Stage 8 – Message Detail

Not a Rule, But a Commitment to Expository Order

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I split the preparation process into two.  Stages 1-4 focus on the text.  Stages 5-8 are concerned with forming the message.  Before beginning to think about the message, it is a good idea to consider the listeners (audience analysis).  Until this point the focus is on the text.  From this point on the focus is on both the text and listeners.

Obviously it cannot be a rule that no thought should be given to the listeners in the first half of the preparation process.  Our minds will naturally and often wander onto those for whom we care pastorally.  We will see points of application.  We will have illustrative thoughts coming to mind.  We will remember that their questions of the text must be answered if they are to receive a full message.  At times in the process we will mentally jump ahead and make a note for later in the process (an illustration, a helpful nugget of the wordsmith’s craft, etc.)

However, we should have a strong commitment to keeping our focus on the text in the first part of our preparation.  Brief and even frequent thoughts related to our listeners may be acceptable.  Periodic leaps forward in our notes to record a thought for later in the process is fine.  But first and foremost our objective is to understand the passage.  What did the author mean?  What was his purpose?  What is the idea conveyed in the text itself?

We must make a firm commitment to first truly study the Bible, rather than hunting for a sermon in the sacred text.  The study process should lead to application in our own lives, which should naturally then lead on to an applied message for our listeners.  But our first task is not to find a message, but to let the Scripture be master of our lives, then of our message.  A commitment to expository preaching is a commitment to study the text first.  It’s not a hard and fast rule, but it is a commitment.

Real Life Is Raw

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As I write this post I am sitting in a café working away at my laptop.  I can tune out most of what is going on around me.  But not at the moment.  Two parents and a teenage daughter are having a dispute at the next table.  It’s simple really.  The father wants to protect his daughter and she is resisting.  He loves her.  She knows best.  Her friend sleeps with her boyfriend, so why can’t she?  Friends matter more than some old-fashioned morals.  The mother is sitting silently on the sidelines, but the Dad is obviously hurting.  So is the daughter.  He wouldn’t move her from one school to another, would he?  Emotions run high.  I’m starting to feel emotion just sitting here trying not to listen.

Real life is raw.  Real life stirs emotions.  People don’t worry for a moment.  They lie awake fretting.  People don’t solve problems in a vacuum.  The emotions rise and relationships fray.  People don’t live life in three-second statements.  They live it in the raw.  Life is complex.  Life is painful.  Life is real.

As I sit here I am reminded that simply referring to the fact that people have struggles with health, or in marriage, or raising teens, is not enough to guarantee connection.  Empathy requires an emotional engagement with the pain of peoples’ lives.  God sovereignly allows us to experience certain pain to increase our empathy.  But let’s not rely on that, let’s be sure to engage our emotions and try to feel the reality of the life people live.  Maybe then our empathy will be more complete, and our connection to real life in the pulpit more effective.

Word Process the Reading

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If you have a Bible reading that stands distinct, either within the sermon or before it, then consider using a word processor.  Why?  Because it is so hard to read well in public.  Simply pasting the text into a document and then breaking it into appropriate phrases can make a huge difference.  A few minutes of work, a little thought and some practice.  You can make sure there are no hanging prepositions, no unnatural intonation, no sentences that surprisingly demand an extra breath.

A reading well read can be powerful.  Poorly read and it is a liability.  (I know it is tempting to use the reading to give others “easy” opportunity to participate, but be careful, for their sake as well as the listeners!)

Don’t take the reading of a Bible text for granted.  Don’t let your Sunday service sound like a poor Christmas carol service, only with unfamiliar readings.  Give a few minutes of preparation so the text can be read well.  The text is powerful.  As Spurgeon once said in reference to defending the Bible, it’s like a lion, so just open the gate and let it out.  A good reading lets the text out, and it surely is a thing of power!

There is Power in a Transition

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It’s like a wave crashing onto the beach.  It can be big or small.  It can be obvious or hardly noticed.  But as a preacher you must notice your transitions.  What you can’t afford to do is forget the power in a transition.  Like a wave it can be beautiful, or destructive.  A transition can reinforce the content and flow of your message.  It can give people another entry point into your content.  It can convey a sense of unity and progress and order!  Or a transition mishandled can throw people right out of the message, it can lose them in a moment.  Taking your transitions for granted is like standing with your back to the ocean – you may get away with it, or you may be destroyed by it.

In your next message, evaluate your transitions.  Are they thought-through and deliberate?  What is the strategy for each one?  Is it to reinforce the main idea, or restate the question in an inductive sermon?  Is it to review ground covered?  Is it to signal progress?  Is it to continue a list (as when a subject is gradually being completed)?  Is it to change pace or give a concentration break?  Is it moving from one point to an equal, or to a subordinate?  Is the transition developed enough?  Is it slow enough so that people are not thrown out in the curve?  Is it too weak to stand between the power of the points?  Does it promise too much for what will follow?  Is it begging for deliberate pause to make it effective?

Transitions are powerful, whether you plan them or not.  They can make a message.  They can destroy a message.  Take some minutes to evaluate and plan your transitions in your next message.  It’s worth the effort.

Process and Forgive First

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At times we get angry.  Perhaps justly so.  But remember the advice you give to others.  I would tell others to prayerfully process their feelings and even forgive someone who had offended them before confronting them.  The same applies in preaching.  You read something or hear something.  It makes you hot with anger or even rage.  It is tempting to unload in the pulpit.  People do respond to a fiery preacher with his heart on his sleeve.  But be careful.

I just read something that really made me angry.  No details here, but it relates to the planned actions of someone vying for a leadership position.  I would be tempted to make reference to this in a forthcoming sermon.  But if I did so, without first processing it before God, I would be making comments with an edge.   I’d be lashing out without preparing my own heart.

It may be appropriate to speak the truth.  It may fit with the message and be highly relevant.  It may even be my role to represent a biblical perspective on contemporary culture.  But it is also my role to represent a biblical perspective in a godly manner.  I must spend time prayerfully processing, and even forgiving, before risking a misrepresentation of my righteous, but gracious God.

Is Preparation Spiritual?

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Periodically I come across people who think it is wrong to study preaching, or to prepare in any specific way for a sermon.  Perhaps there are more, but they don’t make themselves known to me – quite possible.  I like this succinct paragraph from Wayne McDill’s 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching (p219):

Some preachers are lazy.  Others do not know what to do.  Some rationalize their poor preparation with pious talk about “inspiration” and “just letting the Spirit speak.”  The fact is that God has decided to use preachers.  Our laziness does not help the Holy Spirit; it hinders him.  There is nothing particularly spiritual about poor sermon preparation.

McDill goes on to challenge the reader to work at their sermon preparation in direct proportion to their estimate of the value of preaching.  I like that.  While it may be possible to over-professionalize preaching, leave the Spirit out of our study and lean wholly on our own understanding, there is also real danger in the opposite extreme.  Preparation is not automatically spiritual, neither is it automatically unspiritual.  So let’s be careful to pursue our preparation both diligently and spiritually – all to the glory of God.

Blinkers Off

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When preaching a narrative it is important to preach a whole story, but don’t wear blinkers.  I am referring to the beginning and end of the specific narrative in question.  We easily fall into the trap of believing that section breaks added in a contemporary version are actually inspired dividers that should separate two distinct texts.  In reality the Bible authors usually strung several stories together.  We may preach only one story, but we must be aware of the flow.

Take, for example, the story of Zaccheus as Jesus left Jericho in Luke 19:1-10.  This story is naturally paired with the other man who couldn’t see as Jesus entered Jericho at the end of chapter 18.  But I would suggest the flow goes back further.  There are a pair of prayer parables at the start of 18, the first connecting strongly with the end of chapter 17.  The second (Pharisee and Tax Collector) begins a flow of stories reaching into chapter 19.  After the shocking story of the two men going to the temple to pray, Luke illustrates the right attitude in approaching God with two stories – one positive and one negative.  First the little children coming to Jesus and then the Rich Young Ruler.  This ends with the challenge of how a rich man can be saved when such is impossible in human terms.  The answer is that it is possible with God (and Jesus goes on to explain how he will suffer and die in Jerusalem).  Then another pair of stories, two men who can’t see, one ends positively, the next?  You’d expect negative – it’s another rich man, this time a despised sinner, one worthy of condemnation by any standard.  But he is saved.  How?  By this same Jesus taking the wrath of the crowds on himself to save the man from probable posse justice.  Zaccheus the rich man is saved by Christ who takes it on himself.  The text flows from at least 18:9 through 19:10.

We need to take the blinkers off as we study the gospels and narrative books of the Bible.  We need to look for how the individual elements are tied together by a very purposeful author.  It will help us to understand what is being communicated.  Furthermore, it is worth thinking about sharing some of this with the listeners.  Not to overwhelm or distract from the message of the specific text in question.  But enough to clarify that the gospels were not written in NIV sections, and maybe even to motivate them to study the flow of the text for themselves.

Cut Unnecessary Intros

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This would apply to the whole sermon, but I am thinking specifically of stories, illustrations, humor, etc.  Many of us have a tendency to set-up an element of the sermon with an introductory comment.  There are exceptions to this advice, but generally speaking, don’t.  It is better to seamlessly slide into the story than it is to introduce it.  Think of people telling jokes.  When they begin, “Here’s one that will make you laugh,” or “This is a really funny joke,” the net result is almost always negative.  Much better to hear the story and be surprised rather than expecting something good or bad.  The same goes in preaching.  Don’t say, “Here’s a startling statistic I came across this week…” (Which usually means the preacher hunted for it online!)  Just give it.  Don’t say, “Here’s an illustration that will make this notion clear…”, instead just say, “It’s like…” and say it.

There are exceptions, sometimes it helps to wisely frame or set up some element of a message.  Most of the time seamless is more effective.  When you have this kind of content in a message, think through ahead of time which will work better.  Try it both ways.  Then go with the most effective for the listeners.

Using Statistics

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Some of us may never contemplate using a statistic in our message, others are drawn to them in every introduction they write.  Statistics can be effective, or they can be totally counter-productive.  I was just reading some advice on the use of statistics (not a preaching or Christian source, but helpful nonetheless).  He suggested you decide whether the statistic is being used to add credibility or to be memorable (a statistic will not do both unless it is stated specifically and then restated in relevant terms that can be remembered).  So here is James Humes advice in three points:

1. Reduce the number of statistics. It is better to use one than to use several.  Pick the best one and then communicate it effectively.  To use two or more will only confuse and undermine your goal.

2. Round the numbers in the statistics. Sometimes you will want to stay specific (to add credibility), but for a memorable stat, round the number.  (More than 25,000 is better than saying 26,315.)

3. Relate the statistic to the listeners. Numbers are hard to visualize, so restate your stat in terms they will understand (so many thousands of square miles is better stated as “about the size of …” an area they know, or so many millions of dollars is better stated as “dollar bills placed end to end, this would stretch from Seattle to Miami, or whatever).

Often statistics are of minimal value in preaching, but sometimes an arresting or startling statistic will help in setting up a message or a point in a message.  Be sure to use that stat wisely.  And one piece of advice that should be added for us as preachers of truth – be truthful, don’t twist, don’t falsify, don’t lie.  Integrity matters.

And I Quote

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A well-planned, well-placed quote can explode like a firework.  Or it can fall as flat as old lettuce.  How can we make sure that a quote adds something to a message, or a movement within a message?

1. Make sure you are genuinely comfortable with the quote and its author. It is easy to undermine the moment by not knowing the author, or how to pronounce his name, or what the context was for the quote.  This can be particularly significant in a church setting where you would not want to quote certain people unawares.  It s important to know where the quote is from and what was really intended by it.

2. Strive to use quotes from well-known folks. Obscure characters from history, or unknown academics, tend to struggle for effective reception in church circles.  Sometimes it might be better to state that “One leader in the early church said . . .” rather than making people feel ignorant for not recognizing the name of Pseudo-Demoscrates of Alexusalem Minor the Younger.  If the author is not well-known, but the quote is effective, use it anyway, but be sure to check number 4 below.

3. Keep quotes punchy. A long quote is a long quote, but hardly ever an effective quote.  Keep it pithy and punchy so that it has impact.  There is a reason you don’t read your sermon (it doesn’t grab listeners), so don’t expect a long read quote to fair any better!

4. Verbally frame your quote. We shouldn’t pack a message with quotes and anecdotes.  It is better to have one well chosen quote than several that get close to the point.  When you have that one that works so well, that will support or clarify or drive home your point, then don’t waste it.  Don’t let it slip out in your flow of words and get missed by the listeners.  It is better to verbally frame it, to set it up so they are listening for it.  Perhaps pulling a card from your inner pocket or Bible, pausing and then reading it, will work much better than simply saying it from memory.  The goal is not to read, but to make sure listeners hear.  The movement, the visual element and the pause all help to highlight and press bold on your verbal quote.

Quotes can really add something to a message.  Or not. Depends what the quote is and how we use it.