Expository Sermon Outline: The Rich Man and Lazarus
This paper presents a fully developed homiletical outline for an expository sermon drawn from Luke 16:19-23, the narrative of the Rich Man and Lazarus. After a brief introduction to expository preaching as a method that explains, illustrates, and applies scripture, the outline proceeds through five major discussion sections: the characters, the circumstances of their deaths, the rich man's cries for himself, his cries for his family, and concluding lessons. The sermon addresses themes of covetousness, eternal judgment, and the sufficiency of scripture, and closes with an evangelistic invitation. References draw on established homiletics scholars including Robinson, McDill, and Hamilton.
- Introduction to Expository Preaching: Defines expository preaching and its purpose
- Sermon Overview and Outline Structure: Sermon subject, title, proposition, and aims
- The Characters: Rich Man and Lazarus: Detailed description of both narrative characters
- The Circumstances: Death and the Afterlife: What happens to each character after death
- The Rich Man's Cries and Abraham's Responses: Rich man's pleas for himself and his family
- Conclusions and Evangelistic Invitation: Lessons on covetousness, judgment, and salvation
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What makes this paper effective
- The outline follows a clear, hierarchical structure — proposition, objectives, aim, discussion, and conclusion — modeling a professionally organized homiletical document that students can replicate.
- Each major section is supported by direct scriptural references, grounding every interpretive claim in the biblical text and demonstrating how expository preaching draws content from scripture rather than external sources.
- The closing invitation applies the sermon's lessons practically, distinguishing between lapsed Christians and non-Christians and offering specific steps, which shows how expository preaching is designed for real-world audience engagement.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates homiletical outlining as a formal academic and ministerial skill. Rather than writing a flowing essay, the author structures the argument in numbered, layered outline form — a standard technique in preaching education — while still integrating scholarly citations from homiletics literature to justify the expository method chosen. This blending of structural form and academic sourcing is the defining technique of the work.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a short academic introduction citing homiletics scholars, then transitions into a full sermon outline. The outline includes a scripture reference, subject, title, sermon type, proposition, objectives, and aim before moving into an introduction section (which interrogates whether the passage is a parable) and five discussion sections (Characters, Circumstances, Cry for Self, Cry for Family, and Conclusions). A formal conclusion and evangelistic invitation close the sermon, followed by a reference list.
Introduction to Expository Preaching
An expository sermon tries to illustrate, explain, and give the practical application of scripture in life. It aims at helping the audience identify the factual interpretation of scripture in their lives. Such a stance is an ideal of high order — a reigniting of the preacher's soul that glistens with conviction and an enthusiastic touch (Knott, 1930; Hamilton, 1992). Every writer and preacher who broaches homiletics views expository sermons as an approach par excellence.
The preaching of expository sermons is a fabulous area for the preacher. It inspires the preacher, profoundly, to study scripture. Expository preaching encourages the preacher to look for sermon content from the Bible as opposed to other sources such as works of science and philosophy. It is a misplaced notion to think that the Bible is not as rich in material for sermons as those other sources. Most people who think the Bible is boring and lacks such material hold that view because of their ignorance about the Bible (Brosend, 2017; McDill, 2006). This essay is an expository sermon example derived from Luke 16:19–23.
Sermon Overview and Outline Structure
Scripture Ref: Luke 16:19–23
Subject: Covetousness
Title: Lazarus and the Rich Man
Type: Expository
Proposition: To examine the narrative of the rich man and Lazarus, and notice: 1. The Characters, 2. The Circumstances, 3. The Rich Man's Cries, 4. Story Conclusions.
Objectives: Everyone in the audience should be in a position to understand the story, explain it, and repeat it.
Aim: To make everyone familiar with the story and to render lessons to the audience so as to ensure that people do not find themselves in a similar predicament as the rich man.
1. Reading of Luke 16:19–23.
2. About the text:
i. The context begins at Luke 16:13 onwards.
ii. The contrast between service to God and to mammon (v. 13).
iii. The overhead covetous Pharisees (v. 14) — they made themselves appear just before the eyes of men. They rejected John the Baptist, refused to acknowledge what the law said, and lived lawlessly in their marriage activities.
iv. The story starts within this context.
3. Note: Is this just a parable?
i. Jesus mentions an actual person in the story (Lazarus), which is a departure from the form of parables.
ii. Parables are stories from earth with a meaning drawn from heaven. This one is a story with a spiritual warning.
iii. The story highlights Abraham being alive; Jesus reaffirms the story to the Sadducees (Matthew 22:32).
iv. If the outcomes of the story are unreal, then we need to examine: (a) the purpose of the story, and (b) the warning it carries with regard to eternal death.
v. What is the motivation for reading it as only a parable?
vi. However, even if it is assumed to be a parable, this would not of necessity mitigate the truth of its content. Parables are drawn from true and real life situations — they are not fictitious.
The Characters: Rich Man and Lazarus
i. Described as rich: self-satisfied and independent.
ii. In purple clothing: purple was a known color of royalty and wealth. Jesus was dressed in a purple robe before his crucifixion (John 19:2, 5). Lydia traded in purple garments (Acts 16:14).
iii. Fine linen: this was also the clothing of the rich man. Genesis 41:42 references Joseph, and 1 Chronicles 15:27 references David when bearing the ark on his journey back to Israel.
iv. Fared sumptuously: a robust and healthy individual dining in finesse, enjoying all of life's indulgences.
i. A beggar: relied on charity for food and depended on others for all needs.
ii. Laid at a gate: this shows he was placed there by someone and could not find his way around.
iii. Full of sores: signaling his deteriorating physical health.
iv. Desired crumbs: he wanted nothing beyond the leftovers — only the small portions needed to keep him alive.
v. Dogs licked his sores: this shows he was helpless, given no medical attention by anyone, and that the dogs were his only company.
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