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OVER THIRTY-SEVEN plus years of ministry, I’ve occasionally heard various church members say, “Preacher, I think we need a sermon on_____________________.”

The subject suggestions have been as diverse as those who offered them.  Frequently, but not always, the proposals leaned towards moral issues like modesty, sex, or beverage alcohol.  Sometimes they gravitated more towards specific doctrinal issues like marriage and divorce, giving, or the oneness of the church.

I’ve always been curious as to what really prompts people to offer sermon suggestions in the first place. Sometimes I’ve been courageous enough to inquire as to why they think a particular message needs to be addressed.

What I’ve discovered from listening is that some brethren request specific sermons because they’ve got a burr in their saddle.

They’re aggravated with a fellow church member who doesn’t meet their own personal, dare I say it–Pharisaic expectations, and so sermon suggestions are tendered as a means of fixing folks. “So-and-so is doing this…and so you need to preach a good sermon on this”–whatever “this” may be.

I call these, “whippin’ or spanking sermons.” Whippin’ sermons are where I’m urged to preach on pet subjects and verbally whip a church member or members into submission.

In essence, Mike needs to tell off weak members via the pulpit in one glorious fire and brimstone message; he needs to correct folks and one whippin’ sermon will do the trick.

I’ve never been able to find many (if any) quick-fix, duct-tape, whippin’ sermons in the Bible. I do find occasions where some preached with improper motives (cf. Philippians 1:15-16), but even they didn’t reap immediate, instantaneous results.

What I do find in the Scriptures is where prophets and preachers did a lot of seed sowing (Luke 8:4-8; 11-15). They scattered the seed–Word, cultivated it, fertilized it, and watered it in anticipation of an eventual God-given harvest (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Strange as it may sound, it is not a preacher’s job to fix anybody. Correct (2 Timothy 3:16-4:3), yes; fix, no. It’s not his job to tomahawk members of the body of Christ into compliance.  Watch:

²³ But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. ²⁴ And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, ²⁵ in humility correcting those who are in opposition (emphasis mine – mb), if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, ²⁶ and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will (2 Tim. 2:23-26).  

It is a gospel preacher’s God-given responsibility is to scatter the precious Word–seed on different soils and then let God do his part (Isaiah 55:10-11).

A preacher knows the seed is good. He knows some soil is good. He also knows some soil will soften over time given the right conditions.

Have you ever heard of a person who listened to just one whippin’ sermon and obeyed in totality?

More likely what you’ve witnessed is that over time, with repetitive, consistent, loving seed-planting and instruction, as well as godly influence and patience (1 Peter 3:1-4), a person eventually came to the truth and made a successive, gradual change.

If either a preacher or a farmer forces seed on blacktop, you can be certain there won’t be any growth or legitimate conversion. That’s true in the field as well as in the pew.

Do I covet sermon suggestions? Absolutely! Do I intend to preach one-hit wonders so that somebody can vicariously get at somebody else in the assembly? Not for a minute.

Give that a thought the next time you find yourself saying, “Preacher, I think we need a sermon on____________________.” It may be that the person who really needs a whippin’ won’t be the “weak” brother in sin, but you.

“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!” – Mike

IMAGINE YOU’RE SITTING in your living room, enjoying a peaceful afternoon while reading the paper.

Suddenly, a baseball flies into the room, shattering your window.

Obviously, your first question wouldn’t be, “How did it get here?”

It would be, in a highly bothered tone, “Who did this?!”

The baseball didn’t just smash through your window for no reason.

Some agent acted upon it, causing a “disturbance in the force” that ruined your perfectly good afternoon.

The universe couldn’t have just “arrived” without a force behind it. And unlike the remote possibility that a pitching machine spat a baseball into your living room instead of an actual person, it’s impossible that a universe was just spat out by an inanimate force. It took a Person, a Someone. Holding the Bible at its word, we Christians believe that Someone to be God, the Great Cause (Alex McFarland).

“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens” (Gen. 2:4).

“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!” – Mike

SINCE EARLY CHILDHOOD I have heard people say that it does not make any difference what we believe, that if we are honest and sincere about it, God will save us anyway.

Have you ever made such a statement?

Most likely you have heard your preacher say the same thing.  If he has, ask him for the verse in the Bible. You have made this kind of statement because your have heard preachers make it, and naturally you thought it must be so. But if your preacher has been making it, he must have some reason for it since he claims to be following and teaching the Bible. He should make such statements providing the Bible says so. And if the Bible says so, he will know where to find it. So ask him to give you the book, chapter, and verse.

Notice this scripture from 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12:  “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (KJV).

This indeed is a very plain statement.  It positively says that some would “believe a lie.”  Certainly there is a vast difference between believing a lie and believing the truth.  The truth is recorded in the word of God.  If it is not taught in the word of God, it must be a lie.

Does it make any difference which of these one believes?

The general idea is that it does not matter, provided one is sincere.  Of course, he could not believe anything unless he is sincere.

A person might pretend o believe a think and be insincere about it.  But if he actually believes it, he must be sincere.

So the Bible speaks of men who are sincere, for it actually says they will “believe a lie.”  But what of their sincerity?  Will that atone for their mistake?  Will God save them anyway, just because they are honest about it?  Is that what the Bible said?  No, that is not the way it reads at all.

Observe verse 12 again: “THAT THEY ALL MIGHT BE DAMNED WHO BELIEVED NOT THE TRUTH.”

Notice the word “damned.”  This means the very opposite of “saved.”  Yet we are told that certain men would be damned.  But who were to be damned?  All those who believed a lie or believed not the truth.

It does make quite a difference what a person believes!  For if one is to be saved, he must believe the truth.  To believe something else will result in damnation – regardless of how sincere a person might be.  (Garland Elkins, “Does Honesty Make Error Truth?,” Come and See).

“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12).

“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!” – Mike