Preaching

Blog Review of 2013

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

DogBinoculars2It has been a quieter year on the blog as I have had to scale back the writing in recent months.  Launching a new church has certainly taken time and energy, but what a privilege it is to be involved in such a project.  Meanwhile, back at the blog:

Most popular posts, in reverse order:

Preaching Doxologies and also Preaching [Insert Word] Jesus, came in just behind  The Preacher’s Clock: Procrastination?  Preparation  & Anticipation.  Writing about Bible Reading usually gets a stir.

A single post about Reading and Preaching seemed to get a big reaction for a stand alone post.  The first in the Three Common Mistakes series proved the most provocative –  Genesis.  In second place came a mini-series called Dangerous Immunization  Part 2, along with a series on the dangers of Exemplar Preaching – Exemplar Christi, Exemplar Homo-Biblicas, Exemplar Persona Illustrations and Legitimate Exemplar Preaching.

The top series of 2013 was the Preaching Myths series back in the summer:  #1 – Pew Trust  #2 – Cool Preaching  #3 – Acid and Bleach    #4 – Non-Gospel Preaching  #5 – Short Talk Required  #6 – Evaluation Verboten  #7 – Sawn-Off Concordance  #8 – Delivery Equals Circus

Some of my favourites:

I enjoyed pondering and writing the following posts and want to mention them now – Why God Still Works Through Poor Preaching and Losing our Youth by Dangerous Superficiality, which is closely tied to Static vs Dynamic Position Principle.  I wish churches would use testimonies, but not without a guide along the lines of Ten Top Testimony Tips.  I enjoyed the work that went into the Repentance Word Study in Acts.

I think my favourite series was How to Preach Less than Christian – Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

Highest Impact Books:

I was able to review some stunning books this year.  Here are four not to miss.  Probably the best biography I’ve read is Jonathan Edwards, A Life by George Marsden.  A must read for people preaching the Gospels is Pontius Pilate by Paul Maier.  I recently wrote on a great little book on the Apostle Paul’s writings – How to Like Paul Again, by Conrad Gempf.  And for anyone involved in church work, take a look at Deep and Wide, by Andy Stanley.  (I enjoyed writing a film review on Les Mis too Click here to go there.)

Thanks for visiting the blog this year.  I hope that 2014 will be a good year for the blog, and an even better year for all our preaching!

Read Your Bible in 2014? Part 2

/ Peter Mead / 7 Comments

BookIt has been a couple of years since I suggested that the famous reading plan of a certain famous Christian was not a good idea.  (If you want to see that post, click here.)  That plan, and many that have copied it, involves reading a small handful of chapters each day.  The chapters are from different places in the canon.  I know some people swear by this approach, but I am unconvinced.  Here’s why:

1. Why treat the Bible chapters as vitamin pills rather than part of a coherent feast?  Why pursue “balance” with a passion, but sacrifice the divine design?  God gave us books, not an assortment of random chapters.

2. Why choose to not read chapters in their context?  Esther is hard to put down, so is Ephesians, and Hebrews always grips me, and there are over 60 other books, most of which are an awesome read in flow.  Why take a bit of one meal and then a bite of another?

3. Why miss out on the delight of noise-free reading?  For the first minutes of our Bible reading, perhaps 10-15, we have a mental noise in the background: things to do, don’t forget this, remember that, what about…  Once that clears, we zero in and enjoy what we are reading.  Read for ten minutes and you will be ready to stop.  Read for 30-40 and you will struggle to put it down.  Most reading plans cater to 10-12 minute reading loads.  So you could struggle year after year with these disciplined approaches, but absolutely thrive on the simple approach of reading a decent chunk in flow.  Really?  People who struggle to read the Bible through in a year may find it easier and more enjoyable to read it 2 or 3 times in a year?  Yes.

4. Why take a checklist approach to the most important relationship?  I don’t have to force myself to read sports news, or eat three meals a day, and certainly don’t require a checklist to remember to interact with my wife each day.  I don’t tend to be impressed with reticent disciplined Bible readers.  But those who delight in God tend to be people who devour the Bible.  That may look like discipline, love usually does, but discipline is not the way to get there.

Perhaps it is worth pondering how to encourage people by enthusiastic invitation, rather than by affirming the “difficulty” and “trudgery” of “getting through the Bible” in a year or three.  Here is a link to my friend Ron’s article on Bible reading – as “Bible presenters” lets be sure to be genuine Bible enthusiasts that do more than try to fire up the so-called disciplined wills of our listeners!

Read Your Bible in 2014?

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

BookTwo years ago I wrote a post that seemed to polarize readers.  I suggested that the famous reading plan of a certain famous Christian was not a good idea.  If you want to see that post, click here.  Let me offer some thoughts on this as we head toward a new year and probably a fair few resolutions for preachers and non-preachers alike.

I am a huge fan of getting people to read the Bible.  While there are numerous ways to walk devotionally with our God, every other option surely must be undergirded and shot through with exposure to the Bible – God’s primary means of self-revelation and input into our lives.

If a reading plan is the only way to motivate someone, fine, so be it.  But I am concerned whenever I sense a lack of motivation in myself or in others.  I think that too often we treat a lack of motivation as a normal emotional problem to be overcome by diligence, accountability and determination.

I would suggest that we treat a lack of motivation as a flashing light on the dashboard of our lives.  When the oil light flashes I don’t obey it and choose not to drive the car.  Equally I don’t disregard it and press on.  I address the issue.  Same with a lack of motivation for Bible reading . . . don’t simply obey it, nor ignore it, but address it.  The best way I have found is to talk to God about that lack of motivation.  Be honest.  Out loud.  Tell him what is more attractive to you than His self-revelation.  That should prove to be convicting and bring us back in humility with a brokenness and renewed, albeit weak, hunger to hear from Him that we might respond as we should.

The best motivation for Bible reading is a hunger to know God more.  Therefore the best motivator for stirring others to read their Bibles is to know God more and be infectious with it.  When you are captured by a person, others will want to know Him too.  This is a far cry from language of diligence and discipline and so on.

I don’t ask my friends to hold me accountable to pretend to love my wife and listen to her.  I may ask them to point out if they see me rationalizing a drift from healthy relationships though.  Same with the Bible reading.  I don’t need someone to crack the whip to make me do it, but I am wide open to hearing from a friend that I seem touchy or less excited about God than is normal.

So next time I will come back to the reading plan issue and share some thoughts.  None of this is intended to stir up the hornets nest again, just to stir our thinking as we head toward a New Year and probably a lot of renewed motivation to be consistent in Bible reading . . .

How Good?

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

ScaleKiller2When we preach the gospel to guests and to believers alike, we are effectively communicating both bad news and good news.  There has to be a connection between the two, a symmetry between diagnosis and cure.  If we are not careful, a slight misdiagnosis can have terrible consequences.

Problem: I’m not good at all.

Solution: I need the good news of the Gospel or I am hopelessly lost.  100% dead in trespasses and sins.  Apart from Christ we can do nothing.  The problem points us to Christ as our only hope.

But what a difference a slight misdiagnosis can bring…

Problem: I’m not good enough.

Solution: I need to try harder, perhaps combined with accepting some sort of grace offer, but recognizing that that brings with it a responsibility to start to get my act together and to make this the week that evidences a change in direction, a new leaf, a new resolution, a breakthrough, a deep commitment, a stronger push.  I look to God to give me the spiritual juice I need to make my attempt at holiness.

What a difference!  Not good at all?  Or just not good enough?  The world and the devil would love us all to buy into the second one.  Guests hearing this will recognize the need for digging deeper and becoming the better me.  Believers hearing this will find resonance in their flesh which continues to live in the lie of independent god-like status.

The bad news is bad.  Really bad.  Probably worse than we’ve dared to imagine!  And that is great news.

One Step Closer

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

SteppingForward2Sometimes taking one step forward can make a huge difference.  Instead of remaining at arms length, one step can cross numerous boundaries of personal space and move you into a zone of great importance – this is true in romance, in fighting, in conversation, and in preaching.

Beginning preachers, and some that have preached for years, tend to preach their message at arms length. Some do so by some sort of conviction, others more unawares.  They study and prepare, but it is all about the notes.  From the Bible to the notes to the people.  Arms length. Somehow there is a nervousness about this thing out there called the message.  The preacher is anxious about saying the right words and that anxiety sometimes shows.  Even without showing overtly, it does leave the message somewhat flat, just about the words.

But one step forward can make such a difference.  If the entire process of Bible study, message preparation and delivery can all be brought inside the personal space, the preaching is very different.  Instead of something the preacher is straining to not forget, now the message comes from the heart.  Instead of preaching being truth preached by a personality (often a stilted personality trying to remember the message), now the message can be truth through personality.  Instead of a message being handled at arms length from the Bible text to the listeners, via the notes of the preacher, now the message comes through the preacher with the force of the life transforming power of the Word – clear and unhindered.

I am not really writing about notes.  More about whether the Bible is a curiosity and data source, a professional tool, or a personal treasure from a God who moves intimately into our personal space to wreck our self-absorbed worlds, bring about massive transformation and a deep intimacy.  I am suggesting our message preparation should be a unique experience for each of us, rather than following the checklist of someone else’s model.  I am saying that our delivery should come from the totality of a gripped heart and life in transformation, rather than being a mere transfer of information from notes to listeners.

It’s hard to pin down exactly how one message can be preached at arms length, while another comes through the heart of the preacher.  Yet as a listener it is usually not so hard to tell the difference.

Letter Frame – Preacher’s Treasure 7

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

PenInk2In this series I have looked at letter openings and closings.  Lots of treasure that is often overlooked and ignored despite being fully inspired and massively preachable!  Here are a few closing ideas to pull the series together:

1. Preach a whole book through the lens of a key element in the letter frame.  By taking an opening greeting, a doxology, or whatever, it is possible to introduce and preach the big message of an entire epistle.  This could function as a stand-alone message.

2. Introduce or conclude a series in a book using opening or closing elements.  Instead of sounding like an introductory page in a study Bible (i.e. just giving a bland author, recipients, date, occasion, map, etc.), diving into the body of an epistle and ignoring the opening or finishing a series abruptly, consider the value of an overview intro or conclusion that is a legitimate exposition of an inspired text.

3. Consider a series of doxologies, closing prayers, or whatever, with whole epistles reinforcing each message in the series.  This would be a challenge for the preacher, and might require some awareness from the listeners, but it could be highly effective.  It would help us break out of a “standard section length for every sermon” approach. Whole books have big ideas that transform lives.  Letter frames offer summaries that root those ideas in shorter texts.

What other ideas would you add?  How have you heard a letter frame preached effectively?

Letter Frame – Preacher’s Treasure 6

/ Peter Mead / 5 Comments

PenInk2There are some stunning doxologies in the epistles.  They are a potential treasure for preachers:

1. Doxologies tend to offer a succinct overview of the content of a letter.  What the writer was pondering as he wrote or dictated tends to come out in this late point of praise.  As preachers we can tap into that to review or overview the epistle as a whole.

2. Doxologies offer the preacher an opportunity to preach a different genre within the epistle.  Just as introductory and closing materials can offer a more narrative type of content (i.e. accessing the narrative behind the letter), so the doxology allows the preacher to preach something akin to poetry.  Preaching poetry offers something different to the discourse that predominates in the epistles.

Here are some doxologies to ponder:

* Hebrews 13:20-21 . . . The preacher (remember that Hebrews is not an epistle, but rather a sermon with an epistolary postscript) points to God’s raising Jesus from the dead, and to the blood of the eternal covenant, as the one who will equip the hearers to live lives pleasing to Him.  The Jesus-focused encouragement throughout the “letter” is seen even here.

* Jude 24-25 . . . One of the more famous doxologies pointing to God’s ability to guard and protect believers in an antagonistic world.

* 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 . . . An easy one to miss, this is effectively a doxology within the body of the letter (similar to Paul’s explosions of delight at the end of Romans 8 and Romans 11:33-36).

* 2 Corinthians 13:14 . . . Is Paul offering three elements of God’s goodness within a trinitarian framework, or is he actually referring to the One who is the grace and love of the Son and Father, that is, the Holy Spirit?  Jonathan Edwards understood this doxology as being entirely about the Spirit, which would fit a letter gripped by the New Covenant ministry theme.

* 1 Corinthians 16:22-24 . . . A striking and often ignored conclusion to a letter.  Perhaps verse 22 is key to the complexities of church life in Corinth?  I have never heard anybody preach from this section, have you?

* Revelation 2-3 . . . Don’t miss the treasure in Jesus’ seven epistles to the churches of Asia Minor.  Recognizing the consistent themes within and throughout each individual letter is key to making sense of the details.  The promise to the overcomer always makes sense in light of the description of Christ and the commendation/complaint within the letter.

Seems like there is plenty of scope for a series of messages based purely on the doxologies.  After all, pondering the truth and life-changing relevance of the gospel should lead us to praise God!

Letter Frame – Preacher’s Treasure 5

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PenInk2Yesterday we saw that there are a host of ingredients that could go into an epistle closing section.  One way to use the closing is to select an element and preach an overview of the whole epistle using that text.  Some examples:

1. Preaching Final Personal Remarks – Galatians 6:14-15

Paul keeps on reinforcing the big themes of Galatians: it is all about Christ crucified, the promised deliverer, and the work of the Spirit in making us new creatures in relationship with our Abba.  Here Paul gives a Christ and Spirit (New Covenant shorthand term) summation, just to reinforce the point already made in chapters 3-4, in the summary of 5:5-6, etc.  From these two verses you could effectively preach the whole letter.

2. Preaching Concluding Exhortations – Romans 16:17-20

Paul addressed the issue of a disunited Roman church from the beginning of the letter.  The applicational climax in 15:7-13 is brought back here in the final verses of the letter.  Romans could be preached or reviewed with this text, as it could with the doxology to follow in 16:25-27.

3. Preaching Closing Prayer – 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Again, the big themes of the body of the letter are clearly evident in this single verse: sanctification and anticipation of the Lord’s return.

4. Preaching Prayer Request – Colossians 4:2-4

Not only does Paul offer a “practical” prayer request, but it is focused on the key issue of the whole epistle – the person and mystery of Christ.

5. Preaching Greetings – Romans 16:3-16, 21-23

Paul’s list of connections in Rome gives an insight into the constitution of the church in Rome – several Jewish names among a predominantly Gentile group.  This is tricky, but if handled well, this could be a gateway into the issue that Paul has been addressing theologically throughout the letter.

Tomorrow I will almost wrap up the series by looking at doxologies, and then will offer a final post with some big letter-frame preaching suggestions.

Letter Frame – Preacher’s Treasure 4

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PenInk2I have been looking at “standard” openings in New Testament epistles.  Let’s look at “standard” closings and ponder some of the value to be found:

“Standard” Closings – We should be especially hesitant to hold any letter to a standard closing since there is much variety to be found among the epistles.  However, seeing the kind of content that may be found might spur our thinking a bit, then next time I will probe the possibilities further.

1. Travel plans and personal situation – Never forget that epistles are not data-dumps, they are a glimpse into a gripping narrative.  These sections sit up to be preached effectively when we know the power of narrative.

2. Prayer – Often brief, but a glimpse into the writer’s thinking and often a summary of what has occupied him throughout.

3. Commendation of fellow workers – A meaningless list of names?  Not so fast, they are there on purpose and can reveal much of the situation and connections.

4. Prayer requests – This could be a personal and vulnerable glimpse, or an applicational grounding of what has come before.  Either way . . . useful.

5. Greetings – Typically a personal touch to reinforce the narrative force of the letter.

6. Final instructions and exhortations – Almost always a helpful summary of the main teaching re-applied in the closing inches of the papyrus.

7. Holy kiss – Not sure what to say about this bit, but maybe because I’m English.

8. Autographed greeting – Helps you realize that an amanuensis was writing, and importantly, that the author wanted to be identified.  Why?

9. A “grace” benediction – Perhaps Paul was just polite, or maybe he was happy to be known for preaching grace at every opportunity, including the final line of his letters?

Some combination of these elements will appear at the end of an epistle.  How to preach them is worth pondering because they are both inspired and sadly too often ignored.  I’ll probe some examples next time.

Letter Frame – Preacher’s Treasure 3

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PenInk2So you can take the whole introduction and preach it to show the themes that will follow, as I suggested from 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.  But there are some other possibilities too:

2. Strategic Teaching Point – eg. Galatians 1:3-5

This is not the whole of Paul’s opening, it is just the grace and peace greeting.  But it could be preached as a gateway into Galatians.  If the point he is underlining here is made strongly, it sets up questions over his authority (go back to verse 1, or leave until next time and connect that with the biographical sections that follow at the end of chapter 1 and start of chapter 2), and questions over their move from this gospel (move on into verse 6 and following, or leave that until next time).  Interestingly, with the explosive content that follows, I suspect many readers miss the greeting, but notice what Paul says and doesn’t say:

He builds on the giving grace of the God with a Trinitarian reference to God the Father and Jesus Christ.  But don’t miss that this God is referred to as “our Father.”  Christ is the self-giving solution to our sin problem and Christ delivers, rescues, saves us from an evil world (Paul is not going light on sin!)   This rescue mission of Jesus is the plan and desire of the God who is now our Father, and it is all about Him, He gets the glory as we respond to this truth.

But notice what is missing.  The gospel is surveyed and it is all about God and the work of Christ.  There is no reference to our commitment, our diligence, our law-keeping, our fleshly efforts to be godly, etc.  Yet how easily we will corrupt the glorious grace of the gospel into something about us.  And that is the issue Paul will chase from verse 6 . . .

3. Biographical Instruction

Following the greeting and gratitude, many epistles will include a biographical section setting the scene for the letter.  Again, Paul tends to use this as an instructional opportunity.  As preachers let’s not skim this section either.  These sections allow us to establish epistles in a narrative setting, which has numerous benefits for a series of messages.  Here are a couple of examples:

* Galatians – After the explosive opening, Paul addresses the two critiques against his ministry by using biographical instruction.  First, that he is not a full Apostle (Galatians 1:11-24)  Second, that his is not the full Gospel, he is not preaching the whole truth (2:1-10).

* Philippians – Paul really takes advantage of his situational info to teach some key truths in 1:12-26, which then leads into the main proposition of the epistle for the final verses of chapter 1.

* 1 Thessalonians – Notice that Paul’s biographical section extends to the end of chapter 3!  The main body of the letter doesn’t arrive until the fourth chapter . . .