Focus, Tension, Discovery
Three Essential Pieces
Before we begin to plot our story-shaped sermon, there are three preliminary items we need to define. Consider these to be narrative “add-on’s” to our Homiletical Conclusions. Taking aim in these areas before you begin will save time and establish clarity from the start.
These three components will help you establish the focus of the sermon, the tension of the sermon, and the moment of discovery that will help you get to the sermon climax in the end.
Focus: The Controlling Idea
We have already described the “Controlling Idea” or the “Big Idea” in relation to our Homiletical Conclusions. I want to revisit it here to emphasize its importance and to discuss the way it functions in a narrative sermon. The term “Big Idea” has been a staple of Evangelical Preaching since Haddon Robinson coined the term in his book, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001). The concept is much older. My preaching professors in seminary called it the “Thesis Statement” or the “Sermon Proposition.”
I first heard the term “Controlling Idea” in a “Story” workshop for screenwriters with Robert McKee in London in 2002. He defined is as “a complete sentence describing how and why life undergoes change from one condition of existence in the beginning to another at the end.” I found it remarkable that narrative artists like screenwriters were just as adamant about being able to state the message of a story in clear and concise terms as we preachers are about being able to state the main point of our sermons.
I decided to adopt the term “Controlling Idea” for the message of a story-shaped sermon because it implies a particular way of functioning in the sermon. Like a “Big Idea,” it must be derived from the text, a contemporary expression of the “Summary Statement of the Text,” and it is the principle by which every decision is made in the process of writing the sermon.
However, while the Big Idea may be stated at the beginning and then developed or explained in the course of a deductive sermon, the Controlling Idea is present only implicitly in the beginning, becoming explicit only at the end – in the climax of the third act. Every movement in the sermon is either leading to its unveiling (in Acts I & II) or developing its significance (in Act III). The Controlling Idea is the key concept that gives rise to the tension of the sermon, and this tension can only be resolved when this idea is known and recognized as truth.
Give attention to your Controlling Idea. Craft it to be clear, concise, and memorable. It is the statement you want to be ringing in the ears of your hearers as they leave.
Tension: Fuel for the Story
Every story must have tension. Where there is no tension, there is no story. If I began to tell you about my day, and merely recounted a series of events, from brushing my teeth in the morning to crawling into my bed at night, you would be irritated. I haven’t told you a story. I’ve merely given you my diary. Without conflict, there is nothing interesting about it. I have wasted your time.
The fact that we are telling a story implies that something is going to happen that creates a conflict that must be resolved. No conflict, no story!
Finding the proper tension of the sermon is a matter of discerning where the truth of this text conflicts with the fallen heart, mind, and will. What truth is hard to swallow? What demand do we resist? What aspect of the divine worldview does not compute?
Ultimately, the tension of the sermon is the dissonance between two conflicting agendas: God’s agenda and ours. Look to your study of the text and your theological reflection to discern the divine agenda. What God-sized solution does it offer? What is the explicit or implicit promise of grace? How does it point to the gospel?
The human agenda is more about the substitutes we might pursue instead of God’s best. When we come to the text out of our flawed human perspective, what are we hoping to get from it? What is our preferred answer to the question?
The momentum of the sermon will be fuelled by the tension between these two agendas. The impact of the sermon will happen when the divine agenda overtakes the human agenda in the sermon’s climax.
For the Narrative Sermon, add the element of “Tension of the Sermon” to the Homiletical Conclusions. I suggest you define it two ways:
Describe the Divine and Human Agendas that you see at work in this sermon.
Write the “Sermon Question” that will be answered by the Controlling Idea.
Discovery: The Exegetical Clue to Resolution
There is one final item to define up front. What is the one exegetical insight that, once it falls into place, will make the path to the Controlling Idea perfectly clear? You want to identify this “Exegetical Clue” because you need to hold it in reserve until the right moment in your sermon.
It could be the meaning of a word, an insight from the context, an easily-overlooked detail or a perspective you discovered during your theological reflection phase. It should be that piece of information that will create an “aha!” moment at the beginning of Act III when you are ready to lead your hearers to discover the Controlling Idea. Hold it in reserve, like that final piece of the family jigsaw puzzle, so that when you put it on the table the entire picture will be complete.
Once you have defined …
A clear and compelling Controlling Idea that sums up the meaning of the text for your hearers ….
The tension that this text generates, expressed in Divine and Human Agendas and the Question of the Sermon …
The Exegetical Clue to Resolution that will ultimately pave the way to a dramatic discovery of the Controlling Idea …
… you are now ready to begin shaping a story-shaped sermon! In the final three posts of this series, we will nail down the specifics of Act I, Act II, and Act III.
