John Woods, God is in the House: A Fresh Model for Shaping a Sermon

 

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)