Text in Preaching (Part 2)

Jesus argued in his great “Sermon on the Mount” that until heaven and earth disappear, not even an iota or a keraia will vanish from the Scriptures. And those who luse (loosen or destroy) any bit of it “will be least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches (it) will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19 NIV). Unfortunately, in some churches, the Word of God is not only adhered to loosely, it is twisted to mean whatever people want it to mean. One could argue that contemporary Christianity is a combination of legalism and spiritualism wrapped up in Christian clichés.

Greater emphasis must be placed on the postmodern preacher’s job of doing careful exegesis, faithful practice, and proper instruction of biblical texts. This is what Paul was commending Timothy to do when he said, “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us” (2 Tim. 1:13-14 NIV). Training in the study, practice, and teaching of the Word is crucial for Christian leadership in every age, but especially in this postmodern era when texts and rational communication is deconstructed and dismissed as relative.

There is another enemy of proper Christian attention to the study, practice, and teaching of texts today; a uniquely postmodern erroneous belief in an antithesis between “head knowledge” and “spiritual knowledge.” This myth assumes that “spiritual” wisdom is something that drops out of the clear blue sky directly from God, rather than being something revealed by God to human minds and hearts. This is a great contributing evil to some of the chaos in our contemporary scene. Sincere, well-meaning men and women, chiefly because of an ignorance of basic biblical truths, teach heresy in the name of Christ. If proper exegesis of biblical texts is ignored, ignorance will be studied, practiced, and taught.

At our church, we are endeavoring to study, practice, and teach the Word of God together. The teachers are committed to faithfully exegeting the actual texts of the Scriptures. As previously mentioned, we teach through whole books of the Bible. We invite our congregation to test everything that is taught against their own understanding of the texts through personal study. The members of the team of teachers also hold one another accountable to be faithful representatives of the Word. We help one another, ask one another, commend one another, and forgive one another when we fail. The authentically Christian, postmodern preacher must be committed to be a serious student of the Word first, and then to be one who exposes the actual texts of God’s revelation to his/her congregation.

Text in Preaching (Part 1)

Daryl Johnson wrote, “That’s biblical preaching. That’s what we’re trying to do; taking a text, living in that text, inviting other people into that text, and allowing the text to speak its Word to us as unencumbered as possible by our distortions.”

The content of authentic Spiritual formation through preaching in the postmodern setting must continue to be the properly exegeted true text of the Christian Holy Scriptures. John Stott wrote, "Here, then, is the preacher’s authority. It depends on the closeness of his adherence to the text he is handling, that is, on the accuracy with which he has understood it and on the forcefulness with which it has spoken to his own soul. In the ideal sermon it is the Word itself which speaks, or rather God in and through His Word. The less the preacher comes between the Word and its hearers, the better. What really feeds the household is the food which the householder supplies, not the steward who dispenses it. The Christian preacher is best satisfied when his person is eclipsed by the light which shines from the Scripture and when his voice is drowned by the Voice of God." 

The great Old Testament preacher, Ezra, “devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel” (Ezra 7:10 NIV). He found himself leading the people of God during a time of transition into a new orientation. Yet he relied on what the leaders of the faith community had always done; leading the people in listening to the texts of God’s Word in their contemporary setting. He exegeted the Word to understand its logos content. He conveyed the Word in the pathos of living practice. He taught the Word in the context of his contemporary ethos.

There is a description of Ezra’s method in Nehemiah 8. He stood before the assembled people, opened the Word, and he (and other Levites) read it and interpreted it so that the people could understand it. The people responded in prayer, praise, weeping, and worship. They started with the text, applied it to their lives, and responded to it with faith. They did not begin with some topics that they thought their people needed to learn about and then find some proof texts to teach mere “traditions of men.” Rather, they let God speak through his revealing Word. Ezra simply read the text “from daybreak till noon” (Nehemiah 8:3 NIV) before he and the other priests instructed. Many evangelical churches today do not have even a short reading of the text as a part of their service outside of the sermon. This is utterly shameful!