Category Archives: pastoral preaching

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For 30+ Years I’ve Been Telling Preaching Students…

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I remember thinking: “Everybody I’m reading quotes from C. S. Lewis and Jonathan Edwards!” What’s up with that?!?!

God has been gracious to me again this past year and given me yet another opportunity to teach preaching to students pursuing their Master’s degree as part of their training. Once again this year I said something like:

“Read and think hard to become a pastor-theologian for your faith-family.”

Each year part of my privilege involves listening to my new friends preach sermons as their final project/assignment for the semester in Advanced Homiletics. Each year I think to myself something like:

“Keep encouraging them to read and think hard to become a pastor-theologian for their faith-families.”

The sermons often contain the results of good exegesis, but many are a bit on the lighter side when it comes to theological thinking. I hear solid definition of key terms–word studies; I hear less solid thinking with respect to the why’s and how’s of our relationship to these well-defined concepts.

So, if you were interested in continuing to grow as a theologian, one easy and effective way to proceed is to consider reading Crossway’s series of leading theologians on the Christian Life. I am just completing Lewis on the Christian Life and it has been one of my top five reads in my lifetime. Really. Though not a theologian, Lewis’s thinking is unparalleled (which is not the same as saying he was a good exegete). Joe Rigney’s book, however, is excellent. And the other books I’ve read in the series are also extremely good.

It seems like modern pastor-theologians that are worth studying always quote the likes of Lewis and also Jonathan Edwards. I encourage you to join that club so our Lord continues to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

P.S. Rigney’s analysis of Lewis’s thoughts on the corruption of human love and how temptation works on men and women is an example of how such thinking adds theological depth to sermons.

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What Sermons Can And Should Not Do

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We Have An Uphill Battle With Young People Ages 13-25!
Photo by Pier Monzon on Unsplash

“For Young People, A Church Disconnect” by Clare Ansberry appeared in the Personal Journal section of the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, October 26, 2021. She reminded me of the uphill battle we preachers have these days.

Here are my takeaways from the brief article:

  1. Many congregations are feeling the pressure, exacerbated by COVID, of needing more “believers to sustain their congregations.” Ansberry proposed only that young people between the ages of 13-25 feel a disconnect with the churches that need them. I was reminded that the Church is God’s and He promised to build it. The current day and mindset is no match for Him.
  2. This age group cares deeply about racial justice, gender equity, immigration rights, income inequality, and gun control. And they don’t think we “care as much as they do about [these] issues that matter deeply to them…” (“The biggest disconnect involves LGBT rights.”) Concerning the statement in parentheses, we have our work cut out for us differentiating between rights of a citizen versus how a faith-family conducts itself according to God’s will. The same goes for gender equity and Paul’s reference to creation order to explain gender specific instructions for the church.
  3. Finally, Ansberry wrote, “I hear loud and clear that young people long for their churches to engage who they are, and embrace the full identity of young people.” This includes embracing their views of LGBT rights and all things inclusive.

If you and I preach and teach Scripture, our listeners will hear about a God who is very concerned with a certain kind of justice, but is also crystal clear about certain “differences” He will not accept (a part of His justice).

I am bracing myself for the uphill battle of reading Scripture in such a way that our young people will learn that God intends to transform them into a brand new identity. Then, little by little they will see that God critiques the spirit of the age, not the other way around.

Sermons can do that. Sermons should not feed the instincts of our young people with respect to their negative feelings toward a God who “discriminates.”

May we boldly and graciously preach His Word so He continues to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

P.S. Some of you may have noticed my inactivity over the past few weeks. I was swamped with the task of completing and defending my Ph.D. dissertation.

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The Critical Move from Meaning to Application

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Okay, maybe not “Good Results,” but, certainly, “Good Intentions.”

Not good results because we can’t guarantee “ears to hear.” We can’t guarantee that our listeners will respond to God. But we can guarantee that each Sunday we will supply God’s intention for the preaching portion.

Tomorrow, as you begin working on your Sunday sermon, be prepared to complete the following sentence:

“This morning, we worship our Lord by _______________________________.”

You and I fill in the blank with God’s intention for the passage of Scripture. This is the foundation for all expressions of application.

So, as you begin to practice your exegetical method this week, include the search for the intention of the passage. You will have to look for clues provided by the biblical author. It’s easiest usually in the epistles; toughest usually in OT narratives.

The main thing is to ask yourself what God intends to do in what He has written. Or, you might ask it this way: “How does God intend for this Scripture to function for the church?”

If done correctly, the way you fill in the blank above will be determined by the big idea of your preaching portion. The meaning and application are organically related through God’s intention.

So, while you can’t guarantee good results (actual worship), you can guarantee you will communicate good intentions, God’s intentions for the passage.

And He will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. I practice trying to complete the worship response as early as possible in my work week. That way, I do not have to wonder how the exegesis is functioning all week long. I am thinking about application early on in the process. And since God’s intention is the focus, I don’t have to worry about the search for application tainting the exegetical process (kind of an ole school approach!).

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Checking in on Your Wordsmith Superpower

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How’s your ability to work with words these days?

Before getting back to sermon application, I wanted to take a moment to ask you about your word smithing. I know it’s not a word. The spell-checker just rejected my one-word and spit it into two.

One of the top five books on communication that I’ve ever read is Humes’, The Sir Winston Method. He analyzes and summarizes Winston Churchill’s powerful communication style.

A top takeaway from the book is the CREAM approach to crafting words. The acrostic stands for:

C = contrast

R = rhyme

E = echo

A = alliteration

M = metaphor

You can use this acrostic to guide the development of key concepts in your sermon such as your big idea or theme.

I am not great at this, but every once in a while my wordsmithing superpower kicks in. This happened a couple of times the past two weeks.

First, while preaching in 1 Corinthians 1:17ff. where Paul teaches about the cross of Christ and how foolish that message sounds, I urged our folks to

“stick to the script.”

This would help them fight the temptation to change their message ever so slightly to make our Gospel appear more palatable.

Then, yesterday while preaching Jude 5-10 I reviewed the purpose for our series with this broad directive:

“We proclaim the Gospel out there; we protect it in here.”

The first one has a lot of alliteration and a little bit of rhyming going on. The second example has more alliteration and a little bit of contrast.

If you’re serious about practicing CREAM, you’ll enjoy Humes’ relatively short, but packed paperback (see what I did there?). My Doctor of Ministry thesis, Teaching the Skills of Preaching, is not nearly as enjoyable, but does contain examples of CREAM.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we put our word smithing (there it goes again!) superpowers to good use each Sunday.

Randal

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One Goal of Sermon Application: What I’m Learning from Reading Jonathan Edwards’ Earliest Sermons

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“And in a word, the Application will be found to be the Best part of the Sermon.” (J.E.)

When you read Edwards’s sermons, you soon realize that sermon application can also be called “Improvement or Use” (p. 38, Kimnach). It took me a while to get use to “improving” on a doctrine, but now I get what Edwards is trying to do.

Kimnach describes the approach:

“Application is concerning with experience and practice.” (p. 39)

Most of us think of sermon application in terms of transformation of attitude or action dictated by the Scriptures. But Kimnach writes,

“But as employed by Edwards, the Application also has a subtler use, as is indicated by his own statement in this transitional passage between Doctrine and Application of Gen. 19:14.

‘The Improvement we shall make of this doctrine shall be to offer some considerations to make future punishment seem real to you.'” (p. 39, emphasis added)

So how does Edwards do that? Here’s an example from the sermon, God’s Excellencies:

APPLICATION.

We are now come to make some improvement of this glorious truth….

How dreadful must his wrath be! If God [is] infinitely great and powerful, how terrible must his wrath and anger be; what a miserable creature–how inexpressibly miserable–must a poor, weak, sinner be in the hands of an angry and enraged God, who can shake the whole earth in pieces in a moment, and can annihilate the whole universe in the twinkling of an eye. (p. 426, emphasis added)

All of this is built off from the doctrine of the excellency of God. The logic is that sin against such an excellent Being must be extremely dreadful.

Edwards improves the doctrine by moving from the truth to an implication of that truth, an implication that his hearers must experience as real.

One more example:

“O what is a worm, to bear the weight of the anger of so great a being?” (p. 427)

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we explain the Doctrine and then spend time on its Improvement, doing our best to help our listeners experience it as real.

Randal

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Why You Should Consider Preaching/Teaching Through Entire Books of the Bible

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I wonder if this is the way our congregants read their Bibles?

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

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Two Implications of “God’s Excellencies”: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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“For who in haven can be compared unto the Lord…” (Psalm 89:6)

One of the benefits of reading Jonathan Edwards’s early sermons is the opportunity to learn from his way of thinking.

Here are two quotes from his sermon, God’s Excellencies, based on Psalm 89:6. Notice that these are two implications of God’s perfection.

“[God] has made all things that are excellent, and therefore must have given them their excellency, and so must have all that excellency in himself, or else could not have given it. He must have all the glories, perfections, and beauties of the whole creation in himself in an infinite degree, for they all proceed from him, as beams do from the sun…” (p. 420, Kimnach).

Think of everything we admire in this created world and then think about our God who created them! It’s impossible not to praise Him.

Then, something that’s not so much fun to think about, but critical for walking with God:

“If he be such an excellent being, how dreadful is sin against [him]. There are very few that conceived what a dreadful thing it is to sin against the infinitely excellent, great, and glorious Jehovah. The aggravations of sin are really infinite, infinite in greatness and almost infinite in number, for it is committed against an infinitely great and powerful God…” (p. 426)

Think of all our temptations and spiritual struggles and tell me if this kind of thinking doesn’t keep us tethered to faithfulness!

So, it never fails: whenever I read Edwards I am caught up into his most excellent mind. And what’s refreshing to me is that all that brilliance is organically connected to soul-watching, a most practical theology indeed.

May Edwards spur you on to preach and teach well this week so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Could You Still Preach Your Sermon If…?

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Would it matter to your sermon if no one was listening?

One of my mentors, the late, Dr. Haddon Robinson, taught me about the difference between preaching and lecturing. He put it this way:

“We don’t talk to our listeners about the Bible; we talk to them about them from the Bible.”

My wife, Michele, recently had an opportunity to listen to another preacher from a local church. I don’t blame her. To quote my mentor again, she’s heard enough poor sermons in her lifetime–bless her heart–it’s no wonder she’s still a Christian. [I’ve preached over 2,000 sermons and she’s heard most of them!]

So, I asked her the question that ranks second in my order of importance:

“Was the preacher talking to you about the Bible or talking to you about you from the Bible?”

Without hesitation she replied: “The first one.”

The first scenario, the lecturer’s stance, does not require listeners. Take a look at last week’s sermon or what you have developed so far this week and ask yourself whether or not the way it sounds requires listeners.

Michele followed that up with this insight:

“But if you believe your assignment is to teach the people [insert a book of the Bible or theological concept], then it makes sense to preach like that.”

But if our responsibility is to watch over souls (Hebrews 13:17), then we approach the sermon differently. We talk to them about them from the Bible because we are shepherding them in the moment, urging them to worship our Lord during the teaching.

As you continue to prepare for this weekend’s assignment, as yourself whether you are taking the lecturer’s stance or the preacher’s.

While I am convinced our Lord can receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) either way, I am also convinced you and I are being more responsible soul-watchers to the degree that we continue to talk to them about them from the Bible.

Randal

P.S. By the way, in case you’re interested, the first question of importance is, “Did the preacher preach with accuracy, faithfully saying what God is saying?”

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Original Exegesis Required: What I’m Learning From Co-Authoring A Commentary on the Book of Genesis

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Nothing Beats The Results Of Your Own Exegesis

Thanks to Dr. John Soden’s kind offer, for the past year or so we’ve been working together on Kregel Publishing’s soon to be released, Kerux Commentary series, designed especially for preachers. Kerux features a tag-team approach to writing that links an Old or New Testament biblical scholar with a homiletician (preaching scholar/practitioner).

John is a fine Old Testament professor at Lancaster Bible College|Capital Seminary & Graduate School. He has the lion’s share of the work: presenting his exegesis and theological findings for each section. I contribute the Homiletical Author section that helps preachers navigate the journey from text to sermon.

A couple of months ago while writing my HA section it hit me:

I am struggling to move from John’s excellent analysis to the homiletical material because he’s done the spade-work, not me.

I realized that this was the first time in my life I was using someone’s else’s material to prepare a sermon.

To his credit, John is one of those rare exegetes that consistently moves from exegetical findings to theological expressions that are preacher-friendly. That means that he has made my job very easy.

Except for one thing…

In my shepherding ministry in the local church, the Lord has given me the responsibility of doing original study in the text and presenting my findings to my listeners. It’s not that I don’t use commentaries and other sources; it’s just that those supplement my own exegesis and theological and homiletical thinking.

God has gifted me and you to do this.

God intends to guide our exegetical/theological/homiletical process.

God holds us accountable for preaching and teaching truth.

And maybe most important…

God wants to speak to you and me directly during the whole process so we respond in the study before we ask others to do so in the sermon.

May you be encouraged tomorrow (or Tuesday?) as you begin your own original sermon preparation. Lord willing, in the foreseeable future I will write about my Monday morning routine. In the meantime, may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as work your own method.

Randal

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Preaching “the Lord’s vengeance”: Preaching Through Numbers

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God says, “Trust Me. Leave the vengeance to Me!”

When you decide to preach through Numbers, your listeners will learn a great deal of theology.

For instance, when you arrive at Numbers 31:1-54 you encounter a huge narrative that I titled:

“He will bring us into this land”: And That Includes One Day Avenging His People

God’s final assignment for Moses is in v. 2 “Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”) In v. 3 Moses says to the people that they are “to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian (emphasis added).”

Verses 1-6 help us come to grips with “the Lord’s vengeance.” As I’ve reminded our faith-family several times over the years, non-Christians will not tolerate a God of judgment. These narratives, like many in the Old Testament, force God’s people to consider the ramifications of God’s holiness–His judgment on all who oppose Him.

Verses 13-20 describe what’s at stake and provides a reason for such commands of God. Verse 16 says, “Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Poor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.”

If there is any way we can understand these actions, we must at least attempt to explain how devastating it is to the Lord for His people to act treacherously against Him. All of this is the stuff of robust theologian/pastors.

Finally, verses 7-12 and 21-54 provide an opportunity to place ourselves in the camp of God’s people and relish in our resounding victory. Over and over again God defeats His enemies, including the final battle.

If someone were to ask about the relevance of all this I might talk about things like:

  1. Even though God’s people don’t carry out this instruction to Moses, God will one day, once again, judge all those who oppose Him.
  2. That should encourage us since God’s people have always faced the same thing our Lord faced when He was on earth. The world hated Him, remember (think John 17 stuff).
  3. This kind of God–our God–should scare us to death. We’ve seen throughout Numbers how God judged His own people. It’s no wonder a NT writer talked about judgment beginning in God’s house. I continue to define the fear of the Lord in the OT as our glad submission to the God who is not safe.

May you continue to mine the theological depths of Numbers and He will continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal