How can you know if your church’s teaching is right on? You might enjoy the music, and the children’s ministry is adequate, but you know we’re in the perilous last days, so how do you know if the teaching you are sitting under adequately represents God’s truths?
That’s the kind of question I asked several decades ago. A lot. The messages from the pulpit were nothing I couldn’t have gotten by reading the Bible myself. I concluded that the further we get from when Jesus walked the earth, the blander messages would naturally become. I figured I’d heard the last insightful sermon I’d probably ever hear again, and that there were no more good messages left to be had.
Looking back, I think God read my heart, and He wanted me to know that there was more to be had from sermons, and He directed me to another church. But now I’m back to my question. How can you know if the sermons you sit under are “ringing the bell” in God’s eyes?
First, I’d say to beware of “itching ear syndrome.” For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (2 Tim 4:3) Who doesn’t like to have their itch scratched? If the prevailing itch is entertainment, then beware of a pastor who’s preaching is entertaining above all, because he aims to scratch where folks itch. Entertaining messages are easy to identify. They are short and full of funny or interesting stories that the pastor can find on the internet or from life experiences. I call those “squishy” messages.
Second, beware of a pastor who makes every sermon about “you,” as in how any and every verse in the Bible applies to your life. “What’s wrong with that?” you ask. Look at the above verse again. In the last days, folks won’t endure “sound doctrine.” Well, guess what. Sound doctrine really isn’t about you. It’s about God. And your flesh hates it. In the last days, men shall be lovers of their own selves and lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. (2 Tim. 3:2&4) So a pastor who aims to please makes his messages about you and not God. It sounds better to the itching ear.
The easiest way pastors make sermons all about you is to preach topically, like Five ways to have joy; How to be a better spouse; How to raise godly children; or How to handle finances, for example. Then the pastor pillages the Bible and the internet for pithy quotes to back up his magazine-article-like message. Again, what’s wrong with that? It’s missing doctrine. You learn nothing about God and His plan for the ages. But again, we are back to itching ears. We prefer to learn how to have joy or a good marriage and don’t care so much about finding God’s rich treasures about Himself and His plan for the ages encapsulated in His choice of characters and words and phrases.
By the way, topical messages are way easier to come up with. Learning doctrine is hard work, comparing scripture with scripture. Nowadays, you can totally manufacture a topical “how to” message using artificial intelligence (and saying that the Holy Spirit led you to preach on "this" today). Ask it to give you “5 tips for finding joy and provide two Bible verses to support each point.” I just did that exercise, and in less than 20 seconds, I had what I asked for, and it was like every topical message I’ve ever heard. Squish.
Third, beware of a church that uses just any version of the Bible, and maybe several versions, depending on which one sounds best to convey the idea at hand. No doubt, that pastor correctly believes that the Bible was inspired by God in its original languages. You read that on any good church website on the “what we believe” page. Inspiration applies to the originals. But what about today’s multitude of versions? There’s a work-around to that question. Many pastors will tell you what God meant to say. And though they will not say this outloud, they believe that what we are left with in the Bibles we have available today are the general ideas of God, and that’s what matters. Exact wordage doesn’t mean as much as the general idea.
I’ll go back to my story of daydreaming during the sermon and figuring that there were no insightful sermons left. Someone invited me to another church, and the pastor of that church taught the Bible like I’d never heard or imagined. He didn’t just rehearse that “this Greek word means this,” or simply recount the history of the passage. He tied verses from the Old Testament to the New Testament. He showed how some of the characters were a type of Jesus and in what way. He underscored key words and phrases that opened the door to a deeper understanding of Jesus and where everything is headed prophetically as pointed out in the passage at hand. His messages pierced my soul. My spirit said “Amen!” And afterwards, folks stood in the foyer talking about the message truths that they’d never picked up on before like that.
If you have a hungry soul, and your spirit cries within you for something more substantial from the messages you hear, I get you. So does God. He’s more interested in you getting what you need than you are. He will lead you. Pray about it. Ask Him to open the door to better teaching.
I will say that a deeper understanding starts with what version of the Bible you are using. It’s the foundation for the marvelous doctrinal truths you’ve likely never been exposed to. You can read our white paper on that by clicking here.
R&J Shee