The Archer and the Arrow

Phillip Jensen and Paul Grimmond have written a very helpful little book on preaching called The Archer and Arrow:  Preaching the Very Words of God.  Two bits of clarification:

First, as explained in the preface, Paul Grimmond did the actual writing, but all the ideas are basically Jensen's (a seasoned preacher).  Second, the "archer" of the title refers to the preacher, and the "arrow" refers to the sermon.

It would probably be tedious to summarize everything Jensen and Grimmond say.  I'd rather share a few of my favorite quotes and a very helpful illustration.

On the ministry of all believers (which the Sydney evangelicals emphasize a lot):

For all of God's people, everywhere, the challenge is to speak to each other as those who speak the very truths of God and nothing less.  Whether we speak one to another over a meal or one to a thousand from the pulpit on Sunday morning, the aim for all Christians is to speak God's truth in order that we might all be encouraged to live for the glory of Christ as we await his return. (14)

 On the essence of preaching:

What, then, is the essence of preaching?  It is not related to the number of people we speak to, nor is it related to our ability to communicate.  The essence of preaching is passing on the message as we have received it--that is what it means to speak the very oracles of God. (14)

The preacher's mission statement:

My aim is to preach the gospel by faithfully expounding the Bible to the people God has given me to love. (22)

On the preacher's motivations:

If we are preaching for the sake of God's honour, then we will long for our hearers to say, "Jesus is a great saviour" not "He is a great preacher". (92)

I found the arrow illustration very helpful.  An arrow is composed of three sections:  the arrowhead, the shaft, and the feathers.  The arrowhead corresponds to the gospel.  The preacher should preach the gospel in every sermon (though he should not feel obligated to preach every component of the gospel in every sermon), and thus he tries to pierce the heart of his people with the gospel.  The shaft corresponds to the exegesis of the particular text being preached.  The better the exegesis/shaft and deeper the gospel/arrowhead will pierce the heart.  The feathers correspond to the biblical and systematic theology (and other broader disciplines) the keep the arrow/sermon flying straight rather than veering off into heresy or error because of our bad exegesis.  It's a simple illustration, but I found it helpful.

I discovered many other gems in The Archer and the Arrow.  Any preacher or preacher-in-training would be wise to read it.