Archive for the ‘How To Prepare A Sermon’ Category

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 7 “The Conclusion”

Posted: January 4, 2011 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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G. Campell Morgan said, “Every conclusion must conclude, include, and preclude.”

To conclude means to bring the message to an end. Don’t just stop preaching.

To include means to repeat what was previously said (But NOT a re-preaching of the sermon)

To preclude means to prevent the proposition from not being responded to.

“Some preachers are in their approach toward the runway when, at an altitude of only a few feet from the ground, they get a new thought and —instead of landing —zoom up into the air again. Then, once more, they circle the field, line up with the landing strip, lower their flaps and start to come in for the landing, only to shoot up into the sky instead” (Jay Adams, Preaching with Purpose, p. 66). Haddon Robinson adds that your conclusion should not resemble a crash (Steven Mathewson, The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative, 150).

In the conclusion you do not answer any more questions. You have answered all of your listeners’ questions with your rhetorical processes: See Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 5 (Develop the Sermon Outline) Parts 1, 2, 3, 4.

Explanation: “What does this passage mean?”

Argumentation: “How do you know this is the meaning?”

Illustration: “What does the truths of this passage look like?”

Application: “What do the truths of this passage have to do with my life?”

In the conclusion, you do not introduce new material, you exhort your listeners to respond to the proposition.

Conclude and exhort your listeners to respond to the proposition with

1. A series of exhortations:

“From this day forward, let’s determine that we will be the kind of parent who seeks to raise a godly child.”

“He is our Lord, the one who has given us life and will give us eternity. Let us live pleasing to him!”

“He’s coming! Let’s watch alertly and wait eagerly” (Donald R. Sunukjian. Invitation to Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007, 249).

2. A series of questions which are not introspective but affirmative:

“An appropriate question, or even a series of questions, can conclude a sermon effectively. A sermon on the Good Samaritan ended: ‘Let me conclude where I began. Do you love God? That’s splendid. I’m glad to hear that. A second question: Do you love your neighbor? How can we talk about loving God whom we have not seen if we do not love our brothers and sisters and our neighbors whom we do see? If you do love your neighbors, do you mind if I ask them?” (Robinson, 178).

3. A story that captures your proposition and main points:

I preached a sermon entitled: “You can Fail and not be a Failure.” The sermon was a biographical sermon on the life of John Mark. I introduced the sermon with the story of Daniel Ruettiger or “Rudy.” In addition to the information the film provides you can read about Rudy in John Maxwell’s book Failing Forward or Rudy Ruettiger’s book Rudy’s Rules. Here is how Maxwell tells the story: “Rudy” desperately wanted to play football for Notre Dame. You may have seen the film based on his life called Rudy. It was a good movie, but his real story is even more remarkable and compelling.

The first of fourteen children in a poor working–class family, Rudy loved sports as a  kid and believed that might be his ticket out of Joliet, Illinois. In high school, he gave himself completely to football, but his heart was much greater than his physique. He was slow, and at five feet six inches tall and 190 pounds, he wasn’t exactly built for the game.

As a senior, he began dreaming about attending Notre Dame and playing football there. But Rudy faced another problem. His grades showed less promise than his physique. “I finished third in my class,” he is fond of saying. “Not from the top, but from the bottom.” He was a D student. He graduated from high school with a 1.77 grade point average.

For the next several years, Rudy changed his focus from one thing to another. He tried attending junior college for one semester but flunked every class. He went to work for two years at the local Commonwealth Edison power plant in Joilet—what he considered to be the ultimate dead-end job. And even did a two-year hitch in the navy, which turned out to be a turning point for him. That’s where he discovered that he wasn’t dumb and that he could handle responsibility.

After his military service, he returned to Joliet and again worked in the power plant. He was more determined than ever to go to Notre Dame, despite the criticism of his family, friends, and coworkers. He knew he was not a failure, and he would find a way to go to South Bend.

If you saw the movie, then you know that Rudy eventually made it. He quit his job, moved to South Bend, and managed to get into Holy Cross College, a community college affiliated with the university. He attended the college for two years and earned a 4.0 average every semester before Notre Dame accepted him. He entered his dream school at age twenty-six—eight years after graduating from high school.

With two years of sports eligibility remaining, he went out for football. And he made the team as a scrub, one of the warm bodies they put in practice to keep the good players sharp. But Rudy made the most of it. He worked hard, and after a year, he went from the bottom of the scrubs all the way up to sixth string—the top of the scrubs. His last year, he worked hard again. And in the final game of his final season, Rudy lived his dream by getting to play.

In the movie, Rudy Ruettiger gets in for only one play at the end of the game, and he sacks the quarterback. But that’s not how it really happened.

“In real life, I had two chances to get the quarterback,” says Rudy. “The first play, I didn’t get there in time. I was too anxious and didn’t execute the play. I failed.” But once again, Rudy didn’t let his failure make him a failure. He was determined to fail forward.

“I knew this was the last chance I would ever get,” he explains. “When they snapped the ball, I wasn’t worried about failing . I’d done that already, and I knew why I had failed. That’s how you eliminate that fear. You keep learning until you have the confidence to perform when you have to . . .When they snapped the ball for the last time, I put the moves I’d rehearsed in my mind on the guy over me and I got the quarterback.”

Overjoyed, the team carried him off the field in celebration. Rudy says it’s the only time that’s happened to a player in the history of  Notre Dame football.

In the sermon on John Mark, after reveiwing his biography in the ten references to him in the New Testament (Mark 14:47-52; Acts 12:12; 12:25; 13:5; 13:13; 15:37-39; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24; 1 Peter 5:13; 2 Timothy 4:10), I draw two principles from his life:

1) Our sins and failures can be costly.

2) Our sins and failures can be invaluable, if we learn from them.

I conclude the sermon with Rudy’s life today as a motivational speaker and the story of Rudy not giving up on Hollywood producing a movie about his life. “Of course, it wasn’t easy for him. It took him six years to see that happen. (Two years less than it took him to get to Notre Dame!).

The people in Hollywood told him, ‘You’re not Paul Horning or Joe Montana.’ Rudy agreed.

‘There’s only one of them,’ he explained. ‘There’s a million of me’” (John Maxwell. Failing Forward. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000, 31-33).

There are a million average people like Rudy who have failed but are not failures. You can come to Christ with your failures and He will make you a success for His glory in the ways He chooses.

The Importance of a Purpose Statement

In the conclusion you exhort them to do or respond to the one purpose for which you have been preaching for about 40 minutes.

“The noted preacher A. W. Dale was evidently a man who was as secure as the Rock of Gibraltar. Every Saturday evening he delivered his sermon to his wife. One day, after he had gone through this exercise, his wife asked, ‘Tell me, why are you preaching this sermon?’”    (Robinson, Biblical Preaching, 106). A purpose statement is the why you are preaching your sermon.

In the conclusion write a purpose statement: What is the one specific result you want to see as a result of preaching your proposition.

For example:

1. A listener should be able to list the spiritual gifts and determine which gifts he or she has been given.

2. A listener should be able to write down the name of at least one non-Christian and should resolve to pray for that individual each day for the next two weeks. (If listeners do something for two weeks, they have a better chance of doing it for several months.)

3. Christians should be able to explain what people must believe to become Christians and should plan to speak to at least one person about the Lord in the coming week (Robinson, 110-111).

In the conclusion the preacher not only summarizes his main points but exhorts his listeners to “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only.”

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 6 “The Introduction”

Posted: November 3, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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If what Haddon Robinson said is true of our average congregation, then we preachers have our work cut out: “When you stand up to preach, people are bored and expect you to make it worse” (Biblical Preaching, Second Edition. page 166).

A good introduction can remedy this low expectation.

The first of Mark Dever’s 9 Marks that characterizes a healthy local church is expositional preaching. Dever, in discussing the introduction and conclusion of the expositional sermon says, “Good sermons are like a three course meal – an introduction for the appetizer, a body for the main meal, and a conclusion for dessert. Let’s look at each part separately.

The Appetizer

  • Goal – The goal of a good introduction is to show the unbeliever that we understand how they might perceive what we’re saying, and to show the believer why it is important for them to pay attention to this passage and this sermon.
  • When - It’s best to write the introduction at the end of your preparation. That way you know exactly what you’re trying to introduce.
  • How - Use a story, quote, experience, or thought that front loads the sermon’s application for the believer and identifies with the unbelievers skepticism.”

To this general, but interesting, analysis of introductions, I want to add the following three necessary steps for the introduction.

1. The attention step: “As a preacher begins his sermon, he must be sure the opening sentences grip the minds of his hearers” (Braga, p. 119). Robinson believes this must be accomplished in the first 30 seconds. The introduction starts with the listener and not the text as Paul recognized and practiced on Mars’ Hill (Acts 17:22).

“I have no statistical proof, but I believe that at least 50% of the sermons preached last Sunday started with ‘Now, if you have your Bibles, please turn to . . . .’ The other 50% began with ‘Now, you’ll remember that last week we discussed. . . .’” (Wiersbe Prokope Vol. V, No.3).

In the attention step, the preacher gets his listeners’ attention in relationship to his proposition, which is the sermon reduced to one sentence. Telling a joke is not the attention step unless the joke relates to the big idea of the sermon. Dever is correct when he says you can do this with a story, quote, experience or thought that front loads the sermon’s application for the believer.

In a sermon, I preached entitled, The Depression God’s Servants Experience based on the suicidal request of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, I related the following episode from the life of God’s servant, G. Campbell Morgan. Morgan was the greatly used Bible teacher, expository preacher, and commentary writer. He shocked his congregation at London’s Westminster Chapel on his 10th anniversary by telling them, he considered himself a failure: “During these ten years, I have known more of visions fading into mirages, of purposes failing of fulfilling, of things of strength crumbling away in weaknesses that ever in my life before.”

2. Interest Step: Your listeners are asking two questions. The first question is, “What is he going to preach about?” and the second question is, “Why do I need this sermon?” The interest step answers the second question. This step goes beyond grabbing their attention to convincing them that they need this sermon (Jay Adams. Preaching with Purpose, pages 59-64). When the preacher is through with the introduction, his listeners should be saying to themselves, “I am glad I came to church today. I need this sermon.” Here are some suggested ways (with examples) by Donald R. Sunukjian to tap the need in your listeners for your sermon.

1. Relate a personal story and refer to recent events. Such as the G. C. Morgan story above.

2. Make a startling statement:

R. C. Sproul, in a lecture, said when he was preaching on a college campus and the students were not listening he would announce, “For the next few minutes, I want to discuss sexual intercourse.” He said when he makes that statement their heads snap up.

3. Explore a contemporary issue (Capital Punishment or the impact of the Qur’an on Islam).

In a recent sermon on Paul’s Defense of the Gospel which alone is the power of God to salvation, I related  how the Qur’an is not preventing millions of Muslims from turning to Christ. As a matter of fact, the Qur’an is Islam’s worst enemy although translated in most of the languages of Muslims since King Fahd of Saudi Arabia commissioned this project in 1984.

Some missionaries are buying Qur’ans in the local languages and distributing them to Muslims so they can read them and see in inadequacies of the Qur’an to meet spiritual needs (The Camel, page 48).

4. Probe a common need and promise some benefit such as depression above.

5. Address some contradiction and prode a common need.

I introduced a sermon on Helping a Fallen Brother by showing the apparent contradiction between Paul’s command in Galatians 6:2 and 5. In Galatians 6:2, Paul commanded, “Bear one another’s burdens” and in Galatians 6:5, Paul commanded, “Bear your own burden.” The alleged discrepancy is solved when we learn that Paul used two different Greek words for burden in the two verses. In verse two Paul used a word for burden that described the burden of a problem a person was carrying just before he/she committed suicide.  Someone needs to help that suffering person bear that burden.

But in verse five, Paul employed another Greek word for burden which described an expecting mother carrying a preborn baby in her womb or a marching soldier carrying his back pack. There are some burdens that only we can bear as believers. No one can do our praying, Bible reading or witnessing.

6. Probe a common need and promise a solution.

I introduced a sermon by the “One another” commands in Scripture by quoting from ”Peanuts.” Lucy asked Charlie Brown, “Why are we here on earth?” Charlie Brown answered, “To make others happy.” Lucy pondered that reply for a moment and then asked another question, “Then why are the others here.”

7. Offer to resolve some Biblical difficulty (Haddon W. Robinson.  , Biblical Preaching, page 193).

If you use a story to get their attention use another method to get their interest. In my sermon on The Depression God’s Servants Experience, after telling the story of G. Campbell Morgan’s bout with depression in the Attention Step, for the Interest Step, I did not use another story. I discussed the three levels of depression that medical doctors identify: Mild, Moderate, and Severe. Many in your congregation will be at one of these levels or know someone who is.

3. Introduce the Subject Step: The introduce the subject step should include two parts. Give the theme of the book and the development of the book and where your sermon fits in the development of the sermon. This provides the greater context for your sermon. The theme of 1st Kings is the decline of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom declined in spite of the prophetic ministry of Elijah and this contributed to his depression in 1st Kings 19.

Three Alternate Ways to Introduce a Sermon

1. Start with the Bible narrative:

As James Rose does in his sermon entitled The Big Valley on David defeating Goliath in 1 Samuel 17: “The stillness of early morning was reinforced by the mist filling the floor of a sprawling valley. It is like that in spring; it’s the time of green grass and gorgeous wildflowers….” (Haddon W. Robinson. Biblical Sermons, page 53).

2. For the traditional deductive sermon see (Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 4 (Construct The Sermon Outline) for the transition from the proposition to the first main point in a traditional sermon.

a. The Attention Step

b. The Interest Step

c. The proposition for a deductive sermon

d. The Introduce the Subject Step

3. For an inductive sermon on 1 Samuel 1 state

a. The Attention Step: “How many of you consider yourself a leader?” “How would you define a leader?” “Who are some people you consider leaders in your life?”

b. The Interest Step: Personal story: The greatest leader in my life was my Christian mother. She influenced me for Christ more than any other person. You can be a leader. You can be a person of godly influence in some else’s life. The question is “How can God use you to be a leader?”

c. The Introduce the Subject Step: In 1 Samuel God raises up three leaders: Samuel, Saul, and David. Yet, 1 Samuel opens with barrenness. The book in which God sovereignly raises up leaders begins with a barrenness of leadership. How was this barrenness of leadership overcome? How can the barrenness of leadership in your life or church be overcome?

1) Not by compromise (1:1-2)

2) Nor by retaliation (1:3-8)

3) But by prayer (1:9-28)

Notice, because this is an inductive sermon, the proposition is not front-loaded. The proposition is near the end of the story because that is where the solution to the conflict in the story occurs. The form of the text should influence the form of the sermon. In narratives, where there are conflicts to be resolved the Big Idea is usually in the middle or at the end of the Biblical story.

I trust these thoughts will help pastor/teachers, who have been commanded to “feed the flock of God,” serve a Blooming Onion from Outback Steakhouse like appetizer in the introduction that kick starts the taste buds for the main course.

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 5 (Develop the Sermon Outline) Part 4 “Argumentation”

Posted: October 6, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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In this post we continue our discussion of the rhetorical processes or what Donald R. Sunukjian calls the developmental questions. John A. Broadus originally described these forms of discourse for preaching in 1870. The most commonly used version of Broadus is the 1944 edition, edited by Weatherspoon:

“Preaching is inherently a form of rhetoric. Rhetoric is designed to influence others. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion.”

“These four rhetorical questions appeal to the whole person to whom we are preaching. Explanation appeals to the intellect. Argumentation appeals to the reason. Illustration appeals to the imagination and Application appeals to the volition” (Wayne McDill, 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching, Nashville: B&H, 2006, 119, 126, 127).

The rhetorical process (or the developmental question) called Explanation answers this question your listeners are asking while you are preaching, “What do these verses mean that he just read?” We discussed this rhetorical process in Step 5, Part 1.

The rhetorical process called Argumentation of the explanation answers the question, “Why should I believe this Biblical explanation?”

Under Argumentation of the explanation, you could bring in the theology found in the text. For example, if you are explaining the deity of Christ in human form in Philippians 2:6, for argumentation you could support your explanation by referring to Paul’s similar Christology in Colossians 2:9: “For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” When in explaining a text, think systematic theology for argumentation.

Paul is always supporting his New Testament truth with Old Testament quotations or theology. For example, in Romans 3 Paul discusses justification by faith and not by works of the law (3:22). In Romans 4, Paul buttresses this same truth with theology found in the Old Testament: “And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord and it was counted unto righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). This is how we inject theology into our preaching.

Albert Mohler in his book, He is Not Silent has Chapter 3 “Preaching is Expository: A Theology of Exposition”. In this chapter, Mohler contends that our view of God’s revelation in His Word will be reflected in our preaching. If we possess a low view of revelation then our preaching will be theology deficient. If we have a low view of the doctrine of revelation, then in our preaching we will preach “pop psychology and culture, or we will tell compelling stories.” We preach the theology of a passage because it is God’s authoritative Word that is life changing.

Illustration answers, “What does this truth look like in concrete terms?” I discussed illustrations in Step 5, Part 2.

Application brings God’s Word home by answering, “What does this truth have to do with my life?” Application is examined in Step 5, Part 3.

I want to now to discuss Argumentation of the application which answers your listeners’ objection to your application: “Why should I do this?” Driscoll addresses this developmental question as the fourth of the six questions he always asks as he prepares to preach.

1. The Biblical Question: What Does Scripture Say? I answer this question by Driscoll with Explanation.

2. The Theological Question: What Does Scripture Mean? I  answer this question by Driscoll with Argumentation of explanation.

3. The Memorable Question: What is my Hook? “A word, image, concept, doctrine, emotion, or person needs to be the hook that is woven through sermon.” I answer this question, though not completely, with the proposition.

4. The Apologetical Question: Why do we Resist This Truth? I answer this with Argumentation for the Application. Driscoll states well the need for this developmental question: “Here we are assuming that people will not simply embrace God’ truth but fight it with their thoughts and/or actions because they are sinners who, like Romans 1:18 says, suppress the truth. So we attempt to predict their objections so that we can answer them and remove their resistance to get them to embrace God’s truth for their life” (Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2008, 100).

 5. The Missional Question: Why Does This Matter? I answer this question by Driscoll with Application.

6. The Christological Question: How is Jesus the Hero-Savior? I would answer this with Argumentation for explanation if there is Christology in the text.

Arguing for application is one of the strengths of Donald R. Sunukjian’s Invitation to Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007.

Sunukjian gives three reasons and examples our listeners do not practice our application.

1. Our listeners do not see the cause-effect connection.

James 1:5 presents a cause-effect connection. The cause for much of our praying is our need for God’s wisdom.

If you are preaching on this verse after you explain, argue, and illustrate you would apply by saying: “You can come to God anytime. He will give you wisdom.” Your listener may need to be convinced by additional argumentation for the cause-effect connection such as when Solomon asked God for wisdom and God granted him his request. Or the “distraught father who stood before his kicking and screaming child. He was baffled by his son’s temper tantrums. When his son started beating his head against the floor, the father dropped his chin to his chest, shaking his head in a silent prayer, ‘Help me know what to do.’ When an idea flashed, he got down on his knees, grabbed his son’s head, and said, ‘Here, let me help you bang it.’ Careful not to hurt his son, he helped him with his tantrum, instead of resisting it. His surprised son stopped, cured of using tantrums that no longer worked” (Charles Sell, The House on The Rock. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1977, p. 19).

2. Our listeners think the Biblical statement is contrary to real life.

You are preaching on Ephesians 6:2 “Honor your father and mother.” You anticipate this objection: “If you knew my parents, you wouldn’t tell me to do that. If you knew their vices . . . if you knew how manipulative they were . . . if you knew what my father did to my sisters as they were growing up . . . if you knew how my siblings and I are still trying to get rid of the baggage from living in that dysfunctional home, you wouldn’t tell me to honor my parents.”

Your argumentation for your application would go like this: What do the key words mean? “Honor” means “speak politely and respectfully to,” not necessarily “publicly praise.”

Sunukjian suggests the following:

1. Probe the alternative course of action: “If your parents are unsaved you will never win them.”

2. Find positives for obeying God’s Word. “You might say to a man who finds it difficult to honor his parents: They may have been poor parents. They may have made a lot of mistakes. But they probably did some things right. Whatever their failures, we owe our parents a great debt. They gave us life. They fed us, clothed us, and put a roof over our heads for years. The human infant is not like an animal infant—able to take care of itself after a few months. Unless someone was watching out for us, and taking care of us, we would have died. Maybe your dad went to a job he hated and gritted his teeth while some supervisor gave him a bad time. Everything in your dad wanted to stuff it down the boss’s throat, but jobs were hard to come by and he was determined to provide for you. And as we think of the years of that debt, we may be able to speak quietly and respectfully in his presence.”

3. Our listeners do something that is more important to them.

The example given by Sunukjian is 1 Timothy 2:9, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel.” Your application of this verse to your Sunday morning listeners is, “Dress in non-provocative apparel.”

How do you deal with the objections such as the teenage girl who might prayerfully commit herself on Sunday to “dress modestly to the glory of God” but then on Saturday, at the beach, she wears a bathing suit that doesn’t fit anybody’s definition of modesty and twines herself around some college guy. This doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a hypocrite. It may simply mean that though she buys modesty, she buys even more having a boyfriend or getting affirmation that her femininity is desirable.

So our Argumentation for our application would sound something like this: To get her to buy or value God’s truth most of all would require bringing up the other values on Sunday, acknowledging their tug on her, and then showing either the superior benefits of acting according to God’s truth or the dangerous side effects of acting according to the contrary values. One way or another, the goals is to help her see the biblical truth as more important” (Donald R. Sunukjian, Invitation to Biblical Preaching, 93-105).

I want to close with McDill’s thoughts on preaching: “All preaching aims for repentance. The New Testament word for ‘repentance’ is metanoia, which basically means ‘a change of mind’” (McDill, 128). One way God changes minds in our “reproving, rebuking, and exhorting” is when we answer their objections to our applications.

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 5 (Develop the Sermon Outline) Part 3 “Application”

Posted: September 23, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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A Sermon Without Application is like someone shouting to a drowning man “swim” “swim” but not throwing him a life preserver. Spurgeon believed so strongly in sermon application that he said, “Where application begins, there the sermon begins.”

John R. W. Stott, in his book Between Two Worlds, believed this is the part of the sermon where we preach ethics. The first is individual Christian ethics. The next ethic is church ethics. There is also domestic ethics. The fourth area of ethics is social ethics. Finally there is the political ethics. In my review of chapter 4 of Stott’s book, “Preaching as Bridge Building”, I give more specifics in each area of ethics.

Haddon Robinson added another angle to the importance of sermon application, “More heresy is preached in application than in Bible exegesis” (For the entire article click Leadership, Fall 1997, page 21). An example of misapplying truth is found in Job 4:8 when Eliphaz misapplied his belief about suffering to innocent Job. Both Proverbs and Job are Wisdom Literature. Proverbs gives practical wisdom for godly living. Live right and God will bless you as in Proverbs 3. Job, however, is philosophical wisdom. Job asks the troubling question, “Why are godly people not blessed by God.” Eliphaz was in essence quoting Proverbs (at least the principles to be later contained in Proverbs) to Job and misapplying it.

The third rhetorical process, Application, answers the crucial question, “What do these verses have to do with my life?” We do not preach just to inform, but to transform as seen in these verses: 1 Corinthians 8:1; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 2:22-25.

1. The Danger of Misapplication: Making the application as authoritative as the interpretation.

Haddon Robinson gave this example using the commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery”

A. Necessary Implication: Do not have sex with a person who is not your spouse because it is sin.

B. Probable Implication: Be careful about building strong friendships with a person of the opposite sex who is not your spouse.

C. Possible Implication: You ought not travel regularly with a person who is not your spouse.

D. Improbable Implication: You should not have lunch any time with someone who is not your spouse.

E. Impossible Implication: You ought not have dinner with another couple because you will be at a table with another person who is not your spouse.

“Too often preachers give to a possible implication all the authority of a necessary implication, which is at the level of obedience. Only with necessary implications can you preach, ‘Thus saith the Lord’” (Robinson).

The danger of misapplication is legalism in application as with the text, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”

1) Legalistic application would insist on the aging parent living in the home of the children as the only way to obey this commandment.

2) If the aging parent loses touch with reality and begins to disrupt the family or the family could no longer meet the physical needs of the aging parent then it will become necessary to put the parent in a nursing home so other Bible principles are not violated.

2. Methods for Proper Applications

A. Proper exegesis of the text: What did the author say to his ancient audience?

B. What does the text say about God and man who do not change in their natures?

Sometimes the preacher can “take the biblical text straight over to the modern situation….Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies.’” The preacher can say to his audience, “If you have enemies, you must love them.”

When you cannot go from the first century into the 21st century you can find the theology of the passage and apply that to your audience as with Theology proper and Harmartology: God’s holy nature never changes and the sinner’s unholy depraved nature never changes. Study Robinson’s Abstraction Ladder on page 25 of the Leadership article for a visual on making this application.

1st Corinthians 8 is an example. In this passage Christ is the redeemer who gave His life for believers in 8:11. Therefore Paul argues, I will not eat meat, because if I wound my brother’s weak conscience, I sin against Christ, who redeemed him. In this passage man is depraved: People want their rights, so they don’t care that Christ died for their brother.

C. Apply the text to your life

Ezra is our model preacher in this regard: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments” (Ezra 7:10).

D. Study the culture in which your audience lives.

In his chapter, “What is a Missional Church?” Mark Driscoll states that “a missional church must be not only a missionary but also a missiologist. A missionary is someone who can bring the gospel to people in an effective cultural way. A missiologist is someone who studies the various cultures and subcultures in a community to help train all the  missionaries to be effective.” What applies to the missional church applies to the pastor of the missional church. Driscoll lists some ways to observe the culture in order to better minister to your church in that culture:

1. Watch Television (minus pornographic material). In the Advance 09 Conference there was a questioned asked John Piper and Driscoll about their different views on watching TV.  http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/3970/Video/You can read Piper’s later response to that question.

2. Surf Talk Radio

3. Walk the Mall

4. Pay Attention at the Grocery Store

5. Hang out at the Magazine Rack

6. Pay Attention to Kids

7. Talk to the People

8. Go Online

9. Break Your Routine

E. Know your audience.

Example: Robinson, “When I prepare, I imagine about eight people standing around my desk. One is my wife’s mother, who is a true believer. In my mind, I also picture a friend who is cynic, and sometimes I can hear him saying, “Oh, yeah, sure.” I picture a business executive who thinks bottom line. I have in my mind a teenager, whom I can occasionally hear saying, “This is boring.” I look at these folks in my mind and think, What does this have to say to them?

F. Courageously and specifically apply the text. When a preacher says, “May the Spirit of God apply this blessed truth to your life,” what he really means is, “I do not have a clue how this applies to your life.” Donald R. Sunukjian provides some helpful examples.

1. Ask yourself, where would this truth apply to my life

a. “When you head to the ‘fifteen items or less,’ checkout line at the grocery store, only to find yourself behind a cart that has forty-five items in it. And then to further the aggravation, the offending shopper waits until all the items have been scanned and sacked before beginning a lengthy fumbling for coupons and a hunt for dimes and pennies with which to pay.”

b. “When you come home after work and find bicycles in front of the garage door, despite the many times you’ve told you children to put them away. You’re hungry, your blood sugar is down, and you’ve had a hard day. You honk loudly and repeatedly, hoping to get someone to come out of the house and move the bikes. But the house is sealed up tight against the weather, and the kids are in front of a noisy TV. Nobody hears you, nobody comes out.

Your first impulse is to teach them a lesson by running over the bikes, but you realize you’d then have to buy them new bikes. So you get out of your car, throw the bikes into a corner where it will be difficult for the kids to untangle them, pull the car into the garage, storm into the house, loom over the unsuspecting kids on the floor, and loudly vent, ‘How many times have I told you to . . .’”

2. Make the application specific and extended.

“Suppose I’m teaching a fifth grade boys Sunday School class, and I come to the end of the lesson. To press home the lesson, I say, ‘Guys, what does this mean to your everyday lives? It means, ‘Be a good Christian.’

“Uh, Mr. Sunukjian, that’s a bit vague. Could you be more specific?” “Yeah, I see that’s kind of broad. OK, it means, ‘Respond to those over you.’” But respond is not a picture word. And when you’re in the fifth grade, everybody is “over you.” So I try again. “It means, ‘Obey your parents.’” Parents is a picture word, but obey is not. But they’re willing to let it go at  that: “Thanks, Mr. Sunukjian. That’s good. We’ve never heard that before.”

But I must not be content with such vagueness and brevity. I must visualize in extended detail some situations in their lives, so that they can see what the godliness would actually look like in various concrete moments.

For example: “Guys, it means when your mom gives you sixty-five cents and tells you, ‘Use this at school to buy milk to go with your sack lunch,” and you work your way up to the front of the canteen line, and the lady behind the counter asks what you want—it means you use the sixty-five cents to buy milk and not junk food” (Donald R. Sunukjian, Invitation to Biblical Preaching,Grand  Rapids: Kregel, 2007, 112-125).

Mark Dever also provides what he calls a sermon application grid. Here is what 9Marks says about the grid:

In his sermon preparation, Mark Dever uses what he calls an “application grid” as a tool to help him think how each point of the sermon relates to the rest of redemptive history, the person and work of Christ, and how it applies to different categories of hearers. Download an application grid: Blank | Completed Sample

The goal is not to use every application point one might devise while filling out the grid; it’s simply a device to force the preacher to think through different kinds of application every time he prepares a sermon.

Whether a preacher uses a grid like this or not, we would encourage pastors to think through different categories of application and people for every sermon. Doing so will help one’s congregation learn how to apply the Bible to different areas of their lives.

In my next post, I want to deal with the rhetorical process of argumentation.

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 5 (Develop the Sermon Outline) Part 2 “Illustration”

Posted: September 22, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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James Braga defines an illustration as “a means of throwing light upon a sermon by the use of an example” (How to Prepare Bible Messages, 231). Haddon Robinson says an illustration can either be like a beautiful lamp and a streetlight. When you walk into someone’s expensive den and notice an ornate lamp, you compliment its beauty to the owners. But if you are walking down a city sidewalk at night, the streetlights provide you visibility but you hardly notice them. A sermon illustration should be like the streetlight. It throws light on the subject you are preaching but doesn’t unnecessarily draw attention to the illustration. The illustration is always a handmaiden to explanation.

Haddon Robinson once said, “Poor communicators are always saying, ‘In other words.’ Excellent communicators are always sayings, ‘For example.’” You are preaching, and you notice your audience is not getting it, and you say, “In other words,” and explain some more. And they still don’t get it. But if, after observing their blank looks, you say, “For example,” and provide a concrete example, most likely your listeners’ countenance will improve. Paul followed this pattern. In Romans 3, Paul writes some heavy theology about justification by grace through faith and not by the works of the law. In Romans 4, he fleshes out these truths in the life of Abraham. In Romans 3, you have Paul’s explanation and in Romans 4, his illustration.

According to a lecture by Stephen Olford, there are three reasons why preachers lack good illustrations.

 1. Lack of Imagination.

You must think like a preacher to be able to use good illustrations. How do preachers think? Preachers are always looking for good illustrations. One of the great sermon illustrators was Donald Grey Barnhouse, who said, “All of life is an illustration of Christian doctrine.” Barnhouse saw illustrations everywhere. For example: When Barnhouse was driving his young sons to their mother’s funeral, they had to stop at an intersection. As they waited, a delivery trunk slowly lumbered through the intersection, and its shadow slowly passed over their car. Barnhouse asked his boys, “Boys, would you had rather be hit by that trunk or its shadow?” They answered, “Daddy, of course we would rather be hit by its shadow.” Barnhouse then captured that teaching moment, “Boys, that is exactly what we have experienced with the passing of your mother. Because Christ removed the sting of death for believers in his death and resurrection, we walk through valley of the shadow of death today. Your mother is with Jesus and we will see her again.”

There are three places where we should be looking for illustrations.

1) In our imagination. Hypothetical illustrations such as Nathan made up when preaching to King David in 2 Samuel 12:1-4. Jesus’ parables were fictional examples he created i.e., The Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan.

2) In our personal experiences. Personal illustrations were used by the Apostle Paul as in Acts 14:27. This is the account when Paul returned to his sending church to report concerning his first tour of missionary service. Paul sets a good example on how to tell a personal story. He is not the hero of his story, but God gets the honor: “When they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearse all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27).

3) In our reading. Again Paul is our mentor. Paul used examples from his secular reading in Acts 17:28 when he quoted Greek poets. Preachers should not only study deeply, but read broadly. Read Spurgeon’s sermons and note the multiple sources of illustrations and examples.

2. Failure to find and file good illustrations.

“The weakest ink is better than the strongest mind. Write down illustrations” said another great illustrating preacher, Adrian Rogers. “Illustrations, like babies have a habit of being born at awkward times” (Preaching with Freshness, 166). That is why it is good to have pen and paper, or a recorder (i-Phone), nearby at all times so that when the illustration comes you can record it. Most preachers have experienced thinking of a great sermon idea or illustration in the middle of the night but in  morning could not remember it.

Once you have discovered a good illustration file it textually or topically. To file the illustration textually means you create file (electronic or nonelectronic) folders beginning with Genesis through Revelation. If you are just starting, make 66 folders, one for each book of the Bible and as you preach through a book create a new folder for each chapter or paragraph you preach. To file topically, means you create a filing system alphabetically from A to Z. Sometimes you will hear or come across an illustration that you don’t know which text it can illuminate, so you file it topically. You could start with a file on “Adoption” or “Abortion,” etc.

3. Unable to tell a story.

“There is nothing you can do that will help you more to communicate than to collect illustrations. Collecting illustrations will help you to think in terms of pictures and to preach in terms of pictures. Practice on your family at meal time” (Haddon Robinson). If you have small children, you know how much they love a good story. We older kids love them too.

There are two kinds of illustrations according to Haddon Robinson that will help your preaching and communicating God’s Word.

1) The specific instance. The specific instance is a short one or two line illustration given to help with your explanation.

2) The longer, story illustration.

Here are examples of the two kinds of illustrations in a sermon outline.

I. We cannot defeat giants by running from them (1 Samuel 17:1-11)

A. Giant problems can be intimidating (17:1-7)

1. Explanation: Goliath was dressed to intimidate.

Specific instance: “The weight of the spear’s head weighted more than an official shot put” (James Rose).

2. Illustration: Story illustration of the believer who spent his whole life running from problems at work, church, and marriage.

3. Application: “In the same manner” or “So must we” transition to the application.

How to improve your story telling skills

God was not only a poet (see Old Testament Poetic books) but also a story teller (see narratives throughout Scripture).

How can I better tell the stories of Scripture and illustrations?

1. General preparation

a. Read good secular storytellers like Garrison Keillor and Paul Harvey.

b. Read and listen to storytelling preachers like Barnhouse, Swindoll, and John Maxwell.

c. Practice telling stories to your family and friends.

2. Specific preparation

a. Relive the story. Know the story so thoroughly that when you tell the story you are reliving it. This will take time not just to memorize all the details of the story, but to meditate so that you become the character in the narrative. Thinking in terms of 1st person rather than 3rd person will help in preparing to tell or preach a story.

b. Use sensory appealing language as Jesus did in His parables. Read Jesus’ true story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-25 and pick out the words that appeal to your sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. Once you are almost through preparing your sermon, hold it in your hand and ask yourself, “What in this sermon can I taste, smell, see, hear, touch, or feel?”

c. Contemporize the story. Swindoll’s attention step for 1 Samuel 17 puts this ancient story in the 21st  century: “Goliath reminds me of the cross-eyed discus thrower. He didn’t set any records . . . but he sure kept the crowd awake” (Killing Giants, Pulling Thorns, 13).

It would be a wonderful compliment to have others say about our preaching what the enemies of Christ said about Him: “Never man spoke like this man.”

There is a debate between John Piper and Michael Duduit over the use of video clips as illustrations in sermons. I have a post on this issue: Controversy Between Piper and Duduit over Video Clips in Preaching. What do you think?

 

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 5 (Develop the Sermon Outline) Part 1 “Explanation”

Posted: September 15, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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So far we have discussed four of seven steps in preparing a sermon:

Step One: Choose the Passage

Step Two: Study the Passage

Step Three: Choose the Proposition or the main idea

Step Four: Construct the Sermon Outline or the Divisions

Step Five: Develop the sermon outline with the four rhetorical processes: Explanation, Argumentation of explanation, Illustration, Application (and argumentation of application).

eph 1.3-14

I will begin with the first rhetorical process of explanation. This process could be identified with exegesis. Therefore, we need to give some definitions to distinguish hermeneutics, exegesis, and homiletics. I like the way Roy Zuck defines these terms.

Hermeneutics: The science (principles) by which the biblical text is interpreted

Exegesis: The application (art) of the principles of hermeneutics

Homiletics: The science and art of preaching the meaning of the biblical text

Zuck illustrates: “Hermeneutics is like a cookbook. Exegesis is the preparing and caking of the cake, and homiletics is serving the cake” (Roy Zuck. Basic Bible Interpretation, pages 20-22).

Pyramid

In a lecture on preaching, Dr. Mark Minnick said there are two mentalities of exegesis.

The first mentality asks, “What can I say about this passage?” With this mentality, the preacher is the creator and his tools are tools of addition: Books of illustrations, devotional commentaries, and quotation books.

The other and preferable mentality asks, “What does this passage say?” or “What has God said in this passage?” You have 1129 chapters in God’s Word to figure that out. With this mentality, the preacher is the interpreter and his tools are tools of extraction: Lexicons, concordances, word studies and exegetical commentaries.

Dr. Minnick, in his lecture, spoke of the methodology of exegesis.

The First Step is to find the eternal thematic truth of the passage (every passage is about one truth). Theologians call this authorial intent: The author’s one intent for his original audience.

For example, the one eternal thematic truth of 1 Cor 13 is _____________

The Book of Romans is ____________________________

John 1:1 is __________________

These thematic truths of the above examples will always be love, the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel, and the Word.

The Second Step is to find the fixed number of developmental statements in that passage

1. Every passage has a limited number of things it says about its theme

2. How many things does John 1:1 say about the Word? Three and only three.

1) The Word’s Existence in eternity “In the beginning was the Word”

2) The Word’s Relationship with the Father “And the Word was with God”

3) The Word’s Identification with Deity “And the Word was God”

There are Four Ways to Explain a passage. Using these four ways can add variety to this first rhetorical process.

1. By Positive Definition

What did Paul mean in 1 Timothy 2:12 when he instructed, “I permit not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over a man, but to learn in silence?” “In silence” comes from the same Greek word that is translated “held their peace” in Acts 11:18. In Acts 11, Peter is defending his actions to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem concerning the Gentiles that Peter had won to Christ at Cornelius’ house. When Peter was through explaining what God had done, the convinced Jewish leaders “held their peace and glorified God.” They did not stop talking but they did stop verbally protesting Peter’s actions and leadership.

This positive definition helps us understand what Paul is telling the church to do when it meets for public worship (which is the context of 1 Timothy 2). Paul is not saying that women can’t talk or speak in church but he is insisting that woman cease verbally protesting male leadership in the roles of pastor (1 Timothy 3:1-7) and deacons (3:8-13).

2. By Contrast

You can help explain the meaning of Matthew 5:3 where Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” by contrasting the two different Greek words translated “poor.” The Greek word translated “poor” in Luke 21:2 means the person is so poor he has to work to eat or he has some resources. The other Greek word for poor in Luke 16:20 means the person is so poor he has to beg to eat and he has no resources. The second Greek word is used by Jesus in Matthew 5:3. To enter the kingdom of heaven requires a total poverty of spirit or complete humility. We cannot work nor merit the kingdom. It is totally by God’s grace.

3. By Comparison

In James 4:11, James admonishes believers to “speak not evil one of another.” The same Greek word is translated in the KJV “backbitings” in 2 Corinthians 12:20. This is an interesting comparison. 

When I was only about 11 or 12, my grandfather bought me a Shetland pony which is one of the meanest animals God ever created. I was leading the pony from the pasture to the barn to saddle and ride. As I was leading him, he bit me in the center of my back and just held on. I was helpless and in great pain. I was at his mercy until he finally got tired and released me. Oftentimes when someone speaks evil or slanders you behind your back, you experience emotional pain and you also are at their mercy.

4. By Relationships

By relationships we mean the context in which the word is used. Roy Zuck mentions several important contexts.

The first important context is the immediate context.  “Often the sentence in which a word is used clarifies the meaning. The use of the word pen by itself might mean fountain pen or pig pen, but most likely the sentence in which it is used would clarify which is meant.”

Zuck refers to Cotterell’s and Turner’s list of the seven different meanings of the Greek word kosmos or “world” according to the immediate context.

1. The whole created universe, including the earth, the heavens, heavenly bodies, etc.

2. “Earth” as opposed to heaven or the heavens.

3. “Mankind,” that is, the “world” of people.

4. The condition of mortal life; “life in the world”.

5. The beings (human and supernatural) in rebellion against God, together with the systems under their control, viewed as opposed to God.

6. The system of earthly and social structures (including its joys, possessions, and cares).

7. “Adornment” or “adorning”.

Match the following six verses with the these seven different uses. Immediate context will determine which usage is correct: John 3:16; 1 John 2:15-16; 1 Peter 3:3; John 17:5; 1 Cor 7:31; 1 Tim 6:7 (Zuck, 108, 109).

Another important context is the context of the paragraph or chapter. In Matthew 24-25, Jesus is describing the end time events of the seven-year Tribulation Period. In the midst of this detailed description, Jesus said, “he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved.” When this verse is lifted from its context, it is said to teach that a person must work to keep himself saved or he can lose his salvation. The context is not talking about spiritual salvation but physical deliverance. The persecuted believer in the Tribulation who is not martyred by the Anti-christ will physically be delivered from the Tribulation and enter alive into the Millennium.

Each of the four rhetorical processes answers a question, hopefully, your audience is asking while you are preaching. After you read the verses in your main point, Explanation will answer your listener’s first question, “What do these verses mean?” There are at least four ways you can answer their question with variety.

The next rhetorical process and method you develop in your divisions is Argumentation of explanation. I will develop Argumentation of Explanation in part 4 when I discuss Argumentation of Application. Argumentation of explanation is where you insert theology into your sermon. If you want to jump ahead to part 4 you can to learn about Argumentation of explanation. Next, I will talk about the rhetorical process called Illustration.

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 4 (Construct The Sermon Outline)

Posted: September 8, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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John R. W. Stott gave this advice on constructing the sermon outline in chapter six in Between Two Worlds: There must be structure to subordinate our material to the theme of the sermon. One danger is a too prominent outline like the protruding skeleton of a starving prisoner of war. Double or triple alliteration of main points is an example. Another danger is artificiality of outline.

After you have determined what is the one action the passage is demanding, you will phrase that one demand into the proposition. You can read the two posts on propositions entitled “Proposition: The Sermon Reduced to One Sentence,” Part 1 and 2.

Next fill out the How/Why work sheet (See below). Having studied your passage, list the steps how the proposition can be preformed found in the text, which will fall under the How section.  Then list the reasons why the proposition should be preformed found in the text which will fall under the Why section.

Proposition

________          _______             _______           _______

Subject           Ought Word         Active Verb         Object

Interrogative Sentence

Why How
Because…                                         Scripture1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 By…                                              Scripture1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Select either the reasons or the steps which better develop the proposition in your text.

When writing out your main divisions the following instructions should be followed.

1) Main divisions should be comprehensive i.e., cover all the verses in that main division.

2) Main divisions should be parallel. See letter c).

a) Not necessarily alliterated

b) Alliteration sometimes sounds artificial and force. Alliteration can blur the true meaning.

c) If you chose reasons for developing your proposition, then your main divisions will begin with “Because” as in the example below and this will make your divisions parallel. If you chose steps for developing your proposition, then your main divisions will begin with “By” and be paralleled.

3) Main divisions should be mutually exclusive (a unit in itself and not overlapping another point)

4) Main divisions should be phrased with force (like the proposition)

a) Action verb and not a state of being verb

b) Active voice not the passive

c) Affirmative and not negative

The following is an example from Ephesians 1:4-14.

Proposition: We must praise God for His salvation blessings.

Interrogative sentence: Why must we praise God for His salvation blessings?

Transition sentence: We must praise God for His salvation blessings for the  following reasons:

I. Because God the Father choose us (Eph. 1:4-6)

II. Because God the Son redeemed us (Eph. 1:7-12)

III. Because God the Holy Spirit sealed us (Eph. 1:13-14)

A. The Sealing of the Holy Spirit happens after we hear God’s Word (v. 13a)

B. The Sealing of the Holy Spirit takes place when we believe (v. 13b)

C. The Sealing of the Holy Spirit guarantees our future redemption (v. 14a)

D. The Sealing of the Holy Spirit should cause us to praise God (v. 14b)

(These sub-points do not need to be stated as sub-points in your preaching. Just cover them in as you preach through these verses or your people will get lost in the outline. Do not have too many sub-divisions of sub-divisions)

In the next post, I will start my discussion on Step 5: Develop the sermon outline. Step 5 will take allot of time on the four rhetorical processes: Explanation, Argumentation, Illustration, and Application.

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 3 (The Proposition, Part Last )

Posted: August 29, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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Here are some of the thoughts John R. W. Stott shared on How to Prepare a Sermon with Josh Harris in an interview. The point, I want to highlight is his insight on the importance of the proposition or step 4.

1. Choose your text and mediate on it

2. Ask questions of the text

3. Combine diligent study with fervent prayer

4. Isolate the Dominant Thought of the Text
Every text has a main theme, an overriding thrust. A sermon is not a lecture, it aims to convey only one major message. The congregation will forget the details of the message, but they should remember the dominant thought, because all the sermon’s details should be marshaled to help them grasp its message and feel its power. Once the text’s principle meaning has been determined, express it in a ‘categorical proposition.’ Ian Pitt-Watson: “Every sermon should be ruthlessly unitary in its theme.”

The Method for Developing The Proposition

1. Exegete the passage using the grammatical/historical hermeneutic.

The first step is to identify the theme of the book from which you are preaching. If you are preaching Ephesians 1:3-14, first identify the theme of Ephesians and how the theme is developed and where your passage is located in the development of the theme of the book. The theme of Ephesians is The Unity That Love Can Bring. Harold W. Hoehner convincingly proves this theme (See Harold W. Hoehner’s Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary). The development of the theme in Ephesians is the two fold division of the book: Doctrinal unity in chapters 1-3 and Practical unity in chapters 4-6.

There are two doctrinal examples of unity in chapters 1-3: (1) The Trinity in chapter 1 and (2) the Church in chapters 2-3. In the Trinity there is perfect harmony among the three members of the Godhead in heaven. There has never been a disagreement among these three persons. No person of the Trinity has ever gotten mad and stomped off. In the Church there is also perfect unity among the members of the Body of Christ on earth. Jews and Gentiles are “one” in Christ. My passage is 1:3-14 or the Trinity example of unity.

Next, I must find the theme of this pericope or text or preaching unit and the development of the theme. Reading these verses I discover a threefold division because of the repetition of the phrase in verses 6, 12, and 14: “To the praise of the glory of His grace.” So I divide this passage into three sections. I also observe that in each section one person of the Trinity is praised, which also substantiates the three fold division.

I. In verses 3-6, God the Father Choosing Believers in Eternity Past is praised.

II. In verses 7-12, God the Son Providing Redemption in the Historical Past is praised.

III. Lastly, in verses 13-14, God the Spirit Sealing Believers until the Day of Redemption is praised.

Dr. Wayne McDill devotes three helpful chapters to exegeting the passage or what he calls Text Analysis in his 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching.

The grammatical/historical method of interpretation has helped me discover the theme of my passage and the development to the theme. The theme, “We must praise each Person of the Trinity for His part in our salvation,” is my proposition and the three fold development of the theme are my three major points.

2. State the exegetical idea of the passage (What did the passage mean to the original audience)

What did this passage mean to the original audience. This is based on the hermeneutical principle of authorial intention or one interpretation for each text. For Ephesians 1:3-14, the exegetical idea for the original audience could be stated like this: “God’s people must praise each person of the Trinity because of His unique contribution to their salvation.” Because there is much commonality between the original audience and my modern audience in Ephesians the proposition doesn’t have to be adapted. The following examples show where adaptation is necessary.

Haddon Robinson’s exegetical idea combines the subject and the complement. Subject: About what does the verse talk? Complement: What does the verse say about the subject?

Exegetical idea (including subject and complement) of Mark 16:1-4: “The women who came to the empty tomb to anoint the body of Jesus worried about a problem that was too big for them, but it was resolved before they ever had to face it.”

3. Convert the exegetical idea into the homiletical idea or proposition (What does the passage mean to my audience)

The Homiletical idea or the proposition of the above exegetical idea is the following: “The Lord’s people are sometimes confronted with problems that are too big for them.” This declarative proposition can be converted into this demand proposition: “We must trust God to solve our problems.”

Exegetical idea for Ezra 7:10: “Ezra purposed in his heart to exposit the Scriptures.”

Homiletical idea or declarative proposition: “God uses the preacher who dedicates himself to Biblical preaching.”

Convert the declarative proposition into a demand proposition: __________________________.

How to Move from The Proposition to The First Main Division

The proposition is followed by the interrogative statement using one of the five interrogative adverbs (why, how, what, when, and where). After you exegete the passage, list both how and why (the more common interrogative adverbs used) the proposition can be develop. One instead of two interrogatives will develop the proposition better. Again, this rule can be broken when a “why” and “how” interrogative statement will fit the passage better.

The interrogative sentence is followed by the transitional sentence, with a key word, which connects the proposition to the first main point of the sermon.

The first sermon that I preached after I got started in Homiletics with Mr. LeGrand was from Ephesians 2:8-9.

My proposition was: You must be saved by grace through faith

Interrogative sentence: How can you be saved by grace?

Transitional sentence: By taking these steps in Ephesians 2:8-9. “Steps” is the key word.

I. By faith in Jesus Christ

II. By grace and not works

Here is an alternative using why as the interrogative.

Proposition: You must be saved through faith

Interrogative sentence: Why must you be saved through faith?

Transitional sentence: Because of the following reasons. “Reasons” is the key word.

I. Because Salvation is by faith

II. Because Salvation is by grace and not works

I will never forget the relief I experienced in preaching that sermon on Ephesians 2:8-9 when I learned in my first Homiletic’s class the steps to take and follow in preaching. This model is not the only model for preaching but is one to begin with and master before we move on to more advance models.

In our next post, we will discuss Step 4: Construct the sermon outline. 

 

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 3 (The Proposition, Part First)

Posted: August 28, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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The Proposition is the sermon reduced to one sentence. If one of your members were asked by a friend at work on Monday, “What did your pastor preach about yesterday?” Your church member ought to be able to reply, without hardly thinking, what your proposition was or your sermon reduced to one sentence. “Our pastor preached, ‘You must be born again from John 3.’”

Some homileticans call this one sentence the big idea, theme, thesis or the proposition. One of England’s finest preachers, J. H. Jowett, said this about the importance of the proposition: “I have the conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching, not ready for writing out, until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as crystal. I find the getting of that sentence is the hardest, the most exacting, and the most fruitful labor in my study….I do not think any sermon ought to be preached, or even written, until that sentence has emerged, clear and lucid as a cloudless moon” (J. H. Jowett, The Preacher: His Life and Work. New York: Harper, 1912, 133-34).

Four Different Kinds of Propositions

James Braga identifies four different kinds of propositions, which the preacher could use to avoid monotony in presenting the timeless truth of the proposition.

The Declarative Form: This proposition is a simple declaration of the subject a preacher intends to discuss, develop, prove, or explain in a sermon (James Braga, How To Prepare Bible Messages. Oregon: Multnomah, 2005, 129). For example: “Jesus demands the new birth for all people in John 3.”

The Interrogative Form: This proposition is a question instead of a declaration (Braga, 150). The above declarative form could, for variety sake, be stated as a question: “Why must all people be born again?” or “How can a person be born again?”

The Hortatory Form: This is what we call a Demand proposition. The declaration is converted into a demand (Braga, 151). “You must be born again according to Jesus in John 3.” The demand proposition helps our listeners to be “doers of the Word and not hearers only.” The demand proposition is the decision for which you are preaching.

The Exclamatory Form: This proposition is an exclamation of praise (Braga, 151). This form is appropriate for Psalms of praise where the Psalmist is declaring God’s praise as in Psalm 103. For example: “Praise the Lord for what He has done and who He is.”

Some General Principles Concerning The Proposition

1. The proposition should just include one demand not two.

F. B. Meyer made this point when he said, “In a sermon we don’t talk about seven different things, but we talk about one thing seven different ways.”

One proposition enables the preacher to focus his sermon on the one piercing truth to which he seeks his congregation to respond. You would not preach this proposition: “You must be born again and take up your cross and follow Jesus.” “In the military museum of the Invalides in Paris is a memorable relic of the Napoleonic wars. It is a polished brass breastplate, apparently taken from the body of a dead horseman. The man must have died of a single cannonball through the middle of the chest” (Robert Delnay, Fire in Your Pulpit. Schaumburg: Regular Baptist Press, 1990, 44). We want our sermons to be like a single rifle shot aimed for the heart rather than shotgun blasts that pepper our listeners but do not penetrate their consciences.

“The sermon is not like a Chinese firecracker to be fired off for the noise it makes. It is a hunter’s gun, and at every discharge he should look to see his game fall” said Henry Ward Beecher (Bruce Mawhinney. Preaching with Freshness, p. 205).

2. The proposition needs to a complete sentence with a subject, ought word, and action verb.

We would not say to our congregation, “Today I am preaching on Prayer.”

A. The proposition should have an action verb rather than a state of being verb.

B. The proposition should be in the active voice rather than the passive.

C. The proposition should be in the affirmative rather than the negative.

With these three points in mind the above proposition would be better stated: “You can and must pray effectively for powerful results.” Convert the following negative propositions into positives:

“Christians must not abuse their bodies”  ____________________________________.

“It is sin for Christians to worry” ______________________________________.

“The sinner must stop rejecting Christ as Savior” __________________________________.

3. Propositions address your current audience not the original audience.

Evangelists Maze Jackson was preaching on left-handed Ehud stabbing obese Eglon and his theme was: “When lefty let fattie have it.” That was humorous but not relevant. Later in this lesson we show how to convert the exegetical idea, what the passage meant to the original audience, to a homiletical idea, or what the passage means to your modern audience.

4. Propositions must be concise not including all the main divisions or what you are going to say about the proposition.

For example, recently I preached on “The Need to Pray For Spiritual Needs” from Ephesians 1:15-23. My proposition did not include the four spiritual needs Paul prayed for in the text. This robs the sermon of suspense. This is, however, in opposition to the teaching adage: “Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you just told them.” I must say, however, for variety sake, you can follow the adage.

In our next post, we will continue to examine Step 3: The Proposition (Part Two)

 

Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Steps 1 & 2 (Choose and Study the Passage)

Posted: May 27, 2009 in How To Prepare A Sermon
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Start early! This is the welcomed advice of Bruce Mawhinney in Preaching with Freshness, Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 1991, p. 41). “Early exegesis helps to prevent late eisegesis.” Bruce Mawhinney is senior pastor of New Covenant Fellowship in Mechanicsburg and writes one of the most refreshing books on preaching I have ever read. Preaching with Freshness is a first person narrative on reviving stale preaching. Howard Hendricks said, “If more books on preaching were as interesting as this, then perhaps we would have more interesting preachers.”

The following posts are an overview of the preparation process. We want to start early and with the end in view.

1. Choose the passage

2. Study the passage

3. Discover the main thrust of the passage or the proposition

4. Construct the sermon outline

5. Develop the sermon outline

6. Write the introduction

7. Write the conclusion

In this post, I will briefly discuss the first two steps. Succeeding posts will elaborate.

1. Choose the passage

There are two ways to choose a passage. You can choose a passage in a series which has many built in advantages. If you did the spadework of outlining the book ahead of time this makes choosing the passage simple. Start where you left off in the last sermon. Not only is this an advantage to you but to your members who learn God’s Word in context of the book being preached.

There are, however, also disadvantages of preaching in series. Members may become weary if the series is too long. If the series has died; dismount. Find a good division in the book, stop, and come back later. If you are in Romans 3 and your people are filling in the  o’s, d’s, and p’s in the bulletin then close the series on sin at 3:20.

Another disadvantage is not enough variety in preaching. This can be remedied by preaching contrasting series or no series at all in the other services. For example, if you are preaching a verse-by-verse series through Romans on Sundays do a topical or thematic series from Proverbs on Wednesdays. There are contrasts between the Old and New Testaments, genres, subjects and styles of preaching. You can go back and forth with alternating series as just suggested if you only have one main preaching service a week and small groups the rest of the week. Here are  Some Practical Tips for Series Preaching Through a Book.

The second way to choose a passage is more difficult. Choose a passage not in series. You can choose a text according to the needs of the congregation or according to the goals of the pastor (Once a year State of the Church sermon), or according to the time of year. I suggest when special times of the year roll around such as Christmas, Easter, the 4th of July or even Memorial Day, break away from the series and meet the expectations of your people and address those special times and themes. All of these should be according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

2. Study the passage

This takes time.A large block of uninterrupted time early in the morning is usually the best. There is an excellent interview between C. J. Mahaney and Mark Dever on this necessary step. Mark Dever says that he first reads and rereads the passage that he is going to preach and spends about 35 hours a week in sermon preparation. Dever tells the following story to make his point:

Gordon Fee taught me New Testament exegesis at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and—although I didn’t agree with his feminism or his kenotic Christology—I did love his story about the graduate student in ichthyology. There is a student studying fish at a doctoral level, and a world-class expert tells him to write down everything he sees about the fish and then he leaves. And the guy is kind of disappointed, because he was studying under this great expert. He thought, “Why am I doing this?”

He wrote down a few things. The expert returns about 30 minutes later and says, “This is all you’ve got?”

And the graduate student says, “Yes.”

He says, “I want you to do this for the next hour.”

And the student says, “An hour? You’re kidding!”

So for an hour the student does it and he starts noting down more things, and seeing more things, and writing them down.

The expert returns an hour later and he says, “All right. This is a pretty good start. Why don’t you do this the rest of the afternoon?”

And the graduate student is thinking, What are you thinking? You are the great expert, I came to learn from you and this is just a fish floating here.

So the student spends the rest of the afternoon doing the same thing. But by the end of the afternoon he realizes he has learned more about fish just by sitting and staring at the fish.

All of that to say: Rather than reading all the commentaries, I spend my first day in sermon preparation just reading and rereading the text and praying about it and noting things I see (any structures or questions that are answered). I find this to be the most fruitful way for me to have my soul freshly engaged by God about his Word.

The following posts will help in studying the passage:

See “THE FACTUAL DATA” Sheet for Sermon Preparation: (For Pauline Epistles Genre), Part One and “THE FACTUAL DATA” Sheet for Sermon Prepartion for Pauline Epistles, Part Two under Category “Homiletics” for more details on studying the passage.

In the next post, we discuss Step  3: Discover the main thrust of the passage or the proposition.