Preaching

Review: Preaching Jeremiah

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Preaching Jeremiah, Walter Brueggeman. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2020.

Summary: Bruggeman takes the framework of Jeremiah as a model for preaching, both in its structure of introduction, ending(s), and body, in its bringing a message of beyond, that both confronts the denial of God, and the grounds for hope that outlasts despair.

The arrival of this book was timely as our church has been preaching through Jeremiah, and as one called occasionally to fill in, I was thinking about the message of Jeremiah and the preaching of it. Walter Brueggeman not only explores these matters but also the nature of preaching in this book.

In particular, Brueggeman considers a situation where his audience is smugly spiritual and complacent when they are both in denial of God and of the approaching danger resulting from their apostasy. This is not unlike the preaching task in America today, one that requires the preacher to be courageous, imaginative, and countercultural.

He begins with Introductions, decrying many of the clever introductions in contemporary preaching. He looks at the call of Jeremiah, describing his task and the rejection he will face. There is both a call from beyond and a very specific grounding in a person and place. The introduction of Jeremiah suggests that the sermon begins long before the first word is uttered.

He then turns to conclusions. He notes that this is plural and points to the multiple endings of Jeremiah. Instead of “preaching to a decision” he proposes sermons that are “open-ended and multivoiced” recognizing that the preacher does not know the endings God has in mind, and thus leaves room for different responses.

He then turns in his last two chapters to the body of the sermon. Throughout the book Brueggeman parallels the trajectory of Jeremiah to that of Christ from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. There is the death, “the long Saturday,” and finally resurrection to new life and hope. First must come the plucking up and tearing down, and particularly meeting the resistance of the Jerusalem establishment. He must name their self-deception as to their status within the covenant and that through the nation from the north, God will make war against them, not with them. The preacher must engage in truth-telling that subverts denial.

In the final chapter he turns to the other aspect of Jeremiah. When the people are brought to a null point by the devastating invasion, Jeremiah turns to hope-telling, how they do so during exile, and look ahead to the wonder of God’s restoration, begun in repenting and returning that leads to healing, reversed fortunes, building, cleansing, forgiving and prospering.

As he concludes, he considers the challenge of this practice of truth-telling and hope-telling in the American context, a context where he thinks such preaching is “hardly utterable”:

  • our preaching is largely privatized without an opening for public issues;
  • there is a broad pattern of collusion with denial in the interest of a kind of therapeutic kindness;
  • we preachers ourselves are enough citizens of the nation of denial not to have energy to risk so much; and
  • the God we utter is usually not tough enough for infidelity, invasion, and illness, not powerful enough for fidelity, peace, and healing.

As this should make clear, Brueggeman thinks Jeremiah confronts “faint of heart” preaching with a call to resistance, prophetic integrity, and pastoral hopefulness rooted not in worldly optimism but in the wonders and redemptive work of God. This work both brings Jeremiah’s call and message to life, it informs the shape of pastoral integrity in a culture where God is paid lip service while its heart is in another place. It seems this would be a good work for one to read before embarking on preparation for pastoral ministry. Just as the call of Jeremiah made sure he was shed of all illusions, so is the case of this work for the aspiring preacher.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Expository Exultation

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Expository Exultation

Expository Exultation, John Piper. Carol Stream, IL: Crossway Books, 2018.

Summary: Contends that the purpose of preaching is expository exultation; that preaching is integral to worship in the preacher’s work of making clear and exulting over the text of scripture as it reveals the glories of God.

This is one John Piper book that I can unequivocally endorse. While I might differ with him in other matters, I found myself saying “Amen” again and again as I read this book. The reason for this is that he recovers and articulates as well as anyone since Martyn Lloyd Jones and John Stott the glory and high calling of preaching. His central contention is that preaching, properly done is “expository exultation.” What does he mean by this?

“The title Expository Exultation is intended to communicate that this unique form of communication is both a rigorous intellectual clarification of the reality revealed through the words of Scripture and a worshipful embodiment of the value of that reality in the preacher’s exultation over the word he is clarifying. Preachers should think of worship services not as exultation in the glories of God accompanied by a sermon. They should think of musical and liturgical exultation (songs, prayers, readings, confession, ordinances, and more) accompanied and assisted by expository exultation–preaching as worship.”

Piper offers a helpful correction to the mentality that says worship is over when the music ends, where the message is kind of a letdown or a time for the mind to wander.

The remainder of the book is an unpacking of the above statement. He begins with a discussion of how fitting it is for the people of God to gather for corporate worship and then shows how preaching as expository exultation is integral to our corporate worship and rooted in the persons of the Trinity. The following two parts of this work focus on both the supernatural and natural aspects of expository exultation–the work of the Holy Spirit and the proper use of our skills to communicate with clarity and logic the reality of God and his work revealed in the biblical text.

The next part of this work was perhaps one of the most illuminating parts for me that explained why much biblical exposition falls flat. We may say what the text says, even individual words, and what it means, and how it bears on our lives. But Piper contends that we often do not clearly communicate the reality to which the text bears witness as we direct attention to the text so that people discover that reality for themselves, not by hearing us, but by seeing that this is what the text says. Good preaching shows how reality shines through the text.

He then turns in the next part to the central realities to which he believes the biblical text bears witness. They are the glory of God, Christ crucified, and the obedience of faith. Piper would contend that all three run through scripture and ought run through our exposition of it. Then in the following part, he shows how these three central realities run through even the Old Testament. He concludes by reminding the preacher of the high calling and indispensable importance of expository exultation in the life of the church. And he speaks personally to aspiring preachers:

“But he who called you is faithful. He will do it. I testify from forty years in the ministry of the word, through the best and the worst of times, God loves to help the preacher who is desperate to make the word plain for the holy happiness of his people, by the blood of Christ, for the glory of God. He will help you.”

So much preaching seems disconnected from the glories of God and the work of Christ we sing and celebrate in music, liturgy and ordinance or sacrament. Too often it seems merely to be an inspirational message to help us engage another week, or a series of marching orders. Piper articulates a vision of preaching consistent with the rest of worship–that God is the glorious hero of the scriptures we preach, that the decisive act in the story was the life, death and resurrection of the Son, and we are invited through the regeneration and empowering of his Spirit to participate through the obedience of faith in this great venture of God in his world. Those are the realities we make clear from the text of scripture and over which we exult and lead God’s people in joyous exultation both in corporate worship and lives of worship. No wonder Piper has been at it forty years and continues to preach and write with such passion!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Preaching by the Book

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Preaching by the Book

Preaching by the Book (Hobbs College Library), R. Scott Pace, (Heath A. Thomas editor). Nashville: B & H Academic, 2018.

Summary: A step by step guide to preparing and giving messages rooted in biblical texts in a slim volume.

There are numerous guides to preaching, most which are both inspiring and perhaps a little daunting. What caught my attention is the straightforward character of this little book. I could see a person, perhaps faced with his or her first sermon, working through this book in preparing to preach.

First of all, the author outlines his theology of preaching that affirms that the purpose of preaching is that the Word of God, expounded faithfully by ministers of God trusting in the work of the Spirit of God results in the people of God hearing, worshiping, and obeying God. Critical in this process is that sermons arise from and be based in the text of scripture. The remainder of the book unpacks a process by which this is done, which is outlined in seven steps:

1.  Begin with prayer.

  • Prepare your heart.
  • Pray for help.

2.  Read the passage.

  • Read it casually.
  • Read it carefully.

3.  Discover the point.

  • Summarize the main idea
  • Simplify the main idea.

4.  Study the parts.

  • Study the supporting concepts.
  • Study the significant words.

5.  Identify the precepts.

  • Discern the theological truths.
  • Discern the doctrinal truths.
  • Discern the spiritual truths.

6.  Apply the principles.

  • Evaluate our personal condition.
  • Formulate our practical response.

7.  Develop our plan.

  • Construct our sermon outline.
  • Craft our sermon points.

Chapters 2 through 4 elaborate these seven steps. Then Chapters 5 through 7 help with fleshing out the sermon outline into a message that may be preached. It begins with Introductions and emphasizes brevity and clarity that whets people’s appetites, as well as providing a varying diet. Chapter 6 on Illustrations proposes the various kinds of illustrations that might be used and pitfalls to avoid including the overuse of illustrations, and using yourself or your family excessively in illustrations. Chapter 7, reflecting the Baptist origins of this work, discusses Invitations. This is often neglected in other traditions, where a passage is taught, but no response to it is invited in the context of the service.

One subject that I would have liked to seen addressed in this section would be the question of whether one ought write out sermons, preach from notes, or work from memory. It seems that it would be helpful for many to talk about how not to be tied to a text or written notes and yet avoid the wandering and rabbit trails that may accompany extemporaneous preaching. Perhaps the author assumed that preachers figure out what works best for them over time, which seems to be the case, but this is little help for the person starting out.

That aside, what Pace offers in a handy format is a guide that really can serve as a guide throughout the process of preparing a message from a biblical text. He distills a life of preaching wisdom into a concise, slim volume easily taken along with one’s Bible, study tools, and laptop into the study, or coffee shop. Much like a travel guide organized with the traveler in mind, this little guide can be pulled out throughout one’s preparation to preach to inspire and to give sound direction.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Preaching in the New Testament

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Preaching in the New Testament

Preaching in the New Testament (New Studies in Biblical Theology), Jonathan L. Griffiths. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2017.

Summary: An exegetical and biblical theology of preaching from the texts of the New Testament.

Most of the focus today in preaching is on what is called “homiletics” which focuses on how to prepare and deliver messages in the church and other contexts. But what are the grounds for this thing called “preaching” in the New Testament? How is this distinct from other ministries of the word? What is taking place, ideally, in faithful biblical preaching? What connection is there between the preaching that occurs today and Old Testament prophetic ministries, the preaching of Jesus, and apostolic and post-apostolic preaching?

These are the questions Jonathan I. Griffiths explores in this clear, and I thought, quite helpful monograph. After a brief introduction laying out these questions and his plan of approach, Griffiths explores first the question of the theology of the word, and how God speaks, acts, and is encountered through that word. Then he considers the particular New Testament terms used for preaching, focusing on three: euangelizomai, katangello, and kerysso. He charts the speaker, context, and content of each instance and argues that they function with a high degree of consistency as “semi-technical” terms for preaching.

The second part of the work then focuses on exegetical studies of key New Testament passages. He considers the following texts and finds these themes:

  • 2 Timothy 3-4: The Preacher’s Charge
  • Romans 10: The Preacher’s Commission
  • 1 Corinthians: The Power of the Gospel in Authentic Christian Preaching
  • 2 Corinthians 2-6: Beholding the Glory of God in Preaching
  • 1 Thessalonians 1-2: Preaching the Very Words of God
  • Hebrews: Preaching to the Gathered People of God

In the third part he summarizes his findings, which he has elaborated in his exegetical studies. Most striking to me is the idea that when God’s word is faithfully proclaimed, people hear God’s voice through the human agency of preaching. I think this is a great encouragement to any who engage in this work, who struggle with what do we have to say, and can we say it well. Certainly these things are worthy of consideration, but uppermost is the idea of faithfully setting forth what God has said in scripture and that when we do so, there is the very real prospect that God works through this and speaks to our hearers! So often, people speak of encountering God in various aspects of worship, but do they think of encountering God through the preaching of the word?

Some other key points include the idea that those who preach today do so in continuity with the prophets, the Lord Jesus, and the apostles. Those who preach must be commissioned–not self-appointed. Preaching reflects the character of the gospel in that it is something given by God through preachers to be received and believed by faith. Preaching has a natural context and significance within a Christian assembly–it forms and sustains a local body of believers as they hear God address them together.

I think today that preaching is often conceived of as either an exercise in inspiring people to get through another week or as a way for the preacher and church leadership to get people to devote themselves more diligently to the affairs of the church. Often, the word of God is “used” in these attempts. What Griffiths describes is very different, and to my mind a more noble and awesome calling–to so carefully study and listen to the scriptures in order to faithfully speak for God, such that what people hear are not our ideas, but God speaking. Rather than simply inspiring or goading people to action, the preacher has the opportunity to host an encounter with the living God, whose word is sustaining, and empowering, and compelling. Griffiths’ book sets forth this noble privilege and call, grounded in God’s address to those who preach, and his exegetical work helps us hear that call afresh.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: An All Around Ministry

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An All Around MinistryAn All-Around Ministry, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Prisbrary Publishing, 2012.

Summary: A collection of messages given by Charles Haddon Spurgeon as President of the Preachers College during their annual conferences.

Pastoral ministry has always been a demanding profession. If recent statistics are to believed, increasing numbers are struggling and as many as 1500 a month are leaving their ministries due to burnout, moral failure, or conflict. Fifty-seven percent indicate they would leave the ministry if they had somewhere else to go.

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon

It appears that Charles Haddon Spurgeon, often called “the prince of preachers” was well aware of the challenges and pitfalls, as well as the glory of the ministerial calling. He trained a number of pastors in his Preachers College and annually gathered them at a conference over which he presided. An All Around Ministry is a collection of twelve of his addresses to this group.

His titles give some sense of the matters he dealt with in these addresses:

1. Faith
2. Forward!
3. Individuality, and Its Opposite
4. How to Meet the Evils of the Age
5. A New Departure
6. Light. Fire. Faith. Life. Love.
7. Strength in Weakness
8. What We Would Be
9. Stewards
10. The Evils of the Present Time, and Our Object, Necessities, and Encouragements
11. The Preacher’s Power, and the Conditions of Obtaining It
12. The Minister in these Times

His concern throughout was to address the ministerial calling. His message titled “Stewards” probably is the best summary of his sense of ministry as being a steward of an entrusted message, the gospel, and an entrusted task, to bring people to faith and nurture them in it. He writes, “There is great truth in the old proverb that ‘short reckonings make long friends.’ If we make short reckonings with God, we shall be long friends with Him.”

The messages are filled with advice for staying vital in one’s ministry through the practice of faith, the nurturing of spiritual disciplines that deepen one’s spiritual vigor, and lead to one’s being empowered of God for the work. He also warns of the dangers of deviating from personal holiness and doctrinal soundness. While he placed a high value on cogent oratory, he gave preachers this warning: “Perishing sinners do not want poetry, they want Christ.”

In reading these messages, one must understand that Spurgeon was a thoroughly persuaded evangelical of the Reformed perspective. The concerns he argued against in the “Down Grade Controversy” are evident here–a concern for deviation from biblical infallibility, the substitutionary atonement of Christ and the finality of judgment of the unrepentant. Nor does he have a kind word for Anglicanism and Catholicism.

What one does find in these addresses by Spurgeon is the voice of a pastor who has known weariness and discouragement as well as the glorious moments of fruitful ministry. He recognizes the forces both within and without that can derail one’s ministry. And he is one who has had to lean into the resources that come, not from within, but from above to “run and not be weary, to walk and not faint.” His message on “A New Departure” is all about pastoral renewal, as one example.

His seriousness about the pastoral calling is often punctuated with humor that is self-deprecating of the pastoral profession. At one point he writes:

“We must cultivate a cogent as well as a clear style; we must be forceful. Some imagine this consists in speaking loudly, but I can assure them they are in error. Nonsense does not improve by being bellowed.”

It occurs to me that a pastor or others in ministry might do well to read one of these messages by Spurgeon each month, perhaps as part of a pastoral retreat or a time of personal examination. At times the voice may seem strange, or even harsh, and yet the insights and questions he raises seem to me essential for long term faithfulness to one’s call.

Review: Interpreting the Prophetic Books

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Prophetic BooksInterpreting the Prophetic Books, Gary V. Smith. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2014.

Summary: This is a concise guide for those preaching from Old Testament prophetic texts covering issues of genre, themes, interpretation, preaching, and contemporary application.

This summer, I’ve been part of a preaching team covering a number of the shorter books in the Bible one book per Sunday, including the Minor Prophets. My assignment has been the books of Nahum and Habakkuk. This is a challenging task if you are not a specialist in this area and some distance from your seminary classes! Distinguishing between near and distant fulfillment, understanding the setting, recognizing different genres within prophecy, and moving from the meaning of the text to relevant application for an audience separated by over two millenia and a cultural gap are all issues that face anyone working with these biblical texts.

Gary V. Smith’s book, part of Kregel’s series of Handbooks for Old Testament Interpretation, is a concise and helpful guide for all these issues and more. In six chapters coming in at under 200 pages, Smith covers the following:

Chapter 1. The Nature of Prophetic Literature: Temporal categories of present, future, and apocalyptic, genres of prophecy, and poetic elements including parallelism and imagery.

Chapter 2. Major Themes in the Prophetic Books: Themes running through the prophets, and themes by specific books.

Chapter 3. Preparing for Interpretation: Knowing the setting of the pre-exilic prophets to Israel and Judah, the exilic prophets, and the post-exilic prophets, issues to be aware of in Ancient Near East Prophecy, textual criticism, and the use of commentaries, including recommendations of commentaries by book (conservative to mainstream Western scholarship).

Chapter 4. Interpretive issues in Prophetic Texts: Literal vs. metaphorical, contextual limits, conditional or unconditional, near or far future, and prophecy and its New Testament fulfillment.

Chapter 5. Proclaiming Prophetic Texts: Getting oriented, shaping the presentation, determining the principle, and reflecting on the application.

Chapter 6. From Text to Application: Offers examples of the steps of Chapter 5 with reference to near future and distant future prophecy.

The book concludes with a glossary of terms relevant to interpreting the prophetic books.

The organization of the book follows good principles of biblical exegesis and provides pointers to the most common exegetical and interpretive issues that arise in handling the prophetic material. There is a brief and then more detailed table of contents that allows one to consult material relevant to a particular prophetic text. The author provides examples from scripture throughout to illustrate points. And the examples in Chapter 6 illustrate the process and care involved in putting together a message that is both exegetically sound and appropriate for one’s audience.

If there was any criticism that could be made of this book, it would be the very limited attention (six pages) given to prophecy and New Testament fulfillment, and particularly, to Christological interpretation. It may be that the author decided to defer to other texts that give greater attention to these matters but given that this is written for use by pastors of Christian churches, a fuller treatment might have been helpful.

On the whole, however, this is a valuable work that serves as a helpful review for those who have had seminary-level training in prophetic exegesis, and a valuable and accessible primer for those without such training.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”