In 1519, Ulrich Zwingli took the pastorate of the Grossmünster church in Zürich, Switzerland. Upon his arrival he announced that “he would begin systematically preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, brutally ignoring the complicated liturgical cycle of readings from the Bible which the Church had laid down.”1 This preaching philosophy was called lectio continua—the systematic explanation and application of the Word of God by consecutively preaching through books of the Bible. Today, most would call this “expository preaching” or “consecutive exposition.” Zwingli didn’t invent it; he learned it from Augustine and Chrysostom. His motivation for making use of it was the spiritual health of his people—his sheep needed clear explanation and application of the Bible. A few decades later, when John Calvin returned to Geneva after three years in exile, he famously resumed preaching precisely where he had left off. The preaching philosophy of the Reformation was lectio continua, but can that kind of preaching serve the modern church?
We may not have much in common with 16th century Europe, but one circumstance we do share is most people who attend our churches are not well-read in the Bible. Even so, is it responsible to commit to a steady diet of expository preaching in the age of TikTok and Reels? Few things can sap the life out of worship service like a lengthy monotone summary of commentaries on a text of Scripture. However, Mark Dever reminds us, “Expositional preaching is not simply producing a verbal commentary on some passage of Scripture. Rather, expositional preaching is preaching that takes for the point of a sermon the point of a particular passage of Scripture.”2 For the purposes of this article, let us define expository preaching as preaching through books of the Bible with sermons in which the main idea of a text of Scripture is the primary point of the sermon.
While topical sermons have merit and can be a useful tool in our homiletic tool bag, lectio continua deserves a fresh look as the fundamental diet of our churches. Systematically preaching through books of the Bible is good for our sheep. Many criticisms can indict a running commentary style of preaching, but they do not apply to faithful expository preaching. A diet of consecutive exposition serves the church in at least four practical ways.
Because the contents of the Bible are the direct result of the Holy Spirit, expository preaching is the most effective way to allow the Spirit to speak in our churches. The systematic preaching of all verses in a given book creates an opportunity for people to hear all of the Spirit’s message, not just part. Furthermore, if we preach the main point of a given section of Scripture as the main point of the sermon, then we are letting the Spirit dictate the content of our sermon. One learned discipline necessary in expository preaching is limiting the content of our sermon to the passage at hand.
In this regard, expository preaching protects the congregation from the preacher and his whims. We know all preachers are flawed. If the primary preaching agenda of our churches is based on what we deem important, then our blind spots, preferences, and shortcomings will infuse our people’s spiritual diet. Expository preaching mitigates this risk as the preacher asks, “What has God said to us in his Word?”
Expository preaching also serves the basic function of helping people grow in Bible literacy. The crisis of biblical illiteracy has been well documented. Over thirty years ago George Gallup and Jim Castelli noted that “Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, they don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.”3 Rather than complain people don’t know their Bibles, expository preaching helps address the problem. Expository preaching might well represent the second level to William Tyndale’s famous goal in Bible translation to enable a simple farm boy to be familiar with the content of God’s Word.
Expository preaching not only teaches people the general content of the Bible, but it specifically exposes people to difficult or lesser known topics providentially directed toward their benefit. Consider the bold confrontation of idolatry in Hosea, or the ugly consequence of sexual immorality at the end of Judges. Those kinds of passages directly apply to practical matters in contemporary America, but they are understandably not popular passages for Sunday mornings. Our people need the whole counsel of God. A regular diet of expository preaching protects people from only being exposed to topics or passages popular in our culture or with their own pastor as noted above. Of course, pastors still exercise discernment in choosing when to preach specific books of the Bible. In our own practice, the elders of our church discuss the themes in a book and evaluate how that might be helpful for our congregation.
Finally, expository preaching serves the church by facilitating discipleship. People learn how to read the Bible by how they hear it preached. Our people may never take Bible classes in theology or hermeneutics, but they pick up plenty as they listen to our sermons. As our people see us wrestle with the text, week-in-and-week-out, they learn ways to approach, interpret, and apply the Word. Expository preaching helps people read the Bible in light of genre features, biblical theology, and the rest of the Canon.
Lectio continua also helps protect Christians from false teaching. Rather than cherry pick verses out of context, explaining a passage in relation to its context provides guard rails for interpretation and application. Often the immediate context of a passage sheds light on its meaning. If we want to develop doctrinal discernment in our people, the best way to do so is walking them through books of the Bible, one preaching portion at a time.
A diet of consecutive exposition builds a healthy church by letting the Spirit speak through the Word of God, teaching people the content of the Bible, exposing people to the breadth of topics in God’s Word, and equipping the saints to better understand and apply Scripture. Perhaps our best strategy in preaching is to follow Calvin’s application of Jeremiah’s call to ministry: “…a rule is prescribed to all God’s servants that they bring not their own inventions, but simply deliver, as from hand to hand, what they have received from God.”4 Or maybe we should take it from the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:13, “Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.”
I began my preaching ministry at Green Pond Bible Chapel by preaching through the gospel of Mark. After we finished it, one of the elders at our church confessed that at first he had a concern about expository preaching. He said, “I thought, what about times people in the congregation are facing situations that the text doesn’t address?” He went on, “I have been blown away by how God orchestrated the right texts at the right times for when we needed it.” It turns out, God has given us what we desperately need in his Word.
The question is, will we preach it?
1 Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation (Penguin Books, 2003), 138.
2 Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, third ed. (Crossway, 2013), 44.
3 George Gallup and Jim Castelli, “Americans and the Bible,” in Bible Review 6.3 (1990), .
4 John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Prophet Jeremiah and the Lamentations, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 43.
The post The Importance of Expository Preaching appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
We may not have much in common with 16th century Europe, but one circumstance we do share is most people who attend our churches are not well-read in the Bible. Even so, is it responsible to commit to a steady diet of expository preaching in the age of TikTok and Reels? Few things can sap the life out of worship service like a lengthy monotone summary of commentaries on a text of Scripture. However, Mark Dever reminds us, “Expositional preaching is not simply producing a verbal commentary on some passage of Scripture. Rather, expositional preaching is preaching that takes for the point of a sermon the point of a particular passage of Scripture.”2 For the purposes of this article, let us define expository preaching as preaching through books of the Bible with sermons in which the main idea of a text of Scripture is the primary point of the sermon.
While topical sermons have merit and can be a useful tool in our homiletic tool bag, lectio continua deserves a fresh look as the fundamental diet of our churches. Systematically preaching through books of the Bible is good for our sheep. Many criticisms can indict a running commentary style of preaching, but they do not apply to faithful expository preaching. A diet of consecutive exposition serves the church in at least four practical ways.
1. Expository preaching uniquely lets the Spirit speak through the Word
Because the contents of the Bible are the direct result of the Holy Spirit, expository preaching is the most effective way to allow the Spirit to speak in our churches. The systematic preaching of all verses in a given book creates an opportunity for people to hear all of the Spirit’s message, not just part. Furthermore, if we preach the main point of a given section of Scripture as the main point of the sermon, then we are letting the Spirit dictate the content of our sermon. One learned discipline necessary in expository preaching is limiting the content of our sermon to the passage at hand.
In this regard, expository preaching protects the congregation from the preacher and his whims. We know all preachers are flawed. If the primary preaching agenda of our churches is based on what we deem important, then our blind spots, preferences, and shortcomings will infuse our people’s spiritual diet. Expository preaching mitigates this risk as the preacher asks, “What has God said to us in his Word?”
2. Expository preaching teaches people the Bible
Expository preaching also serves the basic function of helping people grow in Bible literacy. The crisis of biblical illiteracy has been well documented. Over thirty years ago George Gallup and Jim Castelli noted that “Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, they don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.”3 Rather than complain people don’t know their Bibles, expository preaching helps address the problem. Expository preaching might well represent the second level to William Tyndale’s famous goal in Bible translation to enable a simple farm boy to be familiar with the content of God’s Word.
3. Expository preaching exposes people to the breadth of topics in God’s Word
Expository preaching not only teaches people the general content of the Bible, but it specifically exposes people to difficult or lesser known topics providentially directed toward their benefit. Consider the bold confrontation of idolatry in Hosea, or the ugly consequence of sexual immorality at the end of Judges. Those kinds of passages directly apply to practical matters in contemporary America, but they are understandably not popular passages for Sunday mornings. Our people need the whole counsel of God. A regular diet of expository preaching protects people from only being exposed to topics or passages popular in our culture or with their own pastor as noted above. Of course, pastors still exercise discernment in choosing when to preach specific books of the Bible. In our own practice, the elders of our church discuss the themes in a book and evaluate how that might be helpful for our congregation.
4. Expository preaching equips people to better understand and apply the Scripture
Finally, expository preaching serves the church by facilitating discipleship. People learn how to read the Bible by how they hear it preached. Our people may never take Bible classes in theology or hermeneutics, but they pick up plenty as they listen to our sermons. As our people see us wrestle with the text, week-in-and-week-out, they learn ways to approach, interpret, and apply the Word. Expository preaching helps people read the Bible in light of genre features, biblical theology, and the rest of the Canon.
Lectio continua also helps protect Christians from false teaching. Rather than cherry pick verses out of context, explaining a passage in relation to its context provides guard rails for interpretation and application. Often the immediate context of a passage sheds light on its meaning. If we want to develop doctrinal discernment in our people, the best way to do so is walking them through books of the Bible, one preaching portion at a time.
A diet of consecutive exposition builds a healthy church by letting the Spirit speak through the Word of God, teaching people the content of the Bible, exposing people to the breadth of topics in God’s Word, and equipping the saints to better understand and apply Scripture. Perhaps our best strategy in preaching is to follow Calvin’s application of Jeremiah’s call to ministry: “…a rule is prescribed to all God’s servants that they bring not their own inventions, but simply deliver, as from hand to hand, what they have received from God.”4 Or maybe we should take it from the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:13, “Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.”
I began my preaching ministry at Green Pond Bible Chapel by preaching through the gospel of Mark. After we finished it, one of the elders at our church confessed that at first he had a concern about expository preaching. He said, “I thought, what about times people in the congregation are facing situations that the text doesn’t address?” He went on, “I have been blown away by how God orchestrated the right texts at the right times for when we needed it.” It turns out, God has given us what we desperately need in his Word.
The question is, will we preach it?
1 Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation (Penguin Books, 2003), 138.
2 Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, third ed. (Crossway, 2013), 44.
3 George Gallup and Jim Castelli, “Americans and the Bible,” in Bible Review 6.3 (1990), .
4 John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Prophet Jeremiah and the Lamentations, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 43.
The post The Importance of Expository Preaching appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...