Expositing Expository Preaching
One of the terms that I use frequently and believe is extremely important in the church is expository preaching. I have learned, however, that most people are unfamiliar with the term unless they have been specifically taught by someone about it, while there are others who are familiar with the term, but either do not know the definition or at least have a very different definition than I do. I decided to write this blog post to define what I mean by the term “expository preaching”, but before you tune out, let me tell you why I believe it is important for you to know this term.
I believe with all my heart that when Paul commanded Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2 to “preach the Word”, what is intended by that is expository preaching, and I will attempt to make that case here. Therefore, if you are ever in a position where you are involved in a pastoral search, or maybe you are looking for a church to attend, you should be desiring a pastor who practices expository preaching. Knowing what it is will be a tremendous help to you in your search. You want to have a shepherd who practices what God has called them to practice, and one of my goals as a shepherd myself is to help you see that clearly for your future.
The two words go a long way in defining this term. Expository means to explain something, and preaching means to proclaim something for the purpose of persuading someone. Therefore, one could define expository preaching as explaining the Word of God, proclaiming it to be the truth, persuading people to believe it, and calling them to live in accordance with what has been proclaimed. That would be a fairly simple definition but let me explain that a little bit more.
First, the preacher must explain the Word of God. The expositor does not enter the pulpit to give hints and tips on how to live a better life, to give practical tools for being a better spouse, or to give his opinions on cultural issues, rather the expositor comes to the pulpit to proclaim the Word of God. He has obeyed the instruction given to him by Paul, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, Legacy Standard Bible). This requires a lot of time to be sure that he has discovered the true intent of the author of the text, being both the human author and the heavenly Author. He will use a variety of means to explain the word of truth in such a way that the hearers can see for themselves what God is teaching in the text of Scripture the preacher is in.
The expositor does not enter the pulpit to give hints and tips on how to live a better life, to give practical tools for being a better spouse, or to give his opinions on cultural issues, rather the expositor comes to the pulpit to proclaim the Word of God
The expository preacher also proclaims that truth. Paul reminded the elders of Ephesus of his work among them when he said, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27) The expositor remembers that what he preaches is God’s Word, therefore it is worthy of being shouted from the housetops and is needed by all people. He has learned what the text teaches about God, which are called theological implications, and he proclaims that as he works through the text. He is seeking to proclaim to all the knowledge of God, to shine the light of the Father on all who are listening, so that they may know who God is, and what God’s purposes are.
The expository preacher is also persuading the listeners to believe what he says. As my expository preaching professor said, “We preach for faith.” The desire of the expositor is not that he would be believed, but that God would be believed. Paul told the church in Corinth, “…knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men…”, and such it is with the expositor (2 Corinthians 5:11). The expositor fears the Lord when he enters the pulpit, and his desire is to persuade men to fear the Lord in such a way that they would believe the Lord and all that He says. The expository preacher is a confident preacher, not in his own abilities, in his charismatic personality, in his skill, but in the Word that he preaches and in the power of God to use that word through His Holy Spirit to work in the lives of people through faith.
At some point in the sermon, the expositor must turn from simply explaining the truth and persuading them to believe it, to moving on to explaining why it matters and calling people to live in accordance with the truth. Dr. Steven Lawson has referred to a preaching class he had years ago in seminary, and his professor threatened to show up where his students were preaching, sit in the front row, and halfway through the sermon hold up a big sign with the words on it, “So what?” The Word of God is full of examples of people who heard the Word of God but it did not transform their lives, and it is also full of commands to do something out of the truth that is taught in the Scripture. Expositors recognize they are not simply dispensers of truth, but they are heralds of God to call people to live according to the truth. He seeks to help people to know how that truth, when applied in their lives by faith, should result in transformation in their lives.
The expository preacher is a confident preacher, not in his own abilities, in his charismatic personality, in his skill, but in the Word that he preaches and in the power of God to use that word through His Holy Spirit to work in the lives of people through faith
A couple of more thoughts, do not confuse verse by verse preaching with expository preaching. If you look carefully above, you can see how someone could go verse by verse and still miss the mark of expository preaching, but you can also see verse by verse is not a requirement. I do believe the best way to cover the whole purpose of God is by making sure you cover books, chapters, sections of Scripture because it is too easy to skip over concepts you would rather not preach. However, a preacher could cover a larger section of, for instance, the prophets, and still be expository without going verse by verse. In fact, it might be better in some instances to not go verse by verse as the intention of the author may cover a number of chapters and it would not lend enough time to go verse by verse in a particular sermon. Be cautious of assuming someone who is going verse by verse is an expositor, or assuming someone who is not doing that in one sermon is not an expositor.
Also, be careful about setting up topical preaching against expository preaching. To be sure, the trend today is preachers who preach topically without utilizing expository preaching, but an expositor will, on occasion preach a topic, but he will do so keeping in practice with what is laid out here. In fact, the expositor knows a topical sermon may be much more work as he has to find a text dealing with the topic, or he has to deal with multiple texts which will require much more study. Either way, the hours often increase in the study if the preacher is going to accurately handle the Word of God he is bringing into the pulpit topically. But there are occasions and certain subjects that are best handled through a more topical sermon or series. When we were in Ephesians, I preached from Genesis 2 and 1 Corinthians 11 in order to gain a better understanding of submission and headship. Those sermons were more topical, but they were still expository sermons that drew out the authorial intent of those texts, and they helped me tremendously to understand these concepts that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 5, and I believe helped much of our congregation as well.
Many preachers have strayed from this method of preaching for a variety of reasons. Being an expositor will take a lot of hours to study and meditate on the text, and many men did not get into ministry for that and so they will not do it. There are some men who are in a church that places high demand on other activities, almost making the pastor a CEO or company director, and therefore they do not feel they have the time for it. Still other pastors do not believe the people will put up with the message of the Word and what it takes to understand it, so they choose to give something that they believe the people will endure. In fact, that was one of the warnings given by Paul to Timothy, that the days were coming when people would not endure sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3).
I hope that we can see the winds shift on this trend of leaving expository preaching as I believe the lack of this has a negative impact on all of society
I believe that one way to change this trend back to expository preaching is to educate the people in the pews and have them demand it from their preachers. When preachers refuse to give it, then they should seek out preachers who do practice it so that they can get fed the Word as God intended. In so doing, the demand may speak to the hearts of preachers that they must repent and hold fast once again to the proclamation of God’s Word and to sound doctrine. It might encourage some who are on the fence, who would like to but are afraid, if they saw that the people who are serious about their faith desire this badly enough that they will go where they will get it. I hope that we can see the winds shift on this trend of leaving expository preaching as I believe the lack of this has a negative impact on all of society. God, in His sovereignty will have His way, but hopefully after reading this, you are more educated today to know what God expects of preachers and your actions out of this might encourage more men to be expository preachers of the Word for the glory of God.
