Stage 2 – Passage Study

Complicated Passage, Clear Preaching

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

I’m scheduled to preach on of those tricky ones.  You know, one of the crux interpretum of the New Testament.  There’s the end of 1st Timothy 2, the end of 1st Peter 3, the end of James, the end of 1st John, Hebrews 6, etc.  A passage that begs every exegetical skill you possess, or if you’re rushing, a passage that just checking two or three commentaries doesn’t resolve.

It is important not to avoid the complexity as we preach.  If your listeners can see the verses, but are confused by them.  Just avoiding them in your sermon is not the solution (tempting as it may be!)  You have to address them if you’re preaching through the book, or if they’re in your preaching passage.

It is helpful to acknowledge the difficulty. Just giving a simplistic explanation may satisfy a few, but many will be left wondering what the passage really means (and they will be left with less respect for your ability to handle and explain the Word to them!)  If it is hard to interpret, don’t pretend otherwise.  Nobody should expect you to find everything super simple.

It is important not to let the complexity overwhelm the main idea. Often the main idea of a passage is still clear, even with the complicated element present.  Be sure that your main idea is clear so that the sermon is a preaching of the text with applied relevance, rather than a pulpit lecture in theological method (a lived out excursus in the pulpit section of daily life).

Pray for me as I preach one of these tricky passages.  Pray not that I’ll stun people with my brilliance, but that I’ll handle the Word well and be sure to preach the Word, not merely lecture or present an exegetical curio for their passing interest.  Let’s pray for each other to always preach the Word with accuracy and applied relevance.

Factors In Selecting Sermon Form – Part 1

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Last week I posted on the subject of sermon form. Now I’d like to expand on the factors that go into selecting a sermon form. Some people are committed to one sermon form. They think that true expository preaching is always done their way. It’s as if the sermon shape came down from the mount along with the two stone tablets and a blueprint for a uniquely special tent. But on this site we hold to the notion that expository preaching is not a form of preaching, but a philosophy of preaching. So, since there is great freedom, why do we choose the sermon form we choose? I see three main factors to take into account, today let’s consider the first:

Factor 1 – The form of the text. Every biblical text has a shape. It may be inductive or deductive. It may be a narrative, or a narrative introduced with a narrator’s statement of the idea or purpose. It may be chiastic. Text’s come in a certain type and a certain shape. For me, this is the starting point.

Not only does the text say something, but it says it in a certain way, and in doing so it does something. We would be wise to consider how our sermon can do what the text was written to do (not in every case, but often). And one way to make the sermon do what the text was written to do is to shape the sermon according to the shape of the text.

This is my default. My starting point is the shape of the text. I start with the shape of the text and then choose to change the shape of the sermon if there is good reason to do so. Why might there be good reason? In part 2, tomorrow, we’ll see!

Remember the Main Thing

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It’s easy to be overwhelmed as a preacher.  So many things to keep in mind.  The different aspects of delivery, built on the different elements of a sermon, not to mention the multiple facets of biblical study.  You pour in whatever hours you can find in order to try to understand the passage, then to shape a sermon that will accurately and effectively communicate the meaning of that passage to your listeners with some degree of relevance to their lives.  And maybe the many details feel overwhelming.

It’s easy to get caught up in the introduction, the conclusion, the illustrations, the support materials, the elements of style, effective delivery and so on.  These all matter.  These are all important, but they are all details.  The best delivery you can conjure is hypocrisy without a solid message to preach.  The best message flesh in the world doesn’t look good unless it is on a well-formed skeleton.  And the best bones in the world only make sense as an outline when there is a master design involved.  And that master notion needs to be worthy of all the work.

Delivery makes the most of a good sermon.  The flesh of the sermon makes a skeleton of an outline into an attractive and compelling being. But the skeleton only makes sense if it is serving the main idea of the message – each bone supporting the unity of the message, each detail moving the message forward toward a goal.

I’m not undermining the importance of any sermonic detail.  Details of the sermon and details of delivery, are important, but they are details.  Unless there is a core concept, a big idea, a central proposition, whatever you want to call it.  Unless there is that main idea derived from effective study of the passage to the best of your ability, all pursued in dependence on the Spirit of God.  Unless there is that, there are only details.  Random details.  Remember the main thing.  The main idea is your goal in Bible study.  Then that main idea is boss of the message.  The main idea is the main thing.  Let’s remember that.

Preparation Place

/ Peter Mead / 7 Comments

A good sermon in the pulpit will reflect hours of work in the study.  Hours of prayerful reading, careful thinking and sometimes tearful wrestling through the process.  But no rule says preparation has to happen at the desk.  In fact, the desk can be a place of distraction!

Personally I tend to work either at home at my desk, or at a friend’s house (quieter).  However, there are times when I find I need to prepare somewhere else.  Not because I have to, but because it helps.  I sometimes think and preach through a sermon while driving (sorry for the carbon footprint!), or on a walk, or pacing around in my living room.  One time I had to answer questions from the police about what I was doing at such and such a time (“Uh, I was preaching a sermon while staring out of the window, officer!”) – I happened to fail to see anything suspicious as a crime took place down the street, but my bizarre excuse precluded further questioning!

Anyway, where do you find preparation works best for you?  Driving, walking, pacing, sitting in a Starbucks to see and sense the reality of people?  There are no rules here, but I am interested!

Why Was the Text Written?

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

In a general sense everything written in the Bible was written for our instruction (Rom.15:4).  Yet as preachers we can fall into the trap of looking for a sermon in a text, rather than fully pursuing the process of allowing the text to be boss of the sermon.

Yesterday I was discussing Genesis 3 with a friend.  I’ve heard sermons that essentially ignore everything after verse 7 in order to give a how-to guide to resisting temptation.  Was that why the chapter was written?  This was not merely an example of temptation, it was the Fall.  While there may be a place for noting the steps Eve took that led to disaster, surely this cannot dominate the message to the extent that the passage becomes a mere instructional piece.

Why was it written?  There is instruction about a one-off event with lasting implications that face us all everyday.  There may be passing lessons to learn about the way the enemy works in our response to God’s instruction.  There also is significant space given to explanation of the consequences of the Fall.  There is also hope interwoven with judgment in the seed of the woman to come.

When we pause and ponder enough to recognize that the passage is not an instructional anecdote, but one of the most significant events of history, and that the reverberations of that event are wobbling our world moment by moment right until this moment, and that the solution is not in our ability to implement lessons from Eve’s conversation, but in the hope of the seed of the woman who would come and crush the serpent’s head.  When we spend enough time in the text and see why it was written, then we are in a better place to preach the Word.  After all, it was written for our instruction, so that through the encouragement of Scriptures we might have hope!  (Rom.15:4)

The Pressure of Infinite Resources

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We live in a time when we have potential access to more study resources than ever before.  There are countless commentaries on every book of the Bible, including exegetical, technical, semi-technical, expositional, applicational, background, socio-cultural, devotional.  Then there are the Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, literary guides, and so on.  And I shouldn’t forget the preaching helps – outlines, illustrations, series ideas, and so on.  All of this is in print, most of it is available as software, and then there is the bottomless pit of online material, ranging from helpful to truly pathetic.

What an incredible time to live in, but what a pressure it puts on us as preachers!  What if there is a resource that will unlock this passage for me and I haven’t got it or read it yet?  What if I am failing to preach as I should because I have failed to access the right preparation resource?

Learn to Discern. Discern which resources are worth owning on whatever budget you have.  Discern which ones duplicate other or earlier works.  Discern which are helpful for preaching and which are actually quagmires.  Discern how to use the web with skill rather than endless bunny trailing through cyber-space.

Remember this is God’s work and He knows. He knows what resources you actually have access to and time for.  He knows what level of training you’ve had.  He knows how pressured your preparation has been.  He knows.

In my case, I typically consult between four and ten (well-chosen and well-trusted) resources on a typical sermon.  We are blessed with more available, in more formats, than ever before.  But remember that our task is not to endlessly trawl through it all. Our task is to study God’s Word with His help, using only a small percentage of the available resources, according to our means and training, in order to preach the Word accurately and effectively to our listeners.

For Improvement Just Do This

/ Peter Mead / 5 Comments

It is easy to feel pressure to preach better. We put the pressure on ourselves. Others put the pressure on us, often unwittingly. Perhaps a lack of apparent response in recent months. Perhaps comments about other preachers. Perhaps the big shots on the radio. Perhaps a renewed passion to preach well that has stirred within.

When the pressure to improve is felt, things can often seem overwhelming. After all, there are so many books, so many ideas, so many aspects of effective preaching to consider, indeed, so many preaching traditions to learn from. Maybe you skim through previous posts on this site, or other sites, or magazines, or podcasts, etc. Perhaps you let your mind go back to seminary and you recall all the instructions you received there. It can all be so overwhelming.

This may sound overly simplistic, but just do this: prayerfully endeavor to do the basics well. Try to study the passage effectively so that you are clear on the structure, the author’s main idea and purpose in writing. Try to think through your sermon purpose in light of both the passage and the congregation. Try to determine a clear main idea (doesn’t have to be an all-time great one), a clear and simple structure, a way to start that will make listeners want to hear the rest of the sermon and a way to finish so that the impact of the text will be felt in a specific area of their life. Do the basics well. You’ll probably find the pressure lifts because your preaching is much closer to what you want it to be!

Why Preach a Series?

/ Peter Mead / 5 Comments

Some may ask, why do so many of us preach in series?  There are many reasons, but here are a handful to start with:

A series of sermons has greater leverage than a solo sermon. By reinforcing and reviewing a Bible book, the series allows for the lessons to sink in and be applied.  We often are too naïve in what we expect from a single sermon, but underestimate what can be achieved over time.

A series of sermons can create momentum beyond the moment. As well as the preacher reviewing what has gone before, the listeners also know what is coming and are more likely to engage with the Bible book in advance of future messages.

A series of sermons allows messages to balance each other. If a message stands alone, then its distinctives will often need to be balanced within the message, which potentially reduces the applicational impact of it.  Knowing (and if necessary, stating), that a future sermon will present another side of this issue allows the present message to be preached without excessive balancing.

A series of sermons allows for longer lead time in preparation. Knowing what is coming up allows me to channel my preparation weeks or months in advance of the sermon.  This is much healthier than a brief preparation phase which does not allow the sermon to work in me before it comes from me.

A series of sermons allows for overlapped or deeper exegetical work. If I have a series in one book, or in one section of a book, I can use my preparation time to really grapple with that part of the Bible. A series of six sermons in Hebrews allows me more time in studying Hebrews as a whole than six sermons from all over the canon.

This is not to suggest that series are the only way to go, or are the way to go without thought.  There is much to take into account when planning a series and sermons within a series, but these are five of the reasons why I affirm the practice of preaching series of sermons.

Preaching Longer Narratives

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Nathan asked about preaching longer narratives, such as the narratives of Daniel.  Last week I preached Daniel chapter 2 and the book of Esther (10 chapters!), so I’ve been thinking about this recently.  Here are my thoughts, I’d love to hear anything you would add:

Even if it is long, preach a literary unit. Longer narratives can stretch through many verses and multiple scenes.  Unless the scenes are really sub-plots that can stand on their own, I would suggest trying to preach the whole narrative.  While this may create some challenges, it is still better to deal with an entire narrative than risk misunderstanding and misapplying a part-narrative.

Tell the whole story, but perhaps read selectively. In the case of the Daniel 2 message, the leader of the service had a major chunk of the passage read before I got up to preach.  In the case of Esther, I read certain paragraphs and verses as I told the story.  While we want to honor the text and certainly encourage people to read it through later, the weakness in extended reading is actually our reading rather than the text itself.

The challenge is actually the same as for any passage. The challenge we face in preaching a longer narrative is, in one respect, no different than any other passage.  Which details will receive in-depth attention, and which elements or sections can be summarized to maintain flow and unity?  A longer narrative calls on our skill in big picture exegesis and compelling story-telling, but in many ways the process remains the same – study the passage, determine the main idea and purpose, define purpose and main idea for the sermon and shape it strategically, etc.

The Possibility of Passage Shape

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When you study a passage, part of the study is to recognize the shape the passage was given by the author (I’ll use “shape” in this post, but could use “structure” or “flow”).  There may be a logical sequencing of thoughts, or a narrative plot, or a poetic structure.  One possibility is that you can take that passage shape and let it be the primary influence on the message shape.

It may be that you decide to change the shape for the sake of the message.  Maybe the original recipients and your listeners differ significantly so that you have to structure the thought differently for the sake of effective communication.

However, to make such a change, in my thinking, should be a deliberate step away from the default option, which is to reflect the passage shape in the sermon shape.  For example, perhaps you are preparing to preach a Psalm and notice that it has three movements each having the same shape and largely the same content.  It might be tempting to “fix” such a literary “wastefulness” and use a more compact approach to preaching it.  Actually, by doing so, you would lose part of the power of the passage.  Our task as preachers is to communicate what a text says, but also to in some way do what a text does.  What does repetition do?  It reinforces, it allows truth to sink deeper, it builds on itself.  Repetition with variation is a powerful tool in writing Scripture, and consequently in the preaching of Scripture.

One possibility that comes when we recognize the shape of a passage is that we will reflect that shape in our message.  There may sometimes be reasons not to do this, but let this possibility be a strong one, even the default.