Introduction
I have been writing about the idea of teaching. I opened the discussion by emphasizing how many preachers, in their zeal to declare the word of the Lord, fail at teaching their congregations how to apply the text. They struggle to teach their listeners practical and tangible next steps based on the exposition of a text of Scripture. The result many times is filling the heads of listeners with a lot of knowledge but not giving them much tangible application practices. The danger here of course is that if preachers continue to fail in this area, a church can become like a stagnant pond that takes in water but has no way to release it. This is a church culture based on information but not transformation. I think we all would say that we want a church culture that emphasizes transformation, not merely information! In my last article, which you can find here, I gave one suggestion to help overcome the tendency to be heavy on exposition and light on application: give tangible next steps. Today I give a second suggestion: learn how to convey an idea.
Conveying Ideas
Pastors need to get good at conveying ideas. This is something I am passionate over; I look for this when I visit churches. Oftentimes I am disappointed. I must admit, I may be kind of a sermon snob. I have certain things which I look for in every sermon I hear, and I carefully evaluate each sermon with great care. I am not trying to pick apart every preacher, but as a former pastor myself, I view every sermon through two lenses. First—what is God trying to say to me. I never want to overlook the message that God has for my heart from His faithful servant! But I am also looking at every sermon through another lens; that of a preacher. As I listen, I am thinking in my mind: “what can I learn about preaching from this sermon?” I am studying the main points, looking for transitions, noting the keywords, thinking through the illustrations—everything, and making mental notes about how the preacher emphasized one thing or another. But the main aspect of a sermon I look at, the one that can turn a bad sermon into a great sermon in my mind, is how well the preacher conveys an idea. Of course, my first expectation is that the sermon be true to the text, but that is kind of a given. If that is not there the whole sermon will be off the tracks! But beyond that, I want to see how well the preacher communicates the main idea of the text. In fact, a sermon can be missing nearly all of the structural aspects which I look for in a sermon and still be a great sermon if the preacher does this one thing, and does it well: communicate the big idea of the text. This is one of the main things I look for, but too many men fail in this regard.
Some men ought to know better due to their background and training. They have enough knowledge, training, and experience to do this, and to do it well. If you cannot communicate an idea clearly and concisely, you will struggle as a preacher! I have been in churches where the pastor did not seem to know his own big idea. I have walked away from sermons wondering: was he saying “this” or “this?” “What was he really trying to get across?” If we are to excel as preachers, we need to get skilled in the art of communicating an idea. I have heard it said that a sermon needs to pass the “3 AM test.” If you woke up at 3 AM on Sunday morning and had to give a one-sentence description of your sermon, could you do it? Furthermore, after hearing your sermon, if your people woke up in the middle of the night would they be able to remember what your Sunday sermon was about? This issue merely comes down to one of communication. Preacher, can you communicate an idea? Can you make it clear and concise? Memorable and helpful? Do you have the main idea of the text crystallized in your own mind, or are you trying to say too many things? One important way preachers can use their preaching to teach their people is to simply become masters at communicating an idea.
The Big Idea
I should make a side note here that this is contingent on having one idea. You cannot communicate the message of the text into one idea if you have three; you need to boil down the message into one overarching theme. I have heard this called many names: a thesis statement, proposition, truth to take home, or big idea. We must remember that as preachers, we are communicators. Our communication should not confuse people! We should be clear and concise; simple and understandable. To do this, we need to be able to boil a text to its main idea and communicate that well. If you want to learn more about this, you can find plenty of preaching books that emphasize the importance of having a main idea or proposition for each sermon. I would also say this: just because you have one does not mean you can communicate it well. In fact, many of the sermons I have heard that fail at communicating the big idea did have one; the preacher simply failed to communicate it well. We must develop this skill!
I would also give some thoughts on the difference between the topic of a sermon and the main point of a sermon. I know of some preachers who if you asked them at 3 AM to give the main point of their sermon, would describe it as a topic—“my sermon is on grace;” or “the glory of God.” But that is not a main point, thesis, or proposition; that is a topic. If our main point is “God’s glory,” that is not something very tangible or teachable that we can leave with our people. To use an analogy, if we cannot summarize the thrust of our sermon in one key sentence, it needs to go back into the oven to cook a little longer—it is not done yet! If the sermon is on grace, a preacher needs to think through what about the grace of God does he want to leave with the people? Or God’s glory—what aspect of God’s glory are you trying to communicate to the people and what do you expect them to do about it? A clear proposition pulls everything in the sermon together under that one theme—like the point on an arrow; everything else gets behind it. Preachers must learn how to convey an idea! This principle works in tandem with our previous principle of giving tangible next steps. Placing a sermon under the direction of a big idea further helps the application process. If a sermon is about “God’s grace,” application can be broad and unclear. But if the big idea of a sermon is “God’s grace to us ought to make us gracious to others,” this can lead right into clear next steps. If the topic is “God’s glory,” again that can be very broad and generic. But something like “God’s glory should be proclaimed by God’s people” opens the sermon up for application in a specific direction.
Practical Thoughts
I have endeavored to make this an emphasis in my own preaching; it is a non-negotiable. Every sermon comes with a “big idea.” In my years in pastoral and pulpit ministry, I do not ever remember not having a big idea. This was something our people had to get used to, as some of the men I have followed in the pulpit never had this practice. But I deem it essential, and I have seen fruitful ministry come out of this focus. I called it my “big idea,” but the terminology is inconsequential. The point I am trying to make is that every sermon needs to have some sort of proposition, and preachers need to communicate their proposition well. In my own preaching, I am deliberate and precise in communicating it. In every sermon, I openly emphasize this, usually saying something like “if this is the only thing you take home this week, take home this big idea . . .” I do not believe that the big idea, proposition, or truth to take home needs to always be emphasized as deliberately as I have done in my own preaching. My own practice was to put the big idea in the sermon handout each week and display it on a PowerPoint slide which we kept coming back to repeatedly. But I have also heard effective preachers who do not emphasize their big idea as much, yet it was still present, and hearers could easily figure out what it was. Such men have learned to communicate an idea.
Final Thoughts
Preacher, learn how to convey an idea! Preachers need to master this aspect of communication. This is a simple way in which we can teach people—by leaving them with one key truth which we are trying to get across to them based on the meaning of the text! Certainly, more to the sermon exists than this idea, but it is the string that ties it all together, and everything else in the sermon out to be connected in some way to the main point. Many pastors are good at exposition. They can do the exegesis and translate from the original languages. But oftentimes they fail at communication. Sermons and be disjointed and incoherent. Let me challenge the preachers out there: tighten up your sermon with a big idea. For those of you who have one, make sure you are communicating it well. Take time to teach, not just preach. Teach your people clearly and deliberately and learn to communicate your ideas well. If you can send your people away with a clear understanding of the text and what it requires of them, then you have taught them well, and they can go away applying the text to their daily lives.
