Author: Peter Mead

Review: Preaching the Gospel from the Gospels, by George Beasley-Murray

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This book is far more a book on the Gospels than it is on preaching.  It would serve well as a reference tool for the gospels, having an accessible scripture index included.  Yet while not addressing homiletics very much, what it does is share a fundamental conviction that the gospels were written out of preaching, by preachers and are ideally suited to the contemporary preacher wishing to preach the truth of the gospel today.

George Beasley-Murray is a top gospels scholar.  This book was forty years in the writing, beginning as a series of lectures, then published, then revisited and rewritten in light of developments in the field.  Preaching the Gospel from the Gospels is an academic work with a door left open for ease of access for preachers.  While aware of aspects of form criticism, the historical Jesus quest, British and German scholarly traditions, etc. the book does not get weighed down with such matters. 

The book, as you might expect from a series of lectures, consists of five lengthy chapters.  The first chapter focuses on the relationship between preaching and the writing of the Gospels – it is worth the value of the book.  As Martin Dibelius said, “In the beginning was the sermon.” 

Certainly the evangelists were collectors and compilers of known stories, sayings and events of the life of Christ.  However, they were more than that.  Through the process of redaction they were theologians with unique and distinct emphases to bring out regarding the work and mission of Christ.  One great insight from redaction criticism is that of how the gospel was presented to a specific audience.  As we see the evangelists using the history for a specific group of people, there is scope for the modern evangelist to see how the story of the gospel can likewise be used for a different contemporary audience.

The remaining four chapters deal with the life, the miracles, the teaching and the parables of Jesus.  Each writer began conceptually with the resurrection of Christ, then told the story, theologically, according to their specific goals.  The stories from the life of Christ, such as the miracles, are designed with the gospel as central rather than appended.  The teaching and parables are grouped and explained in five categories each.

In conclusion Beasley-Murray finishes with a postscript that affirms Jesus himself to be the parable of God.  As such, the truth of His teaching is ultimately found in His person.  This would be true of the whole book – His parables, but also His miracles, His teaching, His life, His passion.  Jesus is the revelation of God.  In preaching Jesus, the gospel is preached.  I suppose the big message of the book is that you don’t have to hunt through the gospels to find a gospel message.  If the content of the gospels are preached faithfully to their original intent, then the gospel will be preached.

Top Trumps: Genuineness

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My post on the 12th, Do They Know That You Know?, received a helpful comment. I wrote that “The preacher must build confidence in the listeners; confidence that the preacher knows the message, knows how it will progress and knows when it will end.” The comment in response included this statement, “A good balance of the two would be great, but if I had to choose, I would be more receptive to someone who is genuine than confident.”

I heartily agree. Confidence is a matter of presentation and I would encourage a quiet confidence that relaxes the listeners. But genuineness is a matter of integrity. Integrity is not a help for preaching, it is a fundamental for preaching. All the technique and skill and training and gifting and experience in the world is undermined instantly by a loss of integrity, or even the perceived lack of genuineness.

Preaching is not like the game of top trumps. As a child I had a set of fire engine top trumps. More water tank capacity, more speed, more versatility, more crew . . . more likely to trump the card of your opponent. If preaching were top trumps then you would be a fool to sacrifice genuineness for most other “preacher’s features.” Since preaching is not top trumps, we have the privilege of seeking to develop all aspects of personal life, spiritual gifting, ministry skill and so forth.

Genuineness is one of those things that undergirds all we do. And over-confidence is not helpful. So perhaps we should be deliberately under-confident? No. When it comes to genuineness, it would be wrong to try and fake it!

Sermon Preparation – How Long?

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Some people wonder how long it takes to prepare a sermon.  Some seem blissfully unaware of what it takes.  But honestly, is there a right amount of time?  Someone famous (you can remind us who it was), said a sermon takes a lifetime to prepare.  That is certainly true.  I had an instructor that suggested taking one hour for every minute in the pulpit.  That’s a nice thought, but it raises two questions – 1. How does he prepare any sermon on top of all his other commitments in teaching, family, etc.?  and 2. How come a ten or fifteen minute message seems to take longer to prepare than a thirty or forty minute message?

So here’s my somewhat unhelpful guideline.  Sermon preparation time is a blend of two realities:

As much time as it takes – to prayerfully select a passage, exegete the passage in context, determine passage purpose and idea, then evaluate congregation, define message purpose, craft the message idea, design the preaching strategy (outline) and fill in the details, then also prayerfully preach through the message a few times.  Realistically that could add up to tens of hours.

As much time as you have – You must take into account the reality of ministry pressures, other responsibilities, unforeseen circumstances, family illnesses, emergency room visits with your injured child, late night crisis counseling with dear friends in marital meltdown, and so on.  God knows about these things and perhaps sometimes allows them to keep us from trusting in our preparation routine.  If you procrastinate preparation and only take a couple of hours, that’s between you and the Lord.  But if life hits and you honestly only have limited time, He knows.

My ministry varies because no two weeks are the same.  It’s nice to have a predictable schedule, be thankful if you have that privilege, but in reality no preparation schedule is really predictable!  The bottom line is this – we do our best, but always relying fully on God to do God’s work.

The Heart of Biblical Ministry

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If you study through the Scriptures, it is clear that ministry is not just about the crowds.  There is certainly that large-scale aspect to ministry, but we must always be alert to the smaller-scale ministry of mentoring.  Moses led the Israelites, but mentored Joshua.  Elijah prophesied to a nation, but mentored Elisha.  Jesus could certainly preach and minister to the crowds, but he mentored the twelve.  Think of Naomi and Ruth, Barnabas and Paul, Paul and Timothy and on it goes.  Mentoring is the heart of biblical ministry.

TD Jakes made the comment that “success is not complete without a successor.”  So as a preacher, it is good to take stock of your ministry.  Are you investing yourself into a small handful of key individuals? The pulpit may be elevated and somewhat distant from the “crowd,” but are you also pouring yourself into others, up-close and personal?

In the complex world of church ministry many do not have the privilege of grooming their replacement.  However, even if your church could fire you in three months time, pour your life into others now.  Ultimately it is not about how individual churches choose to work, it’s about us choosing to do ministry God’s way.  And this mentoring is not just about pastoral ministry and leadership, think specifically about pulpit ministry and preaching.  Some churches actively encourage a pulpit team, others treat preaching as a one-person role.  If you are the preacher, you have influence.  Use it to build up others in their gifting and opportunity.  Even if opportunities are restricted in your church, there are many other churches around who would love to help developing preachers by benefiting from their ministry.

Mentoring – it’s a key part of all our roles, for it’s the heart of biblical ministry.

Do They Know That You Know?

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The preacher must build confidence in the listeners; confidence that the preacher knows the message, knows how it will progress and knows when it will end.

Structure of Message – If the message is deductive, then the main idea is stated early. Confidence can be built by an effective preview of the message. Even something as simple as, “So we will see four things in this text that prove this is true.” If people know there are four “things” to get through, they won’t worry if the first point takes a while and covers only the first verse of a fifteen verse text. The more you preview, the harder you have to work to create tension and desire to listen, but don’t think you’re adding great tension by omitting a preview. You’re only undermining confidence in you. With an inductive message you also need to preview, only you cannot give away as much. But no preview will feel like a wander in the woods blindfolded, and most people don’t prefer that experience. Make sure they know that you know where you are going!

Transitions in the Message – It is hard to put too much work into the transitions. These key moments in the message allow opportunity for reorientation to the main idea or the subject of the message, review of terrain already traveled and a reminder of how far there is left to go. Well worked transitions do wonders for attentiveness, understanding and listener confidence.

Style of Delivery – Confidence is somewhat intangible. I’m not saying you should come across as arrogant or over-confident. However, there is a lot to be said for quiet confidence, for a calm assurance that you know what you are doing. Seek to overcome nervous habits, twitches, mannerisms, and so on. Avoid apologizing, even in jest, during the introduction. Make and maintain meangingful eye contact. If you have to use notes, use them well, but also consider not using them at all.

The preacher must build confidence in the listeners; confidence that the preacher knows the message, knows how it will progress and knows when it will end.

That Time Before You Speak

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Between the start of the service and the sermon, there are lots of dynamics at play in the mind and heart of a speaker. This is especially true, I think, when you are a visiting speaker. In your own church you have less surprises and sometimes more influence over the first part of the service. Here’s the start of a list of pre-sermon dynamics with a few thoughts. Perhaps you can add to the list.

1. The Clock – sometimes the biggest dynamic of all. Announcements take longer, song introductions take longer, sometimes everything takes longer. Which means? You are supposed to preach shorter. So on the one hand, you have to consider where to trim the message (trim support material, not major material or transition material). On the other hand you have to avoid getting stressed or annoyed (it easily shows and does not help!)

2. The Content – a lot is usually said and sung before the sermon. On the one hand you need to listen to it so that you can integrate any elements that really fit with the message. On the other hand you have a message to pray over and think through. And if I can borrow someone’s hand, for me there are often humorous comments that come to mind that should usually be discarded rather than shared!

3. The Speaker Introduction – it is amazing what people say right before the message. Be aware of it, but be careful not to try a quick response without having the time to think it through first, it may not come across as you intend.

4. The Service Mood – your humorous and witty introduction may not fit after the tone set by the music. Adapt. Of course, that could go the other way too.

5. Your Focus – you need to be aware of these things and others that may be added to the list. You also need to be aware of your message. But somehow in the midst of that you have the opportunity to be praying about it all as well.

I preached yesterday evening, and it went okay. But to be honest, I made mistakes in 1 (lost the strength of transitions), 2 (a great song that I didn’t note the lyrics for use in the message), and 3 (quick response that didn’t come off as intended). Make a note and learn for next time. A forever student of preaching.

Bigger Passage – Bigger Big Idea?

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Is it possible to arrive at one big idea for a passage, even if the passage is relatively long? The answer is yes, as long as you are dealing with a unit. Where there is a unit, there is some level of unity. In almost every case (maybe in every case), a book could be treated as a unit of Scripture. Within that greater unit there are sub-units. Perhaps we could call them major sections. Within major sections there are sub-sections. Within sub-sections there are complete thoughts. These terms are deliberately vague to allow for the different genres. But essentially a book is like a Christmas tree. The higher you go, the more is included within your chosen section.

For example, is it possible to determine a big idea for Ephesians 1:13-14? Yes, in the English Bible this is a sentence with a complete thought. (I know that for Paul it was not a complete sentence, but we’ll get to that!) Now if you step up a level, these two verses would be swallowed into 1:3-14. Again, big idea is possible, but would be different than just the last two verses of the section. Then you could step up a level again and preach that section swallowed within a larger unit – perhaps 1:1-2:10? Certainly you could move up to 1:1-3:21. Again, a big idea that would have to encompass more text, but still it could be a preachable big idea. Then you could move up another level and preach the whole book.

The main idea of a shorter passage becomes a point or movement within the main idea of a longer passage.

The important thing to remember in preaching a larger chunk of text is that you still have to deal with a legitimate unit of Scripture. Also, the details in the smaller units cannot be reflected fully in a succinct big idea. Be very wary of over complicating a big idea for a bigger passage. It may feel more responsible with the text, but it will undermine your main goal of communicating the text relevantly to your listeners.

Take a Good Thing and Make It Better

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Ideally the passage is studied fully, leading to a strong passage idea.  Then the congregation is taken into account and a message idea is formulated.  Great!  That’s already put the message into a league above many that lack such unity.  But just having a big idea or message idea is one thing, having a good one is another.  Some preachers try so hard to be pithy and clever they’ll sacrifice the idea on the altar of wit.  Don’t do that.  Others have ideas that are almost as long as the message itself.  Maybe more accurate, but they won’t communicate well, they won’t stick.  So how to refine a long idea?  How to take a good thing and make it better:

1. Write out the idea and count the words. I’m not a huge fan of rules in preaching, but several writers have suggested the idea should not be more than 15 or maybe 18 words in length.  I tend to agree, although it’s a flexible guideline rather than a rule.  If you need more, use them, but in reality most ideas could be refined without harming them.

2. Evaluate it phrase by phrase and trim words. Don’t say in six words what could be said in two. Are you using roundabout ways of saying something?  Could you be more direct?

3. Could internal lists be summarized? Within the idea you may have two or three qualifiers for an element, perhaps qualifiers that will be points in the message.  Consider whether these are needed at the level of the idea, or whether a summary term might be more memorable.  If the message is preached well then that summary word will be explained and defined by the message anyway.

4. Is there a more memorable option available?  Some will give up too much to make this step.  Don’t.  But if there is a song title, pithy phrase, play on words, movie line or contemporary proverb that can be adapted to add memorability to the idea, consider it.

Often just getting the idea in any form takes a lot of thinking.  But if you’ve got any energy and time left, consider how it could be leaner, meaner, more precise, more memorable.  None of us get a killer big idea every week.  Even the authors of preaching books only share the strongest few they’ve managed in years of ministry!  But effort invested here is effort well spent.  Work on the idea pays dividends in the message – you’ll be taking a good message and making it even better!

The Balancing Act of Evangelism

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This Sunday may be it. The only chance you will get. There may be someone there this Sunday who may never come again. So it would be wise to spell out the gospel in detail, wouldn’t it? After all, this may be the only opportunity and so it would make sense to be sure to cover all the bases. This is the approach many of us from time to time. Perhaps aware of visitors or motivated by something we heard, we decide to pack the corners of our message with evangelistic information.

I’m not suggesting this is wrong. But it is certainly not so simple. There are two sides to this issue. On the one side you are preaching the text to people that ultimately need to either respond to the gospel, or continue to apply the reality of the gospel in their lives. It may well be that this is the only opportunity for somebody to hear the important details concerning themselves, their predicament, God’s provision, and so on. I’ve sat through many supposedly evangelistic messages that did a lot of work, but then failed to spell out how to respond. So perhaps we should look to present the gospel as fully as possible in every message?

On the other hand, are we not running the risk of forcing every text into a certain gospel form, rather than honoring the text in a truly expository manner? Are we not running the risk of adding detail to a message that does not support the main idea and thereby complicating the message? People find clear messages easier to follow, ones that are built closely around a single main idea. If they are easy to follow then the experience is more enjoyable and people are more likely to return for more. A message considered confusing and complicated will not motivate people to want more.

Perhaps part of the solution is to present the gospel every Sunday, but if it risks complicating the message in some way, then it could be presented at some other point in the service. This may be the last Sunday someone will be able to hear the gospel. Equally, it may be the last Sunday they will bother coming to church if the communication is overwhelming and complicated. Present the gospel, or motivate them to return for more, or maybe you can do both?

Preach the Word, Lead as a Champion

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If you are a preacher, then you are a leader.  Your self-esteem may not say so.  Your mannerisms and style may not say so.  Your church structure may not say so.  But when you preach, you have the influence of a leader.  Of course it is easy to be a poor leader.  You can undermine the whole thing by your style, your ego, or your lack of planning, not to mention your life out of the pulpit.  But it is important to remember this; when you preach, you are a leader.

So preach the Word with relevance.  Leaders know the people and know their needs.  Leaders know that there is no time to waste on interesting trivia when life change is needed.

So preach as a champion.  This does not mean that you preach with a trophy on a stand next to you.  This means that you champion the values and goals of the church.  Don’t fall into the trap of perpetually plugging programs in the preaching.  That gets old really fast and confuses the communication.  Plug and promote programs in the notices / announcements.  But while preaching deliberately present the values and vision that hopefully underlie those programs.  This is all secondary to the primary concern of preaching the specific text with accuracy and relevance, but there are numerous ways to appropriately pursue “secondary” goals while communicating.  If your church’s values and vision are biblical, then there will be numerous opportunities.  And if it doesn’t fit, don’t do it.  But when it does, take the opportunity to be a champion, to be a leader.