Category Archives: psalm

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Exposition that Doesn’t Follow the Structure of Scripture, but for Good Reason

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Let’s Not Make Communicating God’s Word
Any Harder by our Sermon Structure.

This past Saturday I had the privilege of co-leading a four-hour workshop on the campus of Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary & Graduate School, Unpacking Sacred Scripture. Our task was to help unpack Psalm 1 and 2, the formal introduction to the Psalter.

I suggested we follow the structure of Psalm 1 and 2. The flow of thought is easy to follow. Here’s what I mean in Psalm 1:

1:1-3 describe the blessed person.

1:4-5 describe the wicked person.

1:6 explains why this is reality.

This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching Psalm 86. I chose not to follow the structure of the Psalm. Psalm 86 is filled with at least 15 requests to God, with virtually each request followed by reasons why we pray like that.

For instance, 86:1a is “Incline your ear…and answer me…” and 86:1b explains, “for I am poor and needy.”

This same flow of thought continues throughout much of the Psalm.

So, as I often do, I decided to make the first major movement of the sermon devoted to the requests. The second movement dealt with all the reasons why, such as 86:1b above.

In this way, I kept the communication from bouncing back and forth between request and reason. I could spend several minutes of the message focused on the requests and their contribution to theology and the faith-journey. Then, in the second major point, I grouped the reasons why together.

My goal in straying from the structure was to make communication lines a little clearer. It is risky. I made a judgment call that breaking the structure didn’t break the theology of the passage. I preserved the theology by making sure we all knew that the Psalm presented requests with their reasons (keeping the structure intact in our minds).

Before Sunday see if there may be a need to group similar ideas together in a point, even if the text scatters them throughout the preaching portion.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we work hard at clear communication.

Randal

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Preaching Workshop, Unpacking Sacred Scripture, in Greenbelt, MD and Lancaster, PA

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Dr. Mark Meyer and I recording one of our first, Unpacking Sacred Scripture, videos.

Some of you know that, for many years, I have had the privilege of teaching Advanced Homiletics to masters level students of LBC|Capital. Through my association with the school, I met Dr. Mark Meyer, a premier Hebrew and Semitic Language scholar. Most recently, I had the joy of completing my Ph.D. in Biblical Studies under Mark’s leadership.

A few years ago I asked Mark to consider making some videos after the fashion of Daily Dose of Hebrew. He agreed and we began shooting some videos in LBC|Capital’s film studio.

In addition to those videos, I also envisioned holding periodic workshops where Mark and I could meet with a group of preachers and teachers of Sacred Scripture and discuss ways to sharpen our gift.

Lord willing, we are offering workshops in Greenbelt, MD (LBC’s D.C. location) on April 15, 2023 and in Lancaster on campus on April 29, 2023. The times are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More details should be arriving soon, but we will be focusing on the Psalms, the subject of my dissertation and one of Mark’s favorite places in Scripture.

I hope your sermon preparation is off to a great start. Sundays comes so quickly!

Randal

P.S. Mark and I are also talking about the possibility of holding a two or three day retreat with a select group for the purpose of tackling how to preach through a book of the Bible.

Lord willing, Dr. Mark Meyer will be joining me for our workshop, Unpacking Sacred Scripture. Mark is the long-time professor of Hebrew at LBC|Capital. We will be together in the D.C. location in Greenbelt, Maryland on Saturday, April 15, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We will be holding the same workshop and times at the Lancaster campus on Saturday, April 29, 2023.

We’re looking forward to a great time together exploring some of the unique features of the Psalms. Look for more details from Lancaster Bible College.

Date: January 1, 1970
Time: 10:00 a.m.-02:00 p.m.
Event: Unpacking Sacred Scripture with Dr. Mark Meyer
Topic: Exegesis for Preaching
Public: Public
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Sometimes You Need Less Exegesis and More Biblical and Systematic Theology

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Psalm 58 requires less exegesis, which equals more communication.

I just completed my extensive review for tomorrow morning’s sermon on Psalm 58 and encountered something rare.

Because of the nature of what are called Imprecatory Psalms, the Psalms where songs are worded as curses on the wicked.

If you preach through the Psalms you and your congregants will already be aware of conception sin or birth sin (v. 3). Earlier Psalms are filled with descriptions of the wicked.

But as soon as you get to v. 6 your listeners may have a problem asking,

“O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!”

Normal exegetical practices won’t do either. What’s needed in rare cases like this is a way to argue from Scripture that prayers like this are still pray-able for Christians today.

Check out a book by Kit Barker, Imprecations As Divine Discourse (2016). You can skip to chapter 5, if I remember correctly, and read the way he presents a theology of imprecation to say, “Yes, they should be prayed.” You’ll resonate with reasons such as Jesus, Paul, and Revelation announcing the same kinds of curses on God’s enemies.

Finally–you’ve probably thought about this–asking God to judge the wicked is not incompatible with you and I loving our enemies and praying for them.

Anyway, the “fierceness” of men who care about justice demands this kind of prayer to God. If He doesn’t hear our prayer, there is no hope for the righteous. But we know from Psalm 58 that He does and there is hope!

Preach judgment texts like Psalm 58 and our Lord will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. If you’re interested in a Christ-centered reading of Psalm 58 just remember that Christ didn’t pray this kind of prayer as He suffered and died for our sins and because He didn’t we can pray this prayer and experience the celebration of vv. 10-11.

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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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Preaching the Psalms in 1 Chronicles: Preaching Through 1 Chronicles

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When you arrive at 1 Chronicles 16:7 you discover you’ve changed genres. We move out of narrative and into Hebrew poetry/psalms. We worship by allowing this song to guide our worship in church and in life. That means at least 7 aspects of worship, plus the reason why God deserves our worship.

So, as you read through the Psalm you can teach that worship involves:

  1. Giving thanks (vv. 8a, 34a)
  2. Asking for help (vv. 8b, 11, 35)
  3. Singing His praises (vv. 9a, b, 10, 23a, 28-29a, 36). Let me pause for a moment and point out in v. 10 that God commands us to be happy. I always love that. He says, “I know life is often hard, but I’m good and I am putting together the pieces of My broken world. You are a part of that restoration while you wait for Me to finish the job.” Your congregants will appreciate the honesty, the balance of brokenness and wholeness they experience.
  4. Witnessing in the world (vv. 8c, 9c, 23b-24). I must admit: I didn’t see that one coming. But, as you can see in the Psalm, corporate worship involves instruction to tell the Story. If I was a techie, I’d write: Tweet This: Every worship service is a commissioning service. But, I’m not…
  5. Remembering His promises (vv. 12-22)
  6. Bringing an offering (v. 29b). We’ll see more on this in the last chapter of 1 Chronicles.
  7. Becoming holy (v. 29c). It can’t get much clearer: “Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness…” It’s a great time to remind everyone that we can’t worship God and rebel against Him at the same time.

Finally, vv. 25-27, 30-33, 34b, c provide the reason why God deserves our worship: “For great is the Lord…” (v. 25).

If you’re interested in making a Christo-centric application (more on the difference between Christ-centered interpretation and application later maybe), you can move from v. 15-16 (“Remember his covenant forever…”) to the New Covenant in His blood (cf. Luke 22:20).

Preach the Psalms in Chronicles, or the Psalms in Psalms for that matter, so God receives glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Isaiah 63:15–65:16 Theology in Isaiah’s Prayer

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As you near the end of Isaiah’s Gospel, you discover a lengthy prayer (cf. Isaiah 63:15-19 and Isaiah 64:1-12 and Isaiah 65:1-16). This section functions much like the earlier section of Isaiah that read like a Psalm. So, Isaiah intends that God’s people pray this prayer. I find it best to focus on the requests, the special relationship we have with God, the problem that gives rise to the requests, and the solution to the problem (cf Isaiah 64:4-5). The last section continues to carry Isaiah’s intention forward: creating a righteous people ready for Christ’s return. One unique feature of Isaiah 65:1-16 is that it contains God’s answer to a very specific question (cf. the question in Isaiah 64:12 and God’s answer in Isaiah 65:6). A saved remnant is hinted at in Isaiah 65:8. The repetition in Isaiah 65:13-14 is a strong call for every congregant to be sure they can be accurately identified by God as his “servants.” Of course, the only way any of us can be identified as the servants of God is because God’s Servant, our Lord Jesus Christ, took all our uncleanness upon Himself (cf. Isaiah 64:5-7) when He died on the cross for us sinners, when He literally “spread out” His hands for a rebellious people (cf. Isaiah 65:2).

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Isaiah 63:7-14 Theology In Isaiah’s Psalm

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Isaiah 63:7-14 reads like a Psalm of David and it functions like one, too. Isaiah’s memories are designed to shape our own memories. We are to remember God’s “steadfast love” (Isaiah 63:7-9); we’re to remember our terrible tendency to spurn God’s steadfast love (Isaiah 63:10). Finally, thankfully, God Himself (according to the ESV and KJV reading) remembers the time when He rescued His people. All that remembering is designed to lead God’s people to put an end to their rebellion and their grieving “His Holy Spirit.” Or, to use the language of Isaiah 63:14, the Psalm of Isaiah is designed to make sure all of us are being led by God. According to Romans 8:14, being led by the Spirit of God confirms that we belong to God. Paul can instruct his readers in Ephesians 4:30 to stop grieving the Holy Spirit because faith in Christ gives the desire and capacity to do so. Isaiah 63:9 previews the Gospel. Christ truly “was afflicted” on the cross and those who receive Him respond to His love by yielding to His Spirit.