Yesterday we talked about the shortcomings of shallow sermons. The other extreme can also be dangerous. We have to equally guard against our sermons being too deep.

Some pastors are hyper critical of those who aren’t deep. But sometimes deep can equal boring or irrelevant.

I love studying the meaning of Greek and Hebrew words and find that sharing some with the church to be very helpful. But an overuse of the original languages can become dull.

Similarly, the history and context of a chapter is also often important. Sometimes though, a pastor can spend so much time in the deep end that people drown in unimportant facts.

Two years ago, a very intelligent pastor moved into my community. Many of my friends attend his church. His sermons are so intellectually deep that the average person can’t track with him. His church has lost about 40% of its weekend attendance.

Several people approached him and asked if he could make the messages easier for them to understand. He adamantly opposed explaining that he’d never dumb down God’s word. While I admire his passion, I think he lacks wisdom.

Those who truly have the gift of teaching must guard against over-teaching a text.