What Angels Long to Read: Reading and Preaching the New Testament

By Mark Meynell

‘Even angels long to look into these things’

Peter wrote to encourage and embolden isolated and vulnerable believers. His timeless words have consoled and challenged ever since and show how the eternal gospel is true even in the toughest circumstances. The last sentence in 1 Peter 1:12 profoundly illustrates that the experience we have each time we open up the Scriptures is nothing less than a heavenly privilege, a privilege that angels do not have but would love to!

Mark Meynell skilfully brings the New Testament to life. Guiding the reader through preaching the Gospels and Acts, the Parables, the Letters and Revelation, as well as using a host of worked examples, sample sermons and personal exercises, this book offers ideas and approaches to stretch even the most seasoned preachers. This preaching resource will make an excellent companion to Christopher Wright’s Sweeter than Honey: Preaching the Old Testament.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Langham Preaching Resources
• Release date: Jun 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781783682676

Mark Meynell

Mark Meynell is a writer and teacher, as well as an associate director (Europe) for Langham Partnership, having spent nine years on the senior leadership team of All Souls, Langham Place, in London, UK. Previously he was the academic dean and then acting principal of Kampala Evangelical School of Theology (KEST) in Kampala, Uganda. Married to Rachel, with their two children, Joshua and Zanna, Mark lives in central London, where he is a committed culture-vulture and muso who loves crossing borders and building bridges.

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I read a lot of books on preaching – some geared for rookies, some for veterans. Once in while a book is written that speaks to both, to rookies and veterans alike. And Mark Meynell has done this with much skill. I especially appreciate that Mark does not move to the how to stage of preaching the different genres of the New Testament until he takes us through the what are they? investigation, which he does in engagingly fresh ways. His sample sermons are amazing: exposition that immediately connects with culture. What a joy to be called to proclaim with Mark what angels long to know!

Darrell Johnson

Teaching Fellow, Regent College

Professor of Preaching, Carey College

Vancouver, Canada

Author of The Glory of Preaching

After reading Mark Meynell’s book, one truly understands what angels long to read as he, in a pedagogical, passionate and pastoral way, helps preachers to see God as the master storyteller whose central figure, the incomparable Jesus, is unveiled for all through literary treasures crafted by the Holy Spirit. Mark makes these figures accessible so that we and the world are captivated by the Father’s story.

Jorge Atiencia

Langham Preaching, Colombia

Missionary, Latin America Mission (Canada)

What Angels Long to Read is designed for preachers, but will be of real benefit to all who read it as it explores different approaches to reading, teaching and preaching the Bible. With a readable and accessible style, Mark Meynell combines theological knowledge, powerful illustrations and practical wisdom to help equip ordinary Christians to prepare teaching materials and interpret the Scriptures. His biblical insights give a renewed understanding of the Scriptures that is both refreshing and challenging.

Rev Elnur Jabiyev

Founder and CEO, Turkic Belt Ministries

I have known the Rev Mark Meynell as a man who loves God and is devoted to the preaching of the gospel. Memories of him as a deep theologian and biblical preacher are still fresh in my mind and in the minds of many who studied under him at Kampala Evangelical School of Theology (KEST) in Uganda, and those who heard him preach during the years he was a missionary in Uganda.

The title of this book, What Angels Long to Read, is based on 1 Peter 1:12 which says that Even angels long to look into these things. This is an interesting, mind captivating, and spirit-inspiring piece of work. The book helps readers to appreciate the entire Bible and to see a beautiful and relevant coherence between the two Testaments – the Old and the New. Meynell emphasizes that in all of our preaching, Jesus must remain the central and only point of reference because he is the basis of our testimony as Christians. What Angels Long to Read is a relevant book that is a must-read by all serious thinkers and preachers. I highly commend it to all who base their preaching on the Word of God – the Bible.

Rt Rev Edward Muhima, PhD

Retired Bishop of North Kigezi, Uganda

Mark Meynell offers contemporary preachers a wonderfully readable guide for sermons on the New Testament that does justice to a biblical book, its genre, the geographical and historical context, as well as the individual angle of each writer. He has succeeded in bringing years of academic scholarship on the Scriptures into a condensed, connected and relevant whole for the benefit of sermon preparation. This is an essential manual for every preacher’s library.

Myrto Theocharous, PhD

Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament,

Greek Bible College, Athens, Greece

Mark Meynell does a favour for preachers at every level by making simple the macroscopic view of the Bible without sacrificing the microscopic details. The book serves to make simple many complex theological, hermeneutical and textual questions the conscientious preacher encounters. Its lack of academic jargon doesn’t negate its intellectual credibility. Every preacher can learn something from reading this useful book.

Sam Tsang, PhD

Faculty Member,

Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary, Hong Kong

Ambrose University, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Mark writes like a skilled friend and seasoned mentor. He knows the work ahead of you. He cares deeply about both you and the work. This book is practical, biblical, global, wise and helpful. As Mark teaches us to communicate Jesus from the Scriptures, our love for Jesus and the Bible that reveals him, deepens.

Zack Eswine, PhD

Director of Homiletics,

Covenant Theological Seminary, St Louis, Missouri, USA

Author of Preaching to a Post-Everything World

What Angels Long to Read

Reading and Preaching the New Testament

Mark Meynell

© 2017 by Mark Meynell

Published 2017 by Langham Preaching Resources

An imprint of Langham Creative Projects

Langham Partnership

PO Box 296, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 9WZ, UK

www.langham.org

ISBNs:

978-1-78368-266-9 Print

978-1-78368-268-3 Mobi

978-1-78368-267-6 ePub

978-1-78368-269-0 PDF

Mark Meynell has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Anglicised, NIV®. Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78368-266-9

Cover & Book Design: projectluz.com

Langham Partnership actively supports theological dialogue and an author’s right to publish but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions set forth, and works referenced within this publication or guarantee its technical and grammatical correctness. Langham Partnership does not accept any responsibility or liability to persons or property as a consequence of the reading, use or interpretation of its published content.

Converted to eBook by EasyEPUB

Dedicated to David Jackman Preacher and Teacher, Mentor and Friend

Contents

Cover

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

1 Understanding the Bible’s Big Picture

1. Mapping Bible Journeys

2. Following the Bible’s Story

3. Engaging in a Lifelong Conversation

Section 1

2 The Challenges of Preaching the Gospels

1. They Are Too Familiar

2. We Treat Them as Morality Tales

3. We Treat Them as Coded Messages

3 The Nature of the Gospels

1 . Are They Biographies?

2 . Do They Follow Strict Timelines?

3 . Are They Biographical Sermons?

4 Following the Gospels’ Clues

Cl ue 1: Discern the Writer’s Purpose

Clue 2: Expect Surprises

Clue 3: Look at the Details

Clue 4: Look for Traces of the Old Testament

Clue 5: Identify Narrative Episodes

Clue 6: Spot the Wider Connections

Clue 7: Follow the Themes

5 Four Routes from Jesus to Us

1. One by One: Heading Up and Down

2. From Then to Now: Preaching on the Gospels

6 Acts: Tracing Luke’s Second Journey

1. Why Luke Focuses on Paul

2. The Challenge of Applying Acts

Who Does He Think He Is?

1. Indignant Authorities (Mark 11:27–33)

2. Stolen Authority (12:1–12)

Section 2

7 Preaching Jesus’s Stories

1 . The Archetypal Parable: Nathan and David

2. The Varieties of Parable

3. The Impact of Parables

4. Handling the Parables

5. Preaching the Parables

Impossible Love

1. Love without EXCUSES

2. Love without BOUNDARIES

3. Love without ACCOUNTS

Section 3

8 Understanding the Occasion of the Letters

1. Have Right Expectations When Reading the Letters

2. Research the Background in the Book of Acts

3. Get a Sense of the Whole Letter

4. Imagine the Other Side of the Conversation

5. Draft a Tentative Outline

9 Studying the Details of the Letters

1 . Highlight the Significant Details

2. Create a Flow Diagram

3. Summarize the Passage in One Sentence

4. Return to the Big Picture

Gospel Economics

1. Do Your Spiritual Accounts (3:1–6)

2. Escape from Your Debts (3:7–9)

3. Make an Eternal Investment (3:10–11)

Section 4

Terror!

Obsession!

Confusion!

10 Approaching the Book of Revelation

1. Biblical Assumptions about Revelation

2. Revelation Is the Bible’s Blended Book

3. Revelation Is the Bible’s Final Occasional Book

11 Getting to Grips with Apocalyptic Writing

1. Read as Word Pictures (Not Drawing Instructions)!

2. Use the Bible (Not the Newspaper)!

12 Applying the Book of Revelation

1. Revelation Is for All Churches at All Times

2. Revelation Helps Us to See the World from God’s Perspective

3. Revelation Keeps Us Trusting in the Story’s End

The Breath of Life from God

1. When God’s Mission Seems Bitter (11:1–10)

2. When God’s Justice Arouses Singing (11:11–19)

Conclusion

Appendix 1 Jesus’s Parables

Appendix 2 Constructing Preaching Series

A Year at a Glance

A Series at a Glance

Appendix 3 The Millennium

The Premillennial View

The Postmillennial View

The Amillennial View

Appendix 4 New Testament Quotations of the Old Testament

About Langham Partnership

Endnotes

Foreword

Of course, neither Jesus nor Paul ever did what this book aims to help its readers do. They never preached from the New Testament. They never read it either (though we assume Paul read over his own dictated letters before posting them, and sometimes we might wish he had proofread them more thoroughly in a few places). It’s an unusual thought, but worth pondering for a moment.

When we read, preach, and teach from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, we are handling what Jesus and Paul (and all the apostles) knew in great depth. We have their assurance that those Scriptures speak with authority, breathed-out by God, written for our learning, profitable for instruction, correction and training in righteousness, and so on. We follow Jesus’s resurrection hermeneutics lectures in Luke 24, or at least the outline of them, in all the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. We do our best to unravel Paul’s scriptural exegesis and love the way he sees the whole story of God and Israel in the Old Testament recapitulated and fulfilled in Christ and now being transplanted among the nations, where it had always been headed. Given the scale of the exposition of the Old Testament in the New, you’d think we should have every motivation and some very good models for preaching it ourselves. The fact that many preachers do not, or struggle to know how to, is the justification for the companion book to this one, my own, Sweeter than Honey: Preaching the Old Testament.[1]

However, while we don’t see Jesus or Paul preaching from what we now call the New Testament, we certainly see in them some wonderful models of communication to varied audiences. As this book makes beautifully clear, Jesus was a superb preacher, teacher, storyteller – a communicator of enormous skill and power. And Luke has made sure that we get to see and hear some classic examples of Paul in preaching mode, whether expounding the Scriptures to Jews, or preaching the message and truth of the Scriptures, without quoting them, to Gentiles.

But they not only provide us with models. Even though they did not (because they could not) preach from the New Testament, both Jesus and Paul mandated their disciples to preach and teach what would eventually be contained in our New Testament. Jesus’s Great Commission specifies that the task of making disciples must include teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And the legacy of all that Jesus did and taught and commanded is now, of course, entrusted to us in the four Gospels. Sheer missional obedience must drive us to preach the Gospels.

And Paul instructs Timothy to take what he had learned from Paul (which would include the content of what we now have in his letters) and entrust it to those who would faithfully pass it on to others – so the task of preaching the Epistles is, at least in principle, mandated by Paul himself. So, by their example and their instruction, Jesus and Paul summon us to do what they never did themselves – to preach and teach that collection of inspired writings we are now privileged to call the New Testament.

But why should we do so at all? Perhaps the most succinct answer to that, appropriate for a book in the series of Langham Preaching Resources, is to recall the Langham Logic bequeathed to us by the founder of Langham Partnership, John Stott. We have three biblical convictions and one inescapable conclusion, he would say:

• First, God wants his church to grow up – not just to grow bigger. That is, God wants his people to grow to maturity in Christ.

• Second, the church grows through the word of God. When a church is fed by the word of God, it will grow in depth and maturity. When it is not, it may easily fall into error or die out.

• Third, the word of God comes to the people of God mainly through preaching. Even though there are other ways Christians may study the Bible for themselves, for very many believers the only way they will be fed by God’s word is when someone opens it up and preaches from it.

If these three things are true, John Stott would say, then the logical question to ask is, What can we do to raise the standards of biblical preaching?

That is the goal to which all three programmes of the Langham Partnership aspire, and Mark Meynell’s book will undoubtedly play a very significant part in raising the standards of preaching the New Testament.

It is a great joy to welcome this book with gratitude as a faithful, clear and relevant guide, and a happy companion to my own.

Chris Wright

International Ministries Director

Langham Partnership

Preface

Istanbul. Constantinople. Byzantium.

Three different names for the same ancient, extraordinary city. This city is a bridge between West and East, between the two continents of Europe and Asia. It is no longer the capital of Turkey, but it remains the country’s cultural heart. My first visit in 2008 fulfilled a lifelong dream. The city’s unique history seems to glow from every street corner, with leftovers everywhere of the ancient Greeks, the late Roman Empire, Byzantine Christianity and Ottoman Islam.

Then to be involved in training Turkish preachers? It felt like a dream come true. What a privilege, not least because over the last decade it has enabled me to make good friends in the tiny Turkish-speaking church in that Muslim majority country. They are a tiny minority – perhaps a few thousand – in a population of nearly 80 million.

One short series that I preached there will always stick in my mind, not so much because of its impact on its listeners but because of its impact on the preacher. I was working through the first two chapters of 1 Peter during a weekend workshop on preaching the epistles. Only ten of us were in the room. Despite the heat, the reverberations of the afternoon calls to prayer had forced us to close the windows. Then I read Peter’s opening line:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, exiles, scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia . . .

It suddenly hit me right between the eyes. Peter was writing to brothers and sisters who lived two millennia ago in the very place I was standing. In his day, the region was known as the Roman province of Bithynia. Then, as now, believers formed a tiny minority, surrounded by a majority culture that neither understood nor respected their beliefs. From time to time this disrespect swelled into persecution and even martyrdom.

Peter wrote to pastor, to encourage, and to embolden those isolated and often vulnerable believers. His timeless words have consoled and challenged ever since. His tactic is to show how the eternal gospel is true even in the toughest circumstances – and that is because God really is in control through it all (1 Pet 1:2–9). One of his arguments is truly startling.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. (1 Pet 1:10–12)

Dwell on that last sentence for a moment.

It means that being able to study the Scriptures is nothing less than a heavenly privilege. Each time we open up the Scriptures, we are drawn into an experience that God’s celestial servants do not have! That’s presumably because those who constantly live and serve in God’s presence don’t actually need these things to be revealed. However, not needing a Bible is clearly insufficient to quieten angelic curiosity about the gospel. They would apparently love to have what we have and do what we do!

What an encouragement that was as we opened the Scriptures that day! Despite being surrounded by millions who considered what we were doing irrelevant or worse, the ten of us in that stifling Istanbul room found that deeply inspiring. It gave us all a new boldness to preach beyond those four walls, whenever and wherever we had the opportunity.

We must never forget this as we consider how to proclaim what was revealed to Peter and his friends and gospel partners. Our sense of privilege should never fade. Intriguingly, the more I study and preach the Bible, the more that sense deepens. I grow in astonishment at its message, at its coherence and consistency, at its beauty and surprises. This spurs me on to proclaim it.

I hope you will have a similar experience as your read this book. It is certainly what we long for in the Langham Preaching movements around the world. This is because learning and growing as preachers is not simply a matter of refining our skills, or memorizing information, or even improving as communicators (although those things all have their place – and this book will have a clear focus on skill development). It is certainly not about gaining enough assets to climb ministry career ladders. It is simply, and wonderfully, becoming aware of the privilege we have in serving our gracious God as his ambassadors and proclaimers.

Acknowledgements

There are many people to thank for this project.

First. I must thank my Langham colleagues – It’s a privilege to be part of such a diverse but united and encouraging team.

• India: Paul Windsor, Programme Director, based in Bangalore

• Canada: Jennifer Cuthbertson, Training Coordinator, Vancouver

• France: Mike McGowan, Francophone Africa consultant, Dinard

• Bosnia & Herzegovina: Slavko Hadzic, Pastor, Balkans Regional Coordinator, Sarajevo

• Colombia: Jorge Atiencia, Latin America team, Medellin

I am grateful too to Benji Stephen who works with Paul in Bangalore. He has been very patient in dealing with my incessant questions about his cultural context.

In writing this book, I have tried to make it as cross-cultural and translatable as possible. In this effort, I have been greatly helped by the following friends who have read and commented on the manuscript.

• Hong Kong: Heewoo Han, Minister, Shatin Anglican Church

• Uganda: Robert Atwongyeire, Pastor, Kampala

• Spain: Andres Reid, Director of Escuela Evangélica de Teología of FIEIDE, Barcelona

• Turkey: Bayram Erdem, Istanbul

• Hungary: Tamas Schauermann, IT specialist and preacher, Pécs, Hungary

• Austria: Sharon McClaughlin, former church worker, now in Vienna

• UK: Jonathan Lewis, and Dan Wells, London

I am very grateful to my Langham Literature editor, Isobel Stevenson for her incredibly hard work in making this transferable and relevant to as many different cultures as possible. I’m also very thankful for Pieter Kwant, Programme Director of Langham Literature, for all his support and encouragement for this project.

The book is dedicated to David Jackman, the founding director of the Cornhill Training Course in London. It is no exaggeration to say that my year at Cornhill (1994–1995) gave me not only my wife but also my ministry in Sheffield and London, as a seminary teacher in Kampala, Uganda, and as an itinerant member of the Langham Preaching global leadership team. Each has been an immense privilege. But more than that, David has been an inspiring model of winsome, generous and faithful service. I regularly thank God for him!

Finally, my family has endured far more than they deserve to, and so deserves far more of me than they get! But I am, as ever, eternally grateful for the love and support of Joshua and Zanna, and ultimately, of course, of Rachel who is without question one of the kindest and most selfless people I know.

August 2016

Bergh Apton, Norfolk

SDG

1

Understanding the Bible’s Big Picture

Whenever I visit a new place, I want to look at a map of it. Without one, I feel quite disoriented. That was especially true when I first visited Istanbul – but it happens even in parts of my home city of London. Even though I was born here, and it has been my home on and off for many years, there are still huge parts of it that I haven’t even heard of, let alone explored. I could easily get lost in them!

This is where the usefulness of maps comes in. Maps help put everything in context, globally, nationally, and locally. They are therefore crucial for planning any journey. But we need different types of map to help us with different stages in planning a journey.

• Continent maps: These are the big picture maps, the ones that enable us to see a whole continent at a glance. They show the major landmarks like mountains, oceans and rivers, and the boundaries between countries. If I know that Istanbul is in Turkey, a continent-wide map shows where Turkey lies in relation to other countries.

• Country maps: These maps cover a whole country, like Turkey, and are intended to help travellers get from place to place. They keep us on the right roads between cities and towns by showing only the most significant buildings or roads. They omit details that would be confusing and distracting. Using a national map, I can easily find my way to Istanbul.

• Local maps: Once I arrive in Istanbul, however, a continental map and a national map are useless if I am trying to get around the city on foot. What I need now is a local map, that shows tiny details and landmarks like mosques, shops and hidden alleyways.

But what has all this to do with the Bible?

The answer is that you may find it helpful to think of the Bible as a vast territory that you need to explore. There are, of course, parts of it that we know well and naturally turn to given the choice. But even if we have been studying and preaching the Bible for years, there are still parts that confuse us or seem to raise more questions than we might like. That is inevitable with a book as diverse and profound as the Bible. There is easily enough in it to occupy us for a lifetime. That is why the sixth century theologian known as Gregory the Great described the Bible as a river that is shallow enough for lambs to wade in and deep enough for elephants to swim in. It has surprises and treasures in store for the toddler and the scholar, the new convert and the longest church member.

There is always more to learn, and we would be wise to make the most of all the help we can get. The aim of this book, and its companion, Chris Wright’s Sweeter than Honey,[1] is to provide some help as you explore the Bible by providing different levels of maps that will enable you to be better equipped to help others understand the Scriptures.

1. Mapping Bible Journeys

As you read this book, you will encounter certain symbols that indicate what type of map of the Bible you are currently looking at in that.

Bible Continents: We can think of the Old Testament and New Testament as two continents, joined together, like Africa and Asia linked through the Middle East. This is a global view of the Bible, which explains the importance of grasping what is sometimes called biblical theology (the themes and storyline that hold the whole book together). Because the whole Bible is actually a story, this is sometimes called its story or narrative arc. I use a map of