Expository Preaching
Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
(2 Timothy 2:15)
My plea is that we return to the exposition of the Scriptures. For decades, expository preaching could be found in most evangelical churches and many of the mainline denominational Protestant churches.
If you are a pastor, you know better than most how tough it is to state in succinct and precise terms what we mean by “expository preaching.” I was recently asked to provide a definition. Not an easy assignment! I checked about five fairly reliable sources and found that their definitions were too long, too convoluted, or just plain confusing! So, I decided to start from scratch and hammer out one on my own. Two hours later, I came up with this:
- Expository preaching is the proclamation of Holy Scripture delivered for the purpose of enabling others to understand what God has written, why that is important, and how it relates to one’s personal life.
- Understanding what God has written requires the expositor to be accurate in both preparation and delivery of the Scriptures, so that the Bible is allowed to speak for itself.
- Understanding why God’s Word is important calls for the expositor to be passionate in communicating the truth, so that the one receiving the message is compelled to listen and eager to respond.
- Understanding how that message relates to life means that the expositor uses terms that are clear, delivers the message in ways that connect with needs, and applies it so specifically the hearer realizes the relevance of God’s Word and the necessity of aligning his or her life to it.
There’s nothing inspired about this definition, but I must admit that the process of thinking it through reignited my passion for expository preaching. Let me urge you to do some original work in the Scriptures, to mull through the biblical mandates of a pastor, and to craft your own working definition. If you are a pastor, the process will help you as a preacher . . . and also provide a standard to evaluate your messages. Let me urge you to buck the tide and to put the preaching of the Word of God back in its central place of the church’s worship.
Taken from The Church Awakening by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Faith Words, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
