The desire to be relevant to our listeners might sometimes undermine our preaching. What I am thinking about is the count the costs, take up your cross, radical discipleship kind of passages. You know, the ones that seem to be so demanding and so absolute.
It’s not that we don’t believe them, or don’t want to preach them. But sometimes we might desire to be relevant so much that we turn a cannonball of application into a little pea of attempted relevance. We want to connect with people where they are at . . . living normal lives, with normal worries and normal stresses. So we preach a cannonball passage with mushy pea force.
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Perhaps what people need is the full force of the passage brought to bear on their normal lives, instead of scaled down to fit in their normal lives. Be sensitive, be wise and be careful how you say what you say and when. But also be bold, be faithful and be willing to pass on the full force of what the Bible invites us to as followers of Christ.
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Don’t tailor application down to a token level. Preach the Word, and be sure to let God preach to you through that Word first. We all need our lives exposed to the full force of Christ’s call on our lives.
Biblical Preaching 
Been there, done that! And sometimes it is a real struggle especially after preaching when you know you have missed the full force of the message!
Hey Peter,
Your thoughts reminded me of the distinction between preaching law and gospel, something I’ve been thinking about lately with my friends.
And I agree with you, people need to hear the full force of God’s truth – His holiness – that He is perfect and demands perfection. Too often we make it seem as God is OK with us simply “giving it our best.” When that’s not the case at all.
Good point about being, “sensitive, wise, and careful”! that’s sooo important. And we can be confident and bold in preaching truth if we also distinguish between preaching the gospel – that Jesus obeyed all these radical, demanding and absolute commands of God for us!
I think people should feel the weight of these commands, I guess I’m learning that’s what the law of God does. But praise God Jesus did what is impossible for us to do!
Good thoughts!,
David