Part Four — Testing Modern Church Teaching by Scripture

A preacher can make people feel hopeful, excited, and ready to chase their dreams without ever teaching them how to follow Jesus Christ. He can speak about success, overcoming obstacles, and believing in themselves while saying very little about sin, repentance, salvation, or obedience. The room may be full, and people may leave feeling better. But feeling better does not mean they have heard the truth God called that preacher to deliver.

Paul’s command to Timothy was clear. Second Timothy 4:2 says, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” Notice that preaching includes correction as well as encouragement. A pastor must patiently teach people, but he must also confront what is wrong. If he removes correction because it might offend someone, he is leaving out part of the work God commanded him to do.

Paul explained why that command matters. Second Timothy 4:3–4 says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” That warning should make both pastors and church members examine what is being preached. A message is not faithful simply because people enjoy it. Sometimes people enjoy a message because it never challenges the sin they intend to keep.

There is nothing wrong with encouraging people. First Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” Biblical preaching should give believers courage and hope. But that encouragement must rest on God’s truth. It helps us trust Him, endure hardship, and remain faithful. It does not promise that every dream will come true or that obedience will produce a comfortable life.

Jesus offered something far deeper than a plan for personal success. Luke 9:23 says, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’” That is a call to surrender. Following Christ means that our desires no longer have the final say. We belong to Him, and His Word has authority over how we live.

Compare that with preaching that keeps telling people to believe in themselves, follow their hearts, and claim the future they deserve. Proverbs 3:5–6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” Scripture directs our trust toward God. It does not tell us that our own judgment is enough or that every desire in our hearts deserves to be followed.

A sermon can mention God and still keep man at the center. God becomes the helper who makes our plans succeed, while Jesus becomes someone who improves our lives. But Christ did not come merely to make us more confident. First Timothy 1:15 says, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” Our deepest problem is not that we lack confidence. It is that we have sinned against a holy God and need the salvation found in His Son.

Paul described his preaching in Second Corinthians 4:5: “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” Christ must be more than a name added to a message about personal achievement. His death, resurrection, authority, and call to repentance belong at the heart of Christian preaching. If people hear more about their own greatness than about their need for Christ, something is seriously wrong.

That does not mean every sermon must use the same words or cover the same passage. Scripture teaches us about marriage, work, money, suffering, forgiveness, and many other parts of life. But those subjects must be taught according to what God has said. A pastor’s job is to explain Scripture faithfully and help people obey it. His job is not to choose a popular idea and attach a Bible verse to make it sound Christian.

Nehemiah 8:8 gives us a clear picture of faithful teaching: “They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.” The people needed to understand God’s Word. That remains true today. The meaning of the passage matters, and its setting matters. A verse must not be pulled away from its meaning to support a promise God never made.

Faithful preaching also tells the truth about hardship. In John 16:33, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Jesus gave His followers courage without pretending that trouble would disappear. Their peace would be found in Him, even while they faced suffering in the world.

A preacher who promises constant success in money, health, and personal plans may leave people unprepared for hardship. When trouble comes, they may think God has failed them. But the failure was in the promise they were taught. Biblical preaching gives people a foundation that can hold when life hurts. It points them to the faithful God who remains worthy of trust even when circumstances do not improve.

God’s Word also exposes what we would rather hide. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” We should expect Scripture to search us and reveal what needs to change. A preacher does people no favor by keeping every message safely away from their sin.

Hearing the truth also brings a responsibility to obey it. James 1:22 says, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” A sermon that helps us feel good while leaving us comfortable in disobedience has not served us well. We need truth that calls us to respond, not words that help us excuse ourselves. Knowing what God says and refusing to do it is not spiritual growth.

Paul could tell the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:27, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” Pastors must not avoid parts of Scripture because those parts are unpopular. Sin, judgment, repentance, holiness, and obedience are not subjects to hide so that a church will grow. They belong to the truth people need. A congregation cannot become spiritually healthy on a steady diet of whatever makes everyone comfortable.

Church members have a responsibility too. Acts 17:11 says, “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” These people examined even Paul’s teaching by Scripture. We must do the same. A preacher’s confidence, popularity, or personality does not remove our responsibility to check what he says against God’s Word.

Open your Bible and examine what you hear. Does the preacher explain the passage, or merely use it to introduce his own ideas? Does the message call you to trust and obey Christ? Does it tell the truth about sin and salvation, or leave those things untouched? A message can contain useful advice without fulfilling the responsibility to preach God’s Word.

Motivational preaching and biblical preaching are not the same thing. Biblical preaching may stir our hearts and give us courage, but its purpose reaches beyond a temporary feeling. Colossians 1:28 says, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” That is the goal: people growing in Christ through the truth He has given.

Pastor, people need you to teach them who God is, what He has said, and how they must respond. Encourage them with His promises, correct them with His truth, and point them faithfully to His Son. A message that makes someone feel successful while leaving him lost has failed him at the place where he needs help most. Before we accept a message because it sounds good or makes us feel good, let’s open our Bibles. Let’s see what God says.