Book Review

Lloyd Jones, D. Martyn.  Preaching and Preachers. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972.

Dr. Lloyd Jones was one of the foremost expositors of the twentieth century. Many of the great preachers and teachers of our day looked to him as a model for their own ministries and speak in glowing terms of his ability to preach. J.I. Packer writes that after hearing Jones preach for the first time, he went “out full of awe and joy, with a more vivid sense of the greatness of God in my heart than I had known before.” John Stott praises Jones’ series of sermons on the Sermon on the Mount calling them a “spiritual classic.” Even the magazine The Christian Century notes that his book Spiritual Depression contain sermons which “present conservative theology in its most winsome, persuasive and useful garb.”

Preaching and Preachers contains a series of lectures Lloyd Jones delivered to the students of Westminster Theological Seminary towards the end of his life on the subject of preaching. He aims throughout to be practical rather than theoretical. “I have tried to deal with the various detailed problems and questions that men have often put to me privately, and which have also been discussed in ministers meetings.” The work as a result is very personal. “I was talking to - in a sense thinking aloud with - ministerial students and some ordained preachers, and this book is addressed to preachers and all those interested in preaching.” In Preaching and Preachers then, we have one of the foremost preachers of the twentieth century speaking frankly about what he views to be the most important aspect of the ministry.

In Jones’ day as in ours, expository preaching was under attack. Therefore he begins with a call to preach. “I would say without any hesitation that the most urgent need in the Christian church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and the most urgent need in the church, it is obviously the greatest need of the world also.” Simply put, Jones believes that, “preaching is the primary task of the Church and therefore the minister of the church,…everything else is subsidiary to this, and can be represented as the outworking or the carrying out of this in daily practice.”

He highlights a number of different reasons for the decline in preaching, but ultimately, explains that the reason people no longer see the need for preaching is due to a decline in biblical theology. Those who have a strong understanding of theology will have a high view of preaching and those who have a weak understanding of theology will have a low view of preaching. When one properly understands the seriousness of sin, he will also see that man’s greatest need is salvation. And salvation is a coming to the knowledge of the truth which is exactly what biblical preaching aims to help people do. If preaching is the means God has ordained to meet man’s greatest need, obviously preaching then is the most important work a man could ever do.

Still, there are those who would argue that there are other means available for imparting the knowledge that men so desperately need. Some go so far as to suggest that preaching has become outdated and should be replaced with group discussions or dialogue, or even debates. Jones completely disagrees for a number of reasons. First, “God is not to be discussed or debated.” He is not merely a concept but a person, the most important person and therefore must be treated with the utmost respect. Second, when we talk about God and sin and salvation, we are talking about the most “serious and solemn matter in life.” The way which we speak about this issue should correspond with the gravity of the issues we are speaking about. Third, unsaved men are blind to the truth and really don’t have a whole lot to add to the discussion. What they need according to Jones more than anything is to be humbled. “There is no hope for them until they become aware of their utter bankruptcy and become as little children. You obviously, therefore do not, and must not, debate or discuss these matters with them on equal standing. To do so is to deny the initial Christian postulate.”

Having explained the importance of preaching, Jones goes on to define it. He defines preaching as a man “delivering the message of God, a message from God to those people.” The preacher is not speaking to the air but to people and his goal is not simply to talk about things but to change lives. He explains that there are two elements in preaching, “There is first of all the sermon or the message - the content of that which is being delivered. But secondly, there is the act of preaching, the delivery…which is commonly called preaching.”

He writes that the sermon itself can be divided into two sections, content and form. The content of the sermon should be relevant and biblical. He explains exactly what he means by that, “I believe that in preaching the message should always arise out of the Scriptures directly and not even out of the formulations of men, even the best men.”

He gives a number of warnings for preachers when it comes to sermon content. Preachers should not use the sermon as an opportunity to display their knowledge. Preachers should be wary of too much intellect on the one hand and too little on the other. Their sermons should be filled with theology and exhortation.

As for form, Jones writes that preaching is not the presentation of an essay, nor a lecture, nor a running commentary on a particular passage of Scripture but instead something completely unique. He explains that the preacher should begin with an introduction that seeks to show the original context of the passage, draw a spiritual principle and point to parallel passages. He should then divide what he wants to communicate into propositions, not being concerned so much about how many but that those propositions flow from the text. The preacher should clearly understand the flow of the sermon, why he is saying what he is saying when he is saying it .

Jones gives twelve characteristics of good sermon delivery. First, the whole personality of the preacher must be involved. He exhorts, “…be natural, forget yourself, be so absorbed in what you are doing and in the realization of the presence of God, and in the glory and greatness of the truth that you are preaching … that you are so taken up by all this, that you forget yourself altogether.” Second, preaching must have a sense of authority. It has this authority because the preacher derives his message from the Word of God. Third, the preacher must be free and led by the Spirit. He returns to this characteristic repeatedly throughout the book, going so far as to say, “let us make sure of freedome first, last, everywhere, always…” Fourth, as he is preaching the preacher must derive something from the congregation. He is not preaching to a wall but to people. He explains, “…the chief fault of the young preacher is to preach to the people as we would like them to be, instead of as they are.” Fifth, true preaching is marked by solemnity. Jones is not advocating a false kind of seriousness. Gravity is not something you put on, but instead flows out of the preachers own relationship with God. Sixth, preaching is characterized by liveliness and excitement. Seventh, the preacher must be passionate about the truth. The sermon is a message and a burden. Eighth, while passionate the preacher should display warmth and love for the people. Ninth, he should be characterized by a sense of urgency, which tenth, should cause him to work at being as persuasive as he possibly can be. Eleventh, he must not merely love to hear himself talk but love the people to whom he is preaching. And twelfth, genuine preaching is powerful preaching. In order for the preacher to be powerful, the preacher must rely on the Holy Spirit. “Seek Him! Seek Him! Seek Him! Seek Him always. But go beyond seeking him, expect him…Let Him loose you, let Him manifest His power in you and through you. I am certain…that nothing but a return of this power of the Spirit in our preaching is going to avail us anything. This makes true preaching, and it is the greatest need of all today - never more so. Nothing can substitute for this.”

Preaching and Preachers is an important book. Reading this book made me want to run up into the pulpit.

However in his defense of expository preaching, I believe some of Jones’ statements may be a bit too narrow. Instead of saying that preaching is the most important task of the church, I would argue that preaching is the most important aspect of the most important task of the church which is the ministry of the Word. Although he does temper some of the statements he makes on preaching, he makes certain points in such a strong way that it would be easy for a young minister to take them to the extreme. I’m talking about a young man who comes out of seminary and focuses exclusively on preaching, ignoring his responsibility to minister the Word on a personal basis with his own congregation. If one takes Jones’ view to that extreme, he is most likely not going to be as effective a preacher, he is not following in the footsteps of the apostle Paul and his congregation isn’t going to mature as quickly as they shoul. Although Jones says as preaching goes down counseling goes up, I would contend that often good preaching exposes issues that no preaching or bad preaching simply does not. Good preaching motivates people to deal with those issues and to take them seriously whereas no preaching or bad preaching simply soothes people’s consciences. As a result, good preaching will stir up the need for discipleship and counseling because the listener will better understand the problems in his life, the sufficiency of the Word to address those problems, and his need for help in overcoming those problems.

One of the strengths of this work is Jones’ willingness to tell it like it is. He doesn’t hold back. That’s also one of its weaknesses. He admits at the beginning of the book that he is going to share his opinions on the m inistry, but in doing so, he often shares those opinions so dogmatically that it becomes difficult for the reader to discern between what is really principle and what is merely preference. For example, he calls tape recording, “the particular and special abomination at this time…” He calls preaching labs, “prostitution…” I understand Jones is just ’sharing’ here, yet I wonder if his arguments would be more effective if he kept such strong language for principles rather than preferences.

I found the way Jones divided preaching into the sermon and the act of preaching very helpful. I know it is easy for me to slip into thinking of preaching as merely the sermon, and as a result give less attention to the act of preaching. This misunderstanding takes away some of the joy of preaching because it makes the preaching even more of a glorified essay reading than actual burden sharing.

I’m also thankful for the way Jones’ stresses the importance of freedom. My own style of preaching at times has been too rigid and I’ve greatly benefited from his encouragement to trust the Spirit not simply my preparation. I am curious, however, as to exactly what he means when he talks about the freedom of the Spirit in certain places. For example he says that he had determined “to start a series of sermons on the epistle to the Ephesians. However one morning while dressing, quite suddenly and in an overwhelming manner, it seemed to me that the Spirit of God was urging me to preach a series of sermons on spiritual depression.” How was he able to identify that the series of sermons on spiritual depression was from the Spirit whereas his idea to start a series on Ephesians was not.

I benefited greatly from reading Preaching and Preachers. Jones stirred me to think more deeply about the act of preaching and for that I am grateful. This is a book I will come back to time and time again, and one I will heartily recommend to every young preacher who asks.