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.

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[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.