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Preaching Christ through film titles

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Richard Bewes writes:

Way back on September 1st, 1957, Billy Graham spoke to some 120,000 people crammed into New York’s Times Square.  Basing his address on the visit of the apostle Paul to Mars Hill in Athens, his text was Acts 17:23 –

‘For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with the inscription to the unknown God.’

The speaker might have made four academic points.  Instead, he emulated Paul – drawing attention, not to surrounding religious altars, as in the case of Mars Hill, but to their modern equivalents in Times Square; the surrounding advertising hoardings for four cinema films then showing. …

Exposition must have application

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A.W. Tozer:

There is scarcely anything so dull and meaningless as Bible doctrine taught for its own sake. Truth divorced from life is not truth in its Biblical sense, but something else and something less. Theology is a set of facts concerning God, man and the world. These facts may be, and often are, set forth as values in themselves; and there lies the snare both for the teacher and for the hearer.

The Bible is among other things a book of revealed truth.

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Preachers and their preaching – John Stott

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John Stott (1921 – 2011) was rector at All Souls, Langham Place (London) from 1955 until 1975.  After that, he became Rector Emeritus, and was thus released more fully for world-wide ministry and writing.

Formative influences included his family background and education (he was son of an eminent London physician and was educated at Rugby School and at Cambridge University).  He was one of a number of talented young men to have been nurtured by Eric Nash at the so-called “Bash Camps”.…

Galatians 3:28 – ‘All one in Christ Jesus’

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Gal 3:28 – There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

It is a real shame that, as with a number of ‘problem texts’, there is a danger of losing the positive meaning in the flurry of controversy that surrounds it.

But controversy there is, and we must face up to it.  For this verse has, in recent years, become the locus classicus for social egalitarians.…

The case against preaching

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What sorts of arguments might be raised (rightly or wrongly; fairly or unfairly) against preaching?

Here are some.

  1. Adult Education suggests most adults learn by doing. If a sermon is meant to teach people the faith then it is a poor method of teaching. If you want people to really ‘learn’ they need to be able to interact, ask questions, voice opinions and discuss. Even Universities have done away with the hour long ‘lecture’.
  2. Our (post-) modern world is geared to sound bites and as a result attention spans have diminished.
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Spurgeon the expositor

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C.H. Spurgeon is known as ‘the Prince of Preachers’.  It is worthwhile, then, enquiring about his attitude towards, and practice of, expository preaching.

Peter Masters considers this in an article entitled ‘Expository Preaching – Benefits and Pitfalls.’

Masters begins defines expository preaching as ‘preaching that draws the message from the biblical text, clearly and methodically, honouring the sense of the text, and the style of communication employed.’

He outlines some of the benefits of expository preaching:

  1. It demonstrates that the Bible is the supreme authority for all that is taught.
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Jesus’ attitude towards children

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Some things Jesus did for children

1. He took them in his arms and blessed them.

2. He provided for their physical wants in feeding the four and five thousand—”besides women and children.” He commanded that something to eat be given the raised daughter of Jairus (Mark 5: 43).

3. He healed them. How many were boys? (See John 4:46-54 and Matt. 17: 14-21.) How many were girls? (See Mark 7: 24-30 and Matt. 9:18-34.) Are there still others?…

Jesus’ calls to action

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Jesus had no interest in mere information.  He was constantly calling others to action.

Consider some of the things he gave his learners to do.

  • “Come.”
  • “Follow.”
  • “Go.”
  • “Sell.”
  • “Preach.”
  • “Watch.”
  • “Pray.”
  • “Do likewise.”
  • “Wash.”
  • “Offer the gift.”
  • “Stretch out your hand.”
  • “Roll away the stone.”
  • “Come down.”
  • “Go and tell.”
  • “Sin no more.”
  • “Feed my sheep.”
  • “Make disciples of all nations.”
  • “Bring the colt.”
  • “Pay the tax.”
  • “Show yourself to the priest.”
  • “Stand up, pick up your bed.”
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The training of Peter

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Herman Horne notes that the Gospels present the disciples as individuals, and Jesus as treating them, and training them, as such.

Recall the characteristics of Peter and the way of training him used by Jesus.

The records represent Peter as having what William James calls “the precipitate will,” that is, he was impulsive, rash, impetuous, bold, of the motor type. Perhaps his foil in all these respects was Thomas. Peter’s name usually heads the list of the disciples, though he was not the first called.…

Jesus’ use of the concrete

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Jesus made extensive use of the concrete in teaching the abstract.

Consider the following:

Concrete Abstract
“Look at the birds” Trust
“Consider the lilies” Trust
“The wind blows” The Spirit
“This little child” True greatness
“The poor widow” Sacrificial giving
“Show me a denarius” Civic duty
“Who is my mother?” Spiritual kinship
“Do you see this woman?” True hospitality
“Two sparrows” Providence
“The hairs of your head” Providence
Foxes Homelessness
Grapes and figs Fruitful discipleship
“Fishers of men” Personal evangelism
“The things you have seen and heard” Data for John’s judgment
Ox in the ditch Humaneness
Sheep in the pit Humaneness
Camel and needle’s eye Perils of wealth
The cursed fig tree Penalty of hypocrisy
Log and speck Large and small faults
“The narrow way” The way to life
“The narrow gate” The way to life
“Wolves in sheeps’ clothing” False prophets
“Children of the bride-chamber” Festal character of the Kingdom
“Lift up your eyes to the harvest” Vision of human need
“Snakes” Wisdom
“Doves” Harmlessness
“Cup of cold water” Service to fellow-disciples
“Reed shaken in the wind” One view of John
“Light of the world” ?
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