Preaching & Preachers: The Preacher, part 3

Lloyd-Jones turns his eyes to the training of the preacher. His view of the training of a preacher goes as follows:

1. Life. Going from college to seminary to the church without earning a living or living life makes a man full of theory, but little experience.
2. General education and training of the mind. 
3. Knowledge of the whole Bible.
4. Study of theology
5. Study of church history
6. Homiletics

Interesting, Lloyd-Jones not only dislikes homiletics, but actually refers to such  books on the "art or craft of the sermon" as prostitution and near an abomination. I'm not sure why that is. Homiletic books simply give the rules of speaking. Lloyd-Jones was a brilliant man, and a skilled medical doctor before he became a pastor. He was trained to be logical and was a skilled thinker. This would have played into his ability to outline and logically think through a text of Scripture. That is all decent homiletics books will do, they will teach you the rules of logical thinking and public speaking. Like it or not, there are guidelines and rules to effective speaking. A gifted speaker might not know the first thing about grammar, but if he will follow the rules of grammar, even if it is instinctive. A natural muscian who plays by ear still follows the rules and laws of music, whether he realizes it or not. The same with delivering a message. There are certain rules and laws of logical and effective speech, and if a man doesn't know them instinctively, then he needs to learn them. Lloyd-Jones perhaps was a natural or learned them from his medical career, but he indeed, followed the laws. For the opposite view on the need of homiletics, see the introduction in Sacred Rhetoric Or a Course of Lectures on Preaching by RL Dabney. It is a fine discussion on the difference between art and artifice.

Finally, I found this quote to be very true to my own heart and expresses how I often feel.

"I remember reading somewhere about the French novelist Anatole France that he used to say whenever he felt tiered an jaded with a tendency to be depressed and downcast, 'I never go into the country for a change of air and a holiday, I always instead go to the eighteenth century.' I have often said exactly the same thing, but not in the same sense in which he meant it, of course. When I get discouraged and over-tired and weary I also invariably go to the eighteenth century. I have never found George Whitfield to fail me. Go to the eighteenth century! In other words, read the stories of the great tides and movements of the Spirit experienced in that century. It is the most exhilarating experience, the finest tonic you will ever know. For a preacher is absolutely invaluable; their is nothing to compare with it. The more he learns in this way about the history of the Church the better preacher he will be."