Children's Sermon: Exegesis

Opening:

Exegesis:

Exegesis means arriving at the meaning of a passage of Scripture by mining the meaning out from it, and carefully not inserting a different meaning into the passage.

Reading of 2 Timothy 2:15:

“15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Explanation:

It is very important for us to know the meaning of things. When your parents or siblings tell you something, it is important that you know what they mean. It is even more important for us to know what God means. This is why one of the best questions ever is “What do you mean?” or “What does this mean?” It is important for us to know what it means when we are told something.

Illustration:

Let’s say I write a letter to you kids. Let’s pretend it is a week when miss Katharine and I are gone. I write a letter to be read to you in church. In this letter there is this section.

“Dear children of connection church,

I hope you are obeying your parents. During my travel away I found a really fancy playground. This playground has monkey bars and tall slides! It has a large sandbox with lots of things to do. I am sure that you would all love it!”

Now, what did I tell you that I found during my travel? What did the playground have? How do you know that?

You know what the playground has because you correctly understood what I was saying. The meaning was right there in the letter. But let’s say that someone comes along and says, “You know, I think pastor Jonathan didn’t mean that he found a playground. I think he meant that the playground was metaphorical. It really means that you should always play games and eat candy whenever you want!” Now, you may like the idea of eating candy all the time but was that what I really meant in my letter? No, of course not. It is clear from my letter that I am telling you all about a really great playground I found. That person is trying to twist my words and make them say something different.

Argumentation:

This is why our word “exegesis” is so important. It means that we are digging for the correct meaning of something. When you realize that my pretend letter to you is talking about a playground it is because of exegesis. You discovered the meaning of what I wrote. You did not try to fit a different meaning into what I wrote. Now it was pretty easy with my letter, but sometimes it takes time and we have to study hard to figure out what something means. But it is very important that we figure out what something really means. We should never try to twist things to make them mean something different.

This is especially important when we study the Bible. We need to make sure that we are digging for the true meaning of the text, not making things up. This is important because the Bible is God’s Word. Remember, the Bible is just like if God were speaking directly to us. So it’s pretty important for us to know what God said. This is why when we read the Bible, we take time and ask questions to understand what it means.

When we read the Bible we always ask, “What does this mean?” We do not ask, “What do I want this to mean?” Let’s look at a passage that each of you should know.

Ephesians 6:1 “1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Okay, the Apostle Paul wrote this under the inspiration of God. This means that God used Paul to write His Word. So let’s dig for the truth. Let’s be miners digging for the truth of God’s Word! So we ask, what does this mean? Well, Paul is writing this and addressing children. He is talking to kids just like you. He is doing what I am doing right now. He is trying to teach kids to do what God wants. Well, what is Paul trying to teach kids to do? Paul says kids should obey their parents.

But this is not all that is said. What about that phrase “In the Lord?” Well, that means that you should obey your parents because of Jesus. You see, God wants you to do that and you should do that. You shouldn’t just obey God because I tell you to. You should obey your parents because God tells you to! Then Paul says “for this is right.” Why should you obey your parents? Because God wants you to and therefor it is the right thing.

Now what if someone said, “You know, I think that passage is saying we should disobey our parents!” would they be right or wrong? They would be wrong! They would be wrong because that is not what that passage means. They would be twisting the meaning of the passage. They are not digging for the meaning in the text.

Restatement:

Remember, Exegesis means arriving at the meaning of a passage of Scripture by mining the meaning out from it, and carefully not inserting a different meaning into the passage.

Application:

So here is what I want you to do. When you are reading the Bible, I want you to remember the word “Exegesis.” Look for the meaning of what God is saying. And also, obey your parents.

Prayer: