sermon preparation

Premillennialism and Consistency in Hermeneutics-Walvoord

/ Richard Bargas / 1 Comment

The debate between premillenarians and other millenarians hangs to a large extent upon the principles of interpretation of Scripture which each group employs. This is commonly recognized by all parties. The amillenarian Albertus Pieters states, “The question whether the Old Testament prophecies concerning the people of God must be interpreted in their ordinary sense, as other Scriptures are interpreted, or can properly be applied to the Christian Church, is called the question of spiritualization of prophecy. This is one of the major problems in biblical interpretation, and confronts everyone who makes a serious study of the Word of God. It is one of the chief keys to the difference of John Walvoordopinion between Premillenarians and the mass of Christian scholars. The former reject such spiritualization, the latter employ it; and as long as there is no agreement on this point the debate is interminable and fruitless.”3 In principles of interpretation the crux of the controversy is revealed.

The premillennial position is that the Bible should be interpreted in its ordinary grammatical and historical meaning in all areas of theology unless contextual or theological reasons make it clear that this was not intended by the writer. Amillenarians use the literal method in theology as a whole but spiritualize Scripture whenever its literal meaning would lead to the premillennial viewpoint. This is obviously a rather subjective principle and open to manipulation by the interpreter to sustain almost any system of theology. The conservative amillenarian claims to confine spiritualization to the field of prophecy and interpret other Scriptural revelation literally. Thus a conservative amillenarian would accept literally passages teaching the deity of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, the resurrection of Christ, and similar doctrines. They would denounce as heretics anyone who would tamper with these fundamental doctrines—as Origen, the father of amillenarianism, most certainly did. Conservative amillenarians would, however, feel perfectly justified in proceeding to spiritualize passages speaking of a future righteous government on earth, of Israel’s regathering to Palestine, and of Christ reigning literally upon the earth for a thousand years. Their justification is that these doctrines are absurd and impossible and that therefore they must be spiritualized. The wish is father of the interpretation, therefore, and amillennial interpretation of Scripture abundantly illustrates this.

-You can read the whole journal article at http://walvoord.com/article/150

Preachers Who Don’t Love People

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

lloydjones“The trouble with some of us is that we love preaching, but we are not always careful to make sure that we love the people to whom we are actually preaching. If you lack this element of compassion for the people you will also lack the pathos which is a very vital element in all true preaching. Our Lord looked out upon the multitude and ‘saw them as sheep without a shepherd’, and was ‘filled with compassion’. And if you know nothing of this you should not be in a pulpit, for this is certain to come out in your preaching.”

-Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers

Help for New Expositors: 16 Sources for Introductions

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Where can you go to find an appropriate introduction? There are plenty of places if you know where to look. Below are 16 sources for material to use in introducing your sermon.

  1. Biblical context– Give the background of what the situation is. For instance, in Second Timothy, Paul is in prison and he is writing his final letter to his dear child in the faith Timothy,
  2. Overview of the text (i.e., narrative retelling)-If you are preaching a section of a larger narrative, then it is often helpful to retell the story, highlighting the flow of the story to bring your hearers quickly up to speed to prepare them for the more detailed exposition of the text.
  3. Occasion (holidays, world event, etc)-Although you might wish to preach through whole books of the Bible, you may need to acknowledge a tragedy, celebration or other major occasion in your introduction. For instance, in America, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks could not be ignored on the Sunday that followed after that national tragedy. Trying to avoid this reality comes across as insensitive and foolish.
  4. Personal experience– Maybe you have a personal story that relates well with your sermon topic. People like to learn more about their pastor and to see that he is, after all, a real man like they are.
  5. Historical setting– Don’t go crazy here and let this dominate, but enough historical background to help fill in the blanks in order to understand the setting of the text can be helpful to the listeners.
  6. Biography– People love hearing about the lives of other people. Use the stories of others you have read to illustrate the main idea of your sermon.
  7. Geography, culture, customs, background material of the text-Close to historical setting, this may also include details that are also of great interest to the audience. The Bible is, of course, foreign to most people and insights into culture and customs can be very interesting.
  8. Striking statement-These are shocking statements, such as, “Guilty!…That was what I expected to hear from the judge when I stood before him.” You will have their attention! But be careful that the shock from such a statement doesn’t overwhelm your hearers so they can’t get past the statement and follow you to the text.
  9. Problem-What problem is the text addressing? Do most people see it as a problem? How can you highlight it? How does this problem directly affect them personally? If you can answers these questions then you can give your listener a strong reason to be interested in what you have to say.
  10. Purpose of the sermon-Why should they listen to you? Have you shared with them the main point and why it is important for them to know these truths you are about to expound?
  11. News item-Current events are always important, but sometimes the news lends itself to human interest stories, as well as local, national and controversial stories of wide interest. Your congregation is talking about it, let them know that you are thinking about it to and then show them how it relates to your sermon.
  12. Quotation-A good, pithy quote can grab interest and attention. A long, involved quote is usually unhelpful and boring. Choose carefully! If you’re unsure, ask your spouse or kids if you can read it to them!
  13. Reference from literature-It might be a poem, a quote from a famous bit of literature, or even from a magazine. Like the comments on quotes above, make sure it is interesting and not too long.
  14. Position/opinion of doctrine currently held-You can bring up what may be a growing challenge to long-held doctrines, or those which might be popular but opposed to the text you are about to explain. Be charitable and gracious toward those who hold to a differing view if it is orthodox. Remember win them over from the Scripture!
  15. Imagination-Take them on a quick journey of the mind. Say something like, “Imagine with me…” and give them a hypothetical situation or story that fits what you are trying to introduce.
  16. Humorous incident-Don’t use the story of another person, unless they have given you permission first. Stories about funny things you have done are safest and are most relatable.

Help for New Expositors: Using Biblical Illustrations vs. Using Cross References. What’s the Difference?

/ Richard Bargas / 1 Comment

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In my personal library I have over a dozen books whose sole purpose is to provide me with sermon illustrations. In my Logos library I have several more. But honestly, most of them sit on the shelf collecting dust. It’s not that I’m against using sermon illustrations, or that I don’t use them myself. I use them and I think that they are an important component of preaching. The problem is that sermon illustration books are often old, overworked books that lack originality and are often outdated. That means that I am always on the hunt for good illustrations. One source for illustrations is the Bible itself.

Using the Bible for illustrations has great benefits. Using one part of the Bible to illustrate another allows us to help our congregation to see parts of the Bible that we might not be preaching in for a while. This “cross-pollination” is particularly helpful for newer believers who have little or no knowledge of the Bible.

Another benefit is that using the Bible for illustration keeps the hearers in mind in the biblical world. Sometimes a contemporary illustration can help the hearer “see” the biblical truth in modern terms, but it also has the danger of distracting the listener with thoughts we had not considered. For instance, an illustration drawn from a contemporary movie might cause a listener to begin thinking about other scenes in the movie we have not reference, or even that we have given a blanket endorsement of a movie when we only intended to refer to a small part.

One last benefit of using the Bible for illustration is that the Scriptures contain a massive amount of material for illustration. Not only do we have the illustrations used by prophets, Apostles and the Lord Jesus himself, but we have the lives of biblical characters from which we can draw more illustrations. There is no need to buy that cheesy outdated sermon illustration book when you have the only Spirit inspired illustration book in the Bible itself!

But sometimes new expositors get confused about the difference between a biblical illustration and a cross-reference. The confusion is understandable because they seem to be the same thing on the surface. The big difference between the two can be summed up in the purpose for each.

Cross-References

A cross-reference is normally used when we are seeking to strengthen a sermon point or sub-point in our sermon. There are times when we have made a point that is present in the main text we are expositing, but it may be that the English text does not clearly show the stress we need it to make. We might choose to bring in linguistic insights and grammar, but we might introduce more confusion if we do that. Instead, a good couple of cross-references will help to undergird and strengthen the idea from other places in the Bible to show that this theological idea is found elsewhere in Scripture.

We need to be careful that when we use cross-references that they are what Dr. Montoya at The Master’s Seminary calls “the jugular texts.” These are Scripture references that are clear and powerful in stating what we are trying to prove. If we want to prove that God loves the world, we would go to John 3:16, if we want to prove that Jesus is the only way to heaven, we might go to John 14:6. If we wanted to state that tongues is speaking in a known human language, we would go to Acts 2:5-11. The point is that we go to the strongest and clearest texts to prove our point and we read the section that makes the point. We must not abuse the authorial intent of these cross-reference passages, but we do not need to go into the background or other information in detail in order to quote them. The purpose is to undergird and strengthen a theological idea or sermon point.

An excellent place to find cross-references other than those in the margins of most Bibles is The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

Biblical Illustrations

The purpose of biblical illustrations is to illustrate. That may seem obvious, but it needs to be said. That means that we are predominantly looking for examples of the concept we are trying to illustrate in the narrative and some didactic sections of the Bible. The lives of Bible characters serve well as examples both negatively and positively. Another place to find illustrations is from the teaching illustrations given by Jesus, the Apostles and the prophets. Jesus was a master illustrator, and he used both the Old Testament as well as nature to paint pictures of deep spiritual truths. Study these so you can see how they did it, and use their illustrations for the same things they did. Think about the parables, the agricultural illustrations, and the nature illustrations used by all the great biblical teachers. God has given all of these for our benefit as teachers.

Because biblical illustrations can be lengthy (particularly narrative sections), many times it will be necessary to summarize a story’s details in order to bring out the main idea you are illustrating. For example, if you wanted to use the Joseph story in Genesis to illustrate the sovereignty of God over all things including his use of evil for good, you wouldn’t want to read the multiple chapters that it takes to cover that narrative. Instead you would summarize the highlights of Joseph’s life and then read the “jugular text” of Gen 50:20 to summarize the main idea. This is a biblical illustration.

Although biblical illustrations and cross-references have many overlapping qualities, the two serve difference purposes. Both have their place in a biblical exposition, but for the sake of clarity we need to know the difference.

How Spirit-dependent is your preaching?

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“How utterly dependent we are on the Holy Spirit in the work of preaching! All genuine preaching is rooted in a feeling of desperation. You wake up on Sunday morning and you can smell the smoke of hell on one side and feel the crisp breezes of heaven on the other. You go to your study and look down at your pitiful manuscript, and you kneel down and cry, “O God, this is so weak! Who do I think I am? What audacity to think that in three hours my words will be the odor of death to death and the fragrance of life to life (2 Cor. 2:16). My God, who is sufficient for these things?”—John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, Kindle loc. 400.