A Few Lists and Thoughts About Preparing to Preach

Uber-blogger Justin Taylor posted this morning (or perhaps last night) a chart he borrowed from the 9Marks fellows which is designed to help preachers think through the application of the text from which they are preaching. It's a nice tool that suggests the preacher think about the implications of the text in the following areas:

1. Unique salvation-historical.
   
2. Individual Non-Christian.
   
3. Public.
   
4. Christological.
   
5. Individual Christian.
   
6. Local church.
   

When I first read this, I immediately thought back to a chart I shared at Calvary a few years ago while preaching on the "Discipline of Scripture". The idea was that as we read and study Scripture, it should impact the way we look at things. I suggested people approach Scripture from time to time and determine how it impacts the way they look at:

• The World
• Their Government
• Their Local Community
• The People They Know and With Whom They Share Life
• Themselves

Secondarily, I thought this would be a good tool to add to my current structure of sermon preparation. I've discovered that the more directions I can approach the text from, the more questions I will have to answer and the greater my understanding will be. Beyond that, the more attention I pay to how the possible implications of the text for a wider range of people, the more capable I will be when I try to present it to a wide range of people. Currently, my study of the text includes approaching the text from the following angles:

• Textual -- What does it say?
  
• Narrative -- How does it fit in the big story?
• Theological -- What doctrinal concepts are addressed?
  
• Christological -- How does this passage point toward Christ?
• Gospel -- Where is the messsage of sin and salvation?
• Ecclesiological -- What is the lesson for the church?
• Ethical -- What behavioral guidelines are taught or implied?
• Personal -- What are the obvious applications for individuals?

Likely, this new chart will become a second phase of study for me, following the list above and preceding my work on the "presentation" of the sermon... which I'll save for another post sometime.