“So what was the fallen condition focus of your sermon?”—yes, I actually had a church member ask me at lunch this past Sunday. Maybe it’s my fault for giving him a copy of Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching. Of course, this is a man who believes God has called him to be a pastor, and I have been mentoring him in various things including building a sermon.
One day, he came into my office and was looking at my book shelf. Counting Chapell’s book, I have twelve about preaching. He asked me which one was the best…I gave him a blank stare for a moment. “You know, I don’t really follow any of them as a whole, but…” I pointed him to Chapell.
As a preacher I find preaching books rather, um, interesting. Each has their own way of doing things, and of course each seems to think their way is best. From Chapell to MacArthur to Shaddix to Kaiser to Vines to…the list goes on…I have learned one thing above all else: preaching is truly more of an art than a science. True, there are some scientific aspects to preaching and preparation, but largely it is an art. You have to take everything these books say and figure out what works best for you.
According to most of them (and what my seminary professor tried to teach me about preaching), I am a terrible preacher. I typically don’t have much in the way of an introduction or conclusion, and I rarely illustrate my points with stories and anecdotes. But that’s who I am, and it works for me.
I am curious, though—here at Voices we have a mixed audience, some pastors and seminary students looking to be pastors, and some church members who serve their churches in various capacities. For the pastors—what do you do for your sermon prep? For the “lay people”—what do you think is necessary for a good sermon?
At present, I am preaching through Hebrews. Unless something changes, I’m anticipating about 25 total sermons. This past week, I finished up my studies and preparation for the end of chapter 10, and on Sunday I preached 2:10-18.
Preparation for me changes depending upon the genre of biblical literature. For example, while I am going through Hebrews, I read through the Greek and I diagram each passage. When I preached through Acts, I looked at the Greek where I thought it might be significant and did no diagramming whatsoever.
Below is a picture of my diagram for Hebrews 2:10-18 (you can click it for a larger version). I don’t use the method taught in my Greek classes in seminary, diagramming each word with a different notation based on grammatical usage. Instead, thought-for-thought I diagram the general flow in English based on my knowledge of Greek grammar. Then, when needed, I will make a grammatical notation. In this picture is also my rough outline based from my initial thoughts from the diagram. The rough outline somewhat resembles the finished product, but further consideration and thought led me to modify it.
After diagramming the passage, I use a method of tracing—a hybrid of what I was taught, when some standard categories and notations and some of my own. I’ve also included a picture of my trace of this passage (part of a broader trace of the entire second chapter).
Being a geek who likes to work ahead, I will take my diagram, take my trace, and take my thoughts and lay it out into an outline, usually a good 3-to-4 months before I preach the sermon. Then I file it away until the week before I preach it (breaking it out only if I need it to refer to something as I prepare another passage). At this time, I read back over the passage and my outline, and read through my commentaries on the passage. I make any changes I feel the sermon needs and send the outline to print via my secretary.
When I first started preaching, I hand-wrote my entire manuscript on half-sheets of paper and took the entire thing with me to preach. Probably the most positive thing to come from my preaching classes and books was the encouragement to never do that! And for good reason. Starting out like that, I would mostly have my eyes focused on my manuscript, careful not to miss a word I had crafted. The few times I glanced up, I would find half the congregation staring out the windows. Eye contact does help keep their attention.
Now I get up with a modified form of what goes into our weekly bulletin—the outline, throw in some extra whitespace, and some hand written notes (which I can read, most of the time…)
I know some preachers still write out their manuscripts and only take an outline or a handful of notes with them. I don’t even write out a manuscript anymore. I basically produce my manuscript in my head, mulling over the outline, the diagramming, and the tracing.
So what about you? How do you produce your sermons/what do you think a good sermon needs?
Below I’ve included my outline for Hebrews 2:10-18, and for fun—a link to the audio of the sermon.
“He Is Not Ashamed To Call Them Brothers—Jesus brings us into the glory of God’s family and delivers us from sin and death” Hebrews 2:10-18
So Great a Salvation (Hebrews Series, 5)
Jesus lived and died as a man to be our Lord and Savior, as well as our Brother. As our brother:
- Jesus brings us into glory (2:10)
- Glory is the splendor and majesty of perfection as opposed to the darkness and stain of sin
- The glory of Jesus and the glory of his people was God’s ultimate purpose in creation
- Our glory came through the suffering of Jesus
- Suffering made him “perfect”—the fullness of his obedience that set his name above all (Phil 2:8f)
- The cross is a stumbling block for Jews and folly for Gentiles, yet power for those being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
- The promise of glory fuels our hope (Romans 5:2)
- Jesus makes us a part of God’s family (2:11-13)
- The sons and daughters of God are marked by the holiness of God (sanctification)
- Holiness is a command (1 Peter 1:15-16)
- Holiness is a promise (1 Corinthians 1:30)
- As our Brother, Jesus gladly tells us of God’s name
- This leads us to praise as he praised
- This leads us to trust as he trusted
- The sons and daughters of God are marked by the holiness of God (sanctification)
- Jesus rescues us from fear in death (2:14-16)
- Jesus became flesh and blood to die
- Jesus died to destroy Satan
- Satan has the power of death (he is a liar and a murderer by nature—John 8:44)
- Satan rules this world through fear (1 Peter 5:8)
- Yet Satan flees from those who resist him and submit to God (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:9)
- Jesus died to deliver us from the fear of death
- “Tragically, human beings, destined to rule over creation, are slaves paralyzed by the fear of death”—Peter O’Brien
- Jesus takes us from slavery to promise (as Abraham’s children)—thus we have nothing to fear!
- Jesus delivers us from our sin and helps us in our temptations (2:17-18)
- Jesus is the High Priest who made the sacrifice of propitiation
- He is merciful and faithful
- He is the one who removed our sin to turn away God’s wrath (propitiation)
- Jesus knows our weakness and helps us in temptation (4:15, 1 Corinthians 10:13)—thus we are not left to fight alone
