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]