Congregations Refusing to Hear the Word of God Preached

[bookslover]

I want to start this new thread to discuss some comments on another thread on a different subject I'd started earlier.

On that thread, someone mentioned that John MacArthur had once started to preach through the Book of Psalms, but that his congregation asked him to stop and do something else. Someone else, on the same thread, wrote that he knew of TWO pastors who had started to teach or preach through the Psalms, and the people stopped showing up until they had switched to different books.

I find this incredible - Christian congregations actually refusing to hear the Word of God preached (and, in MacArthur's case, by one of the finest preachers in the country)!

Has anyone else heard about this phenomenon? Christians refusing to hear preaching? How often does this happen? Yes, some books of the Bible can be difficult to preach from, but is that a legitimate excuse?

Sounds like it's time to warm up the church discipline procedures, to me!

 

[Mushroom]

the people stopped showing up until they had switched to different books.

Isn't that what is called a Scottish revival?

 

[kvanlaan]

Why would a congregation not want to hear someone rhapsodize on God's majesty, power, grace, love, and justice, when it is the God they profess to love, and the God whose love they seek?

 

[Jack K]

To stop showing up is the wrong way to do it. But sometimes pastors do need respectful and loving feedback on their preaching. They don't always get it from their elders.

And I can imagine a pastor, say, deciding to take several years to preach through the psalms and doing it in a way that gets repetitive... and being the last guy to realize it. In such a case, a pastor with a healthy relationship with his flock should hear about it, gently and encouragingly, well before people start walking out the door.

 

[Notthemama1984]

And I can imagine a pastor, say, deciding to take several years to preach through the psalms and doing it in a way that gets repetitive... and being the last guy to realize it. In such a case, a pastor with a healthy relationship with his flock should hear about it, gently and encouragingly, well before people start walking out the door.

I believe this is the case with Johnny Mac. He is famous for going super slow threw books (40+ years to get through the NT and I think nearly six months for the parable of the prodigal son If I recall correctly).

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

Of all the books to walk out on, why on earth would someone even WANT to walk out on the Psalms? I would give up a right arm if it meant my church would spend 3 years working through it.


Is it a tough book? Yes. However, many of the greatest treasures in all of Christianity require a lot of mining and working and praying to get to. The Psalms have more of these treasures than any one place in Scripture, because I do not know of another book in Scripture that exhorts the attributes and nature of God to the same degree.

 

[JonathanHunt]

Sometimes, preachers should take greater account of the fact that what is exciting them might be too longwinded and repetitive for their people. When preaching through a long book, I have always taken a break of a few weeks to preach on something else and freshen things up.

 

[CharlieJ]

Richard, I think you have framed the issue a bit uncharitably. It's not as if the people, upon finding out about an upcoming Psalms series, boycotted it out of principle. Rather, it sounds as though, over time, the preaching became wearisome. If a large number of otherwise faithful people all felt that way, there is probably some reason for it. Also, in the two churches, it was on Wednesday night, a time of notoriously lagging enthusiasm. So, it's not as if the people were dishonoring the Lord's Day or actually refusing to hear preaching. They just weren't sufficiently motivated to attend the Wed night service anymore.

As Jack said, the real issue in such a situation is a disconnect between pastor and flock. From this distance, I won't lay the blame on either party. I think threats of church discipline would do nothing other than exacerbate the problem.

 

[Tim]

Sometimes, preachers should take greater account of the fact that what is exciting them might be too longwinded and repetitive for their people. When preaching through a long book, I have always taken a break of a few weeks to preach on something else and freshen things up.

Agreed. It is still possible to have things be tedious for the people.

 

[JM]

I thought Elders advised on what the congregation needed in terms of preaching?

 

[elnwood]

Boice preached through the Psalms (175 sermons) over 8 and a half years. However, most preachers are no where near as skilled and insightful as Boice!

Boice wrote: "For years I have wanted to preach through the Psalms -- studying them carefully, a[[lying them to contemporary problems, and eventually publish them for the benefit of today's church. But I hesitated for a long time because I knew how profound and deeply spiritual the psalms are, and I was and I was fully aware, as so many before me have also been aware, that I was in no way wise enough or spiritual enough to do them justice. In the end I decided to proceed because it occurred to me that I was getting older -- I do not have an unlimited number of years to do Bible exposition -- and there are many, many psalms." - James M. Boice, Psalms vol. 1, 9.

I think Boice is right; it takes more insight and life experience to teach through the Psalms, more-so than other books of the Bible. Perhaps at the time MacArthur was too early in his ministry to be able to do justice to the Psalms.

 

[Pergamum]

I think there is the assumption being made that the congregation does not want to hear the Word of God at all just because they would rather hear some other portion of the Word at that particular time.