Proclaimer Blog
Hitting the target
My last book of this year's reading week is The Archer and the Arrow by Philip Jensen and Paul Grimmond (Matthias Media 2010, ISBN 978-1-921441-806, available from The Good Book Company for £8). It's a hard task reviewing a book with so many endorsements (especially one from your boss!). William Taylor, Mark Dever, Al Stewart, Vaughan Roberts and Colin Marshall all give it a thumbs up.
And they are right to. This is an excellent little book filling in some gaps that seemed to be missing in The Trellis and the Vine (which sometimes felt a little weak on preaching..?). Essentially the book is an expansion on Philip's desire:
My aim is to preach the gospel by prayerfully expounding the Bible to the people God has given me to love (various pages)
In the book, Philip unpacks each part of this statement and shows why he is both passionate about it and how to go about it. Up front, it's worth saying that "expound" gets a lot of attention and, thankfully, it's much more than the oft-quoted line from Philip "just explain" (which needed to be understood in its context). So, to expound:
is to start with an existing text or message and to explain it, elaborate upon it and argue for it. It's what the Levites did for the people in Nehemiah 8.8: 'They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and then they gave the sense, so that people understood the reading.' (p39)
Jensen uses an extended illustration of an archer, his arrow and his target to explain (expound?) his statement. It certainly taught me a few things about fletches I did not know, although at times the illustration just felt a little strained. But this is a minor quibble.
The very short (sadly) section on prayer is thoroughly good despite its brevity (p38). Given that this is an area where many preachers struggle, it would have been good to see a little more flesh on the bones (not sure how that translates into the arrow illustration). The summary paragraph is worth repeating:
We know that we need God to be at work in every aspect of preaching – both in the preacher and the hearers. We know equally that he responds to and uses our prayers in his powerful work. And yet we so easily and frequently neglect to pray. We can preach competently, earnestly, faithfully, intelligently, interestingly, missionally, passionately, humorously and even brilliantly. But we fail when we do not preach prayerfully. (p38)
Amen and amen! Glad that Philip said this. God save us from excellent expositors who never pray!
The bulk of the book is taken up with the question of what it means to expound the text. If you know any of Philip's material there won't be anything here that particularly surprises you, I don't think, but the ministry of reminder is no less useful for that. Philip shows how theology and exegesis (essentially the hard work of a sermon) contribute to its effectiveness, humanly speaking. I'm not going to repeat his six principles (starting on page 56) – I want you read the book, after all – but suffice to say they contain some very helpful pointers and boundaries for preachers, including a short but targeted section on the use of commentaries.
For me, chapter 4 is the most helpful. Entitled "On the importance of feathers" Jensen makes a case for preachers being both systematic and biblical theologians. This may surprise some who have a very one-sided view of what comes to us from down under, but is a very welcome argument for both disciplines:
As faithful preachers we must put aside the illusion that we are unpolluted sponges, ready to soak up God's word and squeeze it out, pure and fresh, for our adoring listeners. We must work hard at shaping our own systematic and biblical theology in the light of what God actually says. Good preachers must be good biblical and systematic theologians. (p66)
To put it another way, the 'simple Bible preacher' is in fact the faithfully self-conscious biblical and systematic theologian. (p84)
Almost as significant is the last chapter "The risks the preacher takes" which calls all preachers to a dangerous ministry. There is an especially useful section here on balance, or rather that preachers avoid balance, for:
…we can never say everything in a sermon…. (p112)
Preachers are compelled, therefore, to be unbalanced….we cannot confront people's lifelong presuppositions by merely mentioning them in passing. A penitent heart is one that has been battered by the truth. We are better off attacking one important point with vigour, humour and repetition than presenting a balanced and comprehensive message that causes no wounds (p113)
Who is this book for? Philip himself says it is for preachers – and that subset is certainly true. I don't think it's particularly for the man or woman in the pew. And it's most relevant for new preachers (indeed, some of the exhortations are directed at this group). Buy it and give it to those starting out in this ministry. Nevertheless, within the book – even though it may not contain anything new – experienced preachers will find warm encouragement and exhortation – and for this it is more than worth the time it will take to read.
Oh, and just in passing, a wonderful little exposition on Proverbs 17.8 (bribery a good thing?) – see page 74 for details!!
Watch Mark Dever interview Philip below.
Mark Dever interviews Phillip Jensen – full version from Audio Advice on Vimeo.
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