Expository Preaching

Rlvaugh,
Ah, you've touched on the tension always around when expository preaching is mentioned. Namely, is expository preaching a form or a philosophy? Most people believe it is a certain form, a certain way you develop a sermon. I agree with John Stott (from his excellent book Between Two Worlds, that an expository sermon is expository before the preparation has ever started and definitely before the sermon is ever delivered. The mechanics of delivery may vary, but the philosophy behind the sermon is the driving force, and that philosopy leads the preacher to deal with the explanation and application of Biblical truth, regardless of the form. Alistair Begg and Martyn Lloyd Jones (Preaching and Preachers) seem to argue for this as well. In other words, a narrative sermon can be expository or it can not be. A "three-point and a poem" sermon can be expository or not. When I get to the office, I'll post some quotes from the above authors if that will help.

 

Now that the forum is back, we can resume this discussion. BUMP

 

Clarification, please.

Someone referenced expository preaching, and then referenced narrative preaching; the inference was that they go hand in hand.

Narrative preaching, by its nature, is inherently expository; but is expository preaching inherently narrative?

Personally, I don't think so. The pastor who reads a passage and is inspired to create a "3 point and a poem" outline can be just as expository as the pastor who emphasizes narrative preaching.

And the narrative preaching pastor can be just as far off-base, and thus non-expositional, as the pastor who creates 3 points and then searches out scripture to support those points.

I recently had to write a review on the following article from 1991: http://www.tms.edu/tmsj/tmsj2c.pdf

But I do agree, wholeheartedly, that expositional preaching should be our main focus.

 

Expository Preaching - a good way to be able to use your library (those books were very expensive, and surely, those authors had to know what they were talking about, since they were so much smarter than those who didn't write), and be convincing even if you don't know much about what you're talking about.

Expository preaching should really be called Echo preaching. Echo preaching is when a person does not really want to hear from God for themselves, and teach out of their life, and what God has taught them. It is much easier to just go to the library and pull out the volumes that somebody else has written on the topic, and pull together several views, and present it as a package, and voila!, you've impressed the impressionable. Echo preaching is the opposite of being a VOICE.

After all, there isn't really anything new under the sun, right? Everything that can be known is already known, and written down, so all a pastor has to do is just package the message, or Echo what many more astute people have already discovered.

Expository preaching makes a weak church.

Have many times have you heard the CROSS preached on for 13 weeks? It was great!! Or the KINGDOM OF GOD for two months? Or the BODY OF CHRIST, or HEAVEN, or JESUS?

Expository preaching is a non-discipleship method of teaching. There is no dialog allowed, so it's just assumed that somebody in the audience is learning something.

If you really want to do something dangerous, preach through the book of James. I have been amazed that in all my 46 years in the church, I have only heard the book of James taught through once, and not in a Baptist church. I guess the Holy Spirit has not led very many pastors to go through the book of James. After all, Martin Luther wanted to throw it out.

Take a survey in your church. What are the results of expository teaching? Who is learning what? After you have taught through a book, do you find out if anybody learned anything?

 

querty,
Sounds like you have no idea what expository preaching is. Not surprising. It is a fuzzy term. Expository preaching is very discipleship based and is the most effective means of preaching available. It is certainly better than the preacher trying to be a social commentator or just preaching his hobby horse themes all the time. At the very least, it sounds like you are railing against a caricature of what you think expository preaching is. You would do well to look at the matter fully and Scripturally. (Cf Neh 8)

 

bump

 

What is expoistory preaching anyways?

 

Having been active in the church for over 40 years, and having preached on a variety of occasions, please help me understand what your definition of expository preaching is.

I would like to know what you view as success after you have preached through a passage or book using the expository form.

 

I don't see expository preaching as a particular homiletical form. If that is what you have experienced, I can see how it could become boring to people. A good description of expository preaching is found in Nehemiah 8:8. They "read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God, and that gave the sense (they interpreted the scripture), adn helped them understand the reading". The result of this was a revival. Vs. 9 says the people wept when the heard the words of the Law. In vs 10, they were calmed by the Levis and in verse 11 the people went their way and rejoiced "because they understood the words that were declared to them". Amen. May this happen in our day!

 

Oh my pastor does that.

 

Consider the following: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Expository preaching is not a matter of style at all. In fact, the determinative step which decides whether a sermon is going to be expository or not takes place, in my view, before a single word has actually been written or spoken. First and foremost, th eadjective 'expository' describes the method by which the preacher decides what to say, not how to say it (Emphasis mine)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Roy Clements, The Cambridge Papers, quoted in Alistair Begg's "Preaching For God's Glory,"Crossway Books.

[ January 02, 2002: Message edited by: TomVols ]

 

Interesting footnote: Grame Goldsworthy, in his excellent work Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, points out that Haddon Robinson's classic work Biblical Preaching was published in Great Britain under the title Expository Preaching because the publisher (IVP) felt the terms were interchangable.

 

Two of the best expository-type preachers that I know of would be John MacArthur, and my pastor. I've learned more from these two men in just a few years time than I had from a half dozen preachers in the previous 10 years.

One thing I simply cannot stand is a "sermonette." You get one verse (two if you're lucky), and then anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes of blah...blah...blah. No meat, and hardly any milk.

Until next time, take care y'all!!

AJC

 

Yeah, sadly the pulpits and airwaves are filled with guys who read a text, then the sermon and text never meet again. Unbelievable.

 

I agree with most of the recent comments on expository preaching, but I want to clarify one thing.

Expository preaching is more than just going through a passage or book verse by verse. I've heard preachers do that and still manage to completely fail to communicate the meaning of the text.

Expository preaching is based on a belief that the specific message (a text) God sent through a specific individual (inspiration) to a specific audience (Theophilus, the church at Ephesus, etc.) contains timeless truth (for us). EP identifies that message and what it meant to the life situation (circumstances, problems, obstacles) of the original audience. It then attempts to apply that message to the life situation of the modern-day preacher's audience.

It attempts to define the one accurate interpretation of the text and communicate one or more of perhaps many valid applications. It is always committed to communicating God's message, not what man wants that message to be.

 

Sig,
See earlier posts. You'll even find where I posted one about the determinative factor in expository preaching occuring before the sermon ever begins.