Stage 2 – Passage Study

Scripture Interprets Scripture – Cross-Referencing in Preaching

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You’ve probably heard the oft-used line that “Scripture interprets Scripture.”  This principle of hermeneutics seems to be the only principle for some people, but I would suggest it is one among many helpful principles.  It is right to say that no passage will ultimately contradict the rest of the canon, for there is a divinely inspired unity to the Bible.  However, this does not mean that we should neglect near context interpretation in favor of distant context interpretation.  What a writer means by a word or phrase should be evaluated in light of the sentence, the paragraph, the section, the book, the other books by the same writer, the other books from that time period, the other books in that “Testament” and the other books in the Bible – in that order!  Like concentric circles around the bull’s-eye, the closer the context, the more weight we should give it.  So a term used in a letter by Paul does not automatically mean the same as that term in Matthew or John or Ezekiel. 

One exception to this hierarchy of correlation would be to go to a text evidently in the thoughts of the author prior to others that may technically be “closer contexts” but were unknown to the author.  For example, when an NT writer is obviously leaning on an OT passage, that passage may be technically the most distant context, but it actually may be more helpful than another NT writer.  So I’d look more carefully at the prophet Paul is quoting than Matthew’s use of the same term.  We should correlate carefully.

Having stated that we should select cross-references in light of their actual value in interpreting our target passage, this does not mean that we need to give that information to our listeners.  We do a lot of study that does not need to be flashed from the pulpit.  Generally it is better to explain your target passage, rather than potentially confuse or overwhelm listeners with a series of different passages.  In part 2 I will give some specific guidance on cross-referencing in the pulpit.

A Life of Study – Part 2

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Three more suggestions from Fred Craddock on the life of study, with comments:

3. Develop the ability to use small units of time. When you only have a few minutes, redeem the time with brief journal articles, checking biblical references, assembling resources, sequencing material to be read, etc.

4. Regularly read novels, short stories and poetry. Craddock is right when he notes that as preachers we need the input of well-written and imaginative work. We tend to read heavy material written by experts in their field, but usually not experts in the use of language. Yet in order to communicate with compelling and gripping language, we need to be exposed to it. Avoid the cheap thrill stuff, but read well-written literature alongside everything else.

5. Resist the urge to cease studying once a sermon idea emerges. You may have an idea, but does further study strengthen it or disprove it? Allow an idea to stand the test of context and theological consistency. The goal of study is to get at the main idea, but don’t just accept the first attempt at an idea. Make sure it stands some further testing and refinement.

What About Topical Preaching?

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When I’ve taught preaching either in a course or a seminar, I’ve regularly encountered a certain question. “Why do you focus on preaching a single passage so much and not give instruction on preaching topically?”  My response is hopefully balanced but instructive to those that ask.  

There is a place for topical preaching, but not a steady diet of it.  Sometimes a situation calls for a biblical message that encompasses several passages.  But God gave us a collection of books, rather than topical studies, so we do well to usually feed on the Bible book-by-book.  I remember at seminary that the president was working his way through Luke in the family chapel each Thursday morning.  Then there was a mini-crisis on campus caused by some confusion regarding aspects of spiritual warfare.  So for two Thursdays he addressed the issues in a biblical and clear manner using expository-topical messages.  Then he returned to Luke for the rest of the semester.

Topical preaching is much more work.  For many preachers a topical sermon is a short-cut.  Instead of working in a specific text, they are free to speak on what they want using the verses they know to support their thought.  This may be topical preaching, but it is not expository-topical preaching.  Let’s say a message has three points, each with its own text.  To truly preach that message the preacher has to do all the exegetical and homiletical work in each text, while constantly re-evaluating to make sure the overall message idea is fair to the texts.  In simple terms, three passages mean three sets of study.  To preach this way well is much more work.

Since it is harder, I don’t teach it on an introductory course.  If I were to teach a series of three or four homiletics courses, with each a pre-requisite for the next, then topical preaching would be taught in the third or fourth course.  Hence in a first preaching course I would rather have people understand the basics and do them well.  It’s better to learn to ride a bike first, before introducing complicated ramp stunts.

Where to Place “The Reading”– Part 1

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Traditionally there are two options for when to read the Bible passage for a sermon. One is earlier in the service, the other is at the start of the sermon. Either of these may be ideal. Neither of these is required. While starting with the reading may help with establishing the authority of the sermon, there are other ways to achieve this goal. Furthermore, there may be good reasons not to start with the reading. Today I will make suggestions for underlining the biblical authority in a sermon, then tomorrow I will give reasons for considering the placement of the reading more carefully.

Decide to communicate the authority of Scripture throughout your preaching. The reading at the start of the message may help, but is not the only ingredient. In fact, reading the passage up front does not guarantee that biblical authority is communicated. Many preachers read a passage and then bounce off it to their own thoughts and message. It is important to commit to, and reinforce, the authority of Scripture in your preaching.

First and foremost, commit to expository preaching. The commitment of the expository preacher is not to a certain form of sermon, but to a philosophy that places the Bible in the main role. The Bible determines sermon idea, sermon content, suggests possible sermon shape, sometimes even sermon illustrations. The message comes from a study of the Bible and is communicated through a study of the Bible using a literal, grammatical, historical, contextual hermeneutic. Without a commitment to preaching an expositional sermon, the following suggestions will be of only minimal help. It is possible to preach a topical-expository sermon, but more of that in a future post.

Reinforce the message of the authority of the Bible through your attitude. Demonstrate a submissive approach to the text, an inquisitive approach, an open to learning approach. Through your attitude and comments throughout the sermon, demonstrate that the Bible is the source of the authority.

Reinforce the authority of the Bible by letting your Bible show. Don’t read the passage, then put your Bible down and preach from notes. This can give the wrong impression. I think it is helpful and important to let people see that you are reading from the Bible (even if you’ve memorized the passage). Don’t let the podium hide the Bible. Don’t just cut and paste Bible text into your notes. Preaching without notes, but with Bible in hand can really help reinforce your view of the Bible. (See earlier posts on preaching without notes.)

Guarding the Authority of Application

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We may strive for objectivity and authority in our exegetical work (although it is tentative due to our limitations). However we tend to feel very tentative when it comes to application. How do we make sure our contemporary applications of the text are in line with the passage and its theological truth?

Timothy Warren, of Dallas Theological Seminary, suggests two guardrails that will help keep an application on track and protect the authority of the application. The expositional process moves from the text, through exegesis and theological abstraction to application (the exegetical idea, theological idea and homiletical idea, if you like). On each side of this path, Timothy Warren suggests a guardrail to keep the preacher on track:

Guardrail 1 – Audience. By considering the original referent and description of the passage’s intended audience, the preacher can be protected from an inappropriate application to his audience. For example, if the passage was originally written to scold Israel’s errant leadership (such as Ezekiel 34), it would be inconsistent to scold a church full of faithful followers. The audience is different, so the purpose of the sermon will differ from the purpose of the text. We move from original audience, to universal audience, to our contemporary audience.

Guardrail 2 – Purpose. By recognizing the original intention of the author, it is possible to consider whether the purpose will remain the same or differ for the contemporary listeners. So why did the author write it? Why did God make sure it was preserved for all? Why are you preaching this passage to your specific listeners?

Every time we study a passage and develop a sermon we are moving through these steps: contextualized, decontextualized, recontextualised. By keeping aware of the two guardrails – audience and purpose – we can be more certain that our applications of the text are legitimate and carry the necessary divine authority.

Moving Your Preaching Beyond Default

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

In every area of life we naturally have a default mode. It’s what comes naturally. It’s the way we function without adding thought and effort. This is true in any relationship, any hobby, and also in any preaching. If you are preaching for the first time, you are probably all thought and effort. You’re probably trying to fill the time, survive the experience and not make a fool of yourself. But for those of us who’ve preached a few times, perhaps its time to evaluate ourselves and push beyond default. In this post I will suggest some default modes I’ve observed in myself and others. In part two I will suggest some ways to crank it up a level.

Default Mode – Bible Fact Presenter. It is easy to study a passage at length and then fill the preaching slot with facts you have gleaned in the process. Historical awareness and Bible trivia may impress people to a certain extent, but this approach will usually hide from questions about purpose. What is the sermon supposed to achieve? Just because your information comes from the Bible or is about the Bible, does not make it a truly biblical sermon. The passage has not been inspired, recorded, copied, canonized and translated just to be a source of trivia.

Default Mode – Ethical Exhorter. It is easy to define a purpose, irrespective of the nuances of a passage, and then harangue the listeners. Some preachers never say anything strong, but others can’t seem to say anything but. Again, some people will be impressed by passionate finger pointing. Indeed, some people seem to have a strange theology that affirms the need to receive a verbal thrashing from the pulpit, somehow fulfilling a kind of personal penitence. The Bible does exhort us in many ways, but it does so much more, and listeners are also complex creatures. We must carefully consider our sermon purpose in light of the text’s purpose and the need of our listeners.

Default Mode – Plodding Passage Guide. Given a biblical passage and a piece of time, it is easy to methodically plod through the passage trying to run out of passage and time at the same moment in the meeting. In this approach every phrase or sentence in the passage is considered equal, given equal explanation and roughly equal time. In reality time will often start to slip away and the last part of the passage will often be short-changed. All Scripture is inspired and every word counts, but not every word counts equally in a sentence or a section. Sometimes a significant proportion of a text may require very little explanation or development, while another part may require diligent focus in our presentation.

Peter has responded to a comment on this post.

The Holy Spirit and Your Preaching – Part 1

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When it comes to preaching, it is easy to refer to the Holy Spirit by way of excuse. How simple to bring in the Holy Spirit as an excuse not to do some difficult aspect of preparation, or to cover for a lack of attention to some aspect of the preparation process. This is very unfair. Preaching is a spiritual work, and so the Holy Spirit must be given His rightful place. Here are some thoughts that will probably stimulate other thoughts:

Preaching is our work and God’s work, not one or the other. Our responsibility for the mechanics of sermon preparation in no way negates the Holy Spirit’s role in the dynamics of sermon preparation. Likewise, the Spirit’s role in bringing fruit from the preaching event does not remove our responsibility to participate fully.

The foundational concern is the spiritual walk of the preacher. Everything that the Bible teaches in relation to the spiritual walk of a believer is also, and especially, true of the preacher. This relates to character, to life choices, to prayerful preparation for ministry and so on. This means walking in step with the Spirit, not grieving the Spirit, fanning into flame the gift of the Spirit, and living a life controlled by the Spirit.

The preparation process involves the Spirit at every step. Every stage of the process could be prefixed with the term, “Prayerfully. . .” We must prayerfully select the passage, prayerfully study the passage, prayerfully determine the author’s idea and so on. We should not work in a personal vacuum and then merely ask for God’s stamp of approval just prior to delivery.

(Ramesh Richard has a helpful appendix on the Holy Spirit and preaching in Preparing Expository Sermons which influenced this post.)

Is Paper PC?

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I teach people to use a series of sheets of paper when preparing a sermon, just as I learned from my first preaching professor, John Wecks.  The sheets allow you to catalogue thought in appropriate compartments.  They allow you to write a thought and put it aside until it is time to consider that element of the sermon.  Let me list the sheets I would suggest.  Then I’ll suggest reasons to use real paper or virtual paper on the PC.

The Sheets – The first one to be used is the “Questions of the Text.”  Use this on your first read through and list everything that is not clear.  This sheet will be very helpful as you finish your sermon and prepare to preach it.  See previous post on this subject – August 14th.   Then I’d suggest sheets for exegetical notes (multiple sheets may be required), author’s idea, author’s purpose / sermon purpose, notes on congregation, sermon idea, sermon structure, possible illustrations, areas of application/pictured relevance, introduction, conclusion and then the manuscript (multiple sheets required).

Why go with paper? – No matter how much our computers improve, there is still something special about a desk covered in open books and paper.  So much sentimentality for one so young!  Some people may find the paper approach helpful, others may find it necessary.  It works.  In fact, I would suggest working on paper until it becomes a familiar process.  Then, if you like the reasons given below, shift over to the PC.

Why use a PC? – I suppose some comment about saving the rainforests would be a pc comment about use of a PC.  To be honest, my motivations are more selfish.  If it is on PC then I have a lasting record (as long as I back-up my files).  I have the ability to cut, paste, edit, etc. I can actually read what I have written!  I can cut and paste the Bible text from Bible software, quickly study the original languages and paste in helpful comments from commentaries and lexicons.  I sometimes have a list of unused potential illustrations that can be mined when preparing future sermons.

The PC is a helpful tool, but a Bible, some paper and a pen work amazingly well too!

TIM in the Preacher’s Life

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Does TQM mean anything to you? These three letters were indelibly marked on my brain in university. I studied business theory when TQM was a big deal. Total Quality Management. The letters are stuck in my head even though the theory is not. However, I’d like us to consider something that matters to us as preachers – TIM. Nothing to do with Paul’s apostolic representative in Ephesus. Total Integrity Management. As preachers we must manage our lives and ministries for total integrity. This reaches far:

1. Personal life. We must be people who are above reproach, living lives that bear the scrutiny of watching eyes. This relates to relationships, fidelity, private interests, hobbies, tax payments, internet use, everything.

2. Preparation for preaching. We should do the study and preparation that people believe we do, and that we suggest we do. There may be short-cuts, and some may be legitimate at times, but watch your integrity. It is legitimate to learn from other preachers, perhaps even to use their wording of an idea, or illustration. But when you take, give credit where appropriate. If you short-circuit your ministry by lifting entire sermons off the internet, at least be honest about it and don’t give the impression you’ve been poring over the text for yourself.

3. The sermon’s connection to the text. We must have the integrity to be sure that our message is legitimately derived from the text we use. There is no excuse for springboard preaching, where the text is a launching point for our own thinking.

4. Illustrational material requires honesty too. It is fine to make up a story, Jesus did it. But be careful not to be dishonest in doing so. You know how to convey a story so people know it is fictional. If you didn’t experience it, don’t act as if you did. If our integrity is compromised in a small story, it is compromised. Even if a story is true, but is very bizarre, be careful. No matter how much you affirm its veracity, if people doubt it, then your integrity is undermined. Is it worth it for that story?

5. Emotional manipulation is not our trade. If the text is genuinely moving, let it do its work. But we are not charlatans who play with emotions to manipulate responses from our listeners. You know if this is a temptation or not.

We need to go for TIM. Ultimately, your integrity is your responsibility. Besides you, only God knows what’s really going on. Ask Him to convict you by His Spirit and keep your TIM on track.

This Piece of Paper is Different

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The stages of sermon preparation are not rigid.  They are not like the seven chapters of a book that must be covered in sequence.  They are like loose pieces of paper.  In fact, they can be loose pieces of paper.  Have a page entitled Passage Study, and one for Passage Idea.  Also a Purpose page, a message idea page, and one for message shape, etc.  For message details you probably want three – introduction, conclusion and illustrations.  You can write on any page at any time as you work through the seven stages.  But there’s one more piece of paper, one that has a specific place in the process, and yet should be ignored in certain other stages.  You might entitle it, “Questions of the Text.”

Do use this page in an initial reading of the passage.  Before you study in any detail, read through the text and write down questions of the text.  What needs explaining?  What is not clear?  Are there details, or names, or words that are begging further attention?  Anything that is not immediately clear, write it down.  This is now a valuable piece of paper.  You may study in detail, maybe in original languages, probably in commentaries.  For a period of time you will live in that text.  You will forget what it is like to be a newcomer to the text.  Just like having someone visit your country is fascinating as you watch them observing what to you is familiar, your list of questions is a clue to the experience of a non-native in that text.  Your listeners will be new to the text when you preach it.  Your questions may be similar to theirs, so the list has real value.

Do not use this page in stage 6 – sermon shape.  At this stage do not let that sheet drive your preparation.  If you do, you run the risk of preaching a list of answers to questions, a series of distinct ideas.  A string of disjointed explanations may be considered expository preaching by some, but not here.

Do use this page once you are finished.  Having crafted and written a draft of your sermon, then you can break out the list again.  Which questions are not answered in the course of the message?  If it’s a question a first-time reader is likely to have of that text, you should probably answer it at some point in the message.  You don’t want that to be an obstacle to hearing the main point.  So the first thing you wrote in the process of preparing the message can be a great tool as you run your final checks prior to delivery.