May 9, 2012 | Leave a comment Jerry Vines has been a pastor in Southern Baptist churches for over forty years. His skill as an expositor of the biblical text is evident to all who have heard him preach. He understands and appreciates the rigors pastors face in preparing to preach week after week. Previously he had written two books, A Practical Guide to Sermon Preparation in 1985 and A Guide to Effective Sermon Delivery, in 1986. Vines, in cooperation with Jim Shaddix, a preaching professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, has combined the two volumes and “reorganized, updated and expanded” (12) the information so that “its application [may] include preachers in training as well as pastors in the field” (12). Thus, Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver Expository Sermons 1 seeks to strike the proper balance between the theories of the academy with the realities and time constraints of busy pastors. In Power in the Pulpit Vines and Shaddix attempt to balance the homiletical theories of the academy with the realities and time constraints of the busy pastor. The work is organized into three parts. First, the groundwork for the preparation of sermons is laid, then the reader is lead through the stages needed to properly expose a biblical text’s meaning and finally the various aspects necessary for effective delivery of the finished sermon are discussed. In this work Vines seeks to defend and promote expository preaching, particularly the method of systematic expository preaching ( ie. preaching a series of sermons through books of the Bible). After explaining that this methodology flows out of certain convictions about one’s call to ministry, view of Scripture and the sovereignty of God in using his word in an individuals life, Vines proceeds to define and defend his practice of exposition. Vines asserts that the benefits of systematic expository preaching far outweigh its risks, and that by viewing it merely as one sermon form among many reveals that its true importance has not been fully appreciated. Instead, Vines believes that exposition should be viewed as an overarching philosophy of preaching which begins with exegesis and leads to hermeneutics and then to homiletics and ends with exposition (27-28). When preachers have utilized this process they are in a better position to accomplish the purpose of the expository sermon which, simply put, is to set down God’s revelation in language that can be understood (30). Vines unlike Chapell or Greidanus, divides expository sermons into two types: general exposition and systematic exposition (31). General exposition is a sermon on a selected and distinct biblical text. This sermon form is the expository sermon which Bryan Chapell champions and the textual sermon Greidanus promotes. Systematic expository sermons are those which utilize a “consecutive and exhaustive treatment of a book of the Bible or extended portion thereof” (31). Vines and Shaddix make much of the distinction between these two types of expository sermons. They assert that, The best preaching you can do is to go through books of the Bible — chapter by chapter and paragraph by paragraph — in a systematic fashion. Such an approach will ensure the keenest interpretation and the best use of context (32). In another chapter they reassert their point that “going through the Bible books chapter by chapter and paragraph by paragraph will be the best preaching you do” (94). It is not that Vines does not accept general exposition as a legitimate and valuable sermon form, but he values the systematic approach more. Vines lists four benefits of systematic exposition while assenting that “many of the same benefits . . . apply to . . . general exposition” (32). The four benefits of systematic exposition are biblical literacy, accountability, protection and stress relief. Vines points out that it is not just what a preacher believes about the Scripture and his sermonic process that is important, but who the preacher is in his own personal character is also of vital importance. The need for one to be a clean vessel before God is discussed, as well as the need for one to continue to prepare one’s mind and body for the service of Christ’s kingdom. These encouragements to be holy in the entirety of one’s life are accomplished by Vines throughout the work without appearing “holier than thou” through the use of numerous personal testimonies. He shows his reader how God has used his process of preaching mightily and how he has gotten in God’s way on occasion so that his encouragements toward purity in the pulpit are easily received. Having laid the foundation necessary for sound expository preaching, Vines moves on to discuss the process for exposition. The process which Vines practices and urges on his reader is best summarized by Walter Kaiser’s admittedly awkward term, as the “grammatical-contextual-historical-syntactical-theological-cultural exegesis” (107). The methodology of exposing the meaning of the text and its organization into a sermon is fairly standard with that which has been espoused by those who take seriously the biblical author’s meaning, and as such calls for little comment. Where this volume distinguishes itself from other preaching texts is in its discussion of the delivery of the constructed sermon. Vines’s and Shaddix’s section on expressing the thought of the sermon and understanding one’s voice are invaluable to those who read this text. The practical advice and insight which is gathered and communicated through these chapters would take a preacher years to learn in the school of experience. The collections of advice contained and set apart by shading and text boxes within these chapters will prove particularly helpful for both the busy pastor and the beginner who reads this book in his first preaching class. Vines concludes the book by warning against making the sermon process too mechanistic. He suggests that one should strive to allow the processes which he has listed in the book to become second nature as one practices them weekly. The great strength of this book is the strong case which Vines makes for systematic expository preaching. The discussion of the benefits are well reasoned, clear and very practical. Vines points out that systematic exposition will increase the general knowledge of the Bible for those who sit in the pew. More helpful than the effect on the people in the pew, however, is the discussion of how this philosophy of preaching impacts the occupant of the pulpit. Vines suggests that his approach holds the preacher accountable in three ways. First, Vines argues that this sermon form forces the preacher to preach “what God says and not what the preacher wants to say” (34). Next, he also points out that “exposition in general makes the preacher work” (34). Finally, he notes that only systematic exposition forces the preacher to deal with texts that he might otherwise overlook or intentionally avoid (35). A second strength of this work is the discussion of the person of the preacher. Too many books about preaching spend all of their pages dealing with the technical process of sermon development and delivery. Little or no space is reserved in these volumes to discuss the need for the one preaching the sermon to live before God in a manner that would enable him to testify along with Paul that his church had become “imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” Vines and Shaddix are not guilty of this oversight. The heart condition of the preacher , his commitment to Christ and the study of God’s word are not just discussed in a chapter, but are held up before the reader throughout the pages of this text. The main weakness of this text is that it gives too little information about how one can move a church to accept systematic exposition. While this author accepts Vines’s premise that churches would accept and grow spiritually from a steady diet of systematic exposition, moving a church which is used to topical preaching to first accept and then demand systematic exposition is more of a process than is described here. One could read this book and assume that simply preaching one series on the book of Philippians or James where Vines suggests one should begin would then prepare the congregation for a series from Romans or Isaiah. For preachers of average skill, such will not usually be the case. A second weakness of this text could be construed as nit picking. There is a note missing (147) for the quote attributed to Koller. In books which purport to teach scholarship, such errors cast a shadow upon the author’s own scholarly method. While one realizes that oversights of this sort may occur rather easily, one would assume that the editing and proof-reading process would catch such mistakes. Books which represent Christ and call for the acceptance of the power of his preached word will be judged by a harsher standard than other works and should therefore be letter perfect. This volume should be required reading for every Southern Baptist minister. Because our denomination has reasserted the importance of the Scriptures ,Vines’s approach is well suited for most Southern Baptist churches. Where systematic exposition is not currently the standard, this volume will serve to encourage preachers to move with their congregations in that direction. Experienced preachers will also appreciate the practical advice within this work, and their method of sermon preparation and delivery will be refreshed as they read this volume. Jerry Vines has been one of a select group of preachers who have set the standard for preaching in the Southern Baptist Convention for years, with this work he has shown his contemporaries why and how his level of excellence has been achieved. End Notes 1. Vines, Jerry and Jim Shaddix, Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver Expository Sermons. Chicago: Moody Press, 1999. 29.99.