# Invitation to Biblical Preaching ![rw-book-cover](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/417pRrflL4L._SL200_.jpg) ## Metadata - Author: [[Donald Sunukjian]] - Full Title: Invitation to Biblical Preaching - Category: #books ## Highlights - I’d never considered that question before, but within a split second I instinctively answered, “I see myself standing with you, under the Word of God, saying, ‘Look at what God is saying to us.’” ([Location 112](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=112)) - Specifically, the preacher’s task is twofold: • to present the true and exact meaning of the biblical text (“Look at what God is saying . . .”) • in a manner that is relevant to the contemporary listener (“. . . to us”). ([Location 121](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=121)) - But if Isaiah hears the sermon, shakes his head, and says, “What? No! No!” the preacher is in trouble. Biblical preaching takes great pains to present the ideas and sequence of thought of the inspired biblical author. ([Location 128](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=128)) - In Jesus’ mind, God was giving them the answer to their question through an incident recorded a thousand years earlier. ([Location 156](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=156)) - The purpose of the sermon is not to impart knowledge but to influence behavior—not to inform but to transform. The goal is not to make listeners more educated but more Christlike. ([Location 160](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=160)) - To preach in a manner that is relevant to the contemporary listener is to impress on the listener, “God is saying something today. He didn’t just say it long ago. He’s saying it now, to us, right where we live.” ([Location 179](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=179)) - When talking about this kind of biblical preaching, the old distinctions of textual, topical, and expository are not helpful. Those distinctions were based on the amount of biblical material being used, or where it was being drawn from—a single verse (textual), passages from different biblical books (topical), or sequential paragraphs through a particular book (expository). Today, instead, we define true biblical preaching by how the biblical material is treated—that is, faithful to the meaning and flow of the original author and relevant to the contemporary listener. ([Location 182](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=182)) - Such preaching is the hardest and best thing we will ever do. ([Location 220](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=220)) - THE FIRST STEP IN PREPARING a biblical message is to study the passage. This large step breaks down into several stages: • Read the surrounding context for an overview. • Flag the things you don’t fully understand. • Use your skills and resources in the original languages. • Consult good commentaries. ([Location 242](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=242)) - Once you have a handle on the large flow of thought, you can then more thoroughly probe your specific passage, flagging things that are unclear to you: customs you don’t understand, logical connections that don’t make sense to you, a choice of wording that seems strange, apparent doctrinal difficulties, or anything else you need to pin down more precisely. ([Location 285](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=285)) - The goal of your subsequent study is to get clear answers to these questions, so that when you speak, your message will confidently and accurately present what God is saying. ([Location 325](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=325)) - Once you have the larger flow of thought and have flagged specific things you don’t fully understand, you’re ready to begin an in-depth study of your passage, hopefully starting with the languages in which the original authors wrote. ([Location 327](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=327)) - First, by going slowly and saturating yourself in the text, you build the fire or passion you will eventually want when you preach. You begin to feel the power of the Word. It starts to seep into your soul.3 ([Location 333](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=333)) - Second, looking up the original vocabulary in the lexicons gives you nuances of meaning that cannot be brought out in the single word or phrase of the English translation. Third, the original languages contain aids to interpretation that may not be apparent in the English, such as word order to indicate emphasis, or syntactical observations to reveal the organization of thought (e.g., if participles are subordinate to an imperative in the Greek, they indicate the time, manner, means, cause, condition, concession, purpose, or result that attaches to the command being given). ([Location 335](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=335)) - Fourth, the original languages sometimes reveal an ambiguity that the English translators have interpretively resolved (e.g., whether the genitive is objective or subjective). While their resolution might be helpful and accurate, it might also reflect a doctrinal bias or at least an interpretative viewpoint that should be held tentatively until further study is done. ([Location 339](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=339)) - Finally, having the original languages in mind will prepare you to read the commentaries more intelligently and profitably. Your familiarity with the original words or phrases will enable you to immediately understand the points the commentators are making and prepare you for how they play off each other in their various viewpoints. The three stages so far—reading the surrounding ([Location 342](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=342)) - The goal is to identify the writer’s “big hunk” ideas and his smaller supporting concepts. In succinct fashion, you want to articulate his large umbrella thoughts—what they are and how they unfold—and his internal explanatory details. Your outline form will eventually progress through three stages—from an outline of the biblical passage, to an outline of the timeless truth, to an outline of the final sermon. ([Location 384](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=384)) - The language or phrasing of this outline reflects the particulars of the biblical world—names, places, events, and cultural practices: ([Location 395](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=395)) - The passage outline, sometimes called an exegetical or textual outline, often states the points with grammatical precision (e.g., time when, manner in which, reason why, result of, means by which, cause of) and reveals the logical connections between them. ([Location 400](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=400)) - happens—“these are the kinds of experiences people have; this is how God deals with us; this is what God reveals about himself.” ([Location 404](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=404)) - If the passage outline is historical, the truth outline is theological. ([Location 408](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=408)) - form. The sermon outline essentially says to the listener, “This is happening in our lives today, just as it happened in the biblical world, for this kind of thing happens as we walk with God.” ([Location 415](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=415)) - The sermon outline shows how the truth of the biblical passage will be communicated in a contemporary way to your specific audience. It proclaims the eternal truths, shows how these truths were drawn from the details of the text—thus combining elements from the first two outlines—and then relates these truths to concrete situations in the life of the contemporary listener. ([Location 417](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=417)) - He is sending them out to do two things: to preach the message of the kingdom and to defeat any demonic attempts to hinder its acceptance. ([Location 444](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=444)) - The benefit of the passage outline is that it anchors the speaker to the text and thus to the intent of the original inspired author. ([Location 622](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=622)) - sermon must not be a string of unrelated explanations through the verses but instead must show the overall unity and progression of the passage. ([Location 626](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=626)) - In chapter 1, we flagged numerous things in these verses that weren’t immediately clear to us. ([Location 634](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=634)) - In 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, it’s apparent that Paul’s large movements of thought are the following: ([Location 665](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=665)) - The text gives a reason for this circuitous route: ([Location 725](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=725)) - A good passage outline anchors you to the text, but it’s not usually something you can preach. It’s often past tense, ancient history, something that happened long ago. It’s not in language that expresses eternal truth; its spiritual value may not be apparent. And it lacks any concrete application to contemporary life. ([Location 770](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=770)) - The passage outline needs to be turned into a truth outline. ([Location 772](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=772)) - How do we do that? ([Location 773](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=773)) - We turn its historical statements into timeless, universal ones. • We put its concepts in the author’s original thought order. ([Location 775](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=775)) - Find more general, universal ways of saying what is happening in the text. ([Location 779](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=779)) - Move up the ladder of abstraction. ([Location 780](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=780)) - The general term must be capable of covering the original specific as well as other similar specifics. ([Location 782](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=782)) - “Sometimes God doesn’t take us on a direct route to the good plans he has for us because some obstacle along that route would prevent us from reaching that goal.” ([Location 792](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=792)) - The language is now sufficiently timeless to cover not only Exodus 13, but also such contemporary obstacles as a corporate vice president who would be an obstacle to our career path, a premature monetary windfall that would derail us from growth in godliness, or a past hurt that would prevent us from entering into a stable and lasting marriage. ([Location 794](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=794)) - Moving from the passage outline to the truth outline is simpler in the epistles, because most of the material there is already stated in universal terms. ([Location 817](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=817)) - Occasionally, however, even in the epistles, some specific cultural reference will require you to use the ladder of abstraction just as you do in narrative passages. ([Location 833](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=833)) - The second step in moving from the passage outline to the truth outline is to make sure the concepts are in the author’s original thought order, even though this might not necessarily be the written order of the phrases or sentences in the text. ([Location 858](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=858)) - But, if the speaker chooses to expound or amplify each phrase separately—which is what we do when we preach—thus extending the ellipsis indefinitely, then the listener does not mentally tie the phrases together but instead hears the following, apparently disconnected, outline: I. You ought not to get mad. II. The paperboy will throw your paper into the bushes. ([Location 868](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=868)) - Let’s look at a few biblical passages where changing the phrases or verses from the written order to the author’s thought order allows for a clearer exposition. ([Location 915](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=915)) - James 1:2 ([Location 917](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=917)) - Philippians 1:3-5 ([Location 926](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=926)) - Psalm 1:1-2 ([Location 939](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=939)) - Ephesians 1:13 ([Location 974](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=974)) - Colossians 1:9 ([Location 983](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=983)) - We preachers can easily overlook this second step—making sure the concepts are in the author’s original thought order—when moving from the passage outline to the truth outline. Since we are so familiar with the passage and intuitively understand how the points connect with each other, it doesn’t occur to us that the listener will have any difficulty with the flow of concepts regardless of the sequence in which we develop them. But the listeners have not had our prior study of the material, and their entire comprehension depends on that single moment in time when our words are spoken to them. So we must intentionally look through our passage outline for sections where the thought order may be different from the written order and adjust accordingly. ([Location 993](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=993)) - if you find yourself repeating something you said earlier, there’s a good chance you’re not yet using the author’s thought order. ([Location 1000](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1000)) - ONCE YOU’VE OUTLINED THE FLOW of the message in timeless language, you’re ready to form a single sentence—the “take-home truth,” the heart of God’s revelation to us through this passage.30 ([Location 1006](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1006)) - this sentence is the essential core of what the author is saying. ([Location 1010](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1010)) - It’s the truth you want the listeners to take home and remember even if they forget everything else. ([Location 1012](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1012)) - As they listen to you preach, they are subconsciously asking, “What is it you want me to get from this message? What do you want me to ‘take home’ from this sermon?” ([Location 1017](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1017)) - If the preacher doesn’t have a single sentence, the listeners will do one of two things: • They will create a sentence of their own, based on some small point or story in the sermon. They will form a “truth” in their mind from some minor part of the message. At best, such a truth is partial. At worst, something the speaker said is twisted or garbled into something far different from what the speaker intended.32 • Or, they will simply leave the service in a contented fog, mentally blank but unconcerned about it. They didn’t really expect to get anything focused or lasting out of the message (and they weren’t disappointed). ([Location 1018](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1018)) - Regardless of the demographics of his audience—Jew, Gentile, or Christian—Paul always had a central and unifying theme in each of his sermons. ([Location 1075](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1075)) - Here’s what a “sermon” would look like as a sequence of unrelated ideas: ([Location 1080](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1080)) - The truth outline of verses 13-14 would be something like this: ([Location 1103](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1103)) - From this orderly flow of thought, the take-home truth for verses 13-14 emerges: “God is to be praised for making us secure through the sealing of the Holy Spirit, and for giving us the Spirit as a sample and guarantee of our future inheritance.”35 ([Location 1107](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1107)) - Your sermon must have this kind of “sermon-in-a-nutshell” sentence. ([Location 1110](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=1110)) - we’re gathering the materials for the developmental questions (chaps. 5 and 6), some catchy way of saying it will occur to us. ([Location 2216](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2216)) - Our goal at this stage in preparation is to make the take-home truth simple and crisp so that the listener can easily grasp it. ([Location 2227](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2227)) - The thing you most pray God would remove from your life is perhaps the thing you most want to keep. ([Location 2240](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2240)) - But since the take-home truth is what you want them to remember even if they forget everything else, its final sermon form might choose to highlight what they should do, even above why they should do it. ([Location 2244](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2244)) - Then sometime later ([Location 2280](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2280)) - Note: Cooking ideas. How can a preacher create a workflow to give time for this. - Many times the sermon form of the take-home sentence will differ little from the truth form. We don’t often end up with something that could be etched in stone on a building, but we do our best to present God’s good revelation in the most exact, compelling, and memorable way possible. ([Location 2304](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2304)) - In developing your final sermon outline, there are two major questions you must decide: • Where in the biblical flow of thought will you place the take-home truth ()? • Where in the biblical flow of thought will you place the contemporary relevance ()? ([Location 2311](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2311)) - In the above example, since the sermon’s main points comprise a list, the take-home truth turns out to be a summary of all the major points. ([Location 2360](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2360)) - Since most sermons, as in the previous example, are not a list of points, the deductive take-home truth usually expresses the dominant thrust of the message as a whole. ([Location 2393](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2393)) - Finally, here’s an example of a deductive structure in a topical message that brings together several Scriptures on the subject of “honoring your father and mother.” ([Location 2395](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2395)) - The advantage of the inductive pattern is that it more easily sustains the tension or suspense to the end of the message. The listener has to keep listening since the answer, or take-home truth, is still ahead. The challenge of the inductive pattern is that it requires greater attention to oral clarity so that the listeners will not lose their train of thought as the sermon progresses toward the take-home truth. We’ll look at how to meet this challenge in chapters 11, 12, and 15. ([Location 2520](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2520)) - An inductive pattern is probably best when your main points are a list. There’s no advantage in having an introduction give away the four purposes of a church or the three reasons to be in small groups (see pages 145 and 150). The listener’s interest is better sustained by unfolding them one at a time. An inductive pattern should also be used when the listeners would probably have no major objections or questions to the take-home truth. ([Location 2607](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2607)) - Since most biblical passages are themselves inductive, with the author reasoning toward a conclusion or unfolding a story to a climax, we might approach each sermon with a slight bent toward inductive and then switch to deductive on the occasions that the previously mentioned factors would favor it.62 ([Location 2620](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2620)) - Placing the relevancy at the end means that, after a brief introduction, you unfold the entire biblical account before you draw out its relevancy to a modern audience. You explain the whole passage, without interruption, before you make contemporary application at the end of the message. ([Location 2664](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2664)) - When might you use a relevancy-at-the-end pattern, combining it with either a deductive or inductive structure? You might gravitate toward this pattern when only your passage’s take-home truth lends itself to contemporary application, and not its individual hunks. ([Location 2763](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2763)) - The relevancy-at-the-end pattern is commonly abused, especially when speakers approach narrative sections of the Bible. Speakers will unfold the entire biblical account, but then, instead of applying the one central truth of the passage, they’ll make several miscellaneous and unrelated applications drawn from different verses in the passage. ([Location 2815](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2815)) - Speakers fall into this abuse when they fail to have one timeless take-home truth that covers the whole passage. Seeing the narrative only as story, rather than as theology designed to reveal one central truth, they instead seek many smaller truths from individual phrases in the biblical account. ([Location 2818](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2818)) - But there’s a third issue we need to consider: How do you shape your final sermon when the biblical passage is chiastic—that is, when the original biblical passage repeats previous themes in inverted order? Because of our exclusive training in linear patterns, we’re usually unprepared to spot or handle this ancient literary form. ([Location 2989](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=2989)) - The first hint that your passage might be chiastic will probably come as you struggle with the repetitive elements while trying to form your initial passage outline. ([Location 3023](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=3023)) - In a chiastic structure, the point of the V is the take-home truth. The innermost thought in the arrangement is the one the author is stressing; it’s the dominant concept around which the rest of the material revolves. ([Location 3026](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=3026)) - While a chiastic structure aids the preacher in discovering the central truth, it nevertheless presents a challenge for preaching the flow of thought. Modern listeners undoubtedly would be puzzled if the last ten minutes of a sermon essentially said the same thing as the first ten minutes. ([Location 3032](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=3032)) - Through these last three chapters we’ve determined the flow of our final sermon outline, combining two structural patterns (deductive and inductive) with three relevancy patterns (at the end, interspersed, and wrapped), along with suggestions on how to handle chiastic passages. Now we’re ready to create an introduction that will engage the listeners in the message and draw them into God’s truth. ([Location 3140](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002DOSBH0&location=3140))