Julius Kim - Preaching the Whole Counsel of God: Design and Deliver Gospel-Centered Sermons

Preaching the Whole Counsel of God strategically blends an emphasis on proclaiming Christ as the unifying Hero of the entire Bible with insights drawn from recent communications research into the ways that listeners attend to and process what they hear (or not!). Among various recent books on Christ-centered preaching, a distinctive strength of Dr. Kims work is his well-informed, practical coaching on sermon structure, illustration, and delivery, helping preachers bring Gods Word home to hearers hearts in dependence on the Holy Spirit. I highly recommend this book.

Dennis E. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Practical Theology, Westminster Seminary California

Julius Kims many years of teaching and modeling biblical preaching combine with a keen mind and a caring heart to provide this excellent and highly accessible resource for preaching the whole counsel of God. Among the books many fine features are its commitment to seeing the whole Bible as a revelation of Gods redemptive message and its great suggestions for communicating these truths to contemporary culture.

Bryan Chapell, Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church, Peoria, IL; President Emeritus, Covenant Seminary

If Christ is the one in whom and for whom everything has been created, faithful sermons ought to illuminate this reality. They ought to manifest the ways in which all of life is held together in Christ and the manner in which the great story of Scripture is likewise glued together in Christ. Julius Kim has done a marvelous job in bringing this conviction to life and making it so practical that no preacher worth their salt will miss it. And every listener of sermons will see why these matters are of such great importance.

Richard Lints, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

A wonderful blend of hermeneutics and homiletics! Kim takes the reader from the text to the pulpit in a clear and concise way. Here preachers will learn how to think about the text and how to package those thoughts into a compelling sermon. A great textbook for a preaching class, and a revitalizing read for seasoned preachers!

Mark D. Futato Sr., Robert L. Maclelland Professor of Old Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, FL

Only a thorough knowledge of Christ at the center of all Scripture, years of teaching preachers, laborious research, and a pastors heart could produce a book as useful as this to the church.

George Robertson, Ph.D, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Augusta, GA

ZONDERVAN

Preaching the Whole Counsel of God

Copyright 2015 by Julius J. Kim

ePub Edition October 2015: ISBN 978-0-310-51964-5

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kim, Julius J.

Preaching the whole counsel of God : design and deliver gospel-centered sermons / Julius J. Kim.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-310-51963-8 (hardcover)

1. Preaching. I. Title.

BV4211.3.K55 2015

251dc23

2015023624

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated. are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Other Scripture versions quoted in this book are listed on page 18.

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design: Christopher Tobias / tobiasdesign.com

Interior design: Matthew Van Zomeren

15 16 17 18 19 20 /DCI/ 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To My wife, Ji Hee, Thank you for your faith, hope, and love; my heart is full.

CONTENTS

P eople in the pews, especially younger generations, are tired of much of what passes for preaching today. They are tired of preachers trying too hard, dangling carrots that have nothing to do with the Bible to entice them back next week. They are tired of the constant how-to, the glitz-and-glamour of a choreographed presentation. Many pastors, caught up in pleasing the crowds, have little time left and sometimes insufficient expertise to truly unpack the text.

On the other hand, some preachers have the opposite problem. I know of a few (okay, maybe more than a few) on the other side of the spectrum who spend hours in the study. There, focused solely on the text, they hope that their study will cover over a multitude of other homiletical sins. They say with conviction: Content is everything: it doesnt matter how you deliver it. When you preach the Word, its supposed to hurt. Sadly, they often succeed in their goal of making the congregation uncomfortable. But the pain people experience under their preaching is not always a work of God.

As heralds of Gods Word, must we choose between these two extremes? Between being faithful expositors and relevant communicators?

Preaching: Who Cares?

Many in our churches today are losing confidence in the power of Gods Word. They wonder, can it truly bring life to the dead? The apostles were convinced that the Spirit works his greatest miracles through his Word, particularly through the gospel the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes... (Rom 1:16). In Romans 10, Paul unfolds the logical argument for why we must preach and why we need preachers:

But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (vv. 14-17 ESV).

Yes, gimmicks can attract momentary interest. But Paul is very clear: People will only believe and call on the Lord if they hear the gospel, and the gospel is a message that must be preached. Do we, today, share the apostles confidence in the uniqueness of proclaiming Gods Word as the Spirits means of bringing the new creation into this present evil age?

A Bewildering Complex of Contexts

The basic message of Scripture is not complicated. Its simple enough to be summarized by a child. Yet the Bible is truly more of a library than a single book. Written over millennia, through prophets from various contexts and walks of life, Scripture is a collection of narratives, laws, songs, wisdom sayings, apocalyptic, and teaching. Faithful preachers must learn how to respect the particular genre, the human writer, and the context of a particular passage while interpreting it within the larger story of the Triune God and his saving and gathering grace. Then the preacher must take these ancient texts and deliver them to people living in vastly different times and places. No one said this would be easy.

Yet our Christian growth depends on a lifetime of such sermons, and we need the full counsel of Gods Word to help us grow and mature in our obedience to Christ. God is the ultimate speaker in all of this, but he has seen fit to use weak and sinful vessels to bear this treasure to his people. So how do we do this? How do we interpret and apply the whole counsel of God in ways that appreciate the distinct regimes or covenants in which God spoke to our forebears in the faith? How do we preach Leviticus? Or the Sermon on the Mount? And how can we hear these words of our Lord today in a way that is faithful to their original meaning?