Conclusion
Some clues to remember in trying to recognize Expository Preaching are listed below. If the following
are true, the message most likely is NOT in expository form:
- The outline skips or does not follow the verse order in the passage.
- The
outline does not come from the Text under study.
- More ancillary Texts are used than the actual Text under study.
- Huge sections of
scripture are covered in one message.
- When you later go back to the text, you can't "see" the "message" that was taught or you are
unable to recognize it easily on your own.
This is not to say the message is of little value but it does point out that the best, granted
the most difficult, method of teaching Scripture is not being used.
Expository teaching respects the "whole counsel of God"
and does not set agendas on the Text or use selected passages to ambush the hearers. It sets out to principalize Scripture in
such a way that the hearers leave with scripture in their mind rather than a topic.
Despite the method - a Passage bathed in
Prayer is the best Prevention for Preaching Personal Pretense (as I have been reminded - this is no guarantee that message will be
pure but Preaching without Prayer is definitely Powerless!)
Other Comments:
I am impressed by those pastors who both respect the Word of God in its entirety and the needs of those in the
congregation. But one of the greatest needs that is often overlooked is the need to understand how to rightly address the Word
of God, respecting its form, context and intent. I am appalled at the following practices that are all too common today:
- Those
who would politicize the pulpit to push agendas in the church - every passage leads to a new fellowship hall or to
a building program.
- Those who would pick and choose topics to "control" the thinking of the church.
- Those who ignore or fail to acknowledge
the context of a passage leading people to believe it teaches one thing when it actually teaches another or at least doesn't address
the preached topic at all.
- Those who treat scripture as if it is magical, citing it to invoke from God their humanly conceived desires.
Each
of these practices belittles God's Word and treats it with disrespect. Some of these practices are evidence of man's attempt
to play God in other people's lives.
Amen
Worthy Books of Note on Preaching:
On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons,
John A. Broadus
Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages, Haddon Robinson
