Think about your last sermon

How might it have been different if you’d followed a scheme like this?

Transcript

Hello and welcome back

My name is Ian White and in this session of our masterclass I’m going to begin our journey into the art of preaching by sharing with you the direction of travel over the next few sessions.

Two dangers for preachers

I think this creates two equal and opposite dangers for us preachers.

If we are to build these bridges into the contemporary world, we cannot afford to just explain the Bible and leave it there.

That would make our preaching little more than a history lesson if we were commenting on the times in which it was written

Or it could be little more than an exercise in literary analysis if we’re commenting on the text.

Conversely we need to avoid making observations only (or mainly) about today’s society – however wise or erudite our output may be.

Spending most of our speaking time addressing current trends in any field, be it society, politics, mental health, science, or sexuality can leave our audience spiritually under-fed.

One of the deeper functions of a Holy-Spirit inspired sermon is, it doesn’t just expand my thinking, it frames it.

It brings the principles and practices of the Bible and applies them to the issues I face today.

It’s vital that we take seriously both the biblical text (with all its complexity) and the contemporary scene. (with all its complexity).

It is our responsibility, under God, to explore the territories on both sides of the river so we become familiar with them.

When we’ve done some of that we will be more able to spot the connections between them and be able to speak God’s Word to human situations

… and to do this with sensitivity and power.

One of my spiritual heroes was a man called John Stott, a prolific author and profound preacher from the UK.

He advised preachers to “have the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other”

I want to contemporise his concept and say that in our browsers we need to have the Bible and a commentary open in two tabs and our news feed and social media open in two more.

Our task, under God, is to bring them together in the minds of our hearers.

So how are we going to go about this? What are the stops on the journey?

I want to break down the task of crafting a sermon into several stages and consider each in turn.

There are some things we do that relate to the Bible’s text and the world it was written for.

There are other things we do that relate to our world and the things that are going on today.

So here the next couple of minutes are a scamper through the bridge model of preaching

We’ll expand on each of these journey-points in later sessions.

Working in the Bible’s world

Read and pray

Firstly we’re going to read the passage and pray it into our souls. Soak our minds in the text.

context

context of the text. How did it fit into the Bible when it was originally written.

• We’re going to look at different types of context because they can each give us complimentary insights

content

Then we’re going to work on the content of the text.

What does it actually say – and try to put aside pre-conceived ideas and theological biases … which is harder than it sounds .

One way is to put ourselves (as best we can) in the shoes (or sandals) of the person who heard that text first.

framework

Then we’ll seek to identify a framework within the text. Does it have a structure that will help me understand God’s message?

• Again we’ll consider some of the different types of framework we find in the Bible

• and what to look out for

heartbeat

Then I’m going to ask “What’s heartbeat of the text?”

What was our Father God saying through this portion of scripture?

• What moved the people who heard it first?

• What might have caused them to go ‘wow’ or ‘Oh no!’ or feel love, or empathy or shame or anger.

When we’ve got a handle on those things we can move more confidently to the contemporary side of the bridge and begin crafting our sermon.

When we’ve done this sort of work, I believe the inspiration of God’s holy Spirit is much more able to flow through our preparation, across the bridge and meet the needs of people in your church.

As we cross the bridges we’ll ask “What crosses the bridge well, and what might not?”

By this time we’re going to be starting to craft the actual sermon a

and we’ll ask similar questions of oursleves

heartbeat

Here we start by asking, what is the heartbeat of my sermon going to be.

What’s its big idea? And try to encapsulate it in a sentence.

framework

Then we’ll move into expressing that idea cogently and look at the structure of your sermon – what will be the marker-points which define the listener’s journey?

We listen to talks more attentively, and we’re more engaged with them, if there’s a feeling that we’re going somewhere – and I know roughly how far I am through the journey at any given point.

context

The chances are you’ll already have some idea of the people you will be speaking to and what they expect.

We’ll give some thought to how to prepare for different audiences.

The church (say) where you’ll preach is the context into which your sermon will be heard.

Every congregation is different and understanding the people you’re talking to will help you to connect with them and they with you.

Aiming your message to these particular people on this particular occasion will provide a platform on which God can speak to his children.

content

Then we’ll look at the content of your sermon. What are you actually going to say?

What should you write down and what should be left to the prompting of the Holy Spirit at the time?

Crafting your sermon well is (as I’ve already hinted) an art-form and you will (I hope) develop a method that is uniquely you.

There’s not a right or wrong way of achieving this – but there are things that will help and others that will hinder

Read and pray

I then read and pray through my sermon (usually several times) before I stand up to open my mouth.

I want to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to me in that moment to set the message alight in my own soul.

After that, there’s only one thing left to do – and that’s preach it!