If what Haddon Robinson said is true of our average congregation, then we preachers have our work cut out: “When you stand up to preach, people are bored and expect you to make it worse" (Biblical Preaching, Second Edition, 166).
A good introduction can remedy this low expectation.
The first of Mark Dever's 9 Marks that characterizes a healthy local church is expositional preaching. Dever, in discussing the introduction and conclusion of the expositional sermon, says, “Good sermons are like a three-course meal -
1) An introduction to the appetizer
2) A body for the main meal
3) The conclusion for dessert.
Let's look at each part separately. Just be careful and don’t fill up your people on the appetizer so that they have lost their appetite for the main course. Come on, you know you have filled up on the blooming onion at Outback Steakhouse. So many teachers advise that the introduction should be brief. To mix metaphors, R. G. Lee used to talk about preachers who built chicken coop sermons on skyscraper foundations. An introduction is the porch, not the house. Make it long enough to introduce the subject and no more (Jerry Vines, Power in the Pulpit, Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition, 238-239).
The Appetizer
Goal - The goal of a good introduction is to show the unbeliever that we understand how they might perceive what we're saying and to show the believer why it is important for them to pay attention to this passage and this sermon.
When - It's best to write the introduction at the end of your preparation. That way you know exactly what you're trying to introduce.
How - Use a story, quote, experience, or thought that front-loads the sermon's application for the believer and identifies with the unbeliever’s skepticism.”
To this general but interesting analysis of introductions, I want to add the following three steps for the introduction.
1. The attention step:
“As a preacher begins his sermon, he must be sure the opening sentences grip the minds of his hearers” (James Braga, How to Prepare Bible Messages, p. 119). Haddon Robinson believes this must be accomplished in the first 30 seconds. The introduction starts with the listener and not the text as Paul recognized and practiced on Mars' Hill (Acts 17:22). So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.” It was said of Athens that there were more idols than men. The Athenians worshipped many gods. Paul grabbed their attention in relationship to his subject. Paul was going to introduce them to the God unknown to them, i.e., Jesus Christ.
“I have no statistical proof, but I believe that at least 50% of the sermons preached last Sunday started with ‘Now, if you have your Bibles, please turn to . . .’ The other 50% began with ‘Now, you’ll remember that last week we discussed. . ..’” (Wiersbe Prokope Vol. V, No.3).
In the attention step, the preacher gets his listeners’ attention in relationship to his MPS, which is the sermon reduced to one sentence. Telling a joke is not the attention step unless the joke relates to the big idea of the sermon. Dever is correct when he says you can do this with a story, quote, experience, or thought that front-loads the sermon’s application for the believer.
In a sermon I preached entitled, The Depression God’s Servants Experience (click to open), based on the suicidal request of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, I related the following episode from the life of God’s servant, G. Campbell Morgan (Martin Loyd Jones was Morgan’s assistant and later successor). Morgan was an extensively used Bible teacher, expository preacher, and commentary writer. He shocked his congregation at London’s Westminster Chapel on his 10th anniversary by telling them that he considered himself a failure: “During these ten years, I have known more of visions fading into mirages, of purposes failing of fulfilling, of things of strength crumbling away in weaknesses that ever in my life before.” Morgan was a discouraged or maybe even depressed preacher. After the Attention Step comes the Interest Step.
2. Interest Step:
Your listeners are asking two questions. The first question is, “What is he going to preach about?” and the second question is, “Why do I need this sermon?” The Interest Step answers the second question. This step goes beyond grabbing their attention to convincing them that they need this sermon (Jay Adams. Preaching with Purpose, 59-64). When the preacher is through with the introduction, his listeners should say, “I am glad I came to church today. I need this sermon.” Tony Merida states, “An effective introduction will create an appetite for those who are not hungry” (Tony Merida. Faithful Preaching, B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition, 115). Here are some suggested ways (with examples) by Donald R. Sunukjian to tap the need in your listeners for your sermon.
1. Relate a personal story and refer to recent events. Such as the G. C. Morgan story above or the Jared Wilson (click his name to open link) story. I also have used a more contemporary example: Jared Wilson founded Anthem of Hope, a non-profit dedicated to mental health and suicide prevention. Jared was a pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. He was also an author who wrote the books Love Is Oxygen: How God Can Give You Life and Change Your World and Wondrous Pursuit. He was known for being an outspoken advocate for mental health and talked publicly about his struggle with depression. Jared Wilson ended his life on September 9, 2019. At 5:01 PM that day, he tweeted: “Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure suicidal thoughts. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure depression. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure PTSD. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure anxiety. But that doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t offer us companionship and comfort. He ALWAYS does that.” The best of Christians can suffer and be defeated by depression.
2. Make a startling statement:
R. C. Sproul, in a lecture, said when he was preaching on a college campus and the students were not listening, he would announce, “For the next few minutes, I want to discuss sexual intercourse.” He said when he makes that statement, their heads snap up. I had one homiletic teacher who advised, “If in your study, you don’t think you should say it in the pulpit, say it.” He was for making startling statements. I don’t think we should always follow his counsel.
3. Explore a contemporary issue (Capital Punishment or the impact of the Qur'an on Islam).
In a recent sermon on Paul's Defense of the Gospel, which alone is the power of God to salvation, I related how some missionaries believe the Qur'an is not preventing millions of Muslims from turning to Christ. As a matter of fact, the Qur'an is Islam's worst enemy, although translated into most languages of Muslims since King Fahd of Saudi Arabia commissioned this project in 1984.
Some missionaries buy Qur'ans in the local languages and distribute them to Muslims so they can read them and see the inadequacies of the Qur'an to meet spiritual needs (The Camel, 48). I am not recommending this as a method of evangelism.
4. Probe a common need and promise some benefits, such as depression above.
5. Address some contradictions and prod a common need.
You could introduce a sermon on Helping a Fallen Brother by showing the apparent contradiction between Paul's command in Galatians 6:2 and 5. In Galatians 6:2, Paul commanded, "Bear one another's burdens," and in Galatians 6:5, Paul commanded, "Bear your own burden." The alleged discrepancy is solved when we learn that Paul used two different Greek words for burden in the two verses. In verse two, Paul used the word [βάρος baros] for the burden that was used to describe a problem a person was carrying just before he/she committed suicide. Someone needs to help that suffering person bear that burden.
But in verse five, Paul employed another Greek word [φορτίον portion] for burden, which described an expecting mother carrying a preborn baby in her womb or a marching soldier carrying his backpack. There are some burdens that only we can bear as believers. No one can do our praying, Bible reading, or witnessing.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus often told those he healed not to tell anyone. Yet, in Acts 1:9, he promised his disciples, “You shall be witnesses.” Is that not a contradiction? See the blog post on the “Messianic Secret” (click to open the link) for the answer.
6. Offer to resolve some Biblical difficulty (Biblical Preaching. page 193)
If you use a story to get their attention, use another method to get their interest. In my sermon on The Depression God’s Servants Experience, I did not use another story for the Interest Step. I discussed the three levels of depression that medical doctors identify. First, there is
Mild depression or normal sadness that comes with difficult experiences. Mild depression is accompanied by a lack of concentration or daydreaming.
Then there is Moderate depression, which has the symptom of deep-seated boredom.
Last, there is Severe depression, which has considered suicide and has no hope.
Paul O’Neil, a writer for Life magazine, once wrote vividly: “Always grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph, sink your thumbs into his windpipe in the second, and hold him against the wall until the tagline” (Vines, Jerry. Power in the Pulpit, Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition, 239).
Following the Attention Step and Interest Step is the Introduce the Subject Step.
3. Introduce the Subject Step:
The introduce the subject step should include two parts.
First, give the theme of the book.
Next, give the development of the book's theme and where your sermon fits in the development of the sermon. This provides the greater context for your sermon. The theme of 1st Kings is the decline of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom declined despite the prophetic ministry of Elijah and this contributed to his depression in 1st Kings 19.
Three Alternate Ways to Introduce a Sermon
1. Start with the Bible narrative:
As James Rose does in his sermon entitled The Big Valley on David defeating Goliath in 1 Samuel 17: “The stillness of the early morning was reinforced by the mist filling the floor of a sprawling valley. It is like that in spring; it's the time of green grass and gorgeous wildflowers ….” (Haddon W. Robinson. Biblical Sermons, 53) (click to open). This approach is rarely used because it does not grab attention or create interest.
2. For the traditional deductive sermon (see Seven Steps to Preparing a Sermon, Step 4 (Construct The Sermon Outline), here is the transition from the MPS to the first main point in a traditional sermon. In a deductive sermon, the MPS or theme is at the beginning.
a. The Attention Step
b. The Interest Step
c. The Introduce the Subject Step
d. The MPS for a deductive sermon
3. For an inductive sermon, the MPS or theme is near the end of the sermon. For an inductive sermon on 1 Samuel 1, state
a. The Attention Step: “How many of you consider yourself a leader?” “How would you define a leader?” “Who are some people you consider leaders in your life?”
b. The Interest Step: Personal story: The greatest leader in my life was my Christian mother. She influenced me for Christ more than any other person. You can be a leader. You can be a person of godly influence in someone else's life. The question is, “How can God use you as a leader?”
c. The Introduce the Subject Step: In 1 Samuel, God raised three leaders: Samuel, Saul, and David. Yet, 1 Samuel opens with barrenness. The book in which God sovereignly raises leaders begins with the barrenness of leadership. How was this barrenness of leadership overcome? How can the barrenness of leadership in your life or church be overcome?
1) Not by compromise (1:1-2)
2) Nor by retaliation (1:3-8)
3) But by prayer (1:9-28), which is the MPS. We must overcome the barrenness of leadership with prayer
Notice that the MPS is not front-loaded because this is an inductive sermon. The MPS is near the end of the story because that is where the solution to the conflict in the story occurs. The form of the text should influence the form of the sermon. In narratives where conflicts must be resolved, the Big Idea is usually in the middle or end of the Biblical story. That is why the attention and interest steps are not about prayer, which would destroy the built-in suspense of the narrative.
Adrian Rogers, the longtime former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, had a helpful formula for putting together a sermon introduction with purpose. Rogers thought in terms of the following four words:
Hey! Get the attention of the listeners in the introduction. Catch the essence of the sermon in a sentence. Gain their interest.
You! Indicate that the subject matter at hand applies to the listeners. “This is for you! I have something you need to hear.”
Look! Give some information about the subject to come. Briefly show what will be shared with them in more length and depth in the message.
Do! Tell them what they are expected to do from hearing the sermon (Vines, Jerry. Power in the Pulpit, Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition, 236-237).
I trust these thoughts will help pastors/teachers commanded to “feed the flock of God” serve a Blooming Onion from Outback Steakhouse-like appetizer in the introduction that kick starts the taste buds for the main course.