The Tiny Bible, Limited Teaching, The Narrow focus of "Pastors."

[Bob corrigan]

The limit of most people's knowledge and understanding of Scripture is set by the Gentile Pharisees, (pastors and priests.) Because most people will not crack open a bible on their own to do their own independent study, what they know and believe is the exact amount of what they have heard from the pulpit. Even if one goes to a "small group" Bible study, those studies are linked to what is being taught from the pulpit. Even Sunday School is programmed by church staff and is usually just a precursor to the coming sermon or simply teaches more church propaganda.
What is the platform used to "teach" the Bible? The mighty, mighty sermon! Did you know that the word English "sermon" is not found in Scripture as there are no Hebrew or Greek words that mean "sermon?" yourdictionary.com defines a sermon as "A lecture, speech or talk about moral or spiritual issues, especially when the talk is administered formally in a church or religious setting.
From the Oxford Languages Dictionary: A talk on a religious or moral subject, especially one given during a church service and based on a passage from the Bible. Similar words, homily, address, speech, talk, lecture.
From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition: From the Latin, sermon. Speech, conversation. A religious discourse delivered in public, usually by a clergyman as part of a worship service.
Do you notice what is missing from these definitions? None of them define a sermon as "Teaching the Bible," "Teaching from the Bible," or "Explaining what Scripture means." If one is going to put himself forward as a preacher, means that one is going to study, learn and teach what is found in Scripture! The two most important words about preaching are missing from the definitions, study and teach.
Understand, a "sermon" is something that preachers sit down, think about what they want to say in their "lecture," "talk" or "discourse." Many of them write down their sermon and in what is one of the most pathetic sights, they read what they wrote down! I'm not referring to using notes, which is often necessary when teaching Scripture, but a true preacher has enough information already stored in his head, he can start teaching at the drop of a hat, without a "sermon."
When "pastors" work on their "sermons," are they including what they have learned from their deep study of Scripture? Oh no! I went to a site called "Ministry Pass" and discovered the following,
"The Prerequisite for Finding Good Sermon Illustrations." "...in order to find good sermon illustrations, we must be curious. Without an immense curiosity about life, we'll continue to struggle to find sermon illustrations that are impactful. But with an immense curiosity, we'll never run out of sermon illustration ideas. Hmm, nothing about looking at Scripture,/ studying Scripture or using what you have already learned from Scripture. Here are some of the suggestions,(none of the comments or descriptions are my words)
1 A site called "Ministry Pass Illustrations" which says, "Need illustrations on specific topics We've got you covered."
2 Illustrations. Bible. "This is a site to bookmark. Like now. One new illustration idea, Monday-Friday.
3 Your own life. This is from what I have observed the absolute favorite of all preachers. I have yet to hear one that doesn't work a personal story, or a story about a family member or friend at some point in the "sermon" or "sermon series"
4 Books Read more books and you'll get more illustrations. Capture them and use them.
5 Movies and TV shows. If you watch movies or television shows, start looking for illustrations.
6 Children's Books.
7 Music
8 Ask Social Media
9 I Am Second, a site dedicated to powerful stories of life change.
10 Crosswalk, "this is a Christian living website that has a ton of content. Many of their articles could be used as anecdotes."
12 Pew Research, "Research on the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world.
14 Christ and Pop Culture.
15 Sermon Central Illustrations, "With over 50,000 illustrations, you're bound to find some good ones here."
16 Sermons.com illustrations, "Tons of illustrations on many different topics."
17 Bible.org Illustrations, "Lots of illustrations on topics A-Z.
18 Sermon Illustrator, "Inspirational stories for your sermon."
19 Preaching Today Illustrations.
20 Voicings Sermon Illustrations, "Over 16,000 illustrations sorted by topic."

Do you notice the focus on the world?

That is enough of that, but man oh man, could I say so much more. I am sure you are all familiar with and have heard a number of sermons on the following;
Mat 16:30, "Who do men say that I am?"
Rom 8:37, "...more than a conqueror."
John 10:10, "...abundant life..."
2Tim1:7, "God hath not given you a spirit of fear."
John 14:3, "I go to prepare a place for you."

There are 31,102 verses in the bible, give or take depending on your translation. Is every verse in Scripture valuable and important? Of course. However, there are many different topics in the Bible. Would you agree that some topics are more important to learn or focus on than others? I think you would agree. Is it safe to say that a topic that has 10-15 verses expressed in Scripture is more important to learn and focus on than a topic that only has one verse? I'm not saying that the verse with only one verse is not worth knowing, rather there is more to know about a topic that has many verses and requires more study.
So, what is the common denominator of the verses I cited? They are all mentioned only one time in all of Scripture! While so many other important things are lightly touched on, or ignored, why are these verses taught all of the time, over and over, with long "sermons" dedicated to teaching a solitary verse, a verse that has a simple, short message?
There are a number of reasons, but the one I want to point out is that the "pastors" want to control what you "believe," what they want you to think is more important than other topics.

Again, I could develop this with more detail, but I'll save that for later. I want to point out the difference between looking at and teaching something from Scripture from the Gentile Pharisee view and looking at something and teaching it from the Jewish view.

John 14:3, "I go to prepare a place for you."
First of all, this is the only part of the verse, which is a common trick used by false teachers. Regardless, I'll just focus on this part of the verse, as the Gentile Pharisees do.
Scripture, as it was written, was contemporary in the time and place when it was written, and to whom it was written. Scripture was not written in English, nor was it written from a Gentile viewpoint. Scripture, even translated into English, has never been or will be contemporary to or for our era. Added to that is the fact that The N.T. was written 2000 years ago and there are over 6000 miles between the US and Israel.
With that being said, when a Gentile reads this part of the verse in English, from an American cultural background, he puts a literal meaning to the phrase. So, in the mind of a Gentile, Jesus is saying that "He is going away to heaven. And after He arrived in heaven, He immediately began to physically build physical structures for the saints who will one day be living in heaven. Is that about right? That Jesus is building or preparing, taking some kind of action, to make ready the arrival of the saints? I'm sorry, but I have a hard time imagining Jesus with his shirt off, wearing shorts with a tool belt around his waist, cutting wood, and pounding nails.
Now, let's look at it from a Jewish view, how would the Jewish apostles understand the words of Jesus? To begin with, anything Jesus said would have been based on Jewish culture. For instance, in our day and our culture, if I said I was flying to the Big Apple, you would instantly know that I was referring to "flying to New York City." Why? because in our culture, it is understood that the Big Apple is a reference to New York City. On the other hand, if I took in a foreign exchange student from another country, a student who was ignorant of US culture, and said to the student, "I am flying to the Big Apple tomorrow," the student would be completely at a loss as to where I was flying to. The student would ask, " You are flying where? What is the Big Apple?"
When we speak, we often make references to other things while using slang and figures of speech. If you told me you were going to the "crib," I wouldn't think that you were speaking of an adult-sized baby crib. If one guy said to another, "She's hot," the other guy wouldn't think that the woman was experiencing a high body temperature. How do we know what the Jewish references, which Scripture is filled with, are unless we study the Jewish culture? Jewish culture in the 1st century in no way resembled or comes close to ours. They are as far apart and different as the planet Neptune is compared to a waterfall.
As soon as the apostles heard Jesus say, "I go away to prepare a place for you," their minds jumped to the Jewish wedding. After the week of celebrating was complete. The bridegroom would tell his bride, "I go to prepare a place for you," and he would leave to prepare a room in his father's house for the couple to live in. Yet, to the Jew, the meaning was not simply that the bridegroom would physically leave and physically prepare a room. No, what the Jews got out of what Jesus said was that, at some undetermined point in the future, he would return for them! This was made clear by what Jesus said in vs 3, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself..." But everything would be made known to the listeners if the Gentile Pharisee would read John 4:2-3 together!
If I said, "Romeo, O Romeo, wherefore art thou," Anybody who has read the play would be familiar with the context, having known what happened before and what happens after, and why she was crying out for Romeo. I had the pleasure of performing in one of Shakespeare's plays, "The Taming of the Shrew." After all of the roles were cast, the director had us gather together and we did a read-through of the script. Why? Because of the Elizabethan language the play was written in. There are many archaic words in the script, words we not only didn't know what they meant, but also didn't know how to pronounce. The director had us slowly go through each word in the script and he explained what the unfamiliar meant and how to pronounce them. He also explained what society was like, the culture, back then and he gave us the historical backdrop. What was the result? Instead of confusion and uncertainty, each member of the cast knew the meaning of the words and the context. We all went forward understanding the background of the play, the culture the play was set in and what we were saying. That is the exact same thing a preacher should be doing, explaining what the words mean, explaining what the culture was like, (A people's culture determines what things mean and gives the proper context) and giving the historical background.

 

[SkyWriting]

The limit of most people's knowledge and understanding of Scripture is set by the Gentile Pharisees, (pastors and priests.) Because most people will not crack open a bible on their own to do their own independent study, what they know and believe is the exact amount of what they have heard from the pulpit. Even if one goes to a "small group" Bible study, those studies are linked to what is being taught from the pulpit. Even Sunday School is programmed by church staff and is usually just a precursor to the coming sermon or simply teaches more church propaganda.

Not usually. Most Sunday classes are on independent topics with no ties to the sermons.

 

[Aussie Pete]

The limit of most people's knowledge and understanding of Scripture is set by the Gentile Pharisees, (pastors and priests.) Because most people will not crack open a bible on their own to do their own independent study, what they know and believe is the exact amount of what they have heard from the pulpit. Even if one goes to a "small group" Bible study, those studies are linked to what is being taught from the pulpit. Even Sunday School is programmed by church staff and is usually just a precursor to the coming sermon or simply teaches more church propaganda.
What is the platform used to "teach" the Bible? The mighty, mighty sermon! Did you know that the word English "sermon" is not found in Scripture as there are no Hebrew or Greek words that mean "sermon?" yourdictionary.com defines a sermon as "A lecture, speech or talk about moral or spiritual issues, especially when the talk is administered formally in a church or religious setting.
From the Oxford Languages Dictionary: A talk on a religious or moral subject, especially one given during a church service and based on a passage from the Bible. Similar words, homily, address, speech, talk, lecture.
From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition: From the Latin, sermon. Speech, conversation. A religious discourse delivered in public, usually by a clergyman as part of a worship service.
Do you notice what is missing from these definitions? None of them define a sermon as "Teaching the Bible," "Teaching from the Bible," or "Explaining what Scripture means." If one is going to put himself forward as a preacher, means that one is going to study, learn and teach what is found in Scripture! The two most important words about preaching are missing from the definitions, study and teach.
Understand, a "sermon" is something that preachers sit down, think about what they want to say in their "lecture," "talk" or "discourse." Many of them write down their sermon and in what is one of the most pathetic sights, they read what they wrote down! I'm not referring to using notes, which is often necessary when teaching Scripture, but a true preacher has enough information already stored in his head, he can start teaching at the drop of a hat, without a "sermon."
When "pastors" work on their "sermons," are they including what they have learned from their deep study of Scripture? Oh no! I went to a site called "Ministry Pass" and discovered the following,
"The Prerequisite for Finding Good Sermon Illustrations." "...in order to find good sermon illustrations, we must be curious. Without an immense curiosity about life, we'll continue to struggle to find sermon illustrations that are impactful. But with an immense curiosity, we'll never run out of sermon illustration ideas. Hmm, nothing about looking at Scripture,/ studying Scripture or using what you have already learned from Scripture. Here are some of the suggestions,(none of the comments or descriptions are my words)
1 A site called "Ministry Pass Illustrations" which says, "Need illustrations on specific topics We've got you covered."
2 Illustrations. Bible. "This is a site to bookmark. Like now. One new illustration idea, Monday-Friday.
3 Your own life. This is from what I have observed the absolute favorite of all preachers. I have yet to hear one that doesn't work a personal story, or a story about a family member or friend at some point in the "sermon" or "sermon series"
4 Books Read more books and you'll get more illustrations. Capture them and use them.
5 Movies and TV shows. If you watch movies or television shows, start looking for illustrations.
6 Children's Books.
7 Music
8 Ask Social Media
9 I Am Second, a site dedicated to powerful stories of life change.
10 Crosswalk, "this is a Christian living website that has a ton of content. Many of their articles could be used as anecdotes."
12 Pew Research, "Research on the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world.
14 Christ and Pop Culture.
15 Sermon Central Illustrations, "With over 50,000 illustrations, you're bound to find some good ones here."
16 Sermons.com illustrations, "Tons of illustrations on many different topics."
17 Bible.org Illustrations, "Lots of illustrations on topics A-Z.
18 Sermon Illustrator, "Inspirational stories for your sermon."
19 Preaching Today Illustrations.
20 Voicings Sermon Illustrations, "Over 16,000 illustrations sorted by topic."

Do you notice the focus on the world?

That is enough of that, but man oh man, could I say so much more. I am sure you are all familiar with and have heard a number of sermons on the following;
Mat 16:30, "Who do men say that I am?"
Rom 8:37, "...more than a conqueror."
John 10:10, "...abundant life..."
2Tim1:7, "God hath not given you a spirit of fear."
John 14:3, "I go to prepare a place for you."

There are 31,102 verses in the bible, give or take depending on your translation. Is every verse in Scripture valuable and important? Of course. However, there are many different topics in the Bible. Would you agree that some topics are more important to learn or focus on than others? I think you would agree. Is it safe to say that a topic that has 10-15 verses expressed in Scripture is more important to learn and focus on than a topic that only has one verse? I'm not saying that the verse with only one verse is not worth knowing, rather there is more to know about a topic that has many verses and requires more study.
So, what is the common denominator of the verses I cited? They are all mentioned only one time in all of Scripture! While so many other important things are lightly touched on, or ignored, why are these verses taught all of the time, over and over, with long "sermons" dedicated to teaching a solitary verse, a verse that has a simple, short message?
There are a number of reasons, but the one I want to point out is that the "pastors" want to control what you "believe," what they want you to think is more important than other topics.

Again, I could develop this with more detail, but I'll save that for later. I want to point out the difference between looking at and teaching something from Scripture from the Gentile Pharisee view and looking at something and teaching it from the Jewish view.

John 14:3, "I go to prepare a place for you."
First of all, this is the only part of the verse, which is a common trick used by false teachers. Regardless, I'll just focus on this part of the verse, as the Gentile Pharisees do.
Scripture, as it was written, was contemporary in the time and place when it was written, and to whom it was written. Scripture was not written in English, nor was it written from a Gentile viewpoint. Scripture, even translated into English, has never been or will be contemporary to or for our era. Added to that is the fact that The N.T. was written 2000 years ago and there are over 6000 miles between the US and Israel.
With that being said, when a Gentile reads this part of the verse in English, from an American cultural background, he puts a literal meaning to the phrase. So, in the mind of a Gentile, Jesus is saying that "He is going away to heaven. And after He arrived in heaven, He immediately began to physically build physical structures for the saints who will one day be living in heaven. Is that about right? That Jesus is building or preparing, taking some kind of action, to make ready the arrival of the saints? I'm sorry, but I have a hard time imagining Jesus with his shirt off, wearing shorts with a tool belt around his waist, cutting wood, and pounding nails.
Now, let's look at it from a Jewish view, how would the Jewish apostles understand the words of Jesus? To begin with, anything Jesus said would have been based on Jewish culture. For instance, in our day and our culture, if I said I was flying to the Big Apple, you would instantly know that I was referring to "flying to New York City." Why? because in our culture, it is understood that the Big Apple is a reference to New York City. On the other hand, if I took in a foreign exchange student from another country, a student who was ignorant of US culture, and said to the student, "I am flying to the Big Apple tomorrow," the student would be completely at a loss as to where I was flying to. The student would ask, " You are flying where? What is the Big Apple?"
When we speak, we often make references to other things while using slang and figures of speech. If you told me you were going to the "crib," I wouldn't think that you were speaking of an adult-sized baby crib. If one guy said to another, "She's hot," the other guy wouldn't think that the woman was experiencing a high body temperature. How do we know what the Jewish references, which Scripture is filled with, are unless we study the Jewish culture? Jewish culture in the 1st century in no way resembled or comes close to ours. They are as far apart and different as the planet Neptune is compared to a waterfall.
As soon as the apostles heard Jesus say, "I go away to prepare a place for you," their minds jumped to the Jewish wedding. After the week of celebrating was complete. The bridegroom would tell his bride, "I go to prepare a place for you," and he would leave to prepare a room in his father's house for the couple to live in. Yet, to the Jew, the meaning was not simply that the bridegroom would physically leave and physically prepare a room. No, what the Jews got out of what Jesus said was that, at some undetermined point in the future, he would return for them! This was made clear by what Jesus said in vs 3, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself..." But everything would be made known to the listeners if the Gentile Pharisee would read John 4:2-3 together!
If I said, "Romeo, O Romeo, wherefore art thou," Anybody who has read the play would be familiar with the context, having known what happened before and what happens after, and why she was crying out for Romeo. I had the pleasure of performing in one of Shakespeare's plays, "The Taming of the Shrew." After all of the roles were cast, the director had us gather together and we did a read-through of the script. Why? Because of the Elizabethan language the play was written in. There are many archaic words in the script, words we not only didn't know what they meant, but also didn't know how to pronounce. The director had us slowly go through each word in the script and he explained what the unfamiliar meant and how to pronounce them. He also explained what society was like, the culture, back then and he gave us the historical backdrop. What was the result? Instead of confusion and uncertainty, each member of the cast knew the meaning of the words and the context. We all went forward understanding the background of the play, the culture the play was set in and what we were saying. That is the exact same thing a preacher should be doing, explaining what the words mean, explaining what the culture was like, (A people's culture determines what things mean and gives the proper context) and giving the historical background.

It's the work of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to study the Bible from a Jewish point of view. Some Christians have to study God's word in secret, living with the possibility that they will end up imprisoned for their temerity. They rely on the Holy Spirit to make the Bible real to them. I know next to nothing about 1st century Jewish culture. I've managed to survive as a Christian anyway. Thank God for God. Where would we be without Him?

 

[Paidiske]

The way you describe preaching and teaching has not, largely, been my experience.

I'm not saying there aren't poor preachers out there, but that there are church cultures in which the expectations and standards are better.

I definitely don't want to control what the congregation believe; but I do see it as my job to open up perspectives on the Scriptures for them to consider.

 

[Chris35]

Would you consider that the power of the church lies in the congregation and not the pastor.

In my understanding, the pastor is there to serve the congregation by teaching, empowered by the holy spirit.

The congregation being, Gods children, or the sheep, the flock.

If the congregation come together in unity, prayer and fasting for a righteous, and empowered teacher to teach them, would God not answer their prayer?

Therefore, does the fault lay with the pastor, or a lack thereof the congregation failing to come together and ask God for these things.

 

[seeking.IAM]

Many of us attend churches where the sermon is based upon a lectionary scripture, not a topic a pastor wants to talk about accompanied by a cherry-picked scripture. Or better said, our sermons follow scripture, scripture doesn't follow sermon topics. As for written vs. extemporaneous preaching, clergy have different gifts and not everyone can speak off the cuff. My experience is that pre-thought written sermons can be tighter than a clergy wandering around the trail of his/her own mind.

 

[PloverWing]

That is the exact same thing a preacher should be doing, explaining what the words mean, explaining what the culture was like, (A people's culture determines what things mean and gives the proper context) and giving the historical background.

For the preachers I've listened to (I can't speak for all preachers), this is what they do -- explain the Scripture in its cultural context and help the congregation see ways that it applies in their lives. Even the personal stories and sermon illustrations are part of this: "In ancient Israel, they did X; that's like what we mean when we do Y".

As a side note, I'd rather you didn't use the phrase "Gentile Pharisees". "Pharisee" isn't supposed to be a generic insult; it's a specific school of thought within first-century Judaism. If you mean to say something like "Christian clergy" or "Christian teachers", then just say that directly.

About the web sites: I have mixed feelings about sites like ministrypass.com, much as I have mixed feelings about prepackaged teaching materials for university professors. (I teach at a university.) It's useful to exchange ideas with other people about how best to teach. At the same time, it seems lazy if I just give my students some prepackaged thing that I got off the Internet instead of preparing my own lessons. Preaching is probably similar.