11.23.2021 Focusing on the Word in a flood of Words.

Preaching requires lots of reading and lots of writing. During the typical week, we exegete the text to have an accurate understanding of what it says. We read that same passage of scripture in several translations to compare and contrast what we have discovered about the text with the common ways it has been rendered in the versions our people will be using on Sunday. We undertake all kinds of research to ensure that our message is Biblical, timely, and coherent. For the preacher, that means we spend a lot of time reading and writing words. Lots of words. One of the dangers in this business is that we are so completely surrounded by words that any single word, any one message can be lost in the flood. 

The most frightening risk of all is that amid all those words we lose sight of the Word. Nothing that you or I will write or say can replace the incarnate presence of the Word that became flesh and shared our historical space. The best that we can hope for is that what we say when we preach helps the gathered Body of Christ to better enflesh and exemplify what it meant and still means for the Word of God to have taken on flesh. 

As we enter the Christmas season we will focus on the incarnate presence of Christ in a very familiar way. Many of us will have more words to write and more words to say than we commonly do. We will be tempted to trot out tropes which are so well known that they risk being worn out. We will be tempted to say what everyone expects because after all…they are just words and what power do they really have? Well, according to scripture the words we speak when we are anchored to the Word convey life, redemption, and peace upon those who seek God’s favor. Give thanks this week for the blessings of the Gospel. And then next week let’s hit it hard because our congregations and communities will be waist-deep in a flood of words. It is our job to focus their attention on the Word which gives all words coherence and power.

Read Promiscuously

I sent an article I read in an online periodical to my friend Wes last week. It came from a source known to be liberal and Wes rightly noted where the journalist had stopped reporting and started carping. I did not agree with the article, I was just thrilled that in trying to unravel a theological topic the author had at least tried to dig a little deeper than the here and now. Even things one disagrees with tend to have some sort of a backstory. If you are trying to get your story straight, or even if you intend to twist the facts, it might help your readers a bit to dig deeper than the obvious and contemporary. 

As we do, Wes and I had a little back-and-forth (how else would a person learn anything?) about the topic and one of my answers was the following, one of my favorite parables from what has over the last 15 years become one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:47–50 ESV)

Now, I’ve never been a commercial fisherman as the Johnson and Zebedee boys were, but my grandpa taught me how to angle, and the principle is the same, even if the scale is different. You ought not, you cannot, and you will not take home every fish you catch. At some point, if you have had a successful day, you will sort out the “keepers” from the “tossers.” In fact, when fishing some ponds overcrowded with the Blue Gill (proud state fish of Illinois) it was not uncommon to just toss the ones too small to clean aside when caught. At any rate to be a fish catcher, professionally or recreationally involves fish sorting. There will be a time at the end of the day on the water when you must decide that you are not keeping the “trash” fish. And since by definition these fish are “trash” they will be trashed.

The point I was making with my friend, and which I am advancing to you now is that studying to preach can be compared to fishing. You are going to “catch more fish” than you can possibly use and some of them will be “trash” fish. If this is not regularly happening to you, you are not really studying. You are approaching your work and the tools that it takes to do the job with preconceived notions which you are simply looking to confirm. You are not seeking to engage new knowledge; you are seeking to feel comfortable with what you already know. Which is a shame. The world is complex. Knowledge is growing. How people understand the word is evolving. We must evolve with it. That means we are going to have to read deeply, widely, promiscuously. Yes, that word is designed to be provocative. It’s a good word if you react rightly. You dated before you got married. You looked around. You “fished.” Why else when we have our hearts broken would a cagey parent or adult friend say “well, there’s more fish in the sea.” It’s because Grandma, Grandpa, Zeke, or Bud—whoever was trying to comfort you knew that as soon as you got over the hurt you would put the fishing pole back on your shoulder and resume the quest.

If you are not reading things you disagree with, if you are not challenging yourself, you will not grow. If you are not wrestling with fish that you never will fry up for dinner, you’re not really fishing. If you are not walking over to the edge and peering over, you are missing both the risk and the reward of reaching beyond your comfort zones.

And this will impact your preaching. If you never write more than you can say in a particular sermon, if you never edit yourself, if you never look at a point and revise it, if you never have more on the cutting-room floor than you have in the sermon then you are already running on fumes. You are a fisherman who only catches what he can clean and eat right now. That is not a recipe for long-term success. It is the road map for disaster. 

It was not so long ago (call it 50, wait I’m 59 myself—make it 80 years ago) that the most widely read residents in most small towns were preachers. It was common for preacher-training books to recommend something like…

• Read a good daily and a good weekly newspaper.

• Read a couple of good weekly news magazines.

• Keep a novel going.

• Read poetry and criticism.

• Keep abreast of history

• Be conversant in the latest scientific developments.

That’s not even the “work” reading. Bible, Theology, Ethics, Church Administration, Congregational Life—these topics are “professional” reading. What is listed above is just keeping up with reality. In your congregation, you are the Biblical expert. If that expertise is to find some purchase in people’s hearts and minds you need to be well-read. It is never a waste of time to read. Never. You may not enjoy some of what you read. Some of it may insult you or make you angry. I’ve never eaten a Carp in my life. Just because you catch them does not mean you are obligated to eat them, just like you were not obligated to marry every girl you ever dated. 

This is important because informed people are harder to deceive. People who read widely understand that not everyone thinks the same way and that difference of opinion does not always signify moral failure. Some people are wrong, and some are uninformed. It is never good to be both. Catching many fish and becoming a qualified fish evaluator helps you to keep things in perspective. If you are to converge the horizon of the text with the horizon of living in the twenty-first century you need to keep abreast of what is going on socially and culturally. The people in your congregation are. People who work in the real world with real jobs know what’s going on. Do you?

Analyzing the Text

 

Let’s talk about exegesis. Specifically, your analysis of the texts you preach from each week. This week I am preaching from 1 Corinthians 11. In this text, I will focus upon the “communion” passage where Paul reminds the Corinthians of the purpose (dare I say purposes?) of this text. Beginning with verse 17 Paul uses the word “body” with three specific referents.

• The physical body of Jesus “broken for you.

• The emblematic body of Jesus, the bread, by which we remember His sacrifice.

• The assembled, Spirit-defined body which gathers around the table.

To some, this will seem like an eccentric analysis of the text. That is fine. It is, as far as I can tell, my analysis of the text. When I began my broad analysis of 1 Corinthians back in July one of my observations was the diverse way Paul uses the term body throughout the book. In that process, I settled on 1 Corinthians 11.27 as articulating one of the central issues Paul was confronting throughout the book.

“For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” (1 Corinthians 11:29 ESV)

Every issue Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians, in a book filled with issues, comes down to a failure on the congregation(s) or some part thereof to rightly discern the body in question.

✓ Conflict and factions are a result of not rightly discerning the Church, the body of Christ.

✓ Sexual immorality is a result of not rightly discerning our individual fleshly bodies.

✓ Lawsuits among believers are a result of not rightly discerning the Church, the body of Christ.

✓ Social conflict in the Church is a result of not rightly discerning the Church as the body of Christ.

✓ Confusion in worship is a result of not rightly discerning the Church as the body of Christ.

✓ Doctrinal error is a result of not rightly discerning the teaching of the body; the Church.

And finally, turning the Lord’s Table into a socially-driven food fight is the result of not properly discerning the above-mentioned bodies at issue in this particular text.

If you disagree with my analysis, fine. So long as that disagreement is driven by your analysis of the text. In the body of believers that meets at 118 N. Court in Grayville, Illinois it is my appointed task to exegete, analyze, interpret, and preach God’s Word. Where you preach or teach, that job is yours. Do the job.

Let me clarify what I mean by my analysis and yours and explain why this work is so important. I have many commentaries. Perhaps you do as well. Commentaries for the most part are the work of professional exegetes. Academics who have given their lives to this work. The work of professional, Academic study is important, but it is not the same thing as exegeting and applying Scripture where you and I live. Academics, even when they write with the Church and preachers in mind, are mainly writing for the Guild, for other scholars. I love C.K. (Kingsley) Barret’s commentary on 1 Corinthians. I have found Thiselton’s commentary on the Greek text to be very helpful. They don’t preach in Grayville. I do. It is my task to analyze and apply this text in my congregation. 

The rhythms for Academic study and work for the pulpit are different. Often Academics have invested enormous amounts of time in specific approaches to the text. Often their work goes back to the defense of their Doctoral dissertation decades ago. Their understanding of issues, such as authorship and dating, which can be more readily accommodated to the thoughts of others may change with time. After all, these are issues which are more fluid, to begin with, and one’s assessment of external evidence is more susceptible to the corrective critiques of others. They, as horseplayers say, have a lot of skin in the game, it is difficult to go back over one’s previous exegesis and say…” man I missed this.” 

For preaching the timeframe is far different. I know I have preached 1 Corinthians in the past. I know I have preached this specific text in the past. While I will always recheck my previous exegesis, and often find that I am still in agreement with what I thought, concluded, and wrote in the past, my mandate is this text, this congregation, this Sunday. By having gained trust from the congregation through faithfully leading them in the engagement of the Scriptures they know that they are getting “fresh bread” and that my intent is their needs here and now.

Some might object that they are too young, inexperienced, or unequipped. To rely on their reading of the text. You will get older, you will gain experience, you can get better. The question is how to improve. Let me close with a few suggestions. 

First, do not substitute the judgments of others for your own. None of the famous exegetes you read will be in your pulpit on Sunday. You will be there, and your sermon needs to be your work, including the analysis of the text. To gain experience you will want to check yourself with the experts, but not rely upon them. 

Secondly, develop a big-picture view of a Biblical book before exegeting and preaching from smaller portions. This brings us back to my familiar soapbox of sermon calendars. If you skip around the Bible from passage to passage, pericope to pericope, story to story you are just making it harder on yourself. You will be constantly trying to cram many months’ worth of work into a compressed time frame. You will become frustrated and start looking for shortcuts. 

Thirdly, read the text. Start there and you will be surprised at how many times you finish there. I am 14 sermons into 1 Corinthians. I’ve been studying the book since July. I have read and reread it. I have checked my initial analysis. It all comes back to the text. If you have the language skills work from the original. If you do not, work to get at least some skills with the text. Much of what I’m talking about can be done from your favorite translation. 

Finally, always be figuring out to communicate the texts you read in scripture. When asked by freshmen at St. Louis Christian College (my dying Alma Mater) if he knew a place that his questioner could preach Albert McGee had a pat answer. “Do you have a sermon ready? If you do I think God will find a place for you to preach it.” If you ever preach, you are always preparing. That preparation requires searching, directed prayer. That preparation requires detailed study. That preparation requires personal application of Biblical truth to your own life. That preparation requires the persistent question “What does this text say, and how shall I preach it?”

Love in the Age of Anger

       Remind me again who it is that Jesus calls me to love? 

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:44 ESV)

So, that would be everyone. Enemies as well as friends. Those who disagree with me as well as those who agree with me. In fact, the degree of difference, or their regard for me, does not enter the equation. If I love Jesus, and they do not, I am still to treat them with love, grace, and compassion.

         These are the people Jesus describes as “my neighbor.” Once again, my approach to them? I am to love them, serve them, pray for them. In this way, I am extending the love of Jesus to them. In this way, I am incarnating Jesus in my time and place. When I love my neighbor, I am contributing to the tent-pitching described in John 1.14 where John’s picturesque phrase says that Jesus pitched his tent amongst us. He has ascended leaving us to continue His work. His indwelling Spirit is not some quaint parting gift He gave as a memento or souvenir. The Holy Spirit enables Jesus’ Church to be His body in fact as well as in doctrine. It empowers us to pitch and re-pitch that tent of presence which facilitates God’s continuing work in the world. We are to be the body of Christ. The Bride of Christ. The presence of Christ.

         You might ask, “What about people who mistreat me or trample upon my rights!?” Let’s go over this one more time.

““But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,” (Luke 6:27 ESV)

Does that sound optional to you? Does Jesus imply that it is conditional? Is there some indication that this was a temporary mandate that worked back then but will not work in our worrisome, woke, 21c hostile culture? No! There is no indication that that was then and this is now. As the New Testament addresses life among the heathen in various cities and regions of the empire it stresses that our interaction with our neighbors should be typified by love, compassion, humility, grace, peace, and kindness.  When Paul, Peter, John, and James address our interaction with outsiders their instruction mirrors the words of Jesus. We are never called to belittle those outside the Church. We are not expected to exploit them. We are not called to exclude, hate, badger, fight with, or “own in argument” those outside the Church.

         “Doesn’t Jesus want us to; fight with unbelief, struggle for the faith, contend for the truth, defeat the enemies of God?” Yes. Kind of. If you properly understand how our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did those things and what He expects of us in turn.

“Matthew 16:24   Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24–25 ESV)

All these quotations from the New Testament must be making some of y’all dizzy. Far too much of our recent religious vs. irreligious, conservative vs. liberal, us vs them, good vs. evil conversation has been conducted with vague, quasi-Biblical, sort-of-Christian, corrosive language which denies many of the central behavioral expectations of the Gospel. Too many of us have unashamedly become fanged sheep, focused on power and influence in the world rather than Jesus-honoring discipleship. A naked, bleeding Jesus said

“And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.” (Luke 23:34 ESV)

Many who claim to wear His name have clearly forgotten the implications of cross-bearing that come with wearing His name. The cross we are called to bear is not a decoration. Submission is not an afterthought. Humility is not an option. Your love of your neighbor is not a suggestion. Never in the New Testament are we called to “win at any cost.” Never in the New Testament are we called to demean and belittle those who disagree with us. Never in the New Testament is it suggested that there are means to bringing about the Kingdom of God other than engaging in the hard, sacrificial, emptying work of discipleship.

         I should not have to say this. We have long feared the general Biblical illiteracy of the world, the callousness of our culture, and the angry pride of the age. I no longer fear those things because my long study of scripture has repeatedly reminded me that this is the baseline expectation for a fallen and unredeemed creation. My greater concern is that this ignorance, callousness, and anger now typifies the Church. Jesus died to spare the world, not to spank it. That is a colloquial and abbreviated summary of these verses which you know by heart—

“John 3:16  “For  God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16–17 ESV)

Much of the time I can’t tell if we have forgotten these words or have decided to simply ignore them. We like our anger. We like being oppositional. We like quoting the Bible when it suits our ideology but too many would never take it so seriously as to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. We make fun of those people. They are losers. They are suckers. Yet, Jesus said that those “meek will inherit the earth.” According to the Churches current behavior we should expect rather, to inherit the wind.

         How do we fix this? How do we bring the Church back into alignment with the clear teaching of scripture and the authoritative expectation of Jesus? Let me offer a few recommendations for how we can get the Church back on plumb.

 

1.  Read scripture to understand God’s will, not to assemble ammunition for the culture wars.

2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

3. Humility, integrity, submission.

4. Truthfulness always, in all contexts.

5. “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20 ESV)

6.  A disciple is not above his Master.

7. Forgive and forget. (“but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:15 ESV))

8. If you are a new Creation in Christ, act like it. (“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV))

 

I know that many of you will say “yeah but…” or “Whatabout…” Get over it. The New Testament is authoritative. Your hurt feelings, vain pride, wounded ego, and righteous indignation are not. Jesus needs disciples. Jesus called us to be disciples. The world needs disciples, not domineering thugs who will not be satisfied unless they get their way. 

    Some of you who will read this are also going to accuse me of being naive, unrealistic, or just plain wrong. Bring it, baby! Not your opinion. Not something you heard from some incendiary podcast which has a stake in maintaining the Church’s ignorance and anger. Let’s talk scripture. Let’s talk Gospel. Let’s examine what Jesus says about love, kindness, goodness, truthfulness, self-control. You may not agree with me, fine. The question is, do you have the temerity to take exception with Jesus? Are you willing to set aside the clear teaching of the New Testament to hang on to anger? Who is in charge of the 21st Century Church? Jesus or the forces of anger, fear, and conflict?  

    Yes, I have cited scripture without the broader surrounding context; but I have cited those scriptures on point.  If you are a Christian, if you claim that the Bible is authoritative, if you wish to please God; quit quoting it, quit referring to it, quit dragging Jesus into your pique of anger. Be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer.  Maybe try applying it. Maybe try living it. Jesus did. It got Him nailed to a cross. He's got one for me. He's got one for you. Do we love Him enough, do we trust Him enough to carry it to the top of that far way hill we sing of? Are we willing to die on it, or do we wish to nail others to it? This is the true test for loving disciples in the age of anger.