As I approach my eightieth year of life and tenth year as a retired pastor, I find myself identifying with old salmon as they near the end. Having long swum upriver, wriggled through many a man-made chute, leaped up vertiginous falls, and finally reached the still waters surrounding the fountainhead, I am eager to deposit all the seeds of life so richly stored within me, fondly hoping to quicken a generation of preachers to come.
In pursuit of that goal, I have lately been depositing sermon outlines on my website: the literary remains of many years of pulpit ministry (here). While doing so, I happened upon some notes I had jotted down, not for the people in the pews, but for the man in the pulpit. In them I was trying to remind myself of the elements of a good sermon: a sermon that is given by God, shaped by God, and—if delivered in the power of his Spirit—edifying to the people of God.
With a few fresh modifications born of further homiletic experience—both bitter and sweet—I have reproduced these notes here, hoping that by adding precept to example I might strengthen young preachers in their way.
Have I always followed my own counsel? As you will see if you sample my sermons, I have not. But as it is written: the gifts and callings of God are without regret or change (Rom. 11:29). This comforting truth applies to preaching. God does not call his heralds to constant second guessing; as a rule, he calls them, trains them, and anchors them in a longstanding approach to sermon preparation that seems good to him and good to them.
What follows is mine. May it be a blessing to you as you seek yours.
I. What is an Expository Sermon?
What is an expository sermon? As the word itself declares, it is a sermon that intends to expose: to display, manifest, and illuminate the deep meaning and practical applications of a biblical text (Neh. 8:8).1
Importantly, the character of an expository sermon will largely depend on the spiritual gifting of the man who gives it (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Eph. 4:7-11).
Is the preacher called to be an evangelist? The thrust of his sermon will be to expose the biblical gospel—and in particular, the divine Person and redemptive Work of Christ—with a view to the salvation of souls and the ingathering of the Church.
Is the preacher a teacher? The thrust of his sermon will be to expose the meaning and implications of a biblical text with a view to the enlargement of the saints’ understanding of God’s revelation, their enjoyment of the same, and the formation of a truly biblical worldview; in short, with a view to the upbuilding of the Church.
Is the preacher a prophet? Much like the teacher, he too will expose a biblical text for the instruction and spiritual formation of the church, but with this difference: In his words of edification, exhortation, and encouragement he will be aiming to address this particular people, at this particular time, in order to get (or keep) them walking closely with their Lord in this particular set of circumstances (1 Cor. 14:3; Jude 3-4; Rev. 2-3). Prophecy is a biblical “now” word from the Lord (Rev. 2-3).
Wise preachers understand these things. They know the spiritual gift the Lord has given them, and they devote themselves to it, purposing to stand strong in their charismatic sweet spot. However, they also understand that a good sermon will often involve all three homiletical thrusts. For example, the heart of the evangelist will pant to proclaim the gospel and see souls come to Christ; but, for the sake of the believers in attendance, he also will find the Lord enabling him to teach and prophesy. And the case is the same for teachers and prophets: While majoring in their major gift, they will watch for the Lord to minor them in the others as well.
This, by the way, is why a church is especially blessed if it has created a team of biblically qualified and charismatically diverse elders—a team that includes, quite intentionally, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and prophets (Acts 13:1-3).2 If, then, you happen to be the lone under-shepherd of one of God’s little flocks, you must ask him to help you enter the pulpit wearing a charismatic coat of many colors.
In what follows I will be sharing principles of sermon preparation that should assist all preachers, whatever their gift(s) may be. But my main goal will be to highlight a single principle underlying them all. It is this:
God loves his people and desires to see Christ (more perfectly) formed in them, for their joy and his glory. To this end, sermon by sermon, he will faithfully give his gospel heralds a powerful, life-transforming word—a single Big Idea, embedded in a single text—and then will enable him to deliver that idea in the power of his Holy Spirit, who in turn will bring it to life in the hearts of his children. Therefore, above all else, the preacher must prepare for this great transaction by standing in the counsel of the Lord: by prayerfully drawing near to the Lord, waiting upon the Lord, listening for the Lord, and receiving from the Lord the one text, and the one Big Idea embedded in the text, that the One Preacher would have him proclaim to his children, so that they might be further conformed to Christ (Jer. 23:18; Ezek. 3:1-4; 33:33; 36:11; John 14:10; Acts 4:8; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Pet. 4:11; Rev. 10:10).
Yes, there is more to sermon preparation than this. But to my mind there is nothing more important than this. A preacher’s persona may seem to be eccentric, his attire distracting, his sermon construction flawed, his delivery clumsy, and his message too long or too short, etc. But if he has received and faithfully delivered the one Big Idea that God wanted him to impart to his people, the sheep will know it. And having heard the Good Shepherd’s voice, they will gladly overlook all the rest (John 10:27).
II. How to Prepare an Expository Sermon
Here, in words specially directed to you who preach, are five suggestions for sermon preparation that I hope will prove helpful.
1. Prayerfully seek and receive from the Lord the text you are to preach on. Happy are you if he has led you to preach through a book of the Bible; in that case, your text is largely before your eyes. But even so, you still will need his special guidance in deciding how much text to bite off, and where your emphasis will lie. // As a rule, it is more profitable to deeply probe a shorter text than to superficially exposit a longer one. On the other hand, it is indeed possible that the Lord will occasionally have you preach on a longer text—perhaps even a whole chapter—if, as you work your way through the text, you are constantly relating the main points (MPs) to the Big Idea you are trying to get across. If, in such a sermon, all the MPs are little planets revolving around a great big ideational sun, the flock will behold the system and all will be well.
2. Prayerfully seek and receive from the Lord the one Big Idea in the text, or entailed by the text, that you believe is on his heart for this people, in this sermon, for this occasion. This is what I call the “prophetic core” of your sermon: the idea around which you will seek to organize and integrate your message. It is the idea you believe the Lord wants his people to hear, understand, remember, and apply in their lives as they head out into the world to serve him in the week ahead. It is the idea you believe will further their formation in Christ, remind them of God’s redeeming love, and refresh them in the joy of their salvation (2 Cor. 1:24; Gal. 4:19; Phil. 1:25; Jude 1:24-25). // In order to determine the Big Idea of your sermon, you will need first to prayerfully study your text. Pray, asking the Lord to help you see how best to break it down into its component parts. Normally, the several parts will contain the MPs of your sermon. // There is a dynamic interplay between the Big Idea and the MPs of a text. With the Spirit’s help, the Big Idea will guide you as you choose and develop your MPs; the MPs will help you discern, distill, and state the Big Idea. Your audience should feel the unity of your sermon. The Big Idea is a single ray of bright light from the Lord; your sermon is the prism that diffracts that light into a spectrum of MPs. In this way, the Holy Spirit exposes the variegated beauty of the truth that is embedded in your text. // How many parts and MPs should the body of your sermon contain? For the sake of simplicity and memorability, three are probably the ideal; but in this matter, a hard and fast rule is impossible, since the text and the Spirit may require more. In my experience, a good sermon can handle a larger number of MPs, if they are clearly related to, and organized around, the Big Idea. This preserves the unity of your sermon. If they are not so integrated, you will wind up preaching what I call a “porcupine sermon”: a sermon loaded with so many points that you leave your audience stuck and in pain, desperately searching for the main point of what you said.
3. Prayerfully determine how you would like to introduce your sermon. This will usually involve a cynosure, an opening “hook” or “whistle” designed to capture attention and awaken interest. It could be an anecdote (historical or contemporary), personal testimony, quotation, video clip, or question (which, in the body of the sermon, you will go on to answer). The crucial point here is that your whistle must lead you—logically and organically—to an initial statement of your Big Idea, and also, perhaps, of the MPs you will be using to illuminate your Big Idea (see the outline below). // Also, when you are preparing the conclusion of your sermon, prayerfully consider whether you might profitably circle back to your opening cynosure, fleshing it out and bringing it to full flower. This can contribute mightily to the unity and impact of your message.
4. Prayerfully create the body of your sermon. This will require an outline. The several parts of your text—and the MPs you intend to draw from them—will richly guide you as you construct it. // If you are working your way through a book of the Bible, you may want to begin this part of your sermon by reviewing ground previously covered. But beware: It is terribly easy to waste precious time with a lengthy review of material that most folks heard last week. A good sermon should be able to stand on its own, without the prop of a long review. // Suppose you have broken down your text into three parts; if so, the outline of the body of the sermon will have three parts. Consider giving each one a title that incorporates the MP you will draw from this text. Next, in a sequence that seems good to you and the Holy Spirit, plan to: 1) read the text, 2) make brief explanatory remarks about key terms, ideas, and biblical and historical references, 3) spotlight and develop the MP you desire to make, using biblical cross-references, relevant quotations, and interesting illustrations, and 4) climax your exposition with one or two practical applications that you feel the Lord would have you make. And in all of this, do all you can to keep your Big Idea squarely before your people. // Never to forget: An expository sermon is not a running commentary on the text, and to preach it in this manner is to risk disaster. Yes, your text is loaded with fascinating details, and crying out to be linked with other texts and other ideas; and if you are a Bible teacher, your peculiar temptation will be to point out every one of them. But if you yield to the temptation, you will find that you have left your flock behind, lost in the weeds. All we like sheep are hard wired for sweet simplicity, and hunger for it. A wise preacher understands this, and purposes: Never to forget.
5. Finally, prayerfully prepare your conclusion. Having outlined your sermon, it is time now to decide how you want to end it. As a rule, this will involve a final repetition of the Big Idea and the MPs you made to illumine it; it may well involve highlighting a single application that is much upon your heart, especially if you have the prophetic gift; and ideally it will involve a strong closing illustration, anecdote, quotation, poem, hymn, video, etc. Such a conclusion could well ensure that your people will never forget the Big Idea the Lord has laid upon your heart to deposit in theirs.
Before passing on to a suggested sermon outline, I want to conclude this section with two final thoughts.
First, in all that I have said so far, my Big Idea should be clear: Your sermon must contain a Big Idea from God, and your people must not miss it. After the service, no one should be overheard asking his neighbor, “In a few words, can you tell me what that sermon was all about?”
In the guidelines offered above, I have sought to preclude such a calamity, and here is one very practical way to do so: Keep your sermon short, say between 20 and 40 minutes. After failing in this department for decades, I have concluded that brevity and focus are actually your friends: they are two strong sentinels, faithfully standing guard over your sermon, ensuring that you yourself will stick to point, and that your people will get it!3
Secondly, despite all I have said so far, I most heartily confess that I find in Scripture no set method or formula for sermon construction. What I do find—in both precept and example—is this fundamental rule: The word of the preacher must be a word from the Lord, and it must be delivered in the power of his Spirit.
God is a jealous God. He will not let his preachers fall into idolatry, even into the idolatry a rules-based method of sermon construction. Yes, over the years I have found the above principles helpful for sermon preparation. I believe the Lord has been in them (or something close to them) all along the way. But more than once, in the face of abject spiritual poverty, I have had to take a fresh approach to constructing my sermon. And more than once, when I actually entered the pulpit, I have had to abandon my sermon outline and let the Spirit rescue me from utter humiliation simply by opening the door, letting him in, and letting him have his way.
He is—and insists upon being—the Lord of all (Acts 10:36).
III. A Sample Outline of an Expository Sermon
I. WELCOME/INTRODUCTION
- Welcome: Open with a warm personal word that connects the preacher with the people.
- Reading of the Text: In liturgical churches, the text will likely have been read earlier in the service. // If not, you may read the text, or (with the help of a bulletin or overhead projector) you may read it together with congregation.
- Opening Prayer: This is a prayer for God’s blessing on our time together in his Word. The prayer can come here, or at end of your introduction, just before you plunge into the body of your sermon.
- Opening Hook/Whistle: This could be a personal testimony, anecdote, quotation, video clip, or thought-provoking question, etc.
- Statement of the Big Idea: The whistle should lead naturally into a brief statement of the Big Idea that is on your heart to share with God’s people.
- Overview/Outline: Here you also may want to preview the MPs you will be making in order to illuminate the Big Idea; or you can simply plunge into your sermon, introducing the MPs as you go along. // If you decide to preview the MPs, consider using a Power Point slide to display a simple outline of your sermon.
- Caveat: Always keep in mind this staple of handbooks for writers: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you told them.” Here is wisdom for speakers as well.
II. THE BODY OF SERMON
A. Review: If your sermon is part of a series, a brief review of ground previously covered may be in order. But again, beware of lengthy reviews that rob you of the precious time needed to develop your Big Idea.
B. Part #1
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- Each part of your text should have a title; ideally, the title will incorporate the MP you plan to make. You may wish to begin by reading the title; or you can draw out the MP as you read and comment on the text.
- Read through this part of your text, briefly commenting on the terms, concepts, and historical details your people need to know in order to grasp the MP and its relation to the Big Idea.
- Now isolate and discuss at greater length this MP, incorporating biblical cross-references, interesting quotes, anecdotes, and real-world illustrations designed to illuminate it. Be sure to show how this MP is related to the Big Idea of your sermon. At this juncture (and in the points ahead), you are standing in the furnace with One like a Son of Man. Pray that the fire will fall!
- As led, conclude your discussion by drawing out one or two practical applications of this MP. I believe such application is the proper goal and climax of good preaching: that your people will see the Big Idea and the MPs that open it up, and then be moved to take one or more actions entailed by them. You may be led to press home a particular application; if not, you can trust that the faithful Lord will.
- Note: When making applications, be sure to connect the text not only to the personal spiritual life of your people, but also to current events and the real-world issues of the day. As John Stott well said, the preacher stands between two worlds: the world above the church, and the world outside the walls of the church. A good sermon will shed light from the world above onto the world outside. This will interest and engage your hearers, and will help them apply and share biblical truth in the week(s) ahead.
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C. Part #2: Repeat the above
D. Part #3: Repeat the above
Caveat: If you are thinking about making a fourth or fifth MP, think twice and pray. Make sure those extra points really are from the Lord, and not the result of your teaching gift running amok!
III. CONCLUSION
A. Brief Review: You have exposed the Big Idea embedded in your text, and you have explored the MP’s related to it. Now, in a few sentences, “tell them what you told them.” Repetition is required for learning that lasts! // Also, if your sermon opened with a Big Question, now is the time to sum up and state the Big Answer.
B. Final Application: As the Spirit may lead, briefly focus on one or two of the main practical applications of the text. For preachers who are prophets, this kind of thrust is pure delight.
C. Conclusion: Now, put a big bow on the gift of your sermon by cycling back to your opening remarks and fleshing them out; or, by sharing a fresh anecdote, quotation, picture, poem, hymn, chorus, or short video. Choose something with heart that will beautifully reinforce the Big Idea that you found in your text and brought to your people.
D. Closing Prayer: In a closing prayer for your flock, let the Lord bring to mind the truths and applications that you sense he specially wants to seal in their hearts, so that they may head home with fresh understanding, strengthened resolve, and deepened joy.
Note: For the close of the worship service, choose a hymn or chorus that reinforces the Big Idea of today’s sermon one final time.
IV. Theological Postscript:
Wherein Lies the Goodness of a Good Expository Sermon?
I trust that no one reading this essay has concluded that the goodness of an expository sermon lies in its structure. It does not. Its structure (which can vary) is like the skin on a piece of fruit (whose size and shape also can vary). It contains and preserves the sweetness, and may justly be said to contribute to its beauty. But the true sweetness and the true beauty lie within.
So again, I ask: At the deepest level, wherein lies the goodness—the sweetness and beauty—of a good expository sermon?
My theological reply is a Big Idea consisting of three MPs: The goodness in a good expository sermon lies in the One who gives it, the One around whom it is centered, and the Christlikeness of the one who receives and delivers it.
Let’s take a moment to unpack each of these three points.
First, the goodness in a good sermon lies in the One who gives it.
Ultimately, this is God the Father, but always through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. He is goodness itself. When Moses asked God to show him his glory, he replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you,” (Ex. 33:19). Being goodness itself, wherever goodness is found, he himself is found, in one way or another. God is good, and [all] he does is good (Psalm 119:69). Accordingly, all he gives is good: good in itself, good for the well-being of his creatures, good for the ingathering and upbuilding of his people, and good for their joy and his glory.
Very importantly, in whatever form it may take, the goodness of God always comes down. It is pure gift, pure grace. As James reminds all who are suffering temptation, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to turning” (Jas. 1:17). The apostle Paul also understood this, inviting the saints in Corinth to think long and hard: “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7). Providentially, God comes down to his whole creation, that it might receive from him life, breath, and all things (Acts 17:25). Redemptively, he comes down to his people, that they might receive from him forgiveness of sins, imputed and imparted righteousness, and eternal life in and with the triune God. He does all this so that, in manifold ways, his people might come up to him.
Beholding these great principles, and recalling from Scripture the innumerable times and ways in which God came down to visit men and nations—the greatest (so far) being the first advent of his uniquely begotten Son—the preacher well understands: If there is to be a good sermon, the Father himself, through his Son, by his Spirit, must come down and give it to me. As we shall see in a moment, the preacher acts accordingly.
Secondly, the goodness in the preacher’s sermon lies in the One around whom it is centered.
Ultimately, this principle is rooted in the divine nature itself, and also in the eternal purposes of God for universal history. In both cases, the Son of God lies at the center; for which reason he also lies at the center of the Book that discloses them; for which reason he also must lie at the center of the preacher’s sermon.
Since these points are so important, let’s pause for a moment to illustrate them from Scripture.4
To a degree, and in a manner that passes my full comprehension, I reckon that the Holy Trinity is centered around the Son. This is because the decree of God concerning the course universal history did not occur in a moment of time, but is co-eternal with the being of God himself. Therefore, just as the Father eternally begets, knows, and loves the Son, so too does he eternally “beget” the plan of salvation that is centered around him. Similarly, just as Father and Son eternally breathe out the Spirit who proceeds from them both, so too do they breathe out the manifold work of the Spirit, which, above all else, is to manifest and reveal, in universal history, the Person and Work of the Son, so that all will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father (John 5:23; 16:5-15; 1 Cor. 2:6-13; Eph. 1:7-14; 1 Pet. 1:12).
Again, the purpose of God is centered around the Son, since God’s purpose in all things is that men (and angels) should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father; that in the end, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father; so that, to all eternity, through the knowledge of the Central One, the saints and angels may be to the praise of the glory of the Ultimate One, and to the praise of the glory of his grace (John 5:23; Rom. 11:33-25; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; Eph. 1:3-14; Phil. 2:5-11; Rev. 5:11-14)
The many-faceted plan of God, observed in the unfolding of universal history, is also centered around the Son, and the Christ in whom he would become incarnate (Rom. 1:1-4).
Thus, the Son was at the center of the creation, for all things were created through him and for him; moreover, ever since the creation, all things are held together by him, and ruled by him, even as he himself, under the Father, directs all things to their appointed destiny, and to the consummation of all things at the end of the present evil age (John 1:1-2; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:1-4; 1 Pet. 2:7-9; 4:7; Rev. 5:7; 6:1)
Mystically, he was at the center of the probation in Eden, for at the Tree of Life (which stood in the center of the Garden) God offered the family of man the knowledge of his Son, through whom alone the family might have come to know the good God, and all of his good gifts (Gen. 2:15-17; Rom. 5:12-14).
In a way, then, he also was at the center of the fall, for when Adam fell, he and his family man fell away from the Son, and therefore from God and all of the good gifts he held in store for them. And though it is true that in the first Adam the family of man fell into bondage to a great host of deadly enemies, both spiritual and physical, it is still more true that from that time on all of fallen mankind’s hopes for mercy, grace, and eternal life would lie in God’s promise of a last Adam—his incarnate Son—who would do all that the first Adam failed to do, and undo all that he had done (Rom. 5:12-20; 1 Cor. 15:20-18). So again, the Son was at the center of the fall, and also of mankind’s hopes for rescue from the fall, and for final restoration to God.
The Son was at the center of the promise of redemption, since, above all else, the Old Testament—in type, shadow, and predictive prophecy—was a promise of Christ: of the last and triumphant Adam; of the supreme Prophet, Priest, and King; and of the eternal Redeemer of his believing people (Gen. 3:15; John 3:10-21; 5:39-40; 6:29; Rom. 3:21; 5:12-20; 16:25-27; Col. 2:16-17).
He was at the center of the accomplishment of redemption, since he himself, under the Father and by the Spirit, accomplished redemption through his righteous life, atoning death, and vindicating resurrection (John 19:28-30; Rom. 3:21-26; 5:12-21; Col. 1:13-15; Heb. 7:27; 9:12; 10:10; Rev. 5:4-5, 8-10).
Today he is at the center of the application of redemption, since he himself, under the Father and by the Spirit, is applying the redemption that he accomplished on earth, and so gathering in, building up, guiding, gifting, empowering, preserving, sanctifying, and otherwise shepherding his Church on her spiritual journey to the world to come (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:33; Eph. 4:7-16; 5:25-33).
And in the end, he will be at the center of the consummation of redemption, since he alone, under the Father and by the Spirit, will come again in glory, with all the holy angels, to raise the dead, judge the world in righteousness, and create new heavens and a new earth, the eternal home of the saints, the angels, and the triune God (Matt. 24:29-31; 25:31-46; 1 Cor. 15:20-28, 50-57; 1 Thess. 4:13-5:1-3; Rev. 19:11-21).
Understanding all this, the wise preacher also understands that the One whom the Father has lovingly placed at the center of his eternal purpose and plan, must surely be placed at the center of his sermon. Therefore, as he prayerfully settles upon his Big Idea and the MPs that will open it up, he remembers and takes to heart the words of Spurgeon: “I have never yet found a text that has not in it a road to Christ.”5
Finally, the goodness of a good sermon lies in the Christ-likeness of the one who receives and delivers it.
It is God’s purpose that all of his children should be conformed to the image of his Son; that they should display Christ-likeness (Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 11:1). But this is especially true of his gospel heralds, who, to be consistently effective in their ministry, must be richly conformed to the call, the character, and the conduct of Christ. Let us briefly consider all three.
As with Christ, so with his herald: no man takes this honor to himself. Rather, he is called by God (Heb. 5:4). And like his Lord, the preacher must not only receive the call, but also separate himself to it, and remain faithful in it.
Examples abound. The Lord called Peter, saying, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15, 17). Peter received the call and was faithful to it, later on explaining to the burgeoning church in Jerusalem, “It is not right for us to neglect the Word and serve at tables . . . We [apostles] must devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word” The same was true for Paul, who so keenly felt the weight of the call laid upon him by Christ himself, that he cried, “Woe to me if I don’t preach the gospel!” Which he did, faithfully, right up to the end . . . all the while exhorting his fellow heralds to do the same. As he wrote to his son Timothy, “I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching (Acts 6:1-4; 20:16-18; Rom. 12:7; 1 Cor. 9:15-18; 2 Tim. 4:1-3, 7; Rom. 12:7; 2 Pet. 1:12-15; Rev. 11:1-14).
An effective preacher must also be conformed to the character of Christ. Indeed, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, the very Person and Life of Christ himself must richly take shape within him and pour forth from him (Gal. 4:19).
And in this matter, there are no shortcuts. It takes time: time in the Word, time under the ripe ministry of older brothers; time in faithfulness to small things (Zech. 4:10); time in trial, bitter error, and sweet restoration; time in the rough and tumble of church life; and time upon the long, rough road of sanctification. Over such times, the preacher will become mature in Christ, increasingly conformed to the understanding, affections, integrity, purpose, and methods of his master. The Lord said, “The mouth speaks from that which fills the heart” (Matt. 12:34). A mature preacher—a man whose heart is filled with Christ—will therefore be found speaking the words of Christ to the people of Christ. And they will know it (1 Cor. 2:6; 14:20; James 1:2; 3:1-2; Heb. 5:14; 6:1).5
Finally, Christ-likeness means conformity to the conduct of Christ, by which I mean, above all, the manner in which Christ walked: in absolute dependency upon his Father. The older we become, the more clearly we see it: The Lord Jesus did not take his cues from men, or angels, or even from his own divine nature. Rather, having emptied himself of his divine prerogatives, he walked as a healthy human being was always meant to walk: taking his cues from Father God, consecrated to his will, attentive to his voice, and tender to the promptings of his Spirit. “On my own,” said the Lord, “I can do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, since I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30; 8:28).
God our Father has predestined all his children—and especially his preachers—to walk as Christ walked. There is, however, this crucial difference, introduced by the New Covenant: Whereas Christ walked in dependence upon the Spirit of the Father, we Christians are called to walk in dependence upon the Spirit of Christ, through whom alone we also may come to know the Person, presence, heart, mind, will, and Spirit of God the Father (Matt. 10:20; 11:25-30; John 15:26). As the Lord urged upon (all) his true disciples:
“Abide in me and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so too you cannot bear fruit unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him—he will bear much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing . . . By this my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.” –John 15:4-5, 8
Every true preacher understands: This is the only possible foundation for an effective ministry of the Word. Such a realization induces a glorious mixture of spiritual poverty, fear, trembling, wisdom, expectation, excitement, and hope. He can indeed preach a good expository sermon, if indeed the Lord gives him a message, and if indeed he is faithful to deliver it in his Spirit, nothing more and nothing less.
Alas, this is no easy task! For, to cite the lament of an old Puritan preacher, we mere mortals, unlike Christ, are “exceedingly clogged with sin.” And that is why, as a general rule, the goodness of preacher’s sermon will correspond to the depth of his maturity. Such a man knows all too well that he is still exceedingly clogged with sin—though now, perhaps, a bit less so, since, by the Holy Spirit, he has been bravely mortifying his sin for many years. Like the apostle, he knows that in him—that is, in his flesh—there dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18); that the flesh profits nothing; that the Spirit alone gives light and life; and that the words he is called to speak must always be spirit and life (John 6:63; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Pet. 4:11).
It is said of Spurgeon that as he mounted the steps to the sacred desk, with each footfall he would confess, “I believe in the Holy Ghost; I believe in the Holy Ghost.” The prince of preachers would surely have loved a hymn sung by many of his admirers today: “Learning to lean, learning to lean, learning to lean on Jesus; finding more power than I’d ever dreamed, learning to lean on Jesus.”
Lean he did; and the rest is history.
Conclusion
Summing up, I would say that a good expository sermon is a good gift, coming down from a good God, centered upon on the good Person and the good Work of his Son; a gift humbly received by a good preacher who keenly feels his native spiritual poverty, and so his utter dependency upon the Lord for all things homiletical: for discerning the Big Idea of his sermon, the MPs that will open it up, the parallel biblical texts that will illuminate it, the illustrations, anecdotes, testimonies, hymns, poems, and pictures that will give it heart and cover it with flesh, and the practical applications that will give it strong legs to walk fruitfully in the world outside the church.
And if ever you should happen to peek into the study of such a preacher, you may well spot this beloved New Testament text, placarded on the wall just above his desk:
“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven . . . He who has the Bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands beside him and listens to him, overflows with joy at the sound of the Bridegroom’s voice. So then: This, my joy, is now complete. He must increase, and I must decrease.” — John 3:25-30
Notes
1. To my mind, all good sermons will be expository. If a pastor is preaching through a book of the Bible, he will need to choose a text and expound upon it. And the same is true if he is led to give a topical sermon. In both cases, for his sermon to have integrity and impact, he will need to discern a Big Idea embedded in his text, decide on the MP’s by which he means to open it up, and create an outline accordingly.
2. By prophets I certainly do not mean foundational prophets with authority and gifting to write Scripture, since the canon is now closed and such men have passed from the historical scene (Eph. 3:5; Rev. 22:18-19). Nor do I mean those persons who are gifted with powers of prediction, since, with the closure of the canon, it seems likely that these too have passed from the scene (see Jas. 4:13-16). What I do mean is men or women whose spiritual gift is to bring—from Scripture and scripturally sound ideas—strong words of edification, exhortation, and encouragement to this particular people, at this particular time, in these particular circumstances (1 Cor. 14:3).
3. My bias towards shorter sermons is based on my philosophy of ministry and worship. I now think that theological training—and hence the full-bore exercise of the teaching gift—is best reserved for gatherings other than the Lord’s Day worship service. The former, which normally include Q and A and group discussion, could occur before or after the Sunday worship service, or in a mid-week meeting. // I also have come to believe that the proper climax of the Lord’s Day worship service is not the sermon, but instead a reverent celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42; 19:8-10; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:17-33). Relative to current American church practice, this would imply that the Sunday morning “sermon” should be less in the nature of a teaching, and more in the nature of a prophecy: a “now word” that will indeed include a measure of instruction, but whose primary purpose is encouragement, exhortation, and spiritual renewal (Acts 3:19). Teaching can and should go longer; prophecy, not so much. For more on this subject, see my thoughts on the worship of the Lord’s Day, posted here.
4. For more on this important subject, see my essay on the Christ-centeredness of biblical revelation, posted here.
5. As a Reformed Baptist with charismatic leanings, I believe that a theologically mature preacher will be firmly grounded in the five Solas of the Reformation, the five Doctrines of Grace, a glad understanding of the glorious distinctives of the New Covenant and New Covenant worship, a soundly amillennial eschatology, and a humble openness to, and longing for, fresh moves of the Holy Spirit. // Regarding the Doctrines of Grace, I believe that when they are preached in a biblical manner, so that the paradigm of God’s sovereignty over all things is properly balanced with the paradigm of man’s freedom on probation, they will contribute mightily to the saints’ spiritual formation, and will prepare them for, and steady them in, their difficult walk with Christ through the wilderness of this present evil age, past the Consummation, and on into the eternal age to come. // Accordingly, I also believe that men who are well anchored in all these great truths will typically preach good expository sermons, and that the saints, sensing the preacher’s theological depth, will be drawn to them. // However, I also acknowledge that many Christians who do not affirm (all) these doctrines do indeed belong to the Lord; that the true center of the unity of the invisible Church is spiritual union with Christ through personal, God-given faith in his divine Person and redemptive Work (Eph. 4:1-4); and that many good sermons can be, and have been, preached by brothers serving the Lord outside the Reformed Baptist tradition. For more on this subject, see Dean Davis, In Search of the Golden Strand: Living Together Well with the Doctrines of Grace (Redemption Press, 2021).
Select Bibliography
Courtesy of ChatGPT, here is select bibliography of popular books on preaching, all written by evangelical Christians, and most by authors sympathetic to Reformed Theology.
1. Beeke, Joel R. Reformed Preaching: Proclaiming God’s Word from the Heart of the Preacher to the Heart of His People. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018.
2. Bridges, Charles. The Christian Ministry: With an Inquiry into the Causes of Its Inefficiency. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1959. Originally published 1830.
3. Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018.
4. Charles, H. B. Jr. On Preaching: Personal and Pastoral Insights for the Preparation and Practice of Preaching. Nashville, TN: B&H Books.
5. Clowney, Edmund P. Preaching Christ in All of Scripture. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed.
6. Gordon, T. David. Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
7. Greidanus, Sidney. Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
8. Helm, David R. Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014.
9. Keller, Timothy J. Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism. New York, NY: Viking/Penguin.
1o. Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. Preaching and Preachers. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971.
11. Martin, Albert N. Preaching in the Holy Spirit. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1980.
12. Millar, J. Gary. Saving Eutychus: How to Preach God’s Word and Keep People Awake. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.
13. Perkins, William. The Art of Prophesying. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1996. Originally published 1592.
14. Piper, John. Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018.
15. Piper, John. The Supremacy of God in Preaching. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004.
16. Robinson, Haddon W. Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014 (3rd ed.).
17. Stott, John R. W. Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.