During Pastor Appreciation week, we’re spotlighting blogs from pastors with poignant messages of hope and thoughts about Christianity.
By Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.
If preaching is central to Christian worship, what kind of preaching are we talking about?
The sheer weightlessness of much contemporary preaching is a severe indictment of our superficial Christianity. When the pulpit ministry lacks substance, the church is severed from the word of God, and its health and faithfulness are immediately diminished.
Many evangelicals are seduced by the proponents of topical and narrative preaching. The declarative force of Scripture is blunted by a demand for story, and the textual shape of the Bible is supplanted by topical considerations. In many pulpits, the Bible, if referenced at all, becomes merely a source for pithy aphorisms or convenient narratives.
Authentic Christian preaching carries a note of authority and a demand for decisions not found elsewhere in society.
The solid truth of Christianity stands in stark contrast to the flimsy pretensions of postmodernity.
Unfortunately, the appetite for serious preaching has virtually disappeared among many Christians who are content to have their fascinations with themselves encouraged from the pulpit.
Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary – the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.
