After previously addressing preaching, Gordon turns his attention to hymns. Specifically, Gordon laments the exclusion and rejection of tradition-tested hymns in favor of newer-sounding but often theologically-lacking music. He argues that this must be corrected. While I agree with most of his points (and must concede to his expertise concerning all things musical), his overall approach conveys a subtle snobbery that—while perhaps rightly grounded in a blend of confidence and conviction—remains a bit off-putting.  

Biblically, then, neither music nor song is merely a matter of entertainment or amusement. Both are very serious business, both culturally and religiously. Song is the divinely instituted, divinely commanded, and divinely regulated means of responding to God’s great works of creation, preservation, and deliverance. Worship song is both the remarkable privilege and the solemn duty of the redeemed. [31]

The sensibilities of pop culture and those of Christianity are almost entirely opposed to each other, and when we attempt to force Christianity into the constraints of an individual-affirming, consumerist, monogenerational, immanentistic genre, it simply won’t fit. Inevitably, the content is shaped by the form into which it is put, and the message becomes a casual, consumerist “Hey, what do you think about this?” rather than a call to “repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18). [92]

Totally apart from any musical considerations, both individuals and congregations routinely find the psalms to be edifying for use in private, family, or corporate worship. Would our typical contemporary worship music choruses, if they music were removed, edify if the way the psalms do? If our pastor’s prayers were as inconsequential or meaningless as most of these songs are, we would find them to be unbearable. [132]

The church of my father’s youth did not compose hymns in a big-band style in order to “reach the young,” and the church of my generation, while quite aware of the 1960s rebellion against tradition, did not abandon its hymns to rewrite the hymnal to sound like Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton. So why do we constantly fear losing this particular generation if we do not employ musical idioms with which they are familiar? [158]

If reaching people “where they are” appears to endorse “where they are,” then it is the most significant strategic error the church can possibly make. At some point, it must mention taking up a cross daily, forsaking father and mother for Christ, and repentance. When the church approaches an individual as a consumer to be pleased, rather than as a recalcitrant sinner to be rescued, the church is no longer doing what it is called to do. [166]

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Gordon, a former pastor and current professor, offers a compelling thesis about the lack of solid preaching in modern churches. He advocates the developing of three key sensibilities: reading texts closely, well-crafted communication, and distinguishing the significant from the insignificant. Gordon argues each point ardently (at times bordering on aggressively) and perhaps over-emphasizes some areas. A thought-provoking premise and proposed solution, and though I do not entirely agree with his conclusions, his position demands serious consideration.

All I really desire is the ability to answer three questions: What was the point or thrust of the sermon? Was this point adequately established in the text that was read? Were the applications legitimate applications of the point, from which we can have further fruitful conversation about other possible applications? [19]

Sermon length is not measured in minutes; it is measured in minutes-beyond-interest, in the amount of time the minister continues to preach after he has lost the interest of his hearers (assuming he ever kindled it in the first place). [31]

Nothing is more important for Christian proclamation than the central realities of the person, character, and work of Christ. When anything else predominates, the necessary inference of our hearers is that morality, or cultural improvement, or introspecting about our own spiritual health, is a more important consideration. [91]

To preach the Word of God well, one must already have cultivated, at a minimum, three sensibilities: the sensibility of the close reading of texts, the sensibility of composed communication, and the sensibility of the significant. Without these, a person simply cannot preach, any more than he could if his larynx were removed or he were utterly illiterate. [106]

Preaching well requires more that preparing sermons; it requires preparing oneself as the kind of human who has the sensibilities prerequisite to preaching. [107]

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