Is Your Preaching Too Deep or Too Shallow?

Preaching that truly changes people is never merely simple, practical, or relevant, it must be spiritually substantive. Listeners today may want clarity, brevity, or practical help, but beneath all that, they’re hungry for truth. And truth only transforms when it is preached with spiritual weight, biblical conviction, and pastoral wisdom. That means refusing to settle for shallow sermons that avoid the cross, or overly academic sermons that lose the room. The preacher’s call is to find the faithful middle: clear, accessible, and deeply scriptural preaching that reaches real people without watering down God’s Word.

The Danger of Shallow Preaching

In our efforts to reach people far from God, some pastors with good intentions are perhaps making messages too shallow.

When people come to church today, I believe they truly want to know what the Bible says. There seems to be a genuine hunger for God’s Word. Even if a curious non-Christian attends church, most want to hear a biblical message rather than a self-help and feel-good sermonette.

Our American churches today are sadly filled with many biblically illiterate people. Many truly want to learn more. Most prefer to be challenged rather than babied.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what people want. If sin separates people from God, we can’t be afraid to preach about sin, the cross, and the resurrection.

The Danger of Going Too Deep

The other extreme can also be dangerous. We have to equally guard against our sermons being too deep.

Some pastors are hypercritical 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 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.

Is your preaching too deep or too shallow? What do you struggle with the most?