I'd watched golf a few times on television. It looked pretty simple. Swing a club, hit a ball, and watch it go into a hole. What's the big deal?
Then I went golfing with a buddy. What looked effortless to Tiger Woods was anything but for me. Rather than looking like a graceful swan, I looked more like a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to do push-ups. Everything about my golf game was terrible. I did hit one shot onto the fairway . . . for the wrong hole. I left befuddled, shaking my head, saying, "It looked so simple on television."
Isn't that the mark of doing your job well - doing it in such a way that the average Joe can sit on his couch and say, "I could do that." This is why I cringe when I hear a pastor spout Greek and Hebrew words. This might be good for job security, but it is terrible for discipleship. We should want people in our congregation to believe that they can study the Bible just as we do.
Do not misunderstand. Occasionally it is beneficial to explain the meaning of a word in its original language. For example, Joel 1:15 reads: "For the Day of the Lord is near and will come as devastation from the Almighty." It might benefit your congregation to point out that the Hebrew word translated "devastation" is shadad, and then note that the Hebrew word for Almighty is Shaddai. Joel is engaging in word play, asking what would happen if El Shaddai is bent on shadad.
Instances like this should be the exception and not the rule. Very rarely will our people benefit from knowing that "love" in 1 John 2:15 is a present active imperative "atelic" verb. But they might benefit from your explanation that John isn't necessarily telling his readers to stop loving the world, but rather not to start doing so.
Preparing good food for the sheep requires the shepherd to invest some sweat – one of the ingredients of hard work. But pastoral sweat is not an ingredient that should wind up in the feed. We want to give them the fruit of our labor, not the raw materials of our toil.
There are at least four benefits that come from preaching in such a way that it looks easy.
It encourages Bible study
Preaching and teaching that makes you look like a Bible expert won't encourage people to study the Bible for themselves. It will make them constantly dependent on your help to understand difficult passages instead wrestling with the text in their own study. Instead, preach in a manner that gives others confidence that they, too, can study God's Word, understand it, and explain it to others.
It opens the door for other ministers
If I preach as if pastoring is rocket science, I will discourage other new pastors God may want to raise up in our midst. People will disqualify themselves and run from what seems impossible. Yet if we preach simply, others may come to believe they can follow God's call into ministry. In truth, many will assume pastoral ministry is easy and be shocked later on at its difficulty. But which would you prefer: new ministers who try and struggle, or passive Christians who never try ministering at all?
It challenges me to speak clearly
Anybody can make a concept seem difficult and technical. It takes hard work to make something complex easy to grasp. Setting this as a personal goal challenges me to know what I am teaching well enough to make it simple. As Einstein once said, "If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself."
It keeps me humble
Let's be honest: pride is what causes us to preach as if we are experts. Here I think of the words of Thomas Boston: "And when the applause is obtained, what do you have? A vain, empty puff of wind. They think much of you, you think much of yourself, and in the meantime God thinks nothing of you." I may not put it quite that strongly, but Boston's point stands. Let us desire that men see Christ and not our wit.
I'd heard preaching several times. It looked pretty simple. Pick a text, study the Bible, and tell people what God says. What's the big deal? Then I started preaching. Brothers, let us do the hard work of preaching in such a way that it looks easy.