The Danger of Teaching Information Without Application
Mar 22, 2020 06:19 am | Dave Kraft
There is a lie
that many preachers, teachers and Christian leaders have bought into hook, line
and sinker. It’s that information will bring transformation. From 60 years of experience
in leading, and developing leaders let me tell you it just ain’t so. Here is a
simple formula that I have been working with for many years.
Biblical Information + prayerful contemplation + meaningful conversation + specific application = Gospel Transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Information
does not equal transformation; no matter how good or theologically accurate it
is and regardless of how passionately it was presented.
Rick
Warren share some excellent thoughts on the danger of teaching information
without application.
The
Danger of Teaching Information Without Application
I believe the number one problem with preaching in America is
its lack of application. Too many pastors use an academic model in which they
simply lecture their congregations. As a result, people often walk out of
worship services with their lives unchanged.
The lack of application in preaching has led to
half-empty, financially strapped churches around the country. Many of the moral
issues that plague our society are consequences of this lack of personal
application. We’re teaching doctrine and knowledge without ever making the
point of how it applies to the lives of people.
In the first 15 years of Saddleback, we had no
building. In fact, we used 79 different buildings throughout those 15 years. We
even worshiped in a tent for a few years. We would freeze in the winter, get
soaked in the spring, burn up in the summer, and blow away in the fall. Despite
those disruptions, our church kept growing. People will put up with a lot of
adversity if God is changing their lives through the teaching and preaching.
Today in churches all around the world, thousands of
messages will be taught. Although preachers will speak a lot of words, far too
many Christians will do little with what they hear.
The result? Churches and society will continue to
struggle because people aren’t applying God’s Word to their lives.
So why don’t more pastors build applications into
their sermons?
We
assume people will make their own connections to the applications. We think that if we
teach people the Bible and interpret it for them, they can figure out the
application. But they typically don’t. It requires hard work to apply God’s
Word to our lives; most people won’t even try.
We
leave the application to the Holy Spirit. Here’s the problem
with that kind of thinking: You’re
the Holy Spirit’s tool for making this happen! He will speak through
you, but you need to explain the application to people.
The
application is too convicting and makes people feel uncomfortable. We’re afraid that if
we preach the application of Scripture, people will say we’re meddling and
should mind our own business.
It
takes more time and effort. We spend so much time interpreting the Bible that we
run out of time before we get to the application. It takes time to think about
and process biblical application.
We’re
afraid to be labeled “simplistic.” You have to care more about God changing lives in
your church than impressing other pastors or denominational leaders.
I don’t care what the reasons are. It’s dangerous—to
you and your church—to preach information without application, and here’s why.
Knowledge Without
Application Produces Pride
The Bible says, “Knowledge
puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1 CSB). Some of the most
carnal, cantankerous people I know are storehouses of Bible knowledge. They can
quote the Bible frontward and backward, but they use it to hammer on people.
They can explain any passage and defend any doctrine, but they’re unloving.
The Bible says, “I
may have the gift to speak what God has revealed, and I may understand all
mysteries and have all knowledge. I may even have enough faith to move
mountains. But if I don’t have love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians
13:2 GW).
Without application, Bible knowledge doesn’t help
anyone. It just produces pride, which destroys all that it touches, just as
Proverbs 16:18 teaches.
Knowledge Without
Application Brings Judgment
James 4:17 says, “Remember,
it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (NLT). Deeper
knowledge brings deeper responsibility. Most people in our churches know a lot
more of the Bible than they’re actually living out. Whenever we teach people
the Bible and they don’t apply what they’ve learned, we’re increasing the
judgment upon our church. That should scare us.
Pastor, you’re a bridge-builder. Every time you
preach, you’re building a bridge between the timeless truth of God’s Word and
the contemporary world. We preach the “faith
which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3 NKJV).
We don’t have the authority to change the message, but the application and
delivery must change for every generation.
We should never forget that there are dramatic consequences
for not teaching people how to apply God’s Word to their lives.
We need pastors who, like the men of Issachar in 1
Chronicles 12:32, understand the times in which they live and challenge their
congregations to live out the truth of the Bible.