Last week I posted my final reading of the book of Numbers and today I wanted to review why I am such a fan of preaching through books of the Bible in church.
When I am asked in class why I preach through books of the Bible in church, my first answer is:
“Because preaching through books of the Bible helps our listeners see the meaning of every preaching portion within the broader context of the book.”
But let me back up for a moment and answer the question from my experience of 30 years of preaching through books of the Bible. If I counted correctly, so far the Lord has graciously allowed me to preach through 16 complete books of the Old Testament and 17 complete books of the New Testament.
[I am praying hard that Jesus will return before I have to preach either Ezekiel or Job!]
Why preach through books of the Bible?
First, the practice of preaching through books of the Bible like the book of Numbers, for instance on display in recent posts, has increased my faith in the relevance of Scripture. I can’t tell you the number of weeks when I know what section awaits me and think: “I have no idea what I am going to do to that text so it will preach.”
Second, the practice of preaching through books of the Bible has forced me to become a better student of the Scriptures. Similar to the reaction above, some sections of some books, especially OT ones, are extremely difficult to preach. That’s because they are difficult to interpret so they function for the church. Preaching through books of the Bible in both Testaments Sunday after Sunday has made me better at doing theological interpretation like no other exercise can.
Third, the practice of preaching through books of the Bible gives me the awesome privilege of being a reading guide for our faith-family. Let me connect this to my first answer above.
One huge problem I see in topical preaching is that it teaches parishioners to read their Bible wrongly. They learn to read the Bible as if it contains isolated, contextless, fragments of meaning that are designed to be applied to life that way.
In addition to that, what an honor to attempt to help them understand what God is saying in some sections of Scripture that they would never stop and consider on their own [you know, those sections that we all speed-read to get through our daily Bible reading?].
May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you guide the Bible reading of your own faith-families.
Randal
So true! So true! This has been my experience as well in almost 50 years of ministry. Thanks for sharing these coherent thoughts.
Thank you, Dave, for chiming in! Congregations that grow to appreciate this approach experience a unique, corporate reading experience. Keep up the good work of faith, dear brother!
Do you ever address topical issues in your preaching? I have adopted a mixture of exegetical and topical preaching. The bulk of my preaching is through entire books or large sections of the Bible, but I break this up with smaller topical series. I want people to study and read books of the Bible, but I also want them to know that God’s word answers the major problems of today.
Eric, there are times throughout a year when I revert to topical exposition. I believe the mixture you’ve described is healthy for a faith-family as long as you choose the right text to “support” the topic (as we talked about in class). The danger is that sometimes the Bible doesn’t answer the major problems of the day directly. There are times when preachers press the Bible into service in ways it wasn’t meant to be.
I love this! Our church has been going through Matthew, paused appropriately to preach through the Ten Commandments, to have a better framework for what is coming up in Matthew. In addition to your concise thoughts, I think it also teaches the church that indeed ALL Scripture is breathed out by God.
I have seen this done in a few churches by pastors within my community or they good portion of the book and create a series out of it. My question is based upon your congregation: how do you decide which entire book of the Bible you should preach from without adding your own bias?
Dear brother, God’s Spirit guides the thinking and planning, which includes knowing what your faith-family has been taught and needs to be taught. For 30 plus years I’ve relied on the Spirit of God to make my biases match His. Godspeed to effective ministry!