Homiletics

Truth and Testimony

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

It concerns me when truth and testimony seem to be separate.  For instance:

There are some Christians that are very strong on the truth issues relating to Jesus – who He is and what He’s done.  They are passionately committed to the truth and will not compromise on it.

There are some Christians who have a strong peronal relationship with Jesus.  Their testimony is sweet and intimate and personal.  They have a deep sense of the love of God and communion with Him.

My concern is that I see too many Christians who have one, but not the other.  Strong on truth and standing for what is biblical orthodoxy.  Or strong on testimony and shaky on biblical orthodoxy.  Surely the Bible is inviting us and urging us to fully grasp both?

As a preacher, do you tend to pronounce truth, but never really offer the invitation for the more personal and intimate walk with the Lord (assuming that will be there)?  Or do you tend to make Christianity so winsome, but without the infrastructure of truth in place?

Let’s be sure that we are not imbalanced ourselves, but hold firmly to both of these aspects of the gospel . . . and then be sure to present both.

Exposition, Narrative and a Pot of Soup

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There is a common misunderstanding of expositional preaching in relation to Bible stories.  I’ve heard the analogy used of a pot of soup.  A narrative sermon is like a pot of soup prepared carefully to be enjoyed by the guests – an experience to be savoured.  An expositional sermon is like an explanation of the recipe of the pot of soup.  Recognizing the difference between narrative preaching and preaching narratives, let’s engage with this analogy briefly.

With some preachers this negative recipe description may be fitting, but that doesn’t make the analogy accurate.  An expository preacher is concerned about communicating the point of the passage, rather than seeking to explain the point of every detail.  A good expository preacher knows that a story has its own way of carrying and conveying its point.  Thus a good expositor preacher, preaching a story, will not dissect it into a lifeless and experience-free recipe, but will communicate the story as effectively and accurately as possible.

What needs to be added to the telling of the story?  Any necessary explanation to make sense of it.  An underlining of the point, exposed for clarity, but appropriately timed so as not to undermine the impact.  If not inherently implicit, some form of emphasis on the contemporary relevance of the story.

What isn’t needed is endless detailed explanation, or numerous unnecessary and disconnected illustrations, or ill-timed statements of the proposition, or commentary-style titles for each segment of the message, or a manner which robs the story of its emotion, tension or energy.

When you preach a story, be sure to be expository . . . but not the wrong kind that feels like the explanation of a recipe!

Tailored to a Token Level

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments
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.

Never the Same

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I am speaking at a conference that I speak at regularly.  Tonight I am preaching a message that I have preached before, but it will be unique.  Same conference, but different people.  The same program, calling for the same title, same content, same focus, same goal.  But it will be different.

This group of people are a different group than last time.  I have only been around this group for three or four days, but I can sense a real difference, and so do others working at the conference.  So as I prepare for tonight’s message I am struck by how I have to put last time out of my mind and not fall into the trap of trying to recreate anything.  Tonight has to be tonight, and it needs to be God’s work.

Somehow this setting is just reinforcing in me a truth that sometimes isn’t at the forefront of my thinking.  Every preaching situation is unique.  Even if the message content is the same, the purpose is the same, the program around it is the same, the preacher is the same (although I’ve changed in six months since last time) . . . but a different set of listeners makes for a different and unique message. 

If this is true, then we have to ask ourselves a couple of very simple questions – how alert are we to who we preach to?  How dependent are we on God for each preaching occasion?

Simple stuff really, but important.  I need to go and continue to prepare.

Homiletical Hermeneutics

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

Last night I was in conversation with a good friend and fellow preacher.  We were talking about another preacher and how thoroughly he knows the Bible.  When my friend asked me why I thought he had become so thoroughly saturated with the Bible, I didn’t need to think long about the answer.  Obviously he has read it a lot, studied it and preached it.  But there’s something else that I’d like to share here: he reads the Bible like a preacher. 

That could be a good thing or a bad thing.

The wrong way to read the Bible like a preacher – is to always read looking for a message.  This means the Scriptures are always handled as a resource for sermon material.  It might mean that the Bible bypasses the heart, life and needs of the preacher, moving straight from God to the listeners’ needs.  I suppose it could mean forcing every text into a preconceived sermonic form (seeking to alliterate points, force the text into a certain number of sections, etc.)

The right way to read the Bible like a preacher – is to recognize the inherent communicative nature of Scripture.  Every writer was seeking to communicate effectively.  As a preacher it is possible to develop the skill of a homiletical approach to hermeneutics.  This means that you read the Bible text as communication – you look for the inherent unity that is there, rather than simply chasing down every tangent prompted by each detail.  It means you look for the sense of order and progression in the communication.  It means you recognize how the writer is developing each idea – the phases of explanation, elements of proof, and attempts to apply the idea.  It means you look for the author’s intent as well as their content, with a sensitivity to the needs of the original recipients.

After decades of handling the Bible like that, it shows.  I only hope the same will be true of me at the other end of my life.

The Other Side of the Gap

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John Stott presented the notion of a preacher being a bridge builder. That is, in the act of preaching, the preacher is seeking to build a bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of the listeners. A good expository sermon has to be solidly earthed in the biblical text, and it must touch down definitely in the world of the listeners.

For effective communication to take place, we have to know as much as possible about those with whom we communicate.  But the preacher is not a politician or a salesperson or whatever else.  The preacher is shepherding, and thus we should not just know the listeners, we need to love them.  So as prompt in that direction, here are some quick fire points to ponder:

1. We love, because God first loved us. Loving others is really a response to the love of God for us.  As we love Him, our hearts will begin to beat in time with His and consequently we will increase in love for those that He loves.

2. Coldness toward others is an indicator of something more. We can’t claim to love God, but not love our brother.  Allow any perceived coldness toward others to prompt prayer and sensitivity to God.  Take coldness seriously, God does.

3. We are able to connect with listeners because we also live life in this world. Be sensitive to the struggles you experience and recognize that others face the same types of struggles (and more).  Being impervious to the challenges of life doesn’t make you a great leader, it makes you a distant leader.

4. We need to know our listeners. Some preachers are passionate students of the Word of God, but indifferent students of the people of God, or the people God desires to reach.

5. To know people, listen carefully. Yes, we should be observing what is going on, but there’s something about listening.  Most people don’t so much want to be seen, but they long to be heard.

6. Sharing life experience helps massively. Don’t be distant from people.  Have them in your home.  Visit them in theirs.  If appropriate visit them at work, share sport, share celebrations, share sorrow, share life.

7. Pray for the listeners. It’s easy to pray a “God please bless all the listeners on Sunday” kind of prayer.  Surely the preacher who loves the listener will take the time and make the effort to pray for the listeners.

This list is incomplete, so please add to it by commenting below.

Something Happens

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I just started Darrell Johnson’s The Glory of Preaching. I can’t offer any sort of review after only a few pages, although I am looking forward to reading more (his earlier book, Experiencing the Trinity is well worth getting hold of).  But how about a quote:

Through the never-perfect speech of an always-imperfect speaker, the triune God works the miracle of transformation.

So the book presses on into the glory of preaching, building on three foundational convictions:

1. When the living God speaks, something always happens.

2. When the preacher speaks God’s speech, God speaks.

3. Therefore, when the preacher speaks God’s speech, something always happens.

I will write a review of the book in due course, but for now, why not just ponder these brief quotes?  Why not prayerfully ponder the next preaching event you have the privilege of participating in, and pray with expectation that something will happen.  What kind of something?  Well, what kind of God?

The Hardest Element to Define

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The elements that go together to make up this thing called expository preaching are four. There is the God’s empowering/anointing/superintending element. There is the true meaning of the biblical text element. There is the effective communication of the preacher’s words and life element. And there is the emphasis on the contemporary relevance to the listeners element. Each of these is critical, but surely the first is the hardest to define.

I suppose in simplistic short-hand the key to the message being superintended by the Spirit is to pray throughout the preparation process.  The deliberate act of prayer demonstrates the preacher’s dependence on God rather than on self.  Obviously this is a simplistic explanation, but not so simplistic that it shouldn’t be expressed.  How many preachers grow increasingly deficient when it comes to prayer in their ministry?  Of course, prayer offers no guarantee or short-cut, but it is absolutely vital.

If we were to push deeper into this element of preaching, then we would have to look beyond the simple matter of prayer in preparation and consider the whole spirituality of the preacher.  We do not preach out of a vacuum of preparation and a pot of resources restricted to that particular sermon.  As someone once said, it takes hours to prepare a sermon, but it takes a lifetime to prepare a preacher.  There is something about the preacher’s personal walk with the Lord that is essentially linked in to the ministry of that preacher.

But there are other factors to consider.  What about the whole issue of anointing and gifting for ministry?  What about the spiritual state of the listeners?  What about the role of prayer beyond that of the preacher in preparation?  What about the jar of clay circumstances sometimes imposed on the preacher?

The necessity of empowerment from God is undeniable.  It’s the defining how that all works that’s the challenge!

Logos 4 – First Glimpse

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

My first Bible study software was Bibleworks, which I’ve continued to use through numerous upgrades and continue to use very regularly.  A couple of years ago I was given Logos 3, which was a great tool because of the library of reference tools on there.  I just upgraded to Logos 4.  First impressions?

Wow!  This is a significant and impressive upgrade.  It seems easy to navigate and use at a simple level, or to plumb the depths of the tools and resources available.  The desktop is fully customizable allowing for a study arrangement that suits you.  The integration of resources is impressive, saving a lot of time in opening and looking up resources.  I could say more, but I’d encourage you to take a look for yourself.

The range of resources available on Logos is growing all the time.  Be careful not to purchase individual products before checking to see if they are included in a higher base package – if there are one or two commentary sets you are looking at, chances are you’ll save money by upgrading your base package.  Warning . . . if you love books you could very easily get an online shopping addiction!

For more info, go to logos.com

Anyone else have any thoughts on Logos 4 (or Bibleworks, etc.)?

Slow Cooked Sermons

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

Most preachers develop of preparation cycle and rhythm.  Perhaps it takes five days from start to finish (maybe with an extended period for collecting any interesting tidbits from the point the series are planned).  Perhaps you have an eight or ten-day cycle.  Perhaps you only preach periodically and so take two or three weeks to study the text and shape the message.

Consider having a slow cooker bubbling on your desk.  You could take that literally, but I mean metaphorically.  Select a series or a sermon that is several months away, set apart 15-30 minutes a day and work through the text nice and slowly.  It allows you to take your time with original language work, whatever level of ability you have.  It allows you time to peruse, ponder and pause over the commentaries.  It allows you to gradually formulate main ideas of sections, outlines of messages, etc.  It allows you to make notes of specific support material.

All the things you may have to rush through in a normal preparation cycle, you can do well with this approach.  What’s more, that slow cooked sermon and the textual study that underlies it may be more of a feast for your soul than some of the study and sermons you do at your normal pace in the meantime!

My messages are seven months away.  The cooker is on (and I get to enjoy learning Logos 4 at the same time!)