A Preaching Overhaul

I sat back and just watched the collision. I didn’t see it coming.

BANG!

There it was. It just happened. And I am glad it did!


That’s how it is when God orchestrates his will in my life.

Lately, I have been discontented with my teaching/preaching. Sometimes I have been hit or miss, mostly miss in my view. This past week was no exception.

In order to further some self examination I did three things: started to think through why and how I preach, started listening to someone else’s sermons (one a day for the past 3 days) and I bought a book on preaching (Yes, another one!).

Accident Report:

Car#1: Thoughts In My Head
As I was wondering why I have struggled in my preaching, it dawned on me I like to teach and explain Scripture. This is really not new information for me. I have had the same purpose statement for 10 years which states, “I exist to make the gospel of Jesus Christ as simple to understand has possible.” What shocked me is preaching that is only teaching and explaining is merely relocation of data and facts. Which I like, enjoy and am good at.

But with this goal, I knew some things were missing. I kept asking:
-Why did people need to know what I was telling them?
-What were they to do with it when they heard it?
I had to shoehorn the answers to these questions into my sermons because they did not naturally fit on their own.
What was I going to do about this?

Car#2: Listening To Someone Else
Wanting to see how someone else did it, I starting listening to another preacher’s sermons this week. This is not unusually for me, but this week I chose new preacher to listen to.
Their style and format rekindled some almost forgotten ideas for me. I was challenged to select a pattern or guide to follow in my preaching. I got excited looking forward to the next time I could preach again instead of lamenting the previous week's train wreck. Listening to this other preacher kind of ended my pity party and got me thinking.

Car#3: Seek Advice
A few weeks back I found a blog called, “Biblical Preaching.” On the blog the owner offers his “must-reads for preachers.” Most of the books I have already read or have studied with the author or both. However, there was one that caught my eye. The last Teaching Pastor at The Next Level Church was a fan of Andy Stanley. So, having never read any of his books or heard any of his sermons I chose his book, “Communication for Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication” from the blogger’s list.

It was while reading this book that the collision occurred. You see one of Stanley’s keys, the first as matter of fact, states, “Pick a point.” At first I started to think his application of this key was only akin to Robinson “Big Idea” or Chapell’s “Fallen Condition Focus,” but I was wrong. Stanley’s key is exactly like Robinson’s Big Idea, but this is only the micro view of it. The macro view is determining the goal of communicating in the first place, not just for a sermon or a series.

Stanley points out there are three kinds of goal for preaching:

1. Teaching the Bible to people: the goal here is to simply explain Scripture. CRASH!
This is ME! No application is needed with this goal. It is all about transfer of information!

2. Teaching people the Bible: the goal here is to effectively imparting Biblical truth into the mind and hearts of the hearers.

3. Life Change: the goal here is to teach people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles and truths of the Bible.

After reading this I sat back and watched the debris scatter.

Even though my preaching was connected to my goal, even though I was doing exactly what I set out to do, even though my preaching was absolutely consistent with my stated purpose, I was only teaching and explaining Scripture! I have only been transferring information. No wonder need and application have been missing.

So, I started crafting another goal for my communication. One that focuses, not on what I like or enjoy, but on the goal of the Scriptures I am called to preach.

Better hurry, Tuesday com’n!

Wrestling with the Text

In seminary I had a preaching professor (John Shouse) who compared Jacob’s wrestling with God (Gen 32) with the task of interpreting scriptural texts. He made it clear that seeking to understand the text in order to preach it was hard work.

This past week I found two different sets of people willing to do the hard work for me. Neither of these groups was asked for help, but nonetheless they wanted to do the heavy lifting for me by offering their opinnions.

As I was studying to teach out of Matthew 25:31-46, I found the meaning of the passage hinging on a couple words: “nations” in verse 32 and “brothers” in verse 40.

The questions that would swing the meaning of the passage were, “Who are the nations?” and “To whom does the word bothers refer?”

Those willing to cheat me out of my exegetical workout provided the answers to these questions.

The first helpers were Walvoord and Zuck in the Bible Knowledge Commentary. Without offering any alternative options they peg the nations as Gentiles. “These are all people, other than Jews…” (pg. 81) This interpretation plays into their Dispensational view of the end times. Their view also colors the rest the passage and creates the meaning of the text to be that God’s acceptance of non Jewish people is based on how they care and support the Jews who live through the Tribulation period. Since the passage is clearly talking about the end of time with eternal punishment and eternal life being doled to the goats and sheep, I can’t seem to think how the Jews would be in a separate group (not sheep or goats) escaping this final judgment.

Thanks guys, but I need my own time on the mat trying to straighten out the text.

The other bunch of helpers comes not in the form of commentary where people get to give their opinions, but in a translation of scripture. The Today’s International Version, a gender inclusive translation, allows me (and other readers) to be lazy and thinks for us by expanding the meaning of the word “brothers” in verse 40 to “brothers and sisters.” They do this not because they are seeking the meaning of the word, but to forward their philosophy on biblical translations. It also seems to automatically rule out other possible alternatives meanings a well.

The answer to the question, “to whom does the word brothers refer?” has four possible options, maybe even five if you not Roman Catholic:
1. Jews like Jesus
2. The 12 disciples
3. Followers of Jesus (who we call today Christians)
4. Those people who are in the situations mentioned in verses 35-36.
5. Jesus' biological brothers

I think what the TNIV has done is made the selection of #4 for the reader. Now, this is the answer I settled on after examining the other three first, no one made a case for #5. However, cases ranging from weak to strong can be made #1-3. As a matter of fact, D.A. Carson in his Expositor's Bible Commentary on Matthew sides with #2.

Again, I am grateful for the offered help, but I need to sweat it out in order to stay in good hermeneutical shape. Otherwise, I might get lazy and dependent on others who are willing to think for me, instead of thinking for myself.

Watch out! There are no easy short cuts. Work up your own sweat.

“Do the hard work of wrestling with the text, like Jacob wrestled with God.” Thanks Dr. Shouse!

My Path