Difference Between a Lecture and Sermon

In general, I like the distinction Sean Lucas makes here:

When I'm doing a lecture--say for a Wednesday night Bible study--I feel a greater responsibility to account for the various details of the text. That's because a major goal in a lecture is information--in exposing the text, I'm trying to give people as much information as possible about the text so that they will understand it. While I would naturally do application as we go along, application is not the real focus of a lecture.
 

But when I'm preaching a sermon--especially for our Sunday morning services--I feel a profound responsibility to explain and apply the text in such a way as to stir people's affections and move them toward Christ. Whereas my major goal in lecturing is information, my major goal in preaching is transformation. And because this is the case, I don't feel the burden to give people as much information as possible; rather, I feel the burden to give people the information necessary about the text so that they will see the connections to their own lives and be moved to seek God in Christ as a result. Application is the major focus of the sermon.

Apostolic Tradition as Solution to Present Predicament

I have to share a section of a book I am reading right now. Marcus Bockmuehl is the co-editor and also a contributor in the book Vision for the Church: Studies in Early Christian Ecclessiology. In his chapter on the epistle to the Hebrews there is a paragraph where he summarizes the problem that the author is addressing for his readers--listen carefully to the way Bochmuehl summarizes the way the author of Hebrews addresses the problem. In other words, where does he find the solution?

"The writer certainly looks back to the time of apostolic proclamation as foundational, and recalls the first fervour of his readers' faithfulness to Christ (6.10;10:32-34). Now, however, their faith has become tired and listless (5.11; 6.12), their eschatological hope and perseverance have become worn out and are giving way to doubts about God's promise (10.23, 35-36); some at least are in danger of abandoning the mutual encouragement of the Church (10.24-25) and even of discarding their faith and confidence altogether (10.35-39). The author's response to this problem involves no new doctrine, but instead recalls his readers to life-giving faith and hope in the Christ who is greater than the angels and whose atonement is better than the old covenant's sacrifices. His fundamental hermeneutical principle, in other words, is to find the solution to the readers' present predicament in a reapplication and interpretation of the apostolic tradition -- an approach which similarly characterizes other early Christian writings" (emphasis mine, p. 136).

If this is an accurate synopsis of the method used by the author of the letter to the Hebrews, a few observations can be made:

1. Pastors should not do less. That is, the apostolic message of Christ crucified and risen, the fulfillment of God's law given to Israel, is rich with resources meant to mend brokenness that appears remote and unrelated to the gospel. The apostolic tradition should, in other words, have priority in informing our philosophy of ministry.
2. Scripture is not a flat collection of proof-texts. Rather, Scripture is a collection of authoritative writings for the church that relate, in some way (e.g., foreshadows, narrates, interprets, etc.,), to the gospel of God's son. Hebrews is an example of this.
3. Historically, God revives his church through the rediscovery of this gospel as a result of the diligent study of the Scriptures. I'm thinking of the Reformation and the Great Awakenings in general.

Though these observations are short and somewhat sweeping in nature, they are simply the beginnings of my reflections on a profound paragraph penned by someone who knows more than I do.

The Next Chapter Begins. . . .

{A Poem for my wife, Kelly Noel. Trinity Graduation 2011}

You were there, little Kelly, when I sensed God’s call
To spend myself waking men to God’s all;
Through all that I’ve faced, you’ve been by my side
Praying and loving, and making dark bright;
Broken yet happy your heart so contrite
You won’t let me quit the glorious fight.

I love you dear Kelly, you are my dear gem,
You’ve taught me how to be loved in my sin;
You dance and you laugh and you love all things good,
I am better with you, I’m better for good.
You are my family and you are my bride,
Six years and counting, a wonderful ride;
You name squirrels and smell flowers and love lemon cake
Each morning you read of God’s good for our sake;
You love drives and new things, people, and places
You help me to steward God’s glorious graces;
Your hair’s like a troll when you wake in the morning
You long for the day when there’ll be no more groaning
Or sin or sickness or sadness or death
Christ rose from the grave, our hope till’ last breath!

One chapter finished, the next one begins
O God grant us grace to trust you again,
With kids or with none let’s love others the same
Let’s boast in the safety of His holy name;
Don’t let us quit, fizzle, settle or coast
But let’s risk our lives for the greatest and most
Glorious cause that man could not dream
That we might not rest till the Gospel’s esteemed
And treasured and prized by masses of men
Broken and lost as we were once then
You opened our eyes to your risen Son
Your wrath was consumed by the death of that One;
We saw Him and sensed for the first time, so sweet,
God’s smiling face is all we’re destined to meet.
You saved us, you saved us, all glory to God!
You crushed all our foes with your humble rod!
You saved us, redeemed us and opened the door
To oceans and mountains of pleasures galore;
And on top of it all you gave me a wife
A gift not deserved one day of my life.

In that day, declares the Lord. . .

There is hope for all the weary and afflicted and cast off. I really believe this is being fulfilled in the coming of Jesus:

"In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame, and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; and the lame I will make a remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore." Micah 4:6-7

Top Ten Books Read During Seminary

I'm coming to the end of my four-year seminary education at Trinity and tonight I was thinking about some of the books that have made a great impact on me. So, what follows is a list of books I have read over the last four years. Many of them were part of my seminary education but some of them were not required, but maybe just looked interesting or were recommended by a friend.

In no particular order:

1. Jesus and the Land by Gary Burge
2. The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter
3. The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
4. Paul: An Outline of His Theology by Hermann Ridderboss
5. Jesus and the God of Israel by Richard Bauckham
6. Wounded Heart by Dan Allender
7. Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards
8. The Saving Righteousness of God by Michael Bird
9. We Become What We Worship by G.K. Beale
10. How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? by Larry Hurtado

As I think through this tentative list of books, I am realizing again how grateful I am for these years of formation. I truly do feel like I have been formed and shaped just enough to begin studying with vigor for the rest of my life. I think the common denominator behind all these books is their ability to help me (1) understand the way the Bible is to be understood and how its part relate to the whole; they have also helped me to (2) appreciate the significance of what Jesus did and therein reveal the God of heaven and earth.

Thank you, Lord, for these scholars and pastors both dead and alive. Thank you for their, in large measure, warm devotion to you, their love for your word and their concern for the church.

Brother, how are things in your heart?

"The story is told that the once famous Professor Tholuck of Halle used to visit the rooms of his students and press them with the question, 'Brother, how are things in your heart?' How do things stand with you yourself?--not with your ears, not with your head, not with your forensic ability, not with your industriousness (although all that is also appropriate to being a theologian). In biblical terms the question is precisely, 'How are things with your heart?' It is a question very properly addressed to every young and old theologian!" (1)

1. Karl Barth, Evangelical Theology: An Introduction (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992) 83.
   

God sent his son to make us sons

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" Galatians 4:4

God sent forth his son. . .

1. to redeem those under the law
2. that we might receive adoption

Note that the word for adoption has the same root as the greek word for son. This leads me to think that one of the primary emphases Paul is making here is that Jesus was sent by the father fundamentally to bring us home to the father.