Untitled Sermon (2)

Step 1: First Impressions

Read the text in the translation used for worship and meditate upon it. Record your first impressions of the text: what it says to you and to the people God has committed to your care. Ask questions about the text, noting especially those things that may be hard to understand or practice.

Notes:

I think this is a great beginning to a reading. Right away, most people seem to want to identify with Nicodemus. He does not understand who Jesus is, so he goes to the man for knowledge of who Jesus is and what he wants. Even though Jesus is called the Lamb of God earlier in the chapter by John, Nicodemus still does not understand who Jesus is, like many in this world today. But Jesus doesn't even acknowledge the statement, he goes right into the teaching.

Jesus cares so much for us and so much for Nicodemus, he tells him how he can be saved.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Born again? Mothers must be thinking how painful it was the first time to give birth, how terrible it would be if we physically had to be born again. Nicodemus thinks the same thing. Jesus explains that a new birth comes though water and the Spirit. I don't think the first part of water surprised Nicodemus too much. Since John was baptizing in the wilderness, they already know of water being used for sacramental reasons. Even connecting it more, they said that only the Christ should be the one baptizing. We understand who the Spirit is, but that person of the Trinity would still be confusing to Nicodemus, just as it would be to a new believer.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Jn 3:3.

Step 2: Textual Study

Translate the text, noting any aspects of translation that are important for clarifying meaning. Identify the basic ideas and experiences evoked by the text and the purposeful ordering of them in a rhetorical structure.

Notes:

This is the space where you will record the insights you have gained about the text by your use of the following resources:

Literary typing

Visualizations - The Lexham Clausal Outlines of the Greek NT (SBL edition)

Grammars

Grammatical Constructions

Word by Word

Lemma in Passage

Step 3: Contextual Study

Examine the text in its immediate context (verses preceding and following) and more general context (book in which it is written). Identify how the context deepens your understanding of the text and its theological themes. Pay particular attention to matters such as the content immediately surrounding the text, the setting, author, occasion for writing, and how the author deals with particular themes throughout the book.

Compose an exegetical statement that names the author and literary form of the text and then summarizes what the text says (main ideas) and what the text does (intended function) for the original hearers.

Notes:

This is the space where you will record the insights you have gained by your contextual study. You may find the following resources helpful here:

Outlines

Literary Typing

Commentary

Exegetical Statement

This is where you will record your exegetical statement that summarizes the content (what the text says), the function (what the text does), and the literary form of the text (how the text says and does these things).

Step 4: Theological Study

Identify core theological teachings from the text that may be important for the sermon. Develop those teachings through the use of parallel passages, lexical studies, biblical, confessional, and/or doctrinal theology. Use this theological study to broaden your understanding of how the text guides and norms the Christian faith, to identify false teachings, and to clarify how you might communicate the faith to your people today.

Notes:

This is where you will record the results of your theological study. Try to identify and develop one to three teachings that you believe will be important for the sermon. Resources that you may find helpful here are Biblical Theologies, Confessional Documents, and Systematic Theologies.

For your development, consider the following questions about the teaching(s) you have identified:

What is the teaching?

Why is this important for God's people?

How do people (both in the world and in the church) tend to misunderstand this teaching?

How does this text help us clarify the teaching?

How do other texts of Scripture and the larger disciplines of theology further develop or clarify this teaching?

What stories or images can you use to help communicate this teaching?

Step 5: Liturgical Setting

Examine the liturgical setting in which the text will be preached. Identify connections between the text and its liturgical setting (other readings, hymns, prayers, etc.) and consider how this setting shapes the hearer's understanding and experience of this text.

Notes:

This is where you will record the insights you have gained by your liturgical study. The Liturgy resource may be helpful here but you will also want to consider the hymns, prayers, and other experiences present in the worship service that day.

Step 6: Christocentricity

Consider this text in light of the Christocentricity of Scripture. Identify how its teachings and events lead you into law or gospel proclamation. Make particular note of imagery or metaphor, considering how these might be used in law and gospel proclamation.

Notes

This is where you will record your analysis of and meditation upon both the law/gospel dialectic and the law/gospel poetics of the text. You may find the Figurative Language resource helpful here.

Step 7: Contemporary Setting

Consider the people to whom you will preach and identify how this text and its teachings interact with their life experiences and growth in the faith. Be aware of common cultural assumptions and possible misunderstandings that may arise as God's people encounter this text and its teachings; also consider how this text and its teachings form the way God's people live in the world.

Notes:

This is where you will identify your hearers and record the results of your cultural, ecclesial, and missiological analysis. You may find the Cultural Concepts resource helpful for this step. In your reflection, consider your hearers in terms of their individual, congregational, and communal experiences in the world.

Step 8: Focus and Function

Consider how you will preach this text by identifying the focus and function statements of your sermon and listing the main ideas you would like to include.

Notes:

Here is where you record your focus and your function statements.