From Text To Sermon A Guide To Sermon Preparation Part 4 of 6

1. From Text To Sermon A Guide To Sermon Preparation Part 4 of 6 Presentation 04

2. Introduction The sermon should be instructive providing food for our understanding. God has made us reasoning creatures. The mind of the hearer needs to be richly informed. Some preaching attempts to bypass the mind and reach the emotions by means of a frothy sentimentalism. Its exponents are often anti-intellectual. They aim to produce a ‘spiritual high’ by addressing the emotions. But it is only as the truth engages with our minds, producing a spiritual understanding, that our affections are truly warmed, and our wills effectively challenged. Presentation 02

3. Introduction I remember hearing Eric Alexander speak to a group of theological students on the subject of ‘Union with Christ’. He told us that as he had been preparing his address in his study, this glorious doctrine had gripped his mind with such freshness that he found himself jumping to his feet and shouting ‘Hallelujah’ at the top of his voice! Now you need to appreciate our dour Scottish Presbyterian background to grasp the significance of what he was describing. A fresh understanding of truth had the effect of bursting the dam of his heart’s affections. Presentation 02

4. Contents: Study 1: Introduction: Approach To Scripture Approach To Culture Approach To The Hearer Study 2: Selecting The Passage Understanding The Passage Study 3: Determining The Thrust Of The Passage Formulating The Preaching Idea Study 4: Determining The Sermon’s Purpose How To Accomplish That Purpose Study 5: Outlining And Fleshing Out The Sermon Study 6: Application, Conclusion And Introduction Presentation 01

5. Determining The Sermon’s Purpose One of the most important questions for the preacher to ask himself is, “Why am I preaching this particular sermon?” Sadly the question often produces a number of unsatisfactory answers. E.g. ‘I preached one on the previous chapter last week’ ‘I want to challenge the congregation’. ‘I am in the business of communicating truth’. ‘This is a subject I feel very strongly about’ Presentation 02

6. Determining The Sermon’s Purpose It is possible to do a very helpful exegesis of the passage, and to unfold great doctrinal truths and yet to have no clear idea as to where you are heading and what goal you hope to achieve through preaching. A. W. Tozer makes this perceptive comment: “There is scarcely anything so dull and meaningless as Bible doctrine taught for its own sake. Truth divorced from life is not truth in its Biblical sense, but something else and something less.... Theological truth is useless until it is obeyed. The purpose behind all doctrine is to secure moral action.” Presentation 02

7. Determining The Sermon’s Purpose The purpose of a sermon should be found in the action one expects the hearer to take as a result of hearing it. And so the expositor must seek to discover, why a particular passage was included in the Bible and with this in mind you will seek to determine what God desires to accomplish today through your sermon. Presentation 04

8. Determining The Sermon’s Purpose E.g. When preaching on the great Christological passage in Phil.2 v5-11, it is helpful to recognise that one of Paul’s reasons for writing this epistle was to address selfish, self-centredness that was having a disruptive influence in the fellowship; “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others”. Phil.2v3-4 also v21 and 4v2. This should help shape the purpose of our preaching on this passage. Presentation 04

9. How To Accomplish That Purpose Having determined the sermon’s purpose, that purpose is best served by deciding what shape the sermon should assume. In expository preaching the text is not only examined but restructured in order to become a sermon. The text has been dismantled in order to discover the heart of its meaning, it is now brought together again on the basis of a new set of principles. It will take on a new shape, which will be governed both by principles of communication and by the identity and composition of our hearers. Presentation 04

10. How To Accomplish That Purpose The Word of God written is about to become the Word of God preached. We are no longer limited to the horizon of there and then but look beyond that to the contemporary hearer in the here and now. The subject matter we are dealing with, may suggest the shape which the sermon will take. While sermon delivery does not form part of our discussion, it is necessary to point out that in many sermons virtually every sentence is delivered in the same tone making it difficult for the hearer to discover what the preacher thinks is ‘truly significant’ in the text. Presentation 04

11. How To Accomplish That Purpose An idea to be explained. A truth correctly understood carries its own explanation. If your computer develops a problem and you do not know how to fix it, your greatest need is for a clear explanation on how to proceed. You telephone ‘helpline’ offers to provide instruction on how to fix the problem. Having understood the explanation you will then hopefully be sufficiently motivated to use the information to fix the problem. Presentation 04

12. How To Accomplish That Purpose An idea to be explained. Similarly, providing your hearers with a clear explanation of a biblical passage may be the most important contribution you can make in your sermon. Indeed, scripture clearly read can be taken by the Holy Spirit and applied with an immediacy of power to the benefit of the hearer. Augustine was converted not by hearing a sermon but by hearing God’s word clearly read. Presentation 04

13. How To Accomplish That Purpose A proposition to be proved. This is when a sermon answers the question, “Why should I believe it?” An example of a sermon in which a proposition is proved can be taken from 1 Cor. 15v12-19 where Paul argues for the resurrection of the body. The proposition he defends is – The Christian faith is worthless unless Christians rise from the dead. Presentation 04

14. How To Accomplish That Purpose A principle to be applied. Here a principle from the text is laid down and the remainder of the sermon explores that principle. C.f. 1 Pet 2v11-3v9 where, the way in which our attitudes determine our actions is discussed. What then should the attitude of Christians be in a hostile world? Presentation 04

15. How To Accomplish That Purpose A principle to be applied. The goal of the sermon based on this passage would be to encourage Christians to develop a submissive spirit in their social relationships. We then employ the basic biblical principles, which our exegesis has unearthed in a way that remains faithful to the actual use of the original writer. And so, we do for our context, what he did for his. The danger at this point is to develop applications that do not arise directly out of our exposition. Presentation 04

16. How To Accomplish That Purpose A subject to be completed. This is perhaps the most common sermon shape. The subject, and not the entire idea, is presented in the introduction and the major sermon points complete the subject. E.g. a sermon based on Heb. 12v25 introduces the subject by saying that there are five things that the writer is saying about the fellowship of God’s people. The purpose of the sermon is to make us realise the riches of our heritage when we assemble in our place of worship. Each sermon point then fills out the subject. It is a spiritual fellowship. It is a universal fellowship. It is an immortal fellowship. It is a divine fellowship. It is a redeemed fellowship. Presentation 04

17. How To Accomplish That Purpose 5. A story to be told. Stories capture the imagination and mind of adults as well as children. The Bible is full of great narrative. Jesus was The Great Storyteller. Narrative preaching does not merely repeat the details of a story. Instead through the story, the preacher communicates ideas. The details of the story are woven together to make a point and all the points develop the central idea of the sermon. Presentation 04

18. How To Accomplish That Purpose 5. A story to be told. Indeed, if the preacher is able to let the hearers discover the main idea for themselves the story can often make a greater impact. The story should unfold so that the hearers identify with the thoughts, motives, reactions, and rationalisations of the biblical characters and in the process acquire insight into themselves as well. Presentation 04

19. How To Accomplish That Purpose 6. A Parameter To Work Within The preacher is like a diver who explores with his hearers the murky depths of their sinful depravity and the wrecks of their human brokenness. But then he leads them upwards to explore the realm of God’s grace that they might see the bright sunshine of his provision and breathe in the fresh air of his mercy.Stott writes; “Of the most fascinating of all the preacher’s tasks is to explore the emptiness of fallen man and the fullness of Jesus Christ in order to demonstrate then how he can fill our emptiness, lighten our darkness, enrich our poverty and bring our human aspirations to fulfilment. The riches of Christ are unfathomable.” Presentation 04

20. How To Accomplish That Purpose 6. A Parameter To Work Within Beware of the danger of being too preoccupied with sin. This can produce an inconsolable distraction that leads to the despair of our hearers. So much so that even our Christian hearers, fail to recognise the richness of grace that is theirs in Christ Jesus. We can adapt Bunyan’s Illustration from “Pilgrim’s Progress” when Christina, in Interpreter’s house , was shown a man with a muckrake in his hand. He was constantly raking about in the dirt oblivious to the crown of glory held above his head. Well we can become preoccupied with raking over our hearer’s sins that we leave them oblivious to the gracious provision of God in Christ Jesus. Presentation 04

21. How To Accomplish That Purpose 7. A Saviour too be glorified. Above all else the preacher should ask if his preaching is Christ-centred and Christ exalting. Is Jesus in focus? No matter where we are preaching from OT. or NT. historical books or epistles, prophecy or wisdom literature, Christ is there. He himself taught that ‘all scripture testifies of me’ Jn. 5v39. He is the terminus of God’s revelation and so should be found at every stop on the route. CfLuke 24v27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Presentation 04

22. How To Accomplish That Purpose 7. A Saviour too be glorified. Charles Spurgeon felt so strongly about the importance of Christ-centred preaching that he wrote: “A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution”. Samuel Rutherford was equally christocentric, he wrote: “Next to Christ I have one joy, to preach Christ my Lord”. Presentation 04

23. Conclusion Peter was told by the risen Lord Jesus to feed and care for the flock Jn. 21v15-17. Clearly it was their spiritual sustenance that was uppermost in our Lord’s thoughts. This command would be fulfilled primarily through preaching. To feed God’s flock is to feed their faith. In other words we feed that part of them that has the need and capacity to rest on Christ and have confidence in his finished redemptive work. Christological preaching feeds the soul and builds faith. As people’s confidence in Christ grows they inevitably bear fruit that accords with faith. Presentation 04

24. Conclusion “Fill the sails of your hearer’s souls with the wind of confidence in the Redeemer and they will trust him as their Sanctifier, and long to see his fruit in their lives. Fill their minds and imaginations with a vision of the loveliness and perfection of Christ…and the flock will long to be like him. Impress upon their weak and wavering heart the utter competence of the mediation of the One who ever lives to make intercession for them and they will long to serve and comfort others, even as Christ has served and comforted them.” David Gordon Presentation 04