Pulpit Injuries: Severe SermonText Dislocations

By reglerjoe

The Danger of Disconnecting the Sermon from Its Text

Let me begin this post with a few (what should be) unnecessary disclaimers and clarifiers:

1. I understand that sermon text dislocation is not unique to independent fundamental Baptist pulpits.
2. I understand that sermon text dislocation afflicts a wide variety of Christian sectors.
3. I understand that there are multitudes of IFB pulpits that do not suffer from sermon text dislocation.
4. Because I am an independent fundamental Baptist, and because I was raised in independent fundamental Baptist churches, and because I hang out with a lot of independent fundamental Baptist preachers my post will be aimed at independent fundamental Baptist pulpits.

Clear as mud? Good.

What is not clear, I’m sure for some, is what exactly sermon text dislocation is. In medicine, a dislocation is a removal of a bone or an organ from its normal location. Sermon text dislocation is (my weak attempt at humor) when a good sermon comes from a text which does not correspond to the sermon. The text and sermon are dislocated from each other. They don’t go together anymore. The truth has been severely sprained.

The condition can be described as a good preacher making good statements form a text that did not give him his statements. I’ve heard/read such sermons recently, and I thought “Good stuff. What you say is true; it’s just that you didn’t get it from your text passage.”

It happens a lot. I mean a lot! Just download a sermon from any IFB megachurch website and hear it for yourself; or better yet, got to any IFB college website and listen to some chapel sermons. I guarantee that you will find many dislocated sermons.

Unfortunately, the condition can go unnoticed for quite some time (I should know, I suffered from sermon text dislocation off and on for 10 years). The reason for lack of detection is the attitude that “since what I’m saying is the truth, it must be a good sermon.” The preacher’s congregants don’t notice it for the same reason. “What he says is true! How can it be unbiblical?”

It’s not that such sermons are necessarily “unbiblical”; it’s just that what the preacher is saying is not what the text is saying.

Unfortunately, this condition can degenerate quickly into heresy. If the preacher can make texts say things they don’t say, then he can easily make texts say things the Bible doesn’t say. At this point, amputation may be necessary.

The problem starts with the abuse of topical preaching. (Topical preaching has its place, but it should be used in moderation – much like NyQuil). Topical sermon preparation begins with a topic, and then a text is found to support the topic. Often though, the text is forced to support the topic, resulting in sermon text dislocation.

Don’t get me wrong, expositional sermons are not immune to the condition, but I’ve noticed topical preachers seem to be afflicted more than expositional and textual ones.

Recently, I heard of a preacher using the story of the two harlots going to Solomon to resolve their argument as a text for a sermon on “why you should go seek counsel from the manuvgawd.” The gist of the sermon was “if two whores have enough sense to get counsel then why don’t you?” Call me picky, but I don’t think those two harlots were seeking “counsel”. I think they were basically going to court.

As the above example shows, spiritualizing Old Testament stories can often lead to sermon text dislocation. It’s like mountain climbing: it sure is fun - but please be careful!

One of my favorite examples of a really bad sermon was one I heard years ago in college. A young preacher boy, who had recently acquired a girlfriend (I think his first), preached a sermon from Psalm 144:12 which reads:

"That our sons maybe as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of a palace:"

He preached on “why we should make our girlfriends the cornerstone of our ministry”. No joke. I am totally not kidding. And to the credit of my compatriot preacher boys, nobody took him seriously.

For more examples, I refer you to some of my previous posts here and here.

Let me conclude by saying that when a preacher preaches a sermon disconnected from the Word of God, he is without hope of having the Holy Spirit work in the hearts of the people. The Word is our source of power, without it we are no longer preachers but just moral public speakers. It is the Word that breaks up the fallow ground of stony hearts. It is the Word that gives life and feeds God’s sheep. Anything else is just hype.

For a better read on this subject, I suggest Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students. Read (again) the chapter entitled “On the Choice of a Text.”

Until next time, let’s keep our preaching between the ditches and the greasy side down!