***I promise this blog is not directed at anyone in particular. I am not frustrated at all. This is just a common theme I hear among some church people that I think needs to be addressed.***
The two biggest complaints I hear from church people (not non-Christians) about their church are these.
1. I am not being fed in the weekend service.
2. I wish the pastor would "go deeper".
These complaints come from people who don't understand their own personal responsibility for spiritual growth and don't understand Jesus. Let me explain by addressing each complaint and why they are so out of line.
1. I am not being "fed" in the weekend service.
In complaining that you are not being fed, you are saying, in effect, "I am too immature to feed myself. I am such a lazy self-centered immature Christian that I have to have my pastor feed me my Bible knowledge. I am a dependent baby; not an independent adult."
See, only infants whine and cry and open up their mouths till mommy shoves the food in. Adults feed themselves.
As a pastor, I am not responsible to feed you. I am responsible to point you in the direction of food, and you are to learn to feed yourself. Scripture is very clear.
I Timothy 4:7-8 Train yourself to be godly.
Whose job is it to feed you?
YOURS! Grow up and learn to consume the Bible for yourself. Learn to read it and understand it and apply it on your own. God didn't just write the Bible for me to explain to you. He wrote it for you!! There are churches filled with 30 - 80 year old Christians that still don't know how to feed themselves. How sad.
Honestly, how do you think I grow spiritually? My butt can't be in a seat every week. I HAVE TO FEED MYSELF!! SO DO YOU!! Take some responsibility for your own spiritual life. Feed yourself.
The purpose of coming to church is not to learn new things but to be reminded of what you already learned on your own!! GROW UP!!
2. I wish the pastor would go deeper.
This is code for, "The pastor doesn't use big theological words, teach me the history of a passage, tell me a bunch of useless Greek words and teach through the Bible verse by verse like some other pastors do."
What they are saying really is they think it is more spiritual and "deeper" to teach in the style they like best. They are expressing a preference and trying to make their preference into a spiritual issue.
Let me be clear.
Teaching the Bible verse by verse in not deeper or more spiritual than topical teaching. It is just different. One is not deeper than the other. Don't couch in spiritual terms things that are really just preferences.
As a pastor, I am not trying to teach like anyone but Jesus, and check this out:
JESUS CONSISTENTLY TAUGHT TOPICALLY!! READ THE GOSPELS!!
When Jesus taught he taught topically on divorce, then on fasting, then on prayer. And most of the what he said was all application; not information.
He didn't waste a bunch of time saying stuff like (nerd voice please), "please turn to Leviticus chapter 7 verses 9 through 12. Lets read this and let me explain to you the history of the passage and what was going on in Moses mind, and let me tell you three ancient Hebrew words from this passage that we don't use any more and next week we will pick up in chapter 8."
NO!! Jesus just told stories and applied them. He was like, "Dude. There was this father who lost his son. That is what God is like."
He told stories and taught topically and didn't waste his time working through Ezra chapter 5. Why? PEOPLE WERE FAR FROM GOD AND GOING TO HELL! And it was more important to "seek and save the lost" than fill people with Bible knowledge!
Jesus was after life change and people reconnecting with God, not reconnecting with Moses, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Heaven is not a theology quiz or Bible knowledge bowl; and Jesus recognized that.
I rarely teach verse by verse, because lost people DON'T CARE!
They care about getting some help with their marriage, and hope for kicking an addiction, and strength to start seeking God in the midst of world of chaos.
If you like verse-by-verse preaching, good for you (can you hear me clapping sarcastically?). But stop saying that topical preaching is less spiritual. If you think topical teaching is less spiritual than you are saying JESUS is less spiritual.
I love it when people tell me I am not deep enough. I look at them and say, "THANK YOU, just trying to be like Jesus."
