Stage 7 – Message Outline

This Piece of Paper is Different

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The stages of sermon preparation are not rigid.  They are not like the seven chapters of a book that must be covered in sequence.  They are like loose pieces of paper.  In fact, they can be loose pieces of paper.  Have a page entitled Passage Study, and one for Passage Idea.  Also a Purpose page, a message idea page, and one for message shape, etc.  For message details you probably want three – introduction, conclusion and illustrations.  You can write on any page at any time as you work through the seven stages.  But there’s one more piece of paper, one that has a specific place in the process, and yet should be ignored in certain other stages.  You might entitle it, “Questions of the Text.”

Do use this page in an initial reading of the passage.  Before you study in any detail, read through the text and write down questions of the text.  What needs explaining?  What is not clear?  Are there details, or names, or words that are begging further attention?  Anything that is not immediately clear, write it down.  This is now a valuable piece of paper.  You may study in detail, maybe in original languages, probably in commentaries.  For a period of time you will live in that text.  You will forget what it is like to be a newcomer to the text.  Just like having someone visit your country is fascinating as you watch them observing what to you is familiar, your list of questions is a clue to the experience of a non-native in that text.  Your listeners will be new to the text when you preach it.  Your questions may be similar to theirs, so the list has real value.

Do not use this page in stage 6 – sermon shape.  At this stage do not let that sheet drive your preparation.  If you do, you run the risk of preaching a list of answers to questions, a series of distinct ideas.  A string of disjointed explanations may be considered expository preaching by some, but not here.

Do use this page once you are finished.  Having crafted and written a draft of your sermon, then you can break out the list again.  Which questions are not answered in the course of the message?  If it’s a question a first-time reader is likely to have of that text, you should probably answer it at some point in the message.  You don’t want that to be an obstacle to hearing the main point.  So the first thing you wrote in the process of preparing the message can be a great tool as you run your final checks prior to delivery.

The Message and the Text

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The relationship of a message to the Bible text is clear. We are to begin with the text, derive the message from the text and bring it to our people today. Van Harn emphasizes the importance of the “from” in the following quote:

“Preaching is from Bible texts. Not on Bible texts – although some sermons stay right there and never seem to leave the text. Not about Bible texts – although some sermons seem that distant and detached. Not around Bible texts – although some sermons seem to move in circles. Not above Bible texts – although some sermons travel in thin air. Not under Bible texts – although some sermons seem to be hiding. The word is from.”

Van Harn, Preacher, Can You Hear Us Listening, 61.

How Being a Preacher Can Kill Your Bible Study

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The stages of sermon preparation are not a hard and fast series of steps. It is possible to have a useful thought for the introduction, conclusion, illustrations, and so on, very early in the process. Yet these are all stage 7 elements – message details. So even though it is possible to have thoughts at any time, it is usually better to note them and leave them until later. This is especially important in stage 2 – passage study. A commitment to expository preaching requires that we keep stage 2 unpolluted by stages 5-7.

1. As you are studying your passage you are not looking for a sermon. If you collapse stage 6 – sermon shape, into stage 2 – passage study, you will undermine the whole process. It is critical to study the passage first, to understand it, rather than to form it into a sermon.

2. If your mind creeps ahead, make a note and get back to stage 2. We’re all tempted to see our points as we study. Write them down and put them aside. That is not yet. We easily look for our sermon structure, will there be two points, or three? Inductive or deductive? Don’t. Write down any thoughts and then put that aside.

3. Be clear on your goal in studying a passage. What is the goal of studying the passage? It is not to find the sermon. It is not to determine the points of the sermon. It is not to utilize our Greek or Hebrew until we feel we have fulfilled some sense of duty. It is not to parse verbs endlessly, or do word study after word study. The goal of studying the passage is to find, with some degree of confidence, the passage idea. The goal of stage 2 is stage 3 (and part of stage 4). The goal of studying the passage is to know what the author’s idea was, and why he wrote it. Seems obvious, but we easily forget. In fact, many of us have never been told that. I don’t recall my seminary profs training me to exegete a passage so that I grasp the author’s main idea. But that is the goal. All the Bible study skills we have are there to work towards that.

Determine the main idea of the passage, with as much confidence as you can achieve in the time you have. Then you are ready to start considering the purpose of your sermon, your sermon idea and your sermon outline. Do these things too soon and you may abort your Bible study.

Preaching to the Heart: A Recipe

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It is easy to preach a sermon to the mind, to the will, or even to the emotions of our listeners.  Information feeds the mind, pressure pounds on the will, vivid emotive illustrations can stir the emotions.  Yet what does it take to reach the heart?  How can we preach to the core of our people?

According to Tim Keller, there are two key ingredients, no three.

1. Imagination is critical.  On its own imagination in preaching will only hit the emotions.  Yet good preaching requires vivid imagination.

2. Reasoned logic is critical.  On its own reasoned logic in preaching will only hit the mind.  Yet good preaching requires reasonable logic and orderly thought.

Two exemplary preachers for Keller are Jonathan Edwards and C.S. Lewis.  Both preached sermons shot through with logic, but plunged in imagination.  No temperament will naturally do both, but by God’s grace we must.  And that leads to ingredient number three:

3. The gospel is critical.  On its own, the human heart will default to legalism and religion, or license and irreligion.  Keller is right when he warns us not to preach religion as opposed to irreligion, but the gospel as opposed to either of them.  Good preaching requires us to present the glorious gospel, so that hearts are drawn by the powerful attraction of Christ and the grace of God.  As it was stated centuries ago – “affection is only overcome by greater affection.”  Thus, the grace of God can stir the heart from its other loves.  Nothing else will do.

Is Your Preaching in a Rut?

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It is easy to settle into a pattern of the familiar and comfortable.  We do this in all areas of life: same breakfast cereal, same choice in the restaurant, same type of movie, same store for clothes.  It is natural and usually not a problem.  But once in a while it is good to vary things.  A different salad dressing, one of those new deli sandwiches on the menu, a thriller or rom-com instead of the usual _______ (fill in the blank).  In the same way, in our preaching it is easy to get into a rut.  Perhaps it’s time to challenge yourself with something fresh:

1. Different kind of text: I don’t mean preaching from a different “holy book.”  Perhaps you find yourself always preaching epistles, or Old Testament narratives, or stories from the gospels.  Schedule something different – one of the other three above, or a Psalm, a Proverb, a Prophet.

2. Different shape of sermon: It’s easy to always preach deductively (main idea up front), or inductively (just the theme or subject up front, the main idea emerging at the end).  When the text allows for it, try the other one, or an inductive-deductive outline.  Perhaps your sermons are always a list of keyword points?  Try preaching a one-point message.

3. Different type of sermon: When was the last time you preached first-person?  Loads of options – you can be the writer, a character, an implied character.  You can visit your listeners today, or have them travel through time and visit you back then.  You can preach the whole sermon in character, or part of a sermon.  You can use costume, props or neither one.

4. Different props in delivery: If you’re used to taking a manuscript into the pulpit, try abbreviated notes.  If you’re into notes, try no notes (see earlier posts on how to do this).  If you usually project something on a screen, try turning it off and having people look at you instead.

5. Different preaching logistics: If you always preach from behind a pulpit, try removing the pulpit, or move out from behind it.  Perhaps stand on a different level, or even sit on a high stool (if it suits the sermon). 

A change is as good as a rest.  You will benefit from getting out of the rut, and you may find your people listen more attentively too!

Pointers for Points

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The preacher’s outline is a representation of his thought structure.   It is the skeleton on which the flesh of the preaching content lives.  The main chunks, or movements, in a message are often referred to as the “points” of the sermon.  Assuming you write an outline, here are a few pointers that may help your points:

1. Write each point as a complete sentence.  It is tempting to write a title describing the content of the section of text, just as a commentary might.  Often such titles are not full sentences.  Each main point in a sermon is an idea in its own right (a sub-idea in relation to the main idea, if you will), so it should be a complete sentence – not incomplete or vague.  Writing a sermon and writing a commentary are different tasks.

2. Write each point applicationally.  This means a declarative statement, rather than a question or functional description (like a commentary).  By forcing yourself to write the point as a complete sentence that is targeted at the lives of your listeners, you are maintaining the connection between text and audience throughout the message.  In many sermons there is no advantage in saving the application just for the end.  Stronger connection equals stronger message.

3. Write each point to support the main idea.  Each point in a message is a complete idea, but it is not a stand-alone idea.  It’s role is to support the main idea of the message.

4. Remember that the outline is for you.  The outline is for you, not for them, so think carefully before making your points show.  Full and applicational sentences communicate well, but incomplete and vague thoughts, if stated, make the skeleton stick out.  Fashions may change, but bony is not attractive.

5. Remember the importance of transitions.  Since they are hearing, rather than reading the message, you must give real attention to the transitions that move the message between points.

Question: Should We Cover More in Our Sermons?

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Following on from yesterday’s post, I want to address the issue of “covering more.”  Here’s the question again:

In the Church today, we find that most preachers preach for 30-60 minutes on one topic or passage. Indeed, many will take a few verses and preach on them at length.

The examples we have in the bible of Jesus’ sermons show a very different way of preaching. He seemed to cover many topics in every sermon. For instance the ‘Sermon on the mount’ covers a range of things but preachers these days tend to just take one section of it and preach for an hour on that section.

Is there any validity, in your opinion, to the idea that we labour points too long and actually ought to cover more in our sermons?

Peter M responds:

Preaching on one passage – Expository preaching does not require a preacher to stay in one passage. It is possible to have an expository sermon that goes to several passages. Yet to deal with each passage as one should tends to make the process overwhelming. I always encourage preachers to deal with one passage more fully, rather than skipping around unnecessarily. There are reasons to refer to other passages, but for some preachers it seems this is a standard practice. I suggest it is usually better to stay put in one place.  This does not mean boring preaching though.  The preacher should be as engaging and interesting as possible.  It takes some skill to demonstrate the relevance and interest in a passage.  It is better to develop that skill than to hide the lack of it by jumping around the canon.

The example of NT sermons – We can learn a lot by analyzing the sermons recorded in the New Testament.  There are different sermon forms used, clear awareness of differing audiences, and so on.  Yet it is important to remember that while the written form represents the original accurately, it is not an exhaustive transcription.  I suspect Peter preached for longer than a couple of minutes at Pentecost, and Jesus’ “sermon on the mount” was probably not delivered as it stands in our Bibles.  So it might not be wise to try to recreate the Sermon on the Mount. At the same time recognize that it is not as random as many suspect.  What seems to be one subject after another, may actually be one illustration or application after another.  For example, notice the repetitive pattern in Matthew 5:21-48 – do we have five new subjects or five specific applications of the same principle?

Amount of content in a sermon – I am not an advocate for “dumbing down” sermons or “salad preaching” (no meat).  A message should have an appropriate amount of content at the right level of weightiness for the listeners present.  Yet the goal is to communicate the main idea of the passage in order to achieve the purpose of the message.  The goal is not to impress people with content (sadly, for some preachers, this is their goal).  This wrong goal is often encouraged as some listeners tend to affirm dense preaching despite their own inability to take it in!

Some preachers should cover more, others would do well to cover less.  There is no standard rule, but the passage and the audience are both significant factors in determining how much content, both breadth and depth, should be covered in one message.

Question: Do We Labor Points Too Long?

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Question submitted to the site last week by Peter P:

In the Church today, we find that most preachers preach for 30-60 minutes on one topic or passage. Indeed, many will take a few verses and preach on them at length.

The examples we have in the bible of Jesus’ sermons show a very different way of preaching. He seemed to cover many topics in every sermon. For instance the ‘Sermon on the mount’ covers a range of things but preachers these days tend to just take one section of it and preach for an hour on that section.

Is there any validity, in your opinion, to the idea that we labour points too long and actually ought to cover more in our sermons?

Peter M responds:

Interesting question, thanks for asking it. Someone once said to preachers, “If after ten minutes you haven’t struck oil, stop boring!” Here are a few thoughts on the subject of sermon length, then tomorrow I’ll consider the issue of “covering more” in our sermons.

The solution to poor expository preaching – I usually suggest that preachers are better off focusing more on one passage and one main idea. However, it is fair to say that many preachers do make sermons and sermon points drag on too long! I think uninteresting preaching is a travesty. However, the solution to poor expository preaching is not non-expository preaching, but better expository preaching.

Sermon length – I don’t want to say too much, but a couple of comments may be helpful. I don’t think there is a “correct” sermon length. The local situation is a major factor in this, but another factor is the preacher’s ability. Some people say that people today cannot take a sermon longer than 30 minutes. I think this is a generalization. In reality people can and will do so happily, but only if the preacher is thoroughly engaging and effective. So the length of a sermon will depend on local cultural expectations (try preaching “short” in some non-western cultures!), and on preacher ability. I rarely hear a preacher than can go for an hour effectively, but there are some.

How long should a point be laboured? – My answer would be not at all, but how long should a point be preached? The nature of oral delivery requires a certain amount of time and explanation, as well as restatement, to allow a thought to form in the minds of the listeners. I was taught at least 3-5 minutes. Yet this does not mean five minutes of “labouring.” There are many tools available for communicating a point – statement, restatement, repetition, explanation, support, illustration, application and so on. So there’s no need to labour a point, but effective oral communicators know that it takes lots of planning ahead of time and some time in delivery for a point to truly do its work of forming a clear idea in the listeners’ minds.

Tomorrow I’ll give some thoughts on the example of NT sermons and the amount of content in a sermon.

When Your Preparation Hits a Brick Wall

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I’m sure I am not the only preacher who sometimes, perhaps regularly, hits a brick wall during preparation.  What can you do when the words are no longer coming, and your brain is starting to give you cause for concern?

1. Do something else.  Profoundly obvious, but it is easy to feel obliged to stay put and strive fruitlessly.  Perhaps this is your allotted time for this stage of sermon preparation, so you feel obligated to endure.  But when the brain is stuck, it can be unstuck by something else.  Perhaps switching to a different part of the sermon preparation will help, maybe thinking through possible illustrations, or writing a rough draft of the conclusion.  Perhaps you should switch to other work and come back to the sermon (be careful not to just procrastinate though, switch to stimulate your thinking again).  Perhaps you should take an energizing trip to the gym, or pick up your guitar for a few minutes.  Get the brain unstuck.

2. Discuss the sermon.  Sometimes hours and hours of study can be helped beyond belief by a brief discussion of the sermon.  Perhaps another preacher might help.  I find a brief chat with Mike helps no end.  Try to find someone you know will help either through their input or their ability to listen and probe carefully.  Perhaps your spouse.  Perhaps a pre-arranged group from the congregation.

3. Deliver the sermon.  Somehow the link between brain and pen is different than the link between brain and tongue.  Sometimes it helps to stand up with an open Bible and just preach the message.  Verbalizing the message may release the jam and allow the study to flow.  Having done this, it is important to get back to the outline, manuscript, or whatever, and not just rely on a good “practice run.”

4. Doze or get a full night.  The mind can get overwhelmed and slow down just like my computer.  But the wonder of God’s creation is that the brain can defragment as we sleep.  I rarely take power naps, but some people swear by them.  If it’s late, take a full night’s sleep and come back to the message in the morning.  Sometimes when it is not time to sleep yet, I’ll leave the message, but review my sticking point right before retiring to bed (but don’t do that if you suffer from insomnia).

5. Divine help, obviously.  Of course, firstly, lastly, throughoutly, be in prayer about the passage, the personal application of it, the sermon and so on.  Preaching is a profoundly spiritual endeavor and it would be totally wrong to omit this point.  However, it would be naïve to only include this point.  Sometimes God helps us through prayer, plus a trip to the gym, or a good sleep!

Preaching Epistolary Texts as Story

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The question that led to the previous post implied the problem of repetition of style when preaching epistolary texts. It is easy to get into a rut of one deductive sermon after another. One option to consider that may help bring some variety into a preaching series, is to preach an epistolary text as story.

A story has characters, a situation, tension, and some form of response to that tension. Most stories resolve, although a story without full resolution can be very powerful. In reality, an epistle is an episode in a story. There are characters (the writer and recipients, at least), a situation, some type of tension that the writer is responding to through writing the epistle. Furthermore, in most cases, we do not know how the story actually resolves.

So when preaching a text from an epistle, consider telling the story of the situation. Perhaps offer some incomplete responses that might only make the situation worse. Then introduce the actual response of the apostle. Describe how that response might resolve the situation. Describe what successful application of the passage would look like back then, and today. Make clear the claims of the passage on the listeners both then and now. Conclude without resolution, recognizing that the story is incomplete until the listeners have become doers of the Word also.