Pastor, I just wish the sermons would “Go Deeper” (really?)

Last updated on: February 7, 2012 at 5:20 pm by Kurt Willems

Pastor, I just wish the sermons would “Go Deeper” (really?) 2012-02-07T17:20:26-08:00 Kurt Willems

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In my lifetime, I’ve been around folks that leave churches because they claim the sermons aren’t “deep enough.” Sometimes this is valid. Other times, it’s a cop-out. Valid = sermons are pop-psychology attempting to give a four point format for fixing your life. Instead of immersing us in the story and looking for intersections to the stories of the first century world and our twenty-first century world; these sermons give us facts about felt needs and use abstracted verses to validate claims. Invalid = A person really struggles with commitment issue to the local church. This person needs a “holy” excuse to leave, so they point to the sermons as their cop-out. This happens more often then many want to admit.

Alan Danielson says the following in an attempt to subvert the “I want to go deeper” syndrome by suggesting what “going deeper” out to mean.

So what does “go deeper” mean to me? It means three things:

1. Going deeper into my commitment to God’s Church.

I can’t be committed to Jesus (the head) without being committed to the church (His body)…

2. Going deeper into my commitment to the world.

…If I am to “go deeper” I must dive deeper into the muck and mire of a broken world in order to reach people…

3. Going deeper into my commitment to being mastered by Christ.

I’m a work-in-progress, and the more God works on me, the more progress I realize I need…

What do you think “going deeper” in preaching ought to mean?

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