Reformed Preaching: Proclaiming God’s Word from the Heart of the Preacher to the Heart of His People by Joel R. Beeke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
First of all I am glad I read the Kindle version. I feel that if I saw the physical copy of this book I may have turned away. The volume is chock full of material. In typical Beeke fashion this volume is well researched, well documented and well presented. This is not just a book on how to write a sermon.
I was also intrigued by the title as I am used to seeing books about expository preaching, topical preaching, extemporaneous preaching, preaching to felt needs etc. My first wrong assumption was a book on Reformed Preaching is a book about intellectual, conservative lectures.
Beeke points out that Reformed Preaching is Experiential preaching. By that he says It uses the truth of Scripture to shine glory of God into the depths of the soul to call people to live solely and wholly for God . . stresses the need to know the great truths of the Word of God by personal experience. It also tests our personal experience by the doctrines of the Bible.
The goal is not head knowledge (that is important) but also heart change. He says Head knowledge is not evil in itself. Most of the great Christian ministers and leaders of the Reformation and Post-reformation eras were highly educated men. They valued a thorough Christian education. But this education must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit to our hearts. Head knowledge remains insufficient for our spiritual good without the Spirits’s heart application. That is why writers of previous centuries counseled people to seek to fill their heads with knowledge while seeking the Lord in hope that he would bless it to their hearts.
I appreciate the fact that Beeke drives home the fact that Reformed Preaching is well researched but also fueled by the Holy Spirit. I was impressed by the heavy emphasis on the place Beeke placed on the Holy Spirit’s place in the preparation, delivery and reception of the sermon.
After defining Reformed Preaching Beeke present a historical picture of Reformed Preaching, giving examples of preachers, their ministries and their messages. Some names are very familiar and many more names unknown. In the end Beeke shows the rich heritage of Reformed Preaching worldwide, even if we never knew that was what it was called. I will admit that I almost gave up at this point. There were so many examples over a long history, I thought this book was a history of Reformed Preachers. Fortunately, I kept going.
Part 3 is a great section. Here Beeke starts unpacking sermon development. This is not a process of how often to read the text, then the studies, commentaries application etc. Beeke stresses deeper issues. Things like the character and quality of the preacher and how deeply he knows His God. How deeply does he know his congregation? How intimate is the preacher with the Scripture? The preacher is called to know His God, the Scripture and the congregation. Then the preacher can take the text, draw out the biblical doctrines and address it to the spiritual health of his congregation.
Beeke says Christian preaching must revolve around the objective focus of the truth about God in Christ and His saving work accomplished for His people. …preaching must also revolve around the subjective focus of the experience of God in Christ.
The heart of the sermon is how reliant was the preacher on the Holy Spirit and how much did the Spirit fuel the sermon to reveal Christ to the hearer. Maybe if more sermons were rooted in biblical doctrine applied to the spiritual needs of people we would get past twitter feed sermons about feeling good about yourself and see hearts transformed towards holiness and Christlike qualities.
Beeke says we need to preach sermons enriched by all of these elements: biblical, doctrinal, experiential, and practical. Then Beeke adds to the final chapters examples of topics to explore and questions to ask as the Scripture if finally applied to meet the truth of God and the experience of the hearer.
If you are involved in sermon preparation and feeding the sheep, this is a must read. If you are like me and struggle with the amount of historical content press on. It is worth it.
The publisher provided a copy for review.
Thinking About Theology 