This book review of D. Martin Lloyd-Jones’s Preachers & Preaching was written as part of Pastor Lane’s doctoral course work, and as such, it is written in a more formal, academic tone than the rest of this blog’s posts. Still, we hope the audience will find these academic book reviews useful, which is why we have published them for your reference.
D. Martin Lloyd-Jones was born in Cardiff, Wales. He attended grammar school in London between 1914 to 1917, then went to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital as a medical student, where in 1921 he started work as assistant to the Royal Physician, Sit Thomas Horder. In 1927 he returned to Wales after two years of wrestling with a call to preach, accepting an invitation to minister at a church in Aberavon. He served as the minister at Westminster Chapel in London for almost thirty years. Widely recognized by many as the greatest preacher of the twentieth century, he was a Welsh Protestant minister, preacher, and medical doctor, and he was influential in the reformed wing of the British evangelical movement. He retired from ministry at Westminster Chapel in 1968 and continued to work editing his sermons for publication, counseling other ministers, answering letters, and attending conferences. He died peacefully in his sleep on March 1, 1981.
Preachers and Preaching was developed from a series of lecture that Dr. Lloyd-Jones gave at Westminster Theological Seminary in the Spring of 1969 to young ministers. The book very much has a feel of lectures in reading it. That may also account for less structure within from headings and subheadings throughout each chapter.
The theological orientation of the writing is distinctively conservative, and in a time when liberalism was making significant inroads into the church. Dr. Lloyd-Jones was known to actively oppose this movement and even created a strong debate when he called for conservatives churches to leave their denomination that had these liberal influences in them. Ironically, J.W. Stott, another author for our readings, was the one who though he admired Dr. Llyod-Jones, opposed him in this movement.
The significant contributions of this book are vast. For one we are reading the free thinking of a great mind and decisively one of, if not the, greatest preachers of the twentieth century. He was a master at expository preaching, though not in his own mind. Who better to hear from than one who practiced the discipline for so many years and had such fruit and success in it. Second, this book stands as a defender of preaching in an age when the very practice was losing prominence, as the Bible came under great scrutiny from the liberal movement. Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s position regarding expository preaching is a great reminder how preachers in every generation must fight to remain faithful to God’s Word. Finally, it is a masterful work of unveiling most all the issues related to the discipline itself. Who better to learn from than a master, though he would not have acknowledged this, by his own words? We are provided a unique perspective into the life of a preacher in an era of church history when preachers prepared more than one sermon a week, every week.
A general description of this book is that it is holistic in nature. Dr. Lloyd-Jones covers everything from foundational reasons of why we must preach, how to develop and shape the sermon that is to be preached, practices that are best for the preacher and preparation in the sermon, how to prepare and lead the congregation through preaching, as well as what to expect from the congregation, to providing commentary on current styles, and trends that the author either agrees or disagrees with.
“The Primacy of Preaching” is the first chapter. A foundation for preaching is established here, even drawing on the ability to speak well to persuade people in the public vein. He argues against two reasons for preaching’s decline in that one is a loss of the belief in the authority of Scriptures and a second being a reaction against what he calls “the great pulpiteers,” men who would use a pulpit to dominate people and use showmanship for their own gain. A third reason offered is an incorrect conception of what a sermon really is, and therefore what preaching really is. These are timeless arguments for us to learn to stand against. We would be wise to conclude with Dr. Lloyd-Jones that, “the primary task of the church and of the Christian minister is the preaching of the Word of God,” as he well establishes from scripture and church history.
“No Substitute” takes a deeper step in supporting the argument that preaching is the primary work of the church and Christian minister by grounding it on a theological foundation. The primary problem with man is not all the diagnoses that are offered today, but fundamentally that we are dead in our sins and trespasses. Only the Church can address this. The business of the church — and the business of preaching – is to isolate radical problems and to deal with them in a radical manner. What a powerful declaration of preaching unique purpose. But one that is as in danger of being disregarded today, if not more so, than ever before. We need to hear and heed this warning.
“The Sermon and Preaching” is a continuation of maintaining that preaching is primary for the church and the preacher. He addresses common arguments against preaching, but concludes that preaching is the only means of honoring God as he is worthy, dealing with most serious issues in life, the non-Christian cannot understand as he needs to and addressing man as he needs. He distinguishes between preaching and the sermon, and of the sermon between the message and the form given to that message. Dr. Lloyd-Jones is extensive in his treatment of this distinction, and he qualifies three distinct types of sermons as evangelistic, experimental, and instructional. I think his application of these types of sermons and when they are to be preached is an interesting look into church history in this era. Sunday night was a time when many non-Christians would come. Sunday morning was almost exclusively considered to be for Christians and a weeknight was for instruction, meaning probably for Christians. This demonstrates a great diversion from modern church times, but even more we are several steps removed from this weekly schedule. One important point that he does make is the need for different types of sermons for our people. The challenge here is that we have principally reduced the church gathering to one time a week corporately, and then maybe another time a week for small group Bible Study and fellowship as a most popular trend among so many churches.
“The Form of the Sermon” and “The Act of Preaching” deal each with the previously identified aspects respectively. He identifies some defining parameters for the sermon, culminating to say that we are to preach the gospel, not simply about the gospel. In terms of content he clarifies that what we say must be clear to people that it is coming out of the Bible and that we are clear to convey its message. Finally he lists a number of traits that must characterize the preacher during the sermon.
The style of writing and the form of his content is so different from the writings of the other books on this topic. While what he is saying is so strong, he also requires a more detailed reading to follow.
“The Preacher” considers the man that is called to preach and principally one who spends the vast majority of his time doing so. He lists basic qualifications for this man of being Christian, called of God, character, and competency. There should be training for this man, of the mind principally and also of skill. But as Dr. Lloyd-Jones said, “There is only one thing to say about this (preaching); it cannot be taught.” This is a strong understanding of all the qualifications for a preacher.
“The Congregation” deals with many common objections to types and styles of preaching and how people receive and listen. It is interesting to me that so many of these arguments have been in existence for so long. In typical fashion, Dr. Lloyd-Jones draws each argument back to a scriptural response.
“The Character of the Message” addresses how the preacher must consider his audience in preparing his message. One vital part of this is that we do not just blatantly assume all are Christians, but that we preach in a manner to proclaim the gospel to all. All people need to be brought under the power of the gospel. How powerful and necessary this is for today and how distinct this makes our message preparation as we consider clearly articulating the gospel in every message.
“The Preparation of the Preacher” focuses on the disciplines of the preacher. His first statement is one of timelessness, the preacher is always preparing. This is not to say that he should not have specific time or preparation, but that no time is outside of preparing. Surely a first priority must be given to preparation, prayer, and reading are vital aspects of his disciplines, and know yourself and how best to shape your preparation time.
“The Preparation of the Sermon” covers a broad perspective of sermon, beginning much with what would be considered sermon planning and choosing a passage. Much great wisdom transcends time in these pages, with greater explanations for his positions as well.
“The Shape of the Sermon” addresses the main portion of the actual sermon preparation, in study and exegetical labor. The points of the sermon are to come from the text and that this is to be clear. He gives freedom in much of the sermon to be adjusted for the preacher, especially when he addresses writing manuscripts or not.
“Illustrations, Eloquence, Humour” addresses just what it says, the matter that provides this for the sermon. He also addresses a number of issues in the delivery of the sermon, including written or extemporaneous, and even length.
“What To Avoid” first addresses things that are debatable in avoiding, like the fact that he is not overly fond of “subject-driven” sermons, or radio and television preaching, to which he does not draw hard lines against. Then he addresses some things that must be avoided, especially professionalism, display of knowledge and any way that your natural gifts and tendencies and idiosyncrasies can overtake and distract, too much exhorting, or even the use of polemics. In all of these he is gracious and hesitant to simply lay down a rule, but gives advisement for how to consider each one.
“Calling For Decisions” deals with what is typically called decision time at the end of the service. He deals with several real concerns of manipulating people in this time. His primary concern here is that not too much pressure be placed on the will to make a decision, but that the Spirit be able to work in people’s lives. He finally returns to his doctrinal foundation of regeneration for his final argument.
“The Pitfalls and the Romance” deals with a number of issues like preaching sermons more than once and the romance of preaching.
Finally, “Demonstration of the Power of the Spirit” is what Dr. Lloyd-Jones calls the greatest essential in connection with preaching, the unction and anointing of the Holy Spirit. His counsel is to seek him and experience the clarity of thought, speech, ease of utterance, and a great sense of authority and confidence in preaching.
The writing style of this book is obviously different for a number of reasons. First it was not originally written as a book but a set of lectures. Second, it is written by a pastor that lived in another country and in another era of history. Both of these factors make a big difference. Third, he had much less form and structure and exercises much greater freedom in his style. This is probably more adept to speaking, but more difficult in reading.
I read the entire book and do believe it achieved it purpose. I find it interesting that this book seems to be almost completely reverse of all the others books, beginning with aspects of the preaching event, then moving back to sermon preparation. This order is opposite of all the other books. Also, Dr. Lloyd-Jones obviously has strong opinions about matters, but he is very hesitant to set specific rules, seeming rather to choose to identify potential dangers and allowing the reader to make final discernment about the issue.