Isn't there only one kind of expositional sermon?
Meaning Metrics
Should I preach on different lengths of text?
- Preaching through the Bible is like taking pictures of the Grand Canyon. You can take a mule all the way down to the bottom, take a bus up around the rim, or stop anywhere in between. Each picture will reveal something different yet true about the Canyon. You just have to find level ground on which to stand.
- In the Bible, that level ground is any literary meaning unit - a portion of text intended by the author to convey significance according to the rules of the particular kind of literature being written. A meaning unit can be a single word, one phrase, or a paragraph in any kind of literature. It can be one story in narrative literature, or one parable or string of related parables in the gospels. It can be a section of related laws in legal texts, a whole prophetic utterance in a prophetic book, or it could simply be any whole book. It could even be a whole Testament or the whole Bible!
- The closer you are to the normal meaning unit for a type of biblical literature (usually the length of a paragraph or chapter), the easier it will be to write your sermon. The further you are from the normal meaning unit, whether your focus is narrower or broader, the more difficult the preparation will be.
- Taking longer and shorter texts based on the literature type you are approaching will provide a congregation with a more balanced diet of the Word, and will eventually sharpen and broaden your skill in preaching.
