Preaching Today: We're here to talk about a sermon skill you refer to as the setup. What is a setup, and why is it important?

Brian Larson: The setup is something that all preachers do to some degree, but we may not all do it well; we may not do it consciously. I've noticed as editor of Preaching Today Audio that as I listen to sermons, sometimes there's a boredom factor, and I'll ask myself, What is it that makes this person hard to listen to? One thing I've identified is those who are hard to listen to often do not set up their material well.

We all understand the idea of an introduction to a sermon. A setup is an introduction, but it's something we use throughout a sermon, not just the first few minutes.

A setup may be used for an illustration or for a quote. I'll talk about various elements in a moment, but the idea is to introduce something in a way that creates interest, attention, orientation, and understanding of what's to come.

I think of several analogies. I enjoy photography. You can have a nice photo, but when you take that nice photo and put it in a frame, it's a piece of art. A setup does that to an element in a sermon.

Years ago, my boys had a race car set we gave them for Christmas. It was not the electric kind. Every time the car went around the track, they had to pull on a lever to accelerate its speed. That's what a setup is. A setup reaccelerates the sermon.

When you're watching a football game and about to see an instant replay, the color commentator will draw an arrow on the screen and say, " Here's where he's going to hit the pocket. " That's a setup. It shows me what to look for.

Let's look at a good example of a setup from Brian McLaren, pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church, in the Baltimore, Washington D.C., area. This is an excerpt from Preaching Today Audio issue 243, and in this setup Brian is preparing to read from Romans 7.

Brian McLaren: If you try to get a logic of sin, the deeper you go, you get to a point where you say, " You know what? Sin makes no sense. Sin cannot be rationalized. Sin is absurd and stupid and ignorant and irrational. You hear the apostle Paul saying this as he reflects on sin. He had powerful experiences with God, and he had become very aware, just as Isaiah was and just as Peter was in the presence of God, of this thing about him that was out of whack, of the gears inside of him that were all gummed up. Here's how he described it. He says,

" I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. "

Does this feel confusing? That's exactly the point.

Larson: In this excerpt we heard Brian McLaren giving a setup to explain a text. If we do that, people will listen to the text better and with greater interest.

We also can set up a story or illustration.

Or we can use a setup to prepare for a principle, a point we want to make. You don't just launch an idea out of nowhere. They need to be set up.

In addition, we can use a setup before reading an excerpt or quotation from someone to show what the point or purpose is going to be.

We can also use a setup to prepare for any major segment of the sermon. This is commonly called the transition. We help people to anticipate what is coming and to gain interest.

Effective communicators don't just drone through a sermon with everything at the same level. They intuitively know they've got to pause a moment, they've got to pull that lever on the race car, they've got to get people set. Here's another major point. What are the hearers supposed to feel about this? What do they need to know to understand it? Why is this important to them?

Let's turn to another great example by Jon Courson. John serves as a teaching pastor at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, in Santa Anna, California. He is a featured speaker on the radio program Search Light. Here John begins reading a text and then, to increase the impact of the key principle of the text, notice how he interrupts his reading to set up the final sentence from Jesus.

Jon Courson: In Matthew 18, Peter comes to Jesus and asks a question about forgiveness — the opposite of anger, hostility and bitterness. And Peter, verse 21, came to Jesus and said, " Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Seven times? "

I'm sure Peter had a smile on his face. I'm sure he felt as proud as a peacock when he said, " If a guy wrongs me, time and again, should I forgive him over and over, even up to seven times? "

For you see, the rabbis in Peter's day taught that you had to forgive somebody three times, three times only. Three strikes, you're out. Three times, that's it.

Jesus said, " I say unto you, not seven times, " verse 22, " but seventy times seven, " or 490 times.

How can setups go wrong?

Larson: I've heard many sermons where I felt the setups did a couple of things wrong. I've heard setups that overpromised; they put a $300 frame on a mundane family photo. They've raised my expectations: This is going to be a tremendous story. Whoa! What an illustration this is going to be! I can't wait to hear it. Then the story is told, and it's a letdown.

Another mistake is we can go too long. It's frustrating to listen to someone who diesels on like an automobile when you turn off the engine. They'll keep going and going and introducing, and you're saying, " Come on, please tell me what you want to say. " You don't want to frustrate people; you want to give just enough setup to create interest, orientate people, get a sense of importance. Then move in to what you have to say.

Can you give us some ways to do setups?

There are probably 40 or 50 ways we can do a setup, but let's just tick off 17 to give a sense of what I'm talking about.

Number one, as Courson did in his excerpt, we can give contrast. If we're going to say, " White " , the setup says black. Courson said, " The rabbi said only three times, but Jesus said seventy-times seven. "

A second way to set things up is to raise questions. That's standard; you can't go wrong with that.

Third, give the subject. Orient people with what you're going to talk about.

Fourth, you can show the relevance of what is to follow. Let's listen to an excerpt from Tim Brown, professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, in an excerpt from Preaching Today Audio, issue 239. He is about to read Philippians 4:2-3, where Paul entreats Euodia and Syntyche to reconcile; there is some conflict going on. He sets it up by showing the relevance for his audience, students at the seminary and their parents.

Tim Brown: It's possible that a democrat might be rooming with a republican this year. It is possible that somebody who gets off on the Indigo Girls will have to room with someone who loves U2. It's going to happen that differences will rise among us. " I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to get along in the Lord, and I want you, their brothers and sisters, to help these dear women, because they've struggled with me in the gospel. "

Larson: A fifth way we set up material in a sermon is to describe the importance of what is to come.

Number six, show what this means to God.

Number seven, tell what to expect.

Number eight, create curiosity with hints of what is to come. We are all familiar with this in the evening news. They start the broadcast by giving little hints about the five big stories and why you will be interested. Curiosity keeps people moving.

Number nine, we can set up a sermon element by exhortation, by calling for a hearing. Here's Bob Russell, for example, with a setup of just a sentence or two. Bob is preaching minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Here is an excerpt from Preaching TodayAudio issue 240, a sermon about divorce. He's about to move into the practical application. Listen how he begins this move of the sermon.

Bob Russell: The last suggestion is the most important. And would you listen to me closely? You walk straight, regardless.

Larson: The tenth way we set up sermon elements is by promising something. Let's say I'm going to give a principle about overcoming fear. Before I give that, I say, " If you're struggling with fear, I believe the principle in this text will change your life and lead you to peace. "

Number eleven is to elaborate. Elaborate on the questions you've raised, the relevance, or the promises you've given. Sometimes we'll make a one-sentence promise; sometimes we'll go on for three paragraphs, elaborating so people really get a sense of what is to come.

Number twelve, we can set up by giving context, describing the larger landscape of what is coming. For example, if I'm preaching on John 1, the familiar verses, " In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, " before I read that, I might want to set that up by laying the context out theologically: " We need to understand who Jesus is. Is he God? Is he man? Is he only sort-of God and sort-of man? What is Jesus? This verse will tell us. "

Thirteen, we can describe our own feelings about what is to come. Here's another excerpt from Tim Brown in Preaching Today Audio issue 239.

Tim Brown: I love these words by C. S. Lewis in his beautiful essay The Weight of Glory. I think you'll love them too. He says, " It is an awesome thing to live in a world of potential gods and goddesses. The weight, the load, the burden of my neighbors' future glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that the backs of the proud would be broken and only the humble could carry it. You have never met a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life compared to ours is as that of a gnat. Next to the blessed sacrament itself, nothing is holier than your neighbor. "

Larson: We're human beings, we have feelings, we care about the feelings of others. When someone sets up a sermon element by telling me how they feel about that element, that immediately gives a personal interest.

Fourteen, we can set up by telling what to look for.

Fifteen, we can summarize what is to come. That's often important when we're going to read an excerpt, poem, or lyrics from a hymn that may not initially make sense to people.

Sixteen, we can explain what is to come. Help people understand, let's say, the terms that are coming.

Seventeen, finally, we can answer objections. Let's say we're about to present a principle, a main point, that some of our hearers may not be ready to hear. We need to prepare them by answering their objections. Timothy Keller does that in this excerpt. He is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, and in this excerpt from Preaching Today Audio issue 244 he is giving a sermon on Christmas. He has a sense that his hearers may have a little trouble with the idea of Jesus being the incarnate Son of God. In this extended setup he answers the objection some people have to doctrinal statements about God.

Timothy Keller: Now, let's take a look at the first two verses. What we see here is the teaching of Christmas is two things: it's frankly doctrinal and it's boldly historical, frankly doctrinal, boldly historical. We have to grasp this before we move on to how it changes our lives.

Now what do we mean by frankly doctrinal? For one second, I'm going to have to defend the word. I use it on purpose. I know it's a negative word. It's part of a family of words that now have negative connotations for us all: doctrine, or dogma. This whole family of words connotes being narrow, being rigid, being closed. The word doctrinaire gets that across well. Let me go on record as saying doctrinaire is bad. It is bad to be narrow; it is bad to be closed; it's bad to be haughty; it's bad to be not open to reason; it's bad not to listen to others.

But in our fear of being doctrinaire, we are not frank, we are not honest about the fact that we are all actually doctrinal. A doctrine is a belief we base our lives on, and it's something we contend for, we insist on. In other words, doctrine is a faith position. It's not something you can prove scientifically; it's not something you prove empirically.

Secondly, it's something you live on, you commit yourself to, you base your life, you bet your life on.

Thirdly, it's something you push, you contend with other people over. That's a doctrine. Even though we shouldn't be doctrinaire, we are all doctrinal.

Let me give you an example. Mr. A is a Christian. His friend, Mr. B, is not. So Mr. A one day sits down with Mr. B and says, " I wish you could believe that Jesus is Savior and Lord. Let me try and convince you. "

Mr. B says, " Nobody can really know anything about God. Don't give me this. Nobody can know anything definite about God. And secondly, you should not try to persuade other people to see things your way. Don't do that. That's not right. "

Ah, here's the difference. First of all, Mr. B, when he says you can't know anything definite about God, what is that? When he says you can't know anything definite about God, that's a faith position. That's not scientific; that's not empirical. That's a faith position, a belief.

And secondly, when he says you mustn't try to convince other people, you mustn't try to persuade other people that your take on spiritual reality is the right one, he at that moment is trying to say to Mr. A, " You ought to see it my way, my take on spiritual reality. In other words, he's saying, I have a relativistic take on spiritual reality, and you ought to take it. He's doing the very thing he's forbidding as he's forbidding it.

Now what this means is this: both Mr. A and Mr. B are being doctrinal. They have a non-empirical, faith position. They've bet their lives on it. Mr. B has bet his eternal destiny that nobody can know anything definite about God. They're both contending for their position. Here's the difference. Mr. A is being openly doctrinal. He's being frank about his doctrinal beliefs. Mr. B is not. Mr. B is in denial.

Let's try not to be doctrinaire, but you cannot avoid being doctrinal. Everybody has got faith assumptions about God, about eternity, about human nature, about moral truth. We bet our lives on them, and we press for them. There is no way that we avoid being doctrinal.

Now having said that, what's the doctrine of Christmas? It is frankly doctrinal, because look what it says. It says the eternal, the Word of life, the invisible, has become visible. The eternal, the incorporeal, has become corporeal. In other words, God has become human. The absolute has become particular. The ideal has become real. The divine has taken up a human nature.

Larson: I drive regularly down a road that has houses of various price levels. Many of the houses are very nice and obviously cost a good number of dollars. On a certain stretch of the road, the yards in front of the houses are four times as long as the yards in front of the other houses. You get a feeling when you drive in front of houses with huge, beautiful lawns: " Wow, these are the nice houses! "

A lot of those houses aren't that different from the other houses, but that big, beautiful lawn in front of the house makes it feel more important, more expensive. Think of those southern mansions with wonderful trees arching over the long driveway leading up to the mansion. Something about that makes the mansion feel very impressive.

That's what a setup is. When it's done right, you're putting a wonderful yard on the front of a mansion.

Do Scripture readings need this more frequently than other elements in the sermon?

You're right. If there is any element that needs setup, it's probably the Scripture reading, because most people are not familiar with the Scriptures. When you or I read Scripture, we know the context. We've studied it. We've read the Bible many times, but many hearers haven't. They desperately need a setup in order to make sense of it.

What do we miss out on if we don't use this technique?

What we miss out on is a sense of the segmenting of a sermon. Setups take us from mountaintop to mountaintop.

Craig Brian Larson is the pastor of Lake Shore Church in Chicago and author and editor of numerous books, including The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching (Zondervan). He blogs on Knowing God and His Ways at craigbrianlarson.com.