Preaching on Money, Part 2
Preaching a “Big Story” series on money will naturally begin with God’s purpose for our relationship to the material world. Once we understand this, we are more prepared to understand how this relationship has been affected by sin, and how Christ has redeemed it. Here is a list of texts and ideas that could help us tell the story of money.
Examine the Text
Once you have chosen a text and gotten the big picture of the story around the text and the story behind the text, it’s time to have your own dialogue with the text. Resist the temptation to jump right into the verse by verse discussion in your favorite commentary, or listen to a sermon from your favorite preacher on the same passage. This will only give you second-hand information. You need to have your own conversation, your own encounter.
Moving Beyond “Christ and Culture”
You would be hard pressed to find a major discussion about Christianity and culture in the second half of the Twentieth Century that does not reference the work of ethicist H. Richard Niebuhr. His book Christ and Culture, published in 1951, defined the conversation for a generation. The book had wide and lasting influence for at least two reasons. First, it addressed a topic that many Christian thinkers considered to be of utmost importance. Second, it provided clear and satisfying handles for talking about ways Christians might respond to culture.
Preaching on Money, Part I
As a young pastor, I was reluctant to preach about money. At the time, however, I knew several older preachers who relished any opportunity to tackle the subject. I wondered why this was so. Did they just not care who they offended? Were they jaded to the financial demands on their hearers? Did they just not know that they ran the risk of feeding the “money-grabbing-preacher” stereotype that already existed in peoples’ minds?
Now that I’m an older preacher, I think I understand. The longer I live, the more I realize that the only thing that really matters in my ministry is to make disciples. And the longer I try to make disciples, the more clear it becomes that how we use our money is the truest measure of our discipleship, because it reveals where our treasure really is.
Review: Wired for Story
Can preachers learn anything from specialists in communication who have no direct interest in preaching? We’d better. In fact, we always have. From the New Testament onward, Christian preaching has “baptized” the prevailing rhetoric of each era in service of the gospel. For this reason, I occasionally like to read a book written by a contemporary rhetorician.
The Story Around the Text
Politicians and marketers may deliberately take words out of context to serve their own purposes, but could preachers do the same thing? We should give one another the benefit of a doubt. We need not assume deliberately malicious intent. But we should acknowledge that we sometimes pluck words, phrases, and verses out of their context to make a point that we want to make, regardless of their actual meaning.
Here’s the good news: Ignoring the literary context of a passage may be the most frequently-committed exegetical error among preachers, but it is also the easiest to correct. Here are some steps you can take to get the context right.
Warriors, Pacifists, and Diplomats: Preachers and Culture
A handful of choices define every preacher. From where will the message come? Will it offer answers gleaned from the social sciences, public opinion polls, celebrity talk show hosts, or political dogma? Or will it flow from the acts and words of God discovered and experienced in the Scriptures? What will the preacher’s sermons do? Will they instruct, leading to better informed hearers? Should they offer perspective, encouragement and comfort, leading to better adjusted hearers? Will they admonish and exhort, leading to better behaved hearers? Or will they seek transformation, leading to simply better, reborn, hearers?
These and other key issues fill the pages of every good Homiletics textbook. One question, however, which can, in subtle but powerful ways, define and drive a preaching ministry, is often overlooked: What is the preacher’s, and the sermon’s, relationship to culture? The answer to this question will make all the difference in the direction a preacher’s ministry will take.
Planning a Topical Sermon Series
Many preachers who share my conviction that the best preaching is “expository preaching” would also say that “expository preaching” requires that every sermon series be a meticulous verse-by-verse walk through a book of the Bible. Certainly there is great value and rich rewards in this kind of preaching ministry. However, you may at least occasionally (and perhaps quite often) feel you need to preach a series of sermons on a particular topic. Is it possible to be an expository preacher without limiting yourself to expository sermon series? I believe it is, but how you approach the planning of your topical series is important.
The Story Behind the Text
Not knowing the story behind a text can be like walking blindly into the middle of a conversation. There’s a very good chance you could miss the meaning altogether. This is why we begin to gain an understanding the big picture of a biblical text by studying its historical context.
Big Picture Study, Part I: It’s All About Context
The temptation of any busy preacher is simply to listen to the voices of trusted guides (study helps, commentaries, other preachers, etc) in our journey from the biblical text to the sermon. In most cases, they can get us from “A” (the words of the text before us) to “B” (the meaning of the text before us) efficiently and accurately. However, our goal is not just to get from “A” to “B,” but to guide others in their own journeys from the text to its meaning, and to the demands, encouragement, and perspective it brings to their lives. For this, we need to know the terrain, to explore the lay of the land, to have the big picture.
Which Comes First — The Need or the Text?
Where do you begin your sermon preparation – with a contemporary need, or with a biblical text? This is a trick question, and you should not fall for it. Be careful neither to emphasize human need to the neglect of the text, nor to emphasize the text to the neglect of human need. To do the former is to wallow in a quagmire of questions with no real answers. To do the latter is to try to preach the Bible while missing the point of the Bible.
Living in Contentment: Philippians 4:10-20
As Paul brings his epistle to a close, he offers a heartfelt “thank you” to the church in Philippi for the gift they had sent to alleviate his distress. In the middle of this “thank you,” however, he assures them that the primary reason for his joy in their giving is not because of the benefit that he had gained by receiving it, but the benefit that they had gained by giving it. At the core of this attitude was his deep contentment in life …
Towards A “Big Story” Homiletic
How do we go about intentionally establishing a ministry of “big story preaching?” We need a “big story homiletic” that could secure a metanarrative thread in every sermon. Such a homiletic will need to weave the big story into its theology, its hermeneutic, its cultural engagement, and its application of the text.
Review: Biblical Theology and Preaching
Must Christ be preached from every text? Is it realistic, or even right, to expect that every sermon should proclaim the Gospel? Can you be true to the original intent of the human author behind the text while also tying it to the grand intent of the divine author over the text? Graeme Goldsworthy would answer each of these questions with a resounding “yes!”
Beating the Bane of Monday
I used to have a cartoon clipping on my desk portraying the weekly evolution of a pastor. It was a chart, patterned after those old “evolution of man” illustrations. On Monday, the pastor was collapsed like a puddle on the floor. On Tuesday, he was crawling. Each day he progressed a bit more until Sunday, when he was erect, composed, dressed and in his right mind, ready to take on the world. Then, on Monday, he was a puddle again, and the whole thing started over.
If you’re like me, you’ve experienced those Mondays. The highs and lows of Sunday have left you physically, mentally, emotionally, and perhaps even spiritually depleted. I’m pretty sure Jeremiah wrote Lamentations on a Monday. A lot of preachers I know take Monday off, but I never did — just because I didn’t want to spend my day off feeling so worn out. Besides, taking Monday off just postpones the inevitable. Yesterday’s sermon is history, but Sunday is only six days away. Better to go ahead and get back to work.
Living in Peace: Philippians 4:6-7
In this final chapter of his epistle, Paul begins with a section addressed in a very personal way to his dearly loved brothers in Philippi. The opening verses of Philippians 4 (v. 2-9) are bound together by the common theme of “peace.” Sandwiched between verses on either side that address the issue of peace among the brothers are two verses (6-7) that address the issue of peace within ourselves.
What does the “Big Story” Do?
We are all shaped by a story. The question is, which story will it be? For disciples of Jesus, this life-shaping story is the Gospel. Before we turn to specifics of how to integrate the “big story” into our preaching, we should ask another question: What are the goals of Big Story Preaching?
How do we expect the grand narrative of the Scriptures to form disciples of Jesus? I will focus on four ways: The big story defines identity, shapes worldview, informs and guides mission, and creates community.
Review: Reading for Preaching
One of my missionary supervisors once told me that the first step towards connecting with the secular Europeans with whom we wanted to share the Gospel was simply to “be an interesting person.” Cornelius Platinga’s book, Reading for Preaching, has just such a goal in mind.
Getting Started Without Getting Stuck
Maybe your pastor, for a reason clear to him but a mystery to you, has asked you to preach. Or you are going on a mission trip, and every member of the team must be prepared to speak. Or you are the designated preacher for your family reunion. Or perhaps you are a new pastor, suddenly overwhelmed with the responsibility of preaching at least once each week.
Whatever the reason, you are faced with the daunting task of bringing a word from God to the people of God. Where do you begin?
living in Harmony: Philippians 4:4-5, 8
The gospel not only heals our relationship with God, it heals our relationship with others, beginning with the body of Christ. We can’t live in gospel reconciliation and be at odds with our brothers and sisters in the family of God.