I’m in Idaho today speaking at a pastor’s conference on the topic of my book, The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative (Baker, 2002). Since I’m thinking about this topic, let me share three common pitfalls to avoid when preaching the stories of Scripture. This reminder is timely since many of us will be preaching the resurrection narratives in the gospels this weekend. I’m planning to preach on John 20. Here are the three pitfalls I’ve observed in reading, listening to, and preparing sermons.
1. Failing to preach a whole story – If you concentrate on preaching New Testament epistles, you may be used to preaching 8-15 verses at a time. But in narrative sections, you usually have to work with a larger chunk of text. Colossians 3:1-11 is an appropriate preaching text. Genesis 38:1-11 is not. The story in Genesis 38 takes the entire chapter to develop. The first eleven verses simply provide the ‘background’ information which sets up the story. If you are really committed to the author’s intent, then you must preach an entire story – not just a section of it. A story is not finished until a crisis emerges and resolution occurs. This resolution may be a ‘sad’ or a ‘happy’ ending, but a story is not finished until the crisis is resolved.
2. Making the sermon outline too prominent – I have huge questions about the common practice of giving people sermon outlines complete with fill-in-the-blank spaces! I’ll save this for another time. But one place it is highly inappropriate is in sermons on narrative texts. Making your sermon outline prominent ruins the story! A sermon on a Bible story needs a ‘story quality’ or ‘story flow.’ Yes, you need an outline to guide you in the delivery of your sermon. But your listeners do not need to see it any more than they need to see your skeleton – a part of your body which is indispensable but can remain invisible.
3. Identifying too quickly with the characters – Many sermons on Bible stories simply focus on the good examples and bad examples provided by the characters. However, first and foremost, the narratives of the Old and New Testament communicate truth about God and His mission. So the first questions to ask, are: What does this story teach me about God and His dealings with people? What aspect of God’s character is the concern in this story? What does this story contribute to God’s mission, that is, His efforts to establish and expand His presence? Sometimes, you can get at this by looking at the human characters in a story (Judges 4 is an example). But sometimes, identifying too quickly with what the characters do or do not do will lead you astray (Judges 3:12-30 is an example). Yes, talk about the characters, including what they do right and wrong. But present their response in the context of the theological message communicated through the story.
P.S. – As you prepare your heart for preaching this weekend, you may want to pray the prayers for each day of Holy Week in The Common Book of Prayer. I’m doing it this week, and it’s helping me focus my thoughts and affections on what God has done for us in Christ.
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 3:39 PM on April 3, 2007
Comments
#3 is a big one. Just identifying with the characters is "exemplary" preaching - not expository. Exemplary preaching may have a good moral but I don't think it's authoritative biblically. What you describe is what is authoritative...
on #1 I think I agree. I'm not exactly sure, but it seems that the trick is determining what is and is not a minor subset within a major story. For instance, Jacob's story in Genesis encompasses numerous chapters that develop the overall theme of blessing/cursing(I'm going with Allan Ross on this). I think you could preach this larger narrative. But I also think you can preach the smaller sub-stories as well. E.g. Esau selling his birthright. I'm pretty sure that's what you're detailing as well.
Posted by: John Mark on April 3, 2007
Thanks for the encouragment and helpful pointers on narrative preaching. I greatly appreciate the questions you gave to ask as I go through the whole story.
I have recently gone back to narrative preaching through Mark's Gospel account and at first struggled with what to do my "fill in the blank" handout. The second week I decided to abandon the handout and it has given me more freedom to develop the story.
BTW, I have been overwhelmed with the positive reponse and the power of narrative preaching.
Posted by: Mike B. on April 5, 2007
Steve Mathewson brings out some real pitfalls to avoid. Thanks for the reminder.
The second one is a warning that I think about a lot. My tendency is to become too wrapped up in the outline at times, at the expense of the flow of the message. I have to remind myself that the outline is there to help me and not allow it to become a barrier. On some weekend, I might have an outline that I’m quite proud of, but rarely does a person repeat the main points back to me. Yet, countless times, someone will mention a specific story or two that really helped them make the connection to the text.
Don’t get me wrong, outlines aren’t bad. But I do agree with what Steve is hinting at, and that is: points are for the head, while stories are for the heart.
Dave Stone
Senior Pastor, Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY
Preaching Today Editorial Advisor
Posted by: Dave Stone on April 10, 2007