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Preaching Reality: What I’m Learning from Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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Read to Sharpen Your Theological Thinking
and Add Depth to Your Preaching

Every so often these blog posts dip back into the early preaching of Jonathan Edwards. My purpose for reading Edwards is twofold:

(1) Rarely do I get to have someone preach to me and I benefit from hearing God’s Word from the outside.

(2) Rarely am I disappointed by the depth of Edwards’s theological thinking that always lands at detailed application.

Today’s insights come from Edwards’s sermon, The Nakedness of God, from Job 1:21.

In the introduction to the sermon, Kimnach writes,

“…an even more urgent matter for him here and in later sermons is the…issue of human reality….the problem for men is not one of coming to terms with truth, but rather with reality” (p. 400).

In the sermon Edwards states,

“All the world knows the truth of this doctrine perfectly well [that when a person dies they lose all earthly treasures], but though they know, yet it don’t seem at all real to them; for certainly, if it seemed a real thing to them that, in a little time, they must certainly have no more to do with the world, they would act wholly otherwise than they do [emphasis added]” (p. 406).

The difference is subtle–the difference between talking truth and talking reality. But I find that it is a helpful distinction. My experience is that listeners have to think differently about accepting truth versus accepting reality.

Tomorrow as you begin praying and prepping for preaching, remember Edwards’s observation: your listeners probably believe the doctrine is true. Challenge them with respect to whether they think God’s Word is real. And, of course, we work hard all week with God’s help to develop a sermon that urges them to act as if they believe God’s Word to be real.

And may our Lord continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

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Adding an Angle on Application

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If your spouse said this to you, what would they “mean”?

I am in the privileged position to be about 100 pages into my Ph.D. dissertation, writing on a topic that I am extremely interested in:

exploring whether or not an aspect of speech act theory, illocutionary action, provides a welcomed link between meaning and application.

If you’ve been preaching or teaching Scripture for any length of time, you are probably aware of how difficult it is at times–apart from the practical sections of most NT epistles–to move from meaning to application. We were taught detailed methods for doing exegesis; we were not given much help, if any, for doing theological exegesis that highlights Scripture’s function for the church.

Enter pragmatics, speech act theory, and, especially, this thing called illocution.

Using the image above, illocution, analyzes what the person means when they say to someone else, “The dog needs to go out.”

If Michele said that to me and I responded with, “That’s a nice fact, Dear,” she would quickly say, “What I meant was, please take the dog out.”

This morning I had the privilege of preaching Matthew 5:1-12, commonly known as the Beatitudes.

There are two prominent illocutionary acts in these verses. The easiest one to locate is in v. 12. The verse contains the command: “Rejoice and be glad…” The command itself equals the illocutionary intent of Matthew.

The tougher illocutionary act/intent is not so easy, but you will encounter it over and over again in both Testaments. All of vv. 3-11 begin with, “Blessed are…”

Jesus teaches His listeners a statement of reality: these kinds of people are blessed. In order for anyone to put v. 12 into practice, they must first believe that Jesus’s stated reality is true of their situation. The stated reality is intended to elicit an act of faith.

Watch for various statements of reality in either Testament God will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you encourage your listeners to respond in the way God intended.

Randal

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

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Zechariah 4:7 “…crying, Grace, grace!”

In Edwards’s sermon, Glorious Grace, he treats “the mercy of God” and “the wonders of divine grace” as near synonyms.

There’s plenty of helpful analysis in the sermon, but what struck me was Edwards’s description of our plight or lowly position:

“…it was determined, by the strangely free and boundless grace of God, that this his own Son, should die that the offending worms might be freed…” (emphasis added).

I grew up singing, At The Cross, with the line: “…for such a worm as I.” Somewhere along the line it shifted to, “for sinners such as I.”

Still bad, mind you, but “worm” sounds worse.

I am currently reading Carl Trueman’s, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. He borrows a term from Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor: “expressive individualism…[where] each of us finds our meaning by giving expression to our own feelings and desires.” (p. 46)

That is not the soil in which worms are found!

Reading Edwards, however, I’m reminded of how bad off I was without Christ. That alone magnifies the intensity of my praise for God’s grace and mercy on my life.

As Edward closes out his sermon, five times he repeats, “‘Tis you that…” or “’tis for you that…” No wonder he concludes with:

“When you praise him in prayer, let it not be with coldness and indifferency [you gotta love that word!]…when you praise him in singing, don’t barely make a noise, without any stirring of affection in the heart, without any internal melody. Surely, you have reason to shout, cry, ‘Grace, grace…!”

Like Edwards, our job is to preach the grace and mercy of God. His job is to create humans who know they’re worms in desperate need for His grace and who receive that grace so He receives 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.

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Has the pandemic created any new preaching series?

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Don’t we wish!
Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

This morning was my second in a relatively short, but still-being-planned, preaching series that is the result of crazy times. My wife, Michele, created this title slide for the series:

Last Sunday the pollutant was unpredictability and we anchored ourselves in the sovereignty and providence of God. So many of our plans last year were disrupted by the virus but not His.

This morning we adjusted our focus away from physical health, the talk of virtually every day’s news, and onto our relationship with God who, according to Psalm 73 is the “strength of our heart” which may indeed fail, virus or no virus.

Never in my lifetime have I seen the quality of the air we breathe so poor. While I’m tired of remembering to take a mask everywhere I go and putting one on, the mask reminds me that there are toxins in the air attacking my faith. So, before resuming our Psalms series, I thought it best to address the church with such things.

How about you? I was wondering if you have already preached or plan to preach some kind of series based upon the unique context in which we’re walking with God.

May our Lord continue to give you wisdom to navigate more-difficult-than-normal times so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

P.S. I’d love to hear from some of you, but know your lives are extra busy too!

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“everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live”: Preaching Through Numbers

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When you preach through Numbers you’ll get a chance to preach about the fiery serpents!
Scary stuff, I know, right?!

Numbers 21 is famous for the fiery serpent scenes, culminating in the odd instruction from the Lord: “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” (21:8)

The instruction from the Lord to Moses is the result of God’s people becoming impatient during their journey (v. 4). One of the most rewarding things about preaching through Numbers is the opportunities to address our common emotional reactions during our faith-journey in a badly broken world. Verses 4-5 describe our tendency to be short on patience.

This functions as one of those, “Go and do otherwise,” examples.

The Lord’s reaction to impatience seems excessive, don’t you think? I mean, the sin is only impatience. But, we’ve already seen in Numbers how the Lord feels about our grumbling and complaining. We shouldn’t be surprised by v. 6,

“Then the Lord sent fiery serpents…and they bit the people, so that many…died.”

You and I know the sequence all too well: we sin, God chastises us, and…

we confess our sin to the Lord (v. 7).

You’ll want to continue to allow your listeners the opportunity to think through the OT concept of a mediator–in this case Moses. They know God will listen to Moses. We know God hears our prayers.

Finally, the Lord’s answer and our hope is in vv. 8-9. As I said above, the Lord’s instruction is odd. Your favorite commentators will help you with the details and significance of the “bronze serpent.”

John 3:14-15 will show you how John reads those scenes and your parishioners will hear the call to faith once again as the key to their own daily spiritual healing and victory. Take a quick look at the immediate context before and after the famous scene and you’ll see victory for God’s people. God gives victory over sin and grace when we sin.

Our Christian experience, like that of our forefathers, is like that. May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you encourage your listeners every day to look and live.

Randal

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Ask a Lot of Great Questions: What I’m learning from reading Jonathan Edwards’s earliest sermons

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If you want to keep your worshipers engaged during the sermon, then…

I can’t remember the source and it’s been years. But someone rated the best sermons and discovered that one thing that they shared in common was a noticeably greater number of questions than lesser rated sermons.

Jonathan Edwards’s sermon, Value of Salvation, could qualify for an effective sermon that effectively uses questions to keep listeners engaged.

In the Doctrine section, Edwards’s second particular is: “The whole world shall have an end with respect to every particular person at death…all worldly pleasure…come[s] to an end.” (p. 313 in Kimnach’s volume 10 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards)

After stating that particular doctrine, Edward bombards his listeners with seven straight questions. He leads off with, “To what advantage, then, will be bags of gold and silver?” (p. 313). Then, six more questions follow, often a variation of, “What good will it do him then that…?” (p. 314). The seventh and final question ends the second particular doctrine and comes directly from Luke’s parable in chapter 16 about the rich man who built more barns to store all his goods: “…then whose shall those things be…?”

Each question drives home the point of doctrine. And if you and I ask the right questions at the right time, we are forcing our worshipers to engage.

There’s a reason why the best sermons contain the most questions. Engaging preachers and teachers engage their listens with great questions.

Lord willing, tomorrow many of us will begin preparing for the fourth Advent Sunday of this year. As you write your orascript, think about the kinds of questions you can ask your listeners to force them to think along with you about the greatest gift of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And may our God receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) by our attempts to bring our listeners into heartfelt worship.

Randal

P.S. And one more thing, when you ask questions during the sermon, ask them in a way that lets them know you really expect an answer. I actually expect them to answer, but whether you do or not, it’s critical to ask the question so they know you want them to think with you.

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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