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I have a friend who collects ancient arrowheads. His idea of an ideal vacation is to travel out into the back country where he will spend his time with his eyes to the ground searching for the remnants of some ancient Native hunting expedition. I am amazed how many he has found. Some of them require a trained eye to discern as an arrowhead and not simply as a rock. It makes me wonder how often I have seen one and not recognized it for what it was. Each of the relics is unique in color, size, and shape, but there is one feature to common to all. They each have a point.
The point is a remarkably useful physical element. The point is that part of the tool that allows for focused penetration. Points allow one to pinpoint impact with precision. Without a point clothes could not be sewn, battles could not be won, and rockets could not fly. Without a point, sermons cannot hit their mark and penetrate the soul. Points are imperative.
Points are Powerful
Most are familiar with the frustration of sitting through sermons on perfectly good Sundays only to emerge with a blank look on the face and a question on the lips, “What was the point of that?” God speaks for a reason. He has a point and so must our sermons. Recent studies in homiletics have emphasized the idea of preaching as encounter as if to suggest that preaching does not need to make points. It is enough, one is advised, to create an honest experience of the presence and movement of God. While this emphasis on experience has been helpful in some respects, the concern for engagement with the God who speaks ought not to come at the expense of the point that God is making.
Historically, pointmaking was the stuff of the sermon. It was the meat and potatoes. A good sermon would have many of them, although three points was generally thought to be the trinitarian ideal. More recent works in homiletics (ie. Haddon Robinson) have thought it sufficient, if not expedient, to focus on a single point. This thinking is helpful and important. Setting one big idea in the listener’s consciousness may be enough ambition for most preachers today. The key, however, is that there is in fact a point (at least one) that will inform and inspire the listener. It is the caption to the picture, the words to the music, or as Paul Harvey likes to say, it is “the rest of the story.” Sermons that neglect this element are, well, pointless.
Given the opportunity presented by the sermon and the need of the congregants, the preacher might be intimidated by the task of describing one point that will speak to all the diversity the crowd presents. Yet, this challenge ought not worry the preacher greatly. Preaching has more to do with what God is doing than what the preacher is doing. Listerners attend the sermon under God’s appointment and they will do their own business with him. The preacher’s point may only be a trigger that sets off some other idea that is more relevant to the need of a particular listener. The preacher’s sermon is a blunted instrument comparison to the laser that God himself is wielding through our words.
Making the Point as the Sermon’s Second Move
In order to make a point the preacher has to know what the point of the sermon is. This means we have to listen to God. The point of the sermon is the point that God would have the listener hear. It is the answer to the question, what does God want to say through this text to these people at this time. The point of the sermon, then, is akin to the theme of the sermon. It is the sermon’s one big idea.
Sometimes sermons seem pointless because they in fact are pointless – literally. That is to the say that the preacher has not invested sufficient energy in the production of the sermon to find a focus. These sermons are undisciplined rambles. They are running commentaries. Sermon preparation is a rich and varied enterprise yielding a treasury of idea and comment. It is a wonderful adventure for the preacher in his or her study. It is not so fun for the listener if the preacher cannot bring the unruly mess into submission. Sermons are not smorgasbords. They are carefully prepared entrees that communicate the truth that God intends.
While the entirety of the sermon needs to find guidance from the sermon’s big idea, it is in the second move of the sermon that the preacher puts particular attention toward the making of the point. Here the preacher explains the text. To say such is to affirm that the point comes from the Scripture. It is to say, further, that the Scripture can be clarified. The Bible is powerful in its own right inspired as it is by God. Listeners don’t require preachers to hear from God in his Word. Yet the listener can be helped beyond measure by preachers who can explain the text to contemporary hearers in their own words, shedding light on difficulties and clarifying confusions. The preacher will be especially helpful through the clear presentation of the pertinent facts, persuasively argued.
Clear presentation is critical. Clarity requires simplicity. Preachers often confuse simplicity for a lack of depth. Simplicity, however, is the enemy of complexity, not profundity. The most profound truths are usually the simplest. Of course, truth can be complex. Multiple factors can muddle the matter, but that is why the preacher exists. The preacher seeks to help the listener find his or her way through the matter so that the point becomes crystal. The task is to communicate and not to complicate.
Clarity is greatly aided by a presentation of only the most pertinent facts. Many facts may attend to a particular point, but the preacher labors to present only those that will aid in understanding. Some preachers want to impress the listener with the depth of their study, unloading a truckload of material that serves to obscure the point even as it allows for a foggy respect for the preacher’s “depth.” “I’m not sure what he said,” the listener says, “but it was deep.” Some listeners even seem to expect this of the preacher, as if the task of the sermon was to attain certain levels of complexity regardless of whether anything is communicated that is helpful. When put this way, most preachers would agree that they are not to be the focal point of their preaching. The homiletic point is to be the master of the presentation. This is not to say that the sermon ought not cover a lot of territory. Bryan Chapell wrote that, “You should delight to proclaim truth as expansively and powerfully as God grants you the gifts to do so (Chapell 122).” Still, the wise preacher will discipline himself or herself to the clear presentation of only those truths that are necessary and pertinent to the point. The preacher works with a limited amount of time in a medium (orality) that requires precision.
Finally, the preacher needs to be persuasive. The facts need to be martialled so that they communicate logically and powerfully. If the point is to be made, it needs to be sensible which means that the preacher will be convincing in the ordering of the material as it is presented. Faith and reason are both essential tools in the preacher’s toolchest. Faith responds to mysteries, but reason responds to logic. The two work in tandem in an effective sermon. The listener should not have to feel it necessary to check her mind at the sanctuary door. The preacher seeks, rather, to make the case for the listener, with compelling argument and convincing logic.
Improving Our Point-Making
The first thing preachers can do to improve their point-making is to insure that they themselves can articulate the point. If someone where to nudge them at 3am Sunday morning asking them what the point of their sermon is to be, they ought to be able to state it without hesitation. This is where homiletics extends beyond hermeneutics. Exegesis allows for a broad understanding, but effective preaching requires focus. The preacher must be able to state the point in a simple declarative sentence, ideally no more than ten or twelve words. Such a statement ought to say one thing and say it well. Conjunctions ought to be avoided in order to ensure the statement’s pungency. Preachers have to get to the point or they are not ready to enter the pulpit.
Having established the point, preachers need to discipline their sermon so that only those elements that will serve the point are part of the sermon. Editing is never easy. Many good things could be said in a sermon, but it is best for the preacher to remember the general rule that “less is more.” Preachers that are ruthless with themselves in preparation will be appreciated by their listeners.
Preachers have several tools at their disposal in the task of explaining points. Among them are the following:
definition: explaining the nature and limits of the item under discussion – “I am talking about this and not this…”
division: dissecting the nature of the truth through itemizating its parts in relation to one another – “There are three aspects to this point…”
exemplification: offering examples that color in (illustrate) the abstract idea or that make it tangible in the listener’s known experience – “Let me give you and example…”
quotation: sharing insight from authoritative sources that serves to clarify and give insight – “It is like blank said…”
statistics: delimiting and affirming the point through quantitative analysis – “The numbers show that…”
restatement: using fresh words to assist in understanding – “Let me put it in another way…”
The preacher need not employ every tool in every sermon. The art of preaching is in the preacher’s ability to know just what will serve most effectively in helping the listener hear from God.
“Get to the Point.”
Preachers who want to know whether they are making their points could ask their listeners. As they leave following the sermon the preacher could ask them to articulate the point of the sermon. If there is any hesitation or muddiness in the listener’s response, then the preacher knows that he or she has more work to be done. The implications of the sermon may be many, but the point must be as clear as Aunt Martha’s Waterford crystal.
Sermons with sharpened points can penetrate the darkest heart with truth and insight. Preachers aspire to the kind of focused insight that forces people to hear the voice of God.
Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1994.