In the same way, doubt or uncertainty can be like trying to stand on a slippery hill. No one has to tell you to try to find something that offers stability. You automatically begin the search. When you experience intellectual or emotional disharmony or surprise, no one has to convince you to try to work it out. You naturally begin to inquire until you have resolved that puzzle.

Puzzles in Preaching

 

So how might we use this strategy to address our puzzle about internally-motivated listeners in preaching? Peirce’s strategy would suggest that a sermon that begins with a puzzle – with something that doesn’t fit our expectation – is a sermon to which we naturally would want to listen. For example, we might focus people’s attention on the statement of Scripture that if we ask God in faith for something, He will give it to us. It is an incredible promise! The problem is that we have all known times in our lives when we prayed for good things and they didn’t come. Perhaps we prayed for someone to be healed from cancer, or to be released from the grips of depression, or to come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

On the one hand, we say we believe the Bible can be fully trusted, and it seems to promise us that we can have what we ask for in faith. On the other hand, we know all too well the times when our prayers, prayed with the best faith we can muster, went unanswered. So we ask, what is wrong? Do we just not have enough faith? Or is the Bible not as reliable as it appears? Does that mean other things that seem so obvious in the Bible aren’t actually what they appear to be?

With an introduction like this, people feel again the slippery hill they’ve been on before, and they are looking for something to hold on to that will give them a solid footing again. They are anxiously awaiting the answer – the truth – you can offer to give them stability again.

Having raised this puzzle, the task of the sermon is to resolve it using Scripture. You’ve made the implicit promise to your listeners to resolve this puzzle. If you sit down before you solve the puzzle to their satisfaction, they’ll feel cheated because you’ve failed to do as you promised. On the other hand, if you solve this puzzle but keep talking, they’ll naturally be inclined to look for the clock since the puzzle has been solved and their natural desire to hear you already has been satisfied.

How to start a sermon with a puzzle

 

Given the power of puzzles to initiate internally motivated learning, how do we do it? I propose a three step process for developing a sermon that prompts listeners to be highly motivated to listen.