A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original review appears below. Adams, Jay, A Consumer’s Guide to Preaching, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1991. Reviewed by Blaine W. Dunnett, who is the minister of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Nobleton, Ontario.
Here is a book for your church library. No! It is a book for every worshipper in your church. Put it in their hands, librarians. It is subtitled “How to Get the Most Out of a Sermon.”
Preachers expend energy in the preparation of sermons, but did you know that as a listener you must expend energy too? The author, Jay Adams, claims that his book is the only one devoted to genuine concern for preaching from the listener’s point of view.
During Sunday lunch have you ever found yourself saying: “I couldn’t get the drift of the sermon” or “There wasn’t anything practical in the sermon to help me live as a Christian in the world?” Adams contends that preaching is a two-way street; what transpires in preaching rests on the shoulders of preacher and listener. Both ought to be competent. For you, the listener, competence comes by having, first and foremost, spiritual life. To your heart-made-new by God’s Spirit is added the second prerequisite, a biblical bias. That bias is that you listen with God in mind. Another aspect of a biblical bias is your recognition that the preacher is a herald of God. Adams says: “To disrespect him [the preacher], is to disrespect the One who sent him” (p.32). Next, comes your preparation for preaching. What you do Saturday night is a part of preparation! Then, Adams summons you to aggressive listening. You must work at hearing the message. A world of difference exists between a TV couch potato and a worshipper.
This is a practical volume of 160 pages. There is a chapter “How To Handle Poor Preaching”; it touches on the thorny matter of your suspicion of heresy in the pulpit or when the parson’s preaching can only be described as “thin soup served cold.” Plain steps are outlined as to how you can respond in love.
Another helpful chapter is entitled “Berean Listening.” When Paul preached in Berea it is recorded in Acts 17 that the Christians “received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily” to see if what they heard was so. The Bereans made no snap judgments on the preaching they heard. They continued to work after the preaching event and tested the sermon by the objective standard of Scripture. Adams gives suggestions for similar evaluation.
In another chapter the distractions which prevent good listening are cited with corrective actions. You can control your mind. There is also a section on “Technical Matters.” The author maintains that the listener can benefit if he/she knows the various elements preachers use in preparing sermons.
The book concludes with “Sermon Slices.” Thirty-one excerpts of sermons preached are printed so that you can test your new-found knowledge quickly. The only “disadvantage” is that you need to discover for yourself which excerpts are good, interesting and truthful. There is no answer page at the back! But then again, in hearing live sermons you are on your own!