Preaching Layered Story Sensitivity

February 7, 2014February 5, 2014 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Just a little post to finish off this mini-series. So you have decided not to pluck a story and lift sometimes imaginary life lessons from it. You have studied it in its context and started to note the layers of intricate story within story crafting that the author has done. Maybe you’ve been nudged to recognize the meaning of the story with the help of commentaries too, of course. But how do you preach it? This can seem overwhelming.

1. Determine the main idea of the story. In light of its context, what is the main thought of the story you are actually preaching?

2. Figure out how much context you need to set. This is determined not only by the story itself, but also by your context. Some groups of listeners are ready to handle the bigger picture more than others.

3. Decide which layering details help communicate that main idea. There will be so much you could spot and point out, but some of it will not make sense to listeners, or will seem like exegetical trivia if you can’t give a full sweep and explanation. But if you don’t give some “fingers on the text” observations, listeners may think you are making up your own take on the meaning of the story.

4. Be sure to tell the story. So easy to think our task is to share exegetical insights and theological profundities and applicational nuggets. Remember that God inspired the story to mark lives. Let it do that. Tell the story.

5. Make the application the theocentric application intended by the text. It is about God and it is supposed to mark us in response to God. Don’t drop God out for the sake of a top-tip for creative truth telling in foreign lands.

6. Don’t forget to invite people into the text. Your preaching, with sensitivity to the flow of the book, should motivate listeners to want to read and dig for themselves. Don’t be shy to suggest that.

So much more could be said, but let’s leave it there for now . . .

Developing Layered Story Sensivity

February 6, 2014February 5, 2014 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Yesterday I suggested that we shouldn’t be plucking stories and presenting little life lessons. So what to do? I pushed the idea of seeing little story accounts in the context of the bigger sweep of stories in that section, and then seeing that section in light of the bigger story of the book, and the book in light of the biggest story of the whole Bible. Yes, but how?

1. Read the big sweep, then repeat. It is very hard to grasp the big picture of the Bible without reading large chunks of it. Simply digging deep into the meaning of a sentence will not give the big picture awareness that the Bible invites. Even checking commentaries and reference tools will only offer a limited awareness of the sweeping sense of Scriptures. While some commentaries are becoming more alert to the structuring and flow of a book, nothing can replace the benefits of knowing the big picture for yourself.

2. Look for the links between smaller narratives. Develop a sensitivity for links and contrasts offered by the biblical writer. Check the little theme of laughter ribboned through Genesis 17-21, and it isn’t simply Sarah and Isaac. Look at the relative locations of Jacob to his family either side of the wrestling match. The Bible is fairly sparse on detail compared to modern fiction writers, but what is there is there on purpose.

3. Ask why stories are neighbours. Why does the story of Abraham with Gentile Abimelech come after the story of Lot being dragged out of Gentile Sodom, which is really a story about Abraham watching God’s justice and promise in action? Without becoming dogmatic based on the limited links you might recognize, do probe the flow of the text and ask good questions. Don’t only probe within a text. Think about the contrasts and comparison points between Joseph in Genesis 37 & 39 and Judah in Genesis 38 . . . leaving the land, garments, goats, compromise, etc.

4. Don’t focus on little life lessons, look for how the text reinforces bigger realities. Life isn’t ultimately about how we do business, or how we do wrestling, or how we do temptation, or how we do sojourning. Life is primarily about how we relate to the one true God who makes promises and keeps them, who is involved in life yet sometimes apparently distant, etc. Preach about God and living in response to His self-revelation. Don’t just tip your hat to God and focus on how we can be more like a Bible character in our quest to live essentially independent lives of obedience to divinely inspired example (stretched to make preaching points).

Layered Story Sensitivity

February 5, 2014 / Peter Mead / 3 Comments

We are trained as children to pluck out Bible stories and learn a lesson. Let’s try to fix that as adults.

You know the routine. You select a story, such as Abraham and Isaac on the mountains of Moriah. You tell the story. You offer a lesson…be willing to obey God whatever He asks. Job done. And the children go away thinking that that is how to handle the Bible. Pluck the story, point to a life lesson.

Then as adults we can easily do the same thing. You select a story, such as Jacob wrestling with the stranger at night. You tell the story. You offer a lesson…or maybe several (adults can cope with more): three top tips for handling complex threats. (I’m making this up, although it is true that preaching this way doesn’t require much time.) Be careful what situations you put yourself in. The dark is dangerous. Fight hard because God doesn’t let anything happen to you that you can’t cope with. (Forget that last one, it is problematic on so many levels!)

God did not give us a compendium of life lessons dressed up as character stories. The Bible writers were masterful in crafting the historical accounts into literary masterpieces. The brevity of individual stories woven together into epics of grand proportions. So what to do?

1. Study stories in the context of the bigger stories. Abraham and Isaac heading to the mountains of Moriah is the climax of a twelve chapter, decades long faith journey for Abraham and God. It wasn’t a random test coming out of nowhere. It was a heartbreaking and confusing test in the context of a story that had stretched as long as many of us live on earth. Promise, travel, gradual response, family separation, land assignment, further travel, false starts, wrong-headed plans, bizarre marital failures, repeated promises, eventual faith, later covenant sign, divine protection over the marriage and very late promise fulfillment.

2. Study bigger stories in the context of the bigger stories. So don’t just make sense of Jacob’s wrestling in the context of Jacob’s bigger story, see it as part of the sweeping story from Abraham’s promise down through the generations. Jacob was a deceiver, as was Laban, and the threat of Esau was massive . . . but was God a deceiver? Could He be taken at His word? Was Jacob’s big issue really his problematic relatives? Or was it himself and his own view of God?

3. Study bigger stories in the context of the biggest story. While this shouldn’t override the passage and completely change its meaning from what it could have originally meant, we have to be sensitive to the whole Bible epic of God’s dealings with humanity.

Tomorrow I’ll poke at this issue from another angle.

Case Study: Isaiah 40

January 8, 2014 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

I just posted a summary of a message on Isaiah 40 on the Cor Deo site. If you haven’t seen it, let me share a few thoughts here first. In simplistic terms, the section preached focuses on the greatness of God and the graciousness of God. I think there are two easy mistakes to make here.

1. To focus purely on the greatness (since that is the focus of vv12-26, the majority of the text). I think this can lead to an impressive presentation of theology, but a weak message in terms of what is needed. Not only by listeners today, but also in respect to the original intent of the passage in light of the first verse – to offer comfort.

2. To simple offer two paradoxical truths. Two things about God. He is great. He is gracious. Two points. And potentially, two messages. Simply balancing the two sets of truths is better than mistake number 1, but it is still not engaging with the text in terms of what the author was trying to achieve.

As you read the summary you won’t see all the illustrations and applications made in my preaching of it, but you will get a sense of the flow of the message. In particular, you should see how I addressed the greatness and graciousness issue.

One further thought. I think it is important to see the flow of a text. I have heard this passage preached, actually, I think I have preached this passage, as a selection of theological truths to pluck and present. It makes for a lot of positive feedback, but I don’t think this approach really honours the text God inspired Isaiah to record.

Enough for now, here’s the link to the post: Not Comforted by God’s Greatness?

50 Summer Preaching Tweaks: 11-15

August 19, 2013August 15, 2013 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Continuing my random assortment of preaching tweaks to consider before the next year of preaching:

11. Watch yourself on video. If you have never done this, maybe now is the time. It does not need to be Hollywood quality filming, but I guarantee you will learn a lot when you watch yourself preach. There really is no alternative that will achieve the same value.

12. Go somewhere different in the Bible. Are you an epistles preacher? Always in the gospels? Push the boat out and try wisdom literature or a minor prophet. Try a Psalm that isn’t an obvious one sitting up ready to be preached. Pick a book you have never preached from. You will enjoy, others will be helped, and you will grow as a result.

13. Avoid the moral finish. And so the moral of the story is . . . don’t finish messages this way! Wrestle with and recognize the insidious danger of moralism in preaching. It is the most tempting option to get the most affirmation and feel most Christian in your ministry. But moralism is not the gospel. Moralism is not what we are called to bring to society, or to the community of believers. Try finishing a message with a warm invitation to respond to the Christ offered in Scriptures (and watch the moral fruit!)

14. Add vocal variety. Watch a great communicator and you will see more pauses, more pace variation, more pitch range, more volume extent. Listen to yourself and see where your voice freezes into a certain zone. Vary there.

15. Prune that distracting mannerism. Most people have slightly distracting mannerisms. That includes you. Ask or watch until you discover it. Shoot it. Preach without it. It will just be better that way.

Three Possibilities Preaching Psalms

March 19, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

As I am reading through the Bible I am currently in the Psalms – what a great book! Sadly, for some, Psalms seems to be preached only as filler material in the summer holidays. There is so much potential for preaching in the book of Psalms. Let me offer three possibilities opened up by preaching from this book:

1. You can introduce new treasure to people. People tend to be familiar with some Psalms. Probably 23. Perhaps 24, 1, 110, 121, 127, 51, 8, 73, 37, 27. But what about Psalm 36? Or 33? There is a whole host of Psalms that tend to get ignored in the annual audition for three filler sermons. And don’t just stick to the filler sermon approach. Why not preach Psalm 34 at the start of a series on 1Peter? It certainly was in the mind of the apostle as he wrote his epistle. Why not preach Psalm 118 in connection with Easter? It might add a new set of thoughts to the Easter considerations since Jesus would very likely have sung that with his disciples at the last supper.

2. You can connect with a different group of people. It may be a stereotype, but some have suggested that engineers enjoy epistles. They like the truth statements, logical flow, direct discourse. So if that is the case, who might appreciate the Psalms? Artists? Sure, and there are more of them than we tend to realise in every congregation. How about the suffering? Certainly. Psalms connects with different people at different times in the complexities of each personal biography.

3. You can offer a more vulnerable sermon. When David wrestles with spiritual realities, why not be more open that we do too? Personal sin struggles, doubting God’s goodness, tendency to trust in ourselves, feelings of extreme fatigue, etc. We don’t preach to preach ourselves, but we ourselves do preach. The Psalms opens up the possibility of greater vulnerability from the preacher, and hopefully stirs vulnerability in the congregation. The Psalm writers didn’t treat God as delicate or fragile, they blasted their prayers at Him. Perhaps we can stir greater prayer in churches that tend to pray religiously, and Psalms would be a worthwhile workshop for that kind of goal.

Beware of Exemplar Homo-Biblicas Preaching

February 20, 2013 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Yesterday we looked at the danger of treating Christ as our role model. Today I’ve kept up the pseudo latin title pattern (since Christians seem to love latin in the blogosphere) and want to zero in on a related danger: treating biblical characters as examples to copy.

Surely the biblical narratives were written both to instruct us and to warn us, therefore they are legitimately to be treated as examples in our preaching? Yes, but there is still a danger that we fall short of preaching the Bible when we fall into a simple, “go thou and do likewise” approach. Points to ponder:

Paul probes deeper than behaviour in 1Corinthians 10:1-13 – There he states that there is example in what happened to characters in the Old Testament, but the purpose of that example is not to push the Corinthians simply toward good conduct. These were examples, “that we might not desire evil as they did.” The people of Israel all “did” the same things, but the problem was with their desires. They wanted evil, and they did not please God. The passage heads toward a warning for those who are self-confident (a real danger for those who are diligent to obey conduct-focused preaching!)

Paul pushes beyond behavior in Romans 15:1-7 – The Old Testament was written for instruction, but the goal goes beyond conformity to conduct codes. Paul is pushing for a vertical and horizontal outworking in the context of relationships. The fruit of the instruction is supposed to be hope, mutual harmony and participation in the worship of the Father through the Son.

Biblical characters are responsive humans, not conduct models – In every narrative we see real people living in a standard set of circumstances. That is, they live in a fallen world, swimming in the post-Genesis 3 world of autonomy from God. And they live in a world where God is inviting them to respond to His Word. Some respond in fear, others in faith. To simply look at a godly individual and then make the application to go copy their conduct is like telling a small boy to watch motorcycle racing and then go do the same on his bicycle. He may deceive himself by leaning forward and making engine noises, but the reality is missing. We have a lot of people in churches acting like Christians, but the performance is a charade because the reality of a living union with Christ by His Spirit has been overlooked in the effort to act like virtuous biblical heroes.

Godly conduct is profoundly important. But for it to be real, it must come from the depths of a heart vivified and responsive to Christ, it will not come from copying the externals of exemplary individuals while ignoring the inner realities of those people as they walked with God.

Three Applicational Emphases in Preaching Deuteronomy

February 18, 2013 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Christians tend to view the books of Moses as a flat collection of laws. Many tend not to distinguish the progression within the books, both in terms of the progression of revelation of law (in response to progressive sin and failure), as well as the progression in generations. Deuteronomy is anything but flat. Here we have a new generation and the aged Moses giving his parting-shot sermon to the people he has seen grow up in the wilderness. There is a passion in Moses and a unique opportunity set before the people. Don’t miss the following applicational emphases in the book:

1. God’s loving instruction. It would be a gross misrepresentation to turn Deuteronomy into a flat book of laws and codes. Through Moses God is communicating a loving desire for the people to thrive as His people, to be blessed, to prosper in the land, etc. It is easy to communicate threat without love, or warning without motive.

2. The danger of comfort. Surely a people who had watched their parents die in the wilderness, who had heard stories and perhaps remembered their miraculous deliverance from Pharoah and his armies, who had seen the miraculous as children and as adults, surely such a people would be well situated to thrive in the land before them? Deuteronomy repeatedly warns of the dangers of forgetting. We humans can struggle to remember. Especially when things are going well and we are comfortable. Perhaps Deuteronomy should be preached in our culture once a year? It wouldn’t be wasted!

3. The motives of obedience. God certainly lays out for the people the expected obedience. What would it look like for them to be faithful to the marital arrangement that is set before them? Obedience, of course. But Deuteronomy never lets us settle for an outward conformity. Just as in a human marriage there is no satisfaction in ritual and plastic obedience, so in relationship with God the core issue must be the heart. That is what needs to be circumcised. How easily we turn loving instruction into self-concerned ritualistic obedience. Even in these days God knew that ultimately it would take a prophet greater than Moses to capture the hearts of a straying humanity.

Three Thoughts in Preaching Numbers

February 9, 2013 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

I have to admit that Numbers is not a book that I rush toward. The main reason for this is that I have not studied it in depth and so should probably preach it in order to develop my appreciation. Nonetheless, here are three thoughts from reading it through these last few days.

1. Faith does not automatically flow from the miraculous. Many people assume that if we could just see something miraculous, then we’d believe. After all, if we could just see God doing wonders in our midst then the culture would come flocking. Numbers again underlines that even God’s people don’t automatically respond in faith to observed wonders, so assuming others will is presumptuous. Water from a rock, a budding staff, the ground swallowing rebels, and consequently that generation were a people of faith? Not quite. The issue is not what we see, but how our hearts perceive what we see. If we don’t want to believe, no amount of miraculous intervention will guarantee true faith.

2. The Law’s community function did not generate faith. The nation that had started with one man, become twelve men, then seventy, then hundreds of thousands needed to be constrained and ordered. Their sin and rebellion had led to a growing statute book and legal code. By the time we get to Numbers we might assume that being a people with well defined laws meant they were ready to believe and trust God. Caleb and Joshua are the glorious exceptions. The ten spies didn’t. The people didn’t. Even Moses didn’t. In fact, rather than getting caught up in what Moses actually did wrong in chapter 20, perhaps the writer is vague on the errant action to point us to underlying faith issues. The great leader under the Law who disobeys God through lack of faith (Num.20:12) seems to contrast with the great man of faith before Law who kept God’s commands (compare and contrast Gen.26:5).

3. God’s promise plan is not thwarted even when the faithless miss out. It is important to help listeners know that Numbers sits in the flow of the Pentateuch, rather than as a stand-alone collection of stories. God’s plan to bless the world back in the beginning of Genesis was articulated clearly in his promise to Abram. By the end of Genesis the seed promise has grown into an extended family, with blessing to all families reiterated in the blessing of Judah by Jacob. That nation through which the blessing would come is born in Exodus despite the three-fold attempt by Pharoah to curse the “too numerous people.” At the other end of the wilderness sojourn we see another king seeking three times to curse a “too numerous” Israel. Again, the attempts to curse God’s nation lead only to their blessing. Thus the promise to Abraham marches on, with just Deuteronomy left: a sermonic call for circumcised hearts and love for God from the new generation heading into the dangerous place of security and peace.

Three Themes to Preach from Leviticus

February 7, 2013 / Peter Mead / 4 Comments

I admit it, I haven’t preached through Leviticus. For many people it is the book that undoes their read through (my suggestion? Read faster and get the sweeping history rather than trying to meticulously study through Leviticus every time . . . and keep the pace through the rest of the Bible too!) So I haven’t preached it, but I can say this: when I preached the whole Bible in a single message, the key text came from Leviticus.

So here are three themes that are worth pondering, both in preaching Leviticus itself, and for preaching elsewhere:

1. Worship and Atonement. Leviticus launches with seven chapters on sacrificial offerings, then builds to the climactic Day of Atonement description in chapter 16. It is too easy to preach from the New Testament and make vague references to “Old Testament sacrifices” and how glad we are not to have to do them. As a preacher it would be well worth reading this section closely enough to be able to describe what was involved in “all those sacrifices.” Can we really grasp all that Jesus has done for us if we are basically unaware of the system in place prior to His sacrifice?

2. Living and Loving. The priestly code of early Leviticus flowed out of the conclusion to Exodus (and the terrible golden calf incident). But then in Leviticus 17 there is a passing reference to another ghastly failure, this time on the part of the people: worshipping goat demons. What follows is yet more law, this time focusing in on the people who needed to live with one another and love one another in light of who the LORD is. In the midst of this section we find the seven Mosaic feasts described in chapter 23. Again, to preach the New Testament effectively we need to know our way around the annual feasts of Israel.

3. Living in God’s Presence. So the last time I preached the whole Bible in a single message, what text proved pivotal? It came from Leviticus. It is about living in God’s presence. Sounds like it will feel like a pressure passage pushing us to live holy lives so we might be able to approach God? Not quite. The anticipation of Leviticus 26:11-12 shows God’s desire to dwell with His people, a desire that shows throughout the canon and culminates the whole story in Revelation 21.