Continuing this series…
#2 - You Are Not Deep Enough!
We’ve all heard this one…and it used to bother me! Seriously, I have always tried and tried to show people how practical and real the Scriptures are…I prepare like crazy and study a ton…and so when someone used to say this I really took it personally…until…
I actually began looking at the type of person who said this.
They were usually someone who was OBSESSED with INFORMATION but cared very little about TRANSFORMATION!
SO…I began asking them this question whenever they brought this complaint, “Can you define ‘DEEP’ for me?”
What I usually get are blank stares and a lot of stuttering. No one, I mean NO ONE has EVER been able to define “deep!” SO…I realized that I was allowing other people to hold me captive to a standard that they could not even define! Folks, that pretty much makes that argument one you just can’t win.
Two things before I leave this one alone…
What MANY people mean when they say “deep” is actually “confusing.” They want me to teach line by line, verse by verse (something Jesus never actually did) and say REALLY obscure things and REALLY big words…and then GLOAT that they actually understood some of the sermon…and look down on those who didn’t
Our job is not to confuse people…but to preach Jesus Christ, the GOSPEL…and when presented in its most simple and purest form, God uses it to change lives.
The second thing I noticed about this person is that they usually aren’t actively doing anything for Christ. They think the more they know the more like Christ they are becoming. Which actually isn’t true at all…NO ONE knows more ABOUT Christ than satan, yet he doesn’t follow through on what he knows! SO…the person who knows what they should be doing but suppress that by saying they want to go “deeper” and know more aren’t actually becoming more like Jesus…but rather they are becoming more like satan!!!
Pastors, we are responsible to teach WHATEVER and HOWEVER God leads us to teach! And if people aren’t satisfied by our “depth” and “wisdom” then we’ve GOT to be okay with that; after all, MOST of us are educated WAY beyond our level of obedience anyway.
OR…as I once heard someone say, “it’s not the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that bother me…it’s the parts that I do understand that bother me!”
We can spend our lives trying to impress those already in the Kingdom with our knowledge…OR by trying to reach those far from God by simply explaining the Gospel! I’m going with the Gospel…EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!