From time to time people will visit TCC and ask, “I’m looking for deep truths—does TCC have deep teaching?” Sometimes I wonder exactly what they mean by that. Do they mean…
- “Give me the Greek! Wow me with your knowledge of the original languages.”
or do they mean…
- “Teach me something I’ve never heard before.”
or is it…
- “Go verse by verse through books of the Bible. None of that topical fluff!”
I know Hebrew and Greek pretty well. Each week as I prepare my message I study the passage in its original language. When I conclude that some of these insights will bring clarity and help to my congregation, I share them in my message. But what I won’t do is toss in Hebrew or Greek simply to show off (or to cover for lack of preparation!). That’s not “deeper teaching”, no matter how profound it sounds. And when it comes to learning new things we’ve never heard before, what we often forget is that the teaching we now may criticize, once was new and fresh to us! Just as families serve a variety of foods appropriate to help each member grow and develop, the local church family is composed of people of all maturity levels. In every sermon we strive to provide a balanced meal: nutritious enough for Mom and Dad, yet digestible by Junior. Anything less than this would be unloving to our whole family. Fact is, those of us who have been around the spiritual block a few times tend to suffer more from shallow application than from shallow teaching. All of us already know much more than we faithfully apply. I am convinced that if we all would focus on deeply applying the truths from the sermon—regardless of whether they’re new to us—we each would make great strides in our spiritual maturity.
Now, a word about “expository teaching”—by which we mean studying selected books of the Bible in a verse by verse, chapter by chapter, fashion.(To read more click on this link…) Deep Teaching?