Preaching in Paragraphs

Every preacher knows the terror of a blank screen. It is Tuesday morning—or even worse, Saturday afternoon—and the preacher sits and stares at his laptop. He has opened a new document in his word processor, and now the cursor stands idling on the page, patiently blinking. And the words aren’t coming.

Let us assume that the preacher has a text. Let’s also assume the preacher has done the work of exegeting his text. He has read it in the original language, looked up key words and topics, and took apart the text’s structure. He has crafted an outline and a theme statement. He went for a brisk walk so that he could meditate on how to preach the gospel from this text, and how to exhort his congregation. Useful work has been done, a few notes have been jotted down on a legal pad, but still the page sits blank, the cursor waiting.

My counsel to the uneasy preacher is to begin writing, one paragraph at a time. Before you dismiss this as unhelpfully obvious, allow me to explain.

Sermons can be considered at different levels, and there is value for the preacher to consider each of these levels as he writes (and then edits) his sermon. For instance, he should think about his sermon at a global level. He gets a drone’s-eye view so that the sermon’s overall landscape becomes evident. In one sentence, what is this sermon about? Where is it going, and how does it get there? This is getting the macro perspective, and it is essential for making clear the sermon’s message and argument.

A preacher should also think at the granular level. A sermon comprises a handful of pages, and on those pages are paragraphs (more on that in a moment), and in those paragraphs are words. There isn’t enough time in the week to agonize over every word, but a preacher can think about his sermon at the micro level, zooming in on the words and the grammar and the style. What kind of vocabulary does he use in his preaching? Are these active verbs? Concrete nouns? Predictable cliches? How many words does he try to cram into a single sentence? Putting it plainly: do his words serve the message, so that the sermon not only teaches but delights those who listen?

There is another level at which a preacher can construct his sermon, and that is at the level of its paragraphs. Back in elementary, we learned that a paragraph is a unit of writing made up of a few sentences centering on a single idea. At its most basic, you start with a topic sentence, write a supporting sentence, and then you conclude. It means that a proper paragraph will have a singular focus and an explicit purpose.

In the case of a sermon, one may easily imagine the different kinds of paragraphs making up the content of its various points. The opening paragraph or three offers an intriguing “hook” for the listeners, such as a contemporary example of the same thing we read about in Psalm 3. Another few paragraphs describe the history around Absalom’s rebellion. These four paragraphs explore the meaning of David’s imprecatory plea. This paragraph then presents a brief application for our prayer life, the next two paragraphs illustrate the text’s impact with an example from church history, and these three unfold how David in his suffering and praying is a type of Christ. And so on. Paragraph after paragraph as the text is explained and applied, until the final one or two paragraphs that attempt to sum it all up. In my own experience, a 30-minute sermon often comes to somewhere between 35 and 45 paragraphs.

Why is it beneficial for a preacher to write (and then review) his sermon at the level of paragraphs? Assuming that his paragraphs are mostly well-constructed by centering on a single idea, this exercise highlights how many paragraphs convey different kinds of content. Is this exhortation? Or explanation? Background? Illustration? The same questions could be asked of a detailed sermon outline, if the preacher is speaking from notes. Evaluating his sermon at the level of its paragraphs, a preacher can reflect on what this tabulation reveals:

• “More than 50% of my forty paragraphs are explanations of exegetical details. Because I want to be an expository preacher, that number seems about right.”

• “I’ve got five paragraphs in a row here that are kind of a side comment on Christian nationalism, and another four that tell a funny story from my childhood. Are these side-bars a responsible use of my paragraphs?”

• “Compared to one short paragraph that talks about Christ’s saving work, I’ve got more than fifteen that push Christian parents to do family worship better. I wonder if something is askew here?”

As we write or edit a sermon, doing a quick paragraph tally can highlight obvious disproportions. As a general rule, preachers want to achieve sermons that are well-balanced. To be sure, every text is different. The preacher’s mandate is to follow the text, whatever its emphasis. There are doctrinal texts, hortatory texts, historical texts, and so on. Striving to be a faithful exegete means the preacher will give a stronger focus to different elements, according to the particular passage. Yet undoubtedly, it is also the case that a preacher is compelled to preach the gospel (1 Cor 9:16), to explain (2 Tim 2:15), and to exhort (2 Tim 4:2). Do his paragraph allocations indicate that these are in fact the preacher’s priorities?

A second benefit to “writing by paragraph” is that it encourages variation in the sermon’s rhetorical movement. For instance, after eight paragraphs in a row of wading through the details of Ephesians 1:5, listeners need a moment to reflect and to draw lines to today. How about a paragraph or two to illustrate Paul’s words? Or a few paragraphs that work out the implications for the congregation’s life? After leaning out for a few paragraphs, the next few might be devoted to some heavier lifting.

Thinking of a sermon in terms of its paragraphs will help the preacher be more deliberate about how he constructs his sermon. As paragraph follows paragraph, he’ll be able to track the development of his sermon’s main idea, be alert to possible imbalances and unhelpful diversions, and stay sensitive to the need for varying his content.

The screen is still blank. The cursor is patiently idling. A sermon needs to be written because Sunday is coming. With another prayer for the help of God the Holy Spirit, the preacher will begin writing, one paragraph at a time.