Neither Poverty nor Riches

To give an indication of the challenge of the book, Blomberg argues that the rich should give more than 10% (perhaps many times that amount), to enable the poor to give less. But he takes a global perspective, reminding Western readers that the vast majority of us are firmly in the ‘rich’ side of the scales. And he reminds us that spiritual growth in the area of stewardship is ‘a necessary sign of [spiritual] life’.

Thankfully, Blomberg never falls into the trap of declaring all riches as evil, or advocating asceticism. God’s gifts are to be enjoyed, he reminds us, but they are also to be shared.

If I have one criticism it would be that in the chapter with application there is an emphasis on the relief of material poverty in the world that was not apparent in the earlier exegesis. As I read the New Testament (or the Old for that matter) I see a wide concern for the spiritual well-being of all people, and a narrower concern for the material well-being of believers. That is not to say we should be callous towards the non-Christian poor, or that we should only bring Bibles and not bring bread. But it is to say that when it comes to loving our neighbour, the Bible seems to make our two priorities the sharing of the gospel with the world, and caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

That, however, is a relatively minor criticism. If you want to think about the Bible’s teaching on wealth and poverty I know of no better book.

So I wrote a WordPress plugin, using Vimeo’s ever-so-simple API (that’s Application Programming Interface to you). In precisely 36 lines of code,* all my Vimeo videos are now automatically displayed on this site when I load them into the appropriate Vimeo album. And when I change my theme, one tiny change will re-size all my videos across the site. As I said, you’ve got to love APIs.

* And that’s proper code, including error-handling and caching. It could be done with 11 lines.

You can click on any of the pictures for a bigger version.

Introducing Logos for iPhone

Logos for iPhone is the relative newcomer, but Logos itself has been in the Bible Software market for almost as long as anyone (since 1991). Until recently it has concentrated on the PC, but the last 18 months have seen the company diversify into Mac, iPhone and even online offerings of its product. In November, the whole range was re-launched as Logos 4, which marked a very significant step-up in terms of usability and functionality.

Perhaps the key selling point of Logos is that when you buy Logos resources you can use many of them on any platform. No longer do you have to purchase multiple copies of the same resource just so you can have access to your favourite Bible translation whether you’re at work, home, or on the road. Currently, somewhere around 40% of Logos 10,000 resources (yes, you read that right – about four thousand resources) are available on the iPhone platform. Logos are apparently working on making much the rest available as soon as possible.

Perhaps the only way to put so much data onto such a small device is to work in the ‘cloud’ through an internet connection (WiFi, 3G or GPRS/Edge). By default, Logos resources are only downloaded onto your iPhone in small chunks when you need them. The advantage is that you don’t need hundreds of gigabytes of storage space to have access to your Logos library. The downside is that sometimes you have to wait for the next ‘chunk’ to download before you can read on or open a new resource. Thankfully, Logos have added an offline reading option for paying customers. This allows you to permanently download your favourite resources onto your iPhone, whilst still being able to access everything else over the internet. This gives you the best of both worlds, the only negative being that you can’t simultaneously select multiple resources to download for offline use, so it can be quite a lengthy business if you’re setting the device up and want to activate offline access to a few dozen resources.

Logos has continued this reliance on the cloud throughout much of the rest of the application, which enables features that probably wouldn’t be possible otherwise. You can search through your entire library, for example, even if only a few books are actually on your iPhone for offline use. The search is carried out on Logos’ servers, and the result sent to your phone. Unfortunately there is no offline search however, so if you’re without internet access, searching simply doesn’t work.

But if you’re thinking that you might use a Bible app just for reading and searching, think again. Logos comes with three additional features – each one ported over from the Windows/Mac version – that significantly raise the bar for mobile applications.

The first is the Passage Guide. Enter a verse, or range of verses and press ‘Go’, and within seconds you’ll be given screen that lists all your commentaries that deal with the passage, a list of possible cross references, media resources (e.g. maps), relevant bible topics, and even a list of interesting words. You can click on any of these to explore further. Think of it as a customised table of contents to all the resources you have for any passage in the Bible – right there on your iPhone.

The second feature is the Bible Word Study. Type any word in English, Greek or Hebrew (you can use transliteration if you don’t want to type Greek/Hebrew), and within a few seconds you’ll have relevant links to all your lexicons and dictionaries, and a concordance of every use of that word. One of the best parts of this feature is that you can search for a Greek/Hebrew word, and have the results returned in English. You even get a useful chart showing how that word is translated in your favourite Bible version. This is unique to Logos, not just on the iPhone, but on any platform. The Bible Word Study can be called up from most Bibles (English or original language) by just pressing and holding on the word in question. You also get parsing information and Strong’s numbers.

The third feature are the Reading Plans. You can create reading plans on your PC or Mac, and then have access to them on your iPhone. A reading plan allows you to choose any resource (Bible or other book), and create a plan to read all or part of that resource in a given time. It’s very configurable: for example, you be as specific as specifying to read pages 1-39 of Bunyan’s Grace Abounding, reading every Tuesday and Thursday for three weeks. You can’t create these plans up on the iPhone, but you are able to read the resources there, and mark off when you’re done. This information then syncs across to your desktop machine.

The one potentially major drawback with all these features is that they’re dependent on internet access. If you have no internet connection, they simply aren’t available. In fact, when you’re offline you can do very little apart from just reading the books. When you’re connected though, Logos performs brilliantly.

Introducing OliveTree BibleReader

OliveTree are no newcomers to the mobile Bible market, first releasing software (for the Palm) in 1998. Unlike Logos, they don’t have a desktop version, but you can buy BibleReader for almost any mobile device – as well as they iPhone they support Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian (Nokia) and Blackberry. Although not all resources are available on all platforms, you don’t need to re-purchase if you later switch to Android or Windows Mobile.

OliveTree don’t have the same range of resources as Logos, but there are still more than 500 to choose from. These are mainly Bibles and Commentaries, with a fair smattering of Christian e-Books. There are also a few dictionaries and lexicons. But if Logos wins the battle over the number of resources, BibleReader wins hands down in terms of speed. Because all your BibleReader resources are stored on your phone, no internet access is required to use the app, and resources open instantly. On my 3GS it can take around 4 seconds to open Logos on a fast WiFi connection. But when I’m in church – without WiFi – it’s around 10 seconds. BibleReader on the other hand opens in 2 seconds, wherever I am. Not only so, but because all my resources are on my phone, searches can be performed instantly, wherever I am. You can only search one resource at a time, however – unlike Logos, there’s no way of searching across your whole library.

Like Logos, there are several features in BibleReader that lift it above your typical eBook app.

The first is a built-in app (resource) store. This is done brilliantly well, perhaps better than any other iPhone app I’ve used. All you need to do is link your OliveTree account in with your iTunes account, and then you can purchase new resources through iTunes, in the app, or on OliveTree’s website, and have them instantly available on your phone. If you find yourself in a situation where you need a new book or Bible translation, you can quickly order it, have it billed against your iTunes account, and it will be downloaded and available to read in less than five minutes.

The second feature is split screen reading. In BibleReader you can split your screen into two. For example, it could be useful to have two different bible versions open, or your Bible in one window and a commentary in another, or perhaps a Greek NT in one window and a Greek dictionary in another.

The third feature is user notes and highlighting. This allows you to add notes to any part of the Bible, or to highlight different passages, just as you might in a printed Bible. You can even sync the notes to Evernote so you can view them from your PC, or just to ensure they’re backed up. If you like to take notes whilst you’re reading, this is a great feature.

The fourth feature is morphological searching. This is similar to Logos’ Bible Word Study in that it allows you to search the Greek/Hebrew language texts, and get parsing information for every word. It’s not as pretty as Logos, and you can’t get a list of which English words are used to translate a particular Greek/Hebrew word. However, you do have full morphological searching, which allows you to do searches like “find all the occurrences of πίστις in the genitive singular”. It’s the only mobile Bible app to support searching like this.

Side-by-side comparison

Now we’ve examined the unique features in both applications that set them apart, it’s time to look at how they compare side-by-side.

Features: Both applications are loaded with features, and both will do more than many people thought possible even a year ago. Logos is superior at searching, with its Passage Guide and ability to search across multiple resources, though you can’t restrict your Bible search to particular Bible books. This last function is missing in BibleReader too, though you can restrict your search to just the New or Old Testaments. However, BibleReader’s split-screen reading, better morphology support and user notes just tip the scales in its favour. Not only so, but all of BibleReader’s functions work anywhere. Logos, on the other hand, requires an internet connection to get the best from it (apps like Google Maps and Facebook work in just the same way). With Logos there’ll be times when you’ll lose internet connectivity, and with it access to any books you haven’t downloaded, all search functionality, and all pop-up footnotes or cross references. For that reason, the first round goes clearly to BibleReader.
Logos: 6/10
BibleReader: 9/10

Simplicity: Both apps are very easy to use for anyone used to the iPhone platform. Controls are intuitive and well-organised, and settings kept to a minimum. But Logos just edges ahead – because its Bible Word Study is much easier than BibleReader’s more powerful morphology functions, and particularly because it makes the original language texts more accessible by allowing you to search in Greek/Hebrew yet return results in English.
Logos: 10/10
BibleReader: 9/10

Speed: BibleReader is astonishingly quick, with a rapid load time, and almost every function returning near-instant results. Logos on the other hand, with it’s partial reliance on an internet connection can feel ponderous in comparison. And yet it must not be forgotten that Logos harnesses the power of massive webservers to perform your searching. It means I can search my entire iPhone library of more than 1,500 resources and have the first results returned in less than three seconds. For most users though, they’ll spend more time reading than searching, which is to BibleReader’s advantage.
Logos: 8/10
BibleReader: 10/10

Resources: Here, Logos wins hands down, with an astonishing array of resources of every type imaginable: bibles, commentaries, lexicons, dictionaries, theologies, general reading. Yet there are some surprising omissions, including one that surprises many people: currently Logos does not offer the NIV. Don’t assume that Logos has everything BibleReader has – it doesn’t. How you score this will depend on which resources you actually care about. BibleReader has all of the basics, and several extras. Logos has most of the basics and many, many extras. For me, resources like Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, BDAG and the New International Commentary series swing the advantage clearly in Logos’ favour.
Logos: 9/10
BibleReader: 7/10

Value for money: Both apps are available free, but both benefit from significant investment. If you’re looking for a free app, Logos is best for Bibles (includes ESV, NASB, HCSB, NKJV, NLT and KJV), whilst BibleReader is best for other resources (31 other free resources in Logos, over 100 in BibleReader). When it comes to paying, neither are cheap. The cheapest Logos package is $265, though bear in mind that this includes very powerful software for your Mac or PC as well as the few hundred additional resources you get. It also adds features like offline reading. Once you’ve bought a base package like this, you can add on additional resources at a lower price (usually around 50%-80% of the cost of a print book). BibleReader on the other hand has a much lower entry point because you don’t need to buy a base package, you can just buy whatever add-on resources that you need (though a few small packages are available which may save you a bit of money). But if you want all the bells and whistles such as morphological searching and commentaries, you too will be paying a few hundred dollars. In the end, I’ve decided to call this one a draw. Logos is more expensive, but has the advantage that you’ll probably save money by not needing to re-purchase to get access to Bibles and resources on your PC and Mac. BibleReader has a lower entry-point, but limits you to mobile devices only.
Logos: 7/10
BibleReader: 7/10

Original language support: Here both packages excel, and offer better original language support than many desktop programs. Logos has the advantage in supporting the original languages from the English texts, which gives all the benefits of an interlinear, whilst retaining the readability of an ordinary bible. It also has better lexicons and dictionaries available. On the other hand, BibleReader is able to support morphological searching within the application. Which is the more important will depend on how you intend to use the app. I think most users will not find themselves in many situations where they need full morphological searching and don’t have access to their desktop machine, so I’m going to give this one to Logos.
Logos: 9/10
BibleReader: 8/10

Readability: One of the important functions of mobile Bible software is that you’ll use it to simply read from. Both apps perform this most basic of functions very well. Both have the ability to add bookmarks to your favourite passages, and both remember your position when you come back to resources later. Both support rotation lock, which prevents the screen switching from portrait to landscape and vice-versa. This can be very handy if you’re reading in bed and you don’t quite have your iPhone level. Logos  has the much better reading plans (BibleReader’s is limited to Bibles only), though you can’t edit them on the iPhone itself. Logos also has a clearer display, though it’s relatively easy to tweak BibleReader’s settings to mimic this. BibleReader has the option of scrolling the text freely up and down – in Logos you can only turn the page (which BibleReader also supports). Scrolling allows you to easily place a sentence in the middle of the screen to better view the context. I’m going to call this one a draw.
Logos: 9/10
BibleReader: 9/10

Conclusion

Both apps are genuinely excellent, and streets ahead of the competition. If you want a full-featured, resource-laden, powerful Bible app for your iPhone, look no further than Logos or BibleReader. I own both, and use both regularly, turning to BibleReader for its speed, and Logos for the extra resources and particularly the interlinears.

But which to choose? BibleReader just edges it in my opinion, but which is best for you will depend very much on how you intend to read and study use the Bible for yourself. If you use a Mac or PC, and want Bible software on your desktop as well as your iPhone, then Logos will be great – so long as you don’t think you’ll need access to the advanced functionality when you’re away from the internet. On the other hand, if you can’t afford the high-entry point for Logos’ best features, and appreciate polished performance and near-instant load times, then BibleReader will be just what you’re looking for – though you’ll miss out on some great features like looking up Greek words from the English text, and integration with your desktop computer.

Both apps are improving all the time, so as new released are made available, I’ll try and keep this review updated. Finally, if you’re an iPhone bible software user, leave a comment and voice your opinion.

Verdict

Logos: 58/70
BibleReader: 59/70

I believe Iain Murray (February 2010) overstates his case for non-‘expository’ preaching. First, the preacher’s responsibility is to preach ‘the whole counsel of God’. If I am to preach through a large part of the Bible over a ministry, I will need to preach on texts significantly longer than a single verse (otherwise it would take more than 200 years to get through the 31,000 verses in the Bible).

Second, preachers should model the handling of the scripture from the pulpit. Preaching is very different to private devotion or study. But it is from the pulpit that our congregation will learn how to read the Bible for themselves. Would we want our congregation’s regular devotions to be a meditation on a single verse, plucked apparently at random?

Third, I want unbelievers to be utterly convinced that the gospel application in a sermon is from God’s Word. A great danger with non-‘expository’ preaching is that whilst the sermon’s content may be very biblical, it is not seen to be biblical by the unconverted because the preacher’s text serves only as a spring-board and not as a foundation.

Fourth, I reject the ‘either/or’ antithesis. In being committed to ‘expository’ preaching, I am not rejecting preaching that helps the hearers, is memorable, evangelistic and relies on the Spirit. It is true that attempting to preach in an expository style can expose inadequacies in the preacher. It is true that a running commentary is not a sermon, and that you can be faithful to the Word yet fail to preach, and fail to know the Spirit’s power. But I do not believe only an elite few should attempt to preach in an ‘expository’ way. Mr. Murray’s advice that novice preachers tread carefully is wise. But every Christian should always be maturing and growing. Safe, easy methods that stretch neither the preacher nor the congregation are a recipe for dull sermons, tired preachers and bored congregations.

If you have any difficulties, all three videos are also available on Vimeo (introduction to prioritising and advanced prioritising and advanced collections).

Introduction to Resource Prioritisation:
[flash //www.4-14.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/screencasts/prioritising-resources.flv w=768 h=580 preview={//www.4-14.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/prioritising-resources.png|530|398}]

Advanced Resource Prioritisation:
[flash //www.4-14.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/screencasts/prioritising-resources-2.flv w=768 h=580 preview={//www.4-14.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/prioritising-resources-2.png|530|398}]

Update: Here’s an additional bonus video on creating collections.
[flash //www.4-14.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/screencasts/creating-collections.flv w=960 h=675 preview={//www.4-14.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/creating-collections.jpg|530|373}]

Darwin, Creation and the Fall – A review article

All evangelicals must accept that if science contradicts the Bible, then science is wrong. But we must also recognise that if science contradicts my interpretation of the Bible, then it could be that my interpretation of the Bible that is wrong, and science, in fact, that is correct. We must therefore be constantly reviewing our interpretation of Scripture in the light of new theological, archaeological or other scientific discoveries.

Often scientific discovery increases our understanding and appreciation of the Bible’s message. But some scientific theories seem opposed to Christian teaching, and, if Richard Dawkins is to be believed, none more so than Darwinian evolution. How we view evolution will have an incalculable impact on how we understand the Bible’s message. It will change not just how we read Genesis, but also our thinking about sin and the fall, and consequently our beliefs about redemption and the work of Jesus Christ. We must therefore be extremely careful in assessing whether Darwinian evolution can be compatible with an evangelical interpretation of the Bible.

Although several books attempt to reconcile Genesis 1‑2 with Darwinian evolution, very few attempt to do so with the doctrine of the fall. A book which wrestles with these issues is therefore to be welcomed. Darwin, Creation and the Fall is a collection of essays by respected theologians and scientists that attempts to demonstrate that a belief in evolution is compatible with an evangelical understanding of scripture. It does so insisting that the fall was a real, historical event.

The book starts with an affirmation of God as creator, and a reaffirmation that Christ is at the centre of the doctrine of creation. Several essays roundly reject various atheist or liberal viewpoints for neglecting or rejecting Christ leading to a failure to understand God’s purpose in creation at all. A major contribution that the essays make is to remind us that it is not only the doctrine of God which is at risk from scientific atheism, but equally the doctrine of man.

Of all the essays, T.A. Noble’s careful exploration of original sin, is perhaps the most stimulating. After surveying historical approaches to original sin, he insists that a Christian understanding of the fall must be understood from the vantage point of the New Testament and in the light of the second coming. Considering the return of Christ can only be done “through revelation and is unknown to human insight… it is not accessible to human science and critical history” (pg 119). But Noble goes on to add that just as the return of Christ will cause monumental change that science cannot know, so also the Fall may have caused an equally radical change that science and historical enquiry are equally incapable of investigating.

Ultimately, however, the book is a disappointment. R.J. Berry’s insistence that the death brought about by the fall is only spiritual and not biological is particularly unsatisfactory. It means he is forced to view the “bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:21) of creation simply as the problems of pollution and man’s lack of praise to God. Surely the death, disaster and disease which so afflicts our planet demands a more robust response? Equally Berry’s arguments bring into question the significance of the promise of physical resurrection, and the reality of Christ’s bodily resurrection, and even whether Scripture is teaching us that heaven is forever when it tells us there is no more death there. Too much is lost, and too little gained. Yet this lead is followed – albeit less dogmatically – by Blocher in a later essay.

It is equally disappointing that there was no discussion on the nature of scientific investigation itself. Since the enlightenment a lot of science has proceeded from the false premise that what we can scientifically test and measure is all that exists. The existence of a spiritual dimension in our world and in ourselves is ignored or rejected by most scientific enquiry. This means that much scientific thinking has literally rejected reality, and is built on a foundation of what is false. Much of the science that came out of the godless Middle Ages would be considered an embarrassment to scientists today, and it is not a coincidence that science advanced rapidly during those periods where a biblical worldview was predominant.

Can you imagine what a difference it would make if most scientists believed that the physical universe was not a closed system, but that there was also a spiritual reality that transcended and affected what we can see and measure? It is of course possible that despite the last century’s slide away from biblical thinking, God in his common grace has redeemed scientific inquiry to the extent that it can largely be relied upon. But that is by no means clear. And, until most scientists take the biblical worldview seriously, many Christians will need far better arguments than those provided in Darwin, Creation and the Fall to persuade them that the Scriptures should be re-interpreted in the light of Darwinian evolution.

A shorter version of this review will appear in the November 2009 edition of the Evangelical Magazine.

Quick Admin Links

Quite possibly the most simple and useful WordPress plug-in you never knew you needed! Quick Admin Links is a small widget. Put it at the top of your sidebar, and it adds some useful admin links on every page, allowing you to add new posts/pages, edit existing posts/pages, go to the admin, or log out. If your theme doesn’t already include edit buttons, and you notice a typo in your post, you have to click on “Site Admin”, then “Manage”, then “Posts”, then type in some search terms, and click “Search”, then click on the post you’re looking for. With Quick Admin Links, you can go straight from your post to the edit screen in just one click.

Style Tweaker

If you’re anything like me, you’re never quite satisfied with WordPress themes, and like to tweak the CSS. Style Tweaker allows you easily edit CSS without uploading files. You can also use it to test CSS before launching it to the world. You can add CSS to the entire website, regardless of what theme is being used, or add it to just the current theme. You can even add CSS that displays only when you are logged on – very useful when you’re playing with a new look, and it’s not quite ready for public viewing.

It was particularly good to be able to worship with evangelical anglicans. Both of the churches we visited are firmly at the centre of true evangelicalism, and are fully committed to the authority of Scripture, and a biblical understanding of justification by faith alone. In both, the sermons were helpful, and (as you’d expect) expounded the Scriptures clearly. Rico Tice’s powerful preaching on the plagues in Egypt was a particular highlight – I could happily have listened for several minutes longer.

Unfortunately, however, the most significant impression left on me from the two services was the contradictions that seem inevitable within evangelical anglicanism. Welsh evangelicalism and evangelical anglicanism have not exactly seen eye to eye, particular since John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones very publically disagreed on how evangelicals should respond to the liberal denominations they find themselves in (oversimplifying, Lloyd-Jones said they should get out, Stott said they should stay in). It is only recently that those barriers are beginning to come down, so I welcomed the opportunity to express that unity, albeit in a very small way.

Since 1966, most evangelical anglicans have been committed to reforming anglicanism from within. The statement of the 1967 National Evangelical Anglical Congress (heavily influenced by Stott) says, ‘We are increasingly anxious to play our part in the Church of England… it is reform we desire, not separation’.

But the fundamental debate in 1966 was not really on whether evangelicals should secede from their denominations. The differences really centred around the question “What is a church?”, and even more fundamentally, “What is a Christian?”. Christianity Explored (written by Rico Tice during his time at All Souls) answers this latter question brilliantly. But (tragically in my view), evangelical anglicanism typically fudges the answer to that question in many of rituals and services. This was demonstrated in both churches I visited last Sunday.

At Grace Church, Hackney the service included a liturgical prayer of confession. In it the congregation were encouraged to “turn back to the Lord”, then prayed for forgiveness. These prayers were concluded with the priest saying “I declare to you in the name of Jesus Christ that you are forgiven.” This is an extremely bold statement to say the least, carrying with it the great danger that the congregation will assume that confession (without either repentance or faith) is all that is required for salvation and forgiveness.

If anything, the situation in All Souls was worse. The particular service we joined happened to include a baptism of an infant. There is always a danger that baptismal services (of unbelievers or believers) can be misunderstood, and therefore clarity is paramount.

Sadly, there was no clarity at All Souls, instead ambiguity was the order of the day. During the service, the tiny child is encouraged by the congregation to “continue as a faithful soldier” (implying the child is already a solider of Christ). The minster later pronounced that “God has received you by baptism into his Church”. This was followed by this declaration from the congregation:

We welcome you into the fellowship of faith in Christ. We pray that you will grow up in this Christian family to trust Christ with us. We are all one in Christ Jesus. We belong to him through faith, heirs of the promise of the Spirit of peace.

This illustrates perfectly the failure of evangelical anglicanism to grasp the nettle, and ensure that their correct beliefs of what a Christian is are seen in all the rituals and liturgy they proclaim. How can it be helpful to declare that an unbelieving infant is in “the fellowship of faith”, “in this Christian family” and “in his Church”? How does this square with the wonderfully clear teaching of Christianity Explored, or the clear gospel preaching of Proclamation Trust stalwarts such as Dick Lucas?

On the day after these two services, I read of Griffith Jones, a Welsh evangelical of the early eighteenth century, who was also very much committed to anglicanism. Griffith Jones was criticised by many Welsh non-conformists for remaining within the anglican church, and criticised by many anglicans for being too evangelical! One anglican clergyman published a leaflet condemning him. Among the criticisms directed at him was that “he secretly corresponded with the Methodists” and that he believed “there were many precious lambs of Christ among the various denominations”. But more relevant to our discussion are two other criticisms:

• That he explains away the precious doctrine of baptismal regeneration, and insists that neither baptism, nor any other thing can make anyone a Christian, without saving faith in Christ.
• That he made changes to the litany and ommitted large sections of the Service, in order to have time for his own prayers and sermons.

I know that I have many brothers and sisters in the Church of England. I know that there are many with whom I would agree on all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. But I long to see those doctines expressed in every area of church life – not just in the preaching, not just in Christianity Explored courses, but also in the rites and rituals, and in the liturgy of every day church life. Frankly, like Lloyd-Jones, I am not convinced it is possible to do this within anglicanism. Others disagree. But, for once, I would be delighted to be proved wrong. If I am, then it will be possible to achieve both dreams: genuine unity between non-conformists and anglicans, and reformation of the church of England.

There are five steps that are important to me:

1. Divide: Firstly, I decide how many verses should I preach on by looking for divisions at the beginning and end of the passage. I’m looking for a natural unit in the passage that has plenty to say. With compact historical literature (like 2 Kings or Chronicles) it’s usually a story. With other narrative literature (e.g. the Pentateuch, or the Gospels) it’s usually a scene. With epistles its usually a large paragraph. With prophetic books its usually a complete oracle or sermon.
2. Dissect: Then I split up, or dissect the passage by determine the main point of the passage, and the sub-points which serve it. This is strongly related to the first step. If the ‘division’ I’ve chosen has more than one main point, it’s too long. But it must have a few sub-points that feed the main point. If it hasn’t, it’s too short.
3. Discover: Next I try to carefully exegete each point to discover the original meaning and principles. It means understanding both the meaning to the original hearers/readers, and the timeless principles that flow from it. When dealing with the Old Testament I look at the first step (the original meaning) purely from an Old Testament perspective, but the second step (the timeless principles) through a New Testament lens. There must be an inarguable link between these two steps. Every member of the congregation must be able to see how I got from (a) What the Bible said, to (b) What the Bible means. If they can’t, there’s no power in the message – it’s man’s words, not God’s Word.
4. Digest: Fourth, I think and pray through each principle to determine the application, to me, and try to digest the truth. If I haven’t taken this truth on board myself, I can’t preach it. This is where a lot of the prayer comes.
5. Disseminate: Finally, all of this needs to go in a form which can be passed on. In other words, the sermon can now be written. I pass this teaching on to my congregation, they need to apply it to themselves and be able to pass it on to others. This means short points made easy to understand and apply. To maximise the impact, the application needs to be focussed, not vague, but it also must apply to the whole congregation, not just one or two. I’ll want my sermon to have an introduction, a few points, and a conclusion. Within each point I’ll want teaching, illustration and application. The whole thing must be very tightly linked to the text of the Bible – if it’s not, it’s my words not God’s Word.

Let me show you how this works out in practice. As I’m typing this, I’m preparing a sermon on Amos 2. I’m not going to pretend this a perfect (or even a great) model sermon – after all, I’m writing this post as I’m preparing the message! It might turn out be dreadful! But I’ll take you through the process as I go. You’ll see the theory, even if the practice falls short of my hopes!

Divide

This is relatively straightforward for this passage. The structure of chapters 1 and 2 is very clear. 1:1-2:3 is judgement on the surrounding nations. 2:4-5 is judgement on Judah. And 2:6-13 is judgement on Israel (the focus of the rest of Amos). So the only question is what we do with 2:4-5 – does we put Judah with the surrounding nations, or with Israel?

In the end I decided to include it with Israel. That’s because the ‘crimes’ and ‘punishment’ for Judah are far more similar to those of Israel than those of the surrounding nations (they’re ‘religious’, rather than war-crimes).

So we start at 2:4. I wouldn’t want to finish at 2:5 because I feel the message of 2:6f is very similar to 2:4-5. I don’t want to repeat myself two weeks running. So it seems sensible to keep going until the end of the chapter. That’s certainly a natural unit, probably one oracle. I can already see some obvious sub-points, so it looks like I’ll be able to dissect it well enough – but if not, I can always come back to this stage again.

Dissect

In order to dissect a passage, I use a little tool in Logos Bible Software. It’s designed to help with sentence diagramming, but I find it very useful for helping me to visualise where passages like this might be broken up. Here’s a screenshot. You can click for a full-size version.

At this stage it looks as though there are four sections, though the first two could possibly be combined. Verse 12 (“But you made the Nazarites drink wine…”) doesn’t quite fit into the structure and could perhaps warrant a point of its own. If so, the point would be that the Israelites are responsible for their fall because they suppressed the truth.

My headings are pretty useless at this stage. They’ll go through at least two significant changes as the sermon evolves. For the time being I’m simply trying to sum up each section as simply as possible.

Having got this far, I now need to verify my earlier decision to divide the passage and select 2:4-16 as my text. Remember, I’m looking for just one main point, with a few sub-points that serve it. The main point is clear “God will judge his own people”, and the sub-points do indeed serve it. The first two points explain the reason for the judgement and outline the punishment. The third point justifies God by demonstrating the fairness of the judgement – God is exonerated, and the people blamed. The fourth point explains the detail of the punishment.

(Actually, in explaining this it seems my third point in the screenshot isn’t quite right. The point in the screenshot “God gave them strength” describes verses 6-11, but not verse 12. On the other hand, “God is vindicated, the people are guilty” describes verses six through to twelve. That’s much more satisfactory.)

Excellent! So far, so good… (it’s not always as smooth as this!). One final check before I move on. This structure is pretty important for the development of the sermon. If it’s wrong, the whole sermon could go off in the wrong direction. So, for the first time, I check the commentaries.

It’s not a promising start. Douglas Stuart groups 1:3-2:16 without any further division. That’s not much help. Alec Motyer groups 2:4-3:2. He sees three major divisions (2:4-5, 2:6-16 and 3:1-2). Then he further splits 2:6-16 into 6-8, 9-11, 12, 13-16. It’s not radically different to my outline, but sufficiently different to make me stop and think. But I’m not convinced 3:1-2 fits better with chapter 2 than it does with the rest of chapter 3. And I do think that verse 12 fits nicely with 9-11 as I explained above (note, for example, the Nazirites in both verses 11 and 12). So let’s get a second opinion. David Hubbard puts 2:4-5 with chapter 1, rather than chapter 2. I understand the reasons for this, but I still think that Judah fits better with Israel than with the pagan nations. He then divides 2:6-16 into 6-8, 9-12, 13-16, so that mirrors my structure, at least. Good. Finally I check Gary Smith. He groups 2:4-16, and subdivides 4-5, 6-8, 9-12, 13-16. That’s exactly the same! So, whether my structure is “right” could perhaps be debated, but I’m certainly confident that it’s at least helpful, and am quite happy to go forward with it. If it’s good enough for Gary Smith, it’s good enough for me. (I always thought he was the best commentator on Amos 😉 ).

I would usually use slightly more technical commentaries in addition to these, but Amos is not well-served by conservative critical commentaries (no NICOT, for example). I sometimes find non-conservative critical commentaries useful for fresh perspective if I’m particularly stuck, but I don’t waste my time with them unless I need to. I will also use older commentaries (particularly Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch), but older commentators rarely provide outlines or say too much about structure. So these four will do for now.

Discover

This is probably the longest process – discovering both the original meaning and the timeless principles in each section. I’m looking for one main truth within each section, and a small number of principles (ideally just one). With four points for this message, one truth and one principle for each point is already eight things for the congregation. Frankly, that’s enough.

Because it’s a long process, I won’t go into all the detail here. I rely heavily on Logos Bible Software for this process, but do use other commentaries that are not yet available in Logos. Logos gives you hundreds of resources that make this process quicker – you’ll get a feel for how I work by watching the screencast below (clicking on it opens a new window).

(If you’re a Logos user, and are interesting in seeing some of the settings that make this Workspace usable, there’s a second screencast that explains all that.) But several hours later, the end result is something like this:

• Verses 4-5
  • Original meaning: Judah is condemned for despising the law of God. The punishment will be the same as that of the pagan nations (fire).
  • Timeless principle: Not treating God as God, is just as great a sin as not treating men as men.
• Verses 6-8
  • Original meaning: Israel is condemned for hypocrisy and injustice. The nations were judged for sins against humanity. Judah is judged for sins against God. But Israel combines the two.
  • Timeless principle: Those who know the truth yet continue in sin, sin to a greater extent than even the pagans.
    1. The addition of blasphemy into the list of sins is a definite ‘step-up’ from the sins of the pagan nations.
    2. The sins of the pagan nations is that they thought of themselves more highly than their brothers. The sin of Israel is compounded because they think of themselves more highly than God.
    3. An additional principle is that when people turn their backs on God, God’s people suffer (v6).
• Verses 9-12
  • Original meaning: God has done everything for the Israelites, but they have rejected him.
  • Timeless principles: Here there are definitely two principles that are both crucial. So I’ll break my rule and include both equally:
    1. God destroys our enemies (v9), guides and keeps us (v10), and reveals his will to us (v11).
    2. The first step on the road to sin is the rejection of God’s Word (v12).
• Verses 13-16
  • Original meaning: By withdrawing himself, God will both punish and demonstrate the Israelites unrecognised dependence on him.
  • Timeless principle: Without God, even the most hardened sinner is nothing.

It’s worth noting that there were a few slightly complex exegetical questions on the way. One is whether is the criticism of Judah (‘they have despised the law of God’) materially different from Israel (‘they sell the righteous for silver’), or are these two ways of saying the same thing? Then verses seven and eight are particularly hard to translate. And verse 13 could be translated “I am weighed down by you”, or “I will press you down”. But this was a relatively straightforward exegesis. That’s because I’m preaching on Amos, not Zechariah 😉

The next stage is to check this exegesis against the commentaries. Other than quickly checking the outlines, I’ve not read the commentaries yet. That’s because taking a shortcut to discovering the meaning and principles is rarely satisfactory. You’ve got to do the spadework yourself. (Having said that, I have read a lot of background to Amos before embarking on this process. This includes sections of Old Testament surveys, introductory material in commentaries, and the appropriate sections of 2 Kings which speak of the period.)

But reading the commentaries is vital for two reasons: (1) To stop me making errors. And (2) To add colour and depth to my fairly rudimentary knowledge. In this case looking through the commentaries didn’t bring anything particularly revealing to light, but they did confirm I was on basically the right track, and they did provide lots of helpful parallels and background which will come in useful later.

Before we leave this section there’s two small tasks to complete. The first is to ask which doctrines are central to this text. As a preacher, I need to be a teacher, and bible passages often given an opportunity for some systematic teaching, if only for a few minutes. But a few minutes in every message quickly provide a pretty good grounding in systematic theology for the whole congregation. I usually start by doing a Logos search through my Systematic Theologies to see if they cite the verses I’m preaching on. Unfortunately, in this case, few do. But looking through the original meaning and timeless principles, it’s pretty clear that the main doctrines are hamartiology (I’ve been waiting eight years to use that word! – it means the doctrine of sin. I promise I won’t use it again 😉 ) and judgement. I’ll look to include a brief overview of at least one of these doctrines in my sermon.

The second is to see if the passage is quoted from or alluded to in the New Testament. I’ll use the indexes in my UBS4 Greek New Testament, and Carson and Beale’s Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament. In this case neither search reveals anything of substance.

Digest

Next, I ensure that the message of the passage as got home to me. This is obviously a very personal process, so there’s not much I can write about it. But in essence it means praying the message home, and considering the application to me. It means examining my own heart and responding to the text – through praise, repentance, or often both! Here’s a flavour of the questions I asked myself for this passage:

• Am I in danger of God’s judgement? (2:4a)
• In what ways do I despise the law of God? (2:4b-5)
• Am I guilty of sinning against my brothers and sisters? (2:6-8)
• Do I blaspheme God through my subtle rejection of his law? (2:6-8, 12)
• Have I forgotten God’s great grace to me? (2:9-11)
• Do I believe (or act as though I believe) I can manage without God? (2:13-16)

This process has a major impact on the shape and approach of the sermon.

Disseminate

The final task is to actually write the sermon. The first thing I do is re-write my outline in a way which gives clear points for the congregation, and clear direction for me. The revised outline gets written in two stages. The first is just to write it in very short headings with an eye on the timeless principles. This turned out as:

• Rejecting the truth leads to certain judgement
• Rejecting the truth leads to sins against people
• Rejecting the truth leads to a rejection of God
• Rejecting the truth leads to total loss

You can see that the common theme has quite naturally become “rejecting the truth”. Earlier I said the main point of the passage is “God will judge his own people”. But that’s OK. Rejecting the truth is explicitly taught in sections one and three (2:4 and 2:12), and implicitly taught throughout the second section (2:6-8). Upon reflection we can see that the main point is actually “God will judge his own people if they reject the truth”. But I think it better to focus on the reasons for judgement rather than the fact of judgement. That’s because the reasons assume the fact, whilst the reverse isn’t true.

Having written this outline I then look to make it a little more memorable. I like alliteration (how did you guess?) so I make good use of Visual Thesaurus and the thesaurus in Microsoft Word. I also have an electronic edition of the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. This allows me (for example) to display a list of all verbs beginning with “di”. Very handy! the NSOED also allows searching by rhymes, which I also sometimes use. This particular outline is pretty memorable already, but the next version is even better, I think:

• Rejecting God’s truth brings retribution (4-5)
• Rejecting God’s truth brings ruthlessness (6-8)
• Rejecting God’s truth brings rejection (9-12)
• Rejecting God’s truth brings ruin (13-16)

“God’s truth” rather than “the truth”, helps keep the focus on God where it belongs. “Brings” is simply shorter than “leads to”. The other changes just create a memorable pattern and make the headings even shorter. I’m not quite happy with “ruthlessness”, I’d prefer “inhumanity”. But it’s good enough. (You always need to strike a balance between accuracy and memorability. I always err on the side of accuracy, and am happy that ruthlessness is an accurate description of 6-8.)  I like the double meaning of rejection in the third point: rejection brings rejection – it’s very biblical. Rejection of God words = Rejection of God = God’s rejection of us.

It’s worth comparing this with the very first outline I came up with, shown above:

• Judah punished for the rejection of the law (4-5)
• Israel punished for hypocritical sin (6-8)
• Israel reminded God gave them strength (9-12)
• God will therefore put them down (13-16)

That first outline was not wrong, but hopefully you can see the improvement! The important thing is that the first outline was merely descriptive, whereas the final outline gives much more thought to the principles and application. Comparing those two outlines illustrates the job a preacher – to get from one to the other.

So now we can finally get down to writing. I need to keep my sermons under 45 minutes otherwise they quickly get boring. So I aim for 40 minutes. I’ll reserve 5 minutes for an introduction and conclusion, which leaves me with 35 minutes for four points. Within each point I need teaching, illustration and application. I find this works best split roughtly 40/20/40, though don’t think for a minute that I actually stick to this as I’m writing! But I mention it because if you have four points, the teaching for each point is just 3½ minutes (approximately 450 words or four paragraphs). It’s very quickly filled. So I need to make sure my sermon is focussed on what really matters and I don’t get distracted by interesting asides. The teaching must state clearly what the Bible says. The illustrations must serve either the application or the teaching point, and the application must apply what has been taught, not just what I feel strongly about.

So, after a few more hours, the sermon is complete. The whole process (if I hadn’t been writing a blog post as I went along) would have taken about eight hours. That’s about right for me, but I know some work quicker, others slower. The finished version is available below. I’ll put up an audio recording as soon as I have it.

In the end, my points changed midway through the sermon. I wasn’t happy with “Rejecting God’s truth brings rejection” – the play on words might have been clever, but it wasn’t clear. In preaching, clarity is always more important than cleverness. I also wasn’t happy that in the earlier outline the first and fourth points described what God would do (bring retribution and ruin), and the second and third what they would do (be ruthless and reject God). This wasn’t clear from the outline. I’d also never been totally happy with “Rejecting God’s truth brings ruthlessness”, preferring ‘inhumanity’. So I started to look for words that would fit well with “inhumanity”. This is what I came up with:

• Rejecting God’s Word brings iniquity (4-5)
• Rejecting God’s Word brings inhumanity (6-8)
• Rejecting God’s Word brings infidelity (9-12)
• Rejecting God’s Word brings incapacity (13-16)

This is better again, I think. The application in the sermon developed in a way that I did not expect. The major points of application (one for each point of the sermon) were:

• The importance of evangelism: The stemmed very naturally over an assertion that the great iniquity of the Judaeans was that they didn’t treat God as God. One way we don’t treat God as God is our apparent happiness for him to be a secondary God who is only Lord over some, and our apparent refusal to obey the great commission.
• The importance of holiness: If rejecting God’s Word brings inhumanity, then a changed, holy life is a vital sign of genuine belief.
• The importance of biblical faithfulness: If rejecting God’s Word brings all this, we must re-double our efforts to remain biblically faithful.
• The danger of continued rebellion: If we are rejecting God’s Word, our lives are dependent on the patience of God. But His patience will not last forever.

I’ve not preached the sermon yet, but it’s as finished as I can make it. It certainly isn’t a model message (in particular it needs more illustration) but today, at least, it is the best I can do. Posting this has helped me to think how I can better prepare faithful, biblical expositions. I hope it does the same for others.

Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.
[audio:http://bethel.markbarnes.net/wp-content/uploads/sermons/2008-07-06-am.mp3]