John Bell is an elder at Red Cedar Evangelical Free Church in Okemos, MI, and Associate Professor of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at Michigan State University.
1. Identify the big idea of the biblical passage.
2. Identify a puzzle in life that this biblical idea solves (without solving the puzzle yet).
3. Determine how this passage solves the puzzle.
The sermon itself will embody the big idea (step 1) by starting with the puzzle (step 2) and then resolving the puzzle (step 3).
Identify an Idea
In preaching, our most critical step is to identify what we have to say. The idea we want to help people see or understand is the foundation for the rest of the building. Once we find it, then the rest should be built on top of it. Without a clear idea, the rest of our work may just result in noise, or perhaps when done very well it may be mere entertainment. When time and distraction do the work of erosion, the effect of a sermon without a sound foundation will crumble and wash away.
Furthermore, in expository preaching the idea we preach must be the idea of the passage we are preaching. We must find what the original author was saying about God and people. For example, let’s consider Paul’s discussion of his ministry in the latter part of 2 Corinthians. In chapters 10-12, Paul defends his apostolic authority in response to others who set themselves up as being superior to Paul. He is caught in the awkward situation of defending his authority while not being proud, not self-promoting, and not attacking others. To accomplish his purpose, Paul describes God’s unique work in his life.
Then he does a very surprising thing. He boasts about unanswered prayer. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, he talks about his “thorn in the flesh” that has tormented him. He prayed repeatedly that God would take it away, but God didn’t. Generally we would hide something like this. People don’t stand to give testimony to how God didn’t answer their prayers! But Paul did. Then he explains. God told him, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” So Paul said, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”
Paul’s idea is that humility is your greatest asset, for when you recognize your weakness, God’s strength can be active in you. So the greatest good God could offer to Paul regarding this thorn, this ongoing problem, was to leave it there! One way to express the idea of this passage is that things that humble us are really our greatest strength, for they allow God’s strength to be made perfect in us. So to preach an expository sermon on this passage, this idea must be the point of the message.