According to the prophet Amos, the worst famine that can befall anyone is “not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).
In our day, biblical preaching feeds the people of God with his Word. But while there may not be a famine in some pulpits, there is a degree of malnutrition caused by an unbalanced diet. Some parts of the Bible are preached over and over while other portions are ignored.
Perhaps the most neglected parts of the Word are the narratives of the Old Testament. These include large sections of the Pentateuch, the historical books, parts of Daniel, and the book of Jonah. I have preached some of my best-received sermons from these passages, and I have discovered several practical guidelines for preparing messages from narratives.
1. Emphasize people. Essentially, Old Testament narratives are the stories about people. History must be read in terms of the people who made it. Preaching must emphasize the human element more than the historical.
The Book of Judges is both a hall of fame and a rogues’ gallery. What preacher could fail to capitalize on the fascinating people of Judges? There was Deborah, in the front lines before women were registered for the draft; Gideon, with his almost comical fear followed by his utter failure to cope with his own success; and weak-willed Samson, the “super jock” of Scripture. It will make us familiar with ourselves, because in these Old Testament people we will see ourselves.
2. Explain actions. Usually the Bible tells us what its characters did with their lives, not what went on inside their heads. Don’t try to psychoanalyze the people of the Old Testament. Discover their characters through their actions.
For example, Gideon’s use of the fleece was an outgrowth of his semipagan superstitions. Failure to mention this fact could lead to misunderstanding and misapplication by the audience. Nothing less than a solid understanding of Old Testament history, culture, and geography will guide the preacher in evaluating the actions of Old Testament people.
3. Explore options. Old Testament characters become more real and easier to identify with if we think not only about what they did, but what they might have done in certain situations. Life is a series of choices; interest can easily be aroused by pondering them. Sometimes what someone did not do tells as much about him as what he actually did.
Consider Rehoboam, Solomon’s son (1 Kings 12). By following foolish political advice, he precipitated the rebellion of the northern kingdom. The text tells us that Rehoboam sought the advice of both older and younger men, following the counsel of the latter. But something is missing. Scripture tells us that Israel’s kings from Saul to Zedekiah sought supernatural advice in times of crisis. Rehoboam, however, does not appear to have sought the advice of God at all. This fact reveals as much about him as do his recorded actions. Old Testament characters faced options, and successful preaching about them will explore these options as well as the more obvious actions.
4. Contemporary main points. “What has this got to do with me?” is the usual audience response to Old Testament narratives. This is the fundamental question the preacher must answer. A universal theme in the text must be isolated, developed, and applied. But sometimes, though we are successful at isolating such a theme, we smother it in sermon construction by making a common technical mistake: we phrase the main points in historical instead of in contemporary terms.
For example, we might see the theme of Jonah 4 as “lovelessness.” A main point of a sermon on the chapter could be. “The Causes of Jonah’s Lovelessness.” But this is a ho-hum point. Who cares what caused Jonah’s lovelessness? What we care about is what causes our lovelessness. The main point should be, “The Causes of Lovelessness.” As a rule of thumb, always avoid mentioning any historical name, incident, or term in main points. This will help keep the points contemporary.
For too long the stories of the Old Testament have been relegated to the preschool Sunday school department. If we believe, with Paul, that “these things occurred as examples” (1 Cor. 10:6), we will seek to rediscover the rewards of studying and preaching them.
MICHAEL J. HOSTETLER1Mr. Hostetler is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Mahomet, Illinois.
