As I evaluate the evangelical landscape both near and far it seems to me that verse-by-verse preaching is now passé- even in churches that once said they were committed to this methodology. For a season, verse-by-verse, book-by-book, line upon line, precept upon precept (expository) preaching was the flavor of the day in the American evangelical church- those days are gone. I believe the "Young, Restless, Reformed movement will experience a similar fate (when TULIP is no longer trendy and is therefore discarded), but now I digress.
Lighter, "surfacey", sentimental, overview type messages have taken the place of meaty, doctrinal, doxological, text-driven expositions. I always find it quite ironic that people who say they love listening to Alistair Begg, Paul Washer and John MacArthur on the radio remain at churches where they are being feed more milk than meat, but that's a subject for another blog post.
While reading a selection of sermons from the greatest preacher in the twentieth century (Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones) I observed that Lloyd-Jones himself took an entire year to preach through John 17 alone. In his commentary the good doctor writes, "We claim that we are so busy that we have not the time to read/study. We know our forefathers used to read the doctrines, but we have not got the time. We want it all in a nutshell, and we want to go through the whole gospel of John in one address. We want a bird's eye view of the whole Bible, and the result is that we miss the doctrine. But here it is displayed, and because God has displayed it to us here, it is our duty to study it, in order that we may find some of the great possibilities that lie open to us. It is a tragedy that we tend to live as paupers in the spiritual realm, when God means us to be princes. But, above all, we study in order that we may assert confidence and a certainty and a steadfastness in our Christian lives." (MLJ, p. 44)
One of the great things about the day and age in which we live is that we have more Christian resources available to us in the English language than at any other time in the history of the Church. When I feel very alone in the pastoral ministry I can not count the times the Lord has directed me to a quote like the one I listed above to remind me, "to keep on keeping on." "Other pastors had the same concerns you have." "You are not crazy or completely alone. You are among the right heritage of Christian preachers." You have been charged in the presence of God to preach the Word in season and out. Though evangelicalism has changed (Hebrews 5:12-14) the Divine mandate has not (2 Tim. 2:15; 4:1-5).
