Dad Jokes and Hermeneutics

"Dad, I'm thirsty!" "Hi Thirsty, I'm Dad." I'm not sure why men love to tell these silly jokes, but the dad joke is a universal genre of humor, with the universal reaction of sighs and eye-rolls. Not to break it down too much (as if it needs it) but the joke's premise is to take the literal meaning of the words and draw the wrong inferences from them. "Dad, I need $20 for a haircut." And the joke follows, "For $20, I'd get all of them cut, not just one." The child can't say, "I didn't say that," but they have to say, "that's not what I meant."

I saw a book titled Get You Unto the Great Men, that urges people to follow in the steps of the spiritual giants of the past and walk in the ways of the "great men," as stated in Jeremiah 5:5. The author wants you to have the right heroes, so get to the great men. Jeremiah said, "I will get me unto the great men…" but is that what he meant? Is Jeremiah telling you to go to the great preachers of the past and follow them? What if we could travel back in time and ask? "Hey Jeremiah, I was reading where you said we ought to go to the great men and follow their example, pretty good stuff. That'll preach!" Jeremiah might say, "First of all, I never said that. Secondly, I said that I would go to the great men (not you), and by great, I didn't mean wonderful but powerful, the leaders of the people. Still, I wasn't following their examples and certainly don't want you to. I was talking about God's judgment and Jerusalem's capture and destruction. Judah was evil, from the poor men to the great men. No one knew God's word, and they were foolish, even the "great men" who should have known better. Who told you that I was telling you to follow those guys?" You might clear your throat, "I, uh, read it in a book, and a preacher wrote that's what you said." Jeremiah might get a little upset and say, "That was part of what I said, but that's the opposite of what I meant. If you read the whole sermon, not just half a sentence, you'd see that easy enough. That's just a lie, putting words in my mouth, and actually part of what I was driving at here in Jerusalem."

The Bible is a unique book. No other book is God-breathed, and inspired or one that has its power. But it is a book, and that's how God chose to communicate to His people, in the simple and ordinary use of language. That doesn't mean the meaning is always easy to find, but we can’t know how to apply it if we don’t know what it means. The example above might have a Biblical principle (Proverbs 13:20), but drawing implications from a misunderstanding could be disastrous.

Step one is understanding the author's meaning when he said it. That's not the last step, but you shouldn't go a step forward unless you know what the author meant. Knowing what the words mean isn't understanding the meaning of the message. You can't consider the implications nor give an application from a text you outright misunderstand from the start. If I overhear my doctor talking about "free radicals," I shouldn't call the police to report that my doctor is trying to break a band of revolutionaries out of prison. I understood the words but didn't understand the meaning, so I made the wrong implications and applications.


I think it would be a reasonable thought to ask if Jeremiah were here, and I asked him if that's what he meant, would he agree with my assessment? You wouldn't want him to give you the dad joke eye-roll with your interpretation.

Don't Quit

Every pastor, at some point or another, has thought about quitting and doing something else besides pastoral ministry. Several years ago, I was going through a rough time, and I was depressed, discouraged, and on the verge of quitting the ministry. A friend invited me to a conference where Alistair Begg was preaching. Alistair is a fairly famous preacher out of Cleveland, OH. I had listened to Alistair on the radio for years and was always blessed by hearing that Scottish accent bring the Word. But, to attend the conference, you had to buy a ticket, which I couldn't afford. The meeting was for pastors, and during the day, there were continuing education preaching workshops.

With the ticket came a bundle of books worth more than the cost, but still, I couldn't afford it. I emailed the church, told them my situation, and asked if I could come and sit in the back and if there weren't enough seats, I'd stand. I got a quick reply that they would be happy if I came and heard the preaching. It was the largest church building I'd ever been in. The platform where the pulpit sat and the musicians played could probably have held 100 people. Alistair preached, and it was a true blessing. He preached on the pastoral ministry from I Timothy. I can tell you the text, but I can't remember much of what he said. But the Word worked in my heart that night, and it was just what I needed to help me persevere. I don't think I'd be a pastor today if I hadn't attended that night.

One of the men I came with left before the service started and returned with a stack of books. He asked someone if I could have the books that came with the ticket, and they were happy to give them to me as a gift. I haven't mentioned that it was a historic African American church, and the church's worship service wasn't really what I was used to. I was sitting next to two pastors who were as blessed by the preaching as I was. At the end of the service, we were encouraged to take the hand of the person sitting next to you as we sang and prayed. I'm not a little man, and neither was the African American man beside me. And we both chuckled, grabbed hands, and prayed to our Lord and Saviour as brothers in Christ.

At this low point, the people who made the most significant impact on me that night weren't the famous guys but the ordinary men I fellowshipped with. Seeing other fellow laborers, who shared the same burden as me, who were going back to problems, just like me, and who were looking to Christ for grace in times of need, just like me, lifted me out of the mire. It was the ordinary pastors that don't have any idea what I was dealing with, but their kind, gracious words helped and encouraged me. Pastors, you may forget how valuable your work is when life has you down. You don't know how many people out there are pressing on because of a sermon you preached that you felt like it was the worst ever preached. Keep going. You aren't alone. The Lord is with you and will sustain you. Don't forget, the Lord knows your frame. He died for sinners, but he also died for your failures, pastor. In glory, he won't meet his blood-bought child in Heaven with a scowl on his face. Think of the blessed Lord Jesus and what He did for you, and be thankful to be able to serve Him in His kingdom in even the smallest way. 

1 Timothy 6:11-16  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

Pray for your pastor

Steven J. Lawson wrote a book called Famine in the Land: A Passionate Call for Expository Preaching, in which he expresses his concern that, despite the number of churches in the land, sermons preached in churches and online, many of God's sheep are starving for the Word of God. He fears that the Bible is read but not preached and referenced but not expounded. The Bible, in many pulpits, is nothing more than a book of mottos that spark an idea about a topic or used to confirm a preconceived notion. Week by week, some people go to church to hear God's Word but hear everything but.

There are many pitfalls a man can encounter in his ministry. He can begin to talk about what interests him for a while and then slap a Bible verse on it and call it a day. He can grab a verse, wing it, and end up talking about what he saw on the news. Or, he goes the other direction, becomes fascinated by some new idea, and begins to leave the ground of Biblical orthodoxy. Not to mention the temptations and pitfalls that are around us daily. I encourage you to pray for God's men who faithfully labor in Word.

October is pastor appreciation month, so I'm told. I can tell you one thing your pastor will appreciate is your prayers for him. Pray that he would love the Bible, never grow bored of it, nor tire of its study. Pray that God would protect your pastor from infatuation with philosophy and the desire and lure for something new. That he would be content with what God has revealed in Scripture rather than looking to unlock mysteries that no man can know. Pray that God would grant your pastor the desire to teach the truth and make it plain, not forsaking the clear teaching of Scripture to enter the fog of intellectual sophistry. Ask that God would continue to teach your pastor and grant him the humility to learn, but also strengthen your pastor with the conviction to stand firm in the truth of Christ. Pray that your pastor would not let friendships, money, worldly possessions, or reputation keep him from declaring the truth of the Word and the courage to stand alone if need be (Ephesians 6:18-20). Pray that he would have the courage to stand against wicked men and that God would protect him when he does (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2). Ask God to bless and refresh your pastor's labors and his soul (Romans 15:30-32).

Is there a famine of preaching? Maybe so. But I know a lot of good, faithful, godly preachers across the country who care about truth and are careful to preach what the text says, who believe God's Word is inspired, inerrant, and infallible, and want the people in the pew to know what God says in that book. Do you have one of those pastors? Then thank the Lord for him, and pray for him.

Spot the Wise

Who are the wise and knowledgeable men in West Virginia? If so, where would we look for them, and how would we know when we found them? Many brilliant men and women are in West Virginia, so let's narrow the search. You may visit a doctor's office and see many diplomas on the wall. The doctor comes in and explains your symptoms and tells you that he is going to have to remove your appendix. He tells you not to worry, though, because the appendix is a hangover from evolution, a vestigial organ that causes us problems. This happened to me once. When the doctor said it, I wanted another doctor. He had knowledge, but no wisdom. Sidenote: in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, University of Duke scientists made the claim that there is, in fact, a purpose to the appendix, and Darwin was wrong about it, and it's time to update the textbooks. The doctor passed college and medical school, but he learned based on a faulty premise and incomplete data. Never stop learning!

What if I decided that I was going to put all of West Virginia's power lines underground, so the electricity wouldn't go off every time there was a slight westerly breeze (hey, it's my illustration)? Another side note: I lived in North Carolina for five years, went through the remnants of one hurricane, a tornado that touched down a few miles away, and two ice storms, and our electricity only went out twice because the power lines were underground. But the flat lands in eastern North Carolina are different from the hills and mountains in West Virginia, so I put bids out to some engineers to help work out the problems I'm going to have to overcome. One man rises above the others with his ingenious scheme to achieve the impossible and do it quickly. He'll require 1 billion dollars, but he can do it. During the negotiations, I discovered he had lied to me several times and sabotaged other engineers in their presentations. I have a brilliant man, but not a wise man. Do I want to trust my fortune and goal to a brilliant man, but also an immoral man?

James 5:13 says, "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom." James tells us one way we can determine if a person has good knowledge and wisdom when talking about things that matter. Look at their life. When a person has wisdom, their life will reflect it because they have wisdom. The decisions they make and the words they speak come from the wisdom they have. When people can apply the knowledge of the Scripture to their life in walking with Christ, their wisdom will produce fruit. That's one reason why there are so many scandals among false preachers. They have intellect and can gather a crowd but have no heavenly wisdom, and their life shows it.