In some cities and countries famished Christians (1 Peter 2:2-3) cannot find preaching that satisfies the deepest longings of their soul. Grace To You says that they receive phone calls every week from people who want meaty exposition like what they hear on the radio (MacArthur, Lawson, Begg). They long for this kind of feeding from the pulpit because they want to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Savior (note Colossians 1:28-29)
In other places, faithful expositors cannot find a "Christian" community that is really interested in the meat of God's Word. In many cities, churchgoers are more interested in finding a casual atmosphere with musical styles that appeal to their personal tastes than they are in sound doctrine and the true exposition of Scripture. Is it any wonder then why shallowness (Heb. 5:11-14) and biblical illiteracy so dominate the landscape of American Evangelicalism? One would never know it but "spiritual immaturity" and the "lack of discernment" are not badges of Christian honor (note Ephesians 4:11-15).
If reformation and revival is to take root in the Christian church it will be ushered in with a return to this kind of preaching (see below). As the Reformer's rightly noted, "As the pulpit goes, so goes the church!" To this end we labor, strive, and pray.
A. John Calvin: The prince of expositors
·
Centuries
ago John Calvin, chief among the Reformers, stated that preaching involved: The explication of Scripture,
unfolding its natural and true meaning,
while making application to the life
of the congregation.
Preaching is the public exposition of Scripture by the
man sent from God, in which God
Himself is present in judgment and in grace!
God is unusually present and
speaking when His Word is being proclaimed.
B.
Westminster
Directory
·
The
Westminster Directory of Public Worship
(1645) states that preachers must “Make each
point from his text.” It must be
“a truth contained in or grounded on that text, that the hearers may discern how God teaches
it from there.”
C.
Merrill
Unger
·
Merrill
Unger defined expository preaching as: Communicating the “real and essential meaning” of a passage of Scripture “as it existed in the
mind of the particular Biblical writer and as it exists in the light of the
overall context of Scripture.” It is, he explained, “God’s Word made plain and applied to the
present-day needs of the hearers.”
·
Unger
then added: It is emphatically not preaching about the Bible, but
preaching the Bible. “What saith the
Lord” is the alpha and omega of expository preaching. It begins in the Bible and ends
in the Bible and all that intervenes
springs from the Bible. In other words,
expository preaching is Bible-centered preaching. Text-driven preaching that is inherently
God-centered.
D.
Martyn
Lloyd-Jones
·
Martyn
Lloyd-Jones wrote in his “Preface” on The Sermon on the Mount: I am profoundly convinced that
the greatest need of the Church today is a return to expository preaching. I
would emphasize both words and
especially the latter. A sermon is
not an essay and is not meant, primarily, for publication, but to be heard, and to have an immediate
impact upon the listeners. This implies, of necessity, that it will have certain
characteristics which are not found and are not desirable in written studies. Expository preaching is not
merely an exposition of a verse or passage, or a running commentary on it; what
turns it into preaching is that it becomes a message and that it has a distinct
form and pattern. Furthermore, it must always be applied and its relevance shown to the contemporary situation.
·
Lloyd-Jones
writes: "What is preaching? Logic on
fire!....It is theology on fire. And
a theology which does not take fire, I maintain, is a defective
theology…Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire."
E. J. I. Packer
E. J. I. Packer
·
J.
I. Packer, writing in God Has Spoken: The true idea of preaching is
that the preacher should become a mouthpiece
for his text, opening it up and applying it as a word from God to his
hearers, talking only in order that the text itself may speak and be heard. 1 Peter 4:10-11.
·
Packer
later succinctly describes expository preaching as: Letting
texts talk.
From TMS D. Min lecture notes
Dr. Steve Lawson
