Archive for Text Driven Preaching
Baptists? Methodists? Presbyterians? Charismatics?
Posted by: | CommentsSomething that I’ve been observing for quite some time now, and especially here lately, is that a lot of people, who belong to Baptist Churches, could join a Church of another denomination and couldn’t tell any difference. I can’t tell you of the people that I have heard say things like…”Well, there’s not that much difference between us Baptists and the Methodists, right?” Inside of me, I’m screaming, “Yes! Yes! How could you even begin to think that?” I’ve heard people make the comment that there’s really not that much difference between us and the Assembly of God Church, or the Presbyterians. And, in my sinking heart, I’m thinking, “What? How could you be a member of a Baptist Church for so long of a time and not know that there’s a huge Read More→
Missing the Point of the Text
Posted by: | CommentsI have passed the half-way point of my two week seminars here at Southwestern. Because of my blogging slavemaster friend, Wes Kenney, 
I find myself writing a post instead of working on my DMin assignments. Yet I am reminded of why I entered this program back in 2007. At that time I would have considered myself an expository preacher, but today, as I look back, I was anything but one. Back then I would taken a text like Genesis 39 and the incident of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife and preached on how to keep oneself from sexual sin. I would have used the lives of both Joseph and of Potiphar’s wife to illustrate techniques and habits that could help in keeping oneself pure. I would have proclaimed, “Be like Joseph!” while missing the point of the text. Yes, my sermon may have been biblically true on those points, but it would not have been scripturally based according to the original intent of Genesis 39. In all this, I would have claimed to be an expositor of the scriptures. I was wrong and I knew I needed to change.
A Text Driven Devotion
Posted by: | CommentsBelow is a brief devotional I was asked to compose for the Stillwater News Press. Further down, after the devotion, I will provide some analysis on how I came up with my four points, specifically focusing on verse thirteen of the passage.
People search for answers during tough times. There is no doubt that things are getting tougher for many. But, how can the community of faith navigate through difficult times? The Apostle Peter (1 Peter 1:13-25) offers us four checkpoints to follow. First, while in this world, we are to look beyond our present situation to the grace we will fully realize when Jesus returns for His church. While things may be unstable here, we can be assured of our hope in Jesus when he returns to set this fallen world straight. Second, while in this world, we are to live our lives in a manner that reflects a growing holiness in our actions that stems from a relationship with Jesus. The old ways that was conducted in worldly ignorance must not be our habit as Jesus is now our new example. Third, we are to do all things with reverence, not with sloppy aimlessness. The Father gave the most precious thing He could, His Son, and the lives of those who call upon the name of the Lord should reflect the price that was paid to redeem them from their iniquity. Finally, we are to love one another in the community of faith. Not superficially, but in such a way that the true believer displays passion and finds pleasure in loving his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Our closest friends and confidants should be found in the household of God and it is where we should find our greatest encouragement. Ultimately, our love comes from God and we are able to love during difficulty because God has brought us to a new birth that was supernaturally seeded by His Word. The answer to these tough days is Jesus as told to us in the scriptures. May all who are being transformed by His Holy Writ search for Him, live in Him, honor Him, and love each other through Him.
A Resource for Text-Driven Preaching
Posted by: | CommentsI do not claim to be a Greek scholar, which is why I need all the tools I can get in order to understand the Greek text. I also don’t believe that one must have a working knowledge of Koine Greek in order to preach the Word. But, if you are blessed to be able to attend seminary, I highly suggest investing in the biblical languages that are being taught. Frankly, at the master’s level, I could never understand why a seminary would offer a MDiv without an intense study in the original languages. I am glad to see that fault has been corrected at Southwestern and now one must take all the language requirements in order to graduate.
One of the things we seek to do at SBC Today is to provide resources to pastors and teachers of the Word. With that intent in mind I point you to the web site, OpenText.org. The purpose of this site is to help the Bible preacher/teacher to understand the semantic structure of the text. I believe that the Bible is God’s inspired Word and in that understanding I also believe it has been inspired even to the semantic structure in the clauses and how they relate to each other.
How sentences are formed conveys meaning. Within the Greek text there are primary and secondary clauses. The primary clause conveys the main thought with the secondary clause further expanding and explaining what was originally said in the primary clause. When we correctly understand what the author was trying to convey in the sentence, we are driven to focus on the main thought and allow the secondary or subordinate thoughts feed it rather than focusing on those subordinate clauses.
One of the primary problems with topical or seeker-sensitive, “felt needs” preaching is when the preacher comes to the text with an idea and picks scriptures out of context according to that idea. In doing so he makes the mistake of eisegesis, or implanting his understanding into the text. Eisegesis means we no longer explore what the meaning was to the author, we are now in pursuit of what the text means to us at this time. For example in 1 Peter 2:24 it states, “for by His wounds you were healed.” Many “word of faith” preachers use this verse to support their promise of physical healing from sickness and disease. Yet, when we look at this verse, we see that this phrase is actually a subordinate clause to what was previously said of Jesus bearing our sins on His body so that we would die to sin and we would live to righteousness. In fact it ultimately goes back to verse 21 speaking of Christ’s example for us to follow during times of suffering.
What OpenText.org does is clearly show the semantic structure of the text which allows the preacher/teacher of God’s Word to see how the clauses fit together. It helps us focus on the central idea or primary clause. When the structure is understood and applied with other tools of interpretation then the meaning of the scripture can be understood and conveyed by means of illustration and application. When you click over to the site, you will need to read the introduction and guidelines in order to understand their system. A working knowledge of Greek is also helpful, but if you have don’t know the Greek, an interlinear can provide some assistance in making sense of what each word means.
While a return to expository preaching is a must, we can be fooled by diverse definitions of expository preaching. What I believe we should encourage is a movement to “text driven” preaching that allows the meaning that is conveyed in the structure itself to guide us in structuring our sermons. OpenText.org is an excellent resource on the web that greatly helps in recognizing this structure. And for seminary students, it is also a great tool that can be of great benefit when used for study in the classroom.
