Category: Preaching

Preaching is a glorious task of which I know very little. Though there are videos and audios available of my preaching ten years ago–God forbid they should ever be made public–my consistent ministry in preaching is only 80 Sundays old. Having been trained in college and in seminary, listened to a host of lectures on preaching, read dozens of books on preaching (Stott’s is still supreme), learned from some of the most gifted Reformed pastors in the country, preached in front of peers,  critiqued by peers, after all this I still find myself where most sermons begin: with a question. Who is Ruth? Who is Boaz? Why is Boaz assuming this role? What is the significance of this picture in the overall plan of God’s history? Questions help situate the listener and bring into harmony the listener and the story. Questions should abound in a sermon, and ultimately they should be answered as the story climaxes.

Joel Garver offers great apologetic for lectionary preaching:

If one were to use the lectionary over a twelve year period, focusing the homilies during each three year cycle upon a different one of the readings, it would be possible in that time to preach through all four Gospels, almost all the NT Epistles, each Psalm, and about 60% of the OT. Moreover, since the readings are generally related in some fashion, it would also be possible to show the inter-connections between various parts of Scripture.

Psalm 78, sermon preached in 1985.

Rev. Dennis Tuuri

The primary means of restoring blessings to the people is restoring the hearts of the fathers back to the children: by building strong covenantal families.

What should we be teaching our children? What should be the content?

Verses 9-11 sum up Psalm 78:

The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11 They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.

We see that the godly way is to teach our children the covenant of God, the laws of God, and the works of God.

The Covenant of God – The Scriptures are a revelation, primarily of who God is to man. God reveals Himself to man. What is a covenant? An agreement between two or more people. It is a covenant between a vassal and a Lord. It is initiated by a superior. A covenant has terms with blessings and curses.

The law structure tells us how we ought to live. We ought to teach our children the covenant. God’s blessings are only available through the covenant. The Old Testament stories picture the coming of Jesus Christ.

God initiates and completes the covenant. The covenant of grace is consummated in the coming of Christ. When you teach children Bible stories, you want to look at it covenantally. What does it say about God, about Jesus and about people? For example, when dealing with Joseph, we should not merely deal with his brothers or with Joseph’s triumphs, but rather we should ask what does this story say about God? It says that God is sovereign over the affairs of men. What does it say about a mediator? Joseph is a mediator; a type of Christ. He feeds his brothers later on. What does it say about the covenant people? God did this for the sake of His Covenant people. Joseph’s brothers are later on the recipients of God’s providence (see Degraaff) Continue reading “Sermon Notes on Psalm 78:9-11; Covenant Childrearing”

Note: I have literally hundreds of sermons to choose from on my Ipod. This sermon interested me, since I preached on Psalm 42 some months ago. Kyle contrasts the two Psalms. Here are some notes I took from a sermon preached recently by my friend and former pastor Rev. Kyle Oliphint. He is now pastor of Grace Community Presbyterian Church (PCA). Kyle also has a blog.

Psalm 84

Blessed Progression

A Psalm of longing.

He desires to be with God. Blessedness means profound contentedness. It is divided into three parts.

1-4 – His longing –some say Psalm 42 was written by the same group of people. He longs for God’s dwelling place. Verses 1-2 in Psalm 84 are similar to Psalm 42:1-3. There is a joyful worshipful heart. His desire is a rich, joyous desire. Verses 3-4 – He hopes to be with God. He has confidence that He has made His way there. He knows his destination. This is a future blessing, but he anticipates this blessing with full joy. He may have been in exile and longing for that worshipful experience. In Psalm 84, the Psalmist is homesick. In Psalm 42, the Psalmist feels betrayed. God is the source of him being thirsty in the first place.

5-9 -The travel – a journey – vs.5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Even the journey is refreshing for he knows where he is going. His strength is resourced out of the destination itself. I will be blessed with strength for the journey. In Psalm 42, however, the picture is different. The Psalmist mourns with the adversity before him. God says you may not be relieved of the oppression, but I will strengthen you. It implies that we will be made weak and must have His strength for the journey. The Psalmist has lived through the toughness and he knows God will not give him more than he can bear. God calls me in this Psalm to receive the blessing of God through my endurance.

10-12 – The tender heart of the pilgrim. Verse 11 – God is His sun and the giver of the gift. He will withhold nothing from him. Verse 12 is the key. It is the trust—a gift from God—that the Psalmist places in God himself. God secures the protection of all those who are making their way to Him. Only this God is worthy of this trust.

Do we long to rejoice in God? Who do you believe God to be? And are you willing to trust that God?

Christ became a pilgrim. He faced the Valley of Baca. God chose—for our sake—to walk our journey. This same God chose to make His dwelling place in us. Our heart sings not because we dwell in God, but because He dwells in us.

Richard Pratt told us once in seminary that Presbyterian churches had turned their services into classrooms. At the time I was insulted by what appeared to be a defense of anti-intellectualism. I had run away from that tradition long ago and was now eager to embrace a lively and freshly academic pursuit of Biblical studies. In my seven years in Presbyterianism I have observed that Richard’s comments were true. Pastor Jeff Meyers observes in his excellent treatment of the Divine Liturgy that churches that treat worship as education “tend to degenerate into lecture halls complete with overhead projectors and armies of note-taking members” (The Lord’s Service, 26). As a result, little time in invested in what precedes in the liturgical act (confession, assurance, singing, etc.) All things are mere distractions to the central event, which is the preaching.

As an example of this, some time ago I subscribed to a podcast where a teacher taught through New Testament books using the Greek text. I found it quite helpful. As time went on, I realized that this was not a separate study, but the actual Sunday morning worship service; that is, a worship service to the linguistic elite.

As Meyers observes the “Bible appears not to put the emphasis on teaching in worship” (27). Rather, the Psalms are replete with passages exhorting God’s people to “worship and bow down; kneel before Yahweh, our Maker!” (Psalm 95:1-2, 6). It must be stressed, however, that teaching is a crucial and indispensible portion of the morning worship, but it must not be the sole reason for worship.

I Corinthians 13 is a spectacular display of poetry. The poetry is so remarkable that young couples are compelled to use it as a part of their wedding ceremony. And that is a reasonable way of using the text; however, we must understand that the context of I Corinthians 13 bears an infinite amount of weight in light of the church. Interestingly, in chapter 12 we are reminded that we are one church with many members. We are baptized into one body; there is no more division between Jew and Greek. We all, as a community, drink of One Spirit. There is no more ethnic division, no more nationalistic division; Christ is the Lord of all the Church. The church is no longer a single nation, as in the Older Covenant, but a global, cosmic New Israel that is not limited by boundaries, but defined and identified in the greatest lover ever known to man, Christ himself.

This is why chapter 13 is so significant, because individual members do not think of themselves, but of the unity of the community. They give themselves to one another, they sacrifice for one another, and they encourage one another. The body of Christ must understand that if the world looks at us and sees disunity, disharmony, and no love, then we are just a noisy gong. But if there is unity, harmony, and if the body lives the love of Christ within herself, then the world will glorify our father who is in heaven.

When you see all the “I’s” of chapter 13, know that the “I’s” are never separated from the “we’s”. This is why the love of chapter 13 never ends, because the love of Christ for his Church never ends. And so let it be that we love one another world without end. Amen.

I wrote this over 2 years ago… as I was studying under the late Rev. Frank Kik.

What illustrates true Biblical preaching? Is it the ability to decipher complex topical issues? Or is it your pulpit mannerisms? In recent times I have earnestly pursued to answer some of these questions in greater depth. After analyzing Brian Chapel (expository), Gregg Lewis (inductive), and Arturo Azurdia (the power of the Spirit in Preaching), I have come to conclude that methodologies in the pulpit are less than effective if the undergirding motivation is not cosmic renovation. After all, why preach if there is no hope in the power of the message to change the world? We can all concur that study and careful analysis of our audience are essential to powerful communication and effective ministry, but we do not all concur with the motivation behind these approaches.

From Chapel I was reminded once again that Biblical exposition is not mere intellect nor is it mere style, but it is a spiritual commitment to the work of God. Lewis’ innovative approach (though he attempts to make a historical case for it and fails in my opinion) is of great benefit, for he stresses that exegeting the audience is just as important as exegeting the text. Real life experiences, he says, is the climax of proclamation. Finally, Arturo Azurdia powerfully illustrates that the power of the Spirit in preaching is the reigning asset to effective declaration. All three authors’ emphasis build on this theme of renovation. Faithfulness to the Word is much more than simple academic exercise, but a conscientious desire to bring the nations to our great God.

It is the work of our God in recreating man and woman after His image that impels His modern prophets to exalt the glories of God in Christ. The renewal of this creation and the regeneration of the nations must be a powerful motivation in this day.

What illustrates true Biblical preaching? Is it the ability to decipher complex topical issues? Or is it your pulpit mannerisms? In recent times I have earnestly pursued to answer some of these questions in greater depth. After analyzing Brian Chapel (expository), Gregg Lewis (inductive), and Arturo Azurdia (Spirit-Led Preaching), I have come to conclude that methodologies in the pulpit are less than effective if the undergirding motivation is not cosmic renovation. After all, why preach if there is no hope in the power of the message to change the world? We can all concur that study and careful analysis of our audience are essential to powerful communication and effective ministry, but we do not all concur with the motivation behind these approaches.

From Chapel I was reminded once again that Biblical exposition is not mere intellect nor is it mere style, but it is a spiritual commitment to the work of God. Lewis’ innovative approach (though he attempts to make a historical case for it, and fails in my opinion) is of great benefit, for he stresses that exegeting the audience is just as important as exegeting the text. Real life experiences, he says, is the climax of proclamation. Finally, Arturo Azurdia powerfully illustrates that the power of the Spirit in preaching is the reigning asset to effective declaration. All three authors’ emphasis build on this theme of renovation. Faithfulness to the Word is much more than simple academic exercise, but a conscientious desire to bring the nations to our great God.

It is the work of our God in recreating man and woman after His image that impels His modern prophets to exalt the glories of God in Christ. The renewal of this creation and the regeneration of the nations must be a powerful motivation in this day.