Preaching the Whole Counsel of God: Design and Deliver Gospel-Centered Sermons

by Julius Kim, Michael Horton (Foreword by)

Overview

Preaching the Whole Counsel of God is a primary textbook on the art and science of preaching for pastors and pastors-in-training that teaches you how to practice expository, Christ-focused hermeneutics, combined with Gospel-centered, audience-transforming homiletics. It will guide you to:

• Discover the truth of the text according to the human author.
• Discern Christ in the text according to the divine author.
• Design your sermon with truth, goodness, and beauty.

Deliver your sermon in a way that keeps attention, retention, and leads to transformation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310519645
Publisher:	Zondervan Academic
Publication date:	11/17/2015
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	483 KB

About the Author

Dr. Julius Kim is the Dean of Students and Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary California (WSC); he is also Associate Pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church in Escondido. He received his Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Dr. Kim directs The Center for Pastoral Refreshment, a unique center established to sustain pastoral excellence among Korean-American pastors and serves the broader Christian community as a preacher, speaker, and ministry consultant. Julius and his wife, Ji Hee reside in Escondido with their two daughters.

Read an Excerpt

Preaching the Whole Counsel of God

Design and Deliver Gospel - Centered Sermons

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By Julius J. Kim

ZONDERVAN

Copyright © 2015 Julius J. Kim
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-51963-8

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CHAPTER 1

PRAYING, SELECTING, READING, AND MEDITATING

We begin this book by examining several preliminary steps that are important to the overall sermon preparation and delivery process. The four steps of praying, selecting, reading, and meditating provide an indispensable foundation for the herald of the King as he discovers, discerns, designs, and delivers gospel-centered sermons. We shall look at these four preliminary yet foundational steps in turn.

Praying

The Bible records that the first Christian leaders of the fledgling NT church devoted themselves to two primary tasks: preaching and prayer (Acts 6:4). Following the example set by their rabbi, Jesus, they knew that prayer was an essential part of their ministry. They remembered how Jesus would often wake early in the morning, while it was still dark, to pray to his heavenly Father before his preaching and teaching (Mark 1:35 – 39). Early Christian believers included prayer as an essential part of their life together (Acts 2:42).

The apostle Paul also understood the necessity of prayer for his ministry. His letters reveal the priority he placed on prayer not only for the growth and maturity of the believers (Eph 1:15 – 23) but also for his own ministry of preaching (Col 3:2 – 4). He knew that without the power of God, his preaching ministry would be fruitless. He prayed and asked others to pray with him and for him. He prayed that the gospel would transform believers (Eph 3:14 – 21; Col 1:9 – 10) and prayed that his preaching would be bold and effective (Eph 6:19 – 20; Col 4:3 – 4). After all, prior to sending his disciples out on their preaching ministry, Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). As preachers of the Word, we follow in the pattern of Jesus and the apostles: praying is a necessary part of our sermon preparation and delivery.

We pray before, during, and after the process of preparing a sermon. We will not grasp the truth, goodness, and beauty of God's Word apart from the Holy Spirit's work of conviction, illumination, and regeneration (John 16:8 – 10, 13 – 16; Titus 3:5). This is what we pray for ourselves as we prepare and for our church as they hear. We pray for comprehension and integration, application and transformation.

Every effort in sermon preparation is worthless without the accompanying work of the Holy Spirit's work. Prayer is not simply one important step in the sermon preparation process. It is the most important step in the process of sermon design and delivery. We pray throughout our sermon preparation efforts — before we read, as we interpret, when we write, and while we preach. Pray for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, both for yourself and for your hearers. Pray for protection, provision, and power. Pray that unbelievers and believers would trust and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ to the glory of God.

Selecting

Part of the process of preparing to preach is selecting your text and/ or topic. While this may seem self-evident, there are some important factors to consider when selecting a text to preach, not the least of which is discerning the spiritual state and needs of your unique congregation.

As heralds, we don't speak truth in the abstract. We speak truth to a particular audience at a particular time in a particular place. Knowing your audience is an important component in selecting your text and speaking to your audience. It is both a science and an art. A preacher can learn more about his audience by doing a demographic analysis of such traits such as age, gender, educational level, and so on. Moreover, some of the cultural values and sensibilities of the group can also be discerned through analysis. The art of audience analysis gives consideration to how those demographics and values shape the thinking and feelings of one's audience in response to the truths and implications of the gospel. Richard Lints has been helpful in showing the theological link between the art and science of preaching. He states that our task is essentially a theological one, as we move out from our understanding of God and his Word and preach it to particular people in their time, space, and history.

The apostle Paul understood this intersection between the timeless truths of God and the time-bound nature of his different audiences. Take, for example, his preaching ministry at a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch (Act 13) and his presentation evangelism in Athens (Acts 17). While the nonnegotiable elements of his gospel proclamation remained the same, his selection of material and his presentation were drastically different due to the audience. To the primarily Jewish audience in Acts 13, he strategically employed several OT texts and argued that Jesus was the promised Messiah who had come to die for sin yet was raised for their justification. In Acts 17, however, his approach was remarkably different. To this group of biblically illiterate philosophers on Mars' Hill, he constructed a biblical worldview starting with creation and then proclaimed Christ's resurrection from the dead. While much more can be said about these texts, it's clear that Paul engaged in careful audience analysis to discern his listeners' spiritual and cultural state so as to present the gospel of Jesus more effectively. Knowing your audience influences the text you select.

For many preachers, however, selecting a text occurs on the Monday or Tuesday prior to the upcoming Sunday. Unfortunately, this is not helpful or wise. Because of the limited amount of time available, you will not have the time you'd like and need for important factors such as studying the text and context, meditating on its truths for you and your hearers, finding compelling illustrations, and identifying meaningful applications. Furthermore, the last thing you need is to be stressed because you may not be sure if the text or topic you've chosen is the right one at the right time. To offset this tendency and temptation, you need to explore the concept weeks or even months ahead. I offer three words of advice when it comes to selecting a text to preach: pray, pattern, and pastor.

Pray

Spend time seeking the Lord through prayer for wisdom on the decision of which text to preach. Wise pastors know that discerning the needs of their congregation to determine what to preach requires help from the Lord God of all wisdom. We cannot discern the hearts of our hearers without the aid of the Holy Spirit, who searches hearts. Go to the Lord in prayer and ask for wisdom and insight into the portions of Scriptures your congregation needs to hear. Some pastors may want to spend some intentional time alone, praying and reflecting, while others may want to pray with fellow leaders in the church. Some pastors may want to spend a few days in prayer and planning as they map out their sermon series for the entire year. Others may want to use a day each quarter to pray and discern. Whatever method you choose, be intentional in setting aside time to pray as part of selecting which texts or topics to preach.

Pattern

There are three patterns that may help you determine what portions of Scripture to preach: the lectio continua, the topical/textual, and the lectionary.

1. Lectio Continua: Literally meaning "reading continuously," this pattern of text selection essentially follows the biblical text as it has been given. For most preachers this means preaching through an entire biblical book or smaller sections of a longer book. Many preachers in the history of the church have followed this pattern so that their congregations would be able to hear and be fed from the whole counsel of God. There are many benefits to this method, not the least of which is that the upcoming Sunday's preaching text has been preselected for you, as it were, minimizing your stress of selecting the "perfect" text. While you still need to wisely determine the length of the portion of Scripture based on issues such as genre, this method also provides a helpful model for your congregation as they read, interpret, and apply Scripture for themselves. Further, issues and topics emerge naturally from the text rather than making it seem that you have specific theological "axes to grind" or "hobbyhorses to ride."

This pattern allows you to present all that the Bible has for your congregation as you faithfully preach week by week and year by year. The challenge, of course, is the possibility that certain series may become too long and unwieldy. Pastors need to wisely determine when and if a break from a series is needed to address an urgent need in the congregation. Also, make sure you provide enough context for those who are new and did not have the benefit of sitting through the series thus far.

2. Topical/Textual: Another pattern to use in the selection of what to preach is the topical/textual approach. In this pattern, the preacher focuses on an idea or topic and preaches that topic from a text or several texts of Scripture that address it. With this pattern, the wise preacher has the ability to focus on certain topics and issues the congregation may be facing in their own lives or in society at large. It is crucial, however, that the preacher does his best to ensure that he is being faithful to the text(s) and allowing the primary truths to be communicated and not twisting texts and their meaning to somehow "fit" the chosen topic. Thus, if after studying the text the preacher discovers that the selected text does not address the desired topic, he will need to find another text that is germane to the topic.

This method has many advantages. First, it allows the preacher flexibility in choosing topics from scriptural texts that will ultimately meet the unique needs of his congregation. Second, it provides a built-in unity to the sermon, as the main topic will hopefully be the emphasis and focus of the entire sermon. Third, it helps the congregation see how the Bible as a whole addresses topics of importance for its spiritual life.

Preachers need to take care, however, that they don't allow certain topics to dominate their preaching emphases and series. One can easily fall into the temptation of constantly preaching specific topics that are of interest only to him. Furthermore, strictly using the topical approach may not allow the congregation to mature through a balanced diet of the whole counsel of God. A balanced approach of using multiple patterns of selection can offset this.

3. Lectionary: This approach to selecting texts or topics to preach emerged from the Jewish synagogue worship context. It refers to a book or listing that contains preassigned Scripture readings for worship. For every worship service, Jewish rabbis and preachers referred to the listing of verses for that particular worship day. In the Jewish synagogue context, usually two texts were chosen for each Sabbath day worship: a passage from the Law (the five books of Moses) and the Prophets (the major and minor prophets). An example of this is found in Jesus' "Bread of Life" sermon in John 6. He utilized the given lectionary passages that were assigned for that day as the primary texts for his sermon.

Today, when pastors decide to do a series of Christmas sermons during December, they are following this lectionary pattern during the season of Advent. Using this approach has certain benefits. It focuses the preaching texts and topics for the year on the redemptive work of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection. It also means the preacher doesn't have to decide which texts or topics to preach, as it has already been decided for him. And the topics that are addressed emerge naturally from the texts that were preassigned so as to remove the potential charge that the preacher chooses to speak on his "hobbyhorse" topics.

Pastor

In addition to praying and considering different patterns of selecting texts and topics, you will also want to think pastorally regarding your unique congregation and the parts of Scripture that the Lord is calling you to bring to them. Like parents who carefully discern the best foods to give their children for their physical growth and development, pastors need to wisely determine congregational needs for spiritual nurture and maturation. Pastors thus need to analyze factors such as their congregants' various levels of biblical education and prior knowledge, general needs, and specific problems to come up with a schedule of preaching texts and topics that are beneficial for them. Since every congregation has unique characteristics and needs, this pastoral task is both an art and a science. Every pastor is called to "know, feed, lead, and protect" the flock entrusted to his care. To help with the process, here are some questions that may be beneficial.

• What parts of the Bible have been preached before? What parts have not?

• Has there been a balance of preaching from the OT and the NT?

• Has there been a diversity of genres (narrative, poetry, etc.)?

• Are there any specific topics that may be helpful for the congregation right now (e.g., suffering, stewardship)?

• Are there sinful patterns emerging from your counseling ministry that may require a special series?

• Is there a balance of topics regarding exaltation of God (worship), edification of believers (discipleship), and evangelism to unbelievers (witness)?

• Is there a balance of doctrinal topics covering the major loci of theology?

• What texts or topics do your fellow leaders recommend?

Reading

After having selected the text and/or topic and prayed over it in light of your congregation, you are ready to read the text. What follows are some suggestions for reading the text in preparation for interpretation and communication.

First, read the text. Do this several times and you will pick up on prominent features and characteristics that might otherwise go unnoticed. Then, read the text in its context. Read at least one chapter before and one chapter after. After these initial readings, try to formulate the main idea of the text and its purpose. Answer these two questions: What is the text primarily about? What kind of response is it calling for? While this step of formulating a sermon proposition will be discussed in more detail in the following chapter (and in chapter 6), attempt a two-part preliminary statement after this initial stage of reading the text in its context.

There's a simple formula that is immensely helpful in capturing the main point and purpose of a text for preaching. Bryan Chapell suggests writing a two-part statement that begins with an indicative statement about God and finishes with an imperative statement about our response. You can start the first half of the statement with the word "Because" and the second half of the statement with "then." So it will look something like this: "Because God (fill in the rest according to what your text says), then we should (fill in the rest with the appropriate response)." You will undoubtedly modify this sermon proposition as you progress in your sermon preparation, but it's helpful to start shaping the central idea and specific purpose of the text at this stage.

Meditating

In addition to the work of praying over, selecting, and reading the text humbly, meditating on the text and topics that you are preparing to preach is vital. From his study of the meaning of meditation in the Bible, Ed Clowney has argued that meditation is a spiritual discipline whereby one centers the mind in reflection on God through his Spirit-given Word, for the purposes of worship and wisdom. Since God is the source of all wisdom, and since God has revealed his wisdom in both his written Word and living Word (the Bible and Jesus), meditation on his Word through the Holy Spirit is one way to attain wisdom, which leads to worship. Thus, meditation is not just a mantra; it is reflection on God's wisdom for God's glory and our good. For preachers, this spiritual discipline is a key part of the overall process of wise sermon preparation. When we meditate, God's Word intersects with our hearts, and wisdom results in worship.

Meditation is fundamentally part of our praise of God. The meditation practices of Eastern religions (e.g., Zen Buddhism, Transcendental Meditation) lead one inward, into themselves. Christian meditation leads one outward to God as he is revealed in his Word. In describing the blessed man, the psalmist in Psalm 1:2 states that "his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." Thus, when a Christian, or more specifically, a preacher, meditates, he does so by "going out," to the objective God revealed in this Word as part of his praise and worship. This outward activity is what distinguishes Christian meditation from the inward focus of religious mysticism.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Preaching the Whole Counsel of God by Julius J. Kim. Copyright © 2015 Julius J. Kim. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Part 1: Discovering the Truth of the Text (According to the Human Author) Chapter 1: Praying, Selecting, Reading, and Meditating on the Text Chapter 2: Linguistic Analysis * Translation from original languages * Semantics/lexicography * Syntax and structure * Textual variants * Cross referencing Chapter 3: Literary Analysis * Context of the section and book as a whole * Context of the author’s body of writing * Context of genre characteristics (narrative, poetry, etc.) Chapter 4: Life-Setting Analysis * General historical and cultural backdrop * Specific audience circumstances * Occasion and need * Purpose and goal Part 2: Discerning Christ in the Text (According to the Divine Author) Chapter 5: Why should we preach Christ? * Because it’s Biblical, Foundational, and Practical * (See sample draft of chapter enclosed.) Chapter 6: How shall we preach Christ? * The Clowney Hermeneutical Rectangle revisited * Christ-Focused Connection from every passage Part 3: Designing the Sermon with Truth, Goodness, and Beauty Chapter 7: Common Pitfalls and Problems in Sermon Design Chapter 8: Neuroscience and its Implications on Sermon Design Chapter 9: The Blueprints for Good Sermon Design Part 4: Delivering the Sermon for Attention, Retention, and Transformation Chapter 10: Non-Verbal Communication * Engaging: eye contact; facial expressions; gestures; body control; poise and authority. * Inspiring: passion; conviction; respect; and humor. * Shepherding: responsiveness; empathy; joyful gravity; and inhibition. Chapter 11: Verbal Communication: * Varying/Modulating: signal; style; sound; speed; and silence. * Rehearsing: goals of refining content; effortless articulation; calming nerves; and best practices.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Julius Kim’s many years of teaching and modeling biblical preaching combine with a keen mind and a caring heart to provide this excellent and highly accessible resource for preaching the whole counsel of God. Among the book’s many fine features are its commitment to seeing the whole Bible as a revelation of God’s redemptive message and its great suggestions for communicating these truths to contemporary culture. — Bryan Chapell, Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church, Peoria, IL; President Emeritus, Covenant Seminary

Only a thorough knowledge of Christ at the center of all Scripture, years of teaching preachers, laborious research, and a pastor’s heart could produce a book as useful as this to the church. — George Robertson, Ph.D, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Augusta, GA

Preaching the Whole Counsel of God strategically blends an emphasis on proclaiming Christ as the unifying Hero of the entire Bible with insights drawn from recent communications research into the ways that listeners attend to and process what they hear (or not!). Among various recent books on Christ-centered preaching, a distinctive strength of Dr. Kim’s work is his well-informed, practical coaching on sermon structure, illustration, and delivery, helping preachers bring God’s Word home to hearers’ hearts in dependence on the Holy Spirit. I highly recommend this book. — Dennis E. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Practical Theology, Westminster Seminary California

A wonderful blend of hermeneutics and homiletics! Kim takes the reader from the text to the pulpit in a clear and concise way. Here preachers will learn how to think about the text and how to package those thoughts into a compelling sermon. A great textbook for a preaching class, and a revitalizing read for seasoned preachers! — Mark D. Futato, Robert L. Maclelland Professor of Old Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, FL

If Christ is the one “in whom and for whom” everything has been created, faithful sermons ought to illuminate this reality. They ought to manifest the ways in which all of life is held together “in Christ” and the manner in which the great story of Scripture is likewise glued together “in Christ.” Julius Kim has done a marvelous job in bringing this conviction to life and making it so practical that no preacher worth their salt will miss it. And every listener of sermons will see why these matters are of such great importance. — Richard Lints, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and professor of theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary