Myths of Preaching to the Next Generation, pt 1

I'm going to start a series of posts on preaching and teaching to the "younger" generation. I'll do it in about 6 parts, dealing with 6 "myths" I think many of us tend to believe about preaching to college students and young adults. (I'll post these over the next few weeks, with some Summit-specific posts sprinkled in intermittently...). For some of you, these may seem like the rants of a madman. I don't mean to be offensive... I just want to be clear about a very pressing issue.

MYTH #1: There is a dichotomy between preaching deeply and preaching relevantly.

I hear this one all the time. But I think that anyone who says that depth and relevance are at odds understands neither depth nor relevance. You cannot really preach relevantly without preaching deeply. Here's why:

(A) Today's post-Christian American audiences (especially young adults) have deep questions that need deep answers. We seem to have an assumption that "unchurched" people are all idiots who aren't smart enough to ask deep questions. We believe they only want entertaining, fix-it-now, pragmatic solutions to their lives. Many proponents of this type of preaching point to the large congregations of preachers who preach this way as proof that shallow preaching is a superior method. But many of the "unchurched" in these congregations are really just churched people who've been out of church for a while. (And it's awesome that some churches are reaching those types of people--many of these people genuinely need to be saved out of "cultural religion" to the real Christ!) But as the culture gets progressively more post- and anti-Christian, our teaching is going to have to deal with the real questions of existence, meaning, and fulfillment. And these are not dealt with in cheap, entertaining messages.

Our own community is mourning the loss of one our members, Jason Ray, the Tarheel mascot, who died in a freak traffic accident this past weekend. College students who listen to me each week have real and significant questions about how you can go on believing in a loving God who seems to allow injustice and seemingly needless tragedy. Cheesy little "how to", cutely-entertaining, social-activism-oriented sermons simply do not address the real issues of a wounded heart.

(B) The human heart has a fundamental idol structure that must first be addressed before real change can happen. Our problem is not that we don't know how to balance our lives or love our wives or control our anger. Our ultimate problem is that we are idolaters: we base our identity on something besides God--we look for happiness, meaning and satisfaction in something besides God. Idolatry is the original sin; it is the sin behind every other sin. Until the idolatry of the heart is exposed and addressed, all "change" is superficial.

Tim Keller tells a very revealing story about a very sexually promiscous kid he knew in college. This kid's sexual prowess was about more than just lust... his sleeping with girls was a means of power. Notches on his bed post made him feel significant. During his Junior year, the kid gets involved with a campus ministry and really gets "on fire" for Jesus. He gave clear testimony of his new commitment to Christ. Yet, there was still something about the young man that was off. He always seemed to be clamoring for attention. He always wanted the positions of prominence. If you were in a discussion with him, he had to show why he was right and you were wrong. If you were in a Bible study, he always wanted you to recognize his opinions as insightful.

Keller said that it became clear that while the kid had "repented" of his sexual promiscuity, and given external signs of love for Jesus, he had never really repented of his foundational idolatry: a desire for power over others. Power over others is where he found his identity and meaning, and he simply traded one tool--sex, for another--religion. This is not conversion to Christ. It is the switching of means to an idolatrous end. As Marx noted, religious sentiment and the quest for power often go hand in hand. In other words, getting religiously active in a church, even in a good one, does not necessarily mean you have become a broken, humble follower of Jesus.

Until we deal with the fundamental idol structure of the heart--i.e. that we are self-focused rather than God-focused, self-worshipping rather than God-worshipping, and idol-fulfilled rather than God-fulfilled--we are not dealing with man's true problem. And that takes deep teaching--real insight into God, the Scriptures, and the human heart. As John Calvin said, "The human heart is an idol factory." As soon as one idol gets exposed and torn down, we produce another one. We have to obliterate the idol-making machinery when we preach, and the only way to do that is to apply the deep truths of the Gospel to the deep, dark, inner workings of the heart.

Solomon, when he was appointed the pastor-king of Israel, responded to God's offer to grant him one request by asking only for wisdom for the sake of leading God's people. God answered, and gave him staggering insight into the human heart. Solomon's wisdom was both practical and deep. And people came from far and wide to hear that wisdom. Even dignitaries from other, pagan nations came to sit under his teaching! I believe people will still come from far and wide and from all walks of life to hear real Gospel-wisdom.

They said of Jesus, "Never man spoke as this man spoke." This was not because He had a creative planning team that always matched his point with the perfect drama. It was not because He captured the best outlines or knew how to inflect his voice to sound authentic or because He oozed the cool factor. It was because He knew God and knew people and how the two were supposed to live together. He had a way of spiritually undressing you in front of everyone. You felt naked, exposed, ashamed, loved and accepted all at the same time (Heb 4:12-13).

I wll note that we do have a creative arts team that discusses each message. We do look for every way to engage people and hold their attention. But I know that real change happens when the depths of the Gospel is made plain to the depths of the soul. I beg God for wisdom for the benefit of leading and teaching His sheep--both those in the fold and those not yet here.

Conclusion:

Theologically-deep teaching is not laborious detail to the insignificant nuances of Greek words. Theologically-deep teaching applies the simple Gospel to the deepest parts of the heart. If people feel like they are being taught truth about their pain, about joy, corrected in their attitudes and assumptions, reproved, and instructed — that is the essence of relevance! (2 Tim 3:17).

If you teach the Bible "deeply" in a way that does not seem relevant (as many so called "deep" Bible teachers do) you are not really being deep! You are being technical and banal, perhaps catering to your own interests rather than the souls of people. Deep teaching ends with practical life change. Real life change begins with deep teaching.

Superficial "how to" sermons may effectively "reach" a lot of "unchurched people" and cause them to fill the auditorium in front of us. That's because quasi-Christian people are attracted to low-commitment, entertaining, life-improving God-thoughts. But I find that these sermons do not reach the real unchurched who are graduating in droves from our colleges; nor do these sermons transform people into real, white-hot revolutionary followers of Jesus Christ. They are sermonettes for Christianettes.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones noted that we find ourselves today in the same place Jesus' disciples found themselves in Mark 9, unable to cast the demon out. The reason the disciples were unable to exorcise the man, said Lloyd-Jones, was that the demon was "in too deep." In the same way, the spirit of postmodernity is "in too deep" in our culture to cast it out with slight, shallow, entertaining, oratorical, merely-practical sermons. We must learn to drive the Gospel deep.

This does not mean that we cannot also teach simply and clearly. I'll explain more about that in Myth #2.

HERE'S A FULL LIST OF ALL THE MYTHS:

• Myth #1 "There is a dichotomy between preaching deeply and preaching relevantly."
• Myth #2 "All unchurched people are idiots." See p.s., Myth 2.2.
• Myth #3, "There is a difference between what 'seekers' need to hear and what 'mature Christians' need to hear."
• Myth #4, "'Expository' preaching ensure that you are preaching the Gospel.'" See p.s., Myth 4.2
• Myth #5, "Direct, confrontational preaching is ineffective for a postmodern audience."
• Myth #6, "Evangelism in the postmodern world is better done by modeling activism for social justice than by preaching."

Comments

[Nikki]

Thanks J.D. for faithfully using every opportunity to teach. I look forward to hearing more!

[Amy]

Hey J.D.,

I am a huge critic of the how-to sermon and it's great to hear about a pastor who is so passionate about seeking the messages that will answer deeper questions about faith. The interesting thing about this area is that it seems that so many already know the story of Jesus. They know the steps, they know the lines but they see and don't perceive. Sometimes we don't wish to perceive. I have found a wonderful body of believers at a church in Chapel Hill that want to go deeper, which is such a blessing. Perhaps this isn't entirely on topic but I praise God for your passion and hope that people will understand that deeper is exactly what Christ desires.

[RelevantChristian]

Fantastic article. You are so right.

Keep up the great work.

Peace

[CharlesRamb]

Thanks for the insight on idolatry. This posting also matches up with Erwin McManus' Uprising. Keep up the good work

[Donald]

I received your link from desertfather.com. Derek and I have known each other for a few years now and I follow his blog.

This is an amazing post! This is something that a few of us have recognized and have tried to explain but you have done an incredible job of explaining it! Being called to this generation it is great to hear someone who understands this. This generation is looking for something that will make them complete, and they will try everything they can to get it. The only way to reach this generation is to delve into the deep questions that they have and answer them with Christ-like answers!
God Bless!

[Rxy25]

It is really encouraging to hear a pastor that is more interested in truth and seeing the holy spirit change lives than building a church of large numbers by giving people comfortable/easy how to steps to help them enjoy their lives more.

the concept of our hearts continually producing idols is one that i heard for the first time taught by cj mahaney. it is convicting and can get discouraging to fight, but it keeps me dependant on God knowing that trusting in his power and forgiveness is the only way that i can live a god-focused rather than self-focused life.

thanks for these words!

[Charlie Wallace]

"That's because quasi-Christian people are attracted to low-commitment, entertaining, life-improving God-thoughts."

"They are sermonettes for Christianettes."

Preach...

[Leonce Crump II]

This is great insight. I have spent the greatest part of ministry with college students, and questions of meaning and significance always outweigh, how to be a better student. Love what you have to say.