What is Preaching?
In this day and age, “preaching” is often thought of as a negative thing. Some people associate preaching with a long, dull, monotone lecture in a church context. Others think of preaching as a discouraging speech full of “try-harder” commands and cultural criticisms. But for many other Americans, many of whom have never set foot in a church, preaching is something they’ve never experienced before. So before I talk about what expository preaching is, I want to give a bit of attention to what preaching is in general.
In the Bible, there are three important things to note about preaching. First, the Greek word for preaching (kerusso) is associated with proclaiming a message as a herald. So a preacher’s job isn’t to invent or reinvent the substance of his message. Rather, his role is to proclaim and pass along a specific message on behalf of the one who’s sending him.
Second, since God is the one who has sent preachers to act as his heralds, preachers have real authority (since God and his message have authority) and preachers are held to real accountability (since God is good and just).
Third, the message God wants proclaimed in His Church is the gospel, which literally means the good news of Christ (cf. Rom 10:14-15; Gal 1:11; 1 Thess 2:9; 2 Tim 2:8). So Christian preaching should be centered on God’s free mercy – how He saves sinners who trust in Jesus from sin, death, and Hell. God has revealed this good news in his Word. And remember, a preacher is called to proclaim God’s Word (2 Timothy 4:1-2). Not his own.
What Is Expository Preaching?
Over time, though, many people (even church people) have lost sight of what preaching is, or what it’s supposed to be. In many church services today, preaching focuses on personal stories, suggestions about self-help, or discussions of the latest cultural controversy. Oddly enough, Scripture is referred to infrequently. And when the preacher does quote from the Bible, often he just quotes a single verse without explaining the context.
Expository preaching (sometimes called expositional preaching) is different. To exposit something means to explain it. Thus, expository preaching focuses on proclaiming God’s Word in a way that explains its meaning. In an expository sermon, the preacher will often explain the context of the passage, will define key words, and will point out the key themes and ideas that are emphasized in the text. An example of this is found in Nehemiah 8:1-8. We see here that Ezra and many of the Levites read God’s Word and “gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8b).
Why Is Expository Preaching Essential?
Now that we know what expository preaching is, it’s worth highlighting a few reasons why expository preaching is important.
First, expository preaching will help people in the church to study the Bible fruitfully. When people in your church see their pastor reading a passage of Scripture and breaking down the text to make it understandable, they’ll eventually pick up on how to do the same thing themselves. It will help equip parents to get better at explaining the Bible to their kids. It will help your Sunday school teachers and Youth volunteers to handle the Bible with greater confidence. Expository preaching helps the church by equipping the people to be better interpreters (and thus doers) of the Word.
Second, expository preaching is a safeguard that protects the church from error. When a preacher is committed to the text, and is compelled to explain what the Word of Scripture actually says, then chances are you’ll hear very little from the pastor’s opinions and imaginations and a vast treasure of wisdom from the trustworthy voice of God.
Third, expository preaching helps to make sure that the church will grow in their understanding of the whole Bible. Many American churches have neglected to teach the Scriptures. Instead they’ve been content to grow their churches by creating positive spiritual experiences, often through high quality family programs and music productions. The problem is that many Christians today have nagging doubts and questions when it comes to the Bible, and their churches aren’t taking the time to teach them. Expository preaching is important for helping God’s people understand the whole counsel of Scripture.
Fourth and finally, expository preaching is important because God has given us His Word, and has told us to proclaim it. God’s Word is sufficient and powerful for accomplishing the thing God wants to do. If we have a high regard for God’s Word, and its effectiveness, why would we want to fill our sermons talking about other things? Certainly a few well-crafted illustrations can be fine additions to the sermon. But if the illustrations are the sermon, and the text has faded away, forgotten, into the background, we have a problem. “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Expository preaching may not always be flashy or entertaining, but when done rightly it will teach the mind, move the heart, and motivate the soul in a way nothing else can.
