Preaching the Scriptures

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all African heroes and heroines of the faith who risked all for Christ; and to all African preachers who seek to preach nothing but the Scripture – the whole of it and the truth of it.

Foreword

I was honoured when Dr. Joel Biwul asked me to write the foreword to his book. When the manuscript arrived, I was in the middle of preparing lessons for my class the next day. I said, Well, let me simply read a couple of sentences. I will read the rest of the manuscript tomorrow. So I read the first couple of sentences. But then I carried on reading. I did not want to put the book down. Before I knew it, I had finished the chapter.

In Preaching the Scriptures Dr. Joel Biwul addresses fundamental issues in ministry profoundly yet simply. His message grips you, and so does the way he communicates it. His stories and illustrations help drive the message home as he looks at the challenges in preaching and takes you through the process of preparing and delivering a sermon. His examples are clear and helpful.

In Africa, as everywhere, the church badly needs preachers who preach the Scriptures to bring people to Christ and nurture them in the faith. Many preachers are preaching themselves and their own interests. Many are preaching in ignorance of the Scriptures. Therefore, Dr. Biwul’s book is timely. He stresses the awesome honour and privilege of being a preacher of God’s word – a spokesman for God from the pulpit. You would not want, as Dr. Biwul puts it, to be a channel that feeds error into God’s church. I therefore highly recommend this book to every pastor and indeed to all Christians. I pray that God will use Preaching the Scriptures mightily in his church.

Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael Kyomya Jinja, Uganda 10 April 2017

Acknowledgements

Although every author claims responsibility for what he or she writes, no reasonable book is exclusively the author’s independent product without the contributions of a number of other people. This book is no exception.

I am very deeply thankful to Bishop Michael Kyomya, who graciously agreed to write the foreword for this book. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to HippoBooks for agreeing to publish it, and to my editors, Dahlia Fraser and Isobel Stevenson, who contributed to making this book what it is. As editors they are firm and detail-oriented when it comes to professional quality, yet also friendly and sacrificial. Isobel’s friendship and kindness have been an immense blessing in every sense of the word. I must also thank her husband for giving her the support she needs as she supports others.

Various reviewers who read my proposal and my manuscripts have also contributed to the shaping of this book. In particular, I would like to thank Martin Goodchild and his wife Susie for their willingness to act as sounding boards. It was a privilege to work with them, and their comments and suggestions have helped make this book a reality.

The critical comments and useful suggestions of my preliminary editor Hauwa John-Ramadan were also much appreciated. She guided my tone and writing style and made me think more critically and carefully than I had done. Thank you Hauwa!

At almost all of our family devotions, my wife and children would pray for my many writing projects – whether articles or books. This book is a result of their prayers. I remain ever grateful for having such a lovely family.

Finally, I would like to thank my students at ECWA Theological Seminary (JETS), Jos, Nigeria who urged me to write a book on preaching each time I taught the course in homiletics. Here is the book you were asking for!

Thank you all of you.

1 Introduction

There are many good Christian speakers in Africa, but not many good preachers.

Let me explain what I mean. Good Christian speakers are people who can talk about the Bible, perhaps even talk about it very well. They can quote a lot of verses. But that does not necessarily make them good preachers. What makes a good preacher is the ability not just to quote the Bible but also to explain what it means. A good preacher shows how the passage being preached on applies to those who are listening to the preacher. They learn how to put what they hear to good use.

I can illustrate the difference between a good speaker and a good preacher from Scripture itself. In Acts 8:26–35 we read about an encounter between Philip and an Ethiopian official. The official was an educated and godly man who had made a long journey from North Africa to Jerusalem to worship in the temple. He could probably speak very well – then, as now, that ability was a requirement for anyone in an important position. If you had asked him why he was going to Jerusalem, he could have told you the reasons and he could have quoted from the Bible to back them up. When Philip met him, he was reading from the book of Isaiah. But when Philip asked him, Do you understand what you are reading? He replied, How can I, unless someone explains it to me? Philip then became a good preacher, explaining what the passage he was reading meant, not only in general terms but also in terms of how it applied to the official himself.

Like that Ethiopian man many zealous, religious people read the Bible but struggle to understand it. They have a general idea of its teaching on morality because that is often in keeping with traditional African values. But they do not have any deep understanding of how the teachings of the Bible can directly affect their spiritual lives and their everyday lives as fathers, mothers, employees, employers, students, teachers, business persons, consumers, neighbours, leaders, voters and politicians.

We see the effects of that lack of knowledge in the many ills that afflict our continent. We see it when people try to redefine who Jesus is by dressing him in the clothes of African Traditional Religion. We see it in the way people flock to those who use religion as a means to gain wealth and power. Too often church members fall prey to these preacher predators.

How are Christians to learn to understand the Scriptures better? The answer is that they need good preachers to help them. Those preachers need to be prepared and capable Christians who know God, understand the Bible, and are able to preach clearly. Such preachers can show the relevance of the Bible to daily life in Africa. But more than that, such preachers can help Africans understand who God is, what he has done for them and will do for them, and what it means to be a mature Christian.

There are, of course, already many preachers in Africa. But some of them are false shepherds who preach only to extort money from their hearers. Some are careless, and do not realize the importance of their work as preachers. Some are lazy and not prepared to do the hard work needed to preach well. All they want is to hear the sound of their own voices expressing their own opinions. This book is not for such preachers.

However, there are other preachers who know that the Bible is the word of God. They long to preach all of it faithfully. They want to see people grow to maturity in their faith. But they know that they are not succeeding in doing this. They worry about how to preach and what to preach. This book is intended to help all such preachers learn the art of preaching from the Scriptures. Its goal is to help untrained lay preachers or evangelists correctly handle the word of truth.

In this book you will learn more about the need for what is called expository preaching and will find simple tools that you can use to feed others with the bread of life. It shows how preachers can use all of Scripture for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16) so that all God’s people in Africa are equipped to serve him faithfully.

But before we explore what good preaching is, we need to identify some harmful forms of preaching that are very common in Africa. That is why the next chapter is titled What Preaching is Not.

2 What Preaching Is Not

I once walked into a local restaurant feeling very hungry. As I placed my order, the waiter informed me that their policy was pay before service. So I paid in advance for the food. But when the food arrived, I could not eat it. It was sour, watery, and had far too much pepper. Not wanting to complain and attract attention, I quietly walked out of the restaurant. I would never go there again.

Just as this bad food could not satisfy my hunger, so bad preaching and wrong use of the Bible cannot meet the spiritual needs of church members. When preaching is not done rightly, the listeners leave hungry and dissatisfied. Some may never return to that church, or to any church.

But there are also other types of bad food, where the problem is not apparent at first glance. Think of what we call junk food. It looks attractive, others speak highly of it, and we sometimes enjoy eating it. But those who eat only junk food will find that their health begins to suffer because it lacks nutritional value. Similarly, those who hear junk preaching may enjoy it at first, but will eventually find that they are suffering from spiritual malnutrition.

How can we tell the difference between nutritious preaching and junk preaching? One way to do this is to ask whether what the preacher says and does in the pulpit focuses our attention on God and his word or diverts our attention from God.

Preaching Is Not Self-Advertisement

Some preachers divert our attention from God by using the pulpit and preaching as a way to advertise themselves. They give themselves titles like Anointed Man of God and President and Founder, and want to be called Papa and Mama. They boast about the number of degrees they have acquired and the types of cars they own. When they preach, they talk about what God has used them to do and what he can do through them or their ministry. They announce that those who come to their church will receive miracles of healing, gain material wealth, and be protected from their enemies and from what they call untimely death".

But true preaching is not talking about oneself. True preaching is telling people about Christ and his kingdom. He is at the centre of Christian preaching. True preachers recognize that they are only the instruments through which Christ is preached. Even the great Apostle Paul described himself as only a servant of Christ (Rom 1:1; Phil 1:1; Titus 1:1) or an apostle of Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Tim 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1). He was determined that all his preaching would be about Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2:1–5).

Like Paul, true preachers recognize that it is a great privilege to preach God’s word. They acknowledge that they are not worthy of this honour and that it is only by God’s grace that they are allowed to preach at all. So they preach with an attitude of humility and in full submission to the Lordship of Christ. They are mindful that all that they say and do reflects on him, and they seek to honour him in how they live. So they preach about Christ and do not seek to draw attention to themselves.

Preaching Is Not Telling Endless Stories

Many Africans are superb storytellers. And we all enjoy hearing a well-told story. When we were children, we learnt by listening to the stories our parents or the village elders told us. So a wise preacher will use stories in preaching, just as Jesus did. (You will see that I have even used some stories in this book.)

However, there are some preachers who get carried away when telling stories. Instead of explaining what the Bible says, they use the sermon as an opportunity