The Beauty and Power of Biblical Exposition (eBook)

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The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Preaching Narrative

Six questions. Answer honestly. First, have you ever heard a preacher use the Bible as a launching pad; that is, a text is read near the start of the sermon, and then, once the preacher gets into his message, the Bible recedes from view and rarely resurfaces? I have seen some preachers lift up the Bible, read a verse, and then say absolutely nothing about the Bible! I assume this doesn’t describe you.

Second, have you ever heard a preacher use the Bible as a road map that travels through as many parallel passages as possible; that is, a narrative is read (let’s say, from the Synoptics) and then its parallels in the other Gospels are quickly exegeted, then Paul is quoted at length, and finally you earn a gold star for flipping the fastest to everywhere in the Bible but the actual story that was read as the Scripture reading for the day? Instead of understanding a particular narrative within the context of the full narrative, and living in that text for the whole sermon and experiencing an in-depth experience of the story, you are whisked away to a thousand rabbit holes of exegetical curiosity. Been there? Heard that? Might have done that a time or two?

Third, have you ever heard a preacher use the Bible to moralize a text? For example, on a Men’s Retreat the story of Judah and Tamar is treated as an exposition on the importance of avoiding sexually immoral women on business trips, and the narrative of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife as the follow-up talk on how we can have victory, as Joseph did, over the sexually aggressive woman at work? That will preach. But it is not how those stories should be preached. The story of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) derives its meaning, as any biblical narrative does, from the literary whole, namely, the story of Joseph recorded in Genesis 37–50. The story of Judah and Tamar is more about God keeping his promises than about an immoral sex act, and it fits within the story of Joseph in that Joseph saves the lives of Judah’s offspring, an offspring from which the Christ came.

Fourth, have you ever heard a preacher use the Bible as a lecture on systematic theology; that is, he gives a doctrinal sermon that is divorced, not from verses in the narrative, but from the narrative itself? For example, the miracle of Jesus walking on water becomes merely a proof text for the doctrine of Jesus’s divinity. The story itself is stripped of its textual beauty so that one doctrine can be emphasized. That narrative does confirm that doctrine, but that is not the sole intent of the narrative. It misses the God-woven texture of a story that offers multifaceted truths about God, humanity, discipleship, sin, and salvation.

Fifth, have you ever heard a preacher use the Bible as a sideshow for the slideshow? That is, he uses a detailed PowerPoint presentation or video clips that dominate the sermon? Many churches today fail to recognize the power of a good story and storyteller. There is nothing more riveting than listening to a master teacher work through a masterfully written story about the Master! Artwork or graphics on a slide can help the listener (and looker) follow along and illustrate complex concepts visually, but tech-dominated “preaching” is dominated by the wrong medium. What happens is that most people delight in the interesting images and amusing clips, not the very Word of God.

Sixth, have you ever heard a preacher use the Bible as a starting point to his own imaginative narrative exposé; that is, he pretends to be a character in the story and adds a dozen details to the inspired narrative? For example, when he comes to the detail of Zacchaeus’s size, a quarter of the sermon “exegetes” its significance through actual actions. A tree is on stage. The preacher makes himself small by wearing a long robe, dropping to his knees, and scurrying across the stage. He comes to the tree, eyes it, then the congregation. They cheer him on. He climbs the tree. Okay, I’ll admit, I have never seen that, but nothing would surprise me today. The point, in question form, is this: why the need to expand in the extreme upon a God-inspired narrative? Is your dramatic interpretation really an improvement on the Spirit’s inspiration?

If you answered yes to any or all of the above questions, let me ask you a final question: Do you lament the current state of preaching within Bible-believing churches? I imagine so. Well, one sure remedy to such models of preaching is a serious commitment to the literary nature of the Bible. For think about it: One cannot preach “the-Bible-as-a-launching-pad” sermons, or any of the above examples, and faithfully preach any of the stories of Scripture. Envision a sermon on David and Goliath, the Gerasene demoniac, or the conversion of Saul that begins with a quote from the most popular verse from the text and off the preacher goes on a tangent, never to return to one of the greatest stories ever told.

In this chapter we will explore how to read and preach the most prevalent genre in the Bible.1 Narrative is not the most important genre just because it is the most prevalent (each genre is essential for a full-orbed preaching ministry), but if you do not understand the basics of this genre, you will be greatly limited. Completely limited! For even the non-narrative parts of the Bible take their place within the overarching metanarrative that unifies the Bible. The central character in the organizing story of the Bible is God, and the central literary (and theological!) concern of the Bible is the characterization (or depiction) of God. The acts of God constitute the plot of the master story of the Bible.2 And every creature interacts with this divine protagonist. So, of all the chapters in this short book, we invite you to eye and apply this most foundational one.

How to Read Biblical Narrative

In his MasterClass video on “Storytelling and Writing,” Salman Rushdie states, “We need stories to understand ourselves. We are the only creature that does this unusual thing—of telling each other stories in order to try to understand what kind of creature we are.” Later he says, “When a child is born, the first thing a child requires is safety and love. The next thing that the child asks for is ‘Tell me a story.’” That is where we start. Human experience. “Tell me a story” is perhaps the most universal human impulse. We live in a story-shaped world, and our lives themselves have a narrative quality about them. We universally resonate with stories! So, why wouldn’t we, as preachers, do everything in our power to understand how to handle (even master) this genre? Do you want to connect with your congregation? Of course. Then don’t underestimate the power of comprehending and communicating God’s uniquely designed stories to people made in his image. You will find no more promising sermon material than the stories God gave to his church and world.

The Components of a Story

If you have been to seminary, you will have learned that no principle of biblical hermeneutics is more important than that a written text needs to be approached in terms of the kind of writing that it is. Right? Maybe. And surely you had a whole class on preaching narrative. Right? Wrong. Or, likely wrong. Well, in this chapter, we offer no master class, but we do submit to you a short and hopefully inspirational tutorial. We hope we inspire you to learn more; to build your library, and to actually read what is in your library. But we know that pastors are busy, almost as busy as literary scholars and Bible publishers! So, our Concise Manual on Preaching Narrative (While Invigorating the Elect and Captivating Converts) awaits you. We begin with the two foundational steps that you need to take each time you come to a Bible story.

First, know that a story is a story. Be able to identify the genre. If the text in view starts, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” you need to turn off your television, computer, or app. But if it starts, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered,” you need to know that a God-breathed story has started and that your congregation is soon to be thoroughly engaged by your skillful retelling. And, if needed, feel free to ask your in-house droid, that is programmed for both protocol and etiquette, “What genre is Luke 2:1?” Both C-3PO and Siri will give you the correct answer. But you are surely not so shallow. You likely listen to Bach as you translate Sunday’s text, and sip Intelligentsia Coffee when you turn to form your homiletical outline. Okay, maybe you don’t. But you read books like the one in hand because you want to improve your preaching. And you know a story when you see a story.

But are you committed to analyzing a biblical narrative in keeping with the traits of that genre? To do that is the second step. Stories consist of three components—setting, characters, and plot. Each of these needs to be acknowledged and analyzed in our treatment of a biblical narrative. I find such analysis extremely pleasurable, and I often share aspects of my delight in the story with God’s people from the pulpit. Because I delight not only in what God says to us in his Word but in how he has said it, both I and my hearers grow in our knowledge of God and appreciation of how he has chosen to communicate to us. Part of that growth is that together we use and understand terms like setting (“Notice that...