Note: Alan is currently in Malawi with limited internet connectivity. In his absence, this week's blog article is written by Jeff Cox.
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Introduction. Around the world, those who profess to be "Christians" gather in public worship assemblies. One feature of these assemblies is normally the public proclamation of something from the Bible. While this activity goes by different names ("preaching a sermon", "delivering a message", "giving a homily", etc.), it is often a primary method of teaching people publicly. As such, it can serve to educate, encourage, and avoid sin as well as challenge, correct, confront, and rebuke sin that has occurred.
However, not all sermons topics are created equal. Depending on the speaker and the audience, topics can be familiar or unfamiliar, simple or complex, and relevant or irrelevant. Admittedly, some topics may be naturally less interesting or desirable than others.
Dangers. However, at the same time, the Scriptures contain numerous warnings about public teaching from God's Word. While some of these are focused on the speaker, many are focused on us as listeners. Consider:
- “… this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” (Isa. 30:9-10)
- “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those . . . by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Rom. 16:17-18)
- “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
- “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,”(Matt. 13:15)
- “But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear.” (Zech. 7:11-12)
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Introduction. Around the world, those who profess to be "Christians" gather in public worship assemblies. One feature of these assemblies is normally the public proclamation of something from the Bible. While this activity goes by different names ("preaching a sermon", "delivering a message", "giving a homily", etc.), it is often a primary method of teaching people publicly. As such, it can serve to educate, encourage, and avoid sin as well as challenge, correct, confront, and rebuke sin that has occurred.
However, not all sermons topics are created equal. Depending on the speaker and the audience, topics can be familiar or unfamiliar, simple or complex, and relevant or irrelevant. Admittedly, some topics may be naturally less interesting or desirable than others.
Dangers. However, at the same time, the Scriptures contain numerous warnings about public teaching from God's Word. While some of these are focused on the speaker, many are focused on us as listeners. Consider:
- “… this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” (Isa. 30:9-10)
- “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those . . . by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Rom. 16:17-18)
- “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
- “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,”(Matt. 13:15)
- “But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear.” (Zech. 7:11-12)
Why? Why would people react this way to what is supposed to be the Word of God? Why would they prefer "smooth words"? Why would they reject "sound doctrine" for "fables" that scratch their "itching ears"? Why would they figurative grow "hard of hearing" and "stop their ears"? Many different reasons could be offered to answer the question of "why". Some include:
- Lack of previous sound teaching
- Incorrect previous teaching (giving them the wrong understanding of what God really says)
- Lingering doubt about what God's Word says (or disagreement)
- Society and cultural influences contrary to what the Bible teaches
- Family involvement in what is being described as "sin"
- Direct, personal involvement in "sin"
Who? These reasons and the resulting negative reactions toward certain sermon topics can happen to literally anyone. No one is totally immune:
- Non-believers
- Catholics, Protestants, various denominational and non-denominational believers
- Members of churches of Christ ("Institutional", "non-institutional", "liberal", "conservative")
- Members of our family
- Ourselves
Yes, we need to make personal application of these warnings to ourselves every time we hear a sermon we tend to not want to hear. Perhaps it may simply be something we are already well familiar with or is not applicable to us directly. But unfortunately, it may be a topic we really need to hear, but don't want to hear it. As someone has observed, "The Truth doesn't change just because you don't want to hear it!".
What? What kinds of sermon topics do people tend to not want to hear? Surprise, I came up with over thirty! For convenience, I've grouped them into eight categories:
- Genesis
- God, Sin, and Punishment
- Salvation
- The Local Assembly
- Sexuality
- Our Bodies
- Relationships
- Self
Due to the length of this suggested list, we will also need to split the material across a couple of articles.
Somewhere in this list may be a topic or two you'd rather not hear, but potentially need to. To keep this list manageable, let me offer a few brief comments for each topic and then suggest some of our archived material at BibleQuestions.Org. There you will find scripture references for your further consideration. From our main page, go under the "Topics" menu item to select the first letter of the suggested topic.
Genesis. The first book of the Bible, the book of "Beginnings", contains many important foundational truths about the nature of things. But some people would rather not hear a sermon that talks about:
- “In the beginning, God created …” (Gen. 1:1) Some people may get uncomfortable when sermons start to contradict what they consider to be "proven science". These topics include creation versus evolution versus theistic evolution, the age of the earth, the length of the "days" of Genesis 1, the origin of man, and the coexistence of man and dinosaurs. For more, see "C" for "Creation", "E" for "Evolution", and "N" for "Nature of Man".
- “Make yourself an ark …" (Gen. 6:14) Noah, his ark, and the Great Flood make for a great children's bible story. But as with creation, some people may not want to hear the account of Noah and the Flood proclaimed as literal and not mythology. Or that it was global in extent and not a local inundation of the Black Sea after the last ice age. Or that New Testament people like Jesus, Peter, and Paul used facts from the flood to illustrate the coming destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. or God's justice on the Day of Judgment, or the necessity of water baptism (immersion). For more, see "N" for "Noah" and "F" for "Flood".
God, Sin, and Punishment. Some sermons address the nature of God, the problem of "sin", and the negative consequences of disobedience. Some people may get uncomfortable when they hear about:
- "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth . . . and said 'I will destroy man whom I have created . . . '" (Gen. 6:5-7) Many people view God as a totally benevolent, all loving, harmless deity who would never harm a fly. They may be surprised, stunned, or even repulsed by Old Testament accounts of God destroying the world in the Global Flood, requiring the death penalty for various sins under the Law of Moses, or ordering the Israelites to destroy the inhabitants of the Promised Land. For more, see "N" for "Nature of God" and "D" for "Death Penalty".
- "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you," (Isa. 59:2) We tend to live in an age where personal responsibility and accountability are often minimized. We often hear of "freedom of expression", making "mistakes", being "only human", and plea-bargaining in the courts. But sermons about God making laws, holding people accountable for obeying those laws, and treating disobedience as "sin" may be viewed as somewhat antiquated. For more, see "S" for "Sin", "L" for "Law of Moses", and "L" for "Law of Christ".
- ". . . fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28) Speaking of "touchy" topics, this one likely ranks fairly high on the list. Sermons that talk about life after death, the reality of intermediate punishment in Hades, and the potential of eternal punishment in Hell can be viewed as somewhat antiquated or even harsh by modern standards. For more, see "A" for "After-life", "H" for "Hades", "H" for "Hell", and "J" for "Judgment".
Conclusion. In our next article, we will continue to highlight sermon topics some people would rather not hear. In fact, at least a couple of them are highly controversial at a national level (at least in the United States).
- Lack of previous sound teaching
- Incorrect previous teaching (giving them the wrong understanding of what God really says)
- Lingering doubt about what God's Word says (or disagreement)
- Society and cultural influences contrary to what the Bible teaches
- Family involvement in what is being described as "sin"
- Direct, personal involvement in "sin"
Who? These reasons and the resulting negative reactions toward certain sermon topics can happen to literally anyone. No one is totally immune:
- Non-believers
- Catholics, Protestants, various denominational and non-denominational believers
- Members of churches of Christ ("Institutional", "non-institutional", "liberal", "conservative")
- Members of our family
- Ourselves
Yes, we need to make personal application of these warnings to ourselves every time we hear a sermon we tend to not want to hear. Perhaps it may simply be something we are already well familiar with or is not applicable to us directly. But unfortunately, it may be a topic we really need to hear, but don't want to hear it. As someone has observed, "The Truth doesn't change just because you don't want to hear it!".
What? What kinds of sermon topics do people tend to not want to hear? Surprise, I came up with over thirty! For convenience, I've grouped them into eight categories:
- Genesis
- God, Sin, and Punishment
- Salvation
- The Local Assembly
- Sexuality
- Our Bodies
- Relationships
- Self
Due to the length of this suggested list, we will also need to split the material across a couple of articles.
Somewhere in this list may be a topic or two you'd rather not hear, but potentially need to. To keep this list manageable, let me offer a few brief comments for each topic and then suggest some of our archived material at BibleQuestions.Org. There you will find scripture references for your further consideration. From our main page, go under the "Topics" menu item to select the first letter of the suggested topic.
Genesis. The first book of the Bible, the book of "Beginnings", contains many important foundational truths about the nature of things. But some people would rather not hear a sermon that talks about:
- “In the beginning, God created …” (Gen. 1:1) Some people may get uncomfortable when sermons start to contradict what they consider to be "proven science". These topics include creation versus evolution versus theistic evolution, the age of the earth, the length of the "days" of Genesis 1, the origin of man, and the coexistence of man and dinosaurs. For more, see "C" for "Creation", "E" for "Evolution", and "N" for "Nature of Man".
- “Make yourself an ark …" (Gen. 6:14) Noah, his ark, and the Great Flood make for a great children's bible story. But as with creation, some people may not want to hear the account of Noah and the Flood proclaimed as literal and not mythology. Or that it was global in extent and not a local inundation of the Black Sea after the last ice age. Or that New Testament people like Jesus, Peter, and Paul used facts from the flood to illustrate the coming destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. or God's justice on the Day of Judgment, or the necessity of water baptism (immersion). For more, see "N" for "Noah" and "F" for "Flood".
God, Sin, and Punishment. Some sermons address the nature of God, the problem of "sin", and the negative consequences of disobedience. Some people may get uncomfortable when they hear about:
- "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth . . . and said 'I will destroy man whom I have created . . . '" (Gen. 6:5-7) Many people view God as a totally benevolent, all loving, harmless deity who would never harm a fly. They may be surprised, stunned, or even repulsed by Old Testament accounts of God destroying the world in the Global Flood, requiring the death penalty for various sins under the Law of Moses, or ordering the Israelites to destroy the inhabitants of the Promised Land. For more, see "N" for "Nature of God" and "D" for "Death Penalty".
- "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you," (Isa. 59:2) We tend to live in an age where personal responsibility and accountability are often minimized. We often hear of "freedom of expression", making "mistakes", being "only human", and plea-bargaining in the courts. But sermons about God making laws, holding people accountable for obeying those laws, and treating disobedience as "sin" may be viewed as somewhat antiquated. For more, see "S" for "Sin", "L" for "Law of Moses", and "L" for "Law of Christ".
- ". . . fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28) Speaking of "touchy" topics, this one likely ranks fairly high on the list. Sermons that talk about life after death, the reality of intermediate punishment in Hades, and the potential of eternal punishment in Hell can be viewed as somewhat antiquated or even harsh by modern standards. For more, see "A" for "After-life", "H" for "Hades", "H" for "Hell", and "J" for "Judgment".
Conclusion. In our next article, we will continue to highlight sermon topics some people would rather not hear. In fact, at least a couple of them are highly controversial at a national level (at least in the United States).