Workshop teaches how to recapture the voice of God

The speakers for Southwestern Seminary’s 2016 Expository Preaching Workshop collectively asserted that when preachers pay attention to the genre of a given text of Scripture, they “recapture the voice of God.” Vice President for Student Services Steven Smith, whose book Recapturing the Voice of God: Shaping Sermons Like Scripture served as a basis for the workshop, clarified that the voice, or tone, of the text is often influenced by the genre of the text.

“We represent the voice of the text when we re-present the structure and the spirit of the text,” Smith said in regard to preaching genres. “This is preaching God’s Word [in] God’s way.”

The workshop, which took place March 7-8, featured six faculty members of Southwestern’s new School of Preaching as well as Jerry Vines, pastor emeritus of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla. In addition to preaching in chapel, Vines delivered the opening address for the workshop, which served as an important foundation for the workshop itself. Specifically, Vines emphasized the importance of always growing as a preacher.

“I want to come down to the end still growing and still improving in my preaching,” said Vines, who has been preaching for roughly 60 years. “You never arrive in your preaching. We want to be making progress in our preaching.”

Smith spoke next, providing an overview of biblical genres. He identified three broad categories—story, poem and letter—and multiple subcategories, including epistles, psalms and prophecy. He then explained that genre should be considered because it fits the goal of text-driven preaching and is consistent with a theology of preaching, a biblical approach to pastoral ministry, and a text-driven life.

The remaining sessions focused on preaching individual genres, beginning with law. Assistant Professor of Homiletics Kyle Walker spoke on this topic and addressed some of the interpretive challenges of preaching such books as Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Ultimately, however, he stressed that all of the Old Testament, including the Law, is still the Word of God.

“In a forensic sense—that is, a strictly legal sense—it’s not incumbent upon New Testament believers to obey any stipulations of the Mosaic law,” Walker said. “However, in the theological sense, all of those laws—indeed, all the texts of the Old Testament—are applicable to believers of all times and all ages. In other words, the Old Testament laws are no longer applicable to New Testament believers as law, and yet, through Christ, all of God’s commands are always applicable to everyone everywhere. So we use the Law not because we are bound by it, but because it is instructive; it is helpful for us.”

Regarding how to preach the Law, Walker said, “Apply the truth of a given law for today. That is, take that timeless truth and contextualize that divine demand to the contemporary audience based on what is true about God and about mankind and sin.”

Associate Professor of Preaching Matthew McKellar spoke on the topic of preaching Psalms. He listed three key words to keep in mind when preaching passages from this book: reality, reign and response. That is, the psalms deal with real life, and God not only reigns, but He is intimately and comprehensively involved in the lives of His people.

McKellar said Psalm 147, specifically verses 3-4, demonstrate these concepts. “In two verses,” McKellar explains, “He is the heart-healer and the star-namer. I need that kind of God. Your people need that kind of God.”

“And when you preach the psalms,” he continued, “you get such a beautiful, lavish presentation. This transcendent God who is over all, who calls the stars by name, is also a God who has come near, and He can bind up my broken heart and your broken heart, because He is a Lord who reigns and He is a Lord who responds in the reality of life.”

During his time on the stage, Barry McCarty, professor of preaching and rhetoric, provided guidance on preaching the parables of Jesus. He encouraged preachers to pay attention to seven different factors in regard to parables, including their purpose, pattern and progression.

“Let the parable illustrate the point Jesus made,” McCarty said in reference to the way in which parables are presented in the text. “Don’t impose your own points on the parable.”

Another factor to which preachers need to pay attention is the unpacking of unfamiliar elements of the parable in a way that modern listeners can understand. “You need to learn to be a great storyteller,” he explained. “Listeners need information, but they also need images, and so you need to be a good storyteller to tell stories and parables in a way that people will like them.”

Dean of the School of Preaching David Allen spoke next on preaching the New Testament epistles. He took the opportunity to stress the importance of text-driven preaching.

“Text-driven preaching says that we’re going to stay true to the substance, the structure, and the spirit (the genre) of the text so that we can recapture the voice of God,” he said. Thus, arbitrarily imposing a “three-point” outline onto a text that, for example, has only one main point equates to mispreaching the text. Allen advised preaching through the paragraphs of the original Greek text and following the trajectory of those passages.

Assistant Professor of Preaching Vern Charette concluded the workshop by explaining how to preach the book of Revelation. Acknowledging that many preachers avoid this book for fear that they do not adequately understand it, Charette clarified, “This book, the apocalypse, was not intended by God to be a closed book. The word ‘apocalypse’ itself means to uncover; to reveal.”

He recommended approaching the book Christologically. Alluding to the book’s opening words (“The revelation of Jesus Christ …”), Charette said, “This book is about Jesus, and do you love Jesus? Have you ever preached through the Gospels? Have you ever preached through the epistles and even through the Old Testament, looking for those hermeneutical bridges that get you to Christ? Well, the same thing can be done for this book.”

“So I challenge you to read and expound it with a Christological and theological focus,” Charette concluded. “This book is about Christ and written to the church. Don’t shrink back from [expounding] this book for the glory of God.”