Keep going - Acts 18:1-23

Sermon on Acts 18:1-23. (I'm aware my blog has been nothing but a sermon repository lately!)

Was pretty tired, so by the time we got to the evening - I was finding even singing difficult!

Sermon prep. I think I figured early on that this passage functioned as encouragement, so getting the main point wasn't quite as hard as the last sermon. But trying to figure out the constituent parts as well as appropriate illustrations/implications/applications turned out to be hard work! I was much more indebted to the commentaries this time around; in fact, I think I was a bit too reliant on them. For background on Corinth, I looked at Scot Hafemann's entry on the Corinthians in Dictionary of Paul and his letters. For theological insights into the text, Peterson (Pillar) and Larkin (IVPNTC) were helpful. I also thought of specific people in the congregation as I wrote this. If time permitted, I would have liked to spend an additional minute or so thinking through the socio-political consequences in our context as the outworking of point 4.

Pacing of this sermon could have been better too. On the whole, I thought this passage came up at an opportune time though, and I hope that every single one of us, me included, were encouraged by this portion of God's word. God was gracious, for I know at least one person for whom this struck home.

Outline:
Weary in the city?

A tourist's guide to Corinth (v.1)

What does God say?
1. Keep trusting! Because God is always working out his plan wherever we are (v.2-4)
2. Keep persevering! Because God's gospel always provokes division (v.5-8)
- The watchman in Ezekiel (rf. Ezekiel 3:16-21, 33:1-20)
3. Take courage! For God is with us always (v.9-11)
4. Be confident! For God can and does use anyone to advance his purposes (v.12-17)
5. Be thankful! For God is all of grace (v.18-23)

Keep going!

Latest sermon - Gospel unleashed!

My latest sermon, on Acts 16:6-40. This was recorded, as is custom, at the first/morning service.

I was unwell that day (at the 2nd service people commented on how tired I looked), but I don't think I realised how low on energy I was until I listened to myself here! I'm pretty flat. At the evening service apparently I was a bit more alive. Thanks to a couple of friends who showed up for moral support.

In terms of prep, surprisingly, I barely consulted any commentaries for this one. Graham Beynon in the Explore Bible reading notes (April-June 2010) and a sermon by Sinclair Ferguson which I listened to were largely helpful. Whenever I looked at a commentary, it was FF Bruce in the NICNT that I turned to, which gave useful background info. Sermon structure was especially hard to crack; took me ages to find something for the sermon to hang on. This is the longest sermon I've ever written.

There was a powerpoint, which was basically the map, and some Scripture references.

Here's the outline:
Gospel Unleashed!

Intro: words words words

The gospel is God's heart for the world (v.6-10)

The gospel is God's power
...to open hearts (v.11-14)

...to unite believers (v.15)

...to liberate (v.16-20)

...that provokes (v.21-24)

...even in bleak times (v.25-34)

The gospel drives Paul's actions (v.35-40)

Song sung in response: Be Thou my Vision

Word ministry - on clarity and failure

Two recent posts from The Gospel Coalition that are particularly relevant to Word ministry.

Andrew Lisi: I believe the great task of any Christian – from early believer to seasoned theologian or pastor – is to take the unique language of Scripture and theology and make it accessible to those who have not been exposed to any of it without losing the essence of what God is communicating in His Word. I am constantly learning how difficult of a task it really is, especially because I also believe we must retain the clear language of the Bible.

David Murray: And we take all our failures to our unfailing Lord for His full and free forgiveness. We take our failed evangelism, our failed sermons, our failed pastoral visits, and our failed counseling to the Lord, and pour out our hearts to Him: "Lord, I’ve messed up another sermon...I’ve forgotten to visit that needy soul…I was too scared to speak about you to my fellow-passenger...I’ve misjudged the mood of my elders...I’ve unnecessarily offended that family who left...I was insensitive in counseling...I’m paying for breaking a confidence..."

But as we confess our failures, we experience the Lord’s unchanging and unconditional love. And we re-emerge...humbler and weaker, but wiser and happier too.

As always, both posts worth reading in its entirety.

A Crescendo of Wonder: a Good Friday sermon

The events of Good Friday are utterly breath-taking. We celebrate nothing less than this: "that God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:20).

We are talking here about something that happens at the very foundations of the universe. Call it cosmic redemption, ontological healing, metaphysical reconciliation, the Bible's version of Star Wars, or whatever helps you think about the largest, most ultimate reality, the "Really Real," capital R, capital R.

And it is all accomplished through what seems like a paradox. "Making peace through the blood of his cross" is like saying that a nuclear missile has become an olive-branch, that Guantanamo has become a garden of healing, that a sword has been turned into a plowshare, that a tank has been turned into a tractor. The very thought of it leaves us weak in the knees with astonishment.

Keep reading...

Preaching on the ultimate treasure

Talk about getting thrown into the deep end! After preaching a full sermon for the first time a few weeks ago, I preached at 3 services yesterday. Obviously ppl haven''t been put off by me...yet. :) We're about to start a series finishing off Matthew (chapters 26-28), and I had Matthew 26:1-16, where the woman pours perfume all over Jesus. I think I found the passage personally beneficial as well, as like most of us, I struggle to treasure Jesus from day to day.

For what it's worth, you can actually download it here. Unfortunately, the sound quality is not very good. But if you right click and save it, and then turn the volume up, you can catch most of what I'm saying, I think. This was recorded at the first service, where I was probably the least fluent, so you can catch a few stumbles here and there. It's the same sermon at all 3 services, but with some slight variations. The first service has more families and some expats, so one section of application and language was adjusted accordingly. I applied one point differently at the other services, and allowed myself a tiny bit more local expression. The first minute is me just making some preliminary remarks and praying, and the sermon starts a minute in.

The Bible version used is the ESV. There was an outline to follow, roughly reproduced here:
---
Introduction: King of Kings, Majesty?

Jesus' teaching in Matthew's Gospel

The setting (v.1-2)

The characters
The chief priests and the elders (v.3-5)

The woman and the disciples (v.6-13)

    - Grace and poverty (2 Cor. 8:1-9)

Judas (v-14-16)

    - OT background: Faithful and unfaithful shepherds (Zec. 10:1-11:14)

Jesus, our Treasure
---

The song sung right before the sermon was King of Kings, Majesty (Jarrod Cooper) and the song offered in response was I Will Offer up my life (Matt Redman)

On making your preaching debut in your home church

So I've just read this a few minutes ago... (HT: JT)

Your first few sermons are always terrible, no matter who you are.

If you think your first few sermons are great, you’re probably self-deceived. If the folks in your home church think your first few sermons are great, it’s probably because they love you and they’re proud of you. If it’s a good, supportive church there’s as much objectivity there as a grandparent evaluating the “I Love You Grandma” artwork handed to them by the five year-old in their family...

So what?

The great thing about Christian ministry is that Jesus doesn’t start all over again with his church every generation. He gives older men in ministry who shape, disciple, and direct younger men in ministry. This includes (although it’s not limited to) critiquing your sermons...

...Your bad sermon says nothing about your future. If you’ve got folks in your life saying, “Hey, that was a really bad sermon,” that does indicate something about your future, so praise God for it. It’s probaby a sign that God has something for you to say, for the rest of your life.

:D Absolutely right. Well, no one told me it was bad this morning. Although I'm very glad no one said outright: "That was a good talk." That's one of the worse things to hear, because you're never quite sure what the definition of "good" is. Are you just being polite? Did you like the sound of my voice? (Doubtful). I remember the first evangelistic talk I gave and a non-Christian came up afterwards to thank me for a "good" talk. I winced internally, because to me it was clear the challenge of Jesus' claims had completely passed him by. It's more gratifying when someone says, as happened this morning: "That's the word we all needed to hear." And even more specific adjectives, like "clear", are preferable, I think.

I suppose the one disappointing, though not entirely surprising, thing for me is that my parents, who heard me speak for the first time today, just didn't really quite know what to make of it; both the point of the talk, and the fact that it was their son who was giving it. They discussed some of the other items which were shared this morning, but they pointedly avoided any discussion of mine. One rule I sometimes use in writing talks is: would my mum get the main point? And maybe I failed.

The other thing that's really difficult, of course, is for the preacher to consciously point away from oneself. The lines from Kate Wilkinson's hymn is one I will constantly need to repeat to myself: "And may they forget the channel / Seeing only him".

Speaking this Sunday

I'm going to be speaking for the first time at the main service this Sunday for my home church. Probably close to 15 minutes (I got allocated 10 but I just know I'm going to overshoot, although I'll try my best to keep it short)! I'll also be briefly interviewed beforehand. I'll be speaking from Ephesians 4:7-16, and my brief is to encourage people to think through "ministry".

I am going to be soooo nervous - do pray for me! A prophet is never welcome in his home country blah blah blah...just kidding...

"that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope"

I didn't make it to the Klang Valley Bible Conference, but I did get to listen to Dr. Bryan Chapell's sermon at City Discipleship Presbyterian Church on Romans 15. It was food for the soul, causing me to marvel at our faithful and merciful God once again. Have a listen here.

(HT: The Agora)

Dude, where's my Bible?

I, and I know others as well, was really struck by an extended metaphor in yesterday's sermon. It's actually quite cheesy, absurd even. But maybe that's part of its staying power. It was certainly effective, stubbornly refusing to disappear like that stain on my kitchen table.

Imagine the Bible in my car. Where would it be? At this point, I thought we would be heading towards the Bible as engine, but that's not where we ended up. Is it

1. in the boot? Out of sight, out of mind? Something we sort of know is there, but in practice it may as well not exist?
2. in the backseat? Like an annoying backseat driver whom we just want to chuck out, or at least tune out?
3. in the front seat? We appreciate him as a conversation partner, a dispenser of good advice, and hey, like a good map, frequently worth consulting. But it's us that's still in the driving seat.
4. in the driving seat? Allowing it to lead us wherever we are?

This is actually a very helpful taxonomy and really gave me pause as to whether I'm allowing God's word to shape me as it should.

The literary critic George Steiner makes a point worth considering in relation to this. In a well-known essay, Steiner distinguishes between a critic and a reader. While recognising that this antithesis is, in reality, a false one, he employs it to make a salient point about how we approach a text. The "critic" becomes the judge and master of the text, whereas a "reader" is servant to the text. The former retains a distance, the latter attempts to draw near. But the former, in doing so, turns the text into a commodity; he empties it of any "real presence". Steiner is not dismissing criticism per se, that's his vocation after all! But only as readers first can we offer proper respect to the text, and by implication, its author. To be a "critic" first and foremost only serves to stoke the ego.

I think that's where the danger lies as we struggle to be disciples of Jesus. As we seek to "grow up in our salvation" (1 Peter 2:2), we sometimes confuse our increasingly sophisticated reading of the Bible with genuine Christ-like maturity. The pastor-scholar Dan Doriani, commenting on James 1:19-21, very insightfully maps out the potential pitfalls. As a new Christian, our reading might be naive and devotional. We have our highlighter pens out, as we earnestly desire to hear God's voice. Hopefully, we learn to be better readers, placing texts in their contexts. Maybe we even advance to becoming technical readers, with knowledge of Greek, biblical culture etc. As part of the community of believers, we become technical-functional readers, personally detached, even as we share our insights with others. But what we really need, Doriani suggests, is to become technical-devotional readers. Every technical skill remains, but we need to rediscover that child-like desire to let the word speak directly to our hearts again.

I currently read the Bible one-to-one with a younger Christian. And I increasingly see that unless I allow the Bible to really speak to me, to probe me, to be "consumed by the text", to use Steiner's language, I don't really have anything to teach. Or learn actually. A truly sophisticated reading of the Bible is one which reads our lives as well and seeks to "live into God's story", to borrow a phrase from Eugene Peterson. And that's really scary. So I need to ask myself regularly: Dude, where's my Bible?


† Expand post

Keller on substitutionary love at the LMC

I was at the London Men's Convention yesterday, my second time, but first as a mere conference-goer. I really enjoyed my first time two years ago, where I served as a steward at the Royal Albert Hall. So upon seeing the theme this year was basically "Jesus" (what can be more crucial than that?), and that the main speakers included Tim Keller and Mike Cain (author of this winsome book), I was ready to make another trip! And of course, getting to use it to spend a day with the brother is great too. :)

Thank God for Tim Keller and the gifts he's given him. The danger for many evangelicals, of course, is that we have our own celebrity culture, where we put too many individuals on a pedestal. So, deep breath, remind myself: Tim Keller is a sinner saved by the grace of God. Tim Keller needs a Saviour, and he is dependent on the Holy Spirit. With that in mind...anyone who has followed this blog long enough will know that I'm a bit of a fan, and his talks yesterday, on the cross and resurrection respectively, were just superb. He's a no-frills preacher, laidback, no gimmicks, faithful. But he is so insightful, both in his reading of the biblical text, and of the world we live in. When he preaches, he makes truth fresh, obvious, and it gets at your heart.

I was going to blog my notes from the first talk here, but sadly, I left my notes at a friend's place, so I don't have them at hand. But hurray, a quick search turned up someone else's (well-written) blogged notes! Like me, and I suspect, just about everyone in the hall, it was Keller's point on love as substitution which he found most arresting. So I'm just going to point you to his notes.

A preview:
Keller identifies three substitutionary motifs in John’s account of the death of Jesus:

• Jesus as the Passover Lamb: shown by the specific reference to "hyssop" in v.29 (see Exodus 12:22) and the fact that Jesus’ bones remain unbroken.
  
• Jesus as the Rock: Dr Keller linked John’s description of "blood and water" pouring from Jesus’ pierced side to Paul’s puzzling statement in 1 Corinthians 10:4: "the rock was Christ". Paul is referring to the incident in Exodus 17, where the Israelites "quarrelled and tested the Lord" in the desert. Instead of Moses’ rod (a symbol of judgment and authority) striking the Israelites for their disobedience, it came down on the rock, which thus produced the water the people needed. In the same way, God’s judgment against sin struck Jesus rather than us.
  
• Jesus as the Ransom: his cry of "It is finished!" has connotations of "The debt is paid!"
  

Read the rest here and here.

In response, what can we say but thank you so much, Lord Jesus, please help me to live for you in light of what you've done?

What kind of preacher are you?

HT: Jared Wilson

"The Contemporary"
Sermon prep includes perusing movie clips because, well, there's so much spiritual truth to be found in there.

"The Spirit-Led"
Prepares only one quarter of the message because the rest is sure to come on Sunday.

"The Artist"
Brainstorms what kind of objects can be handed out at the entrance to confuse the attenders until the sermon reveals their purpose.

"The Exegeter"
Uses a dictionary to prepare for sermons because the audience surely wants to know the correct definition of a word before it is expounded upon.

"The Verse by Verse"
It's Easter, but gosh darn it, you're in Habakkuk by God's sovereignty, so Habakkuk it is.

"The Ranter"
Can somehow insult the congregation week after week, but they like it and come back for more, because of an off-the-charts likability factor.

"The Nooma"
Frequently supplements sermons with melancholy video segments that feature themselves musing on subjects in interesting locations.

"The Visionary"
Somehow every sermon ends with the same application - the church's short-coming to reach the entire city for Christ - regardless of how the message starts out - stewardship, marriage, worry, doesn't matter.

:)

Got another 10 minute talk to prepare for next week; again, for preaching workshop. Except this time, it's on Numbers 17 or 18! Help!!!