L. Scott Kellum goes on to say, "The good news is that many people seem to have convinced conservative evangelicals of the primary place of such preaching in the pulpits. Unfortunately, few do it well." To which Dr. Thomas Schreiner adds, "It seems that almost everyone trumpets the importance of expository preaching, and yet genuine and powerful expository preaching seems to be in short supply." "
I concur with both Unger and Schreiner, in this regard, Kellum adds. Sequential (verse-by-verse) expository preaching is best for the steady diet of the believer. Tragically, "those who preach the Word with skill and power are few and far between."
In view of these quotes allow me to make a few observations. 1) Most evangelical Christians believe what they are being fed on Sunday morning is true expository preaching (the good stuff). If Christian church members believed that the pulpit ministry at their church was deficient (as Unger, Schreiner, Kellum, Lawson, Kaiser, MacArthur, and many others declare) they would likely feel compelled to search for another local church.
2) Shallow evangelical principlizing and topical Bible lessons are often presented as genuine exposition. As John Piper notes, many people have no idea what in-depth, meaty, Text-driven, God-centered preaching is because they have never heard it. To add even more confusion, the vast majority of evangelical preachers claim they believe in expositional preaching. In other words, many church members and pastors would amen the quotes above but no one seems to believe that their pulpit/church is missing the biblical mark.
3) We pastors must take some of the responsibility for the lack of maturity, zeal, and discernment that seems to dominate large segments of the American evangelical church. This is one of the reasons why I felt compelled to go back to school in order to receive further training that I might better serve (and build up) the Church of Jesus Christ. I want to be part of the solution rather than be part of the problem (2 Tim 2:15; 2 Tim. 3:15-4:5).
We need to be honest and humbly admit that Hebrews 5:12-14 characterizes far too many Christians. "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil."
4) God's solution is not complicated. Ephesians 4:11-16, "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." Dr. Jerry Wragg's exposition of this text is both timely and helpful (see also Matt. 28:18-20; Col. 1:27-29).
"Lord Jesus Christ, revive Your Church in this, her crucial hour!
Lord Jesus Christ, awake Your Church with Spirit given power."
