Four Critical Elements of Preaching

Written by Wayne McDill

This article is from Wayne McDill's 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching, 2nd ed., revised and expanded; B&H Publishing Group. Order it online now or view all of the books on preaching available for purchase.

In Wayne McDill’s book, 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching, he says that sermon development takes on four forms, each with its particular contribution to the support of sermon ideas. These include Explanation, Illustration, Argumentation, and Application.

12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching - Second Edition

McDill argues that when the sermon material is out of balance, effectiveness is compromised. What you say does not have the clarity and impact you hope for. Look at the result when each of the rhetorical forms is too dominant or too weak.

• If explanation is weak, your sermon will seem to have slipped its moorings and drifted away from the text. The biblical authority you want for your preaching will be eroded. On the other hand, too much time given to explanation will turn the sermon into a history lesson or a lecture on biblical backgrounds and word studies. As interesting as that may be to you, the goal of preaching is not merely academic.
   
• Illustration has a special role in that it can serve each of the other elements. It can help to explain, argue, or apply the truths of the text. Or it can be devoted to picturing the sermon truth solely for the purpose of clarity and vividness. Strive to keep your illustrative material concrete, vivid, and believable. Make sure that each of your key sermon ideas is adequately illustrated. If your development is weak in the area of illustrative material, it will tend to be dull and dry. It will not sparkle with the life and vividness that are so needed for attention and impact. On the other hand, too much illustrative material will make the sermon seem showy and lacking in substance.
   
• Weakness in the area of argumentation will tend to make you sound narrow and presumptuous because you are not inviting your audience to see how reasonable the sermon ideas are. Too much argument, however, can make your sermon seem belligerent and adversarial. The proper balance will depend on your subject, the audience, and the occasion.
   
• If application is weak, the sermon seems to be more or less irrelevant to everyday life. If there is too much application, the preacher may appear to “stretch the point” in order to harangue the congregation. They may become oppressed with too heavy a dose of obligation and turn him off or chalk his comments up to “just preaching.”

When the sermon is balanced in the use of persuasive elements, three benefits are obvious.

1. The preacher is better prepared and better able to preach without the distraction of notes.
2. The biblical message is delivered more effectively and persuasively.
3. The audience is more attentive and interested because the balanced appeal engages them in every possible way.

Read the next article How to Balance Four Critical Elements of Preaching

Wayne McDill is senior professor of preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.