The Case for Expository
Preaching
By: Haddon W.
Robinson
Not everyone
agrees that expository preaching-or any sort of
preaching, for that matter-is an urgent need of the
church. The word is out in some circles that preaching
should be abandoned. The moving finger has passed it by
and now points to other methods and ministries that are
more "effective" and in tune with the
times.
The Devaluation of
Preaching
To explain why
preaching receives these low grades would take us into
every area of our common life. No longer regarded
as the intellectual or even the spiritual leader in the
community, the image of the preacher has changed. Ask
the man in the pew to describe a minister, and the
description may not be flattering. According to Kyle
Haselden, the pastor comes across as a "bland composite"
of the congregation's "congenial, ever helpful, ever
ready to help boy scout; as the darling of the old
ladies and as sufficiently reserved with the young ones;
as the father image for the young people and a companion
to lonely men; as the affable glad-hander at teas and
civic club luncheons." If that pictures reality at all,
while the preacher may be liked, he will certainly not
be respected.
In addition,
preaching takes place in an over communicated
society. Mass media bombard us with a hundred thousand ,
messages" a day. Television and radio feature pitchmen
delivering a "word from the sponsor" with all the
sincerity of an evangelist. Within that context the
preacher may sound like another huckster who, in John
Ruskin's words, "plays stage tricks with the doctrines
of life and death."
More important,
perhaps, the man in the pulpit feels robbed of an
authoritative message. Much modern theology offers him
little more than holy hunches, and he suspects that the
sophisticates in the pew place more faith in science
texts than in preaching texts. For some preachers,
therefore, fads in communication become more stimulating
than the message. Multimedia presentations, filmstrips,
sharing sessions, blinking lights, and up-to-date
music may be symptoms of either health or disease.
Undoubtedly, modern techniques can enhance
communication, but on the other hand, they can
substitute for the message-the startling and unusual may
mask a vacuum.
Social action
appeals more to a segment of the church than talking or
listening. What good are words of faith, they ask, when
society demands works of faith? People with this mindset
judge that the apostles had things turned around when
they decided, "It is not right that we should forsake
the Word of God to serve tables" (Acts 6:2). In a day of
activism, it is more relevant to declare instead, "It is
not right that we should forsake the service of tables
to preach the Word of God."
The Case for
Preaching
In spite of the
"badmouthing" of preaching and preachers, no one
who takes the Bible seriously dare count preaching
out. Paul was a writer. From his pen we have most of the
inspired letters of the New Testament, and heading the
list of his letters is the one to the Romans. Measured
by its impact on history, few documents compare with it.
Yet when Paul wrote this letter to the congregation in
Rome, he confessed, "For I long to see you, that I may
impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may
be established; That is, that I may be comforted
together with you by the mutual faith both of you and
me." (1:11-12). Paul realized that some ministries
simply cannot take place apart from face-to-face
contact. Even the reading of an inspired letter will not
substitute. "I am ready to preach the gospel to you that
are at Rome also" (1: 15). A power comes through the
word preached that even the inerrant written word cannot
replace.
To the New
Testament writers preaching stands as the event through
which God works. Peter, for example, reminded his
readers that they had been "born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of
God" (I Peter 1:23). How had this word come to affect
their lives? That "word," Peter explained, "is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1:25).
Through preaching God had redeemed
them.
Moreover,
Paul recounted the spiritual history of the
Thessalonians who had "turned to God from idols to serve
the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from
heaven" (I Thess. 1:9-10). That about-face occurred,
explained the apostle, because "when ye received the
word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God,
which effectually worketh also in you that believe"
(2:13).
Preaching in Paul's mind did not
consist of a man discussing religion. Instead God
Himself spoke through the personality and message of a
preacher to confront men and women and bring them to
Himself.
All of this
explains why Paul encouraged his young associate
Timothy to "preach the word" (II Tim. 4:2). Preach means
"to cry out, herald, or exhort." Preaching should so
stir a man that he pours out the message with passion
and fervor. Not all passionate pleading from a pulpit,
however, possesses divine authority. When a preacher
speaks as a herald, he must cry out "the word."
Anything less cannot legitimately pass for
Christian preaching.
The Need for Expository
Preaching
The man in the
pulpit faces the pressing temptation to deliver some
message other than that of the Scriptures-a political
system (either right-wing or left-wing), a theory
of
economics, a new religious philosophy, old
religious slogans, a trend in psychology. A preacher can
proclaim anything in a stained-glass voice, at 11:30 on
Sunday morning, following the singing of hymns. Yet when
a preacher fails to preach the Scriptures, he abandons
his authority. He confronts his hearers no longer
with a word from God but only with another word from
men. Therefore most modern preaching evokes little more
than a wide yawn. God is not in it.
God speaks through
the Bible. It is the major tool of communication by
which He addresses individuals today. Biblical
preaching, therefore, must not be equated with "the old,
old story of Jesus and His love" as though it were
retelling history about better times when God was alive
and well. Nor is preaching merely a rehash of ideas
about God-orthodox, but removed from life. Through the
preaching of the Scriptures, God encounters men and
women to bring them to salvation (II Tim. 3:15) and to
richness and ripeness of Christian character (II Tim.
3:16-17). Something awesome happens when God confronts
an individual through preaching and seizes him by the
soul.
The type of
preaching that best carries the force of divine
authority is expository preaching. It would be fatuous,
however, to assume that everyone agrees with that
statement. A poll of churchgoers who have squirmed for
hours under preaching labeled as expository—but dry as
corn flakes without milk—could not be expected to
agree. While most preachers tip their hats to expository
preaching, their practice gives them away. Since
they seldom do it, they too vote no.
Admittedly,
expository preaching has suffered severely in the
pulpits of men claiming to be its friends. Yet not all
expository preaching necessarily qualifies as either
"expository" or "preaching." Regrettably the Bureau
of Weights and Measures does not have a standard
expository sermon encased in glass against which to
compare other messages. Any manufacturer may paste the
label "expository" on whatever sermon he pleases, and no
Ralph Nader will correct him. In spite of damage done by
imposters, genuine expository preaching has behind it
the power of the living God.
[Taken from
Biblical
Preaching]
