Scripture: Support or Source?

We need to draw our messages directly from Scripture rather than set a message and scour the Bible for verses to support it... and we will be on more secure foundations.

- Charles Ng

Okay okay, it isn't really an exact quote, but today as we sat and talked about NS and BB, the planning for the forthcoming Gospel Series for 12th Coy led to the above remark.

And it is true that so often today we plan and preach sermons by setting a topic or agenda and then justifying the topic or message by using a verse here and a verse there. Now I am in no way against topical sermons or messages per se. However, you can see the potential pitfall here. By building Scripture around our message rather than our message around Scripture, we run the risk of relegating Scripture to that of a support rather than the source of our messages or worse, wrenching verses out of context to the detriment of both ourselves and our hearers. One only has to look at the Prosperity or Health and Wealth "gospel", that is slowly and insidiously creeping into many churches in Singapore, to see the danger posed by interpreting Scripture outside of its proper context.

It does not mean of course that messages have to be based on a single text with no other additional supporting texts included. But the issue is always context, context, context. For many of us who do not have the breadth and depth of knowledge of the Word of God that comes with much study and years of walking with Christ, it is definitely much safer to stick close to a particular text and preach from it, rather than attempt to cast our nets far and wide and potentially lead people away from Christ.