2. The 2nd person perspective is employed when the psalmist speaks straight to the reader and offers him instruction. Direct instructions are precisely what the seeker churches today have found speak effectively to our culture.

3. The psalmist may use the 1st person perspective again to make statements and offer insights for the reader to consider and heed. The nature of this instruction is less directive and authoritative than occurs when the 2nd person perspective is used. Following the psalmist's lead, the preacher might assume a contemplative air as he probes his text's insights in light of the contemporary world.

4. From a more aloof 3rd person perspective the author makes statements about an aspect of life but does not appear to be addressing anyone in particular. He simply seeks to praise an idea or explore its dimensions. The preacher could do likewise, even building on and going beyond what the psalmist writes to what other passages of Scripture say about the idea.

Advertisement

Preaching from Proverbs

1. Preach the proverbs topically. Collect, arrange, and expound all proverbs related to a given topic. Such an approach gives the congregation the "big picture" of Scripture's position on the issue. Unfortunately, the preacher may overlook important verses because on the surface they seemed unrelated. This possibility and the fact that the inspired writers did not record their insights in such an orderly way make the topical approach appear dubious in the eyes of certain writers.8

2. Preach the proverbs in clusters.9 Locate these related proverbs by looking for common themes, repeated terms, and related images in successive verses. (Duane Garrett's

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, in New American Commentary [Nashville: Broadman/Holman, 1993] helpfully identifies these clusters. They prove especially prominent in Proverbs 1-9.)

Next, specify the principles taught in the cluster. Develop the sermon around these principles and use the proverbs to validate them. Positively, principlizing the proverbs gives the hearer definitive explanations and explicit applications. Audience members are told precisely what to think and do. Negatively, when you reduce a proverb to a principle, you lose the impact of its imagery and the satisfaction of self-discovery. The move resembles a person describing a sunset to another person who can see it for herself.

3. Preach the proverbs individually. Thomas Long suggested that the preacher first look backward into the Bible and personal experience to see how a select proverb has been proved true. Then, he should project forward to show how the proverb would apply in various settings.

Ronald Clements also advocated concentrating on one proverb at a time but with a different strategy. First, the preacher should explain the proverb, bringing in other proverbs that shed light on the one under consideration. Next, he should identify the problem of life to which the proverb speaks. Finally, he should give the solution to the problem as developed in the proverb and as ultimately found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.