For nearly four decades I’ve been listening to sermons. While God has formed me through the preaching ministry of many fine expositors, there are precious few individual sermons I remember. But there is one sermon I remember vividly, and it was given 30 years ago! The preacher retold the story of the crucifixion, in Luke 23, as Barabbas.

After a vivid description of his own terrorism and murder, unrepentant Barabbas bitterly scoffs at the Romans who freed him from deserved execution. Then his attention turns to Jesus on the cross. The key moment still rings in my ears. Jesus painfully pushes against the nails so he can speak. Barabbas cries out, “That’s right Jesus – that’s right. You cuss ‘em! Cuss ‘em all to hell!” But Jesus looks at Barabbas and says, “Fa … ther forgive … forgive them.” With those words Barabbas realizes (and so did I) that innocent Jesus died in his place.

Not all narrative sermons are memorable. But because of the power of a well-done narrative sermon, I resolved to make narrative preaching part of my own repertoire. Here are some lessons I’ve learned by preaching what I call Expository Character Narrative Sermons (ECNS).

Things I Learned to Do

Recognize the Appeal of Story

People love a good story. We don’t preach narrative sermons because stories are popular, but neither must we avoid stories because of their appeal. The Author of Scripture doesn’t ignore stories. According to the The Bible Project, approximately 43% of the Bible is made up of narrative—more than any other genre. If you begin to include ECNS, most people in your congregation will love it. That’s not why you do it, but it doesn’t hurt.

Put a Date on the Calendar

Preaching an ECNS intimidates many preachers. If you wait for inspiration to hit you, it may never come. Pick a date on your preaching calendar several months out and commit to preaching a narrative sermon. Then publicize that date to the people who will hold you accountable. This strategy is like deciding you need to get into shape, so you sign up for 5K a few months away.

While you are at it, don’t settle for one date, pick two or more. Chances are your first effort won’t be your finest. Instead of just getting through it, put another narrative sermon on the calendar within the year and commit to learn from your first effort. The best way to improve is to practice.

There’s an additional advantage to setting a date. If you regularly schedule an ECNS, you can build church outreach around it. The first time I preached an ECNS, my congregation didn’t know what to expect. Afterwards, they were more excited about it than I was. Several members appreciated the sermons so much they started to ask me, “When’s the next one?” They had family and friends they wanted to invite.

Work Hard on Exegesis

A narrative sermon is superficially, deceptively, easy. Everyone likes a good story! But this isn’t story time. Your goal is not to entertain the crowd but to preach God’s eternal Word. Thus, all of the ordinary procedures of crafting a Biblical sermon apply. The sermon grows from your study.

Generally, it took me twice as long to prepare for an ECNS because I had to think more extensively about my delivery. The extra time was in study and writing, not the extra practice.

Deliver the Sermon with Excellence

People love well-told stories but hate poorly told ones. Bad acting ruins good scripts. Even though this is a sermon, prepare like it’s theater. Practice . . . a lot. Learn your sermon well enough to deliver it without notes getting between you and the congregation. Practice your body language, gestures, facial expressions, and even your position on the dais.

Use stagecraft effectively. Think about props, costumes, set, and lighting. Don’t turn your sermon into a production that distracts from worship, but adding some simple stagecraft adds to the impact. One of the most effective costumes I used was simple. I gave a very brief introduction in my suit and tie, then took off my coat and tie, rolled up my sleeves, put on a gardening hat, and picked up a hoe. The simple costume change changed the atmosphere instantly.

Additionally, you must coordinate with your tech/sound team well in advance. Remember, the only time they get feedback is when there is “feedback.” Set them up for success. Offer to do a dress rehearsal so they can work out any technical issues. When they prepare well, they can help you preach without technical disruptions.

Engage Your Sanctified Imagination

Visualize yourself in the scene. Often, the Bible is austere in its description of people, places, things, and motivations. So, fill in the gaps with life experience and historical knowledge. Our children’s Sunday School curriculum helped me use the phrase: “I wonder.” I wonder if Adam had a favorite animal. I wonder how the fiery furnace sounded. I wonder what the wine tasted like in Cana. I wonder how Barnabas felt when Paul refused to include John Mark.

Reflect your imagination by using vivid, concrete, and specific language. Blow the dust off of your thesaurus. Use strong verbs instead of adverbs. Give your character a name and remember that Biblical names communicate something about the person. Consider if you might communicate the point better with a facial expression or a body movement than with words. Think about “breaking the fourth wall.” In other words, do you want your character, or narrator to be aware of or speak directly to a 21st century audience?

Spark your imagination with some good stories. I do this by reading to my children or listening to audiobooks while I exercise. Read poetry. Attend a performance at your community theater. Take an acting class or a creative writing class at your local community college.

Preach a Large Chunk of Scripture

We preachers who are committed to preaching the text often limit ourselves to a paragraph or a chapter of Scripture. But the compiled pericopes of the Bible tell the big story of God’s redemption. Your ECNS can retell that big-story!

Don Sunukjian preaches the entire Book of Esther in his sermon “A Night in Persia.” My ECNS from the perspective of Seth reviewed Genesis 1-5 after I’d preached those chapters the previous five weeks. You could tell Acts from the perspective of Peter, Paul, or Luke. How about preaching the Pentateuch from Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7?

Things I Learned NOT to Do

Be Afraid

If you are persuaded that the Holy Spirit is prompting you to preach an ECNS, then don’t let fear lead you to disobey the promptings of the Spirit. The oft repeated phrase for church volunteers applies here: God does not always call those who are equipped, but God always equips those whom he calls. Trust in the power of God’s Word and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to guide you in your preparation and delivery.

Write the Sermon

Use the Biblical text as your manuscript. Exposit the Scripture with your voice inflection, word emphasis, body language, and actions.

The most memorable Good-Friday sermon I ever heard was a pastor who recited/reenacted the entire Gospel of John word-for-word. One year our Advent theme was the future coming of Jesus. On Christmas, I memorized three chapters of Revelation and retold it standing on a chair in the center aisle, then closed with a devotional thought. This requires you to memorize large portions of Scripture, but that has benefits beyond preaching.

Sacrifice Authorial Intent

Remember, the Bible is the infallible, inspired Word of God. God has chosen to speak his Word through its words. The Spirit assembled those words in textual units: books, paragraphs, and sentences. When preaching an ECNS it can be tempting to harmonize the Gospels or preach a biographical sermon by cobbling together a variety of passages. Even if you have good intentions, it is easy to distort the author’s intent.

The church has done this with the traditional nativity. The pericope about the magi only occurs in Matthew. Yet Matthew says nothing about a census, angels, shepherds, or an inn. The traditional Christian pageant appears nowhere in Scripture. After I pointed this out, one young adult complained, “The church has been lying to me my whole life.” He was already struggling with his faith and overstated his case, but his complaint reminded me how important it is to “preach the Word” as it was delivered to us, not as we cobble it together.

Limit Yourself to First Person

The reason I don’t call this a “first-person narrative” is because you don’t have to “become” a Bible character. An ECNS can come from a narrator. This is how Jesus preached his parables. This is how the prophet Nathan confronted King David (2 Sam. 12).

Your narrator can be part of the story or outside of it. You can be an omniscient narrator who knows everything that is happening at all times. You can have the perspective of a limited-omniscient narrator who knows everything about a single character and tells the story only from that character’s point of view. Or, you can have the perspective of a human narrator who only describes the visible actions and audible speech of characters. Let the Holy Spirit creatively direct your point of view to the one which best emphasizes the theme of the message.

Forget the Wisdom of Others

There are many who preach character narratives well. I’ve learned much by listening to narrative sermons from Haddon Robinson, Don Sunujkian, Matt Woodley, and Bryan Wilkerson. I’ve also learned from evangelical scholars and pastors who have written books and articles about expository narrative preaching.

Remember the wisdom within your own congregation. A member of our worship planning team offered to help me prepare two of my sermons. She even watched me practice and gave helpful feedback which improved the message. Ask for some input from some high-school or college theater students and listen to their suggestions. Whenever I included others, it improved the sermon.

Be Constrained by Expectation

For eight consecutive Christmas services (and two prior to that) I preached an ECNS. I created an expectation to do it every year. But one year was different. October came and went, and I had nothing. November came and went, and I had nothing, December began and I still had nothing. I was getting nervous; my worship planners were even more anxious. Then, during one of my devotional times in early-December, the Lord prompted me to preach a particular text that wouldn’t fit as an ECNS. So, I cancelled the narrative sermon and prepared one of my normal sermons: a deductive expository message.

After the service, a hand-full of people grumbled that they didn’t hear a story. But several key leaders expressed deep appreciation for the sermon. They affirmed that the message was what the congregation needed.

If you are like me, most of your sermons will not be ECNS. But God has and will continue to shape his people through them. I hope the lessons I’ve shared will assist others who feel prompted to preach this style of sermon. May the Lord bless your efforts and speak his Word faithfully through you.

Todd H. Hilkemann is ordained in the Christian Reformed Church. He has pastored congregations in Minnesota and Colorado. He was also a missionary in Kenya.