Clarity in preaching

 I'm currently reading Souls in Transition by Christian Smith and Patricia Snell. The book describes their findings about the religious and spiritual lives of young American adults 18-23. The book is filled with statistics from their research, which makes for slow reading, but it also includes comments from personal interviews conducted with many of the ones they studied. Among the many interesting findings is that many of the young people struggle to know what they believe about religion, Christianity and their faith, if they profess having faith. Among the more common statements is that it's probably important to believe something, but it doesn't matter much what a person believes since all the major religions essentially teach the same thing. I couldn't help but think of a popular phrase among people in that age group: whatever.

Of course, anyone who has done even a brief study of the various religions know that all religions do not teach the same thing. They hold doctrinal beliefs that differ in many ways from other religious groups. What these young people are doing is simply parroting things they have heard from their peers, college professors, liberal pastors and entertainers without taking the time to study the issue for themselves.

This is also a reflection on the preaching they may have heard as children growing up in church. Too many churches focus more on entertaining young people in an effort to keep them coming and not enough time teaching them biblical truths. As these young people grow older they enter young adulthood without a clear understanding of God, Jesus Christ, the plan of salvation and other doctrinal truths. This makes they an easy prey for anyone interested in undermining their faith.

Like many young people, I was raised in the church but became less involved in my teen years. As a nineteen year old I went away to the Navy and became even less involved in church. It wasn't until my mid-20s when a crisis hit my life that I became more interested in returning to the faith of my childhood. Fortunately, I had a childhood faith to return to. Many young adults today don't which accounts for their spiritual confusion.

Churches need to make discipling children and young people a priority. Pastors need to be unafraid to preach clear, biblical, doctrinally-sound sermons. What I'm reading about young adults is equally true for many of our older members as well. Many who have sat in our pews for years struggle to articulate an understanding of biblical truth. They also need clarity from the pulpit about the Christian faith and its beliefs.

If we don't want our young people growing up with a "whatever" belief about God and His teachings for our lives we must commit to preaching clear messages each week that helps our people better understand God and what He has to say about our lives, both here and in eternity.