Southwestern Journal of Theology
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 62, No. 1 – Fall 2019
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
By J. Josh Smith. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2019. xii + 180 pages. Paperback, $29.99
Josh Smith is uniquely qualified to pen this crucial preaching volume. He is pastor, preacher, and homiletician. He currently serves as Senior Pastor of Prince Avenue Baptist Church in Bogart, GA. This volume draws from his 2013 D.Min. dissertation.
Preaching for a Verdict attempts to define and restore an oft ignored and misunderstood ingredient in the preaching endeavor, specifically exhortation. When properly understood, preaching not only informs the mind, it exhorts the will. Smith defines and distinguishes the element of exhortation, providing a historical, theological, and biblical basis for his proposal. His volume is not merely theoretical: he provides ways, means, and examples that allow the faithful preacher to integrate exhortation into his sermon preparation and delivery.
This work presents a veritable treasure-trove of homiletic gold. First, Smith clearly defines exhortation as “persuading the listener to respond to the call of the text through proclaiming the point of the text, in the voice of the text”; it is that persuasive effort that distinguishes preaching from teaching (93). Though important, to merely inform the hearer’s mind from the text is insufficient because true preaching speaks to the entire man. Failure to preach persuasively makes the sermon simply suggestive. Every Scripture demands a response and “a call to respond is embedded somewhere in the text and made clear by the Spirit” (4).
Second, there are some who disparage or even reject exhortation, believing that it is solely the Spirit’s ministry or simply synonymous with application. Smith distinguishes application from exhortation: “[W]hile application might explain what the text demands, exhortation pleads with the hearer to respond to its demands” (5). Both the Old and New Testaments confirm that the essential preaching paradigm is explanation, application, and exhortation, for “faithful biblical preaching must include an exhortation toward response” (76). He further explains the relationship between the two as follows: “Although proper exhortation always includes a form of application, it is possible to have application without exhortation. For that reason, exhortation must stand alone as a distinct and necessary practice in preaching” (9).
Third, in chapter 6, Smith offers practical advice since “like exposition, exhortation is a craft that must be learned” (93). He provides four foundational convictions for the practice of exhortation and steps to identifying and communicating exhortation. Two salient features of these hortatory convictions 1) the text drives the sermon, from structure to tone, and 2) since “God’s Word always demands a response … the sermon should call for a response” (95). On identifying and communicating the sermon’s exhortation, the exhortation is not a gratuitous postscript, flows from the text itself (106).
Finally, chapter 8 proves personally useful to the preacher. Smith provides three ingredients for effective exhortation. First, diligent study is essential, since “text-driven exhortation takes patient endurance and hard work” (145). Second, Spirit empowerment is crucial for preparation and delivery, since “exhortation void of the power of the Holy Spirit will accomplish nothing, no matter how well crafted it is” (147–48). Exhortation requires authoritative delivery since “faithful exhortation demands a response, because God demands a response” (152).
It is hard to find any “rough spots” in this homiletic diamond. Any questions or shortcomings from the reading, the author anticipated and addressed in the conclusion—concerns about limits and downfalls of exhortation; exhortation without manipulation; the tension between sovereignty, free will, and preaching. One would have hoped he would have tackled those issues, but his laser focus was on making exhortation a part of the preaching task, a possible subsequent volume would be fitting.
This book is a welcomed edition to the field of homiletics. There are some that would devalue this book believing that preaching speaks exclusively to the mind and not the will. Josh Smith sets the record straight, showing that it is in fact, the preacher’s job, even mandate, not only to faithfully preach the text but also to faithfully exhort from the text. Preaching for a Verdict will hopefully usher in a new day of preachers calling people to God-honoring decisions, recalling that it is exhortation that “puts the urgency in exposition” (19). This work will prove valuable for 1) those who believe in biblical exhortation, yet need encouraging in their hortatory skills, and 2) those who dismiss biblical exhortation (in theory or practice), who need to be convinced to place this scriptural tool in their preaching repertoire. As they preach and call for a verdict, every preacher ought to understand and feel the gravity that it is “God making his appeal through us” (2 Cor 5:20). Josh Smith convincingly and clearly reminds the preacher of that reality. He has called preachers back to preaching like the prophets and the Apostles, preaching like Jesus, preaching for a verdict. Preaching for a Verdict is a “must read”—even a “must read again.”
