Sermon Central
The Storytelling Pastor: Preaching Great Sermons from the Great Lives of Scripture
by Charles R. Swindoll
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Electricity had just been brought into the village where he and his family were living. Each family got a single light bulb in its hut; a real sign of progress. The trouble was that at night, though they had nothing to read and many of them did not know how to read, the families would sit in their huts in awe of this wonderful symbol of technology.
The light-bulb watching began to replace the customary nighttime gatherings by the tribal fire, where the tribal storytellers, the elders, would pass along the history of the tribe. The tribe was losing its history in the light of a few electric bulbs.
This story helps to illustrate the difference between scientific management and tribal leadership. Every family, every college, every corporation, every institution needs tribal storytellers. The penalty for failing to listen is to lose one’s history, one’s historical context, one’s binding values. Like the Nigerian tribe, without the continuity brought by custom, any group of people will begin to forget who they are.”
What is true for families, colleges, corporations, and institutions is certainly true for churches. Unless we as pastors fulfill our roles as “tribal storytellers,” our flocks will forget who they are. The Bible tells us who we are. In doing so, it uses narrative more than any other type of literature. More than one third of the Old Testament consists of stories. The Gospels, instead of merely explaining Jesus, tell his story so that we may know him. And the book of Acts equips the Church, not by listing instructions like a church administration manual, but by telling the stories of faithful men and women who evangelized their world. Yet for all the narrative available in the pages of Scripture, churches still need storytellers. We remind people of who they are. In doing so, we show them what God wants them to become.
Here are four suggestions from one “tribal storyteller” to another.
Choose the right story, then tell it with a specific purpose in mind.
Every great sermon starts with the needs of the congregation in mind, including one based on a biblical story. What specific struggles do your hearers face? What exhortation or warning do they need to hear? If the people in your congregation need inspiration or conviction, which story from the Bible best reflects the challenges they face?
One church I pastored needed to expand, but had no available acreage and no adjacent lots to purchase. So, we made the difficult choice to relocate and build several miles away. I could think of no better time to tell the story of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt as Moses led them to the Promised Land. From Sunday to Sunday, each story from that extended narrative found immediate application to what we were experiencing.
Bring heroes down to size and describe villains with sympathy.
Oliver Cromwell, when sitting for a portrait, reportedly told the painter, “Use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me and not flatter me at all, but . . . remark all these ruffness, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me.” I find great comfort in the fact that the Bible, like Cromwell’s artist, doesn’t flatter its heroes. However, the great men and women of the Bible can seem larger than life, particularly when the Lord chose them to accomplish humanly impossible tasks. Moses parted the Red Sea. Esther altered the course of history for her people. The apostles healed the sick and cast out demons. By exalting these larger-than-life figures of Scripture as spiritual supermen and superwomen, we unconsciously excuse ourselves from following their examples when faced with similar challenges.
Bring those heroes down to size. Where the Bible paints their warts, we point them out. Not to disparage or gloat, but to see these great lives as they were: feeble, flawed people who did what was right when tempted to do something less. By the same token, avoid overemphasizing the evil in the Bible’s villains. If the congregation can see through the eyes of the antagonist in a story, they will see their own potential failure and heed the warning.
Tell the story using examples from today.
“Then the Lord said to me [Hosea], ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress . . .’ So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley” (Hosea 3:1–2). Why did Hosea have to “buy” her? What’s a shekel of silver? How much is that worth? Is that a lot? People need these questions answered but I don’t recommend reading passages from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Give them an analogy that hits home. For example:
Imagine your mate ran off with a lover. They escaped to some tropical island in the South Pacific and racked up several thousand dollars in credit card debt. (King David once purchased a parcel of land with a threshing floor, complete with oxen, for just fifty shekels of silver [2 Sam. 24:24]). After several months, your spouse’s lover disappeared, leaving him or her in jail and unable to pay the debt. How would you feel? Now imagine the Lord commanded you to travel to that island, pay the debt to redeem your unfaithful mate, and then bring him or her home to live as husband or wife again!
Suddenly, Hosea’s challenge comes into clearer view. Everyone now feels the tension pulling Hosea between self-gratifying justice and God-pleasing grace.
Derive a timeless principle from the hero’s example and phrase it as a warning or an exhortation.
Each narrative reveals something vitally important about living in relationship with God. The settings and scenery have changed since these remarkable men and women lived millennia ago, but people remain the same. What was true then is true now. Find a timeless principle around which the story revolves and then drive it home. That warning or exhortation won’t soon be forgotten.
or instance, Simon Magus offered the Apostle Peter money, begging, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:19). Peter didn’t hold back. He said, in effect, Your offer proves you are headed for damnation, and as far as I’m concerned, your money can follow you there!
A couple of principles come to mind, but this one tops my list as a pastor in media: “Unregenerate people see power as a means of wealth, but God’s power is not for sale.” This is not merely my observation; it’s very likely the point of Luke’s story. Then, to apply the principle forcefully and unforgettably, I might phrase it as an imperative: “Beware people in ministry who peddle the power of the Holy Spirit for donations; you don’t want to go where they’re leading.”
Storytelling is a craft that some people train for years to master, but their primary purpose is to entertain. We who are pastors, on the other hand, draw upon stories to transform, which means we must hone our skills to a razor-fine edge. It’s hard work, but the rewards are abundant. Furthermore, a well-told story is just what your tribe needs in order to remember who they are, then discover what God wants them to become.
Dr. Swindoll is senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church, chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary, and the Bible teacher on the internationally syndicated radio program Insight for Living. He has written more than thirty best-selling books, such as Strengthening Your Grip, Laugh Again, The Grace Awakening, and the million-selling Great Lives from God's Word series. Chuck and his wife, Cynthia, live in Frisco, Texas.