From Interpretation to Preaching

A Short Guide to Sermon Preparation

by Ian Thomason

Introduction

I believe it important to be candid up front by acknowledging that I do not consider myself to be a particularly gifted preacher, more so a competent one. It is my privilege to be called upon to minister the Word on a regular basis in a local church setting. Importantly, I believe that I understand what a good message should be like technically, and am comfortable that I can recognise one when I hear it. All told, delivering a message from the platform or pulpit is not altogether different from the teaching of biblical truths in other settings, as the same general principles and considerations necessarily apply.

This essay has been prepared to assist ministers without ability and training in the biblical languages, to research, structure and prepare a biblical sermon. It is beyond the scope of this essay to provide advice on the delivery of the message in a church setting. There exist any number of texts that provide commentary on the practical aspects of public speaking and homiletics to which an inquiring pastor can turn for guidance.

My hope is that the advice that I provide is, in some small way, beneficial, practical and applicable to those who minister God's Word regularly.

The aim of preaching

Put simply the aim of Christian preaching is to bring about an encounter between the person of today, and the enduring and living Word of God expressed in Scripture. The exercise should not be, therefore, focussed towards the 'selling of a message', or worse still, at impressing a captive audience. The preacher must content him or herself with the exposing of the timeless truths contained within the Bible, by presenting them in such a way as to encourage a practical application of the same in the lives of the hearers. The message should be such that the 'doing' automatically follows the 'hearing'.

Practical limitations

Given the nature of language, writing and textual transmission; a pastor who has not received training in several of the Biblical Studies disciplines will find him or herself at something of a disadvantage when it comes to preparing a homily. However, the difficulties are far from insurmountable, and so a lack of learning does not qualify or entitle the pastor to present shoddy, unbiblical sermons. Sufficient references and helps are available that bridge deficiencies in personal knowledge, and they should be widely and frequently consulted.

In several of the essays that I have written, I have commented on the fundamental need for Christian ministers to be comfortable in the use of Scripture in its original form - in Hebrew and Greek. Therefore, I will not duplicate, extensively, my grounds for holding to such an opinion here.

To summarise though, the immediate and practical limitations faced by ministers without biblical languages training include:

1. The lack of ability to analyse grammatical forms and syntactical relationships, many of which are often exegetically significant.

2. Being unable to establish the limits of the original text, by way of text critical methods.

3. Being unable to analyse significant words and phrases responsibly.

As Martin Luther once said the biblical languages "...are the sheath in which the sword of the Spirit is contained."

However, by consistently using a range of English translations (preferably five or more), and by comparing them frequently, most of the considerations listed above can be satisfactorily addressed. In this way the minister is able to benefit from the considered scholarship of relevant, believing experts.

Self evaluation

Every Christian, irrespective of background, denomination or level of spiritual maturity, comes to the Bible with pre-suppositions and pre-understandings. These automatically affect how one derives meaning from the biblical texts. In short I am referring to the concept of personal bias.

It is immensely important that the preacher evaluates his or her beliefs each and every time that he or she approaches Scripture. If it is accepted that the Bible is the Word of God, then it must also be acknowledged that the Bible presents spiritual truths. We might choose to refer to these for the sake of the argument as 'objective truths'. However, we live in a fallen state, and the entire range of our life experiences shapes us. Therefore, we will subconsciously apprehend these 'objective truths' in a thoroughly subjective manner: "...what does this mean to me?" Suddenly, we are faced with the distinct possibility that God's truth is not quite so 'true' anymore.

The simplest way to offset such bias is to constantly ask the following two questions: (1) "what do I understand this to mean?" and (2) "why do I understand this to mean what it does to me?" At the very least, the person who does so will become a little more aware of his or her underlying theological assumptions.

Of course, pre-understandings eventually change as greater understanding occurs.

"Christians approach the biblical texts with questions, biases and pre-understandings that emerge out of their personal situations. Eventually, those pre-understandings influence the answers they obtain. However, the answers also then affect the interpreter: the text interprets the interpreter who becomes not only the subject interpreting, but the object interpreted."

There exist two options that are open to the preacher when approaching the Bible to prepare a message: he or she can approach as a hearer, or as a speaker. If he or she comes as a hearer, then he or she will be open to having his or her views shaped by the text before him or her. If one comes as a speaker, however, then one will shape the text to fit one's views. The former is both responsible and fairly objective, the latter irresponsible and subjective. Strictly speaking, biblical messages derive only from the former approach.

Preparation

It goes without saying that all good messages result from thorough preparation and all good spiritual messages are grounded in prayer. My own experience has shown that it takes anywhere from eighteen to twenty-two hours of preparation time to develop a message of thirty to forty minutes. Of this, perhaps five hours in total is devoted to prayer. I personally tend to pray in stages: before, during and after each phase of the sermon. In this way, I seek to make myself open to the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit, and so my message should reflect (I trust) his agenda for my church, rather than my own. Solid and humble prayer remains vital to preparing a good and responsible sermon.

It is generally accepted among the 'experts' that a biblical sermon should follow a three-point brief: (1) original meaning, (2) bridging contexts, and finally, (3) contemporary significance. This approach should also shape, to some measure, the development of the message.

Once the preacher has prayed, and has determined the general theme of his or her message (be it topical, thematic, theological or the gradual exposition of a particular book) he or she can commence to research the important issues. The first stage in this process should be to thoroughly read (and re-read) the relevant biblical texts, from at least four different versions. The primary aim at this point is to determine, and consider, the general content and the specific contexts in which the individual passages appear. Therefore In this way, pertinent principles can be more readily identified. It would be valid at this point; to reflect on the fact that the Bible is not a compilation of loose 'proof-texts' to be lifted and [ab]used in a random, unrelated and haphazard fashion. Each verse or passage finds its context and meaning only within its immediate environment. As the old chestnut goes: "think paragraphs, not verses."

A valuable aid is to make rough notes of recurring or interesting themes during the preliminary reading stage. These can be developed, critiqued and expanded later.

After further prayer, secondary literature should be consulted. Bible dictionary and handbook articles that address the books, people, places, social settings and cultural environments that are relevant to the texts should be reviewed. These will expand one's understanding of the important general context and 'life-settings' that must be first grasped. After all, every book in the Bible was written to address a very specific need or purpose, at a very specific time or place. The minister must first discern the 'occasion' that prompted the writing, if he or she is to adequately derive the timeless principles in order to pass them on to the congregation through his or her message.

Before moving onto the concerns of application, the pastor should take the time to reflect on how the passage under review relates to other Scriptures, as well as to Christian theology in general. This stage addresses the spiritual context of the texts.

Questions that should be pondered might include: what relationships exist between the passages that were chosen and other portions of the Bible? Has allowance been made for the expanding revelation from the Old Testament into the New? Have other books from the same author been consulted in an attempt to trace specific themes? How major or minor are the theological issues upon which the passage touches? How is the passage to be harmonised with the greater theological whole, if at all? Are there any apparent contradictions of difficulties between one's personal understanding of the chosen passages and the overall teaching of Scripture?

Pause

The next and very important stage is to pause, and walk away. It is all too easy to become befuddled, to develop tangents rather than the main themes, and to become lost in the technical aspects of sermon preparation. A message must make sense, and it must flow logically. One should take a day or two off, and try not to think about the message during this time. Prayerfully seek guidance from God, and allow him to shape the sermon.

Application

Once the background research has been completed, and the general context of the message thrashed out, the minister is in a position to develop the most important aspect of the sermon. This is the practical application of the principles that have been gleaned to the lives of the hearers. A good sermon is very strong on exegetical research, but this should not be presented as the aim or thrust of the message. Anecdotal evidence has shown that people will walk away from the most excellently crafted, most ably delivered messages remembering, at best, perhaps three points. It is in the life-changing applications, therefore, that the sermon must place due stress. Points of contact between the people and circumstances described in the text, and the people sitting in the 'pews' should be sought. Cultural and sociological differences need to be considered, and evaluated, to ensure that an illegitimate transferral of unnecessary 'baggage' does not take place, thereby hamstringing (rather than liberating) the congregation.

At this point, the minister would be wise to again consult with secondary literature. A number of very useful application-based commentary series are available that are designed to assist in the process. Of course, the pastor should 'own' his or her message, and so should not preach from a commentary or from other such literature. To do so would not allow the Holy Spirit to address the unique requirements of his or her fellowship.

Summary

Preaching from the Word of God should never be a haphazard affair, and nor should such be approached in a cavalier fashion. The pastor serves as the minister of the Word of God, not the master of the same. Preaching, it must also be remembered, is neither an excuse nor opportunity for moralising, or for passing off one's private opinions as if they were God's own.

Congregations have the right to expect that those who preach the Word to them be better informed about it than are they. The preacher, above all else, therefore, must be an ardent and constant student of Scripture. In short, to minister the Word of God presents as the greatest honour available to any Christian. To approach the task with due care, reverence and piety will ensure that the congregation grows in both grace and truth.

"The Christian preacher has a boundary set for him. When he enters the pulpit he is not an entirely free man...it is a great thing to come under the tyranny of the Gospel!"