How to Effectively Structure a Sermon

By Adam Nesmith | May 14, 2021

No one taught me how to structure a sermon or a teaching. I was given a limited amount of tools for studying a text, and I was told the importance of preaching. But the question of how to effectively structure a sermon was not answered for me. So, through reading and listening to a wide variety of preaching, I found a number of different ways to create an orderly sermon.

There is certainly not “one way” to structure a sermon. But there are a number of patterns or “archetypes” used by preachers both present and past. In this post, I want to give you a handful of ways to structure a sermon. There is no perfect way, in fact, I would recommend thinking through sermon structure each time you preach. Depending on the text, the length of the passage, the type of literature, and other factors, one structure might be preferred to another.

I will first define three important terms that I will use to analyze sermon structures. Then, I will present two general sermon structures from two different structures derived from the New Testament Epistle. Finally, I will present a few sermon structure “archetypes” I have analyzed by listening and reading the great expositional preachers through history.

Definitions: Doctrine, Application

The distinction between doctrine and application is one of the most important concepts to think through. In order to even begin to think about sermon structure, you must understand the vital difference between doctrine and application. Essentially, doctrine describes reality. It is a declarative statement from the Lord about what the world really is like. Application, on the other hand, gives the readers/listeners how they should live in light of this reality. It is an imperative statement which commands some response.

For example, if I said “It is raining outside,” that is a declarative statement. I am making a claim about reality. If I followed this up with “You should bring an umbrella” I am now making an imperative statement. In light of the reality of rain, I tell you that you should bring an umbrella. Most of the time, doctrine and application are connected with a “therefore”. Because something is true, you should do something.

Scripture is full of doctrinal teaching and application. But different authors go about this in different ways. The two main different ways which are helpful when thinking about sermon structure are what I will call “Paul style” and “Peter style”. I will first go through each of these styles before looking at how preachers in general often structure their sermons.

Sermon Structures Derived from Scripture

Doctrine-application structure

Even though there are exceptions, Paul favored introducing doctrine first before application in his epistles. Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians all have a pretty “predictable” structure. Paul spends the early chapters of the book piling on doctrinal, declarative, objective spiritual truths. He builds on these truths throughout the book until he reaches a “therefore.” This “therefore” transitions from the first half of the books which is primarily declarative to the second half which is primarily imperative.

Romans 12 is a great example. For 11 chapters, Paul goes through doctrine and truth and spiritual reality. Then, in Romans 12, Paul transitions to imperatives with a “therefore”.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1, ESV emphasis added

How does this help you structure a sermon? The way Paul structures his epistles is one of the foundational sermon structures you could choose from. Essentially, a “Pauline” sermon structure might look something like this

Introduction
Expound, analyze, and argue doctrinal truth
Take that doctrinal truth and command a certain, necessary behavior from your congregation in response to it

The “logical progression” structure I discuss at the end of this post borrows from Paul’s typical flow. Essentially, since all application should arise from doctrinal truth, sermons which use a “Paul style” strictly separate doctrine and application. Moreover, this type of structure focuses on presenting doctrine first before transitioning to any sort of commands.

The benefits of this structure include:

Clear division of doctrine and application so they are not confused
Complete focus on either doctrine or application rather than switching from one to another
Logical order of doctrine then application based on that doctrine

Apply-as-you-go

The other major ordering of doctrine and application you see in the New Testament is common in the general Epistles. I call it the “Peter style” even though the ordering is found in Hebrews, 1 John, and James. In 1 Peter, Peter does not wait until the end of the letter to transition to application. Peter applies doctrine as he goes. Throughout 1 Peter, you read a doctrine and then almost immediately see it applied.

For example, halfway through 1 Peter 1, the text transitions from discussing the salvation and inheritance the Church has received in Christ to a call to holy living.

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:12-13, ESV emphasis added

So, a “Peter style” sermon structure does not move from doctrine to application, but from one point to the next. A sermon using this organization would look like this:

Introduction
Expound doctrinal truth 1
Apply doctrinal truth 1
Expound doctrinal truth 2
Apply doctrinal truth 2
Repeat until finished

As you can see, each point is applied as you go through the teaching. This style has several benefits:

Gives readers/listeners practical application as the sermon progresses
By applying doctrine as you go, each application is directly tied to whatever specific doctrine it arises from

There is more that could be said on the different ways to divide doctrine and application. But understanding the two general Biblical relations gives a helpful context for analyzing the sermon structures of great preachers.

Sermon Structure Archetypes from Great Preachers

There are four general patterns I have seen in how preachers order their sermons. I have ordered these four archetypes from most “text driven” in structure to most “preacher driven” in structure. “Text driven” refers to how much of your sermon structure is derived directly from the text while “preacher driven” refers to how much of your sermon structure comes from your own opinion on how the sermon should be ordered.

Running commentary

The first archetypal sermon structure I have encountered is what I will call the “running commentary”. Calling it a “structure” might be deceiving, however, because it is almost a non-structure. Your sermon starts at the beginning of the text and ends where you decide to end for that week. Its characteristics are simple:

Introduce & read the whole passage
Read a small section of the passage
Explain what it means
Move on to the next small section
Explain what it means
Repeat until complete

As you can see, there really is no formal structure to this type of sermon. The preacher simply works through the passage word by word, line by line and explains it and applies it as he goes. If you choose to preach using this method, you probably don’t even think about “sermon structure”. You simply go through the text and give your commentary to the congregation as you go.

There are definite positives to this method:

Every single word of a passage is explained to some degree
You can devote more focus to studying a text rather than figuring out how to structure your sermon
The length of the sermon can easily scale based on how large a passage you choose

There are some drawbacks to the “running commentary” method, however:

It is easy for your sermon to lack emphasis
You can focus so much on individual words or phrases that you “miss the forest in the trees”
Your sermon can sound more like a class teaching rather than heralding the word

I would argue this method is most helpful for dense passages of Scripture like prophecy or the Epistles. Passages which have a definite logical argument or inherent structure can benefits from having the “running commentary” approach applied. The thoroughness of this method makes it applicable to the most complicated and detailed portions of Scripture.

Text-determined structure

This method is still based on the text, but gives a more defined structure to your sermon than the “running commentary” method. Essentially, you look at whatever passage of Scripture you are expounding and find any transitions, shifts, or sections that are contained within it. You then use these divisions to form the backbone of your sermon. In the end, your sermon structure looks like this:

Introduce the text and its main divisions
Read, expound, and apply the first section
Read, expound, and apply the second section
Repeat until all sections of text are preached

This method I call “text-determined” because you are letting the logical, grammatical, or textual breaks of a passage determine each section of your sermon. In this way, your sermon structure is still determined by the passage of Scripture itself, but you are extracting an outline from the passage instead of just walking through the passage.

If I had to summarize this method, it is making the outline of your sermon the outline of the passage. To apply the “text-determined structure” you should outline the Bible passage you are preaching early on in your study. From there, you already have a rough sermon structure into which you can add any application or further exposition.

This method has a lot of advantages:

The flow of your sermon follows the flow of the passage
Sermon structure is easily seen by your congregation in the text itself
Your sermon’s transitions are based on real transitions within the text
Outlining the passage does “double duty” by also becoming the headings of your sermon

Some drawbacks to this method include:

Not every text or literary type easily breaks into a defined structure
Depending on the length of your text, your sermon can have too many points
The structure of the text might not be an ideal structure for understanding the meaning of the text

What is great about the “text-determined” structure is how applicable it is to different literary types and text lengths. I think it particularly shines when preaching through Psalms (which often have clear transition points), Epistles (which have logical and grammatical features which are easy to use as transition points), Proverbs, and prophetic writings. I would argue in most cases, this structure should be your default.

Clearest communication structure

This sermon structure is less “text driven” and more “preacher driven.” It is similar to the “text-determined” structure, only with another step to it. You find the transition points of a passage and outline it. However, then you order whatever sections exist in the text in an order you as the preacher think makes the most sense. You essentially pick whatever headings or points you think the text makes, and then order your sermon based on what you think makes the most sense to your listeners. A “clearest communication” sermon would look something like this:

Introduce the text and the main points you will preach on
Give point 1, show where it exists in the text, expound, apply
Give point 2, show where it exists in the text, expound, apply
Repeat until done preaching the passage

In this method, you are not making the outline of the text the outline of the sermon. Your sermon outline, though based in the text and your study of it, is decided by you, the preacher. You think through what the most clear way to preach the text is and you let that concern for clarity drive how you order your sermon. In the end, you decide what the “organizing factor” is within the text, whether that be the main points of emphasis, the main characters of a passage, or the events of the passage. In this method, you must make a sermon structure apart from whatever structure already exists in the text.

There are some definite benefits to this method:

You can make the emphasis of the passage the clear emphasis of your sermon
Your congregation is in view as you study and prepare to preach
This method allows you to reduce a long or complex passage into a few central points

As with all methods, there are some drawbacks too:

Your sermon structure can become arbitrary or foreign to the text itself
It can be less clear to the congregation where you get each point you make
You can spend too much time focused on how to present the text rather than what the text says

The “clearest communication” structure really shines with narrative sections of Scripture and long passages of Scripture. I have written before on the difficulties with preaching narrative. Unlike poetry or logical argumentation, narrative does not always have a clear structure to extract. Therefore, having the “clearest communication” structure in your toolbox will help you when you have to summarize large portions of Scripture or when you have to deal with texts that don’t have clear or equally sized divisions.

Logical progression structure

This final sermon structure is the most “preacher driven” and has the least connection to the structure of the text you are preaching. The “logical progression” structure fits any sermon on a given passage of Scripture into three categories: definition, exposition, and implication. The structure is as follows:

Introduce and read the text
Define key words in the text
Summarize the doctrinal truth from the text
Expound on this truth by connecting it with other Scripture
Draw out logical implications and applications of the doctrinal truth to your listeners.

This structure follows the “what does it say, what does it mean, how do I apply it” flow of a typical “inductive Bible study.” The Puritans often used this structure when they preached.

Some benefits of this structure include:

Clear, predictable flow for the congregation
Covers all major aspects of studying and applying a text
The sermon builds logically from the verse itself to the listener
The last thing your congregation hears is how the text applies to their lives

The drawback so the logical progression structure are:

Forces you to fit the nuances of a text into arbitrary categories
Treats all types of literature in the Bible the same way
Demands you reduce all of a passage into a single, definite proposition

I personally really enjoy this way of structuring a sermon. It particularly shines in expounding Epistles or smaller statements found in other Biblical literature. I do think this structure is not as effective with narrative passages or larger sections of Scripture in general. But if you are teaching only a verse or two, I highly recommend preaching like the Puritans did.

Conclusion

Structuring a sermon is a difficult but necessary task. There are a number of ways to order your teaching and no one way is the best fit for every type of literature of Scripture. My hope is that after reading this post, you have a few more sermon structures to pull from in the future. One of the highest privileges of a preacher is presenting the truth of the Bible clearly to the congregation. Keep thinking through ways to better communicate God’s truth to others.

For tools to help you in your sermon preparation, check out the Bible Study Tools page. If you need help thinking through sermon application, use these series of questions the Puritans used. I used some of these sermon structures in my own preaching, which you can find here.