I’m planning to start a series on Proverbs on June 3 and then conclude it on Labor Day weekend. Our church, I’m convinced, needs a good dose of biblical wisdom. Why? They need it in order to experience the full life Jesus promises (John 10:10) and in order to serve as effective witnesses to the gospel (Acts 1:8). I’m convinced that a commitment to the gospel entails living wisely when it comes to finances, friendship, words, work, sexuality, etc.
Here are some thoughts about my series on Proverbs. I share these to (1) encourage you to consider preaching Proverbs and (2) solicit insights and suggestions from those of you who have some experience in preaching Proverbs.
1. Basic Approach - My series will follow the contours of the book. I have fourteen weeks, so I’ll devote seven to Proverbs 1-9. This section contains a series of ‘sermonettes’ which argue that wisdom is a superior lifestyle to foolishness. I will not cover every possible preaching unit, but right now, my preaching units consist of: 1:1-7 (with some discussion of 2:1-5), 1:8-19, 3:1-12, 4:1-27, 5:1-23, 6:1-19, and then chapters 8-9. Then, I’ll devote the final seven weeks to the topics developed in Proverbs 10-31. This is the section which contains the maxims or aphorisms for which Proverbs is famous. My conviction is that the seeming random order of the proverbs in this section forces people who are serious about wisdom to ‘search for it as for hidden treasure’ (2:4). In other words, God makes us collect proverbs on a given topic rather than putting all the proverbs on wealth in chapter 10, all the proverbs on child-rearing in chapter 11, etc. My topics include: words, friendship, work, wealth (with an emphasis on generosity), decision-making, and child-rearing. I’ll likely return to Proverbs from time to time and develop other topics (alcohol, anger, reputation, pride, etc.).
2. Key Ideas - I will need to define ‘wisdom’ at the outset of the series. The Hebrew term ‘wisdom’ is actually the term ‘skill.’ In the OT, the term is used of the skill of sailors, craftsmen, and even professional mourners. In Proverbs, it’s the skill of living life in a God-honoring way. This requires adjusting to the patterns that God has built into life. I’ll need to stress that what separates biblical wisdom from cultural wisdom (from Egypt to ‘Hints from Heloise’) is the fear of the LORD (see 1:7). That’s the grid through which the wisdom writers sifted their material. Some of the material in Proverbs shows up in Egyptian collections hundreds of years earlier! Through the process of inspiration, God’s Spirit insured the inclusion of the wisdom which is truly from God. Also, I will need to help people understand that ‘proverbs are not promises.’ Rather, proverbs are observations about how life works time after time after time. When we face exceptions, we turn to the other wisdom books – Job and Ecclesiastes.
3. Commentaries - We finally have some great commentaries available on Proverbs! I’ll rely most heavily on the two volumes by Bruce Waltke (NICOT) and the single volume by Tremper Longman (Baker Exegetical). I’ll also consult Duane Garrett’s concise volume (NAC). I’ve long held the view (described above) that the proverbs in chapters 10-31 are arranged in a more or less random fashion (yes, there are some obvious exceptions like 31:1-9 and 31:10-31). Waltke challenges this view, though, and argues for coherent collections held together by catch-words, etc. In other words, he would preach a sermon on 10:1-16 or 26:1-12. I look forward to wrestling with his view and seeing if he can change my mind!
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 10:09 AM on May 11, 2007
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Hello Steve!
Great going! I've never heard somebody give a message series from Proverbs Sunday after Sunday. I think preaching Proverbs is preaching "non-threatening" messages that connects to visitors, showing them that God is mindful about the trivial things in our life; and that the study of Proverbs will gradually lead them to the "fear of the Lord".
Do let us know your hearers' response.
Posted by: Adrin Muñoz on May 12, 2007
Steve,
I'm curious as to why you are preaching a series on "wisdom" during the summer months when you (most likely) have the greatest number of people gone on vacation. If it is true that people need to have biblical wisdom, why not do the series when teens are returning to school and parents to the routines of everyday life? Just curious as to your reasoning.
Harry Shields
Posted by: Harry Shields on May 15, 2007
HARRY: Great question. I wrestled with this very issue. One of the reasons I decided to preach Proverbs this summer is because we have a sizable number of college students home. I feel compelled to target them. By the time the 'summer slump' hits hardest, I'll be doing individual topics. I will have to preach, though, with the awareness that I'll have people in and out during the summer. I'll have to revisit the key themes over and over again so that people who show up for 4 out of 8 Sundays will still be drawn into the book. We're going to do a summer reading program in Proverbs, too, so that people who are in and out can still immerse themselves in the book. Thanks for raising this question.
Posted by: Steve Mathewson on May 16, 2007
This is good stuff. I directed my readers to your post today. Thanks for sharing these ideas on preaching Proverbs. Peace.
Posted by: Milton Stanley on May 30, 2007
Hi Steve,
I too am preaching through Proverbs over the summer weeks - although i only have 6 sundays. Do you have ideas how to break Proverbs down into 6 weeks. should i focus on particular wisdom that fits our congregation and therefore be more specific or do you recommend preaching the whole proverbs with certain selections as they dominate in the Scriptures - i want to be faithful to the Word. At present i am just doing my research and reading with a lot of praying. May the Spirit of God lead us both faithfully to communicate His words to His people this summer. In His Name, Carl
Posted by: Carl on May 31, 2007
MILTON: Thanks for the referral! I like the looks of your site.
CARL: I'm glad you're going to devote six weeks this summer to Proverbs! There's definitely alot you can do in that time frame. If it were me, I'd probably devote three messages to the material in Proverbs 1-9, and then three messages where you pull together individual proverbs from Proverbs 10-31 on key themes.
For example, you could do your first message on Proverbs 1:1-7 and also a survey of the entire book. A second message could focus on 3:1-12 since this touches on alot of broad wisdom themes. I'd do a third message on Proverbs 5 since this deals with two key themes: sexual purity, and also the 'Lady Wisdom vs. Madam Folly' theme in the first nine chapters. Then, for the final three messages, I'd probably pursue these topics: friendship, material wealth, speech.
There are other ways of doing this, of course. You could eliminate one of the topics and decote another message to Proverbs 6:1-19. This passages addresses several practical topics which should be influenced by our fear of the LORD.
To speak specifically to your question, take 2-3 messages to present the overall concern and approach of Proverbs. Then, use the final 3-4 to address the specific issues which your congregation needs to hear most.
Posted by: Steve Mathewson on June 1, 2007
I have been preaching through Proverbs on Sunday evenings and Wednesday for a while now. I use Mark Copeland's "Executable Outlines" almost exclusively. He has incredible skill at outlining the text. I will probably just preach through chapter nine (14 sermons in all).
http://www.executableoutlines.com/pr2.htm
Posted by: Steve Miller on June 5, 2007