Stage 8 – Message Detail

Oh No! It’s Friday, and Sunday’s Coming!

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

While some preachers may be so structured that every preparation is perfect, most of us are not able to create such a vacuum to live in. To misquote Tony Campolo, “it’s Friday, but Sunday is coming!”  For preachers this may not be a cry of hope, but of concern.  What are those final stages of preparation that often get short-changed?  Our Lord understands and is gracious to us when life hits.  However, it would be helpful for us to be aware of these things and adjust our preparation so these things are not always cut-short or omitted altogether:

1. Conclusions matter – As someone has said, you can recover from a bad introduction, but not from a bad conclusion.  That final few moments of the sermon are critical, but often get very little preparation in a tight schedule.  Without preparation the conclusion will be forming during preaching, which often means an over-extended sermon with multiple failed landings (an experience no passenger enjoys!)

2. Cut the fat – Usually the sermon manuscript on Friday will be longer than it should be by Sunday.  While first-time preachers worry about filling the time, experienced preachers should worry about removing the fat in the sermon.  As Dave Stone put it recently, there’s a huge difference between taking on a big-burger challenge and eating at a fine restaurant.  People don’t enjoy forcing down two pounds of ground beef.  They would much prefer a well-prepared 7 ounce steak that they can handle.  So before you preach the sermon, cut the fat, give people a carefully prepared portion.

3. Check the balance – It is important to review the balance of the sermon to make sure the weight is distributed appropriately.  You probably don’t want four illustrations in one point of the message, and none in the other points.  Make sure there is appropriate intensity and passion, but also moments of relief or listeners won’t be able to stay with you.  Be careful to allow an idea (or sub-idea) to develop fully – give the necessary time to explain, support and/or apply the idea in each point.  Before preaching the message, make sure it is balanced.  Don’t preach a Popeye sermon: really strong in the forearms, but lacking everywhere else.

Snapshot or Replay?

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Van Harn presents a helpful analogy for us (Preacher, Can You Hear Us Listening, p53).  When you preach a biblical text, do you preach a snapshot or a replay?  Sports journalists use both.  Immediately after a key moment in a game, the replays kick in.  The moment can be savored, the action understood and the intensity felt.  The next morning a snapshot is placed on the sports pages.  It brings back memories of the action, but it is not the same.  A snapshot is a two-dimensional, frozen representation of an event that took place.  A replay is a moving image, perhaps from various carefully chosen angles, perhaps with slow motion, all intended to bring you into the moment of the action.

The text is technically a frozen image of the action, but we should be sensitive to the dynamic nature of the written text.  As preachers we need to do more than give a snapshot of the biblical story.  Rather we should seek to let our listeners enter into it as we choose careful angles and appropriate commentary alongside slow motion replays.  A sermon should not be a mere lecture of facts, but an entrance into the dynamic reality of a living text.

We must engage the text as literature, plot, story, history and record.  We must meet the listeners in the heart, the mind, the imagination, the conscience, and the will.  Effective preaching involves more than recitation of facts, it requires us to purposefully engage both the text and the listeners at multiple levels.

Manipulation in Proclamation

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As preachers we are called to do more than inform the mind.  We are not lecturers.  We are not called to achieve a stated goal by any means possible.  We are not salesmen.  So how are we to navigate the pulpit so that we fulfill our calling, but don’t overstep the mark and take on tasks that are not ours?

1. Preach to the heart.  It is important to understand that people are not just mind and will, but first and foremost are heart-driven.  The Bible teaches this, even with all the gymnastics some teachers go through to avoid what the text says.  The heart is more than mere emotions, but it is not merely the mind as some suggest. In Ephesians 4:17-18 Paul urges the believers not to function like the unsaved Gentiles.  They do not act well because of their minds, thinking, and understanding.  But there is another issue.  Their minds are the way they are because their hearts are hardened.  The heart is central, critical and very much in control.  So, as preachers we must address the heart and not take a short cut to just the mind or will.

2. Don’t stir the emotions and then attach spiritual content to that.  Since the heart includes emotions, it is tempting to merely stir the emotions and then attach our message to that emotional reaction.  You can tell a moving story about the little boy who finally hit a home run (for Brits think of a boy hitting a six), then as people feel themselves filling up, drive home the application of the sermon.  “You too are standing at the plate, Jesus is asking you to commit to this challenge this week, will you commit?  Will you swing the bat?”  This is riding on the back of imported emotion to “achieve” something while preaching.  This is manipulation.

3. Allow the text to reach the heart. The solution is not to merely preach an intellectual sermon and avoid the heart.  The key is to preach the text well so that the text itself and the message of the text can do its job.  If the passage is moving, let it move people.  If the passage is stirring, let it stir people.  When the text itself and the message itself stir the emotions, great.  Don’t feel you have to import a moving story to get the job done.  Make sure that emotions are stirred by the text, the message, the idea itself.

Hey Preacher – You a Prophet or a Priest?

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I’m not using prophet or priest in the full biblical sense.  I appreciate the terminology though as it is easier to remember than the terms I’ve used to teach this same point in the past (so thank you Dave Stone for mentioning this in your seminar in Cambridge):

1. Younger preachers have a tendency to try to be a prophet.  They can be full of zeal and just want to give the bottom line, they want to say it like it is.  God can and does use young preachers with hard-hitting messages (George Verwer comes to mind, who founded Operation Mobilization as a teenager).  However, it is worth pointing out to young preachers that people also need a priest.  As Haddon Robinson says, “for every  ‘you jerk!’ you need ten ‘atta boys!’”

2. Older preachers have a tendency to stay as a pastor and priest.  Having lived the life and built the credibility, some more established preachers hold back from preaching the strong messages people need to hear.  If you’ve lived the life, walked the trail with the Lord for many decades, and if it is the message of the text, then preach it!  Don’t always hold back and protect feelings.

3. People need both “prophet” and “priest.”  Whatever age or stage you are at as a preacher, remember that people are people.  They need comforting, challenging, encouragement and exhortation.  People need the tender care and the tough love of the Great Pastor, so as we preach His Word, let us be sensitive to both the “prophet” and the “priest” elements.  Know the needs of  the people and preach the Word!

Speaker Introductions

/ Peter Mead / 6 Comments

I have heard a lot of introductions.  I’m not writing of those by the preacher, but those about the preacher.  My ministry has never been in a solo-preacher church.  So with different speakers (be they team members or visiting speakers), there is potentially some need to introduce the speaker.  In my traveling role I hear many introductions before I speak.  Here are some musings on the subject:

1. It is easy to say too much.  In an attempt to help the people know the preacher, or to establish his credibility, many will say too much.  I feel that academic qualifications are relevant only in an academic setting or when they relate to a specific and unusual subject matter.  Excessive listing of achievement or position achieves little other than making the speaker’s life sound impressive (and more distant from the “normal” listener).  When asked what to say in an intro, I will usually request that they say as little as possible, perhaps mentioning that I’m married with four children (i.e. a normal person). 

2. The introduction is mostly the preacher’s job.  After a short and simple introduction, I can then decide anything I need to add explicitly for increased credibility or connection.  It is important to note that people are struck far more by the preacher’s manner and delivery in the introduction to the sermon than any achievements they may have in other areas of life.

3. Be sensitive to the worship mood.  In some settings a lot of prayerful thought has gone into the flow of the meeting.  It is a shame to interrupt the moment with an unnecessary introduction of the preacher.  (There have been times when an introduction was so over-the-top that I expected it to end with the words, “so will you join me in worshipping our speaker this morning, Mr . . .”  Obviously this is not the kind of worship I have in mind when I refer to the worship mood!)

4. Is it necessary then, or at all?  It is not a rule that the speaker must be introduced before they come up to speak.  Consider whether the whole meeting would be better served by an introduction in the notice sheet / bulletin, or earlier on in proceedings, or not at all.  Something special can be achieved with a seamless transition between music and message that can never be replicated with an interlude for introduction. 

Preaching Resource Teams in the Local Church

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I know some pastors who love this idea. I know others that seem to flee from it. Consider it. Consider approaching a group of people in the church and ask them to be part of your Preaching Resource Team.

1. Tell them what sermons or series are coming up. They can be on the look out for illustrations, information, stories, statistics, etc. They feed this to you and you filter it for helpful material. In reality, a lot will never get into a sermon, but that is also true with your own hunt for illustrations. Having others feed this stuff to you will help you as there will be a nugget here and there.

2. Tell them when you are going to use their stuff. “Hey Steve, thanks for that moon-landing story, I’m going to use that this Sunday!” Steve will be there. Steve’s family and friends will probably be there too as he herds them in with his head held high.

3. Tell the people where you got the story. “Steve passed me a story that really makes this idea clear for us. When Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon . . .” Now Steve is really beaming (maybe on the outside, probably on the inside), and will double his efforts to help you. Others will also want to help you too, once they see that you are open to input.

4. Tell the team you appreciate them. Perhaps once a year you could throw an appreciation meal for your Preaching Research Team. Make them feel special, appreciated and involved. What do you have to lose?

There are numerous ways to involve members of the congregation in sermon preparation or feedback. I’ll mention others in time, but liked the sound of this idea when I heard it mentioned recently by Dave Stone.

Using a PC in Preaching Preparation

/ Peter Mead / 6 Comments

It is so easy to take technology for granted.  Some of us have access to more tools than we know what to do with.  Others who read this may have access to relatively little.  Just for fun, here’s my top five helpful tools on the computer, in reverse order:

5. biblicalpreaching.wordpress.com – not a shameless plug, but a pointless plug since you are here already!  I hope this site is useful to preachers as they prepare to preach, that is the point of it.

4. Google – the internet is an incredible thing.  If I want to use the Challenger disaster as an illustration, I can use google and have as much detail as I want almost instantly.  There are dangers though.  The internet can be more effective than an Oreck Excel vacuum cleaner at sucking away your time.  Be disciplined, tread carefully, filter wisely.  In the spiritual battle of sermon preparation, the internet can be an easy tool for the enemy too.

3. Good reference software – I have Libronix on my computer.  This is a huge help, especially when traveling away from my bookshelves.  It is possible to quickly skim through numerous commentaries helpfully turned to the right page at the click of a mouse button.  I say Good reference software for a reason.  There is a lot of filler material on reference software.  Learn what is quality, up-to-date material and generally don’t give too much time or attention to the tools that aren’t. There are some real exceptions, but a lot of free software is free for a reason.  While some titles may have been cutting-edge in their day, public domain status now is not without cause (generally they won’t sell).  Use the best tools available to you, but they are tools – you still have to do the thinking work!

2. Good Bible software – I use Bibleworks for Bible software.  I hear great things about Accordance and Gramcord, and Logos is also in the running.  It is helpful to have a quick reference for parsing verbs, checking the lexicon, analyzing the frequency of a term and so on.  It is no substitute for being able to handle the original languages and can become a crutch that allows whatever skill you have acquired to atrophy.  Those who have not studied the languages should not think that merely parsing a verb makes you a language scholar, there is still much that the software won’t and can’t do for you.  The blessing of speed in research is a responsibility, it means you theoretically have more time to do the hard work of thinking!

1. Word processor – Useful in so many respects.  Obviously you can type outlines, manuscripts and so on.  Cut and paste allows you to reduce a message to an appropriate length and focus.  Material removed from this weeks message can go in what Dave Stone calls a “leftovers” section and may be perfect for next weeks message.  Illustrations can be stored in a folder and searched for using any keyword you put in the file.  Record, remember and retrieve, the key elements in effective filing.  I could go on.  I’ve put a potential danger or warning in the previous listed items.  I can’t think of one for the word processor (I suppose I should say “back-up your files” – nothing worse than losing so much great material!)

Good Preaching Isn’t Just Bible Explanation

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

The importance of relevance and application in preaching can hardly be understated.  I recently came across this quote that I feel is worthy of our attention:

Good preaching begins in the Bible, but it doesn’t stay there. It visits the hospital and the college dorm, the factory and the farm, the kitchen and the office, the bedroom and the classroom.

Good preaching invades the world in which people live, the real world of tragedy and triumph, loveliness and loneliness, broken hearts, broken homes, and amber waves of strain. Good preaching invades the real world, and it talks to real people—the high-school senior who’s there because he’s dragged there; the housewife who wants a divorce; the grandfather who mourns the irreversibility of time and lives with a frantic sense that almost all the sand in the hourglass has dropped; the farmer who is about to lose his farm, the banker who must take it from him; the teacher who has kept her lesbianism a secret all these years; the businessman for whom money has become a god; the single girl who hates herself because she’s fat. Good preaching helps them do business with God; it helps them interpret their own human experience, telling them what in their heart of hearts they already know, and are yearning to hear confirmed.

Louis Lotz, “Good Preaching,” Reformed Review 40 (Autumn 1986) 38.

Is Application in the Preacher’s Job Description?

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Some people mistakenly suggest that the preacher has to “make the Bible relevant.”  While this suggestion may be well-intentioned, it is unhelpful.  The Bible is relevant.  The preacher has to “demonstrate the Bible’s relevance.”  Expository preaching, by its very nature, includes the task of application.

Some claim that the preacher’s task is merely to explain the Scripture, but the task of application can be left to the Holy Spirit.  I don’t know how many times I heard preachers say, “Now may the Spirit of God apply to our hearts the truth of His word” as a conclusion to a “sermon.”  Hershael York and others have pointed out the inconsistency of this position. 

There is a cultural and historical gap between the then and the now.  Sidney Greidanus refers to four elements of distance between the Bible and today’s listener: time, culture, geography and language.  Whose task is the translation of the Scriptures?  Whose task is the exegesis of the Scriptures?  The Holy Spirit and humans work together in the translation of the Bible into a contemporary language.  The Holy Spirit and the preacher must work together in the accurate exegesis of the passage.  In the same way, both the Holy Spirit and the preacher are involved in the application of the passage. 

The Holy Spirit does work through the Word in the lives of the listeners.  But if the preacher is not also involved in that task, then I suppose we should be more consistent.  Instead of preaching, perhaps we should just read the passage and sit down.  Oh, and we should probably read the passage out in Hebrew or Greek.  Application of the passage is very much in our job description!

Question: Do We Labor Points Too Long?

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

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.