Category Archives: preaching

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Learning the Goodness of God in Joining Happiness to our Duty: What I’m Learning from Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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What obeying God’s commands feels like unless we consider…

It still surprises me that Edwards’s first recorded sermon might be, Christian Happiness. That’s the last thing I expected out of such a serious Puritan!

What I now do expect from Edwards is rigorous theological thinking that urges me to love God supremely for all the right reasons.

Since God says in Isaiah 3:10 that it shall be well with the righteous person Edwards reasons, “They certainly are the wisest men that do those things that make most for their happiness.”

Makes perfect sense. When temptation strikes and I feel the pull toward unrighteousness, I am headed for unhappiness. Obedience to God–righteousness–seems very difficult. Edwards’s fourth inference is:

“Hence learn the great goodness of God in joining so great happiness to our duty” (p. 303, emphasis added).

It’s one thing to be motivated to right living by eternal happiness or it’s opposite, eternal torment. But Edwards says God has motivated us in a number of ways pertaining to this life now including…

“…but the thing required of us shall not only be easy but a pleasure and delight, even in the very doing of it. How much the goodness of God shines forth even in his commands!” (p. 304)

And, finally…

“All that he desires of us is that we would not be miserable, that we would [not] follow those courses which of themselves would end in misery, and that we would be happy” (p. 304).

Edwards has helped me see the importance of following God’s example of motivating obedience from the angle of our own happiness. And may our Lord use our efforts so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Thinking With Jonathan Edwards: What I’m Learning From Reading Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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Jonathan Edwards certainly could have been called, The Thinker!

Quite often as I’m reading Jonathan Edwards’s sermons I come across the magnificent fruits of his capacity to think. Like this…

“…though they ben’t safe from those things that are in themselves evil, yet they are safe from the evil of those things” (Kimnach, vol. 10, p. 453, note 1).

The quote is from the sermon, Christian Safety, an exposition on Proverbs 29:25 “But whoso putteth trust in the Lord shall be safe.”

Our faith-family has heard this quote a few times in the past few years. I will probably mention it again tomorrow morning, Lord willing, because Psalm 48 highlights the protective power of God with all its imagery of citadels, fortresses, towers, and ramparts.

What I love about the quote is how succinctly and precisely Edwards stated what has been difficult for me to articulate. During COVID-19 times, think about how powerful this logic is. Though God’s children are not safe from the virus that is in itself evil, yet they are safe from the evil of that thing.

Last Sunday I tried my best in the pre-sermon–which, by the way, doesn’t technically count against my sermon time!–to ask the faith-family what they think about God being stronger than the virus. As expected, they got it. They said things like: God is strong enough to keep me from getting it, strong enough to get me through it, strong enough to take me home because of it. And if He chooses that route, He receives me unto Himself where we worship and await the new heavens and new earth.

“…though they ben’t safe from those things that are in themselves evil, yet they are safe from the evil of those things

In that sermon on Proverbs 29:25 Edwards said to his hearers:

“how happy it is to be so safe. Who would not get into that tower that will defend us from every evil thing?” (p. 462).

May God help us to think hard like Edwards did so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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“the people quarreled with Moses”: Preaching Through the Book of Numbers

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Preaching Numbers Prepares Us for Times When Leadership and Laity Butt Heads
Photo by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash

If you’re reading some of these posts, I hope you’re getting a sense that there are lots of great reasons for preaching through Numbers. If not, I’m failing miserably!

You could preach through Numbers if you knew for sure that the narrative was relevant. However I also believe that some simply are not sure about how to make sense of such narratives.

So, with Numbers 20 as an example, can you see the following?

First, that what is happening between Moses and the people represents certain testing in the life of the people of God. In this case I labeled vv. 1-6 as the test of “this evil place.”

Second, that what God does is something that He always does. He keeps His promise to His own children. No child of God will ever experience lacking any good thing God ordains for them, including, of course, life eternal when all things are made new. I labeled vv. 7-9 as a glimpse of how our Lord provides. Look at the raw power God has at His disposal to meet our needs!

Third, that my own carnality could get in the way and I could be guilty of unbelief. Verse 12 says the leadership didn’t believe in God and present Him as holy to the people. Extremely sad. This is an example of almost believing in Him (vv. 10-13). No one is exempt from God’s punishment due to rebellion against Him.

I chose to preach all this under the umbrella of: “He will bring us into this land”: But Our Faith Will Be Tested.

Now, there are certainly other ways to preach this section. That means there are other connections between this narrative and your listeners. Without such connections, this can’t preach beyond being a history lesson. With such connections instead of talking to your listeners about the Bible, you are talking to them about them from the Bible.

To the degree that we do that, God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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

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Learning to Preach Both Sides…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Randal

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What We Preach No Matter the Preaching Portion/Pericope

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Abe’s new book is very helpful, especially in the discussion about theology and application.

I decided to select Abe’s new book, A Manual for Preaching: The Journey from Text to Sermon, as one of the required textbooks for my upcoming sections of PAS 513 Advanced Homiletics (Lancaster and D.C. locations of Lancaster Bible College|Capital Seminary & Graduate School).

Abe does an excellent job summarizing the preaching task with respect to what happens each Sunday in church. Think about your preaching portion from this morning or the one you will be preaching on this coming Sunday. Can you see your preaching fitting into the following description?

“So each pericope [the section you’ve selected to preach on] is God’s gracious invitation to humankind to live in his ideal world by abiding by the thrust/force of that pericope–that is, the requirement of God’s ideal world as called for in that pericopal world segment (e.g., listening to/obeying only God’s voice, from 1 Sam. 15 [where King Saul failed miserably!]. And as humankind accepts that divine invitation and applies the thrust/force of the pericope, week by week and pericope by pericope God’s people are progressively and increasingly inhabiting this ideal world and adopting its values” (p. 29).

If we’ve selected them properly, our preaching portions contain “God’s gracious invitation” to our listeners to inhabit “his ideal world.”

That happens when we urge them to be or do what the pericope is requiring (what Abe calls its “thrust/force”).

Sunday after Sunday the cumulative affect is growing more and more into the likeness of Christ (“inhabiting this ideal world and adopting its values”).

Can you see why it’s impossible for congregations composed of some with “ears to hear” not to grow into a mature Body?

I can’t think of anything more fulfilling than being the mouthpiece for God’s invitation to live in his ideal world. And as we do that each weekend, may He receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Randal

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How Reading the Wall Street Journal Can Help Your Preaching. Honest.

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The Opinion section seems fair and the writing is superb.
Photo by Allie on Unsplash

Several months ago I decided to go back to getting a newspaper again. I was close to getting a subscription to digital curated news, such as Apple News, but the reviews were not great. I chose the Wall Street Journal thanks to a generous discount for educators. Or, was it students? That’s not important right now.

What is important is how the quality of WSJ’s writers is helping me be a better communicator of God’s Word.

Here are some lines from this weekend’s WSJ from one of my favorite writers, Peggy Noonan’s, Declarations: The GOP Tries to Make Its Case…

“If you weren’t moved by [Jon Ponder’s speech] you don’t do moved.”

Or, the reporting of Sen. Tim Scott’s speech which included the phrase,

“Because of the evolution of the Southern heart.” (explaining how “a black man who started with nothing [ended up in “Congress in an overwhelmingly white district in Charleston and beat the field, including the son of former-Sen. Strom Thurmond.”].

Or…

“[Republicans] hit on the one fear shared equally now by the rich, the poor and the middle: that when you call 911 you’ll go to voicemail.”

Or, my new favorite word I read several days ago: humblebrag.

So, in Psalm 18:23 David commits humblebrag when he claims: “I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt.” Much different than David’s confession in Psalm 38:18 “I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.”

There are several times in the earlier Psalms when David voices humblebrag. It’s a great word to describe how David can crow even though there were many times he had to eat crow.

I just wished I had remembered to say it in the sermon. Oh well.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) because of our attempts to become better wordsmiths.

Randal

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One of the Best “Go and do otherwise” Examples: Preaching Through Numbers

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A good example of setting a bad example!

When you arrive at Numbers 14 God rewards you with some really good, bad examples.

Let’s begin with a bad example of worldly grief versus godly grief. Verses 39-40 describe the reaction of God’s people upon hearing the news of judgment: “the people mourned greatly.” They are ready to follow the Lord’s earlier instruction (“We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised…”). They even confessed, “for we have sinned.” What could be more genuine than that, right?

The second major move or thought-block in this sermon could be in vv. 42-45. This contains the significant theological statements: “the Lord is not among you” (v. 42) and “the Lord will not be with you” (v. 43) and “neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp” (v. 44).

You might think that confession is enough–they confessed their sin. But it wasn’t enough to renew their relationship with their God. He’s not there.

Verse 41 explains the problem and I decided to keep this until the final move in the sermon. It’s the reason for labeling their grief, worldly, instead of godly.

“But Moses said, ‘Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed?”

What an important question to ask any spiritual protégé/disciplee.

Israel and your flocks too are only defeated in spiritual battles when they fight without the Lord’s powerful presence. And He only withholds His powerful presence when we are not willing to give up our rebellious ways.

In Israel’s case, they confessed their sin of not going up to Canaan. However, after hearing the judgment, they are determined to go up even though they were told not to. The result was complete defeat.

Thank our Lord we have an opportunity every Sunday to express our loyalty to Him. God help us and those we teach to stay focused on faith-driven obedience and fight hard against any stubborn spiritual streaks so we don’t follow their bad example.

And may He receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through your efforts (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Practicing What You Preach. Literally, I Mean.

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Practice Makes Perfect, Sorta.

In one of the main passages devoted to guiding pastoral ministry, Paul says to Timothy,

“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.” (1 Timothy 4:15)

I am currently two-thirds through writing a manuscript for my second full-length book tentatively titled, Preacher As Soul-Watcher. 1 Timothy 4:14-16 is the second of two passages that create a strong foundation for a theology of preaching in church.

The research and writing, along with teaching Advanced Homiletics for Lancaster Bible College|Capital Seminary & Graduate School, affords me opportunities to see new material such as Jared Alcántara’s book, The Practices of Christian Preaching: Essentials for Effective Proclamation (Baker Academic, 2019).

I had the privilege of meeting Jared when he was a student at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and attending the Evangelical Homiletics Society. I was thrilled to receive a copy of his book.

In describing famous saxophonist, Charlie Parker, Jared wrote that he “majored in zeal and minored in skill” (p. 2).

Probably that’s not what you and I want our congregants to say about us!

Jared’s research for the introduction led him to the phrase, “deliberate practice” (p. 5). If you’ve played a sport or instrument you know it’s possible to practice poorly. So, you know it’s possible to preach week after week–a few weeks ago I surpassed the 2,000 sermon mark–and not get any better.

Jared writes, “The central claim of this book is that preachers who cultivate life-giving preaching habits through deliberate practice will enhance their proficiency, grow in their commitment, and flourish in their homiletical ministry” (p. 5).

Okay, we could have some interesting discussions about this especially the last part which doesn’t take into account those preacher who enter dysfunctional churches, experience oppressive cultures, move on to their next assignment, preach the same way and flourish. But that’s not important right now.

What is is that it’s possible to preach and not practice the craft and all that’s wrapped up in the craft including the spiritual disciplines.

And Paul was the one who wrote for God, “Practice these things…” It’s very likely that His gift + your deliberate work + His blessing, including providing your congregants with ears to hear, can continue to give Him glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Caleb’s “different spirit” and the Christian: Preaching Through Numbers

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Photo by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash
Preaching Numbers Serves Up A Rich Meal Every Sunday!

When I decided to preach through Numbers, I selected a clause from 14:8 as the theme for the series: “He will bring us into this land.” And in the pericope, 14:20-38, that is followed by: “That is, All of Us Who Have a ‘different spirit'”

That means I decided that God meant Caleb to be our spiritual role model. You can find that in verses 24, 30b-31, 38. That was my final thought block or main idea for the sermon. You’ll want to explain how this description of Caleb, “because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully…” fits every genuine Believer.

But additional richness permeates this meal in the form of our need to make sense of both pardon and judgment. This is where I began in vv. 20-22a, 23a, 25, 28-30a, 32-37. God clearly states that he has pardoned (v. 20) but in vv. 21-23 He continues by saying “none of those who despised me shall see [the land].” God pardoned, but judged?!?

If nothing else, preaching through Numbers forces us to be better theologians!

My second section was devoted to making sure we’re not part of “this wicked congregation” (vv. 22b, 23b, 26-27, 35). Those verses describe what the congregation did. They clearly function as a “go and do otherwise” characters.

And this is what separates Caleb from the others. His “different spirit” is the result of God’s transformation in him heart. He doesn’t test God or despise God or grumble against God. He’s today’s Christ-follower and we urge our congregants to go and do likewise.

And if you’re interested in reading Numbers through the lens of the Christ-event, look no further than the graphic statements of judgment and the prophecy that God’s people would bear their iniquities and know the displeasure of God for 40 years (cf. v. 34). Only those who receive pardon through faith in Christ, our Sin-bearer, are transformed into the Caleb’s of our congregations.

May God grant you the joy of serving up rich food from everyone’s favorite book of Numbers so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal