David and Goliath — Christ- Centered Preaching . Certainly, this is an important issue. However, I underestimated the amount of interest and passion that Christ- centered hermeneutics would stir up. Vi Contents 10.!e Power of Preaching:!e Presence of the Holy Spirit Michael A. 131 Part 4: The Method of Preaching 11. Houston Graduate School of Theology PR 720: The Art of Expository Preaching Spring 2014, Thursdays, 6:30pm-9:30pm Dr. Cosby, Adjunct Professor Email: [email protected] The mission of Houston Graduate School of Theology. In this Bible study the Apostle Paul defines his life goals in the gospel ministry and how to accomplish them. He gives the pastor and missionary the principles to an effective Bible based, Christ-centered pastorate. Expository preaching is a kind of preaching that expounds upon the meaning of a particular text or passage of Scripture. Perhaps, some of the popularity of the Christ- centered hermeneutic comes from a generation of Christians that have grown up with teaching that promotes moralism and legalism, and they long for a more biblically grounded understanding of Scripture. Charles Spurgeon aptly illustrates what seems to be a popular caricature of Christ- centered hermeneutics, making a bee- line to the cross. Much of the discussion centers on answering this question. The panelists included Trevin Wax (Managing Editor, The Gospel Project), Jon Akin (Pastor of Fairview Church, Lebanon TN), and Eric Hankins (Pastor of First Baptist Church, Oxford MS). Akin echoed the argument Sidney Greidanus made in his book Preaching Christ from the Old Testament. Instead, we should endeavor to discover the meaning of this narrative in the context of the whole of redemptive history. At a higher level, this is a story about the Lord defeating the enemy of his people through his servant David. Or does the call to be brave require that people read themselves into the narrative? How do we teach or preach a story like that in a way that's helpful? In our panel discussion Trevin Wax commented on this very point. I think you can find moral example in David. But there is something else there. Going back to the context of the story, you have the people of Israel being oppressed. You have the enemy of God that's there and the king is AWOL. He's not where he's supposed to be. Then, you have David who has been anointed king, but he's still under the radar. He comes and slays this giant. God uses this very ordinary person that no one would expect. So, with David and Goliath, you see that God keeps His covenant promises to His people by raising up an unlikely savior. That helps people understand this is the way God works. When you are preaching the New Testament you can say, look God did this in the Old Testament, too. Now, the problem is that I think a strict approach to historical grammatical method in homiletics flattens the text. I'm going to argue that misses something. You cannot jump from David to your church member. There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, so this text applies to me in Christ or outside of Christ. But, it's mediated through Christ. So, how do you preach that? He crushes the enemy's head. In the Hebrew text it describes the enemy as wearing snake armor. That sure sounds familiar doesn't it? Out in the wilderness, the serpent is presenting himself 4. Then, Jesus withstands the temptation to bypass the cross and in doing that crushes the serpent's head. In Revelation 1. 2, how do we overcome the evil one? Through the blood of the Lamb. That's the instrumentality by which the evil one is defeated. We are the Israelites who are cowering in fear in the corner because we can't face the giant on our own. We can't beat our enemies on our own. So, we need a David to stand in our place and to defeat our enemies. But then what happens after that? David slings the rock that crushed the enemy's head. Then, David takes his sword and cuts his head off. The Israelite army pursues. You can face your enemies and you have the courage to face your enemies, but you only do that once you recognize, as Jerry Vines says, we don't fight for victory in the Christian life we fight from victory. So, it's a picture of sanctification, but a sanctification that is based in what Jesus has done in saving us. And we've all heard of the expression: . It's looking for historical patterns that can be gleaned from the Old Testament text. I'm more comfortable saying the plot of the David and Goliath story is about a savior who stands before the enemy and acts and saves. I'm less comfortable with the snakeskin and the head. I think we should be very careful about moving into the specifics so that this is this and that is that. Then it becomes allegorical. When we pay attention to the details and the context of David and Goliath, we see that this is not primarily a morality tale about courage in the face of one's giants. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see how other writers, teachers, and preaches handled this text from a Christ- centered perspective. While there was a lot of similarity, interestingly enough, the focal points were different. Michael Williams, How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens: For Williams, the narrative fits within the theme of God exalts the weak and humbles the proud. I have been somewhat surprised and enthused by the amount of traffic we have received on the site during our series on Christ-centered hermeneutics. Certainly, this is an important issue. However, I underestimated the amount. Here you will find church of christ sermons, power point, bible class and audio sermons by Cougan Collins. The account of young David Goliath shows us how God can turn the humble trust of a shepherd boy into victory over a giant ego. Preparation is thus made for the gospel events in which God's Christ (Anointed One) wins the victory over sin and death on behalf of his people. David is the head crusher? I would love to hear your thoughts on this discussion. Later this week, I will post part of our similar discussion pertaining to the story of Samson. Read part six of the Christ- centered teaching and preaching series here. Download the FREE e- book Christ- Centered Preaching and Teaching from The Gospel Project. Thanks to Matt Capps for his help putting the breakfast and these blog posts together.
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