KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Sermon
IN YEARS PAST, preachers of the church boldly proclaimed all of the truths of the Bible, even when what they taught was not popular...
This preaching encouraged the church to grow and created a strong, united brotherhood. But recent trends and a desire to be politically correct and not offend others have produced a new breed of preachers.
Many sermons today are what I would call "borderline sermons." They do not usually teach error, but they also omit many basic and controversial subjects. Most of these sermons could be preached in a denominational setting and no one would criticize or object to them. This is because they contain nothing that would point out errors or cause others to see they have not done all of God's will. Usually these sermons include many stories, jokes and personal references with little Scripture.
This type of preaching tickles the ears of the worshipers (2 Tim. 4:3-4) and makes the preacher popular but produces little scriptural understanding and little scriptural growth. A generation that grows up on this kind of preaching is easily led into apostasy.
Paul and other New Testament gospel preachers were not afraid of offending others by what they said. They loved the souls of men and knew that the lost must hear all the truth in order to follow it and be saved. These men often met with strong opposition and sometimes severe persecution, but they did not compromise the truth.
Certainly no preacher would deliberately offend anyone, and we are to preach the truth in love. But we cannot omit necessary truths from our sermons and lessons just because they might offend someone. Stephen offended the Jews he preached to, but that did not stop him from telling them what they needed to hear ( Acts 7:2-60). (Walter Swain)
KneEmail: "For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God" ( Acts 20:27).