The Christ-Centered Expositor: A Field Guide for Word-Driven Disciple Makers

by Tony Merida

Third, look at cross-references.

Fourth, consult commentaries and other tools for remaining unresolved issues.

Finally, summarize your findings.

We do not want to insert Jesus where he is not. But we do want to keep in mind that a passage or a book does not exist in isolation. Therefore, every text is part of the larger story.

If you are preaching through Nehemiah, you know that it is before Christ. Therefore, we know that God was preserving his people in order to bring about the Messiah; that is a legitimate connection.

Allegory makes unfounded leaps to Christ. True typology considers patterns, linguistic correspondences, and interbiblical themes.

Does the passage reveal a biblical theme that points to Christ?

Ask, Does the passage show a promise of God that points us to Christ?

Ask, How is this passage predictive of Christ?

How does this passage show us mankind’s need for Christ?209

How does this passage reveal the nature of the God who provides redemption? 210

Make Jesus the hero in your sermons.

“How did the sermon testify to Christ?”211

Often students ask, “How can I grow in my effectiveness in Christ-centered preaching?” My response is threefold. First, read the Bible a whole lot.

Second, listen to really good Christ-centered preachers, like Sinclair Ferguson, D. A. Carson, Art Azurdia, Russell Moore, Tim Keller, and others.

Implications do not include new information. They simply ask, So what? What does it matter that the text means this and shows Christ in this way?

Another part of implications deals with personal application. Questions include: Are there examples to follow? Are there commands to keep? Are there errors to avoid? Are there sins to forsake? Are there gospel promises to claim? Are there new thoughts about God to gain? Are there truths or doctrines to further explore? Are there convictions to be lived by?213

The first step in preparing an expository sermon is to study the text in detail.

A disciplined study method that involves observations, interpretation, redemptive integration, and timeless implications should steer our sermon development.

A sermon should be a bullet, not a buckshot. Ideally, each sermon is the explanation, interpretation, or application of a single dominant idea supported by other ideas, all drawn from one passage or several passages of Scripture.214 —Haddon Robinson

The idea of a one-point sermon is not a new idea, however. At the heart of classical expository preaching theory is the conviction that the sermon is mainly about one big idea or theme.216

The key questions are these: What is the text about? And what do I want the hearers to do, believe, or change in light of this text?

Step 1: Study the Text. Next, we should develop the main point of the sermon (MPS)—in view of the meaning of the text, the redemptive elements in the text, in light of our particular audience and occasion.

After doing the hard work of exegesis, you should be able to summarize the passage in a single sentence.

First, to preach with authority you need to know first what God intended to say in a particular text.

Second, interpreting the selected text and stating it in a sentence is often the hardest part of preparing an expository sermon.219

Third, until the main idea has been identified, you cannot develop the sermon.

Fourth, most pastors are quite busy.220

Finally, pastors are often very tired and weary.

You cannot develop the MPS apart from the text. Isolate the dominant theme from the text and then state the dominant implication of it.

By having a good MPS, the sermon will contain application throughout the sermon, not only periodically.

I’ve really desired something fairly simple for my family: to be able to talk intelligently about the sermon on Sunday afternoon or throughout the week. And to do this, all I really desire is the ability to answer three questions: What was the point or thrust of the sermon [MPS]? Was this point adequately established in the text that was read [MPT]? Were the applications legitimate applications of the point, from which we can have further fruitful conversations about other possible applications? Frequently, indeed more commonly than not, I have heard sermons about which my family cannot even answer the first question.226

Let us aspire to clearly articulate our main point for the sermon, established from the main point of the text, so that people can think and apply God’s Word all week long.

Notice how Paul states that all of Scripture completes us. In other words, we are incomplete without the truths of the Bible.

The first question is about the human problem. What solution does the text give for fallen people? Sometimes the problem may not be a specific sin. Chapell says, “Grief, illness, longing for the Lord’s return, the need to know how to share the gospel, and the desire to be a better parent are not sins, but they are needs that our fallen condition imposes that Scripture addresses.”231 Look to see what the problem is, and how the text provides solution.

The third question reminds us to look for the God-centered and Christological emphasis in the text. Because the truths about God are timeless, this is the surest way to apply the truths of the text, and it is the surest way to maintain the redemptive focus of the sermon.

Besides this, those who argue for no-structure sermons end up having some type of structure anyway.

While we certainly want people to act on God’s Word, application involves more than “action steps.” Sometimes application includes believing something different or knowing something important.

Additionally, I do not think that our primary goal is for everyone to remember “everything” about the sermon. Instead, I view preaching as the act of feeding people week by week and helping them encounter God through the Word.

The sermon outline will help you take your people on a journey through the text, stopping off at important phrases, words, and concepts for explanation and application.

Another benefit of an outline is that it is helpful for teaching doctrine, as it emerges from the selected text.

An outline will help you with precision.

The outline will also help the audience know where I am going and when the plane is landing. This is one of the reasons I ordinarily state the outline in the introduction before getting into it.

This old advice still works: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them; then tell them; and then tell them what you told them.”

First, we should avoid distracting outlines that take away from the main thrust of the sermon.

Second, we should avoid imposing an outline on a text.

Third, we should avoid predictability.

Consider developing your outline in an oral style.

Consider developing your points not only in an oral style but also in a personal application style.

A first option to consider is the key-word approach.