How Effective Sermons Advance

Awbrey

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781498272940
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Sermon structure has been deemed an important component of preaching throughout the history of preaching by preaching instructors and practitioners alike. Many have made a case for the bearing that sermon structure has for the effective preaching of Scripture. However, sermon structure when incorporated in a sermon often is not as serviceable as it could and should be! This book provides instruction for how sermon structure can serve to principlize Scripture by using statements of theological principle in the sermon outline. Therefore, the timelessness and the timeliness of Scripture are prioritized through statements of theological principle providing doctrinal accuracy and personal relevance which are apparent in the outline of the sermon. How Effective Sermons Advance provides a thorough and comprehensive treatment on the highly significant matter of sermon structure.

1

Sermon Structure’s Cornerstone

The Sermon Proposition

The sermon proposition and the sermon structure are linked inseparably since both serve to provide a synopsis of the sermon. The sermon proposition has been called “the essence of the sermon in a sentence”1 and rightly so since the proposition bears the essential thrust of the sermon confined to one brief statement. The sermon structure, on the other hand, may be referred to as the blueprint of the sermon’s essence since it will detail the major principles and clarifying assertions of the biblical text to be preached. Of course, the sermon proposition is stated and repeated in the sermon introduction and, therefore, as of the introduction of the sermon the hearers can understand the subject-matter to be treated in the sermon and how the subject will be treated by the preacher.2 However, they can understand these in only the most general way through the means of a stated sermon proposition in the sermon introduction. The sermon structure provides for the hearers a more definitive treatment of the sermon proposition in the body of the sermon. The sermon structure depicts the major and minor thrusts of the sermon and the biblical text that will be explained via the sermon. Obviously then the sermon structure must represent an accurate depiction of the development of the biblical passage. Therefore, the biblical text must drive the preparation of the sermon’s structure in an expository sermon.

Since the sermon structure is the unfolding of the sermon proposition, it is essential to focus attention on the sermon proposition in order to understand it well before we consider sermon structure. For an understanding of the other elements of a sermon introduction examine the book How Effective Sermons Begin.3

Organization and Preaching

In all preaching, expository preaching and all such preaching that would never be confused as an attempt to explain a passage of Scripture, this much is certain: the preacher must know what he will be talking about in the sermon and what he will be saying about whatever he will be talking about in the sermon—this is his most basic responsibility of cognition. Additionally, he must be able to help those who will hear him preach discern what he will be talking about and what he will be saying about that subject-matter—this is his most basic responsibility of communication. “The hearer does not cling to a speaker who, undertaking to guide him, seems to be ignorant whither he is going.”4 It is through the means of a sermon proposition and the structure of the sermon that these matters are achieved effectively. The most basic conception for a well-designed sermon is the “embodiment and extension of an important idea, of which the first element is a clearly defined subject and the second element is structural assertions concerning the subject.”5

Clarity regarding the subject-matter of the sermon as well as the treatment of the subject-matter must be communicated in the sermon introduction. The sermon introduction is the necessary place for the hearers to understand the subject-matter of the sermon and the treatment the subject will receive by the preacher on this preaching occasion.

In the introduction of the sermon the preacher states and repeats, at least one time, the sermon proposition. Through a clearly articulated statement of the sermon proposition the congregation will know what the preacher will be preaching on and, in a general way, what he will say about the subject. Only in the body of the sermon will the hearers understand fully and specifically what the preacher is saying about the subject-matter of the text as he expounds the text with the help of the sermon structure derived from the passage to be preached. The old adage of “tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them” cannot be set aside in preaching without sacrificing a degree of clarity.

One of many things to be done in a sermon introduction is to clearly communicate to the hearers what you will be saying in the sermon they are about to hear. In other words, the sermon introduction is the place in the sermon where the preacher tells the hearers what he will be talking about in the sermon. In the body of the sermon he will tell them the meaning of the passage. And among other responsibilities the preacher has in the sermon conclusion is to tell them what he has told them in the sermon. The expositor of Scripture owes it to his hearers to inform them, as of the sermon introduction, what he will be addressing in his sermon. If the hearers of a sermon cannot discern what the preacher will be talking about before he begins to preach the body of the sermon he has failed them because he simply has not afforded them the basic information they need in order to follow a sermon with understanding.

Notice, for example, G. Campbell Morgan’s clear indication of how his text of Matthew 16:21 will be treated as he preached his sermon The Pathway of the Passion. In Morgan’s final two paragraphs of his sermon introduction he said:

As I have said, Matthew summarizes all the teaching from Caesarea Philippi to Calvary in these words: “He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.” In that summary there are three matters which demand our attention. The first is that of the compulsion: “He must go unto Jerusalem.” The second is that of the course marked out: “suffer . . . and be killed.” The third is that of the consummation: “and the third day be raised up.”6

It would have been easy for Morgan’s hearers to discern how the reputable expositor was going to treat the pathway of Christ’s passion by the three matters of the compulsion, the course, and the consummation of his journey to Jerusalem. Although this portion of the introduction could have attained greater clarity through a more thoroughly synthesized sermon proposition and structure, Morgan’s three matters of Christ’s compulsion, course, and consummation provide some indication as to the subject-matter of the sermon.

Unfortunately, however, such clarity commonly is neither advocated nor practiced in preaching today. For example, consider the sermon introduction of Fred Craddock’s expository7 sermon from Acts 2:2–21 entitled On Being Pentecostal. The intended treatment of the passage and clarity for what the sermon would be about was indicated by one vapid, vacuous sentence—“And that’s what I’d like for us to do; think again about Acts 2 and Pentecost.”8 In reality, Acts 2 was not dealt with at all except to say that a very large crowd was present, being made up of Jews from every nation under heaven, along with converts to Judaism and other visitors. So this proposition, at best, indicates that Acts 2 will receive treatment that is so uncertain that it can only be indicated by the phrase “think again about Acts 2 and Pentecost.” There is no clarity conveyed about the meaning of the text of Acts 2:2–21, that is, how it would be divided and how each division would be developed. Even though it may be understood that the sermon is to be about Pentecost, there is no indication as to what will be said about Pentecost.

The sermon proposition is an entity of the sermon introduction. The development of the proposition, the sermon structure, is the conceptual framework of the body of the sermon, and therefore, guides the exposition of the text. Though the sermon structure works with the sermon proposition, only the sermon proposition will be considered in this chapter. However, it is of little or no value to have a clearly stated proposition in the introduction if there is not a tight, logical, and obvious connection between the sermon structure in the body of the sermon that corresponds to the sermon proposition. After all, the sermon structure is simply the sermon proposition unfolded in a point by point manner. Therefore, much attention will be given to the goal of producing sermon outlines for the sermon body that will be helpful to the preacher and the congregation in subsequent chapters. Our specific goal in this chapter is to understand how to develop a clear proposition that will be helpful to the preacher and the congregation in the introduction of the sermon.

Clarity of the Sermon Proposition

Clarity is a chief component for both the sermon structure and the sermon proposition. Since 1912, through J. H. Jowett’s oft-quoted statement insisting upon clarity in the sermon’s proposition, propositional clarity has been a cornerstone element o...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Sermon Structure’s Cornerstone
• Chapter 2: Sermon Structure as a Text Driven Derivative
• Chapter 3: Sermon Structure as a Necessity, Not a Luxury
• Chapter 4: Sermon Structure as a Necessity, Not a Liability
• Chapter 5: Sermon Structure as Statements of Theological Principle
• Chapter 6: Sermon Structure and Textual Congruity
• Chapter 7: Sermon Structure’s Stylistic Components
• Chapter 8: Sermon Structure’s Functional Results
• Chapter 9: Sermon Structure’s Functional Means
• Bibliography