Haddon W. Robinson's approach to expository biblical preaching

Biblical Preaching

Robinson, Haddon W. Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.

Book Evaluation

Strengths

For any preacher who finds himself becoming lazy about the preparation of his sermons, Haddon W. Robinson's book, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages, serves as a major wake up call. Robinson does not in any way espouse a lazy approach to preaching. As he states so eloquently, "Thinking is difficult, but it stands as our essential work. Make no mistake about the difficulty of the task. It is often slow, discouraging, overwhelming. But when God calls us to preach, He calls us to love Him with our minds. God deserves that kind of love and so do the people to whom we minister."[footnoteRef:1] Consequently, Robinson confronts the preacher whose sermon preparation relies on "inspiration" instead of preparation. Robinson's argument for expository preaching demonstrates how inspirational preaching does not demonstrate the level of love and respect for God's word that is expected from pastors. [1: (Robinson 2001)]

Roginson's approach to preaching requires active involvement and interaction with the word of God. It does not espouse a systematic, robotic (and ultimately mindless) approach to sermon preparation. Robinson explains how anything less than a total mind and spirit interaction with the scripture passage would never be sufficient. By covering all of the avenues of scriptural knowledge and understanding -- including context, language, personality, doctrine, psychology, culture, societal context, etc. -- Robinson removes any supposition that preaching is an easy job that just requires a couple hours one a week as preparation for the weekly sermon. Instead Robinson gives preaching the esteem it should rightly deserve as the intellectual, soul searching, God-inspired, whole self demanding job that it was deemed by God to become. If after reading this book a preacher can believe that God desires anything less from him, he should re-examine rather his calling was from God or solely self-motivated.

Weaknesses

Although Robinson's lines of reasoning are exceptional, and his calling as a preacher irrefutable, he does at times get bogged down in the very mechanical, systematic style of lecture that he directs his readers to avoid. Perhaps it is because the subject matter that he is trying to cover is so complex, but at many points it is difficult to remember that this is a book about preaching -- thus shepherding the children of God -- and not a philosophical treatise on rhetorical devices. For that reason, I would suggest that this book not be passed out to immature Christians who are not able to keep the overall goal in mind and who might become caught up in the tinctures of "how to" preach. Without the ability to constantly remind yourself of why you are reading this book and what your overall purpose is, you could easily begin to read this book as a how-to manual on how to get people to agree with you and impress them with your knowledge instead of how to project the infinite majesty of Jesus Christ.

What Lessons Can Be Learned from the Author

The shepherding of God's church is serious work to be taken seriously. No one should enter into a pastoral position with any less expectations. When god calls pastors to serve him with their whole heart, whole mind, and whole strength, he is not just using semantics. A preacher's job is not one that only requires a few hours of sermon preparation once a week and a couple hours on Sunday to be admired by the flock. God is serious about His church, and as such, He is serious about the work of His shepherds. Robinson affirms the sanctity of the scriptures by reiterating throughout his book that the scriptures are to be the impetus for everything a preacher espouses from the pulpit. As Robinson contends, scripture should bend the pastor's mind toward the will of god; the pastor's mind should not attempt to use scripture to conform to his way of thinking. Although it seems obvious to avoid this, the temptation is all to easy to fall into.

How I was Challenged as a Result of Reading the Book

If I ever thought preaching was a cushy job, I could no longer believe that. God calls all of His followers to love Him with their whole heart, their whole mind, and their whole strength. How much more would God then expect that of His pastors who are responsible for the care and spiritual feeding of His sheep? Therefore, as long as a preacher is in the will of God, his job cannot be simple. The responsibilities of a preacher are huge, and he should never expect to just get by with a friendly smile, and affable nature, some warm fuzzy feelings, and minimal time spent in God's word. Therefore, when I approach God's people with anything that I would even imply was the word of God, I realize that I had better put the effort into it that God commands in order to be sure that what I am saying is in fact the true and complete word of God. Anything less would be in direct disobedience to my Lord.

What I Will Do Differently

Robinson's book has definitely had an effect on my perception of my role as a pastor. I am now convinced that no pastor should approach the pulpit with anything less than a well-prepared, well-researched, and well-prayed-over sermon. I believe that being lackadaisical about my role as a pastor would be flirting with disaster; therefore, I am convinced that it is essential that all pastors should be diligent to set aside a sufficient amount of time each week precisely for the purpose of preparing their address. This should be any pastor's priority as the pastor's address is the avenue in which he most directly affects the body of Christ. In addition, many members of the body view the pastor as a major representative of God and believe that the pastor's words are divinely appointed by God. Consequently, the assumption that any warm fuzzy feelings or sense of inspiration are sufficient preparation for an address can never truly be appointed by God.

Part of any pastor's sermon preparation should include setting aside a definitive amount of time to get to know his sheep. As Robinson explains, "The letters of the New Testament, like the prophecies of the Old, were addressed to specific assemblies struggling with particular problems. Our expository sermons today will be ineffective unless we realize that our listeners, too, exist at a particular address and have mind-sets unique to them."[footnoteRef:2] Without this type of thoughtful interaction with the church members, no minister can adequately do his job. By getting to know your flock, you will enable yourself to be able to minister to their needs in your sermon. This direct application would certainly be more effectual than a dry sermon that lacks real-life application. After all, is not the purpose of a sermon to draw people (myself as a preacher and my flock) closer to God in all truth and heart and soul? If that is indeed the purpose, than how can a pastor who is a stranger to his flock ever truly please God? [2: (Robinson 2001)]