Steven J. Lawson

The Expository Genius of John Calvin by Steven J. Lawson, who is senior pastor at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama. This is the first volume from the series "Long Line of Godly Men Profiles" published by Reformed Trust the publishing arm of Ligonier Ministries. As I understand it, future volumes will cover Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther and other giants of the faith. Each volume will focus on an aspect of that preacher's man's ministry and legacy.

Lawson show more here has given us a wonderful book which is written as a plea to modern-day preachers to return to the practice of expository preaching. That pastors would preach the Word as Calvin did from behind the sacred desk. This is made clear when Lawson speaks on the current state pulpit. "Exposition is being replaced with entertainment, preaching with performances, doctrine with drama, and technology with theatrics. Desperately does the modern-day church need to recover its way and return to a pulpit that is Bible-based, Christ-centered, and life-changing" (p. xi).

There has been a lot written about Calvin the theologian as often the focus is on his Institutes or the controversies over his leadership and politics during the Reformation. In this book Calvin the preacher is worthy of our attention indeed. The book is a quick read but very weighty in content.

Lawson at first lays down a brief overview of Calvin's birth, early life, conversion and then begins to examine in great detail the reformers approach to preaching. Throughout the pages we gain an overview of his sermon introduction, interpretation, his preparation, his method of expounding the text, the way he crafted his delivery, his application of the truth, concluding statements and final intercession. In all he discusses 32 recognizable distinctives of Calvin's preaching ministry. What an exploration through the distinguishing marks of Calvin's expository genius.

As a reader you begin to take in the statement Lawson makes when he says, "Calvin stands today as the most influential minister of the Word of God the world has ever seen. No man before or since has been so prolific and so penetrating in his handling of Scripture." (p. 4) Throughout the book, Lawson sprinkles quotations from scholars like Alister McGrath, James M. Boice, Charles Spurgeon, B.B. Warfield and others in support of his observations of Calvin's preaching. He also provides bite-size snippets of Calvin's sermons as examples of his preaching.

I see that Calvin saw his main calling to that of a preacher as it was mad clear as he gave himself to this task multiple times in a week. His desire was to bring the words of living water to a thirsty flock in a dry land. He did not preach over the heads of his sheep but showed the everyday relevance of God's Word. This why he studied was to clearly and thoroughly teach and explain expositionally every verse of the Bible.

Lawson captures Calvin's essence in this book which I found refreshing. I delighted in Lawson's writing style and his commitment to the power of preaching, I understand a great deal more of Calvin's preaching now. My excitement and anticipation for this series is high and I am sure Lawson will not disappoint. show less

giving this 5 stars not just because of content. not just because of a great writer. not just because of a fantastic "content-disect-magnify-repeat-study questions" format. but that Lawson took us stitch by stitch along the thread of God's grace through scripture.... a great read that took me through my bible digging for God's golden Grace and made me just keep wanting to see it more and more! i started the 2nd book in this volume and it was just as good!!! can't wait for the rest of this show more volume to be available! show less

Much of modern preaching is awful.

This assessment of the contemporary pulpit is sad, but I stand by it. Sound theological preaching has been replaced with gimmicky sermonettes. Sturdy, expository preaching has been deemed culturally irrelevant. We are left with preachers who move from one topical, man-centered sermon series to the next. Is it any wonder that the American church is so anemic?

Steven Lawson's short book, The Kind of Preaching God Blesses, gets right at the heart of the issue. show more An adaptation of one of his sermons from 1 Corinthians 2:1-9, this book is an easy read you can devour in one sitting. He calls pastors to abandon the hoopla that drives so many ministries and to return to committed expository preaching. Lawson makes the case that not only is the message we are to proclaim ensured by Scripture, but the method we use is also addressed. Such a thought flies in the face of the oft-cited ministry mantra, "Message is singular. Methods are many." Lawson does a masterful job of basing his opinions on exegesis of the text. If one disagrees with his conclusions, they are forces to find a different understanding of the text addressed.

Undoubtedly, the most controversial point of Lawson's book comes in chapter six, "A Sovereign Wisdom." In this chapter, he argues from a decidedly Reformed theological perspective. With Calvinism being such a hot-button issue for many, this will be more than many Arminian-leaning readers can stomach. However, they must deal with the fact that Lawson builds his conclusions from Scripture.

All in all, this book is needed today. Much of what masquerades as preaching is nothing more than spiritualized platitudes driven by the needs of man. We need men who will boldly stand in the pulpits of America and proclaim cross-centered messages driven by the text of Scripture. This is the only hope the church has.

GREAT QUOTES:

"As the pulpit goes, so goes the church. Never has this been more true than it is in this present hour. The fact remains, no church can rise any higher than its pulpit. The spiritual life of any congregation and its growth in grace will never exceed the high-water mark set by its pulpit" (16).

"The most diabolical ploy of Satan would be for churches to be bulging at their seams, but no proclamation of Christ and Him crucified. With this deadly silence, people would never learn of Christ. Thus, they could never know or follow Him" (21).

"Pulpits must be myopically focused upon declaring the sinless humanity, sovereign deity, and saving purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, what comes from pulpits is not preaching, but simply tame religious talk" (24).

"To an alarming degree, an increasing amount of preaching these days can only be described as 'slick schtick.' By this I mean that form of communication in which the preacher has little to say, but tragically, says it very well" (35).

"The entree Bible is focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners" (57).

"Being a herald is entirely different than being an orator. A herald is judged solely on the basis of faithfully delivering the message exactly as it has been entrusted to him. He is not responsible for the listener. Rather, his job is to faithfully dispatch his message" (65).

"No man is too weak for God to use, only too strong. The more one recognizes his own weakness, the more he will rely upon God for strength" (76).

"There is a foundational truth in preaching that must undergird every message - namely, that God is sovereign over all things" (91).

"The preaching that God blesses must faithfully represent a proper understanding of any passage of Scripture. God will bless only that which rightly interprets the true meaning of the text" (115). show less

Steven Lawson's Foundations of Grace is the first volume in the A Long Line of Godly Men series. Volume 2, Pillars of Grace will be released in March and after diving into this text I am even more excited than I already was. The series traces the Doctrines of God's Sovereign Grace throughout history. Foundations of Grace deals with the doctrines as found in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation....literally, Lawson traces these doctrines as presented by Moses in Genesis, John in Revelation show more and just about every book in between.
John Macarthur gives a foreword, Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace, for the book that follows in the pattern of JI Packer's introduction to Owen's Death of Death. By that I mean, Macarthur's foreword is of such high quality that you somewhat fear it will outshine the text itself. However, just like with Death of Death, that fear is unwarranted. As great as both forewords are, the main texts both live up to the quality that is found in these first few pages.
Foundations of Grace feels much like a Steven Lawson sermon: extensive, organized, enjoyable and understandable.
Lawson has become one of my favorite theology writers of this generation, in large part due to the fact that his writing is very pastoral rather than academic. It is always fun to dive into some Edwards, Owen, Sproul, Horton, etc... but oftentimes I need to go to more pastoral sources; Piper, Baxter, Lawson, etc... From those examples I hope it is clear that you do not lose depth with these men, but they definitely are blessed with a way of putting complex concepts into simplistic terms and repeating/rephrasing without being boring or repetitive.
The basic structure of the book is to isolate a biblical author, beginning with Moses and to see the Doctrines of Grace as presented in these books. As you go through this, Lawson will interject a more specific look at certain doctrine. These “Doctrine in Focus” sections cover all the Doctrines of Grace, beginning with God's Sovereignty, Radical Depravity,Sovereign Election, Definite Atonement, Irresistible Call and Preserving Grace. Lawson draws out all the passages from these Biblical books that lay out these God-exalting, man-diminishing truths of God's Word.
He also does a great job in presenting God's Sovereignty as the overarching, all-encompassing truth of this theological system. “The Doctrines of Grace are a cohesive system of theology in which the Sovereignty of God is clearly displayed in the salvation of elect sinners.”(page 30) As JI Packer has been known to say, there is not 5 points to Calvinism. There is one point:God is sovereign. Once you honestly embrace this truth of Scripture, all of the rest fall neatly into place.
With all of the current interest in reformed theology, and the controversy that seems to inevitably surround it, a text like Foundations of Grace is much needed. For those who hold to these doctrines, Foundations of Grace is a great refresher and encouragement that these truths date much further back than Calvin or Augustine. For those opposed to these truths, Lawson presents a wonderfully organized, clear, and Bible-based arguments for the Doctrines of Grace. This book needs to be in everyone's library because the truths it so wonderfully presents are, dare I say, foundational! show less