Homiletics

The Full Meal Deal

/ Peter Mead / 9 Comments

I still remember the first pulpit advice I received.  I was a teenager and had been asked to lead a meeting.  I wasn’t preaching, but I was chairing the meeting, introducing songs, speaker, doing the reading, praying, etc.  Afterwards my youth leader came to me and encouraged me that I’d done well.  Then he offered this advice; “Don’t ever apologize for what you’re doing.  It doesn’t matter who asked you, or how incapable you may feel, God has allowed you to be there so don’t apologize.”

The ingredients to a pulpit introductory apology tend to include feelings of inadequacy, any lack of preparation, feelings of humility, a desire to appear humble, a lack of planning for opening comments, nervousness, etc.  The ingredients are understandable, but the result is not helpful.  Don’t apologize.  It grossly undermines credibility and can easily transfer your anxiety to your listeners.

If you are humble, it will show.  But if you are nervous, unprepared, unqualified, incapable, etc., people don’t need that pointed out to them.  They may notice, and they will usually be very gracious.  Or more often than you realize, they will not notice at all.  The first time I taught a lecture at seminary I mentioned that time was running low so I had to skip some material.  My prof followed up on that, “Don’t tell them you are cutting stuff out, let them think they’re getting the full meal deal!”

What was the first helpful pulpit advice you received?

Integrity in Directions You Give

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Yesterday morning I set out early to drive across the country to a church where I was scheduled to preach. I’d checked the journey on the internet and knew I needed to allow 2.5 or 3 hours. I got in the car and programmed the GPS (SatNav if you’re British!) with the postal code of my destination. Finally it was ready to navigate and told me I’d arrive at my destination at 7:41pm. That was a little after the 10:30am meeting I was supposed to preach at! So I checked the map and reviewed the turns. It took me to the south coast and along a little ways, but then directed me to catch a ferry over to the island of Guernsey (by France), then to catch another one back to another port. 10 hours at sea to progress half an hour along the same coast! I decided to trust the map on this occasion.

As preachers, at some level or other, people look to us for direction and guidance in life. Our task is to relevantly teach and apply the Bible to our listeners. There are two dangers to avoid, or maybe only one:

1. Don’t make it too complicated, be honest. People are not helped by complicated instructions that are hard to follow. Whether we are explaining how to resolve a conflict, how to pray, how to have personal devotions, how to make big decisions in life, etc. Whatever the “how-to” might be (and this is by no means suggesting every message should be or have a “how-to” element), we should be honest, but not unnecessarily complicated. This is not a time to impress people with overly detailed strategies. However . . .

2. Don’t make it too simple, be honest. I’d love my GPS unit to give me short-cuts, but only if they actually worked. Telling me I could get to somewhere in 10 minutes is no help when it will be a three-hour drive. When preaching it is easy to over-simplify and make unhelpful promises. Just do this and you will deal with all that pain. Just do such and such and it will be taken care of. False promises hurt people. When false promises don’t work, someone will get the blame. Maybe the preacher, maybe the person themselves for their own lack of faith, or maybe God. None of these options help. But really any blame for false promises rest with us.

When it comes to application, direction and instruction. Be honest. Don’t over-complicate and don’t over-promise. Don’t be dishonest. Be honest.

Preaching Inside the Fence – Part 2

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Several days ago I suggested the image of preparing and preaching within a low fence. I’d like to suggest a reason for doing so that may not be immediately obvious. Very simply, you will enjoy the preaching process more. Let me give another example:

Almost four years ago the church I was involved in was working it’s way through Luke. I had Easter Sunday morning. It was tempting to read Luke, but essentially preach Paul. You know how it is, so simple to revert to the terminology, ideas and focus of a passage like 1st Corinthians 15. I resisted the temptation and erected a low fence. I studied within Luke’s writings. I saturated my preparation with Luke and worked to prepare a deliberately Lukan message. I didn’t want to just preach the resurrection, I wanted to preach Luke’s account of the empty tomb and risen Christ. I tried to grasp the significance and focus of the carefully written account in his gospel. I tried to use Luke’s terminology and present his concept of salvation. I wanted to preach in Luke’s language rather than Paul’s or John’s.

The message went well as far as I could tell. One discerning listener commented on the deliberate Luke language. Probably everyone else missed it. That didn’t matter. The big idea was as good as I could get from the text, the relevance was as deliberate and concrete as possible, the big things were what mattered. But for me, as the preacher, the attention to fine detail like choice of terminology made the study both exacting and rewarding. I felt like I’d tasted something of Luke’s great gospel in a way that I could so easily have bypassed.

I got a taste for preaching with a fence that day, and I’ve continued to do so whenever possible. I’d encourage you to try it if you haven’t already. Take the opportunity to push yourself deeper in whatever book you are preaching. It’s easy to revert to default thoughts from elsewhere, but you’ll enjoy it more if you don’t!

Needed: Expository Preaching Promoters – Part 2

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I would love it if 2008 is the year that sees a great return to excitement about expository preaching.  Sadly, there are many negative vibes around that are hindering any such revival of expository preaching.  These vibes may be experientially rooted, “church fashion” driven, repeatedly reinforced (as Haddon Robinson has said, expository preaching suffers most at the hands of its “friends”), and so on.  So what can we do?  Can we promote great biblical preaching in our generation?

Know Who You’re Promoting It To – Is there a general resistance that can be won over by effective preaching, or is there one or more resisters influencing others or the status quo?  Perhaps the “resister” is your senior pastor who is in a position of authority.  You need to think carefully about how to promote if you are under the authority of those you’d like to influence.  Prayer, submission, love, encouragement, support, good example and carefully timed “seeds” are the ingredients of a healthy plan (seeds might take the form of a book, a CD, an invitation to attend a conference together, or just a carefully prayed through gracious suggestion, etc.)

Go Ahead, Promote! – If you are not joined by all in a great celebration of expository preaching, consider carefully how you will promote it in your circles.  Criticism and complaining are not the way to go.  That’s too easy.  Come up with a God-honoring, prayer-saturated plan.  If you preach, then provide the best examples you can.  Whether you preach or not, seek to promote expository preaching – not a form, but a philosophy of preaching sorely needed in 2008!

Needed: Expository Preaching Promoters – Part 1

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Expository preaching is a label that comes with baggage. In many churches there is a negative vibe associated with the term. Yet we live in a day that needs true expository preaching as much as ever! Who will provide the positive PR for this vital aspect of church ministry? In part 2, we’ll consider how to strategically promote expository preaching in our churches. Today we’ll consider where the negative vibe comes from and what it is that we should be promoting.

Know Where the Vibe Comes From – Many who are resistant to the notion of expository preaching have never heard a really good example of it. It makes them think of irrelevant and tedious historical lectures that they’ve had to suffer through in the past. If that is what we’re talking about, I’m with them! Try to discern the reason for any negativity toward “expository preaching” in your context – is it a bad example from a preacher past or present, enforced pew pain in childhood, the perception of irrelevance, boredom with a standard “form,” a perceived restrictiveness?

Know What You’re Promoting – Expository preaching is not a certain form of preaching, it is a philosophy of preaching. It is not a form of preaching in contrast to topical, textual, narrative or whatever. It is not a form at all. It is not defined by length of passage, number of points, type of structure. Expository preaching is about a commitment to the effective communication of the true meaning and contemporary relevance of biblical text(s). If the label “expository preaching” carries too much baggage, then switch over to “biblical preaching” – I often do.

For a fuller explanation of philosophy rather than form, click on the tab “This Site” at the top of the page. For some thoughts on your strategic promotion plan, come back for part 2. As ever, we all benefit from your comments too!

Listening to Others

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

One of the challenges of a regular preaching ministry is finding opportunity to listen to others.  There are ways to make it happen though – give your pulpit to someone else sometimes, create a preaching team if your church doesn’t have one, listen to sermons online, listen to Christian radio at the right time if you have the option to do so, attend a conference periodically.  Listening to others is worth the effort for several reasons:

You are a part of the body of Christ too.  It would be inconsistent to believe strongly in the need for believers to hear the Word preached, but separate yourself from that category!  Of course you learn in your study and often preparing and preaching a sermon makes far more impact than merely hearing it.  But the nature of the body of Christ indicates that you need to receive from the gifting of others, for they are gifted to build you up.

Different preaching can stimulate freshness in yours.  A different way of structuring the message.  A creative introduction.  An exemplary use of words.  A different style of illustration.  I’m not suggesting you listen to sermons only to pack your bag with goodies like a petty thief in a rich mansion (although Haddon Robinson does say “if you are going to steal from sermons, then go to a rich neighborhood”)  I am not suggesting you listen in order to emulate their preaching.  I am suggesting that listening can stimulate your preaching.

Hearing good and bad preaching can be highly motivating.  Hearing good preaching is motivating.  It is a delight to hear an expositor doing it well!  But also hearing poor preaching is motivating.  For instance, last spring I attended a three-day preaching congress.  Preacher after preacher.  Big names.  From big churches.  Several were absolutely excellent.  Very motivating.  Others were surprisingly or even shockingly poor.  Very motivating.  I came away charged up to be the best expository preacher I can be.  It is easy to start assuming everyone is handling the text as best they can and preaching expository sermons.  They’re not.  And when you are reminded of that, at a conference, or reading sermons online, you may find your engines fired to press on!

Mapping Your Thought

/ Peter Mead / 7 Comments

Some people think in a very linear and text-oriented way.  Others don’t.  I find the use of mind maps or concept maps to be helpful in my Bible study.  Somewhere between analysis of details and synthesis of discourse using a conventional outline, I often find myself doodling a map or diagram on paper.  For instance, when trying to define the relationships between the major themes in Hebrews, I started to map out my thoughts.  Suddenly I have a piece of paper with major and minor themes, circles, linking lines, arrows and so on.  I wouldn’t show this paper to my congregation, but it helps me process the mass of information into a more coherent and dynamic understanding of what is there.

Typically I will take appropriate elements of that thought and convert back to an outline form (and if possible, a full manuscript), but there are also possibilities in respect to replacing outlines and notes with sermon maps.  Perhaps I’ll address that another day.  At this stage I am merely suggesting that some may be helped by free doodling of the themes, ideas, flow and theology of a book or section of book during stage 2 – passage study.

There are software tools available, some free to download.  I haven’t explored those possibilities yet, but if you know of one that is easy to learn and use, let us know about it!

Happy New Year! Resolution Anyone?

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

To be honest I am not a huge advocate of resolutions.  But this year I have been inspired.  I have one that is very fresh in my thinking right now.  Of course, as preachers, there are many possible resolutions.

Do You Have One?  Perhaps to pray more specifically and fervently, to apply more directly, to call for response more overtly, to preach from a book you’ve never touched before, to continue to develop by reading a preaching book, or maybe one each quarter, to attend a conference or training event for further equipping, to take a formal class or distance learning course, to get specific feedback or pre-sermon input every other month, to begin the process of mentoring another preacher during the year, to get more involved in your church small group program so as to get to know your people more fully, to read through the Bible in English once, twice, more, to read the New Testament through in Greek, to approach someone and request their input as a mentor, to preach first person properly for the first time, to preach from a difficult genre, to refresh or stretch yourself in exegetical skills, theology or some other area of “divinity” studies.  Do you have one?  Maybe one of these, or maybe another of your own, feel free to share a comment as it may motivate others to follow your lead.

Here’s Mine!  All of the above are good ideas.  But the one that is really burning in me at the moment is not new to me.  It’s not about turning over a new leaf.  It’s about continuing to do what I always try to do, but with even more conviction.  Brief story:  The other day I finished preparation for my Sunday evening sermon on Hebrews 13:20-21.  I had some spare time and was curious what other preachers have done with the text since it is not a typical epistle paragraph.  So I did a search and a quick skim through about ten sermons on the text.  I entered the process with a small amount of interest, I finished with a large amount of concern.  Some of the sermons had good content, very orthodox, theologically solid, but why was it that none of the examples I looked at seemed to be trying to preach what the author intended?  Why did they feel like Bible truths strung together by passing reference to these two verses, rather than actually preaching the intended truth of these verses?

My resolution for 2008 is to strive always, passionately and prayerfully, to actually preach the text I claim to be preaching.  You?

A Low Fence

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

When you have a single text for a sermon, you also need a fence.  The fence is there to keep you from wandering too far away from your focus.  

Erect a fence for the passage – last night my preaching text was Hebrews 13:20-21, the final benediction.  I erected a fence around the book of Hebrews.  That fence meant that I kept my study in Hebrews and my presentation in Hebrews.  

Study inside the fence – So what did the writer mean by the reference to “Shepherd,” “the will of God,” and “pleasing”?  While naturally my mind might jump to Psalm 23, John 10 and other passages all over the canon, I tried to stay within the fence.  The best evidence of authorial intent would be found in Hebrews.  By staying there I discovered the unity of 13:1-21 as a follow-on to 12:28, which shed light on “pleasing.”  By staying there I discovered the unity of the final section with parallels to the end of chapter 10, which shed light on “the will of God.”  Staying within the fence kept the focus for study.

Preach inside the fence – It is always tempting to present the sermon in the terms you prefer.  I tried to preach in Hebrews terminology.  Instead of talking about our “vertical spirituality” as loving God (as I would by default, very Johannine), I instead spoke of worshipping God – very Hebrews.  References to a pilgrimage of faith, toward a heavenly city, not shrinking back, shame, the joy set before, Jesus’ being led up from the dead, and so on.  All terminology appropriate for a sermon on Hebrews.  I also tried to refer to the writer as the preacher to the Hebrews rather than the standard writer to the Hebrews.

You only need a low fence – I am not suggesting that you study or preach a book in complete isolation from the other inspired texts.  I am suggesting you honor the author of the book in both your study and presentation.  So to understand “Shepherd” I had to be aware of at least Isaiah 63:11 in the LXX, although the addition of “Great” is very much a Hebrews idea.  And to see that God is pleased with the two-part sacrifice of vertical and horizontal spirituality naturally sets up a brief comment about the greatest commandment(s), John’s first epistle, etc.  The fence does not preclude very helpful study in Old Testament quotes and allusions, nor the opportunity to point out the consistency of idea across New Testament books.  The low fence is there to honor the author, thereby helping you study better, and present more faithfully.

The Blessing of New Year

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It’s the last Sunday of the year.  It’s the season of gym-joining, diet-starting, habit-kicking and so on.  As I come to the end of the year I tend to do my personal review in November.  I ask myself two questions to kick-start my thinking process.  1 – Am I doing the most strategic ministry open to me?  2 – Am I growing?  I find these two questions help me review, evaluate and reconfigure ministry for the next year.

But there is something about the end of a year.  It’s good to look back and work through the year. Recall the highlights and lowlights, the challenges, the surprises, the encouragements.  As a preacher think back to favorite series or sermons, critical moments in the pulpit and out, evidence of lives being changed that may have been stark or subtle.  Give thanks.  It is too easy to march on to the drum beat of urgency and not take the time to give thanks to the God who has made every breath possible.

There is also something about the first of the first of a new year.  Look ahead to 2008 as you currently see it.  Pray for the year, for the ministry, for the people.  Be specific wherever you can.  This will be a critical year for some people.  This could be a vital year for the church.  This is a vital year for the church worldwide, just as every second is a vital moment (two people die every second, most go to a lost eternity).  Pray for a renewed passion for preaching, for ministry, for global missions.  God has put you where you are to make a difference in your corner of the harvest field and to make a difference in the harvest field.

And today, as we preach, we have perhaps a unique opportunity to stir reflection and gratitude for the year now ending, and also infuse passion for the year ahead!