There is something conspicuously absent from modern preaching—sermons so hard on sin that people are offended.
Not sermons that mention the word “sin” in passing or call it out in soft, innocuous terms. But the kind that is so specific, so personal, and so direct that it angers everyone in the room and makes them want to throw the preacher off a cliff.
Tell me, when is the last time you heard a sermon like this?
So, why do preachers refuse to preach offensive sermons? Many reasons, to be sure. But part of the answer can be found in Jesus’ comments in John 3:19-20 about men hating the light. Let me explain the connection.
The Teaching of John 3:19-20
In John 3, Jesus is schooling a leader of the Jews named Nicodemus on salvation. During that discussion, he explains the necessity of being born again to enter the Kingdom (3-8), the requirement for faith in the Messiah to receive eternal life (14-17), and the ultimate reason people reject salvation and are condemned (18-21).
In this latter section, he says this about mankind’s response to light:
19, And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20, For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
Want the latest e-mail updates from Dr. Moore? Sign up here.
The truth of Christ (made up of the gospel and the teachings of the Bible [1]) is the light Jesus is speaking of in this text. Men hate this light because it exposes the evil they do and love. As a result, whenever it comes near them, they run from it.
This is as true today as it was in the first century. When the truths of the Bible are applied to the wickedness of men in contemporary society, they will scurry out of sight as fast as they can. They will not continue in any place or with any man that declares these truths.
And the more the light shines on their particular sins—the “brighter” it is, so to speak—the faster they will run and the farther they will go.
John 3 and Why Preachers Refuse to Preach Offensive Sermons
So, what does this have to do with failing to preach against sin? To understand the connection, you must first realize that every preacher has goals for his ministry.
He may want to keep pastoring a particular church (i.e., keep his job); increase the number of people who hear him preach, listen to his podcasts, or watch his videos; or be invited back to speak at a church or conference.
He wants to be popular, influential, and successful, not in an arrogant or prideful way, necessarily. He simply desires to make a difference, and popularity, influence, and success are some of the ways to measure that.
Now, these goals are not always stated. In fact, most men probably do not list out the goals they have for their own ministry. But they exist, nonetheless.
To see that you do too, ask yourself, “How would I feel if my ministry ended today, and I never preached again?” Undoubtedly, the prospect would upset you deeply. But why? Because you want to produce fruit for the Lord. And what is the desire to produce fruit? A goal!
Offensive Sermons and Ministry Success
Now that we see that all of us have goals, we must recognize that none of those goals are served by offending people. In fact, offending produces the opposite of what the preacher wants for himself. Men who offend lose their jobs, lose their followers, are not invited back, and become very unpopular very quickly.
Why? Because people—even those who call themselves Christians—hate the light and run from it. A preacher who calls out the sin of believers in clear, convicting terms will necessarily push some people away. Preaching offensive sermons, then, decreases a man’s ministry.
Because of this, a man is pressured to choose sermon topics that will not offend. When determining what to preach, he, either consciously or subconsciously, must decide what light he will shine and how bright he will shine it.
Rejection of Light and Weakened Preaching
Without realizing it, many men are limiting the light they shine because of how it will affect their personal goals for ministry. Consider some examples:
A man is asked to fill in at a local church. This church is disobedient and dying. He wants to tell them that in his sermon, but he knows they will not invite him back if he does. To make the best first impression, he preaches a sermon on prayer instead.
A man who desires a full-time pastoring position is invited to preach at a church in need of a pastor. He knows what they need to hear—that they are full of conflict and backbiting and need to repent—but he is afraid it will affect his ability to get the pastoring position. Instead of addressing their sin directly, he talks about conflict resolution principles in general, hoping they will make the connection on their own.
A man with a ministry Facebook page wants to grow his followers so he can reach more people. In an upcoming post, he wants to strongly call out the sin of homosexuality but knows it will likely cause some people to unfollow his page. He chooses a post about God’s love instead.
A pastor comes under conviction because his church does nothing to serve the poor. He knows if he calls them out for this sin in a Sunday sermon, he may lose his job. He chooses instead to keep praying about the matter and preaches a sermon on the beatitudes.
In the cases listed above, the man does not choose something sinful to talk about. Preaching on prayer, conflict resolution, God’s love, and the beatitudes is not wrong. But he made these choices not because it was best for the people but because it was best for him. He knew what they needed to hear, but he determined not to tell them because of how they would respond.
Do men always do this on purpose? No. Many times, they don’t even recognize they are doing it. But deep in the recesses of their minds, they are weighing what they plan to say against what they want to achieve and then choosing that which does the least damage to their ministries.
The Usefulness of Offensive Sermons
Is it really necessary that our sermons offend? In the case of the American church, yes, it is. Why? Because American Christians are immersed in sin both at a personal and corporate level but believe they are completely righteous before the Lord. In cases like this, normal preaching will not work; gentle teaching and correction are not enough to shock them out of their rebellion.
God’s people have been in this situation many times before. This is why so many preachers in the Bible spoke as directly and offensively as they did. Consider a few examples.
Ezekiel described Israel as a brazen, degenerate harlot in Ezekiel 16:30-35:
“How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot. You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.
“You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.
“You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.
“Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord!”
Stephen let loose on the wickedness of the Jews in Acts 7:51-53 and was stoned to death for it:
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.
Jesus was a wrecking ball to the rebellious of his day. Note the derogatory terms he uses in Matthew 23 when he speaks of the religious power brokers of his time:
Hypocrites and sons of hell: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” (15)
Blind fools: “Woe to you, blind guides.” “Fools and blind!” (16-17)
Whitewashed tombs: “You are like whitewashed tombs…full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” (27)
Snakes: “Serpents, brood of vipers!” (33)
Why speak like this? Because it shows the people how they truly stand before God. It does not allow them to ignore what they have done, minimize it, or point the finger at someone else. It is a burning white light that forces them to reckon with their actions.
And, while it may seem hateful in the moment, it is actually an act of love designed to give them the greatest possibility of reconciling with God, avoiding his punishment, and experiencing his favor.
A Different Viewpoint on Ministry
To find the courage to say things as biblical preachers did, men of God must set aside any and all goals they have for their ministries, whether stated or unstated, and focus only on doing what the Lord wants in that moment.
We must be reminded that we work for him, not the other way around. Therefore, our job—our only job—is to do what he commands us, regardless of the consequences to our “ministries.”
Remember, God often puts his preachers at odds with his people because his people are often at odds with him. Think about how much of the Bible is consumed with God’s people rebelling against him and God then laboring to bring them back to himself.
It is no different today. When his people sin, he sends his preachers to tell them about it. And this always creates conflict and rejection for the man of God.
Will this mean the end of my ministry?
You may think preaching this hard against sin will bring your ministry to an abrupt end. You will preach a few sermons, everything will blow up on you, and you will end up out of ministry altogether. But this is not true for a couple of reasons.
I am not suggesting you only preach sermons like this. There is a time and place for these types of messages. Every situation is different. Sometimes you need to teach basic doctrine, sometimes you need to provide a word of encouragement, and sometimes you need to take on sin. Use your judgment and preach hard against sin when it is appropriate. But do not back down because of how it will affect you personally.
If preaching against sin causes you to lose your ministry, you may, at that moment, actually find it. Remember that Jesus said, “He who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 10:39). This statement is in the context of a believer taking his cross and following Christ wherever he goes. It means a man must be willing to give up everything he holds dear to serve Jesus Christ. This can apply to ministry, as well. We all value our service to the Lord. We love what we do for him, and we do not want to lose it. But, like Abraham, the Lord may ask us to sacrifice what we see as our ministry for him to give us the ministry he has for us.
My Own Experience
I am an example of this. I have never been able to compromise when preaching against sin. I have often felt a burden to call out the wickedness I have seen in the churches I pastored. Even though I could see the devastation that was around the corner, I could never compromise what I had to say to protect myself.
This has cost me and my family dearly. I have been fired from churches when I had no other job to turn to, I have lost all my savings and retirement, and I have endured humiliation and shame. Over the course of eight years, I moved my family five times. Even now, I struggle with discouragement and depression because of all I have been through.
(To hear my testimony about my trails, see the video "Longsuffering Servants.")
But I am starting to see that all of this was in preparation for the actual reason I was created. The article you are reading and the content of this website are the fruit of all of those years of trauma because of preaching against sin.
I lost my life, and so now, by the grace of God, I am beginning to find it again. You may experience something similar situation if you choose to call out sin wherever you see it.
Choosing Sermon Topics
Given this, how should a man of God choose what to preach? The following steps suggest a possible process:
Pay attention to the sins of the people. Preachers tend to look at churches through rose colored glasses. But we must begin to look at our churches through the eyes of God, a holy, righteous, perfection-demanding Creator. What does he see when he looks at our churches?
Pray to God about what you see. Take the sins you observe before the Lord and ask for at least two things: Wisdom in determining when to address it, what to say, and how to say it. Strength to take it on in a direct and aggressive way
Develop the message based on the approach of preachers in the Bible. Use the prophets, apostles, and Christ himself as your example for how to preach hard against sin.
Preach the sermon with absolute abandon, with no concern for what will happen to you afterward. Imagine you have but one man in the audience, Jesus Christ. Say everything you have to say exactly as the Lord has shown you to say it, and let the chips fall where they may.
Remember faith. It is easy to think only bad things will happen when you challenge sin. But God uses his Word to bring about good things we cannot imagine. Think about what he did in Ninevah through Jonah’s preaching (Jonah 3). He may do the same through you.
Conclusion
Men reject the light and run from it. This causes some preachers not to preach against sin as aggressively as they should. But sermons that are offensive to sinners are critical to getting them to acknowledge their sin and repent.
Men of God must therefore set aside their own goals for ministry and focus exclusively on what Christ wants them to do in that moment.
Conflict and rejection will come as a result, but the Lord will use these to create an even more fruitful and fulfilling ministry for the men who suffer for calling out the sins of his people.
Notes:
[1] Why is the Bible part of the light Jesus is talking about in John 3? Because, as Jesus is the Word of God, the entire revelation of God’s truth is the light he has brought into the world (compare John 1:1-5 and 14). The Bible, then, is the full repository of the truth of Christ.