Nowadays, most believers are quickly drawn to messages that tickle the ear but can be just as quickly repelled by messages that inconvenience them in some way or another. We all know what kind of preaching we want to hear, but what kind of preaching does God want us to hear? They may not be the same thing.
Preaching has and always will be a great balancing act. The Bible preaches about comfort, rest, grace, mercy, blessing and such themes. But many times the Bible also points out some not so easy truths that pastors, preachers, evangelists and prophets must never miss out - truths such as stewardship, curses, sin, generosity and other realities that we need to hear as well.
While I am not in any way implying that preaching is to be boring and irrelevant, what matters just as much or even more than our delivery, illustrations and comedy is the content that is preached. More important than the hook of the message is the Bible message that there is for all of us to benefit from.
The Apostle Paul knew too well about this prevalent problem in the body of Christ and said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions." The danger behind selective listening is that we as broken and incomplete people will only start taking in what we desire. We all know what word to use to describe such attitude: selfish.
At the core of every human being is a selfish desire to select only what we think suits us best for the purpose of masking over our inadequacy or requiring minimum discomfort from us. We try our best to stay away from those truths that show we are incomplete or which challenge us to change. We don't like the idea of not being the complete package or having to move out our comfort zone. That's why we hate hearing how sinful we are or how ignorant we can be of reality at times. We don't like being told about our sin, the curses that might be present in us, the lack of ability or the need for a Savior.
But Jesus makes it clear that we must not just acknowledge this reality. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, He reminds us that His power is made perfect only in our weakness. Unless we are to hear the harsh reality of our complex inadequacy and inconvenient reality, we will never know the magnitude of God's grace and power in our life. Only when we see how wretched we really are, then we will see how good God is to love and redeem us nonetheless.
There are always two sides to great preaching: the gravity of our situation and the beauty of Jesus' name. Are you listening to both messages today?
