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Shining Light in a Dark World

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

It is ironic that in the post-enlightenment west, where we “know” that spirits are not real, we naively celebrate Halloween as if it were just fun for the children.  The occultic reality of what goes on in many places remains hidden from many blissful believers in our churches.  Perhaps Cranfield was right in suggesting that the greatest achievement of the powers of evil would be to persuade us that they do not exist.

Halloween and all that goes with it seems to be the last big thing on the schedule before the Christmas hype begins (apologies to Americans who still have Thanksgiving to go yet).  It’s a dark world, but the birth of Jesus breaks in like the light that He is.

Whatever your personal view on Halloween, it is not possible to take the Bible seriously and summarily discount the reality of a spiritual realm.  Perhaps it is time to reflect again on the spiritual nature of ministry.  We preach the gospel to people whose eyes are blinded by the god of this age.  We preach the Word to believers who face ongoing spiritual battles whether they know it or not.  We stand to preach as weak humans in an ongoing conflict that is already won, but will be completed, by the “greater One” who is in us.

Recognize the reality of the spiritual backdrop to all that goes on this Sunday.  Pray accordingly.  Proclaim the truth.  Lean fully on the strength that our Lord supplies.  Jesus took the spiritual battle seriously.  So must we.  After Halloween comes Christmas.  Like shining a light into a dark world.  Whatever our passage this Sunday, let’s preach as if it is Christmas, as if hope has dawned, as if Jesus’ coming changes everything.

The Interviewed Blogger

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I’m interrupting the series on The Discouraged Preacher for a day, but will continue it tomorrow.  I was just interviewed by Guy Davies at The Exiled Preacher.  Since it took more than the 10 or 15 minutes I like to spend on a post, I think it can count as a day’s blogging!  Here’s the link at The Exiled Preacher (there are quite a few other interviews on the site, scroll down to the favorite series and posts list).

Near Dunstable? A Date For Your Diary!

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On Saturday the 11th of October, I will be speaking at a conference/workshop in Dunstable. If you are not too far from there, it would be great to see you! If you’ve never heard of Dunstable, you probably live too far away! Understanding the Bible Workshop will be held at Langdale Church from 9:30-15:30. This interactive workshop will include six sessions with three speakers (Andy Bianchi, Andrew Wilson and myself), focusing on how to interpret the Bible effectively. Lunch is provided, attendance is free, but registration is requested. If you are interested, simply leave a comment on this post and I’ll attach the promotional material in an email to you.

Stage 2 – Passage Study

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This is a series overviewing the 8-stage process of developing a sermon. Remember that for all related posts, you can click on the “Stage 2 – Passage Study” button in the menu to the right.

Stage 2 – Passage Study

Once you have selected your passage or passages for the message, the next task is to study, study, study. A lot of elements come into the equation here, but basically your goal is to study the details of the passage in its context using good hermeneutical principles in order to arrive at the author’s idea in the passage. This stage is strengthened by awareness of how individual genres work, and any Bible study skills you have. I would suggest you do the initial work in the text without reference to commentaries and other experts, but these resources are important once you have soaked yourself in the text first.

Keeping the goal in mind is very important during Bible study. You want to discover the author’s idea in this unit of thought. This will be a distillation of the coherent thought written in the passage. It will take into account all the details, but will be stated in one complete sentence. Keeping this in mind will help you avoid being overwhelmed by endless bunny trails in your study (such as endless cross-referencing, excessive study of minor details and so on).

Previously – There have been numerous posts written that address this stage of the process. The fundamental conviction required concerns whether the text is boss of the message. When it comes to studying the details, not every detail is equal. The process can be described as a wrestling with the flow of the text, or as a journey. It is important not to impose points on a text, but to be sure to enjoy your study!

There have been various posts on the biblical genres too. For narrative passages it is good to review the basics, and to get to grips with them in this post, and in this one. Remember that poetry is different.

More on the 2 Basic Stances

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Bob asked some helpful questions on yesterday’s post.  Generally an expository sermon will have “back then” and “today” stances because by definition an expository sermon needs to both explain and relevantly apply the text. So at a certain level the progress will typically go from then to now (allowing for the sermon to start in the present before moving back in order to create need). Within a sermon point, you would often include both.

However, there is a nuance that I intend here. It is possible to explain a text either with our feet firmly planted in the present, or by travelling back to Bible times and getting into the mind and situation of the writer. Also it is possible to apply the text from “back then” or from a “today” stance.

Perhaps first-person preaching is the best explanation of this. When you choose to preach in character, you have several choices to make. One key choice is whether your character is visiting today, or whether the congregation is visiting back then. I recently preached Nahum as Nahum, but I decided to have Nahum visit contemporary England to give the message. This allowed him to make more specific applications to my listeners than if they had been transported through time to Nahum’s day. However, if I had chosen to take them back there, I would have been able to explain the text more vividly. Instead of referring back to what happened all those centuries ago, I would have been able to engage imaginations more directly and create a sense of fear at the Assyrians who live over there, etc. In first-person preaching, a “back then” stance is stronger for explanation and weaker for application (because it can only be hints that people have to translate into their own world). But a “today” stance is often weaker on explanation while allowing more in application.

In normal preaching it does not have to be either/or. We have the freedom to select the stance throughout the sermon. If we are aware of the strengths of both, perhaps we will do better at selecting the most effective means of preaching the Word. Perhaps taking a few minutes to “experience” through imagination exactly what the writer is meaning by his words would be worth it for better understanding (rather than just making explanatory comments from two-thousand years away). But then you want to clarify the relevance of that understanding, so you switch back to today and address people in their contemporary life situations. Application is usually better when direct, clear and vivid. Explanation is usually better from a closer perspective.

This may seem obvious, but I have heard a lot of preachers choosing the wrong stances. I’ve done it myself. It is easy to analyze the text from a distance, sitting very comfortably in the 21st century. And then somehow we hope that vague applications in the terms of the 1st century will hit home. How much better to get us back into the 1st century to understand the passage, but then vividly apply in contemporary terms. Be aware of the basic concept of preaching stance and evaluate your sermon accordingly. These are not hard and fast rules, but perhaps a helpful insight.

BBB Seminar for Preachers in SE England

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For those preachers who live in south east England / Greater London area, please read on.  If this does not apply to you, then I hope I will be able to offer this seminar closer to you in the future.

You will notice that I have added a page entitled “Seminar.”  I will be running a seminar in mid-August and invite any preachers who are able to make it.  Thank you!

What if I have a question, or idea for this blog?

/ Peter Mead / 8 Comments

The way this blog is set up, only Mike and Peter are able to publish new posts. However, if you would like to add something to the site that is not a comment on a previous post, all is not lost! If you have a question, or a text you are wrestling with in preparation for preaching, or a book review, or an idea for a post on the blog . . . simply write a comment after any post, including this one. Before the comment is published we will see it and move it into an appropriate new post. We look forward to receiving your input … it’s all about stimulating Biblical Preaching!

Welcome to the blog

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

This is a simple concept – a blog for discussing anything related to preaching. We hope to generate discussion of how to preach specific Biblical passages, aspects of delivery, preaching theory and also book reviews. The goal is to stimulate better Biblical preaching. Let’s see where this goes . . .