preach the gospel

i came across the following comment via a link on the fide-o blog. the article was written by douglas baker of baptist press.

many Southern Baptist churches will not abide theologically thick preaching, because every effort has been made to make the church more seeker-friendly -- to modernize the message and soften the sharpness of doctrine so as to make room for people who have never heard of the apostles let alone the specific books of galatians and jude.

this problem is not relegated to southern baptist churches. i recently spoke with a pastor whose elders informed him that he should preach sermons that were more "relevant." they told him that "expository preaching is boring" and people just don't want to hear that kind of preaching. how sad. in an attempt to get people inside the church, at any cost, we've watered down the gospel and done away with any solid teaching of doctrines. a church elder once told me: "we don't discuss doctrine here-- it's too devisive." i no longer attend that church.

so what should we, be preaching? "christ and him crucified!" (1 cor 1:23). this is the gospel (cf. 1 cor 15:1-4). to many this is offensive or maybe too "churchy." we are told that we must meet the felt needs of church attenders. those who advocate such, fail to realize that the utmost need of any sinner is salvation, which is found only in Jesus Christ. failure to preach the "whole counsel of God" will do nothing but fill our pews with deluded believers--people that are simply hearers rather then doers.