I have been blessed to preach quite a few sermons over the years, and one thing that is consistent is this: sermons are difficult to write. A good sermon requires more than having a good handle on the text. It also requires knowing the members of your congregation well, as well as a life of holiness and prayer. The better you know the people in your church, the better you can apply the text. But the whole process is tricky for me. I enjoy teaching the Bible, but preaching requires even more skills. And this is why I enjoy reading and reviewing books on preaching. I want to get better, and I want to receive good, clear advice where I can.
Douglas Webster is professor of pastoral theology and preaching at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University. He has served as pastor at churches in five different cities. He begins his book with prayers for discernment that we would not only understand the text but also understand how to put it into practice, holding fast to the eternal life given to us. Webster offers ten brief steps to move from Scripture to your sermon before moving on to Parts 1 and 2.
Part 1 consists of six chapters that focus on the purpose of preaching. Preaching is not merely teaching the text, telling church members what life in the first century was like, or even connecting the biblical theological dots for them (ch 1). Preaching applies the text wholly to your members. God’s word is transformative, and sermons need to highlight that.
Chapter two confirms that sermons are both harder (just like I wrote) and easier than we imagine. It is difficult because the Bible compels us to live lives of holiness in a fallen world, to put on the mind of Christ that runs counter to the world’s narrative, to live differently than the culture around us. Yet there is hope. As Webster writes, “If Jesus had to die for you to preach this Sunday’s sermon, it’s really not about the preacher’s speaking skills, body language, voice inflection, sense of humor, and eye contact” (24). We are to compel our members through Spirit-inspired preaching that stays in the Bible (ch 3), offering the whole counsel of God to your members (ch 4).
Looking back to chapter two, preaching is demanding, but it is also easy because you can devote your whole life to it knowing you are proclaiming the word of the eternal God (ch 5). Intellectually, the same eternal word (John 1; Col 1) that created the heavens is the same eternal word that saves us. That is, “The Author of life is one and the same the Savior of the world” (38). Preachers will never run out of good material to preach from; they have the whole counsel of God. Socially, God’s word places both the individual and the community in Christ. God’s word gives guidance to the difficulties in our relationships with one another. Ethically, God has shown us what he desires in his word (Mic 6:8)!
Webster doesn’t downplay a verse-by-verse approach to preaching, but he points us to something greater than just that when he writes, “The goal of preaching the whole counsel of God is for all believers to live with their eyes fixed on Jesus” (93). He goes on to say that believers need to understand God’s plan of redemption through books like Kings and Chronicles, but a verse-by-verse approach may cause listeners to miss the forest for the trees. They will be flooded with details and will remain bewildered over what to do with them all.
The point of preaching for one’s whole life is not to be able to check off which books you have preached through. It is “living into the wisdom of God as revealed in the Bible” (93). Webster points to different chapters in the Bible (Acts 7; Pss 78; 110; the book of Hebrews) to show how the Bible interprets its own story. All preaching is made to make disciples and to help form them into looking more like Jesus (ch 6).
Part 2 is made up of seven chapters to help you with the practice of preaching by moving through the “course of the church year and in the flow of life’s seasons” (128). Webster gives many examples of how to shape a sermon through these chapters on sermons in Advent and Christmas (ch 7), Lent (ch 8), Easter (ch 9), memorials (ch 10), and weddings (ch 11), as well as crisis sermons (ch 12) and sermons with social impact (ch 13). These chapters also give tips and considerations on how the pastor should conduct such services, or to be prepared for the exhaustion that follows afterwards.
Webster ends his book with seven theses on good preaching, explaining each point in a following paragraph. Of what he emphasizes, one point is that pastors should think for themselves so that they are not conformed to this world. This is because “every biblical passage deals with the clash between the mystery of God and the mess of the human condition” (289). Good exegesis will find the fault line, the tension, that lies between these two points, the human complexity birthed from sin and God’s redemption that resolves everything. Although Webster doesn’t write it, this means not letting ChatGPT do all of your work for you.
Recommended?
There is a lot of wisdom here in this book with an emphasis on the character of the pastor—his humility, his patience, his holiness, his desire to know God. There is no technique, no science, to get the perfect sermon. It is an art that requires knowing your congregation, knowing God’s word, and knowing yourself before God.
Pair this with similar books by Michael Reeves, Jonathan Pennington, Craig Bartholomew, Wayne Baxter, and Rick Reed.
Buy it on Amazon or from Lexham Press!
Lagniappe
- Authors: Douglas D. Webster
- Paperback: 318 pages
- Publisher: Lexham Press (May 2024)
- Read an interview with Douglas Webster
Review Disclosure: I received this book free from Lexham Press. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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