January 27, 2025

The three things that matter most in real estate--
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
--matter in sermon preparation, too!

Many years ago, as a PAS student, I attended a Sunday evening service at a church (not CP) in McKenzie, Tennessee.

Armed with my notebook, my Bible, and several different color pens (always!), I was eager to hear a Word from the Lord.

Forty-two (yes, 42!) different scripture references later, I closed my notebook, my Bible, and my heart as the preacher continued to slap Bible verses together without so much as a passing nod to who said it or why.

If the verse had the word "prayer" in it, it was fair game.

It was not a strong sermon--though, in hindsight, it may have been a "Strong's" sermon (as in "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance," which, as far as I could tell, may have been the only book on this man's bookshelf).

This weekend, it hit me: that Sunday-night preacher in McKenzie was building a sermon (if you can call it that) the way my two-year-old grandson builds a Lego tower: any brick within his reach is the right brick to use next!

Of course, my grandson's real goal isn't to build a structurally sound tower that will endure the test of time (or even the mischief of his family's cat): his goal is to tell me the color of each block as he adds it to the tower and then to squeal in delight as the whole thing comes tumbling down.

We are not two-year-olds with a bucket full of Legos. We are preachers, tasked with "correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, AMPC).

In our sermons, "structural integrity" matters.

Whether you preach verse-by-verse through an entire book, organize your sermons around a topic or theme, or preach from one of the lectionaries, the rule is the same: exegete the text!

Look at the text in its immediate context. What happened just before this passage? What happens next? Consider how these verses fit in with the book as a whole.

Consider the original audience. Who was on the receiving-end of these words the first time? What do we know about their situation?

Play with the words. Read a variety of English translations. Look up key words in the original language. Take note of the original grammatical structure, which is often hard to translate into English.

Consider the literary genre. If this is a poem, expect poetic form and language (metaphor, parallelism, etc). If it's a story, pay attention to the plot, the problem, and the resolution.

Make sure you understand something about the people, places, events, and activities mentioned in the text. 

We don't do exegetical work so that we can share all that background information with the congregation. 

We exegete the text so that the message we share is properly rooted in the text and accurately represents the text's meaning. It's the foundation for a structurally-sound sermon.

WHY BIBLE BACKGROUND MATTERS

This six-and-a-half minute video is part of Asbury Seminary's "Seven Minute Seminary" series. I wonder: does that make Dr. Witherington an over-achiever or an under-performer?

Be sure to watch the whole video before you decide!

There are lots of excellent resources to help us understand a passage's context. Two I've found helpful (and easy to use!) are the IVP Bible Dictionary series and the Smyth & Helwys commentaries (including the commentary on 2 Corinthians written by our own Rev. Dr. Mitzi Minor). 

In today's video, Dr. Witherington mentions another resource: Craig Keener's "Bible Background" commentaries of the Old and New Testaments. If you are still building your library or if you are eager to try a different resource, here's some good news: you could win them for free!

Enter the drawing by Sunday (02/02/25) at 6 pm (Eastern). We'll announce the winner in next Monday's email!

An Online Learning Opportunity
presented by the Louisa Woosley Preaching Initiative 

Explore the elements of a Christian funeral
and the role of a preacher in it.

If you missed a week, or would like to go back and re-read something, you can find links to all the past issues of "Six Days 'til Sunday" at the bottom of our webpage.

The Louisa Woosley Preaching Initiative is a grant-funded program of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Our goal is to equip ministers and candidates for ministry to preach compelling sermons to today's diverse and often divided world. 

For more information about the initiative and our programs, visit our website.