Explanation, Illustration, Argumentation, Application

How to tell a story

An adequate story has to communicate ideas, moods, examples to follow, biblical ways of thinking and the application of biblical solutions. 1) What happened, which is the landscape of action. 2) The thoughts, desires, and emotions of the people involved in the event. 3) Convey the way events happened in time. This makes experience coherent, sensible, and meaningful by putting all the action and consciousness elements in order and by presenting them in such a way that the story has a point, or larger meaning. 4) Stories consist of details and descriptions. Details being facts and descriptions being feelings emotions and perspectives. Descriptions help the audience feel, taste, smell and hear everything that is going on. 5) ) Not setting the stage for a story can arouse the curiosity of the audience. Instead of explaining the story by giving background information up front I can leave things unanswered in the introduction. 6) It is ok to ramble in a story, but you must have your first few and last few lines of the story memorized. Telling the story 1) Select a Story 2) Establish the stories central truth. Asking yourself, what motivates me to tell this story? What is that one truth I want others to learn from it? What central truth does God want me to communicate today? The central truth should dominate the story. One central truth to the story. What is the theme of the story? Be specific about my theme by telling my audience how the theme is to take hold in their lives. 3) Distinguish between the inner story and the outer story. The out story consist of the details that the story reveals. They are objective we can see them and we can draw conclusions using them. The inner story is the interpretation and response taking place within the actors in the story. You may speculate about the inner responses in biblical accounts, but do so carefully. 4) Report the scene or tell the story as if you are an eyewitness. Envision the story. Rather then trying to understand what they were thinking and feeling explain the situation from a biblical perspective. Who is there with them? What do they see/hear/smell? What are the feelings/attitudes and moods they are revealing? What memories are influencing their thinking? What are shared concerns/heartaches/frustrations between the original audience and my audience? 5) Do the research necessary for getting the information you need. Biblical narratives have historical settings that may not be familiar to you. Who are these people— Amalekites, Philistines, Moabites? What were their origins, culture, and religion? Find out. Where is this place, and what is the terrain like? Details like these will make your sermon alive with interest. As you tell contemporary stories, go to the trouble to find out the details. 6) Practice them so that you deliver them smoothly. The goal is to get people lost in their imagination and see the events of the story. Keep your presentation simple in language. Clarity calls for simplicity. Let the drama of the scene or story come through. Do not try to manipulate the response of the audience. Avoid technical terms unless you explain them. Use people talk. Language with Appeal 1) Figurative - helps your hearer understand your ideas by seeing them more clearly. Most figurative language is based on the comparison or association of two things that are essentially different but alike in some key way. The two most common figures of speech are similies Similes make direct and explicit comparisons, usually introduced by like, as, as if, or as when. In Psalm 1: 3 an extended simile is used: "He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither." and metaphors Metaphors present the comparison less directly but just as vividly. Jesus used metaphorical language when he said, "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15: 5). Make sure they are creative and new. Well worn expressions tend to lose impact with use over time. 2) Descriptive - Uses modifiers to add color and precision to the picture. Instead of He is mad. He was steaming mad. Instead Jesus was struck. He was whipped repeatedly. David moved toward Goliath. With fire in his eyes David sought to destroy Goliath. Use descriptive language carefully. Flowery language designed to impress or appeal to emotion is best avoided. Choose words and phrases that exactly capture the scene you want to present. Your work as a word crafter is involved here. Never settle for the almost right word to say what you want to say. One of the marks of novice writers and speakers is an overuse of adjectives and adverbs. Use description sparingly. As we noted above, one word will color a whole scene, so do not use more where it is not necessary. 3) Sensate - As you describe a scene, always survey it for what the senses would pick up in it. What are the sights? What sounds would be heard? What are the odors that one would notice? How would objects feel to the touch? What about tastes? Then, of course, there is that sixth sense, the emotional. It is often represented as a visceral sense as emotions are physically perceived.But be careful in describing emotions not to overdo it. 4) Concrete - Concrete language brings ideas and principles down to earth for clarity and understanding. Concrete means those things which can be perceived by the senses as actual and particular. The opposite is abstract, which means conceptual. Sermons present abstract (general) ideas in the sermon idea and division statements and sermon development involves particularizing (specifics) these general ideas. Good communication calls for both, used in the right balance and at the appropriate times. 5) Specific - This builds off of concrete. Specific refers to an individual member of a larger class of things. The opposite term, general, refers to all members of a class or group. Weapon is general. Sword is more specific. Two-edged sword is even more specific. You can see that weapon is a large class of things, while two-edged sword is a specific, individual weapon. Use the most specific term you can in drawing pictures and telling stories. Concrete and specific is want makes an idea more vivid (people are better able to see it).

2. You will appeal to the imagination of your hearer with illustration.

Illustration is an appeal to the imagination the aim is vividness and the response is a picture painted on someone's mind which evokes a response in their hearts. Illustrations should not be about what we experience, but what we see in our experience. The world can be God's picture book if in ordinary events you see analogies, applications or spiritual truth. Many illustrations will occur to you as you work on your sermon. Write down clearly the point you want to make, and then think of the parts of that point that require illumination. You are trying to paint a picture on people's minds you can't do that if you can't see it clearly so imagine. Use words to describe what you are trying to illuminate that evoke the feeling the bible passage intends on evoking by using an experience from today's world. Vivid means being sensitive to people's perceptions of particular words and using words that you know will evoke the Scriptures intended emotional response. Vivid means using concrete words that refer to objects or events that are available to the senses in everyday life. One way to increase vividness is to clearly define abstract words that is words that have no physical referents. Defining them from there meaning in the Scripture as opposed to how others may define them. Take it one step further and show how the biblical understand better explains reality by using concrete words. Vivid means using descriptive words that appeal to the senses. Your ability to fashion appropriate analogies and apt applications will be sharpened through practice. Types of illustrations that work best. 1) The speaker's and listener's lived experience overlap. 2) The speaker's learned experience over laps the listener's learned experience. 3) The speakers' lived experience overlaps the listener's learned experience. 4) The speaker's learned experience overlaps the listener's learned experience. 5) The speakers lived or learned experience does not overlap the listener's lived or learned experience. Common types of illustrations are examples, like testimonials, of people applying or denying the point, and analogies, using parallel images from outside the religious dimension. Your material is vivid when it brings strikingly real or lifelike images to the mind of the hearer. These images give life to the ideas of your text. They leave an impact on the imagination so that the concepts will not be easily forgotten. You want only that they see it. If your illustrative material accomplishes that, it is effective.

Illustration

Illustration serves to clarify the textual truth in the mind of the hearer with images that appeal to the imagination and emotions. The word illustration is from Latin, lustrare, to illuminate. It means "to throw light on an idea. Illustration is the function of sermon development that illuminates the sermon idea for the imagination of the hearer, giving the biblical truth a familiar enough image from everyday life that the listener can see it in his mind. Illustrations explain general concepts by breaking them down to their specifics. Particulars (specifics) must be gathered up in generalizations and abstracts must be taken down to particulars. That is we must break down the abstract concept to a real life example. General concepts slide over to our world to become principles we can live by (own nothing to anyone except love Rm. 12) and specifics become examples for us to follow. When specifics don't translate directly over to our context "washing feet" we need to look for the general statement in the text and use it as a guiding principle for specific examples in our context. Abstract concepts can touch peoples lives when we illustrate the general idea in area of life we experience today. The trinity as a 3 leaf clover. Or the drawing of the trinity in a graph/visual.

Tools for Explaining

1) Restatement -Saying the same thing in different words. Not saying the same in the same words (repetition). Using other bible verses that say the same thing in a different way. 2) Definition - Define to set limits. Offer a quick explanation of a word. We can define by explaining similarities or differences (comparing and contrasting) to something they already know. Explanation shows how ideas relate to one another or what the implications of an idea are. 3) Facts - something that has really occurred regardless of whether or not someone believes it's true or not. Facts checked by reason/logic, experiment, personal experience or argued from authority. Facts can be real life examples, observations, and statistics. Stating a fact itself is meaningless unless you are doing something with the fact either supporting a biblical truth or drawing a conclusion from a fact or a number of facts. Facts are not opinions. Opinions in order to be valid need to be supported by facts. 4) Statistics- Round numbers work best. Over 50,000. More than 1.3 billion. Compare to something they already know. Noah's arch was the size of four football fields. 5) Quotes - use quotes to support or expand a point for two reason impressiveness and authority. Use other people's words when they have stated it more effectively and give them credit for it. Quote others because they are in a better position to know the facts or interpret them or because the audience would be more likely to accept their evaluation. Quotes should be used sparingly not all throughout the sermon. Quotes should be brief. You can introduce a quote by saying "The bible says" "Paul wrote" "God has made it clear." 6) Narration - used to supply background filling in the history, setting or actions and spotlighting the personalities involved.

4. You will appeal to the volition of your hearer with application.

Application is an appeal to the will and the aim is to be practical and the response is intentional action. In appealing to volition, you are presenting new possibilities for thinking, attitude, and behavior. Those in your audience may have forgotten, or never known, that they have such an alternative as you present. In this sense you are bringing news. You are offering a different approach. But the choice is left to the hearer. You spell out the alternatives clearly and call for decision, but then you have done all you can do. Each person must decide for himself. The more compelling your application, the more persuaded he will be to accept the biblical truth. Application is more than just attacking the congregation with the sermon truth. Application presents the implications of biblical truth for the contemporary audience. It is a call for action, for putting the principles of Scripture to work in our lives. It deals with attitudes, behavior, speech, lifestyle, and personal identity. It appeals to conscience, to values, to conviction, to commitment to Christ. 5 The most common failure of application is that it is too general, too religious, and too vague. The general applications of most preachers do not really connect with the hearer's sense of what real life is about. Avoid sweeping criticisms. Aim rather for your application to be practical. Deal with real life. Give concrete suggestions as to appropriate changes in response to the ideas of the text. Show how your hearer can express his faith and experience the grace of God. If the response to your preaching week after week is an intention to trust God with concrete changes, you have accomplished a great deal.

Application (Idea to Action)

Application presents the implications of biblical truth for the contemporary audience. It is a call for action, for putting the principles of Scripture to work in our lives. It deals with attitudes, behavior, speech, lifestyle, and personal identity. It appeals to conscience, to values, to conviction, to commitment to Christ. Application is the form of development that presents the implications of sermon ideas for human experience. It can be descriptive in analyzing contemporary life or prescriptive in advocating certain behavior.

3. You will appeal to the reason of your hearer with argumentation.

Argumentation is an appeal to the reason the aim is plausibility and the response is acceptance. In your appeal to reason you attempt to give such evidence so that the reasoning hearer will come to the same conclusions you have about the biblical ideas you preach. They need evidence to support their convictions. They need to know how common criticisms and accusations can be answered. Since a sermon is not a debate or a philosophy seminar, you will want to avoid complex and abstract arguments. A simple, direct, "common sense" approach will be much more convincing. It may seem at first that plausibility is a rather weak aim for this part of your development. You may rather want to aim for undeniable proof. Though that would be a great thing to achieve, I doubt you will ever produce material that cannot be challenged at all. Plausible means "seemingly true, acceptable." If your argumentation achieves that level of effectiveness, you will have overcome logical barriers and opened the way to faith. That is enough.

1. You will appeal to the intellect of your hearer with explanation.

Explanation is an appeal to the intellect the aim is to be clear and the goal is understanding. To be clear you must go back and explain that biblical world so that your audience better understands it. You explain how what God said then is what he is saying to us now in the timeless universal principles you have presented in your outline division statements.

Argumentation

Sermons are designed to persuade. But if you are to be persuasive, you will have to make a case for your ideas. You will have to demonstrate that your point is reasonable and worthy of belief, that what you are saying makes sense. Argument is that part of your support material in which you give reasons for accepting the principles you are presenting. Argumentation functions in sermon development to guide sermon ideas through the rational barriers in the thinking of the hearer by giving him reasons to accept those ideas as valid and relevant.

Natural Analogies (Used in explain, argue, apply or illustrate)

We must declare eternal truth in terms of earthly images. There is a parallel picture in human experience for every concept God intends to make known to man. This does not mean we can know all about God. It does mean that those truths God wants us to know can be pictured in earthly images that make sense to us. Analogy is not the same as example. Example provides support from experience in the religious dimension. Analogy's provide a link of likeness between to things. Example supports analogy visualizes. Analogies are earthly images that portray spiritual truth. If you win the masters you get a green jacket Jesus gives us a white robe. How do I think these up? Step 1 Begin with a clear idea: Craft carefully the wording of your idea. One-word sermon points do not really say anything. Complete ideas require a subject and a modifier. Your division statements, like your sermon idea, need to state universal principles that can stand alone as biblical truth. Until each idea you want to communicate is spelled out this way, you will have trouble planning effective development. Step 2 Generalize the concept: To explore natural analogies intentionally, however, the next step is to generalize the idea. Here you are moving from the specific idea in your sermon text to the general idea. Every teaching of Scripture is a particular expression of a general concept normal to God's creation. So the general idea includes the sermon truth and all other expressions of that same concept. Very simply, you are moving from the particular idea to the general idea, as we identify that general concept by circling the one or two focal words that express the idea. we are ready then to think of natural analogies (in nonreligious areas) that could be used to communicate the idea effectively. Step 3 Brainstorm Natural Analogies: Once the general idea is clear, search for it in arenas of life other than the religious. Some of these other arenas are science, politics, business, nature, family, children, history, athletics, current events, friendship, workaday world, and so on. Step 4 Choose the best analogies by: 1) Chooses analogies that are more on target with your idea. 2) Use analogies appropriate to my audience. The range of experience can vary widely from one church to another. Some are rural, some urban or suburban. Different regions of the country call for adjusting your sermon material. Different economic and social status in hearers calls for different illustrations. 3) Test the analogy as to whether you can handle them well. Make sure the information is accurate. Step 5 Particularize the Analogy: To be effective for development, your analogies will need to be true to life, concrete, and believable. Clearly indicating the point at which the analogy compares to your sermon idea. Could be brief, "Like A child throwing a tantrum." or you can take time and paint the picture on their minds. To cause them to feel what you want them to feel. Be care about being brief when people don't already have a detailed understanding or familiar experience of your analogy they may not get your point. The goal here is two fold: (1) use enough particular details and imagery to appeal to imagination, and (2) tie the analogy to your idea with the use of similar wording. Summery of steps Step 1. Write your sermon idea or division statement in a precisely worded, complete sentence. Remember, you cannot plan good support for an idea that is not clear. Step 2. Identify the generic concept in your idea and state it in one or two words. This generalization of the concept should be in nontheological terminology. Step 3. Brainstorm the areas of experience listed on the exercise form for analogies that reflect the generic concept. Do not second-guess yourself as to the value of the analogies. The more you list, the better your final choices for use in the sermon. Also make use of any examples you discover. Step 4. Choose the best analogies from your list on the basis of your subject, your audience, and your best judgment about your own ability to make them work in the sermon. Your background and knowledge will make some analogies more usable for you than others. Step 5. Particularize the analogies you choose by presenting them in concrete, specific terms. For the exercise, describe how you will present each analogy in realistic terms. Write out how you would present one of the analogies in your sermon. Also draw the analogy, bringing its point home clearly and directly for your audience. Exploring Natural Analogies [1] Clearly identify the biblical concept with as precise wording as possible. Regeneration is necessary to see the kingdom of God. [2] Using the subject/ modifier pattern, generalize the concept in nontheological terms. Special qualifications for seeing the unseen. [3] Explore modern life and experience for appearances of that concept, listing all you can think of. Astronomer sees constellations. Engineer sees circuitry. Fisherman sees where the fish are. Lover sees facial expressions. [4] Choose from the list of natural analogies you have named those that can be most effective for your sermon. [5] Particularize your analogies as specific anecdotes, situations, events, or conditions.

Explanation

Your division statement needs explaining. You want to explain how your text is the basis for the principles you state in your outline. You may also want to explain further what you mean by your statement. You will go to the text and point to significant words and phrases. You will give historical background and other fruit of your textual study. You may research the narrative of your text. All of this is explanation. It is aimed at establishing the basic concept in the mind of your hearer. The goal of explanation is understanding the bible concepts in the passage.