By Mark E. Yurs
Blackwood felt that the way to build progress into a sermon was to provide for climax. When he discussed climax, he referred to it as moving from the most important to the most interesting. As an object lesson, he mentioned a sermon on John 3.16. The outline for that sermon points to:
I. God's Love for Our World
II. God's Gift of His Son
III. God's Call to Whosoever.
Blackwood felt this plan has climax. It puts God first as most important, the cross second as what is central, and the self last. It is climactic because people are always more interested in themselves.28
Blackwood believed in the importance of introductions. He thought the minister should craft the first sentences with the utmost of care, and look upon the first two paragraphs of a sermon as decisive. The introduction should arouse interest but not be so interesting that it paves the way for anti-climax. It should be neither too long nor too short, but appropriate in size to the same degree that a porch is fitting to a house. It should fit the occasion and be friendly without being excessively so. It should introduce the theme, but not give the whole sermon away. It should vary from week to week. Blackwood thought the wise minister should get to know a wide variety of ways to get sermons going. He listed twelve ways and hinted at more.29
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As stated earlier, Blackwood considered the conclusion to be second in importance only to the text. He felt the introduction was decisive in terms of arousing interest, and that the conclusion was decisive toward ending the sermon with force. By force Blackwood meant effectiveness in relation to one's purpose. "In preaching a sermon, as in making an airplane flight," he said, "the chief test comes at the end."30 It should be planned in advance and in accord with the sermon's purpose. As with all else related to preaching, the minister should strive to achieve variety in conclusion forms. Blackwood despised what he called "lameness, sameness, and tameness."
Blackwood believed in the value of illustrations. He believed in them largely because Jesus did. He observed, "The Master Teacher spoke about God in relation to persons or things, and about persons or things with reference to God. When our Lord talked about farm or fireside, He wished to interest people in the Kingdom that they could never see with the eyes of flesh....He used facts to throw light on truth or duty and to make the things of heaven attractive to people on earth."31
As for where to find illustrations, Blackwood said we should "use brains with imagination."32 For him this meant study and thinking, the disciplined, practiced, and sanctified use of insight. He believed illustrations were everywhere. Even so, he did not think too many should be crammed into a sermon.
Blackwood believed in writing each sermon out in full but in carrying only notes into the pulpit and preaching as if there were none. Where there was more than one opportunity to preach a week, he advised separate ways of working for each sermon, such as writing out one in full and shaping the other with detailed notes only. Recognizing that not every method fits all ministers, he laid down no inviolable rule vis-a-vis these matters of delivery. Nevertheless, he was a stickler for correct pronunciation and grammar.
