2003 Shepherd's Conference, A Ministry of Grace Community Church 818.909.5530. © 2003 All Rights Reserved. Grace Community Church. A CD, MP3, or tape cassette copy of this session can be obtained by going to www.shepherdsconference.org
Topical Preaching on Trial
(Handout – Study Notes)
Considering the Legitimacy of Topical Messages
Vice President for Academic Administration and
Professor of Bible and Old Testament, The Master’s Seminary
Jesus expounded the Scriptures powerfully (Mark 1:22), but not always verse by verse. He sometimes spoke topically, using many different Old Testament Scriptures as the basis of His teaching. Sometimes He touched on a specific theme or aspect of theology, such as:
A. The nature of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13)
B. Divorce (Matthew 19)
C. Prayer (Matthew 6, Luke 11)
D. An historical event (Luke 13:4ff) or character (Matthew 12:41ff)
II. Benefits
A. Variety
B. Depth
“Topical preaching has a venerable place in the history of the craft. Its legitimacy is seen in the validity of biblical and systematic theology. While this should not be the first choice of the pastor-teacher, every pastor will preach topically on occasion. . . . Because the topical sermon can be more relentlessly unitary, one discovers that any list of the ten sermons which have most decisively influenced world culture and society consists mostly if not entirely of topical sermons” (Larsen, Anatomy of Preaching, 31).
C. Address a Pressing Need
D. Develop Doctrines More Fully
E. Touch on Topics Otherwise Left Untouched
F. Preach on Topics of Interest
III. Precautions
Topical Preaching is the most difficult to do! Why?
A. Relies too Heavily on Non-biblical Resources
B. Reads into the Text
“To the extent that this kind of preaching uses the Bible at all, it does so to exploit or devour it and not to listen to it, let alone to stand under it and be guided by it. . . . [They] are using the text as its masters rather than serving the text as its ministers” (Stevenson, In the Biblical Preacher’s Workshop, 196).
C. Focuses on Problem, not Solution
“Subject preaching is the orator’s method par excellence. It lends itself to finished discourse. But it has its dangers. The preacher easily becomes interested in finding subjects that are interesting and readily yield a good oration rather than such as have a sure Christian and scriptural basis or such as come close home to the needs of his people. He is tempted to think more of his ideas and his sermons than of ‘rightly dividing the word of truth’ and leading men into the Kingdom of God. He is in danger also of preaching in too narrow a field of truth and human need, since of necessity he will be drawn to those subjects that interest him personally or with which he is already familiar. Unless, therefore, he is constantly widening his horizon by diligent study, he will soon exhaust his resources” (Broadus, Preparation & Delivery of Sermons, 136-7).
D. Repetitive/Hobby Preaching
E. “He’s Preaching at Me”
“A sermon should not start with the subject as such; it should start with the Scripture which has in it a doctrine or theme” (Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, 72).
Consequently, unless the Scriptures constitute the basis for all the structural elements of a sermon and unless the expositor labors diligently in the context of each of the texts he cites, a sermon will inevitably lack the power of the Word of Truth rightly divided, and hearers will be misled, both in the substance of what is taught and in the example of Bible study methodology. “The preacher must lead his people into the text, not away from it” (Koller, Expository Preaching Without Notes, 22).
IV. General Principles
Some underlying principles are well defined and very specific, applying more directly to one type of sermon structure than to another. Other guidelines are more generic and give equally significant direction for all types. General principles will be reviewed next and, after this, specific guidelines will be outlined.
A. When to Preach a Topical Sermon
“Topical sermons most readily suggest themselves for special days and events of the year. But the faithful preacher must beware that the incessant clamor of special days and events of the year for recognition does not prove a temptation to lure him from true Bible exposition. [Special days] tend to crowd out solid exposition of the Bible and to displace it with superficial preaching deficient in Biblical content and appeal” (Unger, Expository Preaching, 52).
B. How to Preach a Topical Sermon
These underlying principles are essentially the same for all sermons. However, topical sermons are extremely vulnerable to particular shortcomings. Consequently, the fundamental principles of preparation require constant attention in this type of preaching.
1. Contextual Analysis
Contextual analysis requires attention to both the remote and the immediate contexts.
2. Historical Analysis
Often overlooked, but can be tremendous.
3. Literary Analysis
Basically looks at the type of literature in which the text is found. Is it biography, history, letter, proverb, parable, or what?
“Literary genres and forms are not simply neutral containers used as convenient ways to package various types of written communication. They are social conventions that provide contextual meaning for the smaller units of language and text they enclose. The original significance that a literary text had for both author and reader is tied to the genre of that text, so that the meaning of the part is dependent upon the meaning of the whole” (Aune, NT in Its Literary Environment, 13).
Each genre embodies characteristics that are distinctive; thus, each requires attention to its own unique interpretive principles.
Placing the preaching text within the broader contextual, historical, and literary framework of the biblical author simply extends to the Bible the same courtesy that we extend to the morning newspaper. Only when that is done will one grasp the authorial intent and release the power of the “rightly divided” Word. These principles elicit a commitment of time and energy, and generally do not yield instant results. Yet their fruit is sweet and the rewards great for using them.
V. Specific Principles for Thematic Preaching
A. Guidelines
1. Choose __________________
“Preachers are called to be ministers of the word of God. This means that the sermon should be much more than ‘one man’s opinion’; the sermon should be the word of God. . . . A sermon is the word of God only to the extent that it faithfully proclaims the word of God in the Bible” (Greidanus, The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text, 123).
“As you start preparing your sermon you must begin with the exposition of your passage or single verse. This is essential, this is vital; as I have said, all preaching must be expository. You do not start with a thought, even though it be a right thought, a good thought; you do not start with that, and then work out an address on that. You must not do that . . .” (Lloyd Jones, Preaching and Preachers, 75).
2. Research ____________ _____________
3. Choose ____ ____________________ __________
“The more special the subject, the more you will find to say on it. Take it as a general rule, the more you narrow the subject, the more thoughts you will have. . . . It requires vast knowledge and a mature mind to treat a general subject, such as virtue, or honor, and it is much better to begin with particular instances” (James Alexander, Thoughts on Preaching, 512).
Occasionally it is desirable to preach on a broad subject, such as on exposition of a whole book of the Bible in one sermon. The benefit of this type of message is that it affords people a comprehensive grasp of the contents and significance of the whole before it is broken into its parts.
B. Tools
1. A good English concordance
2. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 10 vols., ed. by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (Eerdmans)
3. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. 2 vols., ed. by Archer, Harris, and Waltke (Moody)
4. Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Revell)
5. W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Revell)
6. Dictionary of New Testament Theology, 3 vols., ed. by Colin Brown (Zondervan)
7. Numerous books on preaching for special occasions, such as Herbert Lockyer's All the Holy Days and Holidays (Zondervan)
8. Your own file is one of the best, if you have been faithfully reading, clipping, and storing away. It is imperative that you have a good filing system, one that permits you to retrieve the appropriate materials quickly
VI. Specific Principles for Theological Preaching
A. Guidelines
“Doctrine, i.e., teaching, is the preacher’s chief business. To teach men truth, or to quicken what they already know into freshness and power, is the preacher’s great means of doing good. The facts and truths which belong to the Scripture account of sin, providence, and redemption, form the staple of all scriptural preaching. But these truths ought not simply to have a place after a desultory and miscellaneous fashion in our preaching. The entire body of Scripture reaching upon any particular subject, when collected and systematically arranged, has come to be called “doctrine” of Scripture on the subject . . . ; and in this sense we ought to preach much on the doctrines of the Bible. We all regard it as important that the preacher should himself have sound views of doctrine; is it not also important that he should lead his congregation to have just views?” (Broadus, 60).
B. Tools
1. John Gill, A Body of Divinity (Sovereign Grace)
2. John MacArthur, The Ultimate Priority (Moody)
3. John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus (Zondervan)
4. John MacArthur, God, Satan, and Angels (Moody)
5. John MacArthur, God With Us (Zondervan)
6. John MacArthur, Heaven (Moody)
7. John MacArthur, The Charismatics (Zondervan)
8. John MacArthur, The Love of God (Zondervan)
9. John MacArthur, The Master's Plan for the Church (Moody)
10. Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity (Sovereign Grace)
Best to begin with the Scriptures themselves and thereby, in essence, write one’s own theology. This cannot be encouraged too strongly! The freshness of the material and the rewards of discovery will exceed what can be gained from a study of theology books. After one’s own study, theology books become excellent resources for reinforcement and enhancement.
VII. Specific Principles for Historical Preaching
“In the Bible the designs of Providence are not left to be judged of by our sagacity but are often clearly revealed, so as to show us the meaning of things obscure and the real co-working of things apparently antagonistic. Thus the Bible histories act like the problems worked out in a treatise of algebra, teaching us how to approach the other problems presented by the general history of the world. The oft-quoted saying of an ancient writer that ‘history is philosophy teaching by example’ applies nowhere so truly as to the inspired records, which are God himself teaching by example” (Broadus, 71).
A. Guidelines
B. Tools
1. Merrill C. Tenney, ed., The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Zondervan)
2. James B. Pritchard, ed., The Harper Atlas of the Bible (Harper & Row)
3. Paul L. Maier, trans. & ed., Josephus, The Essential Writings (Kregel)
4. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Eerdmans)
5. J. Alberto Soggin, A History of Ancient Israel (Westminster)
6. Michael Grant, The History of Ancient Israel (Scribners)
7. F.F. Bruce, New Testament History (Doubleday)
8. Richard L. Niswonger, New Testament History (Zondervan)
9. Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Eerdmans)
VIII. Biographical Preaching
A. Guidelines
Biblical biographical preaching must be seen first within the context of the Bible’s theme. Biographies form an integral part of the whole of sacred history and serve a very specific purpose in the delineation of that history. For this reason, they must be seen first as a part of the larger picture.
· Remember—the Bible was not given to reveal the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but to reveal the hand of God in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
B. Tools
The Scriptures abound with men and women from every walk of life, for example, kings, beggars, housewives, zealots, and servants. Biblical material is not lacking, nor are helpful books.
1. John MacArthur, Jr., The Master’s Men (Moody)
2. Richard Mayhue, A Christian’s Survival Guide (Victor)
3. Gene Getz, Joseph (Regal)
4. Elmer Towns, History Makers of the Old Testament (Victor)
5. Herbert Lockyer, All the Apostles of the Bible (Zondervan)
6. Herbert Lockyer, All the Men of the Bible (Zondervan)
7. Herbert Lockyer, All the Women of the Bible (Zondervan)
8. Herbert Lockyer, All the Children of the Bible (Zondervan)
9. Herbert Lockyer, All the Kings and Queens of the Bible (Zondervan)
10. J. D. Douglas & Merrill C. Tenney, The New International Dictionary of the Bible (Zondervan)
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Shepherd's Conference Collection" by:
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