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.  

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 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. Next, 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, 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 at 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

1. 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 the 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.

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