Tag Archives: exposition

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The Value of Preaching Back To Back Series Through Books of the Bible

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Thanks to some prompting from parishioners, I decided to preach back to back through Judges and Ruth without a break in between. Usually, I would have preached through Judges, then spend four to six weeks in a mini-series pertaining to church life or some aspect of the Christian life.

But Judges had so many depressing stories and Ruth is such a great story that I listened to their suggestions. I’m glad I did.

Ruth begins by telling us that Elimelech and Naomi are operating during the times when the judges ruled and when there was no king in Israel (cf. 1:1). What a breath of fresh air to watch people not do what was right in their own eyes. A large portion of the rhetorical effect of Ruth occurs through this context with the characters in Judges doing what was right in their eyes.

Or, you might note that Judges ends with Israel having no king and the disastrous results, while Ruth ends with the mention of Israel’s greatest king, David.

This raises some interesting theology. Evidently, having a king in Israel wasn’t necessary for Boaz to function like a godly man (like a law-abiding citizen in Bethlehem). Boaz leads the way for citizens obeying the law of God without the presence of a godly king.

Anyway, you might consider a time when your church would benefit from a lengthy back to back series through more than one book of the Bible. Look for other books that contain strong verbal links and keep on preaching away so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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How Much Speculation Is In Your Exposition?

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Shortly after graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary, I preached a sermon in chapel at Appalachian Bible College. I was working at the time for, what used to be called, Washington Bible College/Capital Bible Seminary. I don’t remember the sermon, but vividly remember the late, beloved preaching professor of ABC, Dr. Paul Reiter, giving feedback.

He kindly urged me to get rid of phrases like, “I think…” or “I believe…” His reasoning was that these phrases took away from the authority of Scripture and from my responsibility as a preacher. I took his critique to heart.

Through over 20 years of preaching each Sunday, teaching preaching students, and listening to hundreds of sermons, I’ve come realize we preachers have a strong tendency to pepper our exposition with speculation. Instead of breaking news, we announce breaking speculation.
The fact that it happens frequently says something about the Bible and something about our understanding of preaching.
First, the habit highlights the need to carefully understand the doctrine known as the perspicuity (clarity) of Scripture. I believe in that doctrine, but also believe it downplays the difficulty of Scripture. It is the difficulty of Scripture that causes us to frequently announce breaking speculations in the form of, “Well, I think Paul is saying this…” or “Scholars believe that Paul is…”
In his commentary on 2 Corinthians, Harris writes, “Although Paul has not identified the ‘thorn,’ commentators have not been slow to attempt the impossible.”
And I am far too guilty of wasting valuable sermon time announcing breaking speculation. Never have I been so aware of this as while recently preaching through the book of Daniel. Imagine what our exposition of Daniel would sound like if we stuck with exposition sans speculation!
This habit also says a lot about our understanding of preaching. God didn’t authorize me to announce speculation, but His revelation. Dr. Reiter was right when he told me to preach, “This is what the Lord says, not what you think.”
Before Sunday, look over your exposition and see how much speculation is in it. Ask God to help you balance good scholarship with faithful preaching so He receives glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).
In emails or Facebook posts to my preacher friends, I’ll often end my note with the playful challenge, “Preach a good sermon, will ya?!” I consider you one of them, so…
Preach a good sermon, will ya?!
Randal
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Add Theological Thinking To Your Exposition

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I’m in the final stages of editing my manuscript, Preaching With Greater Accuracy, and will soon send it off to Kregel Publishing. I have come to appreciate the fact that exposition of Scripture often involves answering questions that are implied in a preaching portion. Implied, but not spelled out. If the preaching portion doesn’t have an answer, that means the rest of Scripture must provide an answer. That process is what I refer to as theological thinking. An example is Psalm 139:23-24

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

One implied question in v. 24 is, if perchance God finds some grievous way in me, what does He do about it? How does God lead me in the way everlasting after searching deep within my sinfulness and seeing what’s there? The Psalmist doesn’t answer that. I believe, as expositors, we need to answer that. An important segment of the sermon involves showing how Scripture provides an answer. I want to allow the theology of the rest of Scripture to inform my understanding of the Psalm.

How would you complete this sentence: “After searching my heart and finding some grievous way in me, God can lead me in the way everlasting because…”?

Lord willing, in future posts I’ll show other examples of this from Luke’s gospel.

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Preaching the Synonyms of Faith (part 2)

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Preaching through the Gospel of Luke provides an excellent opportunity for us to repeatedly teach the nature of saving faith. You may have realized that many professing Christians are unclear about what faith is and how it works. In Luke 7:40-50 Jesus’ visit with a religious leader, Simon, is interrupted by a visit from “a woman of the city.” In v. 47 Jesus says, “…her sins, which are many, are forgiven–for she loved much.” But, then Jesus says to the woman in v. 50, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Jesus teaches us that her faith saved her, but also that had there been no love, there would’ve been no forgiveness. Functioning as theologians for our faith-families means explaining the relationship between loving Jesus and believing Him. It was Jonathan Edwards who said that love was the main thing in saving faith. As I said in a previous post, look for opportunities to teach the synonyms and antonyms of faith. This will broaden the theological understanding of our congregants and also create a solid foundation for working out their own salvation.