John Woods, God is in the House: A
Fresh Model for Shaping a Sermon
Langham Preaching Resources, 2022
ISBN: 9781839732720 pb 225
Dr John Woods is a highly experienced free
church pastor and preacher who has read deeply on the subject and has taught
others to preach in the UK and around the world, especially in Latvia. This thoughtful
and stimulating book is part manual part manifesto but it is more than a simple
beginners guide. There is richness here and Woods is aware of the great
privilege and profundity of preaching. It should go without saying, but the
title is a useful reminder to us of the role of God in the preparation of the
sermon and the aim of encountering God in his word studied and proclaimed. The priority
of prayer and the centrality of the relationships between pastor and people
shine through.
I imagine readers will differ on how helpful
they find the controlling metaphor of housebuilding. I wondered at times
whether the extra mental steps of remembering what was what and translating
might have hindered. Some may find it makes the various elements memorable.
There is so much useful material in this book
on many particular Bible passages too by way of illustration or application of
the principles suggested. The reflections on the Biblical themes of place,
house, building etc. are rewarding.
The key ideas of the model involve God the
architect’s design of Scripture and how this should be reflected in the construction
of the sermon. Christ is also the host and preachers are co-hosts. The door relates
to introductions. Rooms might be the different moves in the sermon. Connections
between them are considered (hallways, doorways, stairs, Wi-Fi, even!). The
Bible provides pictures, windows and mirrors by which we see life, ourselves
and God respectively (see p94f including the chart). How we exit really
matters. Further chapters treat ambience and atmosphere, appropriate proportions
(pace, variety), embodiment and the senses, and preaching Christ from all the Scriptures.
Absolute beginners might have benefited from a
simplified summary but one of the strengths of this book is its openness. It
gives principles and makes suggestions but it stresses truth through personality
and the importance of our hearers’ context. There is place for imagination and
creativity in preaching. We are warned against imagining that there is only one
correct sermon from any given text.
I’m confident experienced preachers would benefit
from this book.
Exercises are suggested.
Sample sermons are included on Jacob’s ladder
(Genesis 28), Mark 2:1-12 and Revelation 22:1-6, with some introduction and
reflection. A final chapter also discusses preaching at funerals.
Bibliography, Scripture index
Recommended reading:
Augustine, On Christian Teaching
Tom Long, The Witness of Preaching – best
comprehensive book
David Helm, Expository Preaching – best short
book
John Broadus, On The Preparation and Delivery
of Sermons
* * *
Some bits I found especially noteworthy:
Foreword by Thomas Long:
George Steiner, Tolstoy or Dostoevsky p3,
literary criticism “should arise out of a debt of love” – “In a manner evident
yest mysterious [a work of literature] … seizes upon our imaginations. We are
not the same when we put the work down as we were when we took it up.”
“good sermons are not prepared with a swagger
but on our knees. Sermons are crafted in the environment of prayer, are formed
out of a life of prayer and are not the trophies of skilled orators but are
themselves the answers to prayer.” (Thomas Long, p. xvii)
Architect Yoshio Taniguchi: “Architecture is
basically a container of something. I hope they will enjoy not so much the
teacup, but the tea.”
* * *
Augustine, following Cicero, ***
Psalm 100:4, “Enter with the password: “Thank
you!” (p.xxiii)
If preaching a sermon is like building a
house, this does not consist of putting up the architectural plans on a notice
board. “Cas Vos reminds us that true preaching “aims to provide music and not a
lecture about music” (Sermon as a Work of Art, 372). “Preaching isn’t reading a
road map; it’s taking people on a journey.” (Wiersbe, Preaching and Teaching
with Imagination, 315)
“Christ is the foundation of every sermon.
Every Christian sermon is the be preached in Christ’s name and every Christian
sermon will in some way lead us to Christ.” (p10)
Tom Long – The preacher as witness. He must
see something before he says something. The pulpit is not a lectern nor a
podium but a witness stand. The preacher’s task s to tell the truth about what
he has seen. (p11)
Homiletics is sometimes concerned to help
preachers find their own voice, but their real task is to echo the voice of God
in Scripture. Good preachers must first be good listeners and that requires an
act of God – Isaiah 50:4 (p11)
"There is all the difference in the world
between the person who always has to say something and someone who always has
something to say." (p12)
The preacher as worker – 2 Tim 2:15 – a manual
worker, someone like “a carpenter or a plumber, not a pen pusher sitting behind
a desk” (Bray, Pastoral Epistles, p374) – handling correctly / rightly dividing
a carpenter or butcher who can cut things up in the right way (Bray).
Carpenter’s rule – measure twice, cut once –
careful accurate attention to detail
Walter Kaiser’s advice to preachers: “Keep
your finger on the text.” (EMA 1987)
W. H. Griffith Thomas to ministers: “Think
yourself empty; read yourself full; write yourself clear; pray yourself keen;
then into the pulpit and let yourself go!” (p26)
Preachers must not only talk to people about
God; they must talk to God about people (Dick Lucas, Colossians, p171f) (p27)
“Paul’s letter to the Ephesians consists of a
two-part prayer [1:15-23; 3:14-21], boxed in theology, wrapped in exhortation
and wrapped in love.” John White, People in Prayer, p125 (p29)
Keller – a friend lets you in and doesn’t let
you down (p32)
Keller – one piece of advice for preachers:
“More prayer. Much more.” (p33)
James C. Howell: only preach if you have
something big and true to say, something large which is the fruit of good seeing
and thinking that can be said with some urgency (p36)
Haddon Robinson, Expository Preaching
and “the big idea” (p37f)
Keller: “The concept of the ‘big idea’ within
the text… is a bit artificial.”; “We must be careful of a kind of expository
legalism in which it is assumed there can only be one exegetically accurate
sermon and sermon theme on any one passage.” (Preaching, p250) (p38)
Proc Trust – theme sentence and aim sentence
(p38)
Thomas Long – focus (controlling unifying
theme – what the sermon is about) and function (what the preacher hopes the
sermon will create or cause to happen in the hearers – the hoped for change) –
the claim of the text: what we hear on this day, from this text, for these
people, in these circumstances, at this juncture of their lives (p39)
The intention(s) of the text should give our
sermon a sense of purpose (p41)
The door / introduction / beginning of the
sermon (p45ff)
Jesus said nothing to the crowd without using
a parable (Mt 13:34f) but the apostles don’t seem to have followed this
example. We are not necessarily called to preach like Jesus but to preach Jesus
(p54)
Patterns of five in the Bible (p65) – Torah;
The Writings; The Five Scrolls; The Five Books of the Psalms; Matthew (p67);
Mark (p68f)
Mark 4 – Great, v37, 39, 41 (p73, 83)
Paul Scott Wilson, The Four Page Sermon,
trouble in the text, trouble in the world, grace in the text, grace in the
world (p73f)
Mark’s intercalations / sandwiches (p83f)
David Jackman – it might be better if sermon
headings / points are didactic rather than merely descriptive of decorative (p89)
– i.e. they convey the content you want people to attend to
Westminster Standards: “The illustrations, of
what kind soever, ought to be full of light, and such as may convey the truth
into the hearer’s heart with spiritual delight.” (p100)
“Don’t stop, finish!” (Tim Hawkins) (p114)
“Our brother needs no introduction, but boy
does he need a conclusion!” (Charles Swindoll) (p114)
“The secret of a good sermon is to have a good
beginning and a good ending and having the two as close together as possible.”
(George Burns)
Mark 1:21-45 – a day in the life of Jesus
(p143)
“Is my sermon simply an exercise in
information transfer; my notes to my hearers’ notebook?” (p147)
“Is my sermon so heavy on imperatives that my
long nagging rant has lost connection to the indicatives of God’s word?” (p148)
The senses and the main sections in Mark:
Proclaiming the gospel: hearing
The cleansing of the lepper: touch
Miracles of feeding: taste
Miracles of restored eyesight: sight
Anointing with a fragrant ointment: aroma
(p155f)
Augustine: “The Old Testament is a fully furnished
room that is poorly lit” (p158)
Should we preacher the Bible or the Gospel? P.
T. Forsyth Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale – the Bible, the preacher and the
church are all made by the gospel. The Bible and the gospel as conjoined twins –
separation would threaten the life of both. Sermons must not be talks about the
Bible but gospel messages p161
Reading suggestions on preaching Christ from
the OT (p166, footnote)
Bullinger’s statement, Second Helvetic Confession
1566 chapter 1, “The preaching of the word of God is the word of God”. James
Kay calls this “the most influential theological sentence ever written about
preaching.” (p168)
Journey through Scripture, don’t just repeat
map co-ordinates! Scripture not neat and manageable. Don’t micromanage or
muffle it but allow it to speak for itself (p178)
Westminster Directory of Public Worship 1644,
burial of the dead without ceremony (p209)
Capturing the essence of the deceased in a way
that is evocative not exhaustive (p209)
A prayer provoked by a funeral (p210)
The story of Arthur Stace, Mr Eternity – Bible
Society Australia (p212f)
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