Teaching and Preaching God's Word Requires the Humility to be Simple
A preacher's goal should not be to impress people.
To those who are teachers and preachers of God’s word, focus on making the Scriptures plain.
Preaching is not about impressing people with your knowledge and vocabulary, letting them know how well-read you are. The goal of preaching is to accurately communicate God’s word so that it can be understood and acted upon (Habakkuk 2:2; Nehemiah 8:8). - Steve Higginbotham, The Spiritual Sword, Vol. 53, page 15.
Preaching and teaching the word of God is not about elevating the speaker but about elevating the message.
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
There is a passage in Mark about the Lord’s teaching that has always stood out to me. It says very simply: “And the common people [great throng - ESV] heard Him gladly” (Mark 12:37).
Jesus taught a message that the religious elite didn’t care for - but everyone else was glad to hear His teaching.
While Jesus certainly taught some challenging things (see John 6), most of His teaching was easily understood by those who had an open mind to the truth.
Jesus’ goal wasn’t to impress people with how scholarly He sounded or to amaze people with a great talent for public speaking.
While I believe the apostle Paul was well-trained in public speaking for his time (Acts 17 on Mars Hill is a good example), he was more concerned that people’s faith was in God and not his abilities.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
Let us not put our faith and trust in the abilities and talents of great teachers and preachers. As a preacher, I remind myself - and all those who preach - that the power to save souls is not found in our abilities but the word of God (Romans 1:16-17; Hebrews 4:12).
Let us have the humility to proclaim the simple message of God’s word.