By Matt Giesman
First off, my fingers apparently still work. I haven't blogged frequently in the past three years or more. Time has been a huge factor in that if not the main one. That may change going forward, but I'll avoid any promises for the moment.
Is it some scandalous reason? Do I have a shocking reveal or a novel interpretation about Genesis 5? No, not at all. But something I learned indirectly as a journalism major and sportswriter was that shocking headlines get more clicks. So, ha! Gotcha![1]
My main goal is to mention to our church what I’ll be preaching soon, which will be Paul’s letter to the Ephesians with an emphasis on chapter four. More on that later. But another way to frame this, complete with a cliffhanger of a headline, is to mention why I didn’t preach Genesis 5. There’s nothing wrong with Genesis or Genesis 5. I love Genesis. It was the first time I remember that I’d preached even a short series on the first book of the Bible. I preached six sermons on Genesis 1-4, and I loved every one of them. The reason why I didn’t preach chapter 5 has more to do with my overall approach to preaching lately.
I believe in expository preaching, expositing, or exposing the truths contained in the text of Scripture.
I believe in consecutive, expository preaching. This often looks like starting in Genesis 1:1 and not stopping until you reach the end of Genesis 50. While I didn’t do this with Genesis, it’s what I usually do. As a partial list, since 2015, I’ve preached through the entire books of Exodus, Revelation, Esther, Ruth, Luke, 1 Thessalonians, Titus, and more. Oh, and I just finished preaching all 66 chapters of Isaiah; that took approximately two years because of frequent breaks and a sabbatical that my church graciously granted me. By the way, I do preach some topical sermons. I quite enjoy a quip from one my favorite seminary professors (Derek Thomas): “You should preach one topical sermon a year, and then repent immediately.”
I also believe in proclaiming the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). But what form should this take? Start in Genesis 1:1 and don’t stop until Revelation 22? Most folks who agree on the first two points likely have divergent opinions on this point, and I think that’s ok. As I was nearing the end of Isaiah (and all of its 66 chapters emphasizing the holiness of God and the remnant whom He preserves by grace), I began to think that I wanted our people to be exposed to more sections of scripture. I had two primary reasons for that:
1. Our church is unusually transient. I don’t mean that we’re full of drifters. But we do have quite a few military families – we’re located a mile from the Air Force Academy – who may only stay in town for three years and may not have much choice about it. In addition, I think some of the high-tech jobs common to our area may also lead to more transience, shorter stays, and frequent moves.
2. Our culture is increasingly Biblically illiterate. Here’s the first google result for "trends in Biblical literacy." That’s not what I’d call encouraging if you think that the Bible is our only rule for faith and practice, or if you think it’s profitable for teaching and forming mature disciples (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
So, if some of our church members may only stay for three years, and if some of them are (hopefully to a lesser extent than that survey) less engaged with their Bibles than previous generations, how can I serve them best? I could preach a series of sermons walking through the Bible one book at a time, but I have a friend and colleague who just did that and said it was harder than expected. So I adopted a modified version of that. I surveyed the books I’ve preached in the past eight years at Forestgate, with an eye towards which genres and sections of Scripture I had and had not preached, and I set out after Isaiah to hit some underemphasized books and sections. First up, the book of Acts, chapters 1-5. I finished by talking Ananias and Sapphira. Next up, Genesis 1-4, with one sermon devoted to “male and female, he created them.” (Gen 1:27)[2] Then, for our next series (the one that begins on Sunday, September 3), I wanted to spend time slowing down in Ephesians 4, to reemphasize the kind of Biblical community that has been harder since 2020, for many reasons.
But even though I knew I was headed for Ephesians 4, I thought it would be wrong not to say anything about the first three or the final two chapters of Ephesians. So, I’m also planning some “drink from a firehose” sermons on Ephesians 1-3, 5-6. Right now, I’m planning five sermons for those five chapters, though I may get talked into an extra sermon on chapter 5.
Also, if you think it’s a crime that I’m only spending one week on Ephesians 1, then I understand. But we also have a Friday men’s Bible study that is taking the nice and slow approach to Ephesians; they’re about half-way through the book right now.
And if you really like nice, long series through books of the Bible, well, my plans for early 2024 include a series on the book of Judges. So stay tuned.
In the meantime, get ready to feast upon the truths of Ephesians: the God who chose us before the foundation of the world, the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance, the Christ who made dead-in-our-sins people like us alive.
[1] Media types aren’t the only ones who use attention-getting techniques, either, and this isn’t all bad. Bryan Chapell’s best-selling preaching book, Christ-Centered Preaching, says that if you don’t get the audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds, then you may not get their attention. Kevin DeYoung once gave some preaching lectures at Reformed Theological Seminary titled, ‘How to Make Your Sermons a Little Less Boring.’ In fairness to both men, their works were packed with substance … and a little bit of style.
[2] I apologize for not ending this post here with a dramatic flourish like the following: “So THAT, my friends, is why I didn’t preach Genesis 5!”