Category Archives: logic

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Learning About How Meaning Is Made For Biblical Preaching

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Discover how meaning is made before asking what the meaning is.

Last week I had the privilege of teaching the Ph.D. course BIB909, Old Testament Hermeneutics and Theology, for LBC|Capital Seminary & Graduate School. One of the concepts we discussed during residency days in Greenbelt, MD was how meaning is made in a pericope.

It is not a familiar topic, especially when worded that way. It comes from the world of literary studies.

In my own practice I always discover how meaning is made in my selected preaching portion before attempting to discover what the meaning is. This allows me to allow the biblical author to show me what he means to say.

In many cases this means beginning with the passage’s structure. In a narrative, for instance, trace the storyline of the text (setting, rising action, climax, and conclusion). This is how theology is communicated. This is how meaning is made. This shows the interrelationship between the many ideas in a narrative. This helps you know what idea is prominent and which are subordinate.

In other cases, such as didactic texts, you are tracing the flow of thought or argument of a paragraph. This provides the logical relationship between sentences and paragraphs. This is how theology is communicated. This is how meaning is made. Again, this shows the interrelationship between the many ideas in the argument. This helps you know what idea is prominent and which are subordinate.

In both case above, you will have to investigate further. You will have to ask how various elements in your preaching portion mean something to your readers. Here’s an example from Matthew 10:1-15, my text for this coming Sunday, Lord willing.

In a text like this, Jesus’s instructions to the Twelve somehow instruct us in how to make disciples.

That’s it.

You’ll have to decide how much of the details transfer to our day, but as far as how meaning is made, you’ve got it. There’s authority, specific instructions on what to do, including how to handle rejection and what that means for those who do that.

It’s your turn. If you’re preaching Sunday and if you didn’t do this already, take a moment and analyze how meaning is made in your preaching portion. And may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through your Spirit-guided efforts! (Ephesians 3:21)

Randal

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Exposition that Doesn’t Follow the Structure of Scripture, but for Good Reason

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Let’s Not Make Communicating God’s Word
Any Harder by our Sermon Structure.

This past Saturday I had the privilege of co-leading a four-hour workshop on the campus of Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary & Graduate School, Unpacking Sacred Scripture. Our task was to help unpack Psalm 1 and 2, the formal introduction to the Psalter.

I suggested we follow the structure of Psalm 1 and 2. The flow of thought is easy to follow. Here’s what I mean in Psalm 1:

1:1-3 describe the blessed person.

1:4-5 describe the wicked person.

1:6 explains why this is reality.

This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching Psalm 86. I chose not to follow the structure of the Psalm. Psalm 86 is filled with at least 15 requests to God, with virtually each request followed by reasons why we pray like that.

For instance, 86:1a is “Incline your ear…and answer me…” and 86:1b explains, “for I am poor and needy.”

This same flow of thought continues throughout much of the Psalm.

So, as I often do, I decided to make the first major movement of the sermon devoted to the requests. The second movement dealt with all the reasons why, such as 86:1b above.

In this way, I kept the communication from bouncing back and forth between request and reason. I could spend several minutes of the message focused on the requests and their contribution to theology and the faith-journey. Then, in the second major point, I grouped the reasons why together.

My goal in straying from the structure was to make communication lines a little clearer. It is risky. I made a judgment call that breaking the structure didn’t break the theology of the passage. I preserved the theology by making sure we all knew that the Psalm presented requests with their reasons (keeping the structure intact in our minds).

Before Sunday see if there may be a need to group similar ideas together in a point, even if the text scatters them throughout the preaching portion.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we work hard at clear communication.

Randal

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Learning to Think (and Preach?) Like Edwards: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Early Sermons

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Edwards displayed comprehensive knowledge of Scripture and reasoning abilities.

A couple of weeks ago I posted the observation that Jonathan Edwards’s preaching did not spend much time on word studies. Instead, he used numerous Scripture to buttress his explanations of his selected text. Then, he bombarded his main concepts with powerful, but simplistic reasoning.

Let me show you a quick example from, what is so far, my favorite sermon of Edwards, Christian Safety, on Proverbs 29:25 “But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”

God’s message is clear: “All those that thus trust in God are safe.” Edwards attacks the reality this way: “We shall show, first, what they are safe from; second, how they are safe.” (p. 456)

That outline is typical of Edwards. (An aside: if you’ve heard or read many of Tim Keller’s sermons, you might recognize some similarities in their approach.)

The first point contains four things: temporal evils, death, the devil, and hell. Edwards uses no proof-texts for these paragraphs. The first in the list, temporal evils, presents the toughest challenge for me. As I’ve mentioned before, what I love about this sermon is the way Edwards explains safety in a world of dangers: “worldly afflictions do often happen to them, but the evil of them don’t befall them. They may be exposed to difficulties, losses, and troubles, but he is not properly in danger of them.” (p. 456) I found this so helpful.

The second point contains three cross-references: 1 Peter 3:13; Isaiah 11:6-9; Mark 16:18. [Dispensationalists with a capital “D” will cringe reading Edwards’s statement: “That prophecy in Is. 11:6-9 is fulfilled upon all true Christians…”

Edwards’s third major point is, “Now follow the reasons of the doctrine.” (p. 459) This section is also loaded with proof-texts about how God protects us and Christ overcomes our enemies.

Anyway, every time I read Edwards’s sermons, he teaches me how to think better. I need that in order to keep functioning well as a pastor/theologian.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus as we work hard by His Spirit to preach and teach His Word (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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More Than Word Studies: What I’m Learning from Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Early Sermons

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Comprehensive Meaning Means More Than Word Studies.

It’s been a long time since I have mentioned the fact that Jonathan Edwards did not do a lot of word studies. This caught my eye again in his sermon, Christian Safety. The sermon covers Proverbs 29:25, “But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (using the old language).

First, you might appreciate reading what I consider to be my favorite quote so far from Edwards. It pertains to how God keeps His children safe in a badly broken world where so many bad things happen. In footnote 1 on page 453 (Kimnach’s volume 10 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards) is:

“Though they ben’t safe from those things that are in themselves evil, yet they are safe from the evil of those things.”

It’s the best explanation I’ve ever read or heard. I hope you like it and can use it.

Second, when Edwards defines “trust,” he moves way beyond a word-study approach. He asks the simple question, “What is trust in God?” (p. 454). He answers the question first, by what it is not and then what it is. I probably would have only hit the second part.

But Edwards talks about trust “not barely” desiring or hoping that God would deliver and bless us. It’s like saying, “Well, I hope so.” That’s not biblical trust.

Then, he moves to present seven characteristics of true trust. The one that surprised me was #5: “A love to God: there is no such thing as trusting in God, as long as we are enemies to him and hate him” (p. 455).

Very little of this involves word studies; most of it requires intense thinking about the nature of saving faith–what it isn’t and what it is. All this results in a comprehensive understanding of a crucial Christian concept.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we try to present comprehensive understanding the mirrors much of Edwards’s genius.

Randal

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How Outlining A Sermon Helps Me, Not Just My Listeners

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How does outlining help you? And your listeners?

Through the years I have tried many different outline methods.

The method I taught in my early years of teaching preaching was that each major point should be worded as an application. It had some merit since it forced preachers to see listener response in each major point and not just at a segment at the end of the sermon. It helped listeners to respond each step of the way.

Then, I spent several years preaching without any outline. Instead of announcing major points, I simply used logical transitions to move from one segment to the next.

For the past several years my outlining follows the method of Timothy Keller, former pastor at Redeemer NYC. You may not know this but Keller’s method of outlining follows the method of another famous preacher named, Jonathan Edwards. I found that out after listening to hundreds of Keller’s sermons and, later, reading Edwards’ sermons.

My best attempt to explain the method is to say that the outline reflects an attempt to show the logical divisions of a particular idea.

Which brings me to my point in this post.

Now I teach and practice a form of outlining that stems from tracing the argument of a passage. My students know this as the “A” in ABIT.

The outline emerges from the practice of dividing a preaching portion into thought blocks, summarizing each block in a sentence, and identifying the logical transition that exists from block to block.

In this way the practice of tracing the argument contributes to the formation of a preaching outline. And for me, this exercise begins on Monday morning. While I might not create the final wording of the outline until later in the week after my exegesis is complete, I understand how the meaning is made in the pericope.

You probably do something like this to create your outline.

Our outlines may help our listeners keep the sermon from fragmenting into too many ideas. The major points all fit together.

The outline helps me make sure I understand how the author is communicating theology. It is a teaching tool for me. If I can outline it right, I am more confident I can communicate the theology clearly.

And, as always, the goal in such clarity is that our Lord would receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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An Example of the Second Reason We Might Put our Listeners to Sleep (the Beatitudes)

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We Could Be Losing our Listeners with our Well-crafted (yawn) Outlines.

A couple of weeks ago I suggest that we contribute to that glazed look (the Steve Carrel pic) by (1) allowing gaps in the emotional connection between our sermon data and our listener’s response and (2) allowing gaps in the logical connection between our sermon data–even main points–and our listener’s response.

In both cases I am talking about responses in terms of worship responses: what God intends for Scripture to do to the Christian.

An example of the second phenomenon is a sermon on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5.

There are nine “Blessed are’s…” in the section (vv. 1-12). I chose to spend two sermons on all nine (I covered the first three and then the final six).

This type of list can easily cause slumber in the seats because of how easy it is to allow gaps in the logical connection between the individual Beatitude and a worship response.

That means we have to work hard at each Beatitude, each main point if you will, to keep the worship response intact.

I did not do a very good job at this because I chose to cover the final six together: how the blessed ones are described.

Then, it was time to play catch up and connect the dots between Beatitude and God’s intention for announcing such blessings: Kingdom-Made Christians…

  • believe the blessing
  • stabilize their hope in this upside down world
  • assess the degree that they mirror these characteristics

I hope you can see that too many minutes between those bullet points and each Beatitude can create the yawns or blank stares.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as work hard to keep strong emotional and logical connections with our listeners who have ears to hear.

Randal

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Continuing to Dig Deeper with our Exegesis: More Examples from Preaching Matthew

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Attempting to Add Additional Depth to our Exegetical Practices for Sermon Development

I am hoping that providing these examples of asking and answering questions as part of exegesis will help you dig deeper as you prepare to preach and teach the Scriptures.

I encountered another example as a result of preparing to preach today from Matthew 3:1-12, the John the Baptist narrative.

One of the key exegetical/theological aspects of the preaching portion is in v. 2, John’s sermon:

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

If you’ve preached or taught this before then you’ve defined “repent” and also announced the logical connection created by the connector, “for.” It is because the kingdom of heaven has come near that everyone is called to repentance. You have also defined the kingdom of heaven.

Now, I have been promoting the need to dig a bit deeper by asking and answering additional “why” questions. The analysis above, while important, is not sufficient. In this case I want to ask,

“Why does the arrival of the kingdom of heaven warrant repentance?”

Could you answer that question? Do you see why that question is important for the sermon/lesson? Imagine critical sermon minutes devoted to things like an explanation of the kind of King Jesus is or the kind of kingdom He is creating or the kind of citizen that can occupy this kingdom.

An attempt at an answer is something like: “Only repentance from sin, a true turn from sin and turning to God, creates the kind of citizen that can inhabit the kind of Kingdom God is creating for His new world.”

I am hoping you can see how God can receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) with that kind of exegetical and theological depth.

Randal

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Thinking of Application in Terms of Intentionality

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The Text Signals It’s Intention By It’s Shape

Even if you were not familiar with the three tools shown above, you could probably figure out what they were intended to do. Just look at their shape. Also, think about what would happen if you tried to make their functionality interchangeable. Imagine using the saw in the middle for a hammer!

Biblical texts–our preaching portions–signal their intention by their shape. Theology is conveyed through literary structure, things like grammar and syntax, and the type of literature. That’s why I live and die by this method:

After I pray Aquinas’s famous prayer, “Grant to me keenness of mind…”, my first study minutes are devoted to tracing the argument of the passage.

Pauline epistles convey their theology through logical argumentation. Old and New Testament narratives communicate through their storyline. Old Testament poetry preaches through parallelism.

That’s all simplistic, I know, but true enough to make the point.

Our search for applications begins with a search for intentionality. Here’s the key question:

What does God intend to do to His readers in this preaching portion?

Answer that and you’ve got the foundation for any form of application from that pericope.

In order to answer that question, you have to know what to look for. The epistles or other didactic genres (types of literature) are easiest, I think. Follow the imperatives and the logical flow. Doctrinal sections intend for readers to affirm them as real, real enough to elicit praise and corresponding lifestyle.

Narratives are the worst. We can talk about that next time, Lord willing.

For now, as you head into another work week, be thinking in your first hours of study what God intends to do to His readers, your congregants so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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The Two-Sided Benefits of Finding God: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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Learning to Preach Both Sides…

In Kimnach’s volume 10 (The Works of Jonathan Edwards), he includes a Fragment: On Seeking.

Even though we can’t read the usual doctrinal section, we have this fragment of a sermon application that shows Edwards preaching the two-sided benefits of seeking and finding God.

The two sides are: “…if you find God….

  1. You will find a Savior, and an everlasting sure defense from all evil…which when obtained, will effectually deliver one, and when delivered will eternally preserve and defend one, from all manner of evil.” (p. 382)

Edwards does his best to prove to his listeners that they would certainly seek after something that would do that in the physical realm (such as seeking after a medicine that would protect from a disease–think COVID-19!)

But it’s the second answer that helped me the most in my preaching.

2. “But second, if you find God, beside that you will find all good; you will not only be freed from all evil, but be brought to the possession of all good.” (p. 383)

And this is exactly what every one of our listeners is listening and looking for. And, of course, this is what temptation promises to give: ultimate happiness.

Edwards is a master at convincing his listeners that it is in their best interest to love God supremely. So, he defines God as “an infinite, self-sufficient, all-sufficient, essential, overflowing good: he is the source of all good.” (p. 383)

Thanks to Edwards I’m learning to preach both sides, protection from evil and possession of good.

May our Lord help us preach both sides of the same coin so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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“‘proved’ through Reasons”: What I’m Learning by Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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The Importance of a Future State
Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment.”

One benefit of reading Edwards’s early sermons is seeing how he “proves” the doctrine of Scripture through reasons. He is really teaching me how to think.

Kimnach explains that “The term ‘reason’ is actually a generic term for all ‘proofs’ under the Doctrine” (p. 38). And Edwards goes to great effort to prove everything and I mean, everything.

He will often appeal to other Scripture, something you and I probably do pretty well. Edwards’s second kind of proof is “appeals to human reason and commonplace experience” (p. 38). I need some work on this one and reading Edwards is helping.

For instance, here’s how he proves that there is a future state:

“Who can suppose that God made man to glorify Him so miserably as we are capable of in this life, and enjoy some little communion with Him for about sixty or seventy years, and then the man is annihilated, and the glory of God and the enjoyment of him is at an end forever? Who can think thus?” (p. 359).

Evidently, nobody. But, I confess that I have never thought about it like that.

After a few more reasonable proofs, Edwards boldly claims: “Thus I have proved a future state and another world from the light of natural reason” (p. 360).

Then Edwards turns his attention to what happens to those who are “judged in the other world” (p. 366). He writes,

“They shall not be pardoned then if they would. If they would not be pardoned when God would, they shall not be pardoned when they would; if they would not answer when God called, God will not answer when they call, but will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh” (p. 366).

Edwards concludes his reasoning about the judgment on the wicked by stating:

“They will never have another trial….God will never try them again….They shall never have Christ offered to them more….They shall never more have the Bible in their hands…” (p. 367). I am in a Bible Church so that one really got to me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading Edwards’s method of providing good reasons for a future state and the judgment and that this kind of thinking will help us bring God glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal