By Rick Warren
Jesus didn’t cloud his messages with technical or theological jargon.
He spoke in simple terms that normal people could understand. We need
to remember that Jesus did not use the classical Greek language of the
scholar. He spoke in Aramaic. He used the street language of that day
and talked of birds, flowers, lost coins, and other everyday objects
that anyone could relate to.
Jesus taught profound truths in simple ways. Today, we do the opposite. We teach simple truths in profound ways.
Sometimes when pastors think they are being “deep,” they are really
just being “muddy. They like to show off their knowledge by using Greek
words and academic terms. No one cares as much about the Greek as
pastors do. Chuck Swindoll once told me that he believes an overuse of
word studies in preaching discourages confidence in the English text. I
agree.
It is easy to complicate the gospel, and of course, Satan would love
for us to do just that. The apostle Paul worried that “your minds would
be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3 NASB).
And remember, simple doesn’t mean shallow. Simple doesn’t mean simplistic. Simple means being clear and understandable.
For instance, “This is the day the Lord has made” is simple while, “Have a nice day!” is simplistic.
Most people today communicate with a vocabulary of less than 2,000
words and rely on only about 900 words in daily use. If you want to
communicate with most people, you need to keep it simple.
I consider being called a simple preacher a compliment. I’m
interested in seeing lives changed, not in impressing people with my
“erudition.” I’d rather be clear than complex.
Jesus is our model. When we preach like he did, we’ll see the results he did.
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