Category Archives: preacher

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Preaching the Bazillion Offerings in Numbers: Preaching Through Numbers

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What’s a preacher to do with all those offerings in Numbers 28:1–29:40?!?

If there is a section in Numbers that might discourage you from preaching/teaching through the entire book, it’s 28:1–29:40 with its bazillion offerings.

My attempt to interpret it so it functions for the church was:

Title: “He will bring us into this land”: And We Will Gladly Give Him Our Entire Life

First, the narrative is a “go and do likewise” narrative. In some way, shape, or form, we are to follow through with what the Lord commands His people to do.

Second, how might you go about identifying theology in this exhaustive and exhausting list of offerings? I decided to present what God is saying to us in these two chapters. Each quote hopefully faithfully represents the accompanying verses:

  1. “It belongs to Me!” (says the Lord, in the repetition of “my” in v. 2)
  2. “I like it very much!” (28:2, 6, 8, 13, 24, 27; 29:2, 6, 8, 13, 36 and all the references to “pleasing aroma”)
  3. “But it has to be just right!” (28:2b, 3, 9, 11, 19, 31; 29:2, 8, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33 covering all the regulations of when, what kind, and how much)
  4. “And don’t forget to stop working!” (28:18, 25, 26; 29:1, 7, 12, 35 all dealing with the Sabbath rest: “You shall not do any ordinary work”)

I am a huge fan of grouping ideas for pedagogical reasons, in contrast to moving verse by verse, especially in a section like this.

Throughout this sermon we’re not talking about OT offerings, but what the Lord requires of us and how that fits into our relationship with Him.

Some will want to sprinkle in allusions to NT offerings such as the sacrifice of praise, or giving thanks, or offering our whole selves.

And some will want to make sure that all this talk about sacrifices to God takes place in the context of His ultimate Sacrifice of His Son. Everything we offer Him is in response to His best Gift.

I hope you will make an attempt to preach or teach this some day, if you haven’t already. And I know our Lord will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Teaching for a New Generation: Preaching Through Numbers

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“I will learn from the past generation.”

When you arrive at Numbers 26 in your series, you encounter 65 verses devoted to listing all the new generation of Israelites. Very exciting, I know.

Verse 64 says, “But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sinai.”

You can help your listeners make sense of the second set of numbers in Numbers–the first census was in chapter 1–by pointing out both warning and blessing.

The warnings are in vv. 9-10 (“…and they became a warning”), v. 61 (“But Nadab and Abihu died when…”) and v. 65 (“They shall die in the wilderness”). Hebrews 3:12–4:13 teaches us to hear their story; heed the warning.

The blessing of God is seen in the number of people. Compare the numbers in v. 1:46 and 26:51 to see that God has raised up almost an identical number of Israelites. God has not forgotten His promises He made to Abraham in Genesis 12:2!

So, early in the book we encouraged our listeners to align with Caleb and Joshua; now we urge them to see their walk with God pictured in this new generation’s fight for faith. Will they?/will we learn from the previous generation’s failures, fight for faith, and worship the Lord?

The daughters of Zelophehad provide an example for us to follow in 27:1-11 as they boldly ask for an inheritance. Those of you who are reading Hebrew regularly will note that v. 5 contains larger, bold letters to signify that women were bringing the request! Their request creates new legislation that makes sure everyone has an opportunity for an inheritance in the land. Every listener needs to have that same faith that fellowship with God in His kingdom is that important. Everyone needs to be encouraged to enjoy their spiritual inheritance (cf. Ephesians 1).

So far we are in the same fight for faith, with the same opportunities for enjoying our spiritual inheritance, and…

27:12-23 revealed the same opportunity to be shepherded along the journey. Our Lord was concerned “that the congregation…may not be as sheep that have no shepherd” (v. 17). God gives them Joshua and, to cut this sermon short, He continues to give His people our Great Shepherd and all those gifted under-shepherds to guide the faith of His people.

And He will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you help your listeners/learners learn from the unbelief of that infamous first generation who died in the wilderness.

Randal

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Preaching the Goodness of God: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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Edwards says, “If you find God…you will find all good.”

In Kimnach’s volume 10, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, he includes, “Fragment: On Seeking” (p. 377). It contains a helpful theological insight on the character of God.

The second thing he lists when considering what a person finds when they find God is:

“beside [finding a Savior, and an everlasting sure defense from all evil] 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).

As I’ve noted before in Edwards’s writings, he often motivates from a positive perspective. The negative side of things, we’re all too familiar with and often use in our preaching and teaching. It’s the positive that Edwards continues to teach me.

For instance, as I urge myself and my faith-family to fight hard against temptation, it’s good to remind ourselves that temptation is strong because what it offers sounds so good.

How good it is to know that having God means having all that is ultimately good! Edwards calls this kind of good: “real, solid good” (p. 383).

Then, Edwards describes God as the Source of all good:

“God is an infinite, self-sufficient, all-sufficient, essential, overflowing good: he is the source of all good.” (p. 383)

I found it interesting that Edwards combined familiar attributes with God to define His goodness.

I am picking up from Edwards that the more I can help people realize just how good God is, the more they are apt to trust Him and not trust other charlatan peddlers of good.

So, as you head into Holy Week, may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we remind our listeners that finding God, they have not only been freed from all evil, but brought into the possession of all good. What more could we ask for?!

Randal

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We Will Not Worship the Gods of our Culture: Preaching Through Numbers

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Preaching the Never-Ending Battle Against Idolatry

For those who choose to preach or teach the book of Numbers, opportunities abound for warning listeners against idolatry.

Two resources may help you define/describe idolatry:

Keller’s, Counterfeit Gods

Hafemann’s, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith

Numbers 25:1-18 describes the idolatry of God’s people. I titled this section:

“He will bring us into this land”: And We Will Not Worship the Gods of Our Culture.

The narrative is one of those, “Go and do otherwise,” stories in which Israel sets another bad example.

Following the storyline you might consider this structure:

  1. The lure into idolatry (vv. 1-3a, 6)
  2. The inevitable judgment (vv. 3b-5, 7-9, 14-18)
  3. God’s provision of our wholeness (vv. 10-13)

It’s good for us to move from ancient idolatry to more modern versions. I have often used this slide:

Not exhaustive, but a good place to begin.

Ask folks to locate the idol(s) they’re most tempted to worship.

Congregations/classes will struggle with the brutality of the judgment scene. Once again we come face to face with God’s holiness and the inevitability of judgment that stops “the plague on the people of Israel” (v. 8). The fallout is still enormous (24,000 in v. 9).

Finally, in vv. 10-13 God wants everyone to know what–better who–stopped the plague. It was a priest. And the reason:

“he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.” (v. 11)

As a result there is renewed wholeness:

“Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace…the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.”

Some who are fond of Christo-centric readings will see how Christ, the greater Phinehas, turned back God’s wrath when the spear entered His side on the cross (cf. vv. 7-8).

Our God will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you preach and teach about His jealousy which warns us away from our American idols (or the idols of your location).

Randal

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

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Psalm 89:6 “For who in the heaven can be compared not the Lord…?”

I don’t read Edwards’s sermons because of his exegesis. I read him because of his theology. And the depth of his thinking. And his ability to relate theology to his hearers.

But back to his theology.

In his sermon, God’s Excellencies, Edwards’s theological thinking takes center stage.

First, Edwards spends minutes on how God is infinitely greater than all His creatures. In the middle of many, “…he is’s” he writes,

“he is infinitely happy and he will be infinitely happy.” (p. 419)

Edwards links this to God’s ability to do what he pleases. That includes, of course, that

“Poor nothing creature(s) can do nothing towards controlling of [Him]; they, with all their power conjoined…can’t deprive Jehovah of any of these things….as he was…so he is now and so he will be…happiness uninterrupted…” (p. 419)

And the heart of the discussion about God’s excellencies occurs in the sermon in his third point where Edwards reasons from God creating all excellent things:

“he 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.” (p. 420)

Edwards tells his listeners to look at everything that is considered beautiful in creation and it finds its origin in the excellencies of God.

And Edwards understands that he is just scratching the surface in his attempt to capture God’s excellencies:

“All that we can say is but clouds and darkness to the reality….[and all preachers will love this next part] How much too little is the space of one sermon…” (p. 424)

For sure. But with what little space we have on a given Sunday morning, whenever we preach about God, Edwards’s keen insights will help us continue our privileged work so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Nothing Can Reverse the Blessing of God! (Preaching Through Numbers)

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Part 2 because Balaam’s still at it in Numbers 23-24!

Several weeks ago I wrote about angles that might help you preach Numbers 22 and the Balaam narrative. This is part 2. For this sermon I decided to take 23:1–24:45 as the preaching portion. Huge, I know, but as I’ll show in a moment, the section forms a unit centered on curses and blessings.

First, remember the value of anchoring a sermon series around a theological theme. I selected for the Numbers’s series a clause from 14:8

“…he will bring us into this land and give it to us…”

He will bring us safely to the new creation and one reason is because nothing can reverse His blessing on us who believe. All these scenes with Balaam teaches this.

You might try unifying and providing movement for the message as follows:

  1. The plan to curse us (23:1-6, 11-17, 25-30; 24:1, 10-14). These verse represent all the places where Balak urges Balaam to curse Israel.
  2. God’s decision to bless us (23:7-10, 18-24; 24:2-9). These verses record Balaam’s discourses centering around the impossibility of cursing God’s people. For instance, 23:8 “How can I curse whom God has not cursed?” Exactly.
  3. What that means for God’s enemies (24:15-24). Here we read Balaam’s final discourse which include the well-known words in v. 17,

“a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel…”

What an encouragement in a badly broken world for our listeners to hear the good news:

“I called you to curse my enemies [God’s people], and behold, you have blessed them these three times” (24:10)

All because our “Star” and “Scepter” crushed not only the OT enemies of Israel, such as Moab, but the head of the archenemy of our souls when He dies for sin/sinners.

As you preach and teach your way through Numbers your listeners will bless God as they learn how He endued them with special powers to succeed in all He has given them to do in this world (that’s my favorite definition of the Hebrew for “bless”).

And as they experience God’s blessing He will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Practical Theology Indeed! What I’m Learning from Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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“…we are not made for an earthly happiness” (J. Edwards)
Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

I am reading Jonathan Edwards’s earliest sermons so I can hear someone else preach to me. He is also the consummate pastor-theologian so he’s a great role model for me in that area. He has the God-given ability to analyze Scripture to death while still remaining intensely practical for his 18th century New England congregants.

There. That should be enough rationale for why I choose to read Edwards.

The quote underneath the picture is from Edwards’s sermon, Nakedness of Job. His application falls under the heading, Improvement. I. Use of Infor….Second.

“Hence we learn that we are not made for an earthly happiness. God certainly never made man for that sort of happiness which he cannot hold; he was never made for that happiness which, almost as soon as enjoyed, flies from us and leaves us disappointed.”

And I would add, “…or grieving.”

Think about your preaching and teaching and look at how often such insight comes into play. Think about all the times when we are urging our listeners to love God supremely on the one hand, or warning them about certain temptations on the other hand. In either case the reminder that God did not make us for earthly happiness alone, apart from being happy in Him, can be extremely helpful.

As we move through Scripture, we and our listeners need constant reminders that the things that make us happy on earth are not ultimate things. Exceptions might be serving and worshiping God including all kinds of disciple-making.

This is great incentive for me not to hold too tightly to the things that bring me great joy on earth.

As you share this kind of practical theology with your listeners, may God receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Preaching OT Curses And Blessings: Preaching Through Numbers

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Numbers 22 makes our blessed status very clear!

If you’ve been kind enough to read some of my posts over the past year or so, you’re familiar with our trek through the book of Numbers. It was a very challenging series for me, but very rewardable.

The reason is because so much of the wilderness wanderings teach us about our own faith-journey.

My angle was: “He will bring us into this land” coming from Numbers 14:8.

It is a sure thing for our in-Christ congregants. But the journey is not easy.

For instance, in chapter 22 God’s people face the challenge of a real curse.

We allow the narrative to convey the theology: the threat of being cursed occurs in vv. 1-6 (Balak commissions Balaam: “curse this people for me…”).

How much power does the dark side over God’s children?

Verses 7-14 provide the answer and contain God’s confirmation of our being blessed. God states, “You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” And later, “…for the Lord has refused to let me go with you” (vv. 12-13). It’s a great time to follow up any OT curse theology with OT blessing theology and what that means for the Christian experience in this world.

You’ll have your work cut out for you in the last section (vv. 15-41), partly due to the volume of narrative. You’re reading how serious both sides are about their agenda. You’ll love the famous donkey scene.

Thankfully, Balaam doesn’t have the ability to curse God’s people: “Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak” (v. 39).

The Believer’s blessed status is that secure. You might want to explain that, not only from the OT, but from the NT notion of Christ becoming a curse for us (somewhere Paul stated that!).

Enjoy preaching Numbers and watch the Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Edwards’s Take on Slavery to Sin: What I’m Learning from Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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Those Righteous-in-Christ Freed From Sin’s Slavery

I continue to read and study Jonathan Edwards’s earliest sermons as a way to feed my own soul and mind. He is making me a better theologian because of the depth of his thinking.

For instance, in the second recorded sermon in Kimnach’s volume 10, The Works of…, Edwards preaches from John 8:34 where Jesus says, “Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin.”

Now, if you’ve spent some time preaching and teaching God’s Word you’ve probably encountered the concept of slavery to sin. Maybe in Paul’s letters? I have, but I’ve also struggled to drill down deep enough to be able to sufficiently explain the extent of spiritual slavery to sin.

Edwards states,

“Other masters have only the outward actions and have no dominion over their thoughts and wills, but sin enslaves the very soul, so that he believes, wills, loves, nor thinks nothing but what sin allows of and commands….”

and…

“Sin commands him to think of the pleasantness, of the enjoyments, of his lusts, the sweetness of sensual pleasure, of worldly riches, prosperity and ease, and herein the sinner obeys this tyrannical master.” (p. 344)

Edwards begins by contrasting human slave owners to sin. Since sin works from the inside out, it controls beliefs, wills, affections, and all thinking.

That’s deep.

The second quote shows how temptation works in our lives. It is frightening to think about having no ability to disobey such a cruel master.

Of course, all that explaining is designed for one thing: deter us from sinning. Or, turn it positive: to encourage our praise for so great a redemption!

So, I continue to read Edwards and ask myself things like: “Why don’t I think like that? Keep thinking about why he thinks like that. And don’t forget to do all that so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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If Ever Local Churches Needed Theologians, It’s Now!

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That’s Thomas Aquinas by the way.

I don’t know if you sense this, but it seems like the folks entrusted to our care need theologians more than ever. The circumstances of the past several months and now leading up to the inauguration of President-Elect Biden have created a kind of perfect storm in the country and in the Church.

As I’ve read the news and listened to some pulpit plans, including some actual sermons, I was feeling tempted to become something other than a theologian for the faith-family.

The topics being discussed were relevant for the day–COVID-19, severe racial, and political tension. Most parishioners were hearing and talking about it. However, I was struggling to prepare sermons in such a way that I could say, “This is what the Lord is saying…” At least to the degree that some parishioners wanted to hear.

For instance, one sermon I heard on politics began:

“You are welcome to disagree with me.”

So much for “Thus saith the Lord.”

It was important for me to keep focused in another direction. I quickly realized I wasn’t smart enough to sort through varying opinions about all these volatile matters. I was and remain convinced that the Holy Spirit could provide insight into what our faith-family needs to hear in order to flourish spiritually during turbulent times.

First, I set out to record the way in which the elements creating the perfect storm were affecting Believers.

Second, I set out to select the best Bible pericopes to address how the church was being affected.

By the grace of God may we continue to flex our God-given theological muscles at a critical moment in our church histories so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. I am praying now for you as you communicate God’s Word this coming week.