I wish that every church everywhere would read this! Well said!
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