Proclaimer Blog
Donkey preaching
It was a joy to include Lloyd-Jones' story on being wedded to three points in my Numbers book. Here's my footnote, with some added analysis…
This text (Numbers 22:21) gives rise to one of the best known stories about preaching. D Martyn Lloyd-Jones recalls hearing a preacher who was wedded to three headings. So, for this text he took (1) A good trait in a bad man, as Balaam rose early. (2) The antiquity of saddlery for the passage demonstrates that it is ‘neither modern or new, but an ancient craft’ and (3) A few remarks concerning the woman of Samaria. The preacher could think of nothing else to say. So, says Lloyd-Jones, headings should be ‘natural and appear to be inevitable.’
We might add that preachers need not be slaves to having three points, nor should they take such short texts that they lose sight of the setting and main point being made.
See D Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (London, UK: Hodder & Stoughton, 1971), p.208
So, I want to coin the phrase donkey preaching to describe preaching:
- which takes a short text (not wrong in itself) and completely rips it out of context, or
- which is wedded to three points where this is unjustifable, or
- where the points do not 'naturally and inevitably' arise from the text
Hee-Hor?