WHY JOHNNY CAN'T PREACH: On Sermonic Unity

I picked up Dr. T. David Gordon's new book Why Johnny Can't Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers a few weeks ago. I just started it tonight.

I was immediately struck by Dr. Gordon's first critique: "I will argue that few sermons have unity and that the lack of unity is a serious, if not fatal, defect in a sermon" (13-14). I agree!

I don't mean to pretend to be a great preacher. I am still very young and inexperienced. I need time to season, by God's grace. Nonetheless, in my own experience, both in preaching the Word and hearing the Word preached, Dr. Gordon's first critique rings true. The ONE thing that frustrates me more than anything else about poorly constructed sermons (many of which I've preached!) is their lack of unity. The unity of a sermon is like the foundation of a building, without it nothing of significance can be constructed. Looking back I believe this is the most important insight in my development as a preacher over the last year.

While interning at PCPC I had the wonderful opportunity to preach many Wednesday evening worship services. The service is only 30 minutes long and includes the Supper, so the sermon has to be short (10-15 minutes max). Preparing these shorter sermons forced me to focus, focus, focus on one key point. I learned to begin my sermon preparation by deriving a SPECIFIC thesis from the biblical text.

Before outlining, before writing, before anything (besides understanding the context), I derive a thesis statement that I believe is the central teaching of the text. Then, and only then, do I begin to construct the sermon, being very disciplined along the way to ONLY SAY what serves the thesis, nothing more nothing less. This requires a willingness to delete a lot of text in the process. Just as good writing is rewriting, good sermon construction is reconstruction. Sometimes you have to tear down in order to build up.

Along the way I will often realize that the thesis needs to be tweaked a bit. There is a sort of dialogue that develops as the sermon is born, between it and the thesis. Both may change, but the thesis remains the fundamental unifying element.

I continue this practice today. Regardless of sermon length, I begin by deriving a thesis from the text. This has totally revolutionized my sermon preparation.