The Supremacy of God in Preaching Review

Preaching is no small task. It requires hard work and hours of study. It also requires God. In a society that is becoming less focused on proclaiming God and the Scriptures the book The Supremacy of God in Preaching is a necessary read. John Piper does an excellent job of showing the importance and the necessity of why God must be proclaimed and why we need to lift up God in our preaching. Dr. Piper breaks the book down into two parts. The first part is the Why God Should Be Supreme in Preaching and the second part is How to Make God Supreme in Preaching: Guidance from the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. By looking at each of these sections the reader receives large doses of information as to what is necessary when it comes to preaching.

Here are highlights from the first section Why God Should Be Supreme in Preaching:
“Neither the great aims of preaching nor the worthy place of psychology is honored in this loss of theological nerve.”
“No gladness in the subject, no glory in the King.”
“If the goal of preaching is to glorify God, it must aim at glad submission to his kingdom, not raw submission.”
“The goal of preaching is the glory of God reflected in the glad submission of the human heart.”
“Without the cross, preaching aims to glorify a righteous God in the gladness of sinful man has no validity.”
“The Word! All Christian preaching should be the exposition and application of biblical texts.”
“The really effective preachers have been ever-growing in the Word of God.”

Highlights from part two: How to Make God Supreme in Preaching: Guidance from the Ministry of Jonathan Edwards:
” Good preaching aims to stir up “holy affections” – such emotions as hatred for sin, delight in God, hope in His promises, gratitude for his mercy, desire for holiness, and tender compassion.”
“Good preaching comes from a spirit of brokenness and tenderness.”
“Lack of intensity in preaching can only communicate that the preacher does not believer or has never been seriously gripped by the reality of which he speaks- or that the subject matter is insignificant.”

I strongly recommend picking up this book. There is the first edition which is pictured above but there is also a revised addition that has been published. I read the older version and it ministered to my soul in a way that is hard to describe. When reading this book your heart will be stirred to preach more fervently but also convicted in areas where God has not been supreme in your life. I strongly recommend picking this book up if you are someone who proclaims the Word of God. May the Supremacy of God resonate strongly and passionately in our preaching!