How It's Scored

What every faithful sermon has to get right.

Here's what we're evaluating for. Eleven questions, across four areas — each one rooted in the wisdom of a teacher or model who has shaped how the church preaches. Tap any question to see the principle behind it.

Category 1

Text & Theology

Does the sermon say what the text actually says?

Honoring the passage's genre, context, and grammar, rather than using the verse as a launchpad for the preacher's own agenda. The Simeon Trust workshop calls this letting the text drive the sermon, not the other way around.

Does it land in the gospel or stop at good advice?

Whether the sermon arrives at the person and work of Christ, or settles for moralism and better-living principles. Bryan Chapell calls this the redemptive arc: every text finally points to Christ.

Would a non-Christian in the room know what the good news is?

Whether the gospel is made unmistakable — not just what listeners should do better, but why the news is good. Piper's standard for gospel clarity.

Category 2

Structure & Craft

What human pain, sin, or suffering is this sermon addressing?

Chapell's Fallen Condition Focus: the specific aspect of human fallenness the text speaks to, named in one present-tense sentence, with the sermon anchored to it throughout.

Is there one main thing, and will anyone remember it by mid-week?

Whether the sermon has a single dominant idea the text itself yields, with every part serving it, in a shape that's actually graspable. Simeon Trust calls this the melodic line; Haddon Robinson, the big idea.

Does it preach the hard parts or skip past them?

Whether the sermon wrestles with the genuinely difficult verses, the ones that resist easy resolution, instead of defusing them too fast and papering them over. A faithful sermon lets the hard thing be hard, then preaches through it, not around it.

Category 3

Application & Audience

Does this reach the real people in the room or stay a lecture about the biblical text?

Whether the sermon crosses the bridge into the listener's actual life. Keller's three-audiences lens asks whether believers, doubters, and seekers are all addressed.

Does the sermon shape a clear emotional arc?

Whether lament, joy, warning, comfort, and awe are woven into the structure and rhythm of the text, not flattened into one register throughout. In your written evaluation, this criterion scores emotional arc and dynamics in prose as part of the 11-criterion dashboard. A visual beat-by-beat timeline is planned for when audio upload is available; today the assessment lives in the category narrative, not a separate panel.

Does it aim at specific kinds of people and real situations?

Whether the application is specific. "We all struggle with idolatry" is wallpaper; "if you're the dad checking work email at the dinner table, this text is speaking to you" is pastoral specificity. Keller's standard.

Category 4

Ecclesial & Spiritual

Does this build up the church as the people of God under the Word?

Whether the sermon strengthens the congregation's understanding of itself. In the 9Marks framework, expositional preaching is the first mark of a healthy church.

Has the preacher been moved to worship by what he's preaching?

Whether there's evidence of worshipful affection, not just information transfer. Piper calls this expository exultation: a sermon that explains without exulting is a lecture; one that exults without explaining is a pep talk.

Why You Can Trust The Rubric

Drawn from the traditions that have shaped you.

Every criterion in The Sermon Coach traces back to a named principle in one of six sources. When the tool tells you your Fallen Condition Focus is drifting, it's holding you to the standard Chapell laid out in Christ-Centered Preaching.

Bryan Chapell

Christ-Centered Preaching

Fallen Condition Focus · the redemptive arc · the principle of unity in sermon structure

The Simeon Trust

The workshop method

Textual fidelity · melodic line · theme, aim, and application · structure that flows from the text

John Piper

Expository Exultation

Gospel clarity · preaching as worship · affections shaped by the cross

9Marks

Expositional preaching

Ecclesial faithfulness · preaching that builds the church's understanding of itself under the Word

Tim Keller

Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism

Three-audiences framework · pastoral specificity · naming the cultural counter-narrative

Haddon Robinson

Biblical Preaching

The big idea · structural unity · expository development

Each question is scored 1–5, summing to a composite out of 55, which maps to a band label:

Exemplary · Strong · Faithful · Needs Improvement · Significant Concerns

Most faithful preaching lands in the Faithful or Strong band. "Faithful" isn't a subpar sermon. It's one that is sufficient to build the church. The point isn't a perfect score; it's making your next sermon better than the last.

Try the rubric on a real sermon.

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The Sermon Coach is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Bryan Chapell, Tim Keller, John Piper, Haddon Robinson, the Simeon Trust, 9Marks, or any author, ministry, or organization whose published work informs its rubric. All names and works are referenced for identification and attribution only.