Chapter 2: What if the Sermon is Biblically Inadequate?

It could be that your pastor is a very good communicator. His voice is easy on your ears. In fact, you’re quite happy for him to speak for an extra 5–10 minutes each sermon. He’s funny, keeps your interest, and leaves you feeling encouraged and enthusiastic about the week ahead. But the more you’ve listened to his sermons you wonder if he has a good grasp of the passage he’s supposed to be expounding. No matter what Bible text he’s preaching from, he’s repetitive and seems to hark back to the same few moral lessons every time. You find yourself asking, “Where did he get that from?” When you get home and reread the sermon passage, you realize that the message was not derived from the text and almost all of your questions about the Bible passage and its application remain unanswered. What do you do in this situation?

As sermon-listeners, we have a responsibility to expect solid Bible teaching from our pastors. If they’re not committed to exposing the Scripture to our view, then they ought not be our preacher. You should carefully evaluate the pulpit ministry in your church. Is Bible preaching and teaching a priority for the pastor, the elders, and the congregation? Does the reading, explanation, and implications of Scripture set the trajectory of the church? Is the change-agent in the church the living, active, powerful Word of God? Is the Bible the sole authority in determining God’s will for the members of the body?

If you have answered, “No,” to these questions, you’ll need to investigate some personal heart issues before you tackle the problem of biblically inadequate sermons.

First, ask yourself: Am I listening to my pastor’s sermons with a critical spirit? Am I waiting in the wings, hoping for the chance to pounce on him and “catch him in something he might say” (Luke 11:54)? There were some people in Jesus’ day who acted just like that. They were called Pharisees. They were such sticklers for every little detail of the Law and their system of applying it, that they couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Their understanding of God, faith, the coming Messiah, and the gospel Jesus proclaimed was clouded by their self-determined idea of what was true righteousness. As a result, they couldn’t listen with open minds. They closed their minds to the truth the Master Preacher offered. And they developed a critical spirit towards Him because He didn’t preach the way they thought He should. So evaluate your heart. Are you being too critical?

Second, ask yourself: Do I expect my pastor to agree with absolutely everything I already believe? Do I think that his thirty-page doctrinal statement must be an exact match to mine? Do I believe that every area of my Bible knowledge is complete?—“I have arrived at a perfect understanding of all theological debate, and anyone who disagrees with me is just plain wrong.”

In both cases, you’ll need to reevaluate which doctrines are central to the Christian faith and which are not. You’ll also need to consider which doctrines steer core church practices and which are not so significant in the big picture. In addition, you might consider putting your prideful disposition to rest and realize that no preacher gets the less important details right all the time—not even you (Jas 3:2).

Now, do not swing the pendulum too far in other direction either. Don’t have such low expectations for your pastor that he can regularly misuse Scripture, miss the point of the passage, show contempt for sound exegesis, fail to apply accepted hermeneutical practice, and get away with it, unchecked. Remember, community sermon-listening involves mutual accountability. You cannot afford to be so gullible and credulous that the content of the sermon doesn’t matter as long as the pastor makes you feel accepted and loved.

Of the three kinds of bad sermons (dull, biblically inadequate, and heretical), the biblically inadequate sermon is the toughest to diagnose and treat properly. Much wisdom is required. Every case will be quite different. Often your solution for this problem comes down to what options you have before you. If your church is teaching a doctrine or practice that you do not believe is biblically justified, and there is another church in your area which offers an alternative more closely aligned with your understanding of Scripture, then you should switch to that church. But be careful because there are many areas of practice and teaching that ought to be weighed and your decision will be based on many factors. There is a big difference between theological pickiness and standing up for essential sound doctrine and praxis. You don’t want to end up like A. W. Pink who in his last years would not fellowship with any Christian and resorted to an exclusive-styled worship service that involved just him and his wife. On the other hand, you don’t want to follow the masses of naïve churchgoers who attend shallow church services without any concern for sound doctrine.

If there is no other church in your area and you believe that the teaching in question is sufficiently serious so as to impact many people and is doing serious harm to the spiritual growth of many, then you might need to consider a direct approach. The responsibility of the preacher is to preach the Word. If he consistently misrepresents the authorial intent of the passage, then he is doing God an injustice. David Schlafer suggests:

“You may need, at last, to confront the preacher, gently but firmly, privately or with the support of duly constituted lay leadership. Preaching is, after all, a primary pastoral responsibility. An intervention of sorts, leading to clarified expectations and accountability, may be appropriate. Perhaps such a confrontation may even lead to changes in other pastoral responsibilities in order to make more time for preaching.”[1]

If you and your elders undertake such a process and the preacher agrees that his messages have been falling short of biblically informed content, you have won him over. Pray that he would make the necessary changes to his preaching practices. If he doesn’t agree, your elders will need to decide what to do next. If the elders believe the situation is serious and have the conviction to follow through, they may dismiss the pastor and replace him with a man who desires to cut the Word of God straight. If your elders come to the conclusion that the pastor’s teaching is just fine, then you should go back and check your own motives one more time—is it you who is being too critical? Or are your concerns biblically valid? If it’s the latter, and if you have a viable alternative, then it’s best for you to transfer your membership to another local church. If there is no other Bible-teaching church in the area, keeping reading this blog. We will deal with that problem in the next two weeks.

---

[1] David J. Schlafer, Surviving the Sermon: A Guide to Preaching for Those Who Have to Listen (Boston, MA: Cowley Publications, 1992), 116.

Chapter 1: What if the Sermon is Dull?

In some cases sermon-listening in church can be frustrating, difficult, or sometimes downright impossible. What do you do when the sermon is boring? What do you do when the preacher is not teaching the truth of Scripture? What is the appropriate response to a dull sermon, a biblically inadequate sermon, or a heretical sermon? And how can you know the difference?

Let’s remind ourselves that the preacher is not singularly responsible for maintaining his preaching ministry. We listeners also share in that responsibility. The Apostle Paul commanded young Timothy, a preacher: “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (1 Tim 4:13). Good advice, but what if the cities in which Timothy ministered didn’t want that kind of ministry? What if they threw him out of town? Well sure, he’d keep on preaching, but he’d take his preaching elsewhere. That’s what the Apostle did on numerous occasions (Acts 13:50–51; 14:5–7, 19–20; 16:39–40; 17:8–10, 13–14; 17:32–18:1). He left the disinterested (and often, angry) group and found a new group who wanted to hear what he had to say. So the necessary implication is that the congregation must desire the reading and teaching of God’s Word, otherwise it will not and cannot happen.

Now, I am not a proponent of congregationally lead churches, but there is an element of congregational buy-in when the elders and pastors determine what their corporate commitments are going to be. Therefore, the church’s demand for biblical preaching is just as important as the pastor’s commitment to supply it.

So how will you create a demand for good Bible preaching and what will you do if it’s not delivered in your church? In order to know how to respond to poor preaching let’s divide it into three categories: dull, biblically inadequate, and heretical.[1] I’ll treat these three categories in this and the next two blog posts.  First, what do you do if your pastor’s sermons are dull?

What if the Sermon is Dull?

Let’s face it—some preachers are a little dry. They could use a few more illustrations, incorporate some humor, take their noses out of their notes, and better engage with the people before them. The Bible is not dull but some preachers unknowingly make it so by their demeanor. Maybe they’re deliberately trying to emulate Jonathan Edwards’s monotone style in an attempt to not be like the “worldly” preachers of today. Maybe it’s their own personality (or lack thereof) that makes it difficult for them to speak with any kind of enthusiasm. Maybe your pastor is a wonderful man who engages quite “normally” in person but transforms into a mind-numbing bore in the pulpit.

Some preachers are not organized communicators. They process information differently than the rest of us. It all makes sense in their own mind, but when it comes to passing it on, the logical movements of thought are not apparent to many in the congregation.

Make no mistake, in this category of bad preaching, I am talking about communication, not content—style, not substance. In fact, often the sermon content is great! The substance of the sermon is biblical. The preacher is a careful student of Scripture. He puts in many hours of diligent study. He prays over his sermon and depends upon the Lord to bring about significant change in the lives of his hearers. But simply stated, his sermons are either boring, overly academic, encyclopedic, chaotic, unstructured, or hard to follow. Not even PowerPoint could help. His cake needs a little icing.

The first question to ask is this: Are your expectations fair? Remember, your pastor cannot compete with the rockstar-preachers of today. He probably doesn’t have a creative team behind him, making him look good. He has probably served the church in many ways throughout a very busy week and cannot devote as much time to “icing the cake” as even he would like. So check your own heart on this issue. Be sure you’re measuring your pastor by a right standard! If you expect him to emulate your favorite pixel-pastor, or if you want your ears tickled, then maybe it’s your own heart that needs to be realigned.

John Newton cautions: “There are hearers who make themselves, and not the Scripture, the standard of their judgment. They attend not so much to be instructed, as to pass their sentence. To them, the pulpit is the bar at which the minister stands to take his trial before them.”[2] Fellow listeners, let’s not have unfair, extra-biblical expectations.

The second question to ask yourself is: Have you consistently prayed for your pastor and his sermons? Consider how you might better support him in prayer as he crafts his sermons and delivers them. And pray for yourself, that your reaction to his sermons would not be determined by his delivery style, but rather by the Scripture itself.

The third question is: Has the congregation allocated sufficient time in the week for your pastor to prepare adequately? Your pastor can experience overwhelming ministry demands. How have you protected your pastor’s sermon preparation schedule? Are you expecting him to do too much throughout the week? “Preaching is the fundamental component of pastoring,” says Mark Dever, so, “Grant your pastor time during the week to prepare good sermons.”[3]

The fourth question is: Are you a good sermon-listener? Did you prepare well? Did you read the passage ahead of time, reflect on the topic, ask questions of the text, and consider personal application? Did you take good notes during the sermon and allow them to guide your discussion points afterwards with family and friends? If your pastor is a faithful preacher, focus on the content of his sermon, not his delivery. Make sure you go home every week with something from the sermon that is right and needed for your heart and soul. This is not a suggestion. This is your responsibility.

The fifth question is: Are you encouraging your pastor each time he shows signs of improvement? If he is a young preacher, he’ll grow in confidence and will become a better speaker. Give him time and room to cultivate his preaching abilities. Depending on your relationship with him, you may be able to help your pastor complete a preaching course or receive help from a more seasoned preacher. Be careful with this, because sometimes your attempts to help and encourage can come across as negative and critical.

The sixth and final question is: Are you thankful that your pastor is a faithful man of God? If you’ve found a pastor who loves God more than he loves you, you’re in a good spot. He might not be the most scintillating speaker, but he loves God and faithfully proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. He tries his best to teach sound doctrine. He spends more time in prayer than practicing his inflections. Thank the Lord for this man and devote yourself to his ministry. He might not be flashy but he’s the man God has placed in your life to shepherd and lead you.

Next week, I’ll discuss what to do if your pastor’s sermons are biblically inadequate.

---

[1] These three categories of poor preaching are discussed in Christopher Ash, Listen Up!: A Practical Guide to Listening to Sermons (New Maiden, Surrey, England: The Good Book Company, 2009), 27.

[2] J. Todd Murray, Beyond Amazing Grace (Webster, NY: Evangelical Press, 2007), 163.

[3] Mark Dever, What Is a Healthy Church? (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 68.

Chapter 6: Pastor, Preach with Sermon-Based Small Groups in Mind

The sermon should reverberate around the church long after the final “Amen.” Pastor, you can facilitate ongoing response by providing resources that ensure the sermon’s momentum keeps rolling.

J. Todd Murray describes John Newton’s practice as the Curate of Olney in Buckinghamshire. Newton recognized that most of his listeners were illiterate. He would walk through his village and hear the uneducated workers reciting and chanting to one another rhyming stories and poems, called ‘tells,’ as they worked. Newton realized that he could write new, spiritual ‘tells’ for the people of the church. They might not be able to read but they could certainly memorize these new ‘tells.’ Newton took the sound doctrinal truths he preached on Sunday and turned them into poems. It was these poems that eventually became known as Newton’s great hymns.[1] It all started with a pastor’s desire to help his congregation meditate on Bible teaching throughout the week.

What can you do today to make sure the sermon keeps on preaching?

First, spend thirty minutes on Monday morning preparing discussion questions for the mid-week sermon-based small groups. By Monday morning, you would have received feedback and questions from listeners that will help you to formulate thought-provoking discussion points based upon their insights. The questions should be open-ended discussion questions. The idea isn’t to test the people on their sermon retention, but to elicit implicational conversations. You shouldn’t introduce new ideas—this is not an opportunity for you to say what you couldn’t get out on Sunday. There should be discussion surrounding interpretation and theology, but the questions should always lead to application. Depending on the type of passage your sermon was based on, this might be easy or hard, but think it through carefully, and help your people to consider the implications of every sermon. If the passage doesn’t call for action, it might call for correct thinking, or a right understanding of God. These are still applicational.

Sometime before Monday evening, these discussion questions can be made available on the church website and/or sent out by e-mail to the small group leaders.

Second, you should promote mid-week sermon-based small groups as a necessary ministry of the church. Every Christian should be involved in some form of organized discipleship, fellowship, relationship-building, life-on-life, or small group ministry. To not be involved in such a group is a rejection of God’s instruction to “stimulate one another to love and good deeds” (Heb 10:24). Indeed, it would be a rejection of all the “one another” commands of the New Testament. Anonymous attendance on Sunday morning doesn’t constitute body-life, so your people need to be involved in more than just that. A small group could choose to study another passage or a different topic altogether, but this doesn’t maximize the impact of the Sunday sermon—the very ministry we say is central to the life and practice of the church.

Pastor, we defend the necessity of expository preaching, but we negate that commitment by failing to prioritize any applicational follow-through after the sermon. As a result, your twenty hours of sermon preparation, the financial contribution to your salary, and the preparation of the congregation to hear the sermon are all wasted on forty-five minutes of listening that often ends without community-oriented response. Why not maximize the impact of your sermons by asking your small groups to reflect on the implications of each sermon?

You’ll need to help your small group leaders in the process. Meet with them three or four times each year to monitor their progress. Give them instruction on how to conduct their groups. Ensure they’re not taking over with an independent teaching role within their group. Teach them how to plan for discussion. Help them to involve everyone in the conversation. Teach them how to lead people to pray together.

You’ll need to encourage your small group leaders. Help them to see the spiritual growth of the overall church family. Review what you have all studied and applied together. Help them to see that their long-term commitment is vital to the life of the church.

Finally, take part in a sermon-based small group yourself, not as the leader, but as a regular participant. This way people will see you as one who also values Christian fellowship. Your example will speak volumes and other sermon-listeners will follow your lead. To begin with, some group members may be intimidated by your presence, but they will soon loosen up after they see you contributing as a regular person working to apply biblical principles just as they are. Don’t be tempted to take over the group leadership. This is not a time to finish your sermon. Refrain from giving further instruction. You have had your chance to speak into their lives as the preacher. Now it’s time to take part in the body-life of the church as an equal. Let people minister to you. Let them ask you about your personal application. Request their prayers for your obedience. Take part in the discussion as one who is committed to community aspect of church life. Your people will have a realistic appreciation of you and will join you in church-wide sanctification. Paul Tripp believes a church should require their pastor to attend a small group he doesn’t lead. He comments that the pastors who do this all report how spiritually beneficial it has been.[2]

Summary

Pastors are called to preach, but preaching is not an end in and of itself. The result of preaching is the dissemination of the gospel, the equipping of the church, the sanctification of the saints, and the proclamation of the glory of God. With these ends in mind, pastor, consider how you might increase the impact of your sermons.

Church growth “experts” suggest all manner of techniques that are “guaranteed” to bring success. Don’t fall for them. Their butter knives and plastic utensils have no power over the evil one. Pick up the sword, preachers (Eph 6:10–17). Ensure that your preaching is expository in nature. Pray for church-wide impact. Expect great things from God. Preach with clarity and encourage implicational thinking in your congregation. And consider sermon-based small groups as a way to maximize the preaching of the Word of God in the life of the church.

As you enter into the next phase of your preaching ministry, allow Donald Sunukjian to encourage your soul:

Biblical preaching is the best thing we can do for our ministries, and it’s the best thing we can do for our own personal lives. To drink deeply of the Word of God, to saturate ourselves with its truths, to have our lives changed by its transforming power, and then to stand before God’s people, proclaiming with joy and confidence, “Look at what God is saying to us!”—who could be called to anything greater?[3]

Men, you have been called to the most important occupation in the world. No one undertakes a task greater or more vital than yours.

Paul instructed his son in the faith to preach. Receive his words as if he was speaking directly to you:

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Tim 4:1–5).

Let me rephrase the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones in order to impress these things on your heart:

You are there to deliver the message of God—a message from God to the people. You are “an ambassador for Christ.” That is what you are. You have been sent. You are a commissioned person. You are standing there as the mouthpiece of God and of Christ to address the people. You are not merely there to talk to them. You are not there to entertain them. You are there to do something to them. You are to produce results of various kinds. You are to influence people. You are not to influence a part of them. You are not only to influence their minds, or only their emotions, or merely to bring pressure to bear upon their wills and induce them to some kind of activity. You are there to deal with the whole person. Your preaching should make such a difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again.[4]

Dear pastor, will you commit to this most vital of all tasks? Will you commit to teach sound doctrine in every sermon? Will you commit to bring the Word of God to bear on the souls of men every time you address the congregation? Will you plead with sinners to repent and trust Jesus Christ for their salvation? Will you impress upon saints the need for personal holiness? Will you teach the people the truth found only in the Scriptures? Will you call them to genuine Christian fellowship? Will you lead them to minister to one another? Will you model this community project called “sanctification”? “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12).

---

[1] J. Todd Murray, Beyond Amazing Grace (Webster, NY: Evangelical Press, 2007), 17.

[2] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2012), 79–80.

[3] Donald Robert Sunukjian, Invitation to Biblical Preaching: Proclaiming Truth with Clarity and Relevance (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007), 15.

[4] These words are adapted from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, 53.

Chapter 5: Pastor, Preach with Application in Mind

Michael Fabarez likes to word his preaching outlines in terms of application points—namely, commands. He suggests, “Framing your main points in the third person allows the hearer to sidestep the issue and apply it to someone else.”[1] In addition he recommends that you “move the wording of your points out of the indicative mood (the way things are) and into the imperative (a call to the way they should be).”[2]

For instance, instead of using the following outline for Isaiah 6:1–8,

1.     A Young Man’s Vision of God (6:1–4)

2.     A Young Man’s Vision of Sin (6:5)

3.     A Young Man’s Vision of Cleansing (6:6–7)

4.     A Young Man’s Vision of Service (6:8)

Fabarez believes the outline should be turned into a list of imperatives, such as,

1.     Elevate Your View of God (6:1–4)

2.     See the Ugliness of Your Sin (6:5)

3.     Embrace the Cleansing of Forgiveness (6:6–7)

4.     Dive into the Challenge of Service (6:8)[3]

See how the each point clearly indicates a course of action for every listener. In order to achieve further symmetry, you might also utilize the following “E”s in alliteration:

1.     Elevate Your God (6:1–4)

2.     Expose Your Sin (6:5)

3.     Embrace Your Forgiveness (6:6–7)

4.     Extend Your Service (6:8)

If you are preaching for change, you are going to present these applicational challenges anyway (probably in your conclusion), so why not make them a part of the preaching outline? The outline remains faithful to the structure of the passage, but its contemporary implication is made more evident in the preaching event.

Maybe you’re hesitating at this point, concerned that you might be perceived as a confrontational authoritarian. Maybe you don’t like the idea of always presenting commands. Maybe you prefer to hide behind the softer, generic third person to avoid becoming “preachy.” But “the simple truth is, if you are called to be a preacher, then you must preach! If you do not you will degenerate into something truly worse. You might find yourself sliding into the ambiguous ‘Neverland’ of Bible-talker or spiritual advisor.”[4] Do not suggest conformity to the likeness of Christ. Do not advise it. Preach it!

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica: “We proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children” (1 Thess 2:7). Paul showed genuine care for his audience and didn’t discharge his preaching ministry with dictatorial glee or angst. Yet, he still saw himself as a man with a message from God and he didn’t shrink from declaring the whole purpose of God (Acts 20:27). Remember, to be humble. You’re not preaching your own message. You’re God’s representative. Preach implicationally, expecting God will bring about church-wide sanctification.

But be warned, while it’s sometimes helpful to phrase your sermon outline in implicational terminology, there are inherent dangers in manipulating the sermon too much to achieve some kind of pleasing sermonic result. Artful alliteration does not always aid, and isn’t always apt. If you find yourself forcing a structure on the text, simply to satisfy some personal desire for grammatical harmony, then you’re going too far.

The goal is to preach the implications of Scripture. But Mike Fabarez writes, “More heresy is spread in the preacher’s attempt to apply Scripture than in his presentation of Scripture’s meaning.”[5] “Our shoddy handling of the text’s application in fact can nullify our rigid handling of the text’s meaning.”[6] “The same vigilance we demonstrate in interpreting a passage’s meaning must be shown in interpreting its significance.”[7] If you’re going to lead your listeners to certain implications in the sermon outline, you better make sure they’re in the text.

For instance, if you are preaching from Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,” do not force a preaching outline like this:

1.     Husbands, take out the garbage for your wife

2.     Husbands, work hard to provide for your family

3.     Husbands, spend quality time with your wife

4.     Husbands, be wise with your money

5.     Husbands, lead your wife in the Scriptures

These points are certainly applicational. They’re all commands. They’re expressions of a husband’s love for his wife. They’re good things to do. But they are not in the text! If you concentrate on such pointed instruction, you fail to preach the point of the passage. In addition, you run the risk of missing other ways in which a husband may choose to love his wife and you reduce the Christian life to mere rule-keeping. This kind of preaching will not produce mature Christians. Of utmost importance is making sure that the application is, in fact, based on the text, and is appropriately applied to your hearers. Bryan Chapell states, “Preachers who cannot differentiate between a scriptural mandate and a good suggestion drain biblical power from their ministries. You must make sure the Scripture—not you—demands what your application requires.”[8]

In spite of these warnings, preach implicationally. If your listeners leave church not knowing how the Bible should impact their life and thinking, they won’t be able to discuss it with each other, and community-oriented sermon-listening won’t occur.

Writing about Calvin’s preaching, T. H. L. Parker remarks, “Expository preaching consists in the explanation and application of a passage of Scripture. Without explanation it is not expository; without application it is not preaching.”[9]

Pastor, do everything possible to implicate your congregation with clear biblical principles which they can discuss, pray over, and encourage one another to apply to their lives.

---

[1] Michael Fabarez, Preaching That Changes Lives (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2002), 62.

[2] Ibid., 63.

[3] Ibid., 63–64.

[4] Ibid., 64.

[5] Ibid., 39.

[6] Ibid., 40.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005), 232.

[9] T. H. L. Parker, Calvin's Preaching (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1992), 79.

Chapter 4: Pastor, Preach with Clarity

Sometimes sermon-based small group discussions break down simply because the people don’t know what the sermon was about. The sermon-listeners were able to reel in a few random ideas, but aren’t able to summarize the main point of the passage and sermon. Usually, that’s because the preacher was unable to do it—or at least he didn’t communicate it well.

Preachers must communicate clearly. Clarity is more important than passion. “If a listener cannot grasp the principles taught by the text of the sermon, he will fail to understand their application to his own life. If he does understand them, he will be unable to escape their specific application made by the Spirit to his own life.”[1] Preacher, work hard to be clear.

One the easiest ways to add clarity to the sermon is to state the main idea in a single sentence. You’ll need to work hard to form this concise and textually-driven proposition (or thesis statement). It’s the central idea of the passage and should become the central theme of the sermon. Once you have the propositional statement, repeat it every time you move from one point of your outline to the next. This way you ensure that your preaching outline supports the main idea of the sermon.

J. H. Jowett wrote:

No sermon is ready for preaching . . . until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as a crystal. I find the getting of that sentence is the hardest, the most exacting and the most fruitful labor in my study. . . . I do not think any sermon ought to be preached, or even written, until that sentence has emerged, clear and lucid as a cloudless moon.[2]

In addition, the preaching outline should be simple, clear, and derived from the Bible text. Each point should serve a specific purpose and should support the central idea (proposition). You’ll help your listeners immensely if each point is parallel in structure and coordinate in thought. For example, if a preacher is developing an outline on Matthew 28:16–20 and has identified the theme “Our Lord’s Great Commission,” an outline could be developed that presents miscellaneous thoughts or points:

1.     Eleven disciples

2.     The appointed mountain

3.     Are you worshipping or doubting today?

4.     Jesus has all authority

5.     We should make disciples Jesus’ way

6.     Jesus is always with us

7.     Be a discipler

8.     To be a discipler you need to be a disciple

Concerning this outline, Stephen Olford writes:

This outline could be used in preaching without promoting error, but it lacks harmonious relatedness because the points lack “relatedness,” both to the dominating theme and between themselves. The points are a combination of: textual specifics (1, 2), a question (3), a principlized statement (4), applications (5, 6), a direct exhortation-command (7), and a concluding observation-application implied by the text (8). Many or all of these words could be used in a sermon, but as an outline it lacks logical flow.[3]

A preaching outline isn’t meant to be an exegetical outline. Neither is it meant to be a list of “prompting” words to keep you, the preacher, on track. Instead, “it is an attempt to organize the primary thoughts of the text, especially as they relate to the theme of the text.”[4]

Consider the more logical preaching outline below for Matthew 28:18–20:

1.              Our Lord’s Authority for the Great Commission (28:18)

2.              Our Lord’s Strategy for the Great Commission (28:19–20a)

3.              Our Lord’s Availability for the Great Commission (28:20b)

The three points of this outline are parallel in structure and coordinate in thought. They each support the central idea of the text and therefore keep the sermon focused on that same idea. The words, “Authority, Strategy, and Availability,” are all nouns which provide structural balance. Note also that each point is derived from specific sections of the text, therefore verse numbers are listed.

Olford explains, “Some details of the text (28:16–17) not reflected in the outline may need to be covered in the introduction or at an appropriate point in the movement of the message. But [this outline] helps to display the primary thoughts of the commission and they keep our focus on the commission.”[5]

The goal of providing a clear propositional statement and supporting outline is not so that your listeners can memorize each point, so don’t expect your people to know each point by heart after the sermon. Rather, the goal is clarity of communication. You want to help your listeners think logically through the text and see the flow of the passage. They ought to be able to read the passage again after the sermon and see clearly where the points of your sermon came from. Your outline becomes the hooks on which they hang their thoughts in an orderly fashion.

In addition to providing a logical structure, see next week how some preachers like to take the preaching outline one step further, by making each point an imperative or point of application.  See you here next week.

---

[1] Lance Quinn, “Epilogue: The Listener’s Responsibility,” in Rediscovering Expository Preaching, 356.

[2] John Henry Jowett, The Preacher, His Life and Work: Yale Lectures (New York: Harper & Bros, 1912), 133.

[3] Stephen F. Olford with David L. Olford, Anointed Expository Preaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1998), 147.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.