What a Sermon Outline Can Do

The longer I endure in the preaching ministry, the more firmly I believe that a pastor's sermon outline needs to be something clearly and immediately helpful to his listeners and not just a series of words beginning with the same letter.

Recently, a friend commented on a scriptural story I'd written about on my blog. He had preached that passage recently and it was fresh in his mind, so he sent along his outline. I love the guy and he didn't ask what I thought, so I didn't tell him. But what went through my mind was, "You've been in the ministry for over 30 years, at least. So why aren't you making your outlines more helpful to your people?"

What he did—you already know this, I'm confident—was to outline the text in something like this: 
          I. The Plan
          II. The Procession
          III. The Power
          IV. The Persuasion

The words—and the points—by themselves were meaningless to his people. And yet, I'd be willing to wager that many of the members of his congregation who take notes on the sermon simply write down the points of his outline and think they've got something. They don't; they basically have four words which will be meaningless 24 hours later.

A few weeks ago, during the Christmas season, I visited a local church where a good friend has been pastor for over a dozen years. His sermon from Luke 1 dealt with Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Zacharias’ song of praise in that chapter prophesied the wonderful age just ahead for God's people. Each believer should have our own song of praise to God, the pastor said. That was the sermon's theme, and it's a great truth.

The pastor began by calling attention to the enforced period of silence after Zacharias's reluctance to believe Gabriel's good news concerning the birth of his son. The first point of the sermon was, “Use Your Silence to Compose Your Song.” When the child was born and Zacharias gave him his name, his tongue was loosed and he burst forth in praise. The pastor's second point was: “Use Your Voice to Praise Your God.” His final point, referring to the song of Zacharias found in Luke 1:68-79, was: “Use Your Words to Prophesy of the Lord” (By “prophesy,” he meant to bear faithful witness).

What struck me about the points of my friend's message was how each stands on its own legs. Each one gives clear instruction to God's people on what we are to do. None of this “The People, The Place, The Program, The Power” business.

That pastor is as effective a communicator as anyone I know. As he preached that morning, I glanced around to see how the members were receiving the sermon, fully expecting them to be as caught up in its power as I was. Many, if not most, seemed to be. But not everyone—they never are.

Since not everyone enters the house of worship intending to meet the Lord, to hear truth that will change their lives, or even to take home with them any word spoken from the pulpit, the pastor does well to put the heart of his message in a form the people will hear, will understand, and will be able to relate to. If he can also make it memorable, so much the better.

The heart of a pastor's message is his outline. Well, all right, if you want to be a stickler about it, the outline is the skeleton for his message. But it contains the heart.

In a sermon titled “Prayer That Is Larger Than Ourselves” (from his book, Made For His Pleasure, Moody Press, 1996.), Alistair Begg made his outline ten suggestions on how to accomplish that purpose:
           I. Give Prayer the Full Time It Deserves
           II. Be Consistent in Prayer
           III. Let God's Glory Be Your Concern
           IV. Pray Because You are God's Child
           V. Pray As One Conversing With God
           VI. Remember the Power of Prayer
           VII. Remember the Principles of Prayer
           VIII. Choose a Place
           IX. Choose a Plan
           X. Find a Good Example and Copy It

Ten points? Yes, but he didn't spend 15 minutes on each one. In fact, most were very short. What I want to emphasize here is that each point stands on its own and says something significant about prayer even if you did not know the other points.

In his sermon “Psalm for a Dark Night” (from his book, Bend in the Road, W Publishing Group, 2000), based on the 71st Psalm, David Jeremiah speaks of the reality of trials in the lives of believers:
          I. Trials because of ungodly foes
          II. Trials because of an uncertain future
          III. Trials because of unfaithful friends
          IV. Trials because of an unparalleled Heavenly Father
Our response to those trials, he preaches, should be to:
          I. Remember the character of God
          II. Review the compassion of God
          III. Rejoice in celebration to God
          IV. Renew your consecration to God
          V. Reclaim your confidence in God and the future

Jeremiah clearly loves alliteration when he can find it, but it's worth noting he does not demand it and seems not to go out of his way to manufacture it, as some preachers are wont to do.

Now, having made the point that the outline's elements should stand alone and give clear statements of truth to hearers, I need to drop back and say this before leaving the subject: not all sermons have discernible outlines. Most of mine probably don't.

So, isn't that contradictory? Not at all.

I'm simply saying if you give your people an outline to guide them in following you through the sermon, you would do them an immense favor by making it something worthy of their thought and worth remembering.

Pastors would probably be dismayed if they knew how little of their sermons the church members will carry away when they walk out the doors next Sunday morning. Rather than merely accepting that as the way things are or possibly hoping for the best, the pastor should be proactive.

Spend more time, study, and prayer on your outline, pastor. Ask the Father to help you make it something clear, positive, and memorable. After all, there is only One Person in the universe who has heard every sermon ever preached, and you are talking to Him. He has seen it all and heard it all again and again. If anyone knows what makes a sermon work, it's the Father.

And what makes that special is that He wants you to succeed next Sunday even more than you do. So, when you turn to ask Him, you will have His undivided attention.

Be sure to give Him yours.

Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist Pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana
He blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com