Lesson Goal
In this lesson I want to encourage the use of a whole book or more in preaching.
Lesson Intro
When I was in Bible College we used to laugh about the guy who would get up to preach and say that he only had one text, everything from Genesis to Revelation. I stopped laughing about it after I had realized that that was similar to what Stephen did in his sermon in Acts 7. There is a place for a sermon like that, but in all practicality, you could really only give such a broad brush sermon from Genesis to Revelation once in any congregation.
Lesson Plan
We are going to discuss the broadest brush usually found in the preachers paint kit, expounding a book. We will examine Acts 7 for lessons on how to use a broad brush approach to preaching. We will look at choosing key quotes, a theme, maximizing advantages, minimizing disadvantages, and tying it all to Christ.
Lesson Body
1. The Scope of Stephen's Sermon
Notice that Stephen's sermon travels a long way. It is more than just one book, but we can learn some lessons that apply to a book of the Bible sermon from his broad-brush sermon. He begins with Abraham, the Egyptian enslavement of Israel after Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David and finally hits them between the eyes for their murder of Jesus.
The scope of this lesson is not nearly as extensive as Stephen's sermon; however, we know that a broad ranging sermon can be effective and exemplary.
2. The Quotes
Stephen actually quotes two passages of Scripture, one from Exodus and one from Isaiah. Notice that he does not specify what part of Exodus or Isaiah these quotes are from. It was the ancient practice of just quoting what book, because chapters and verses are a modern invention.
While chapters and verse have advantages, they also introduce some disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that sometimes when we try to remember chapter and verse, we get lost in the unnecessary memorization of numbers and overlook the important lessons we ought to be remembering. Our minds can only cram so much information in, and the less you know the less you can forget. Although memorizing chapter and verse has some advantages for those gifted with that kind of mind, memorizing what the verses actually say, and the principles they teach, are so much more important than remembering the chapter and verse numbers, and the pride that can go along with having learned them by rote.
3. The Theme
The theme of Stephen's sermon is an attack. It is an attack on his nation's long history of having stiff necks and hard hearts, always resisting the Holy Spirit. It would be like an American condemning America's history of oppressing black slaves, or an Englishman condemning Britain's corruption in the Chinese Opium Wars. As Christians well know, Stephen's attack does not apply to Jews alone, because all of humanity has resisted God and disobeyed him. In fact the few prophets and righteous people, who did obey God during all those years, were mostly Jews.
It is important to remember that when we handle a broader subject, whether that is a history of Israel or a whole book of the Bible, we remain focused on a theme. Otherwise, we would just tend to wander about aimlessly.
4. Advantages
An advantage of preaching a whole book is that people are not so lost in details that they forget there is a broader picture. The Pharisees were known for their detail-mindedness. They were so detail-minded that they completely lost sight of the weightier matters (Matthew 23:23). A broader brush can, if used rightly, point us to the weightier matters.
We are not so concerned with harmonizing details such as whether or not the Israelites were in Egypt 400 years or 430. We are concerned as to why and what we can learn from that. An overview has the advantage of learning lessons that took some believers a lifetime to learn. We can study both their virtues and their mistakes.
5. Disadvantages
Preachers can lose sight of the importance of a book and treat this sermon just as a book summary. It is not. It is more than that. It is a placement of the book in its biblical perspective, the purpose for the book in the plan of God. There is no time for the treatment of many picky questions in a sermon on a book. If forces us to look for important principles.
For instance, if I preached a sermon on Genesis, I would divide the sermon into two parts: the creation and the patriarchs. I would not have time to answer questions about the pros and cons of various old-earth and young-earth creation theories, nor the various theories surrounding Noah's flood. This disadvantage can be overcome by using other opportunities to explain such details.
6. Tie it into Christ
Placing a book into the perspective of the cross is perhaps the crux of the matter, if you'll pardon the pun. The Gospel is the most important message on the planet. Every book of the Bible is either an explanation of the Gospel or a foreshadow of it. Old Testament books are a foreshadow, a precursor preparing for the Messiah. The Gospels explain the events surrounding the cross and the resurrection, and the rest of the New Testament explains how that relates to the life of the Church.
Example Sermon
Title: "Genesis"
Goal
To teach the purpose of Genesis and how it ties in with Christ.
Intro
What impact could one faithful family in the midst of a corrupt world have on the rest of humanity? The Bible speaks of a famous family whose spiritual descendants have had more impact on the world than any other family in history.
Plan
We will take a look through Genesis to see how gracious God is, that even though the spread of evil has not abated since creation, God's mercy and grace also abounded, giving this whole world many blessings. We will see the example of a faithful family and how God blessed the whole world because of their faith. We will see how that we too can be declared righteous because of the faith we have in Christ.
Body
1. The Spread of Evil & Grace (Genesis 1-11)
Is the earth only 6,000 years old or many millions of years old? Did God create using theistic evolution alone, a mixture of evolution and special creation or in six literal days? Is the Hebrew of Genesis 1 and 2 intended to be poetry, scientific fact, myth, majestic prose or a polemic (controversial argument) against Babylonian gods? The difficulties of such diverse topics as the Hebrew genre of Genesis 1 and the forensic evidence for an ancient earth are beyond the scope of our expertise. Harmonizing the truth found in the rocks and the Bible is difficult. No one has all the answers. But Genesis is true and there are far more important lessons than arguing over science.
The most important subject Genesis reveals is God and people who loved him. Genesis also records corrupt people like Cain, Lamech, the sons of God (perhaps autocratic rulers) and the flood generation. We see disobedience, murder, lust, immorality, violence and how God deals with these issues. We notice punishments: Adam was expelled from the garden, he then had to till the earth for food, life spans were limited, humanity is nearly annihilated in a flood, human unity is broken up at the tower and all humans then had to experience physical death.
God’s grace is also evident: the death penalty was often withheld, Cain was protected with a mark, Noah was also preserved, the blessing of reproduction continues. Why the Genealogies? Why the Table of Nations? (Genesis 1:28; 9:1) Among other things they show that despite corruption and violence, God is still gracious and allows people to reproduce.
2. A Faithful Family
Abram was apparently a pagan when God called him. What was required of him? Was it obedience — a responsive faith? Is that also required of us today?
The promise to Abram is a narrative strand through the rest of Genesis. Why Abram? God did not do this for him alone, but for all the families of the earth. A blessing on the life of anyone is for the sake of others, and it's God's prerogative alone. God blesses his people today not because we are extraordinary, but because there is work to be done (Gen 13; 15; 17; 22), and because he wants to see all people blessed. This is the gospel, according to Paul (Galatians 3:8).
Why are Genesis 10 and 11 out of time order? Ancient writers were not always concerned with things being in perfect chronological order, but in teaching valuable lessons. Perhaps Genesis 11 and 12 are together as a lesson. Why? In Genesis 11 people tried to make their name great, but God cursed their efforts. In chapter 12 God promises to make Abraham's name great. A name is not something we give to ourselves, it is something God gives. What made Abram distinctive was his call, not his background.
Why the emphasis on descendants? Abraham's family is not merely a natural occurrence. God had to intervene so Sarah could bear a child. He created a people by divine election, just as today Christians are a people created by divine election. A main component of the covenant relationship was faith, a component Israel lacked. Being an Israelite is not enough. You have to have a living faith, a faith that acts!
Abraham's descendants Isaac, Jacob and Joseph were a partial fulfillment of the promise. When and how is the complete fulfillment of this promise? Is that not through the Church?
3. Christ
Abraham is considered the father of the faithful (Romans 4:11-12) because he believed what God had promised. The promise to Abraham that he becomes the father of many nations is fulfilled in the Gospel. If we believe on him that raised up Jesus from the dead (Romans 4:24), we too like Abraham are declared righteous by faith.
Outro
We have seen how gracious God is, that even though the spread of evil has not abated since creation, God's mercy and grace also abound, giving us the blessings of children, crops that produce and air to breathe. We have seen the example of a faithful family and how God blessed the whole world because of their faith. We have seen how that we too can be declared righteous because of the faith we have in Christ.
Suggested Assignment
Choose a book that you feel comfortable expounding. Preach it, picking out a few key passages to quote, and show how the book ties in to the central Person of Christianity, Christ.
Lesson Outro
We have discussed one of the broadest brushes found in the preachers paint kit, expounding a book. We examined Acts 7 for lessons on how to use a broad brush approach to preaching. We looked at choosing key quotes, a theme, maximizing advantages, minimizing disadvantages, and tying it all to Christ. Hopefully, you will become a versatile preacher who can use a variety of techniques in painting your sermons, from the finest brush expounding a single word or a phrase, to a broad-brush expounding whole books and histories.
