India trip

Today I head out for the first leg of an India-Nepal trip for teaching assignments that run through the next several weeks. It's been awhile since I've done this, and it's great to get back into  the swing of this.

Street scene in Pune, India

My first assignment will be at Union Biblical Seminary in Pune, India. I'll lecture on "The Role of Biblical Theology in  Preaching." I'll probably also supervise a few Hebrew reading course sessions with students reading in Amos and in Exodus.

I frequently tell students, "A commentary is not a sermon. When you've completed your exegesis, you're just getting  started on the sermon." And that's from someone who heartily endorses the expository sermon as the generally preferred approach to preaching.

But preaching must "move on to Christ," from wherever the biblical text itself left the reader. Jesus' hermeneutical lesson on the Emmaeus Road taught disciples to find Christ everywhere in the Scriptures. And we should do it, and lead our congregations to Christ from the text we preach. Does the text give a promise? It's fulfilled in Christ (2 Cor 1:20 NLT). Does the text threaten a curse? It's lifted in Christ (Gal 3:13). Does the text teach us what we should be like? Jesus fulfilled it.