How to Tell the Gospel Story in Every Sermon
So far in this series of posts, I have tried to make a case for story-shaped preaching. First, I answered some of the myths about narrative preaching. Then, I gave you seven reasons, both practical and theological, for giving a story shape to our sermons.
I hope the message has come through clearly that the most compelling reason for story-shaped preaching is that “story” is the shape of the Gospel. The question now becomes, “How do we preach in such a way that every sermon is a retelling of the Gospel story, applied to some aspect of contemporary life?”
I’ll give you details of this process over several posts, but for now let’s get the big picture. Here are three essentials for any good story, and how they relate to a gospel-driven sermon.
Tension: Fuel for Story
If story were a road trip, tension would be the gas in the Chevy. If narrative were a dance, conflict would be the music. If there’s no tension, there’s no story. It’s just that simple.
The tension of the Gospel story is the dissonance between God’s purpose and man’s sin. We are broken. We are guilty. We cannot fix ourselves. This conflict fuels the storyline of the Bible. On every page, one question screams for an answer: “How will a God who is both merciful and just restore his creation?”
Likewise, in story-shaped preaching, the tension of the sermon emerges from some area of human brokenness. It may be a vexing question that needs an answer (pointing to our fallen intellect). Perhaps a human agenda that seems to be in conflict with God’s agenda (pointing to our fallen will). Or maybe a deep longing that highlights our emptiness (pointing to our lost sense of purpose and connection to our creator).
Whatever the nature of the conflict in any given sermon, its movement is from tension toward resolution. If the tension is a question, the sermon moves towards an answer. If it is a conflict of agendas, the sermon moves from the human agenda towards God’s agenda. If it is a deep longing, the movement of the sermon is a quest for a life-filling encounter with God.
To ensure that you are both faithful to the Scriptures and effective in your storytelling, follow these three rules:
The tension must arise from the text. It may be a dissonance within the text, or a dissonance created by the text, but the text must in some way create and stir the tension.
The quest for resolution must pass through the text. Once you have identified and asked the question, you return to the text to find the answer.
Maintain the tension until the climax. A good story does not give the ending away at the beginning. Don’t jump the gun. Proceed towards resolution without resolving prematurely.
Climax: A Gospel Moment
There comes a moment in every story when the tension reaches it’s greatest intensity. At a moment when the situation may seem most impossible, the solution appears. It is the moment of highest emotion, because it is the moment when the ultimate truth of the story becomes clear. The climax of the gospel story is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The climax of any Gospel-driven, story-shaped sermon will essentially be the same.
Story-shaped preaching should always climax in the discovery of how God’s redemptive work in Christ answers the questions, defines the agenda, and fulfills the longings of our lives. The quest of the sermon finally discovers the link between the tension with which we have been struggling and the cross of Christ. We express this link in the Big Idea, the overarching gospel truth, stated clearly in the sermon’s climax.
The cross and resurrection of Christ is the ultimate narrative reversal. It changes everything. In a story-shaped preaching, we have the opportunity to experience this reversal in every sermon.
Resolution: Life on the Other Side of Grace
The final movement of a story-shaped sermon is gospel-based application. This is more than a bullet list of things to do. It paints a picture of life beyond the work of Christ in our lives. It places us squarely within God’s story, between the first coming and the second coming of Christ. It calls us to action, but not out of mere desire, commitment or personal strength or ability. This obedience flows from his finished work. Application can never be legalistic when it is founded in grace and it emerges from redemption.
There is much more to say about story-shaped preaching, but these are the essentials: the tension of human brokenness, the climax of the work of Christ, and the resolution that paints a picture of new life in Him. When we do this well, our hearers may experience the Gospel afresh in every sermon.
Now that you have a general idea for what we’re aiming for in story-shaped preaching, let’s get down to specifics. In the next post in this series, we’ll look at the five narrative events and three acts of a story-shaped sermon.
