Script

Hello and welcome back to our masterclass

My name is Ian White and right now we’re going to take our next step towards crafting a sermon and start to think about what works in today’s world

We’re likening the crafting of a sermon to creating a bridge

(here’s our bridge)

On one side we have between the world of the Bible and on the other we have the world of today

• and the way I’m recommending you work on a bible passage is like this

• pray it through, identify its context, look at its content, ask if there’s an obvious framework and get the feel of its heartbeat.

• (and we’ve covered each of these in the previous segments)

So far so good,

• Now. Armed all this stuff, (and, for me, it’s about a page of notes, or a spider diagram or similar)

• we’re going to reflect on how we can bring our insights into the world of the 21^st century

• and to do this in such a way that God’s word will speak through our words

• and his Spirit will impact the minds and hearts of the people listening to us.

Now, as will all of the insights in the masterclass, you may have your own way of doing this; especially if you’re a regular preacher.

I’d really like to hear about it in the comments section below so we can share our journey together.

A fundamental principle

This whole idea is founded on a fundamental principle which I still marvel at.

It has to do with Inspiration.

Inspiration is referred to more frequently today than I think it used to be

• we often hear someone say ‘I felt inspired to run this 5K to raise money for cancer relief’ for example.

• I recently watched a film called ‘hidden figures’ about women mathematicians and their contribution to the United States space programme – These were inspirational women!

So we think of inspiration either a feeling that motivates us to do something, or to describe a person I admire and perhaps want to emulate (or wish I could have been!)

However, when it comes to preaching God’s word, there is an additional emphasis which runs like a thread through the Bible.

And one which, for me, transforms preaching into something very wonderful …

… completely different from just ‘giving a talk’

Who is it that inspires your preaching and helps the people who listen to you hear God’s voice embedded in what you’re saying?

• The Bible’s answer is: That inspiration comes from God himself.

So here’s my principle:

It’s the same Holy Spirit who inspired the Biblical writers who can also inspire us when we speak (God’s word)

My prayer is that you will have moments when you sense the word of the Lord coming to you, you preach it and see its impact.

We, as preachers, are in the business of listening out for God’s words, hearing them as best we can, and relaying them as compellingly as we are able.

• And in so doing the inspiration of God which flows through the Bible can also flow into the hearts and minds of today’s audience or congregation.

Let me give you an interesting case study

This is … Theodore Beza.

He was a student of John Calvin and successor to much of Calvin’s ministry.

He wrote a biography of Calvin and in it he drew attention to three great preachers of their day.

• John Calvin himself Guillaume Farel and Pierre Viret

He compared their preaching.

Farel was the most firey – zealous, passionate preachers

Viret was the most eloquent and audiences hung on his every word – time would just fly past when listening to him

Calvin was the most profound and preached sermons packed with substance to feed the soul.

Then Beza commented that “a preacher who is a composite of these three men would have been absolutely perfect”

Calvin had substance, Viret had eloquence and Farel has passion.

Does the perfect preacher exist? Of course not – you’re not going to be one, neither am I

But that doesn’t stop God, by his Holy Spirit speaking today and changing lives.

[during animation]

it doesn’t stop the Holy Spirit who inspired the text, and whose inspiration we have tapped into as we’ve wrestled with the Word,

it doesn’t stop Him from speaking through us to people when we preach.

So whatever your personal style

It’s the same Holy Spirit who inspired the Biblical writers that can also inspire us when we speak.

I find this both exciting and deeply humbling.

A line from a song that stuck with me: “Surely this is cloudy water to turn into new wine”

We’re going to ask two obvious questions, What sort of things cross our bridge well?

• And conversely what doesn’t.

So what sort of material crosses the bridge well

… and carries the unction of God with it?

These are my personal experience and you may have other things you would like to add.

Ethical principles can cross the bridge well

What are the principles the Bible is telling us in

• Acts 8:9-25 Simon and bribery / corruption

Narrative can cross the bridge well

Historical events with a modern parallel

• Elijah in 1 Kings 19 – wrestling with depression and thoughts of suicide

• Ruth – tragedy, romance, loyalty

• rape of Tamar – 2 Sam 13:1-22 (Highly contemporary – the anatomy of sexual exploitation and abuse)

Stories can cross the bridge well.

If we ask how does the Bible tell the story?

• And then ask ourselves How would I tell it today?

• What are the differences?

Fictitious stories –

• Parable of the talents – Matthew 25:14–30

• rich fool – Luke 12:16-21

• two sons – Luke 21:28-32

• tenants – Luke 21:33-44

• dishonest manager – Luke 16:1-9

More particularly it’s the principles behind the stories that are often easily applicable to a contemporary situation.

Pictures can cross the bridge well

This is a great way to expound the Psalms and other wisdom literature

Psalm 19 – contains a set of images relating to creation, and another moving set of pictures describing how God’s word feeds our souls.

Psalm 119 – is a unique Psalm, not only because (at 176 verses) it’s way the longest, but because almost every verse contains a word that describe the scriptures and the impact it has in our lives.

Psalm 32 – has telling descriptions of what its like to feel guilty

and so on

Things that don’t change with time cross the bridge well

Actually they’ve already crossed it!

God’s nature hasn’t changed

He is still today just as compassionate, just as loving, just as awesome today as he was then.

I need to be careful not to forget that the wrath of God is still part of his character, as is his judgement on human wrong-doing.

God is both tough and tender towards us and if we only emphasise the tender (and that’s a common temptation for us as preachers), we’re only helping people to see some of the colours in the spectrum of who God is.

And then there are the three Os

• Omnipotent (he was all powerful then and is all powerful now)

• Omnipresent (He existed everywhere then and he exists everywhere now – can’t escape him)

• Omniscient (He knew everything then and he knows everything now – even the most hidden and intimate things about us.)

God’s nature hasn’t changed in the passage of time so these are good things to carry from the Bible’s world into our own, and they travel well.

Human nature hasn’t changed

In terms of our desires and expectations Human beings haven’t altered much since Genesis chapter 1

It hasn’t changed in

• It’s negative side – we have a capacity for sin, selfishness, greed

• It’s positive side – we have a capacity for compassion, generosity, love

• It’s neutral side – we share a desire for happiness and fulfilment with the characters of the Bible

A useful image to bring in here is Maslov’s hierarchy of needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a psychological theory about what motivates us to do things.

• So as preacher I find this a useful framework because my ministry is aimed at helping people to do something – and that is follow Jesus Christ.

[graphic]

You can see that there are basic needs of food and clothing, When we have those we are freer to pursue needs of safety, health and prosperity, Then come the layers of love and belonging, respect from others and finally the curious ‘self-actualisation’ – being the very most or best that we can be.

I considered putting Spiritual reality at the top of the triangle, but reconsidered – because living in the Kingdom of God touches every level to one degree or another.

While it has its drawbacks, Maslov’s hierarchy is a helpful descriptive model to evaluate whether our sermon appeals to a broad or narrow range of human experience.

Human nature hasn’t changed, so what the Bible said then about human nature ls likely to apply now.

The laws of physics haven’t changed!

Even though the Bibles characters’ understanding of them may have been different from ours,

• gravity is still pulling on us and the wind still blows.

Take Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4:35-41

Those fishermen were not physicists, but their observation from life’s experience of the sea of Galilee informed them that storms never die suddenly, You have to ride them out.

So Jesus shouts at the storm “be quiet” (the word used of muzzling a dog) and it obeyed in an instant. The fishermen knew that only God could hold sway over the weather like this

• … and here was Jesus commending the storm … which promptly obeyed.

Jesus did something only God could do – so who did that make Jesus?

So their awareness of the physical world goes to explain why the disciples were more scared after Jesus stilled the storm than before it.

• They were in the presence of God!

At this point it’s worth making one other observation

beware about using the the Bible as a scientific text,

• displaying the rigour we would expect of a research paper in the 21^st century.

So now let’s consider the converse question,

What doesn’t cross the bridge well?

Some Instructions and laws

E.g. Leviticus 19:

18 ‘“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.

Those principles cross the bridge well

OK, immediately followed by:

19 ‘“Keep my decrees. ‘“Do not mate different kinds of animals. ‘“Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. ‘“Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

V19 doesn’t cross the bridge well!

How do we decide which laws to obey and which to ignore?

• Broad brush – I ask myself “What’s the principles behind it (we can’t always work it out!!) E.g. mixing these two cloths caused shrinkage? Multiple seed cases confusion when harvesting?

Biblical cosmology

In the Old Testament period, the Earth was most commonly thought of as a flat disc floating on water.

Here’s our best guess at their understanding of it.

The place of the dead (Sheol) is enveloped in water below the earth and the whole cosmos exists inside an enormous expanse of water.

The concept was apparently quite similar to that depicted in this Babylonian world-map from about 600 BC a single circular continent bounded by a circular sea,

Then, beyond the sea, are a number of “distant regions”, or islands

Psalm 97:1 The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.

these are probably the “ends of the earth” according to Isaiah 41:5, – talking about the awesome strength of God

The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble.

So, I guess what I’m saying is this

• be aware of what you’re bringing into the contemporary scene

• To be faithful to our heavenly Father and His word, we (as communicators) need to be aware of whether we’re bringing their cosmology into our own and expecting our congregation to believe something we know can’t be true.

If in doubt, ask the question

“What are the principles behind this passage – and can I re-apply them today?

If you’re able to do that you’ll be allowing the message of God then to cross the bridge to the people of God now.

I never cease to be amazed at how the inspiration of God – his power to change people, which flowed through the scriptures, [graphic]

• still flows impacts us in the 21^st century

• and it does it best when we allow the scriptures to speak their message as clearly as we can possibly do it!

God bless you