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Lessons from Listening to Student Sermons

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Two Observations and Suggestions from Watching Another Round of Student Sermons.

No offense to my recent students, but my mentor and long-time homiletics professor, the late Dr. Haddon Robinson, once said:

“I’ve listened to so many bad sermons in my lifetime, it’s a miracle that I am still a Christian.”

I’m pretty sure he was only half joking.

Last week I had the privilege of listening to many good sermons preached in my Advanced Homiletics class. Here are a couple of observations and suggestions:

  1. Introductions usually are too long in proportion to the number of sermon minutes. Novice preachers tend to create sermon introductions that are too long. This tendency might be caused by a failure to think carefully about what introductions must do. It also appears that preachers think introductions are more valuable than they really are. A sermon introduction must do two things: (1) introduce the subject of the sermon and (2) tell why listeners need to hear that subject matter [a bonus (3) could be telling them the worship response: “We worship this morning by ____________.” In light of what I just experienced, my suggestion is to shorten your sermon introductions.
  2. The segment between the introduction and the first point is too long. Again, the more inexperienced preachers seem bent on spending precious sermon minutes on contextual or background information. Part of the reason might be what the students are used to hearing from their professors or from reading commentaries. My standard rule in class is, only supply contextual/background-type information that is critical for interpreting your preaching portion. My suggestion is before placing contextual or background information in the sermon, ask yourself, “Could I understand the meaning of this text without this piece of background information?” If the answer is, “yes,” then leave it out of the sermon.

As you can tell, I am a huge fan of saving sermon minutes for the theological interpretation of Scripture. And that clock sure moves quickly on Sundays!

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as a result of our evaluations and striving to preaching well.

Randal

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Expository Preaching Should Always Reach Beyond Our Comprehension: What I’m Learning From Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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We are, after all, preaching about “God’s excellencies” every Sunday!

It’s been some time since I have written about what I’m learning from reading Jonathan Edwards’s earliest sermons.

One of those sermons was, God’s Excellencies, on Psalm 89:6

“For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord, and who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?”

Well, the answer, of course, is “Nobody can be compared to our Lord!”

In his introduction to that sermon, Kimnach, using Edwards’s own words, describes it as,

“a sermon in which the subject matter is frequently beyond ‘the outmost verge of our most outstretched thoughts.'” (p. 413)

Kimnach explains that one of Edwards’s favorite sermon themes was “the grandeur of God” (p. 414). No wonder Edwards spoke of going beyond the outer edges “of our most outstretched thoughts”!

This reminded me of the balancing act we attempt every Sunday with respect to expository preaching. If we are really preaching the Bible, not just from the Bible, our task requires finesse. We need to communicate the excellencies of our God, but those excellencies, according to Edwards, often extend beyond “the outmost verge of our most outstretched thoughts.”

Think Advent and incarnation!

One way to think about the effectiveness of our preaching is to assess the degree to which we can clearly present the excellencies of our God and just as clearly state that we haven’t done Him justice.

This gives our listeners the opportunity to worship in two ways. First, they can worship the Lord according to what they have just learned. Second, they can also worship the Lord by acknowledging that what they just learned doesn’t match His greatness.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus because of this exhilarating, Sunday morning tightrope walk (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Why I Encourage Preachers to Read the Best Theologians

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Bavinck’s one-volume is certainly a good one to read!

If someone asked me to suggest one thing to do to help improve their preaching, I would say:

“Be an avid reader of the best theologians.”

Here’s an example that shows the potential payoff…

The first part of Genesis 3:15 reads,

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring

Bavinck makes a very simple, but profound observation. He says that this is one of the earliest references to the grace of God in the Bible. He reminds readers of a kind of relationship that the serpent and Eve (and Adam) had earlier in the chapter. They were in agreement.

But God announces what He would do from that moment on in redemptive history: “I will put enmity between you and the woman…”

What would have happened to that relationship if God hadn’t graciously stepped in? The fact that God did step in and created enmity explains all dimensions of spiritual warfare and victory in the Christian life.

Sermons that say this are better. Period. I should have observed this through the years, but didn’t. I am indebted to Bavinck for seeing what I missed. This has happened a lot to me this past year as I have read him bit by bit.

Preachers who want to function as theologians for their flocks do well to devour the best theologians they can access and/or afford. Because…

  1. This helps stem the tide of theology-lite sermons created by steady diets of topical preaching in the name of almighty relevancy.
  2. It forces us to think theologically at a depth beyond the norm.
  3. It supplements our exegesis like nothing else I know of.

May our Lord continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we do our best by His Spirit and with our Spirit-given abilities/opportunities to be the best theologians we can for the faith-families entrusted to our care.

Randal

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Why BAGD Is Important For Preaching

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The standard Greek Lexicon is extremely helpful for the definition of key terms.

I currently have the privilege of teaching another Advanced Homiletics class to Masters level students at Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary & Graduate School.

During a recent residency I warned the class that an annual complaint of mine is that students at this level are rarely using the best sources for conversation partners (commentaries, etc.).

One of those quality sources is an old standard lexicon I call BAGD.

I wrote it out that way when I was in seminary in the ’80’s after the order of the last names of the four authors listed on the front cover of the book. Many called it, BDAG (pronouncing it “bee-dag”). As you can see from the image, only half as many authors are listed now.

But, what is more important is how useful this tool is for foundational exegetical work. Here’s an example…

This past Sunday I was preaching Colossians 1:9-11 which contains the concept of God’s will. Listen to the precision of BAGD’s definition:

“What [God] wishes to bring about by the activity of others, to whom [He] assigns a task.”

I think many of us could have gotten the part of God’s will reflecting what He wants to do. But notice how BAGD includes the thought of what He wants to do through an assigned task. It was a simple step for me to recite this definition and then ask all of us if we are aware of the task God has assigned to us. Then, one step further, of course, to accomplishing that task.

You might be one of my readers who regularly uses such lexicons like this. You know how valuable it is. If you are not in the habit of using it, consider it. The Logos version is helpful because of how everything is linked to biblical texts. The search-ability is priceless.

And you will be rewarded with precise definitions that will add clarity to your preaching. That, in turn, will help ensure that God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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At the Start of a New Homiletics Class I Am Reminded That…

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There’s nothing better than studying preaching together!

I am extremely fortunate for another opportunity to meet a class of preaching students at LBC|Capital. We are just completing week #2 and are headed into residency week. It will be great to see everyone face-to-face.

Gearing up for the course and evaluating the work being turned in provides a chance for me to review some of the more important aspects of preaching. So, at the beginning of this new Advanced Homiletics class I am reminded that…

  1. it’s extremely helpful to think about intention as a part of your exegesis. That way you don’t separate your exegesis from your application and application doesn’t have to come last in the process.
  2. the amount of verses you select for preaching can either help or hinder your ability to identify the theology of a preaching portion. Cutting the text too short or too long can create problems.
  3. your method of sermon preparation should include a way for you to distinguish between big and little ideas in your text. And, then, of course, you need to be able to show how all sized ideas interrelate to make meaning.
  4. finding the meaning of a passage begins, not by searching for what the meaning is, but how the meaning is made (how the structure of the particular genre of your preaching portion communicates).
  5. when Christ-centered preaching is done well, your listeners will never leave church as good moralists.

That’s probably enough for now, but I do love thinking about some of the key elements to developing a sermon that represents God well.

And may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus as a result of the way in which you read and communicate the sacred Scriptures (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

P.S. If you’re free this coming Friday or Saturday, whether for the day, half-day, or even an hour or so, find PAS 513 Advanced Homiletics in LBC|Capital’s Lancaster campus (2nd floor of the academic building).

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How What Evangelicals Currently Believe Affects Our Preaching

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The current State of Theology helps us know the doctrines in danger.

In preparing for some new disciple-making initiatives in the coming year, a colleague of mine at church and I have been collecting some data on what Evangelicals believe. In the process of skimming some of the findings, I realized how important this data can be for our preaching.

[For years, I have watched the survey results reveal a slow, but steady movement away from orthodox beliefs. This has caused me to see at least part of my preaching ministry as an attempt to keep my listeners from losing important aspects of the Christian faith.]

If you’re interested, I suggest you look at what Ligonier and Lifeway present about the State of Theology (thestateoftheology.com).

What you will find is that Evangelicals are moving away from traditional beliefs about Christology, including things as foundational as whether or not Jesus was created by God.

When I presented some the findings to our Wednesday night crowd, two folks quickly replied: “Well, I wonder how the survey defined ‘Evangelical’?” That’s a very common Fundamentalist reaction. My reply was that it doesn’t matter. Even if the word wasn’t defined as tightly as some of us might want, the stats still show that some of our parishioners might be experiencing a similar shift.

If you’ve used such info before, then you know that the survey answers help us know what doctrines we need to highlight in our preaching. For instance, in one recent survey I saw, three of the five questions/answers involved the Person and work of Christ.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we accurately preach Christ as God portrays Him in His Word.

Randal

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“The Power of the Office and of the Minister”: Preaching and Pastoral Ministry

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Is it only me, or does the thought of the power of the pastoral office/ministry seem out of step these days?

I regularly read ancient confessions to help me think theologically. The goal is to add theological depth to my preaching in order to feed the flock well as we read Scripture together each Sunday.

I am also near completion of my first full-length e-book, Preacher As Soul-Watcher, which contains a section on Hebrews 13:17 and the preacher’s authority.

The Second Helvetic Confession (“Helvetic” is Latin for “Swiss” and this confession grew out of the context of Swiss-German Reformed Protestantism in the mid-sixteenth century) contains chapter 18:

“Of the Ministers of the Church, Their Institution and Duties.”

After the section on our Lord’s absolute power is,

“The Power of the Office and of the Minister” (p. 93, The Book of Confessions). It reads…

“Then there is another power of an office or of ministry limited by him who has full and absolute power. And this is more like a service than a dominion….In virtue of this power the minister, because of his office, does that which the Lord has commanded him to do; and the Lord confirms what he does, and wills that what his servant has done will be so regarded and acknowledged, as if he himself had done it” (p. 93)

When we preach God’s Word with accuracy, we’re doing what the Lord commanded us to do. According to the confession, the Lord confirms what we do and wants our listeners to regard our preaching as if He Himself had preached.

I don’t know from Sunday to Sunday who will think of my preaching like this, but I do know that this thought encourages me as I prepare for another Sunday.

I hope you are encouraged too by the thought of our derived pulpit power bringing glory to God in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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How Rules for Exegesis Affect Preaching

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The Implication of “Scripture’s exactness” on our preaching

If you’ve read some of my material through the years, you know that most of my reading centers on hermeneutics, exegesis, and theological studies. The reason is because I put a premium on those topics in the context of my preaching and teaching homiletics. The reason is because I value their contribution over most, purely homiletical writings. The reason is because of my conviction that precision is more important than presentation.

[Caveat: however, I work hard at both precision and presentation and realize that poor preaching can eclipse the exegetical/theological precision used in the sermon development stage.]

Last week I began reading, Biblical Reasoning: Christological and Trinitarian Rules for Exegesis, by R. B. Jamieson and Tyler R. Wittman.

Chapter 3 contains an interesting discussion of “Scripture’s Exactness” (p. 50). The section begins:

“Early Christian interpreters often spoke of Scripture’s ‘exactness’…to underscore divine teaching’s intentionality, reliability, and attention to detail” (p. 50).

The authors explore two implications of this concept.

First, God chooses His words very carefully. This is especially important when considering how many different authors, styles, and genres are in Scripture. God chooses those words very carefully (you will, no doubt, read this through the grid of your own view of inspiration).

Second, and I will quote them here, “what is taught carries a degree of precision that we must grasp” (p. 51).

Therefore, during sermon development it is important that I pay close attention to the words God uses to reveal Himself and His plan for His people. I cannot be a lazy reader, but a close reader of Scripture. That will serve my faith-family well as I prepare to read with them each Sunday.

The second implication for preaching is that, by God’s grace and the Spirit’s enablement, my precise understanding of Scripture must match Scripture’s precision. That almost always requires me and you to paraphrase and restate what God is saying precisely. That means you and I must choose our words and illustrations very carefully to be as precise as we can be. An example is our use of the word, trinity, or nature, words which may not be found in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek.

Anyway, I hope you get a taste of how a doctrine such as Scripture’s exactness affects our preaching. May our contemplation of God’s inspired revelation and its implication result in God receiving glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Think Twice Before Purchasing Someone Else’s Sermon Outlines

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It is very appealing to hear that purchasing someone else’s sermon outlines can save tons of time, but…

I love Logos as a tool and believe in using lots of tools. 99.9% of the time, I draw the line by refusing to use someone else’s sermon outline for my own preaching.

So, when I saw this ad by Logos, I thought I should send a caution. The product is:

Sermon Outlines For Busy Pastors (11 Volumes).

It is advertised this way:

“Today, pastors are busier than ever, with more time spent in ministry activities and less time spent in sermon preparation. Sermon Outlines for Busy Pastors: Sermons for All Occasions gives the busy pastor a head start on sermon preparation.

Pastors can save hundreds of hours a year, with the base research and layout for a year’s worth of sermons already in place.”

I have no doubt that this is true, but I believe it will cost most preachers way more than the cost of the product itself in terms of their preaching quality. I am not primarily thinking of plagiarism.

The reason is because of how important it is for preachers to identify their own style of outlining that works for them.

Whether preachers formally announces the main points or not, outlining shows how the preacher understands the logic of a text. That logic is critical for helping the sermon hold together for the listener.

Years ago, research showed that one common complaint from our listeners is that our sermons contain too many ideas. More than one thing contributes to this, but one important thing is whether or not we have presented a unifying logic. Outlines present that.

And one critical part of sermon preparation is identifying your own sense of the text’s interior logic.

Study other preacher’s outline if you can and you will see various ways in which outlines are done. But work hard at your own outline so that it works for you and your listeners. Let them see how the major thought blocks of your preaching portion hold together and our God will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. My outline from yesterday’s sermon on Matthew 7:15-20 was:

  1. “Beware of false prophets…” (v. 15a)
  2. Here’s what to look for” (vv. 15b-18, 20)
  3. The implied warning to all of us (v. 19)

It worked for us. I felt I owned the logic of it. It made sense to me as a pathway to the theological interpretation of this part of the Sermon on the Mount.

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A Post for the Pastor/Scholar: My Correspondence with Michael Cameron

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Now that’s a scholar!

If you are someone who shares my love for both pastoring and teaching, enjoy this short post about my email exchange with author, Michael Cameron. Here’s how it came about:

One of the only negatives about my recent Ph.D. journey was the interruption of my personal reading schedule. So I was extremely happy to get back to books that I began to read early in the program, but couldn’t finish due to all the assigned readings (Woe is me!).

One of those books was, Christ Meets Me Everywhere: Augustine’s Early Figurative Exegesis, by Michael Cameron.

After completing the book I decided to write Dr. Cameron. I wanted to let him know how much the book helped me, but also pick his brain on how to be a better scholar/researcher. Since 1991 I have enjoyed the dual role of pastor/professor and look forward to learning from someone like Michael.

Michael gracious sent this reply:

“As to your request, “how to be a better scholar/researcher” and ” how to improve my abilities to function as a professor, researcher, and writer”: I have to gulp at the prospect of forming an answer and say first I wonder that constantly myself. But let’s try this, though it is brief and perhaps displeasingly general. I would say to myself, feed your curiosity, be concrete and particular, watch for what moves and enflames you, ask what makes it tick, go with your instincts, and trust your judgments, look for the sympathetic insights that feed your pastoral sense along with your intellect. I tell students writing papers for me, be clear about your questions. Writing and research is about finding answers, but the answers are controlled by the questions which are formed out of life and the imagination.”

That part about feeding your curiosity resonated with me and confirmed my current practices. If you are in or have an interest in both worlds, there you have it from a consummate scholar.

Whatever world you are in, may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) because of your faithful work.

Randal