Sure-Fire Preaching

PART I- THE TASK OF PREACHING

CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS PREACHING?

“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

-2 Timothy 4:1-2

With pinpoint precision, Paul exposes the focus, content, and extent of a preacher’s presentation to any assembled group. The “Word” of God is what distinguishes a preacher and his message. However, unfortunately many of today’s pastors have neglected the clear instructions of 2 Timothy 4:1-2 and as a result have replaced their role as preacher with the more modest role of public or motivational speaker.

Other subjects have usurped the Word’s place as the centerpiece of worship services. Pastors are more inclined to speak from experience instead of leading their congregation in experiencing revelation. Others begin with a topic and then pursue the Scriptures as one might choose ornaments to decorate a Christmas tree. Still others neglect the Bible altogether, seeing it as an offense to many who are seeking a comfortable place to belong.

These tendencies have resulted in pervasive ignorance and the growing illiteracy that characterizes Christianity today. We have become a people who cling to emotion instead of truth, feelings instead of knowledge, and trends instead of revelation. To the discredit of many church leaders, they are enablers of these startling proclivities.

Things have to change. The future of the church depends on it!

Expository Preaching: Defined

The good news is that this malady can be corrected if preachers everywhere would…ready for it? …preach the Word! Some have labeled preaching with an emphasis on the Bible with the more specific title of “expository preaching." However, this title has a wide range of meaning. For instance, some such as William Taylor and F.B. Myer assert that expository preaching involves a connected series of sermons through a book of the Bible. In this understanding, each sermon is a link in the chain of a series that moves through a large portion of Scripture. Blackwood’s definition of biblical exposition breaks this chain and simply concludes that expository preaching is preaching any passage that is longer than two verses. Neo-orthodox Christianity more generally states that any preaching drawn from the Bible can be called expository preaching. Along these lines, Meryl F. Unger and G. Campbell Morgan say that biblical exposition is any sermon that handles the Scripture.

However, more recently, Haddon Robinson defines expository preaching as the “…communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experiences of the preacher, then through the preacher, applies to the hearers.” Robinson finds sympathizers with the contributors of John Macarthur’s Expository Preaching and other more current works.

This small survey reveals that there are many varying ideas concerning this most sacred activity. Therefore, in an effort to more clearly define expository preaching as the Scripture encourages, it is important to understand 10 things that it is not.

1. It is not a running commentary

2. It is not rambling comments and off-hand remarks

3. It is not a mass of disconnected suggestions based on surface meaning

4. It is not pure exegesis (no matter how scholarly)

5. It is not a mere structural outline

6. It is not a topical homily

7. It is not a chopped up collection of grammatical findings

8. It is not a Sunday school lesson discussion of a biblical passage

9. It is not a Bible reading

10. It is not an ordinary devotional /prayer meeting talk

This compendium dispels many of the misconceptions people have about expository preaching. One does not find the content of expository preaching through any of these pursuits nor does anyone accomplish the task of preaching correctly if the end result is described above.

With this in mind, as well as all of the previously referenced authorities, Dr. Paul Fink has come up with a definition of preaching in its truest sense that is broad in its scope and detailed in its description.

“Preaching is an outgrowth of a man’s immersing himself within a passage in intensive study, finding the proper limits of that passage, discovering the arguments of the passage, organizing a sermonic outline drawn directly from the passage, and then endeavoring to set forth to his hearers the message of that passage in such a manner as to effect change in the lives of those listening.”

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With its focus on “the passage,” this definition of biblical exposition maintains a healthy preoccupation with the Word of God and is an adequate delineation of preaching in its purest form. As this resource develops, each aspect of this definition will be illuminated in its proper order and time.