A Crisis in the Church: 6 Questions to Ask When Scrutinizing a Sermon

“The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these (the Bereans) were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.” (Acts 17:10-12)

A CRISIS IN THE CHURCH

There is a crisis in the church.

(A crisis is: “a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined; turning point.”)

The crisis in the church is this.

There is no (or minuscule) scrutinizing of what’s coming from / being said in the pulpit.

(Scrutinize means: “to examine in detail with careful or critical attention.”)

Let me ask you.

When was the last time you actually when back to the Bible and measured what the person speaking in front of you was saying whether it was Biblical or not?

Was it last Sunday?

Was it two Sundays ago?

Was it last month?

Last year?

I’ll bet you’ve never done it (or rarely).

(I am purposely “exaggerating” to make the point.)

And could it be that the great falling away (from the faith) that the Bible talks about is happening right now? (2 Thessalonians 2:3-10)

And could it be that the great falling away (from the faith) that the Bible talks about is happening right now and under some of the most popular preachers and teachers in America? (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

6 QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN SCRUTINIZING A SERMON

And so what does a person look for when scrutinizing a sermon / message from the pulpit?

I have put it in the form of 6 questions to ask…

1. Is the Bible actually being read and then used as the source of the sermon (versus the speaker’s experiences or a direct revelation or something else)?

2. Does the sermon line up with what the Bible says?

(A sub question would be: Where does it say that in the Bible?)

3. Does the sermon properly distinguish between Law and Gospel?

4. Does the sermon exegete a Scripture text or something else?

(exegesis: “critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text, especially of the Bible.”)

5. Is the gospel being preached?

(The gospel is Christ crucified for our sins and raised from the dead on the third day. The proper response is to repent and believe in the gospel and then bear fruit in keeping with repentance.)

6. Does the sermon focus on you or on Christ?

(For example, you are not David in the story of David and Goliath. There is no prescription in that story for you to follow to defeat any Goliaths that you are facing. The story of David and Goliath is about Christ, a descendant of David and of whom David is a type. David defeating Goliath is a picture of Christ defeating sin, death and the devil.)

(Reading via pixabay)

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