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Quotable – Ed Stetzer
Posted by Quotable in Bible & Theology, IMPACT Features, News & Culture
Too often we say, “I want to make the Bible relevant.” No need. It already is. Our job is to present it in ways that help the hearer see that it is relevant–in this and in every culture. We do so by starting at their understanding and taking them to Scripture for the whole answer.
Simply put:
• It is easy to preach in culturally relevant ways.
• It is easy to preach solid biblical texts.
• It is hard to do both in the same message.
But, if we are to preach like Jesus and Paul, we must learn to do so. Just as Jesus did, we must preach in a way so that people can best understand and respond to the gospel message.
Ed Stetzer, in his recent blog article on “Contextual Preaching. “
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Gotta love Ed! He makes me proud to be Southern Baptist.
I hate to beat a dead horse, but Ed is an extra large fella himself.
David
Not sure how “extra large” he is now, David… Ed has dropped 70 lbs. in recent months according to a recent twitter update!
Well, that’s good. The last time I saw him, he was at least a 2XL.
I, on the other hand, am a 5XL.
Well, I know that right now it’s the “cool” thing to be thin and skinny and wear a goattee and comb your hair like you’ve just gotten out of bed. I guess I’m just not “cool.”
David
Well said.
The Bible is not hard to be understtood in any time, or culture, it is impossible to be believed, by the unregenerated.
Stetzer and his like have done a great job of bringing us farther away from the days of colonial church planting. The potential problem with demographics will always be a temtpation to build a church around particular facets of that demographic. Young with young, old with old, rich with rich, etc. This is kind of the way we structure our churches too. We claim to be age-graded, which is OK, but better is to see the church more as a unity in whatever demographic she finds herself. Clustered groups of like-minded individuals, like a culture itself, will somehow always lead to groping in the darkness. Like it or not, those stubborn old men and women bring something to my life that I would other wise miss in a yuppie church. Likewise, when the older generation shuts itself off from the rest, they are missing their mandate to instruct the younger. Balance is always the key to unlock the door of the next generation. Like Stetzer said, make the Bible relevant but we too must be relevant lest we gather dust.