From text to sermon

From text to Bible talk/sermon

25 Steps

Peter Adam

Time

Don’t be surprised if a sermon takes you a long time to prepare. Most of us take 8-10 hours. If you are starting to preach or do so infrequently it will take you longer. And one-off sermons take longer to prepare. Most people find it best to use 1-2 hour blocks of preparation time. I usually spend half my preparation time on steps 1-13, and then half on steps 14-15.

Pray

Pray for God’s help in preparing the sermon. Pray that you will understand the text. Pray for the people whom you will serve in by preaching. Pray that you will be pastorally sensitive, and that the people will hear and respond; and that the fruits of obedience will be found in their lives.

Bible passage

Choose your Bible passage. It may be given to you, or you may have to choose one. Make sure that it is not so short that it is meaningless, nor so long that it is unmanageable. Topical sermons are more difficult to preach: if you are asked to give one, then preach on the Bible passage that is most relevant.

Find the meaning of Bible passage and its intended impact

Work through the text word by word, asking yourself, “What does this word mean?”, “Why is this sentence here?” “What is this and why is it here?” You may find the commentaries a help at this stage. Or discuss the text with some friends.

Find the theological meaning of the text

Ask yourself: “What basic and important theological themes are reflected in the text?” “What particular aspect is expressed through the text?” “What does the text say about God and his purposes?” Go deeper than immediate practical application.

Study the text in its context in the chapter and section of the book.

Look for major themes, repeated ideas, developing arguments or ideas.

Study the text in its context of the whole book in which it occurs.

What is the pastoral purpose of the whole book? How does this passage fit into that pastoral purpose?

Study the text in the context of the whole Bible.

How does this passage fit into the whole Bible, in the light of its gradual revelation, from promise to fulfilment in Christ, in the light of Salvation History, and Biblical Theology.

Focus on the question, ‘Why was it written?’

We often focus on what is happening in the text, or on what it means to us. We need to ask the questions: ‘What did the person who wrote these words hope they would do to the people who first received them?’ ‘What did God intend by these words at that time?’

Don’t individualise a text that addresses the people of God as a whole

Most Bible books are addressed to the people of God, the church, as a whole. Don’t individualise their message.

Don’t universalise the message of the text

No one text of the Bible says all that the Bible teaches on a topic, so don’t pretend that it does.

What questions will the congregation have when they this passage read?

Think of the people who will hear this sermon, such as enquirers, new believers, mature Christians, outsiders, atheists. When they hear this passage read, what questions will they have, what will they find difficult, what are they likely to misunderstand, what do they need to know?

How it applies

This is the stage where you have the theological meaning of the text before you and you ask yourself the question, “How does it apply to the particular congregation to whom I will preach?” It may help you to think of particular individuals or types of people, and ask yourself the question, “If they lived according to this text what difference would it make to their lives?” Think about and pray for the people who will hear it. What reminders do they need from this passage, what challenges, what changes to their beliefs, understandings, emotions, imaginations, assumptions, life-style, attitudes, actions, relationships? How should it affect them in their attitudes to themselves, to others, to families, to friends, to church, to work [paid or unpaid], to society, to the world?

Decide what aspect you will preach

Almost any text you choose will have far more in it than you can possibly cover in one sermon. You have to decide which one aspect you will preach on. Write a one sentence summary of your theme “What I really want to preach on is . . .”

Write your one sentence

Write down the aim of your sermon in one sentence, and that sentence will include the content, the means, and the end or the purpose of the sermon. Use interactive language; not “my topic is . . . “, but “I want you to . . . so that . . . ” Unless you can give the purpose of your sermon in one sentence, your congregation will never understand it. Write your ministry aim in preaching the sermon. Don’t just teach the word: reprove, rebuke, encourage, remind, train, exhort, and teach with love, and lots of patience.

Prune away the rest

This is a most important step where you discard what you will not preach on this time. You have to prune away what you won’t preach on, so that what you will preach on is left in simple clarity.

Shape what remains

Here your task is to organise your material according to the one sentence purpose you have just decided, for within that one sentence there will be a number of steps – now is the time to choose and shape those steps.

Arrange the application

Decide whether to leave all the application to the end of the sermon, or whether to integrate it into the body of the sermon, so that you are continually moving from the text to the people in front of you. Or you could begin with the application, to give the congregation motivation to listen to the rest of the sermon.

Write the conclusion

You are now in a position to write the end of your sermon which will include a summary of the sermon, that one sentence repeated, and the specific action which you expect to occur on the part of your hearers.

Write the introduction

Now that you written the body of the sermon, and the conclusion of the sermon, you can write the introduction. It is good to begin with a question, or a statement of the problem that leads directly and naturally into the sermon.

Check back to the Bible passage

You have before your sermon. Now check back to the Bible text to make sure that you have picked up what the text is saying and have not read your own ideas into it.

Review for hearing

Hearing something is very different to reading it. Make sure that you present your sermon with the right language and style for hearing. This will mean that the steps will need to be simple, and that you will need to summarise continually all the way through what you have done and where it fits in the shape of the sermon. Perhaps preach it to a few friends in the place where you will preach it later.

Arrange your notes

You may choose to have your sermon written out entirely, you may choose full notes or brief notes. Make sure that you can read them without squinting. If you have brief notes, make sure that you have your one sentence summary clear and perhaps a one sentence summary of each of the paragraphs or main points of the sermon.

Know it

Spend time reflecting on the sermon and reading it through so that you know it well.

Pray again

Praise God that he will use your hard work for his glory, that he will use the Bible to build up his church, and convert unbelievers to Christ.

Pray that those who hear will be doers of the word, not just hearers.

Pray that they will receive God’s words with good and honest hearts, and bear fruit with patience: pray that the devil may not snatch away God’s words, that those who hear would not fall away in times of testing, or that the words would not be choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life.