Pastors sometimes seem to have a hard time taking on the modern issues in church, and these are often the things that really impact a modern audience. Instead, they go with more generic topics for things that have always been an issue and that always will be. Respecting your parents, for example, is something that is discussed a lot in the Bible, but it is still something that many people need to work on today. There is nothing wrong with this, per se, but it is a good idea for a pastor to also look at how he can address things that are more specific to the current generation.
As a pastor like Ed Young Jr will point out, many of these things have their roots in topics that are in the Bible anyway, so it is not like they are entirely out of context or that Scripture does not reference them. You can find a lot of supporting passages for the majority of topics that need to be addressed. As a pastor, you do not have to worry that you will just be setting the Bible aside to give your sermon. You can address modern topics and use the Bible at the same time. This should be your ultimate goal and the best combination.
For example, people use social media sites constantly now. They use them to talk to their friends, to learn about businesses and to follow sports stars or celebrities. This can be constructive, but one of the problems with social media is that it often makes people self-centered. They just want everyone to see how great they are. When they go on vacation, instead of enjoying it, they just want to post pictures so that the rest of the world can see that they are somewhere else that is fun and exciting. They are often trying to make those other people jealous.
By the same token, social media can sometimes make people feel bad about themselves. If a child’s parent does not have enough money to go to Florida or a tropical island on Spring Break, he/she is going to see pictures from all of the other people who were able to go there. This could cause her to dwell on what they have, what she wants and what her parents are not able to give her. Instead of just having a good time at home during the break from school, she could start to feel very bitter.
Of course, the Bible does not address social media websites or photo sharing. However, those are not the real problems. The real issues are things like jealousy, envy, and a self-centered attitude. These are the problems that the children–and adults, for that matter–are dealing with. The social media revolution is just the way that people experience those things, the most recent manifestation of the issues in modern culture.
The key to giving a sermon that connects with a modern audience is to identify things like this that people deal with every day. These are things that they can connect with and understand. You can then take them back to the Bible and draw correlations to scripture. You are still teaching from Scripture, but you are not doing it at the expense of the real issues. You are bringing the two together, and it can make your sermons more meaningful for your congregation.
