There is something special about sitting down with an old saint in ministry and hearing reflections on his time as a steward of the gospel. It reminds me of sitting down over dinner with my grandfather and hearing his thoughts on any past historical event I can think of.
In Preaching? Simple Teaching on Simply Preaching, Alec Motyer offers personal reflections on a lifetime of preaching. Motyer is the former principle of Trinity College in Bristol, England. He is, probably, best known for his work on Isaiah and serves as the Old Testament editor for The Bible Speaks Today commentary series.
A driving conviction for Motyer is, “Not everyone can be what people call a ‘good preacher’, but no one need be a ‘bad preacher'” (9). Amen! He believes bad sermons are “muddled sermons” and thus wants to offer “one way to go about” preaching with clarity. Clear preaching comes from a six step process that includes examination, analysis, orientation, harvesting, presentation, and application.
A SIX-STEP SCHEME
Examination is “the basic task of the expositor: to understand each word, sentence, and verse in a passage, each section of a narrative or book” (39). One strength of Motyer’s work is that he packs an astonishing amount of wisdom into each chapter, providing examples, ruminations, and delightful diatribes on every step in his scheme. For example, the chapter on examination contains discussion on the use of various translations and commentaries, alongside encouragement to develop a personal plan for capturing everything one learns in examination of the text. Analysis and orientation represent finding the passage’s main point, or what Motyer calls “the plan” (50).
After settling on the passage’s plan the preacher is to set about harvesting the text and preparing it for presentation. The chapter on presentation is worth the price of the book alone. Here Motyer writes, “The reason for preaching is the will of God: He has commanded it; the content of preaching is the Bible, God’s revealed truth; the objective of preaching is application, to bring the Word of God to bear on the hearers; but the art of preaching is presentation” (89). He rightly advocates careful thinking about how to divide the text into headings for presentation and encourages headings that are memorable and “snappy.” Another strength of Motyer’s work is that he doesn’t impose a wooden or universal structure on the preacher’s preparation and presentation. One instance of this humble balance is when he discusses the use of notes, outlines, and manuscripts. His conclusion is that “we must each learn to do our own thing – whatever leaves us with liberty in our preaching, and makes the congregation fell they are being addressed without obstruction” (97).
The final step is application and here Motyer is typically balanced in the wisdom he provides. Sound preaching makes it “plain to our hearers both what the chosen Scripture means and what we must do about it” (103). An unexpected delight in the book is the sagacious humor Motyer employs throughout. Permit me an extended quote of his view on illustrations to provide an example:
Illustrations in a sermon don’t help me, and I have to keep reminding myself that they do help other people, and must therefore be thoughtfully used. When listening to a sermon, if I sense an illustration coming on, I want to call out to the preacher, ‘Yes, yes, we all know that. Please get on with the job!’ . . . To tell you the truth, I have come to the conclusion that the chief usefulness of illustrations is to give our hearers a little rest!” (115-116)
FOCUSES AND the FOCUS
With his six-step process delineated Motyer provides two chapters impressing upon the pastor the prominence prayer and personal holiness must have for healthy ministry, saying “It seems to me that the key to an effective ministry is our own personal walk with God” (131). Eternal destinies lie in the hands of a preacher, thus the preacher must be active in prayer. “How else can we face our calling to preach except in the spirit and practice of constant, earnest prayer,” he asks (139).
Motyer ends his work by exhorting preachers to always have “enough ‘gospel’ to save some listening sinner” (141). Christ “should be at the center, ever the Focus of all truth and fully illuminated for every eye” (144). Again, amen.
WE NEED MORE OF THIS
Tim Keller’s endorsement is spot on when he says the book puts “decades of wisdom on expository preaching at the reader’s fingertips.” As I read, I often thought to myself, “We need more of this kind of wisdom.” Wisdom that has decades of experience. Wisdom that is balanced and warm. Wisdom that brings light, heat, and laughter. Alec Motyer offers all this and more in Preaching? Simple Teaching on Simply Preaching, making this book a welcome addition to any pastor’s library.
Book Details
- Author: Alec Motyer
- Title: Preaching? Simple Teaching on Simply Preaching
- Publisher: Christian Focus (September 10, 2013)
- Paperback: 188 pages
- Score: 7/10