On Expository Preaching

Peter Adams with 15 reasons to favor expository preaching (which is defined in point#1):

1. Preaching through the books of the Bible, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, respects and reflects God’s authorship. God did not gives us a book of quotable quotes, nor a dictionary of useful texts, nor an anthology of inspiring ideas. When God caused the Scriptures to be written the medium that he used was that of books of the Bible. If that was good enough for the author it should be good enough for the preacher.
2. Expository Preaching reflects God’s respect for human authors. One of the most beautiful features of the Bible is the way in which God causes his truth to be written and yet does not over-ride the individual writer, but respects their place in history, their vocabulary, their spoken and literary style. If God is so careful to respect the human authors of the Scriptures we should endeavour to do the same by reading, studying, preaching and teaching their books in the order in the way in they wrote them.
3. Expository Preaching respects the historical context of each part of the Bible. The Bible is not a set of timeless truths removed from historical context, but each book of the Bible is firmly rooted in history, and the perspective of its human author. We do most justice to this historical context when we preach texts in their context, that is in the writing in which they occur.
4. Expository Preaching respects the context of salvation history. The unfolding drama of salvation is brought to us within salvation history; and each text, verse, chapter and book has its place within that salvation history. The best way to preach these books is to link them to their place in salvation history, not to extract from them trans-historical, theological, pastoral or devotional themes.
5. Expository Preaching should help us to unfold the deep Biblical Theology of the Bible, the content and message of God’s unfolding revelation, and seeing every part of the Bible in the light of the gospel of Christ, and the message of the whole Bible.
6. Expository Preaching preserves Biblical shape and balance. It gives the same focus and concentration that God gives in the Bible. Other people’s topical preaching inevitably misses this balance. It is more difficult to see the same imbalance in our own topical preaching!
7. Expository Preaching ensures that we preach on difficult topics, verses and books. I would not choose to preach from the text ‘I hate divorce’ unless forced to do so by a sermon series on Malachi. I would not choose to preach on Romans 9-11, but preaching my way right through Romans forces me to do so. Lectionaries are no help, because modern lectionaries seem to go out of their way to avoid difficult topics, even cutting poems and stories in half to avoid embarrassment. Expository Preaching will at least make us preach on the difficult parts of the Bible.
8. Expository Preaching saves time in preparation and presentation. Preachers need to do a lot of work in preparing their sermons and finding the historical context, and need to convey the context of verses in which they preach in the sermon as well. If we move from text to text as we move from sermon to sermon, or if we move from text to text within sermons, we will be less and less inclined to give the context of those texts and more and more inclined to take them out of context. [Of course ‘the text’ is actually the whole book: only preachers think of ‘the text’ as a short extract!]
9. Expository Preaching provides a good model of exegesis. We ought to preach and teach the Bible in a way in which we hope people will read it. People should pick up good models of using the Scripture from us. We do not want to encourage people to flip through the Bible, picking out verses that look encouraging or inviting. If we want people to read the Bible as it is written, that’s the way we should preach it.
10. In Expository Preaching each sermon forms part of a divine sequence. The sequence is that of the writer of the book of the Bible. Following this sequence means that our teaching and their learning is cumulative as each sermon prepares the way for the next, and each sermon summarises the message of the last and shows its sequence in biblical thought.
11. Expository Preaching makes sense! Even the most convinced post-modernists among us still read books from beginning to end. This is because it’s a remarkably sensible way of reading a book. Why would we adopt a different model in our reading and teaching of the Scriptures?
12. Expository Preaching teaches people the Bible. Its assumption is that the Bible is relevant and effective as it comes from the mouth of God. It assumes that the information in the Bible is important for us; that these things were ‘written for our learning’.
13. Expository Preaching provides an accessible, useable and safe model of Bible teaching and preaching. If one of our tasks is to encourage lay people in ministry, then the best thing to do is to provide them with a model of teaching which they can use at any level. It is not good to encourage people to flip through the Bible, taking their favourite verses out of context. It is a good work to show the people a model of Bible teaching that they can use to their benefit and the benefit of those who learn from them.
14. Expository Preaching helps people to avoid repeating their ten favourite themes. Every preacher has ten sermons. The difficulty comes for the preacher and the congregation when they are repeated for the tenth time. Of course, no method can stop the determined preacher from mounting a hobby horse and riding it to death!
15. Expository Preaching follows God’s syllabus for us. One helpful way of viewing the Bible is to see it as God’s syllabus. In it God lays out the way of salvation and what human beings need to learn in order to turn to Jesus Christ in faith and obedience. The Bible is the syllabus that God has provided – why would we replace it with another of our own invention?

Peter Adams, Arguing for Expository Preaching, And Beginning with Moses.

The Power of God’s Word

I rarely like to post about my personal life, but I feel a need to share something in this post that I hope brings encouragement to all those who attend church on Sundays and hear God’s Word preached. Let me first give you the reason why I feel this need.

A person said to me once that my church is all about theology and “head knowledge” and not about transformed lives. He seemed to see some kind of disconnect between what people know and say and how they are living their lives. I imagine there might be some truth to this observation in certain specific cases.  But, I have two responses to people who believe things like this. First, welcome to living as a Christian. What we know almost always out paces our ability to live it out consistently. Think about the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. What might our lives look like if we lived that truth out completely and consistently? Second, I believe the Word of God preached and taught transforms our lives on an every day, practical level in ways that are not always quantifiable.  Here’s where I get to myself and my family.

Back when my pastor was preaching on the James’ epistle, he spoke on James 1:27:

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

My wife Chrissie was cut to heart by the sermon based on this text. We went to lunch afterward and she tearfully shared how she realized that she had a heart for children without a mom and dad, the orphans. I shared I had similar feelings. We then set out to somehow minister to these children. Foster parenting through a Christian organization seemed like a good route, so we registered with an agency and went through the many hours of required training. But God had other plans for us. He dropped two beautiful twin 3 year old girls into our lives through a friendship we have with a relative of theirs and we are now their legal guardians and hopefully their adoptive parents in due time.

So, why do I share this? Because I firmly believe that God’s primary way of working in the hearts and lives of His people is through the preached Word. The Word transforms. In our case, the Word of God transformed our very family in an amazing and radical way, a way we never expected.

So, I say to any person who thinks the way the person I mentioned earlier thinks, “Don’t you believe that God does not work through His preached Word in churches. My family is living proof that He does. Maybe your regard for the power of God’s Word is way too low. It is powerful! If you have any doubt, look at the picture I have embedded in this post.”

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”