Category Archives: preaching

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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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Just Trust the Narrative: Preaching Through Numbers

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Do you trust the book of Numbers to speak to God’s people?

After writing last week’s post, I thought it might be good to show how I arrived at the theology. So, here goes:

First, trust the storyline of the narrative. Every part of the chapter hinges on God’s final assignment to Moses: “Avenge the people of Israel…” That’s why I titled the sermon: “He will bring us into this land” (remember, that was my unifying idea of the series): And that includes one day avenging His people.

Vengeance on the Midianites points forward to God’s future vengeance on all His enemies.

Everybody knows vengeance is His, not ours. All the worshipers need to come to grips with “the Lord’s vengeance” (v. 3). That’s especially important in a day when the air we breathe is polluted with the thought that the vengeance of God on His enemies is offensive to our post-modern sensibilities.

The only reason given in the chapter for this acts of judgment is in v. 16 “…these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor.” This review of what happened is the only explanation for the violent judgment. Follow the progression:

Step one: God’s people are tempted and fail the test.

Step two: God judges the tempters and His people are involved in the judgment.

You might take a look at the end of the Story when the Lord returns in such places as Revelation 19:11ff. “…in righteousness he judges and makes war….And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine lines, white and pure, were following him…”

Finally, the bulk of the chapter and description highlights God’s people relishing in the victory, counting the plunder, and bringing the Lord’s offering. The chapter closes with: “And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord” (v. 54).

The difficulty is moving from the OT battle against the Midianites to providing comfort and encouragement to God’s people as they await His return.

While we wait, our own fight for loving God supremely rages on. May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we place our hope in His soon return.

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

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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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Edwards On Grace: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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So many images of God’s grace reflect a worship posture.

Reading Jonathan Edwards’s earliest sermons yields some quotes that may serve you well as you prepare to preach and teach this week.

In his sermon, Glorious Grace, based on Zechariah 4:7 (“…Grace, grace to it!”), Edwards urges his congregants:

“When you praise him in prayer, let it not be with coldness and indifferency; when you praise him in your closet, let your whole soul be active therein; when you praise him in singing, don’t barely make a noise, without any stirring of affection in the heart, without any internal melody [sic].” (p. 399)

What a tragic thought: someone in church singing without any internal melody!

I often half joke to our faith-family that we’re Bible Church people so we know a great deal about God but don’t feel much. Edwards would say to me,

“Consider that great part of your happiness in heaven, to all eternity, will consist in this: in praising of God, for his free and glorious grace in redeeming you; and if you would spend more time about it on earth, you would find this world would be much more of a heaven to you than it is.” (p. 399).

One of the things Edwards helps me do is try to find ways to help my congregants celebrate the grace of God with their whole being.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you urge the same, maybe with a little help from JE.

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