Preaching/teaching Proverbs

I did it topically. You can preach the first 9 or so chapters verse by verse, but after that, easier to do topically. I did the first chapter straight through, and then hit major topics. I hit things such as

Proverbs for Women, Wives, and Mothers (In That Order)
Proverbs for Men, Husbands, and Fathers (In That Order)

These two included a lot on parenting, morality, sexual issues, etc. If I were doing it again, I would probably spread it out, but these were the MOther's Day/Father's Day message in the year that I preached this series.

Proverbs on Work, Industry, and Initiative
Proverbs on Anger
Proverbs on Hostility
Proverbs on Melancholy and Depression

I can't remember all of them. I also preached a couple of general message on the wise vs. the foolish.

Good resources include a little book by Don Orthner entitled Wellsprings of Life. It is a topical outline of Proverbs gathering all the verses on a particular subject under one heading. Living Wisely in a Foolish World by House and Durham is an excellent book, also topical in nature. Best commentary, IMO, that I have seen is Peter Steveson's Commentary on Proverbs. It is an excellent verse by verse treatment, better than any of the others that I used.

 

I also preached on the tongue.

 

From my experience and talking with other pastors/teachers/professors the best way to handle it is to group the verses according to topics and handle them in that manner. It is probably the hardest book to handle in an expository fashion. I was at an expository preaching conference back in January and the professor was asked this specific question and his reply was to divide the Proverbs up into major groups and hande each group together. He said trying to preach verse by verse through Proverbs would send a Pastor to the nut house.

One of the best resources I have found on the Proverbs is Volume 5 of the Expositor's Bible Commentary. It provides a lot of help.

 

A couple of good resources for Proverbs that I have found are:
Wisdom for Today's Issues: A Topical Arrangement of the Proverbs by Stephen Voorwinde and published by Presbyterian and Reformed.

Another is Bruce Waltke's new commentary on Proverbs 1-15. My roommate is doing a series on Proverbs on Sunday nights and has found this commentary to be valuable.

 

I agree with Pastor Larry's approach, I have taught Proverbs twice, and employed expositiory methods for the first nine chapters and topically thereafter. I recommend John Phillips two volume commentary on the book.

 

Proverbs, one of the best books!

No begettin'
No wars
Nothin' but wisdom.

 

I like Pastor Larry and Pastor SBC's approaches.

Especially if it is a "Lecture" style class or in a sermon.

Though - I have to tell you. I learned proverbs, as a child, when a dear woman who was my Grandmother's neighbor gave me a little "New testatment" that was Proverbs and the four gospels. She and I had a "contest" to memorize a proverb and a book from the New Testatment every day. Winner got a cookie.

 

If I were to teach on Proverbs again (did it once with teens), i would put a heavy emphasis on the fact that wisdom is a type of Christ...read chapter 8 and you'll see what i mean...

btw, the kids got a kick out of all the fatherly warnings about loose women.

 

18A man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow.

gossip can be...
I. demolishing (maul or a sledge hammer, demolishes and is meant to break apart, when you gossip you are breaking a life apart with your wicked tongue)
II. dividing (sword) when you gossip you are cutting dividing opinions and are cutting a person to pieces. like a mighty oak they will fall and it will be your fault.
III. destructive or deadly. (arrow) Unlike the sword and the maul which swing wildly, the arrow is aimed and is direct and means only to kill. gossip strikes the heart and kills on contact. the old proverb says sticks and stones can break your bones... but words can kill a person.

this is a good sermon starter for new preachers.

 

I preached the book of Proverbs several years ago and preached it verse by verse. Once I was done I decided that if I did it again I would group the Proverbs according to topics.

Probably the best book I found on it was "Proverbs: A Commentary on an Ancient Book of Timeless Advice"
by Robert L. Alden, Baker Publishing Group, 1988.

 

What a timely post! I'm starting a sermon series on Prov in two weeks. I've probably taught more through Prov than any other book. Love it!
This time, I'm just going to do an eight-part series. Folks don't seem to have the attention span where I'm at to do a longer series.
I'm planning on a exposition of 1:1-7, a textual-topical on 1:20ff and another textual-topical on 4:20-27. Then some topical sermons on words, advice, conflict and friends. Then a concluding exposition on 30:1-6. Anyways, that's the plan but who knows what will happen.
Thanks for the resources mentioned. I've cut and pasted them and will check them out.