Diary of a sermon prep: A fairly typical Sunday at the Chinese Church

[0730] Wake up and pray. I pull out a list of names of all my family members, every single person in my congregation, most pastors I know of in Cambridge (especially those I know are preaching this morning), and pray quick-fire bullet-point prayers for each. I pray for the gospel.

[0800] Devotional. “For the Love of God” by Don Carson.

[0830] Final sermon preparations. I produce a two-page outline and rework the headings to my main points. Retitled sermon: “Outsiders, insiders and Inbetweeners”

[0930] Breakfast and off to a local church.

[1130] Lunch

[1200] Last-minute idea to get snacks for after-church party.

[1230] Print off sermon outline and rush for church

[1300] In Chinese Church. The musicians begin their practice. Get to catch up with the guys back from PHAT camp. It’s really hot!

[1400] Sunday Meeting begins. Love the songs chosen by David. Everyone is singing sooo loudly (especially the men)! How encouraging to hear Jesus praised as Lord and Saviour!

[1445] I begin my sermon and speak for 30 minutes from Isaiah Chapter 2.

[1520] Closing song. We end with the words of the grace.

[1530] Impromptu birthday party for Sarah and Lisa followed by group photo (we haven’t had one of these for ages!)

[1600] Hang out with the guys at Weatherspoons. We talk about the service, give thanks for one brother who just recently professed faith in Jesus, make plans for this week’s bible study and next Sunday’s arrangements for the guest speaker (Bartow Wylie). This is always one of the best parts of my Sundays - to be able to cut back, do life and talk about Jesus with my best buds.

[1730] Home. Dinner and the Olympics closing ceremony.

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SERMON OUTLINE - ISAIAH 2 (THE INBETWEENERS)

1.    Question: What does it mean for us to be a church in the city?

a.    Impact on Cambridge

b.    Aware of it’s impact on us, songs, sermons

c.    Culture - Just another Chinese gathering?

2.    Isaiah: God addresses the city

a.    City of Righteousness, City of Faithness

b.    NOT because it is righteous, but as part of his act of redemption, he transforms the city and imparts his righteousness

c.    Ch2: Isaiah again addresses Jerusalem

d.    City on a Hill

3.    3 groups of people

a.    Outsiders (verses 1-5)

b.    Insiders (verses 6-19)

c.    Inbetweeners (verses 19-22)

4.    OUTSIDERS

a.    READ: ISAIAH 2:1-5

b.    Nations - outsiders, outcasts, not the people of God

c.    They are saying to one another “Come, let’s go” (verse 3)

d.    This is weird for Isaiah’s friends to here

e.    Chinese church

                                      i.Big sign in chinese

                                     ii.One day, filled with non-Chinese

f.     The result of the gospel (verse 3b)

                                      i.He will teach us his ways, so that we might walk in his paths

                                     ii.God’s word goes out, all nations come in

                                    iii.Submission - not just listening to a good sermon, living according to God’s way

g.    Peace

                                      i.Evidence of submission

                                     ii.READ: verse 4 “He will judge between the nations, settle disputes for many peoples; They will beat their swords into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks

                                    iii.World peace - Miss Universe

                                   iv.Submission to God’s rule that comes from submission to God’s law

                                    v.Not just compromise, but living under a loving authority

                                   vi.David - good brother and friend, helps us to be good friends to one another; trips: David organiser, guys need to take charge, responsibility - people want to be able to trust that you are fair & loving

h.    Come, O house of Jacob

                                      i.What about you?

                                     ii.Let US walk in God’s light. Are the outsiders putting the insiders to shame?

5.    INSIDERS

a.    God looks at the insiders and sees FULLNESS

b.    READ: Verses 6 to 9

                                      i.FULL of superstitions

                                     ii.FULL of silver and gold

                                    iii.FULL of horses

                                   iv.FULL of idols

c.    What is our city best known for?

                                      i.FULL of students

                                     ii.FULL of nobel prize-winners

                                    iii.FULL of churches

d.    Verse 8: Their land is full of idols, they bow down to the work of their hands

e.    Contrast between the OUTSIDERS and INSIDERS

                                      i.OUTSIDERS are leaving their mountains, coming to God’s mountain
INSIDERS are filling God’s city with pagan worship

                                     ii.OUTSIDERS are humbling themselves before God, his word, his rule
INSIDERS are proud of their silver and gold

f.     DO NOT FORGIVE THEM (verse 9)

                                      i.Just because they have the temple

                                     ii.Just because they have the membership card (House of Jacob)

                                    iii.Isaiah sees what God sees - a city full of idolatry - and even on his own people, prays for judgement

                                   iv.WHY? Because God alone deserves to be worshipped

1.    READ Verses 10 to 11

2.    The LORD alone will be worshipped/exalted

3.    Problem is not having too much money, education

4.    Worship our money, education, achievement

5.    Instead of serving God with your money, you serve money as your God - Jesus: You cannot serve 2 masters

6.    In the end, God alone will be worshipped

7.    A Day....

6.    INSIDERS (PART 2) - The Day of the LORD

a.    READ: verses 12 to 18

b.    For all the proud

                                      i.all the exalted

                                     ii.all the cedars

                                    iii.all the oaks

                                   iv.all the mountains

                                    v.all the high hills

                                   vi.all the towers

                                  vii.all the strong (fortified) walls

c.    What are the symbols of pride?

                                      i.Yes, strength, speed, intellect

                                     ii.But also, stable economy (verse 16 - the trading ship), architecture (lofty tower - verse 15), natural resources (oaks of Bashan - verse 13), even beauty (stately ship - beautiful/elegant vessel of verse 16)

                                    iii.Symbols of pride

1.    The arrogance of man, the pride of men (verse 17)

                                   iv.God has set aside a day when the proud will fall

1.    It does NOT say that he will destroy the ships, mountains, the hills

2.    But it does say that the idols will disappear

3.    How will that happen?

4.    We will get rid of our idols

5.    One day God will show up!

7.    INBETWEENERS

a.    READ: Verses 19 to 21

b.    Men will throw away their idols (silver and gold)

                                      i.to bats and rodents

                                     ii.unclean animals - these are junk, with the trash

                                    iii.Why?

c.    Many look to Rev 6

                                      i.JUDGEMENT - 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, fire on earth, famine, disease, war

                                     ii.Climax - kings, princes, free man hid in caves among the rocks of the mountains “Fall on us, hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!”

d.    But there is none of that here

                                      i.Not because God won’t judge, he will

                                     ii.Not because it won’t be terrifying and awesome and fearful, it will

                                    iii.But because when it comes to our idols, God doesn’t need to, he just needs to SHOW UP!

e.    INBETWEENERS

                                      i.Those who try to keep both - idols and God

                                     ii.Those who end up losing both

                                    iii.Verse 20: They throw idols of silver and gold to the rodents and bats

                                   iv.When you see God, it doesn’t compare

                                    v.But at the same time, you lose your appetite for true greatness

f.     Jesus said to the Samaritan woman

                                      i.A time is coming when you will neither worship on this mountain or that

                                     ii.Worship the Father in spirit and truth

                                    iii.His death - the hour in John’s gospel is always a reference to the cross

                                   iv.You worship what you do not know - outsiders

                                    v.You worship what you do know - insiders - but even that is going away

                                   vi.One day, worshippers - spirit and truth

8.    Conclusion

a.    outsiders

                                      i.Come in, hear the gospel and come in

b.    insiders

                                      i.it is going to be tempting to take God for granted

                                     ii.In the past, the songs remind you of GOd, now they’re just songs; bible reading, prayer

                                    iii.Keep coming, keep turning

c.    Inbetweeners

                                      i.You cannot serve two masters

                                     ii.Spoiling your appetite - addiction, it draws you in, damages your tastebuds, you need more

                                    iii.The only solution: See Jesus for his glory

                                   iv.On the cross: God showed up - in all his glory, all his humility, all his greatness

Diary of a sermon prep: Day Three (Saturday afternoon)

It is finished

It is Saturday afternoon and I’m done! (Well, almost) I slept in till 10am (which is the whole point of Saturday mornings), got working till noon, had lunch, watched the Olympics BMX event on TV, then spent another hour on the conclusion before posting up the text on my blog. You can read it here. What I have at this point is a first draft. It has the main points I wanted to cover, but perhaps, without the refinement I would have liked.

Sabbath

Putting up the text on my blog is my way of committing to the text. It means I have something for Sunday. It means the job is done and I can lay down my tools. It means I won’t be up all night tweaking my sermon but will be able to sleep like a Calvinist (and I do) without worrying about what I will have say the next day in church, trusting that I have put in the time, prayer and work responsibly needed to preach faithfully from God's word. I want to be able to rest, to spend time with my family and friends, and to Sabbath. There is a big farewell dinner for a fantastic brother and friend tonight and I want to 100% there, not a million miles away in my head thinking about my sermon.

Preaching to my soul

But what I will continue to do from now till tomorrow is pray. I want to preach the sermon to my own soul, to apply God's word to my own walk in Jesus. In particular, in relation to this week’s text on Isaiah Chapter 2, I am asking myself, “Do I see Jesus in his splendour? Am I allowing him to expose the idols in my heart?”

Tomorrow, I’ll do a post-mortem on the day that went by at the Chinese Church, but better yet, come by, join us and let me know what you thought about the message. Was it clear enough? Was it faithful to the text? Did it need more illustrations? We meet 2pm Sunday afternoon at St Columba’s Church, next to Revolution Bar. Hope to see you there!

Diary of a sermon prep: Day Two (Friday evening)

It is just after midnight on Friday evening and Day Two of my sermon preparation for this Sunday’s message on Isaiah Chapter 2. In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that by the end of Day One, I had a rough outline and had also made a recording of myself reading the passage out loud. Before leaving for work this morning, I loaded up the recording on my iPod, but also managed to take a snapshot of my outline.

On the bus journey to the office, I kept listening to the passage again and again on my iPod, while scribbling thoughts and questions on the outline. I did the same on the journey back home after work. Here is a photo of the same piece of paper at about 6pm when I got home.

Before dinner, I got a chance to get started on the introduction. Some people leave their introductions for last, but I try to write the full message from start to finish, to maintain the flow of thought. Spent an hour trying to think up an illustration but ended up just reviewing where we left off in last week’s message in a couple of sentences (You can see what I wrote below).

It’s Friday night, so I take it easy: dinner followed by rented movie (“We bought a zoo,” starring Matt Damon and that actress from Avengers). Then another hour, picking up where I left off from the introduction, moving on to expand on the first point. It’s not polished. It will definitely be changed (if not scrapped completely), but for now, it’s time to call it a night. I then write this blog post and get ready to read my devotions (Don Carson’s “For the Love of God”) and pray for the evening (maybe sneak in a few pages from “The Horse and His Boy”).

Anyways, here is what I have written so far:

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[DRAFT: ISAIAH 2 - THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD (10 AUGUST 2012)]

The city on a hill

This month we are thinking about what it means for us to be a church in the city. What impact does God want us to have on our community? What distinguishes us as Christians within our Chinese culture? Last week, we saw that God wanted his people to so reflect his righteousness that their city would be called the City of Righteousness; to so reflect his faithfulness that their city would be called the Faithful City (Isaiah 1:26). The opening verses of Chapter 2 remind us that God is addressing a specific city at a particular time in history - the city of Jerusalem during the reign of the kings of Judah.

This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains;

it will be raised above the hills,

and all nations will stream to it.

Isaiah 2:1-2

Jerusalem was a city built on a hill, which meant that it was strategically strong and easily defensible from any attack from its enemies. (Think Minas Tirith if you are a Tolkien fan; or if you are into Star Wars, think Obi-wan Kenobi defeating Anakin simply because he is standing in an elevated position!) King David established his kingdom in Jerusalem as his headquarters and the capital city very early on in his career (2 Samuel 5), and Solomon, his son, went on to build God’s temple in Jerusalem. Hence, when Isaiah describes his vision of the “mountain of the LORD’s temple,” it was obvious to everyone around him that he was talking about Jerusalem, the city built on Mount Zion (verse 3).

Having said that, Isaiah’s vision is not of the present but the future, and the focus of his vision is not the city, but the mountain on which the city was built. This mountain, says Isaiah, will be established as chief among all other mountains; it will be raised above all other hills. What Isaiah was doing - in describing God’s mountain as the highest of all mountains - was speaking evangelistically to non-Christians. You see, in Isaiah’s day, the surrounding nations worshipped their gods by going up mountains and hiking up the hills because these were seen as the closest points of contact between heaven and earth. Isaiah was saying to the pagan worshippers, “One day, God’s mountain will be the highest of mountains.” There is only one God and there is only one way to God; one day, all nations will come and worship God on this holy mountain.

1. God’s mountain filled with all nations

Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD

to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways,

so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2:3

“Hey!” they were saying to one another, “That’s God’s mountain. That’s where we need to be!” Amazingly, they even dragged their friends along with them, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD.” Do you hear their eagerness? Their excitement? For the past couple of weeks, everyone I know has been trying to get tickets to the Olympics. Even those of us who did get a chance to attend a football match or a badminton final, were trying to find more opportunities to be part of the action. Why? It was a chance to be a part of history. This was the experience of a lifetime! That’s what the guys in this passage were doing. They weren’t complaining about having to miss yet another tennis final in order to be in church on a Sunday afternoon. These guys were eager and excited about going up the mountain of the LORD. More than that, they wanted all their friends to come along, “Come on, let’s go together!”

Now notice who these guys were - these people in Isaiah’s vision who were saying to one another, “You gotta check this out!” They were the outsiders. They didn’t live in Jerusalem. They weren’t part of Israel, that is, they weren’t a part of God’s people. Isaiah calls them the nations, outsiders, who were so eager to meet with God, so excited to have heard about this God. But more than anything else, they were looking forward to hearing God’s word. That’s the reason why they made the trip in the first place. “He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.”

I want you to notice how the words that Isaiah uses have motion.There is movement. The nations stream up a mountain - they are like a river that’s flowing backwards. “Come on, let’s go, go, go!” And even when they hear God’s word, it is in order that they might “walk in his paths,” meaning, they want to know how to live the way God wants them to live. All the nations are coming to God. All the nations are living for God. That’s motion. That’s a movement. And friends, I dare say that that’s the bible’s definition of a Christian - someone who is actively turning to God, listening to God, constantly living for God. Christianity is a movement! I wonder: Does that describe your life and my life as believers in Christ. Are we actively seeking after God? Are we calling our friends and family to turn to him?

Some of us are hesitant to do this. I know that it can be a scary thing to tell someone to trust in Jesus; to entrust their lives to Jesus. We ought to do this patiently, lovingly, clearly. But perhaps what might help is the confidence in knowing that when we do speak the gospel, God is using us to speak his word to the nations. At the end of verse 4, it is God’s law which goes out from Zion; his word, which goes out from Jerusalem. When the nations respond, when you or I respond, it is to God himself as our God and our King. That is the picture in verse 5 onwards, of God ruling the nations as king and judge.

He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into ploughshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

Isaiah 2:4

God’s kingdom is marked by peace. No more wars. No more weapons, even. God judges (or rules) the nations and he settles all disputes between the nations. I had to look up what ploughshares and pruning hooks were - these are farming tools, the first is used to dig into the ground, the other is a tool used for trimming small trees. What Isaiah is saying is all the guns will be melted down for iPods. All the tanks will be retrofitted as school buses (which would be awesome!) The entire nation’s defence budget, some billions and billions of pounds, reinvested into producing jobs, planting crops and winning more gold medals at the next Olympics. Why? Because it will be end of all wars. God will be in charge.

This sounds... well, unreal. It’s OK to talk about world peace as a concept. It’s OK for a Miss Universe contestant to talk about world peace as her ultimate desire for all mankind. It is even admirable for the United Nations to have Isaiah Chapter 2, verse 4, inscribed on display in a courtyard in its headquarters. But today, in our world, in real life? Come on! Get real!

Well, it is worth reminding ourselves that Isaiah is describing a vision of the future - “In the latter days,” he says in verse 2. Jesus did tell his disciples, “Nation will rise up against nation. and kingdom against kingdom.” “Don’t be alarmed,” Jesus said, “Such things must happen,” he told his friends. Jesus didn’t want them to be surprised. He wanted them to be prepared.

What Isaiah was describing in his vision for the future was a radically new kingdom filled with radically new people. The nations would submit themselves to God as their ruler and judge. This reminds us that the description of world peace under God’s rule in verse 4 is not independent of the nations’ submission to God’s word in verse 3, but rather is a result of that same submission. Submission to God’s word is the turning point of the vision in verse 5, because here, Isaiah turns from speaking about the outsiders to directly addressing the insiders; from speaking about the nations to addressing his own nation, the descendants of Jacob. He says to them, “Therefore, how much more should we walk in submission to God’s word.”

Come, O house of Jacob,

let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Isaiah 2:5

Sadly, when we look at the people of God in Isaiah’s day, they had rejected God’s word in their lives. And as a result, God had rejected them in judgement. That is the second part of Isaiah’s vision on the house of Jacob, on the day of the LORD.

2. God’s people filled with idolatry

You have abandoned your people,

the house of Jacob.

They are full of superstitions from the East;

they practice divination like the Philistines

and clasp hands with the pagans.

Their land is full of silver and gold;

there is no end to their treasures.

Their land is full of horses;

there is no end to their chariots.

Their land is full of idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their fingers have made.

So man will be brought low

and mankind humbled -

do not forgive them.

Isaiah 2:6-9

3. God’s judgement filled with his splendour

Diary of a sermon prep: Day One (Thursday evening)

Starting early

Each week I spend about 16 hours on sermon preparation - two hours each on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings (Wednesdays are usually reserved for my mid-week bible study group meetings) and eight hours on Saturday mornings. The first two days are usually spent reading, understanding and most importantly, memorising the passage. I open up a Google Doc document and type out each verse, line by line and then try to memorise it word for word in the NIV (which is the version my church uses). In the mornings, on my way to work, I will read the ESV version on my Kindle. This really helps me to look out for differences in the textual translations and formulate questions I might have on the text.

Digging deep

In past months when speaking from the New Testament, I would also have done some language work, and time permitting, have memorised at least the key verses in Greek. This hasn’t been possible with my current series through Isaiah. Not only is the genre new to me (rhythmic prose, oracular speech) but also because my Hebrew is pretty rubbish. I am having to rely on an Interlinear Bible for now, but will resolve to put aside time to do some memory work and build up my vocabulary. I have long since learned that knowing the actual material well means I am able to meditate on it and understand for myself first, to let it sink in, before attempting to teach others. This translates into confidence in God's word and application of his truth in my personal walk with Jesus. Added bonus: It allows me to look out for illustrations from everyday occurences!

Getting ready

Things really start to pick up only from Thursday onwards. That’s today, which I call, Day One. By today, I want to have either a draft overall outline of the passage or/and have composed an introduction to the message (which I often scrap by Saturday morning). This doesn’t always happen but I still try (you can see below, what I scribbled down as my initial thoughts). My bible study was postponed last night, so I got a chance to read the commentary (J Oswalt, NICOT - Very helpful, though I wish I had my copy of Barry Webb’s BST) on this passage. To be honest, not much of it sunk in (not surprising, as I was still trying to learn the passage), so I taped myself reading it aloud and listened to it again on my iPod on the way back from work (lots of buzzing in the background). Will listen to it again tomorrow.

I think I’ve spent enough time on this blog post, so will leave you with my diary for this evening. Over the next couple of days, I will post up my progress as God willing, he guides me in preparing to speak from his word. Do pray for me.

Thursday, 9 August 2012

●     0800 - Woke up

●     0900 - Work

●     1800 - Dinner with friend

●     1945 - Home

●     2000 - Read Isaiah 2 aloud. Recorded MP3 for playback tomorrow for bus journey.

●     2100 - Watched Olympics on TV (Usain Bolt won the 200m sprint!)

●     2140 - Ready for bed

●     2205 - Basic outline of passage

○     The Mountain of the LORD

                                     ■Many nations streaming to God’s temple

                                     ■Illustration: Crowds at Olympic stadium

○     The house of Jacob

                                     ■Filled with idols of the nations

                                     ■Filled will wealth (symbolic of pride)

                                     ■Illustration: trophy stand, sports cars, bling, degrees - symbols of achievement

○     The Day of the LORD

                                     ■God shows up; shakes things up (the earth)

                                     ■Man flees

                                     ■Idols are thrown away (they can’t help when the real thing is here)

                                     ■Don’t trust in man (idolatry is a reflection of man’s faith in his own strength/ability)

○     The fulfilment

                                     ■Hebrews 12:22ff - You have come to Mount Zion... you have come to thousands of angels in joyful gathering.... You have come to God... to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant

                                     ■Began with Jesus

                                     ■Seen today in the church - we are the nations

○     But the Day will come

                                     ■God will show up

●     2220 - Prayed for wisdom, understanding and God’s help to prepare.

●     2230 - Wrote this blog entry

●     2330 - Devotional and prayer