As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
In my last post, I walked through my method for becoming more familiar with the biblical text through the process of reading, translating, and diagramming. Although at this point much progress has been made, there is still more work to do before we can confidently say we know the main idea of the text. Up to this point the study has been with the Bible alone—no commentaries should have been used thus far.
Preached January 15th, 1860 by C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. (KJV, Colossians 1:12-13)
This passage is a mine of riches. I can anticipate the difficulty in preaching and the regret in concluding we shall experience this evening because we are not able to dig out all the gold which lies in this precious vein. We lack the power to grasp and the time to expatiate upon that volume of truths which is here condensed into a few short sentences.
We are exhorted to “give thanks unto the Father.” This counsel is at once needful and salutary. I think, my brethren, we scarcely need to be told to give thanks unto the Son. The remembrance of that bleeding body hanging upon the cross is ever present to our faith. The nails and the spear, his griefs, the anguish of his soul, and his sweat of agony, make such tender touching appeals to our gratitude—these will prevent us always from ceasing our songs, and sometimes fire our hearts with rekindling rapture in praise of the man Christ Jesus. Yes we will bless thee, dearest Lord; our souls are all on fire. As we survey the, wondrous cross, we cannot but shout—
O for this love let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break,
And all harmonious human tongues
The Savior’s praises speak.
Whether you call it the “main idea,” “big idea,” “propositional statement,” or something else, we are going to be looking at how to make sure you preach the main idea of a section of Scripture so that you are not preaching about an ancillary idea or worse, force your own idea upon the passage. In this post I will be walking through a process I have developed for myself. To help myself with this, I have made a worksheet. In a previous post, I shared it on this blog.
“Conceptualize and preach your expositional sermon like it is a screw, not a nail. A screw has a single main point, but it also has an edge all the way around. This ridge, sharp as it is, is not to be avoided in favor of the point; rather, it is the means of getting to the main point.” - 9 Marks
“It struck me then that I was not only being homiletically imbalanced but pastorally irresponsible. My people do need my pen-work, my careful explanation. But they also need me to ‘paint,’ to illustrate.” - Word by Word
“…make no mistake, brother pastor, your writing is important. It is one of the means by which God is shepherding your local church. Therefore, you should think of your writing as a craft worth cultivating.” - 9 Marks
“Let me illustrate what I mean by showing how interpreting the Bible as history without reality—where signs point only to other signs and not to realities—misunderstands historical-grammatical exegesis.” - Wyatt Graham
“Frankly, most churches have little to say on Sunday mornings about the holiness of God. I invite you to make this consideration very personal and think about your own church services. Is the holiness of God a recurring theme? Is sin lifted up as an affront to this holy God and the dangers of continuing in sin made plain?” - P&D
A sermon delivered on Sunday evening, January 6, 1878, by C. H. Spurgeon, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 4:7
A lion of the pulpit, now in Christ’s presence - World
John MacArthur leaves legacy ‘on a generation of preachers’ - Baptist Press
Discussion