What is expository preaching? How does one do it? Is it the best method of preaching a sermon? Why do pastors use expository preaching while others do not?
Expository Preaching – What it is Not
You will have no trouble finding sermons on topics or themes. The preacher will focus on one subject and use Scripture throughout the Bible to expound and expand on it. Some themes include giving, some on love, others on the resurrection and yet others on growing in holiness. The problem with this is that congregation or listeners might have a hard time keeping up with the verses that are thrown out at them. Many times they would be lifting out text from within the context of chapters or books. The Bible is meant to be read book by book and chapter by chapter for the most part. This does not mean that someone can’t find a section and start reading there or jump to the Psalms and then to Proverbs and finish with Revelation. The point is that when we read just a few verses from a book or chapter, we may miss much of the context and what came before the verses we read and what follows. These missing verses enhance the meaning of what the readers reads. The same can be true for those who hear sermons like these.
Context is Everything
I have heard some people say that they were going to just open up the Bible to search for the will of God in their lives and find out what God wants them to do. It was a seek and search mission. They would just let the Bible fall open or just open it by chance and even close their eyes and point to a certain Scripture. The problem with this is that one might find a verse that says, “Judas went out and hanged himself” and then blindly find another Scripture that says, “Go and do likewise.” You see the point. Seek and search Bible reading leaves so much of the Bible out that we can hardly tell the context of what the author is saying. When we start at places like “Therefore…” we must go back and see what the “therefore” is there for! If you don’t read what the author wrote before the “therefore” you will miss much of why he is writing what he is writing. Context is everything. The old saying is true: Taking text out of context makes it a pretext and usually a false one at that! That is why some believe expository preaching is better than other styles of preaching. This is what Jesus did and the apostles, and for the most part, what the writers of the Old Testament did.
Here is a good example of non-expository teaching where one verse is expounded at the expense of others. John 3:16 is one of the most recognized verses in the Bible and even among non-Christians. This verse reminds everyone that God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. The predominant theme makes us believe that God‘s love is all that is necessary to know but John 3:16 means nothing without reading John 3:17 and 18. Here is why I say that:
John 3:16-18 “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Now everyone knows that God so loved the world…but precious little attention is given to the completion of the thought that Jesus was giving to Nicodemus about being born again. No one can enter heaven without being born again…in fact, no one can even see heaven without this new birth. If we just quote John 3:16 we focus on God’s love. God is love yes, but this love of God is a holy, just, and demanding love. Verse 17 says that Jesus didn’t come into the world to judge the world but at the same time that God is love, whoever doesn’t believe in Jesus stands condemned (v 18). Rejecting this belief in Jesus means condemnation. And the word “believe” technically means “to be living” or “to be walking in.” To believe means that you rely upon, trust on, and have faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Even the Devil and the demons believe in God but they do not trust in Him or have faith in Him. So John 3:16 is like taking 1/3 of your letter to a friend and throwing out the rest (with the exclusion of John 3:17-18).
Expository Preaching – What it is
Expository teaching doesn’t necessarily dwell on one particular text or passage of text like John 3:16. It more likely covers the entire chapter or several of the verses in John 3. Expository preaching does not dwell on non-biblical topics. One pastor’s sermon title I heard about recently was “Would Jesus Use Facebook?” while another was “Would Jesus Tweet?” Really!? This type of sermon has no power for the power is in the Word of God and pastors and priests ought to use it! Expository preaching rarely includes jokes, short stories, human examples or anecdotes. Not that you couldn’t use one or two of these but this should not be the primary focus. The Word of God should be the main focus of all preaching and teaching. As I have heard before, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing…” and that is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Expository teaching can also be called a systematic exposition of particular Scriptures, verses, chapters, or books of the Bible. For the last year or so, I have gone through the gospel of Matthew and the books of Romans, Ephesians, Leviticus, 1 John, and a few others. Sometimes it takes a few messages to complete these sermons but the systematic exposition of these books allows us to see the meaning of the book, the author’s intent, the context of the message, the purpose of the book, the background, and the setting. Expository preaching is like throwing light on or exposing by illuminating particular Scriptures. This is what Jesus did when He read out of the Book of Isaiah in the temple. He was careful to draw out of the text the exact meaning of what Isaiah wrote and He did so perfectly because He not only shed light on it, He was and is that Light. Expository preaching or a systematic exposition is not like exegeses. It would be like a Rabbi explaining the meaning of a passage or passages from the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament).
When Jesus preached, He presented expositional preaching and emphasized the application of His messages. Of course, Jesus Christ being the literal and actual Word of God, everything He spoke was Scripture but there was never anything that Jesus spoke or preached that did not have a specific application and His Word had power because it was the very Word of God. He was certainly all about shedding light on the Scriptures because He is that light and He is the Word (John 1).
How to Preach Expository Sermons
We have seen what expository preaching is. How to present expository preaching is to follow the examples of Jesus, and of the apostles Paul and Peter (in Acts) and of Stephen too. Even the deacon and evangelist Phillip used expository preaching when he tried to fill in the details on who Isaiah was writing about when he was speaking to the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:30-35:
“Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.”
The Eunuch was reading Isaiah 53:7-8 and so Phillip revealed that these verses were about Jesus Christ and the Passion at Calvary. Phillip’s exposition of these verses resulted in the gospel being taken into Africa where it later thrived. Isaiah was using expository writing because he was using an example of a lamb being led to the slaughter just as Jesus was, shedding light on Jesus’ purpose. Phillip made the verses understandable, he provided meaning for them, he gave the background of Jesus’ mission and purpose, and he proclaimed the good news of the gospel. As a result of this, the Eunuch trusted in Christ and was immediately baptized. He understood that he needed a Savior and that he also needed to take this message back to Ethiopia with him to tell others. In doing so, he naturally could use the scroll that included Isaiah 53 which was the prophesied coming of the Savior of the world and he had heard of the fulfillment of these verses from Phillip.
Read some of Paul’s expository preaching where he often quoted the Old Testament. That is all that they had at the time of course. Read Paul’s famous sermon in Acts 17:16-34 to the Greeks or his exposition to King Agrippa, Stephen’s testimony to the Council, Peter’s expositional sermon on the day of Pentecost. Of course about anything Jesus ever said, including His amazing Sermon on the Mount (the Beatitudes), was powerful expository preaching as well.
Author Bryan Chappell explained that expository preaching is where the, “preacher becomes a bond servant to the text.” He believes that this type of preaching is walking in the “same steps as the author.” Expository preaching binds the preacher to the Word and the message of the Scriptures gives the preacher the authority of what God has spoken. This allows the power in the Word to take its full effect. God has said that His Word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11). That means that the Word will not return without accomplishing what He wills and what He designed for those particular Scriptures. There is power in the Word, not the man. The power is in the message and not the messenger. So unleash the power of the Word of God in expository preaching. There are many examples we have already given. You know what it is. You know what it is not. Take God at His Word:
Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
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Sources
New International Version Bible (NIV)
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YouTube video “The Beatitudes” Matthew 5:1-10, music by Chris Wilmoore
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