Not much. Here is yet another place where we ought both to define our terms and to put the question in context. The majority of pulpits in this nation are filled with people sharing their own personal thoughts, with sprinklings from the Bible that they think will support their thoughts. Expositional preaching is a vast improvement over such “preaching.” If the question is, “Should we preach from the Bible or from our imaginations?” the answer is easy. When, however, the question is, should we preach the ingredients or the meal, we’re getting closer still.
Another defining quality of expositional preaching is that it goes verse by verse through books of the Bible. Instead of choosing a “topic” the preacher preaches what’s next. This too is a good thing. It serves as a hedge against the first problem. It doesn’t allow the pastor to simply avoid preaching texts he’s not enamored with. I’m not suggesting there is never a reason to preach a topical sermon. I’ve preached many an advent, Reformation Day, Resurrection Day, Ascension Day sermon in my day. Generally though, I go through books of the Bible.
What then is the problem with expositional preaching? It’s not that it’s very expositional. It’s that it’s not very preaching. It is like lining up all the ingredients of a great meal and confusing that with feasting on the meal. Expositing is an important first part of a sermon.
It can, however, become all tree and no forest. It is vital, in understanding a text, to understand its grammatical structure, and its historical context. Before we can know what a text is saying to us we first must know what the original author was seeking to tell the original audience.
What the text says to us is intimately tied to what it said to the original audience. We, however, live in a particular spot in history, between His ascension and return. We can’t understand any text in the Bible until we understand what it tells us about Jesus. Every text exists to exegete the life, death, resurrection, ascension and return of Jesus.
To exposit any text we need not only to understand what it tells us about Jesus, but what it tells us about ourselves and our relationship with the living God. Which is why it is my practice to preach from the text to the table.
The Lord’s Supper is infused with the life, death, resurrection, ascension and return of Jesus. It reminds each of us of our horrific guilt, that we crucified the Lord of Glory. But it is also a celebration not only of our forgiveness, but our adoption as we sit at our Father’s table, His children in whom He is pleased.
The life and richness of His grace shines through our preaching when we are not merely sharing the good exegetical work that goes into preparing a sermon. We taste and see that He is good, rather than look at all the ingredients. Every sermon should unpack the text and remind us, down to our toes, that we are great sinners, redeemed by a great Savior and beloved of the Father. Because such is what every text teaches us. The application is, believe these truths more fully. This is fertilizer for the Spirit’s fruit.
This is the twenty-fourth installment of an ongoing series of pieces here on the nature and calling of the church. Stay tuned for more. Remember also that we at Sovereign Grace Fellowship meet this Sunday December 15 at 10:30 AM at our new location, at our beautiful farm at 112811 Garman Road, Spencerville, IN. Please come join us.