There are several people I turn to when studying for a sermon to help bring clarity to my mind concerning the passage I am studying. One of those individuals I have trusted for years, definitely called by God to preach and teach the word. He is smart, knows the Bible and has done great things for the proclamation of the gospel.
I am thankful for that.
But last evening I heard him say somethings that just made me cringe on the inside. And even though the crowd applauded these comments they were just not up to the quality of statements I am used to hearing from him.
It was statements like…
“Hymns are a higher form of worship, unlike those “7 eleven songs” – you know where you repeat the same words over and over again.
He also spoke of “higher and lower forms of worship”
So, for the rest of the talk I cringed. Not because I do not have respect for Him, because I do. Instead it was because he is smart, knowledgeable and was trying to help people understand an important truth but lost his ability to pursued anyone the moment he began to make statements that were not thought through very well. That were more religiously/traditionally motivated rather than biblically motivated.
Through those statements he lost the people he was trying to reach.
My point here is not about him, for I am not in a position to speak with him about my concerns, he doesn’t even know who I am. My point here is “we” preachers have a tendency to make the same sort of statements. And what the world needs is NOT another crazy rant about music and styles or whatever our latest pet peeve is. The world NEEDS to hear christians that have thought through their positions to the point they can explain them in a convincing way. Positions that matter in the scheme of what God is trying to do.
We need to speak intelligently not programmatically.
And sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference…
“Lord help me not say what I want to say during a sermon or message, please prevent that from happening. Instead help me know the words you want spoken for those are the words I desire to speak. Guide me as I think through concepts and ideas and bring me to the truth and a clear effective way to communicate those truths to a world that needs them, and prevent me from saying things that would mess your message up. Things that take away from the credibility of the gospel movement.”
phillipbrande.com 
I do not know what all was said by this “pastor” (the 7/11 gives him away), but I do think his perception of hymn music being more worshipful comes not from Scripture, but from his own upbringing. He being raised in the environment that he was raised in would create an aversion to music that may sound similar to the world. Therefore hymn music would be more worshipful for him. Also, he is responsible to lead and guide his own church in the manner he believes the Lord would have him do, but it would be an entirely different thing if he was making universal statements for the church today. Definitely, one thing can be learned is even though a pastor can be an excellent theologian, and a tremendous expositor of the word, they are still just mere man who are capable of error. Thanks for the post!
He was making universal statements for the church today… no doubt, stated them that way. Also, the generational concept you bring up about the individual is true and most of the audience was from his generation, but that doesn’t matter because the statements were just idiotic in nature, especially when there are places in the Bible (Revelation) where worship is repetitive. (Not to mention our hymns are not even close to the way Psalms were written). But that isn’t the point… the point is… When we get in the zone like he was, we often make our “pet peeve” statements and ignore scripture and logic. Again the important thing is not who he is, it’s who we are and God did not intend for us to preach our preferences to the world… he intended us to preach His word to the world in a way that connects with them so they are able to make a decision about Christ. We are men… that is correct, but that is not an excuse ignore our weaknesses because of that fact… and sometimes its good to learn from someone else’s error.