Clarity > Relevance

For the two of you who read my post on "relevance ," one might think I like to talk over people’s heads and not make the Scriptures relevant to daily life. Then, if you were in the junior high worship this past Sunday (or high school on Weds night), you might think I was dumbing things down too much and not teaching every minutiae of the text. Just the opposite happened, I think.

There is a vast difference in attitude between making God relevant, and showing that He already is. The first posture makes the assumption that the Bible cannot be read with clarity by normal people, and must be re-formatted to relate to our lives. So pastors use what I call dot-to-dot Bible sprinkling. A verse here, a verse there, and not communicating through the context and story wrapped up around them. (Every genre is different of course.) In this way we teachers become the filter for biblical truth, rather than God’s world.We then treat the Bible as a HOW TO Manual with a system of redemption rather than a Redeemer.

The second impulse — seeking to show God and His Word are already relevant — receives God’s Word as the Father’s heart and mind for His people; it completely relates to our lives.

Here are some thoughts on teaching philosophy, followed by a quote. Clarity is the key impulse for us teachers, more than relevance:

If we only speak things that people already know, they will not be challenged. Nor will they really listen. Lots of people go to church with the intent of being reaffirmed in what they already believe. (That’s an incomplete motivation, by the way.) We see this at play when responses come in after the preacher says something jarring — but totally in-line with the Scriptures and a Gospel-centered of truth. The issues play out in different ways, not just "I didn’t like what you said about ____."

If we are so clever that the people need us to make sense of the Bible, then we are putting ourselves in place of Christ. The Apostles Doctrine (Acts 2:42-47) was reading the Old Testament Scriptures through the lens of Jesus. None of the words had changed, but their meaning and significance was greatly heightened. God spoke through the prophets, and has in these last days spoken the loudest through His Son (Heb. 1:1-3). Yet if we are too creative with Scripture that people need us to learn its plain truths, then we are dethroning Christ little by little. No outright denial of His Lordship, but we leaders can become our people’s functional Savior’s. (If you don’t believe me, notice how many people refer to their church and others as "[insert pastor's name here] church." Sad.

Teaching people involves creating biblical categories of thought, not just massaging the ones they already have. Not everyone believes out-and-out lies, but it is clear that many (most?) people have truncated theology. We think like bumpers stickers, in short little platitudes (half-truths). As pastors we can love them by stretching them, along with living life along with them, and unleashing them to serve in ways that will connect their heads to their hearts to their hands. Training in godliness must have an element of putting away people’s silly myths (1 Timothy 4:7), and battling for truth by engaging people in the mission of the church and Christ’s mission in this world. That’s why I like to talk about applying our lives to the Bible, rather than only applying the Bible to our lives.

Teaching pre-teens is like teaching adults. Only the students may have longer attention spans. (Seriously, it may be the opposite of what you think.) There are less stresses weighing on them, even though their bodies and minds are ever changing. When they become college-aged they may be the most engaged of any age group.

Students and adults are different in that before students reach mid-teens they think in concrete ways more than abstract ways. As a more abstract reasoner, that has been the greatest challenge for me. However, there are ways to make the Scriptures clear. Object lessons are helpful. But the #1 would be: to believe its truth so much that you are obviously gripped by it. Students deal with so much ingenuous nonsense that they can smell insincerity from a mile away. If a person knows, loves and enjoys Christ — that is the most compelling argument for commending Him.

Colin Adams offers this relevant quote on how the Bible already is:

"Clarity should be the goal of every preacher and every sermon. Clarity is different from relevance. I don’t aim to make the Bible relevant. It is already more relevant than I could ever make it. The Bible is the most relevant book in the world, because it has been written by the timeless, unchanging God. No teacher makes the Bible relevant. His highest aim is to clearly expose its relevance to those who are listening. That resulting clarity leads to changed lives.”
– John Kitchen, Revival in Rubble, 167.

Last thought: it’s easier to teach how-to sermons with relevance as the goal. It’s much more work to dive into the text and allow the depth, beauty and truth to come alive. I beseech you — preach the word! (2 Timothy 4:1-2)

End of rant.