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Practicing Theological Interpretation for Your Upcoming Sermon

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I haven’t read this book, but love the title in light of this coming Sunday’s sermon, The Art of Relevance.

This little series of posts on theological interpretation of Scripture (TIS) is the result of the privilege of spending three days teaching a Ph.D. required course, OT Hermeneutics and Theology to a new group of friends. The subject is important because one of our goals is to interpret the OT so it functions for the church (my simply definition of TIS).

After surveying several definitions of TIS from leading scholars in the field, the common denominator was an interpretation that includes what we normally think of as application. When I saw the book title, The Art of Relevance, it made me think about art and science.

Unfortunately, we haven’t done a great job teaching a “scientific” method/approach for identifying the primary application of a biblical pericope. We’ve done pretty well with our exegetical method to arrive at some form of meaning. What I am after in these posts is meaning that includes authorized application.

My meaning formula for TIS is:

II-M (illocutionary Intent-Infused Meaning) = EC (exegetical content) + II (illocutionary intent)

Even if you’re not familiar with the speech act vocabulary, here’s the point:

when we identify the meaning of a passage for Sunday, we need to include what God intends to do to the church in our text.

The question is, how do we do that? That’s where some art comes into play (because we simply don’t yet have a solid method).

Let’s use Matthew 14:22-32 for our example this week. You remember this narrative: Jesus made the disciples get into the boat, a huge storm hits them in the night, Jesus walks on water to reach them, they are terrified, and He chastises them with, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” As soon as Jesus gets into the boat, the wind stops and they confess, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The disciples begin as a “go and do otherwise” example, but finish in the “go and do likewise category. Help your people follow that same pathway in this text and our Lord will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (cf. Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. As you complete your Sunday sermon, see if you can add the intentional element to your meaning. It should sound something like this: “This text is saying…with the intention of…” That combines content and intent that functions for the church.

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How Does Your Text for This Sunday Function for the Church?

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You and I Practice Theological Interpretation Every Week!

A couple of weeks ago I finished reading, A Manifesto for Theological Interpretation, edited by Bartholomew and Thomas. It’s important for our preaching because of the way in which they define TI (or TIS, theological interpretation of scripture):

“…we define broadly as interpretation of the Bible for the church…” (p. ix.)

The question is, what do they mean “for the church”?

I usually expand the definition a little bit by saying that TI/TIS is interpreting Scripture so it functions for the church.

But, then, what do I mean by “function”?

Think of the function of Scripture in terms of what God intends for Scripture to do to His readers. You might recognize that this meaning of TI closely resembles what we’ve always known as the application of Scripture. Christopher Wright wrote describes this as applying life to the Bible (I think he wrote this in his book, The Mission of God).

On page 17 they define TI as:

“…theological interpretation reads Scripture to hear God’s address, so that the church might be transformed into the image of Christ of the sake of the world.”

With those definitions in mind, our pressing question is, how does the text signal its intention?

I’ve been preaching through Matthew’s gospel since returning from my sabbatical so here’s an example from this morning’s study time. My preaching portion is Matthew 15:1-9. The religious leaders question Jesus about His disciples breaking “the tradition of the elders” (they don’t wash their hands!). Jesus replies by challenging them about their habit of breaking God’s commandments by the way they keep their traditions (they don’t care for their parents because they give the money to God).

In vv. 7-9 Jesus insults them (calling them “hypocrites”) and announces to them that Isaiah prophesied about them.

So, it’s fairly clear to me after my Monday morning study session that this text is designed to make sure all professing Christians do not follow the example of the religious leaders. They function as a “go and do otherwise” example.

If you have your text for this coming Sunday, can you identify early on how it functions for the church?

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we practice theological interpretation each week.

Randal

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Preacher As Soul-Watcher Paperback Now Available

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If You’re Like Me and Prefer to Hold a Book…

This week I am still trying to complete some writing projects from my recent sabbatical. One of those projects involved getting the manuscript of, Preacher As Soul-Watcher, in shape for those who prefer the paperback version.

Thanks to my dear wife, Michele, the paperback is available!

My prayer is that the e-book or paperback version encourages pastors to preach for God’s glory in their faith-families.

If you’re not familiar with the book’s content, here are the two Scriptures in focus:

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of not advantage to you. (emphasis added)

1 Timothy 4:13-16 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (emphasis added)

I hope you were encouraged yesterday as you spoke on behalf of our Lord.

Randal

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My Summer Sabbatical Is Officially Over Which Means I Wrote Two Books!

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Rest, Research, WRITING, Riding Around Is Over!

Thanks to the leadership of Calvary Bible Church in Mount Joy, PA, Michele and I enjoyed a summer sabbatical. The bad news is it’s officially over; I am headed into my first normal Saturday evening and Sunday morning since May! Lord have mercy!!

However, being away from church duties for those weeks allowed me to write two books.

First, I was able to complete, Preacher As Soul-Watcher: Why You and Your Congregants Need Your Sermons. It’s a theology of preaching in the local church based upon Hebrews 13:17 and 1 Timothy 4:13-16. That book is now available through Amazon in e-book format. The paperback version should be available in a few days.

Second. I have completed the first draft of, The Monday Morning Expositor: Rethinking Your Study Sequence For Sermon Development. Lord willing, it will become available in a week or so. That book is a practical guide for a preacher’s first few hours in the study. It focuses on a reversal of the normal process we learned in seminary. I call these four elements, pre-exegesis. They provide a big-picture look at the preaching portion that becomes the backbone for collecting normal exegetical data.

Back to the first book for a moment. One of my favorite sections in, Preacher As Soul-Watcher, is the exposition of 1 Timothy 4:13-16. Verse 15 ends with a surprise:

“…so that all may see your progress.”

In the book I write, “For some reason it is important for our parishioners to see us advancing….It is important that soul-watchers improve with respect to their faith-journey and ability to minister to God’s people.”

Later I quote Fee’s explanation: “By Timothy’s being a faithful minister of the word of the gospel, the people will be able to see the real thing.” (Fee, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, p. 109, emphasis added)

On July 18, 2024 the WSJ ran an article, Sellouts, Streaming Put Country Atop The Music Business. What caught my attention was how popular Country music is right now and why. Back in June, the country music legend, George Strait, broke a record for most tickets sold at a U.S. concert (more than 110,000!).

And the “why?” One singer, Megan Moroney, said

“Authenticity is selling right now.”

The real thing.

Tomorrow morning, Lord willing, I will enjoy the privilege and responsibility of delivering the real thing. Authentic preaching.

That means believing what God is saying to us in Matthew 13:31ff.

That means living like I believe it.

That means communicating it is a way that conveys I believe it and live it.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you and I go to work Sunday morning.

Randal

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My New Book: Preacher as Soul-Watcher: Why You and Your Congregants Need Your Sermons

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I finally completed my theology of preaching for the local church!

Wow! This has been on my mind since the mid- to late-90’s! Click here to read a sample section.

What took so long? Life and ministry, I guess, such as pursuing more learning, writing more books, and preparing to teach classes through the years.

My first exposure to Hebrews 13:17 where it really caught my attention was when I was preaching through the book of Hebrews at The People’s Church in Somerville, NB, Canada in the mid-90’s.

Then, at the inaugural meeting of the Evangelical Homiletics Society on the campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I was invited to preach as part of the conference schedule (either the fall of ’96 or ’97?). I selected Hebrews 13:17. It reads,

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

It was important that I remind myself and EHS members that preaching is a subset of soul-watching.

Fast-forward to August 1, 2024 and I finally published my thoughts on a theology of preaching from that text and also 1 Timothy 4:13-16, the end of which reads,

“…Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

For years, God has given me the great privilege of studying hermeneutics and homiletics with other soul-watchers from all over the world. If you have blessed me with your presence in the classroom through the years, huge thanks. You may be interested in this expanded version of some of the things we, no doubt, talked about. If we’ve never met and you’re a pastor that preaches, you might be interested in my thoughts on why our preaching is so important.

You can find Preacher as Soul-Watcher on Amazon (KDP) or click the link above.

May our Lord continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus as we watch over the souls entrusted to our care (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. Over the next few weeks I will provide some excerpts from Preacher as Soul-Watcher. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Trying to Simplify Christ-Centered Preaching: A Summary of my Teaching at Dallas Theological Seminary

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Michele and I Enjoying the Place Where it All Began!

First, thanks to the kindness of Calvary Bible Church’s leadership, I am on sabbatical this summer. That explains the inconsistent postings.

Second, the picture shows me and Michele in front of the sign off of Live Oak street on the campus of Dallas Theological Seminary. We stood by that sign in 1989 upon graduating with my Th.M. degree. What a special place for us!

Third, this past Tuesday I had the privilege to teach a Doctor of Ministry preaching cohort at DTS. This past fall the lead professor, Dr. Roger Raymer, asked if I would teach on redemptive-historical preaching.

To prepare, I read The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology (volume 22, number 3, fall 2018, titled, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament). My old DTS professor, Elliot Johnson, and WTS professor, Vern Poythress, were two major contributing authors. Along with another major contributor, Daniel Block, ten respected scholars evaluated each position. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with some views.

My second task was deciding how to simplify some things since there is a dizzying array of thoughts about Christ-centered preaching. So, here is how I approached the subject matter:

  1. Think of the OT as containing two kinds of texts, salvation and judgment. A Christ-centered hermeneutic/homiletic will accomplish something like: (a) any salvation text in the OT functions for the church because those who are in Christ experience some facet of salvation mentioned in that OT text due to the Christ-event; (b) those in Christ escape the judgment announced in the text because God judged Christ on the cross. A primary hermeneutical question is how those texts will apply to the Church if you decide not to interpret/apply those texts within the context of the whole Canon of Scripture.
  2. Think of OT characters functioning in two ways, either “go and do likewise” or “go and do otherwise.” Just don’t ask parishioners to follow or avoid their example without first addressing the point above. That will keep you from sounding like you’re promoting moralism. Unlike the common alternative to Christ-centered preaching, God-centered, this approach allows the OT to guide our Christian lives just like the Apostles said it should (“These things were written as our examples…”).

Just a couple of ways to simplify some of the subject matter. Lots more could be said and I would be happy to discuss it further with you while I have extra time this summer!

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you preach Him each Sunday according to your method.

Randal

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Curing Souls Through Preaching “beautiful words”

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Are You A Persuasive Preacher?

Personal Note: Thanks to the generosity of the Calvary Bible Church leadership, I am writing during June, July, and August while on sabbatical. In June, Michele and I are residing in St. Petersburg, FL (another example of someone’s generosity!). No wonder the snowbirds leave before June! It’s hot! I have three writing projects on the go this summer. The first is to complete a book I began years ago, The Preacher As Soul-Watcher, a theology of preaching in the local church. The second is tentatively titled, The Monday Morning Expositor: A Guide to a Preacher’s First Few Hours of Study. Finally, I will attempt to turn some of my recent Ph.D. dissertation into a hermeneutics text that bridges the gap between exegesis and application by an analysis of what we mean when we say a text means something.

But, that’s not important right now. What is is more insights from Kolbet’s, Augustine and the Cure of Souls: Revising a Classical Ideal.

As Augustine trains for pastoral ministry he encounters something called, psychagogy. It describes a practice whereby mature individuals influenced less mature individuals to become more wise in the way they lived. It was an ancient term for mentoring or the care and cure of souls.

The reason why this was on Augustine’s radar is because he was trained in rhetoric and that field used psychagogy. But, as with almost everything in Augustine’s early life and training, he had to sanctify the practice. In the case of psychagogy, Augustine had to disinfect the common practice of persuading others with things that were not true.

So, Augustine wrote that in the case of being clergy, it was important to use, “a kind of speech whose persuasiveness does not diminish its truthfulness.” (p. 9)

That’s a great reminder for me. My preaching needs to include persuasiveness connected to truthfulness. I persuade my listeners to respond according to God’s intention for that particular preaching portion. I have written extensively about locating the intention of a text and how that intention is directly related to meaning.

But back to what Augustine was reacting against. On p. 19 Kolbet cites Plato:

“The soul is cured by means of certain charms, and these charms consist of beautiful words.” (Chrm. 157a)

It might be too much of a stretch for you to think of your Sunday ministry in those terms. I liked the thought of preaching “beautiful words” of the Gospel each Sunday. I like the thought of curing souls through the “charms” of preaching. Not in terms of casting a spell or magic formula, but in terms of pull, appeal, or draw.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we persuade our listeners to worship as we preach the Word.

Randal

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The “intense preparation” it Takes to Preach Without Notes

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It’s not so much about whether you have notes or not, but…

In my previous post I mentioned reading, Augustine and the Cure of Souls: Revising a Classical Ideal, by Paul R. Kolbet. It’s one of those books that majors on pastoral ministry with a minor in preaching.

One of the interesting things about the book is that it shows how the Greco-Roman world of Augustine’s day influenced his understanding of pastoral ministry. One way the G-R world influenced Augustine and all public speakers was in the area of speaking without notes.

Here’s an example:

“To a sophist’s audience, such oratorical display appeared spontaneous and effortless–the ad lib creation of the moment coming into existence in their very presence–but that spontaneity was, in fact, an illusion made possible through intense preparation and skillful use of known rhetorical methods.” (p. 21)

Yes, “an illusion made possible through intense preparation…”

Elements of that kind of intense preparation are:

  • Begin writing your sermon from the moment you begin studying the text. This means training yourself to never write notes without thinking about how you will say it to your listeners. As you write, you’re talking to them about them from the biblical text.
  • Treat your biblical text as your cue card. If you are an expositor, then the Bible is your primary manuscript. I use to tell preachers-in-training: “If you lose your place in the sermon, just look down at your Bible, find your place in the text, and continue. No one knows your plan which means they don’t know you’ve lost your place unless you tell them.”
  • If the biblical text is your cue card, that means you should be able to follow the logical flow of thought or argument of your text. This is critical for helping your listeners follow along with you. This will prevent you from losing your place.
  • Internalize both technical and restatements of the most important theological concepts in your text. This does take some time and effort. Know key definitions from HALOT or BDAG, for instance, but also an easier-to-understand version you’ve created.
  • Finally, save time Saturday evening and early Sunday morning to read through your manuscript carefully, editing along the way. You’ll experience times when you say, “That isn’t clear to me,” or “I lost myself at this place,” or “There’s a better way to say that.” Great learning takes place during these practice sessions.

And, the bottom line is, it’s not how many notes you have or don’t have in the pulpit that makes communication effective. It’s how well you communicate with your parishioners. Do they hear you talking to them about the Bible or talking to them about them from the Bible?

May our Lord continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you continue to communicate His Word each Sunday.

Randal

P.S. Most Sunday’s I have on my iPad a limited number of Scripture verses or quotes from authors that I don’t want to memorize, but want to read.

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Our Privilege as Preachers to Play a Part in the “Cure of Souls”

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Soul-Cure is an ancient profession!

I recently put aside some hermeneutics reading to invest some time thinking about pastoral ministry and preaching. That involved reading a delightful book, Augustine and the Cure of Souls: Revising a Classical Ideal, by Paul R. Kolbet

On the very first page I struck gold with this quote:

“Who, then, will be this doctor of souls? What will his drugs be like, and what form will the regimen he prescribes take?” (Maximus of Tyre, Diss. 28.1)

Maximus is a late 2nd century rhetorician and philosopher or sophist. A couple of centuries later Augustine will emerge as one of these “doctor of souls.” While I knew that Greek rhetoric greatly affected Augustine’s preaching ministry, I did not know that his pastoral ministry was also influenced by Greek thinking.

In the coming weeks I will continue to share some insights from this helpful book. For now I wanted to begin by saying that we preachers are “doctor of souls” and the Word of God is our written prescription. In the broadest of terms, every time we apply our lives to the Bible we are showing elements of “the regimen” required for the cure of souls.

One part of sacred Scripture that guides my thinking is Hebrews 13:17

 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 13:17.

God has given us a tremendous privilege to “watch over…souls” each Sunday. I hope you know how important you are to your flock’s spiritual health. It’s all because of the gift He’s given you.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we faithfully prepare for this coming weekend’s preaching ministry.

Randal

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How Did Edwards Identify Genuine Believers? Does It Matter?

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Part 2 of, Can You Tell The Difference And Does It Matter?

As I wrote last time, Jonathan Edwards spent an enormous amount of intellectual energy trying to tell the difference between genuine and counterfeit Christianity. In Marsden’s, An Infinite Fountain of Light, is a chapter, But How Do We Tell? The Signs of Rightly Ordered Loves. Marsden lists twelve “positive signs” of genuine faith (p. 109).

Edwards’s starting point, similar to Augustine, is “a ‘new sense’ of God’s love. (p. 112) That spills over, of course, into a new sense of love for God. The first three revolve around some aspect of love. I have found this such a helpful way to address my listeners. Often I will ask whether this instruction from Scripture makes us love God more. Keeping our affections front and center is a helpful antidote toward any tendency to engage in a more sterile or clinical kind of faith.

I found Edwards’s sixth sign extremely telling: humility (p. 117).

Marsden writes, “Edwards highlights humility as ‘a great and most essential thing in true religion.’ In that emphasis, he stands firmly in the Augustinian and Reformed tradition–and in fact in a note he quotes John Calvin, who in turn quotes Augustine, saying that if asked what was the first precept of the Christian religion, ‘I would answer, firstly, humility, secondly, and thirdly, and forever, humility.'” (p. 117).

Earlier Edwards points out that one of the primary character traits of hypocritical or nominal Christians “is that they are in love with their religious experience; they value it for what they get out of it.” (p. 118)

Of course, humility is tricky: “So Edwards says, ‘An infallible sign of spiritual pride is persons being apt to think highly of their humility.'” (p. 119)

Edwards’s other traits in the list of twelve make for interesting reading.

It’s a reminder to me that each Sunday, I am preaching God’s Word to a mixed crowd. Our preaching portions in Scripture will address various aspects of genuine, saving faith and its opposite. As you look for such things in your Text for this weekend, may our Lord receive “glory in the church and in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal