Yesterday I looked at William Perkins’ four condition for application and four kinds of application. One modern expositor who knows the value of discriminatory application is Mark Dever.

Each week when Dever preaches he takes the main points of his sermon and ask how each of them are related to the following six categories:

DEVER’S SIX CATEGORIES OF APPLICATION

1. Unique Salvation History – What about the passage is important for the way God unfolds his plan of salvation in history? What’s unrepeatable by us but worthy of worshiping God for?
2. Non-Christian – How does the passage speak to the unbeliever? How does it call him/her to repentance and belief? How does it warn, rebuke, correct, or prod the unbeliever? What does it say about the danger of the unbeliever’s situation, the exclusivity of Christ, the sinner’s need for a Savior, or the sufficiency of that Savior as a substitute for the sinner?
3. Public – What does the passage say about our lives and roles in the public sphere, both as Christians and non-Christians (e.g., government, neighborhood)?
4. Christ – How is Jesus foreshadowed or typed? What particular perfection of Christ does that type depict? How is Jesus remembered or described in character, authority, glory, or essence?
5. Christian – What does the passage mean for the life of the individual Christian? How does it call him/her to deeper repentance and belief? How does it warn, rebuke, correct, motivate, comfort, or encourage the Christian?
6. Local Church – What does the passage mean for the corporate life of our local church? How does it call the local corporate body to tend to its corporate life together and corporate witness to the unbelieving community around it?

So, let’s say Dever has three points in a given sermon. If every point has a clear application in all six categories, he could have as many as 18 different applications! But, as you can see from this sample, not every point has an application in every category. Our friends over at 9Marks have provided you with a blank sermon application grid for you to put this philosophy of application into practice.

APPLICATION IN COMMUNITY

One thing Dever does to aid sermon prep is letting church members or interns speak into his sermon application grid. The last I heard his normal practice was to do this on Saturdays with a few men in his church. I can only imagine how often these men bring applications to mind that may have been missed otherwise. Not only would such a practice benefit the sermon, but think of the discipleship benefit for these other men! The sermon’s application is aim at the congregation’s life, so it makes total sense why including parts of the congregation in sermon prep can be a great advantage. I’d encourage you to consider how you might do something similar in your preaching ministry.

I hope these posts on discriminatory application, both old and new, stirs you to apply God’s word in fresh ways this coming Lord’s Day.