Discussions about sermon preparation tend to gravitate towards subjects involved in the formal processes of moving from the text to the sermon. There is no shortage of books, chapters, or articles in which one will find the various exegetical, theological, practical and homiletical elements of preaching. Among those works from which I have most benefited over the years are Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Preaching and Preachers, D.A. Carson’s Exegetical Fallacies, Sinclair Ferguson’s “Preaching Christ from the Old Testament,” Edmund Clowny’s Preaching Christ in All of Scripture, Hugh Oliphant Old’s The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, J.W. Alexander’s Thoughts on Preaching, Dennis Johnson’s Him We Proclaim, Charles Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students, and Don Kistler’s Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching.

Ministers should also make use of a broad array of commentaries in their sermon preparation. I always seek to use one homiletical commentary and one exegetical commentary. For instance, the Kent Hughes ed. Preaching the Word series and the Reformed Expository Commentary series (on both the Old Testament and New Testament) yield great homiletical assistance to the minister’s sermon preparation. However, every minister ought also to give himself to a diligent use of the exegetical commentaries available. If a minister is working through an exposition of a book in the New Testament, the NIGTC series–in which is included G.K. Beale’s The Book of Revelation–aids the minister in his wrestling through the exegetical aspect sof sermon preparation. There are also plenty of beneficial, older exegetical works on New Testament epistles. For instance, John Eadie wrote a number of exegetical commentaries on Pauline epistles. These give the preacher trustworthy Reformed exposition, experiential applications and scholarly exegetical reflections. His commentaries on Ephesians and Colossians are among of the most treasured commentaries in my library.

While the list of helpful resources available to assist the pastor in his sermon preparation is seemingly endless, there is yet another invaluable element of sermon preparation to which we ought to give more serious consideration–namely, engaging in sermon preparation in community with other ministers.

I count it one of the great blessings of my life to have many thoughtful, gifted and godly friends who serve in ministry. An “iron sharpening iron” element occurs in the process of working through a text with other ministers, in anticipation of preaching on the Lord’s Day. I happen to be one of those people who likes to pace, when I talk with others on the phone. This has led me to title the collective sermon preparation that I engage in with friends–while on the telephone with them–“peripatetic sermon prep.” The peripatetic school was a school of Aristotle’s disciples. It was termed the “peripatetic school,” because, apparently, Aristotle paced back and forth when he taught his students. They, in turn, walked around with one another–musing on the philosophical speculations of their day. It was believed that the best results were done while walking and talking together.

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