DMIN 7310 – Proclaiming the Kingdom

Eli Gutierrez – Book digest

Robert Smith, Jr. Doctrine that dances.

It would be easy to say that this book is about doctrinal preaching. However, that is not exactly

right. This book is about doctrine that dances, which is harder to define. Robert Smith is a Baptist

minister who is also a preaching scholar. And in this book, he distills his experience and knowledge

on preaching in creative and compelling ways. His reflections are oriented to doctrinal preaching;

however, they work as well for any kind of preaching. Actually, considering the way in which

Smith talks about doctrinal preaching, the reader may wonder if there really is any other kind of

true Christian preaching.

What is doctrinal preaching?

Smith’s working definition is: doctrinal preaching is the escorting of hearers into the presence of

God for the purpose of transformation. However, as it happens with deep concepts, it is hard to

define doctrinal preaching. Rather, it has to be experienced. It is an event that happens under the

power of the Holy Spirit. In some sense, all preaching is doctrinal because it must be informed by

doctrine. Christian doctrine serves to criticize preaching, it has a subservient role. Doctrine is a

moral conscience to preaching. For Smith, preachers need to concern themselves with doctrine just

as any writer must concern themselves with grammatical rules. He affirms that there are three main

functions of doctrinal preaching. It is apologetical in the sense that it affirms what is orthodox, it

serves to define what are the right beliefs. It is polemical in the sense that it stands against false
doctrine and rejects it. And it is catechetical in the sense that it nourishes the congregation.

However, these must not be seen only as intellectual functions of preaching. The goal of preaching

is not information but transformation. It is not meant for people only to believe truths but for them

to know Christ and be saved. Doctrinal preaching is cranial and cardiological. It involves head and

heart, fact and feeling.

Why preaching doctrinal sermons?

There is a number of false assumptions about doctrinal preaching that Smiths tears down. Some

think that doctrinal preaching is only for the academy, but Smith affirms that Christian doctrines

are primarily for the church. Moreover, there is a common idea that doctrinal preaching is boring.

Smith calls for a passionate, creative doctrinal preaching. Furthermore, doctrinal preaching is seen

as an overly intellectual task, and Smith affirms that it is a task for both heart and head. Still, there

is another widespread opinion that congregations cannot stand doctrine. Smith answers that

preachers are not called to please people but to proclaim the Word. Besides, he calls for a doctrinal

preaching that is compelling and enthusiastic. And he affirms that when doctrine is presented with

joy and accuracy, hearers will crave more of it. For Smith, preaching doctrine is not an option but

a calling and ministers must not evade the task of doctrinal preaching. Ministers must preach

doctrine even when it is unpopular. Actually, doctrinal preaching is a need. Christian ministers

have been called to nourish the flock of God. Unfortunately, many preachers are serving sermonic

snacks instead of the doctrinal meat of the Word of God. Doctrinal preaching is meant to feed the

sheep with substantial food. People need the Word of God and doctrinal preaching is the one that

goes deep in it and proclaims it.

The main goal of doctrinal preaching is the worship of God. Smith takes a metaphor about worship

from Søren Kierkegaard that is illustrative. The Danish theologian affirmed that the only audience

in the worship service is God. The worship leaders and the preacher are the conductors of the

congregation who is like an orchestra playing a majestic symphony. Together they worship God.

Doctrine without worship is empty, worship without doctrine leads to ignorance. Thus, doctrinal

preaching must lead to worship.

Moreover, preaching the Word of God is not only a matter of what ministers do but what

we are. The minister who preaches the Word must first be touched by that Word. In that sense,

preaching and teaching Scripture is much more than just an intellectual task, it involves our whole

being. There is head engagement as much as there is heart engagement. The gospel does not

address people only intellectually. Preaching must be directed to the whole person. And, says

Smith, it must be done convincingly and persuasively because it is a true message.

Furthermore, preaching is to be rooted in doctrine but not burdened by it. Doctrine is not

the master of the sermon, but the servant. A doctrinal sermon has to answer three questions: what?

so what? and now what? What does Scripture say? This is about information. So what does that

mean for us today? This is about contemporization. And now what are we going to do accordingly?

This is about motivation.

How to preach and teach doctrine?

Smith offers two main metaphors in order to communicate how doctrinal preaching is done. Since

it is a deep activity there is a need of using a deeper level of language in order to express the

function of preparing and delivering sermons grounded on the Word of God. The two metaphors
are the preacher as exegetical escort and doxological dancer. His reflection on these two metaphors

comprises the main argument of his work. As metaphors, they are intended to create an image that

evokes an abstract reality, not a concrete, measurable, precise example of preaching. In the case

of the exegetical escort, the metaphor has to be sanitized from some not so holy connotations that

the term escort may have. With these two metaphors Smith is comparing preaching to dancing.

The preacher escorts the hearer into the text and into God’s Word and dances in prepared yet

creative and improvised movements in order to lead people to God.

The exegetical escort

In Smith’s words: “The function of the exegetical escort is to embrace the text of Scripture in order

to usher the hearer into the presence of God for the purpose of transformation.” The preacher is

someone that escorts the hearer into a deep understanding of the biblical text with the intention of

leading them to God. The main goal of doctrinal preaching is to present God clearly and accurately.

Not only to know about God but to know him. The God Christians preach is the God revealed in

Jesus Christ and witnessed by Scripture, and not the one-size-fits-all kind of god created according

to human likes and whims. Christian doctrine comes from the Bible, and the Bible is about Christ;

thus, doctrinal preaching is firmly grounded on Scripture and it is Christocentric.

In order to be an exegetical escort, it is necessary to study Scripture seriously. For Smith,

a good exegesis has to do with discovering the author’s intention. A text can never mean today

what it never meant when it was written.1 Exegesis is the science of drawing out of the text the

1
It is not the purpose of this paper to polemize against Smith’s work. However, his claim that the Biblical text
cannot mean what it did not mean when the author wrote it raises some questions. For example, how does that work
considering the fact that there are some narratives, poems, laws, rituals, and prophecies in the Old Testament that
were later interpreted Christologically? Their Christological meaning is not self-evident until the New Testament
interprets them in the light of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
meaning that is in there. The preacher must return to the original meaning and make an application

for today. An exegetical escort is the one that takes the meaning in the text and ushers people to

the Word. This task is not purely intellectual. The Bible is not a compendium of doctrinal

statements. It is a story. Scripture reveals who is God dramatically, using narratives, songs, words,

metaphors, characters, plots, symbols, analogies, types, and all kinds of images. Thus, the

exegetical task requires dedication and intelligence but also creativity and imagination. The goal

is to encounter a true picture of God in light of Scripture and escort the audience to it.

Moreover, the exegesis for doctrinal preaching has to be contextual. The preacher exegetes

the text and exegetes the hearers. He or she stands between two worlds, the world of the biblical

text and the world of the audience’s context. Doctrinal preaching has to use rhetorical figures,

images, and stories. And these resources have to be meaningful and relevant for the context in

which the preaching is taking place. Paul is an example in Scripture of someone who

contemporized doctrinal truths by using illustrations from his culture. This shows that doctrinal

preaching is bifocal, it has a vertical orientation to the revelation of the Word of God and a

horizontal orientation to the need of presenting that Word for human beings in a relevant way.

In conclusion, the metaphor of the exegetical escort helps ministers reflect on our calling

as ministers of the Word. Smith affirms that preachers must be diligent students of the Word and

search for its meaning in its raw radiance. Scripture is like a telescope, it is not meant to look at

but to look through. It is the lenses through which Christians see the world. One helpful metaphor

is thirst and water. Someone who is thirsty does not need to know what are the chemical

characteristics of H20 they just need to drink water. However, there are chemists who make sure

the water people drink is safe. In a similar way, everyone needs the living water of Jesus’ gospel,

they need to experience salvation and not only to know about salvation. And preachers are those
who study about salvation in order to present the truths of the gospel. Thus, doctrinal preaching is

not about answering all theological questions but about helping contemporary hearers find

themselves in Scripture.

The doxological dancer

While the metaphor of the exegetical escort is about the content of preaching, the metaphor of the

doxological dancer is about the style of preaching. For Smith, the style of preaching is highly

important. In his words: “The function of the doxological dancer is to communicate the doctrinal

message of the Bible with accuracy and ardor so that the exuberant hearer exults in the exalting of

God.” Preachers are called to present the truth of God for their own generation. The delivery of

Christian sermons is to be relevant and contextual. In this sense, doctrinal preaching is

incarnational, it is God’s word in our present.

Smith is emphatic in affirming that doctrinal preaching is for the head and the heart. His

approach is not either-or but both-and. We are to love God with all our hearts and mind.

Information alone will never change the hearts of human beings. Preaching for the mind is not

enough. Thus, preaching doctrine must not be insipid intellectualism that lacks joy and excludes

the Spirit. In other words, it must not be boring. In this sense, doctrinal preaching has an anchor

that holds and wings that fly. Smith laments that today we are experiencing a widespread of

“dumbing down” kind of sermons. In response, people are turning to easy “believism” and naïve

quick fixes. Biblical illiteracy abounds in Christian congregations and biblical stories are not

obvious anymore. The result is malnourished congregations. Thus, Christian preachers are called

to nourish the mind and the heart of our congregations. In Smith’s words, we are called to be the

resident theologian.
 In order to achieve this, Christian ministers have to encounter God and be transformed by

him so that we may be able to usher the hearers to the throne of God and be transformed as well.

Smith affirms that the ultimate objective in preaching is the exaltation of God. Thus, the minister

has to be satisfied in him so that God is glorified in their preaching. The task of the doxological

preacher is to worship God and invite people to worship him as well. A preacher is a worshipper.

Sadly, many preachers today forget about the main goal of preaching, namely, to glorify God.

Some Christian leaders make themselves the center of the preaching. Their own speaking skills

become the appeal of the sermon. Smith critiques those who cheat by creating emotions in the

audience that responds only to the preacher’s stimulus instead of responding to God’s Word. This

is what Smith calls “duping”. However, that does not mean that the personality of the speaker does

not show in the preaching. They preach with a style unique to their own personality. Every preacher

must find their own voice and the delivery of Christian sermons is to be enthusiastic and

passionate.

Some practical advices

Throughout the whole book, Smith offers several practical pieces of advice for preachers. For

example, he argues that quoting hymns and telling personal testimonies enhances doctrinal

preaching. In another time, Smith compares preaching and Jazz music. It would be impossible to

even mention here all his helpful practical insight buts one piece of advice that stands out comes

from a sort of poem by Rev. John McMillan about preaching which Smith takes, adapts, and

unpacks. The poem reads: “Begin low, proceed slow. Rise higher, take fire. When most impressed,

be self-possessed. To spirit wed form, sit down in a storm”. In sum, this is how a dancing sermon

looks like:
 1. Start low. This is the moment of identification. It is the introduction of the sermon in which

the preacher warms up the congregation and him or herself.

2. Go slow. This is the section of clarification in which the preacher makes clear the point of

the sermon. It is important to state clearly where one is headed.

3. Rise. This is the moment (or the moments) of intensification. The sermon must have

movement in order to cause an impression.

4. Strike fire. This is the section of application. Preachers must apply the text grounded on a

good exegesis.

5. Retire. This is the moment recapitulation. The preacher makes a summary of the sermon

and then trusts God to affect the hearer.

6. Sit down in a storm. After a sermon, the preacher cools down and lets the sermon live. It is

time for them to preach.

Maintaining balance in doctrinal preaching

Smith insists on a balanced preaching. There must be balance between a heart and a head approach

to preaching. It is a both-and dynamic. Also, there must be a balance between comforting and

challenging. For Smith, a Christian minister is both a prophet and a priest. The prophet afflicts the

comfortable and the priest comforts the afflicted. The task is to discern when to do the one and the

other. Another balance that must exist is between faithfulness to the gospel and contextualization.

Ministers of the Word do not preach to please people but to proclaim God’s Word. Sometimes

people will dislike it and preachers need to be prepared. However, ministers are also called to

communicate the truths of the gospel in such a way that the audience receives and understands the

message. This means a contextualized sermon. The risk here is to “eisegete”, which is putting
meaning in the text that is foreign to it. And preachers need to be faithful to the Word in order to

avoid this risk. Other balances that Smith mentions are transcendence and immanence, Spirit and

Word, and Christology and intratinitarian community. There is no time to explain them all but

their mention says something about what it means for Smith a balanced doctrinal preaching.

Finally, Smith offers a diagnosis of contemporary preaching. He sees six symptoms of an

unhealthy practice of preaching:

1. The dilution of grace. The preaching of works without grace abounds in Christian

preaching. In the Bible, the proclamation of the doctrines of grace precedes a calling for

doing deeds. The indicative (who I am) is before the imperative (what I must do).

2. The eclipse of the cross. This happens when there is an imbalance between comfort and

affliction. Preachers are to afflict those who are comfortable. The calling of the cross is

also a call for suffering

3. The demise of doctrine. The calling of Christian ministers is to preach so that people know

the Bible, and what they believe. In this sense, Smith laments the divorce between music

minister and the education ministers.

4. A disconnection between traditional theological language and contemporary relevant

imagery. Ministers must use relevant images from today’s world. In doctrinal preaching

the content comes from the Bible and the form from the culture.

5. The dissemination of anthropocentric preaching. Unfortunately, there is a widespread of

humanistic preaching that tells people to find the power to overcome the evils in

themselves.
 6. A detachment of the mystery of God from the revelation of God. There is a common

practice of preaching quick fixes that allegedly come from God. Christian ministers are to

preach God’s revelation acknowledging the mystery of God.

Conclusion

It has been a long digest already; therefore, it is more convenient to end with Smith’s own words:

“The minister who preaches sound doctrine is uniquely gifted to be both exegetical escort who

adheres to the written text of Scripture and doxological dancer who delivers the sermon in a

passionate manner according to the tune of the Spirit.”