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” ?
…

Jesus’ use of occasion

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Very often, Jesus’ words and actions were prompted by some particular situation, need, problem, or question.

Here are some examples:

Occasion Use
Finding the traders in the Temple Cleansing the Temple
Nicodemus came to him Teaching the birth from above
A woman of Samaria came Transforming a life
The leper came to him Cleansing physical life
The bringing of the palsied man Spiritual and physical healing
He saw a man lying at the pool of Bethesda Physical healing
Complaint about plucking ears of corn on the Sabbath Teaching the true relation of man and the Sabbath
“Seeing the multitudes” The Sermon on the Mount
The coming of John’s messengers A message to John and a eulogy of John
Eating with Simon the Pharisee Parable of the two debtors
The charge: “He is possessed by Beelzebub” Teaching concerning the unpardonable sin
The coming of his mother and brethren Teaching the supremacy of spiritual relationship
The disciples’ question, “Why speak in parables?”
…

The discourses of Jesus

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Places

These include: ‘the mountain; the lakeside; the synagogue in Nazareth, also in Capernaum and in many other towns and cities; the Mount of Olives, from which the Lament over Jerusalem was uttered; Bethesda, in Jerusalem; private homes; the open country; and the Temple.’

Occasions

‘Among such occasions are: The sight of the multitudes; a question asked by one of the crowd, receiving a longer answer than usual; a criticism passed upon some wonderful work of healing done; the sending forth of the twelve, and also of the seventy; the calumny that he had a devil, requiring refutation; the synagogue service on the Sabbath day; the departure of the messengers of John; the charge that he cast out devils by the prince of devils; the demand for a sign; a question from the disciples, requiring a full answer, concerning, say, the meaning of one of the parables, though only disciples heard such explanations.’…

Why Jesus asked questions

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We have noted before that Jesus asked a lot of questions.

What were his reasons for doing so?

  1. To make people think
  2. To learn (Lk 8:30)
  3. To express emotion (Mt 12:34; Lk 5:22f; Jn 3:10)
  4. To introduce a story
  5. To follow up a story
  6. To recall what was already known (Mk 2:25f)
  7. To away the conscience (Mt 23:17)
  8. To clarify a situation (Mk 10:3)
  9. To rebuke (Mk 2:25f)
  10. To place people in a dilemma (Mt 21:25-27; 22:45f; Mk 3:4; Lk 6:9; 14:5f)

Based on Horne, Teaching Techniques of Jesus, p48f.…

How did Jesus secure attention?

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How did Jesus secure the attention of his hearers?

  • By asking for it.  “Hear…”; “Look…”
  • By announcing his coming by sending messengers in advance.
  • By utilising posture.  Adopting the posture of a Rabbi, he would sit to teach.
  • By using concrete, pictorial, imaginative language.
  • By using the familiar to explain the unfamiliar.
  • By making one point in several different ways: The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son.
  • By giving teaching which was different from what his hearers were used to (from the scribes).
…

1 Timothy 2:4 – ‘God wants all people to be saved’

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2:3 Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, 2:4 since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Various interpretations have been offered:

1. ‘God wants all people to be saved.  Since his will cannot be thwarted, all therefore will be saved.’

This is the view of Hanson.  But, as Moo states, the problem with a universalistic interpretation

‘is that Paul teaches quite explicitly in this very letter—indeed, in the next verse—that faith, which Paul confines to this life and limits only to some people, is necessary for salvation (see also 1 Tim 1:16; 3:16; 4:10).’

…

7 qualities of expository preaching

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  1. In expository preaching the preacher’s first aim is to discover the text writer’s intended theological meaning in the selected text. We preachers tend to search the Bible for a sermon. We hope for something to leap out at us that will preach. But a program of expository preaching calls for the preacher to aim for a clear understanding of the text writer’s meaning. Only out of that theological message can he properly preach an expository sermon.
…

Textual preaching

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At first glance, it might seem that textual preaching ought to be the same as expository preaching.  Both involve the faithful opening up and application of the biblical text.

So, when Clarence S. Roddy writes that…

‘a textual sermon is one in which both the topic and divisions of development are derived from and follow the order of the text … the text controls and dominates both topic and development in this type.’

…his definition would apply equally well to the expository sermon.…

Painting with words

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How can preachers use words more effectively?

Kate Bruce offers some ‘top tips’:

1. Use language with multi- sensory appeal.
2. Use verbs to paint vivid pictures (not adjectives).
3. Use imagery – employing metaphor and simile.
4. Weave imagery into the flow of familiar conversational language.
5. Be alert to the power of hyperbole and bathos.
6. Earth abstract ideas in the soil of the everyday – use familiar instances.
7. Understand the musicality of language – rhythm, repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia.…