Expository preaching seems to be all the rage these days. I stumbled upon expository preaching when I found this website on the interwebs all about the ministry of Ray Stedman. From then on I made it my aim to preach from the text and let the text speak for itself. So let me say from the gate expository preaching has blessed me tremendously both in receiving it and using it as my own preaching method. But…you know there’s always a but…I don’t think expository preaching is what we see in the New Testament. And if that is not what we see in the New Testament (the Gospels and Acts) then what is the place of expository preaching and should we promote that as the best method for everyone in all circumstances. This also prompts me to ask the question “What is preaching?” Most of the time when I ask the question I feel like the answer is “You know it when you see it” but that just doesn’t cut it for me.
I grew up in the black church and preaching in the black church alot of times is just whooping and hollering. Not all the time because we do have a rich history of heavyweights such as E.V. Hill, E.K Bailey, Gardner C. Taylor, and now more recently H.B. Charles Jr. But sometimes I would come out of services literally wondering What just happened? Am I the only one who didn’t get that? And really I wasn’t the only one. I honestly think there were sometimes when nobody got it. Not even the preacher and God was scratching his head like “Was that supposed to be my word???” At the same time I’ve been in some services in caucasian churches where it was as dead and lifeless as a stuffed deer on a hunter’s wall. You could draw a chalk outline around the sermon and call the coroner. The preaching was just a regurgitation of the latest theological controversy. So preaching is different in different contexts and means different things to different people. But what kind of picture do we get about preaching by looking at the Bible.
When I look at the Gospels and Acts I see preaching as an announcement. Jesus models this. When he began his ministry it says that “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14-15). When we look at Jesus we see an announcement that the Kingdom of God has come near and a summons to change our direction and believe the good news.
I also see preaching as about a person. When Jesus announces the kingdom of God is near he is also announcing the Kingdom of God is present in Him. He is the king. Looking at the apostolic preaching of Acts I see a clear focus on Jesus Christ and the narrative of his life, death, and resurrection. Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost lets the crowd at Jerusalem know that “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified both Lord and Messiah.” Even as Paul spoke to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill his sophisticated argument landed on Jesus. He let the men of Mars Hill know that God “has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Preaching was always focused on Him.
Lastly when I look at the Gospels and Acts I see preaching done in the context of an unbelieving audience. Preaching was an announcement to those who had not yet believed the good news. It never was done in a setting where people had already believed. Jesus preached to Israel who did not yet believe that their Messiah had come. Peter preached to the Jewish travelers and pilgrims who wanted to know whether the apostles were drunk. Paul preached to Jews in the synagogue and to Gentiles in the marketplace. Nowhere do I see preaching within the proverbial four walls of the church.
So when I see preaching in the Gospels and Acts I see 3 things:
1. It is an announcement
2. It is centered on the story of Jesus the King and his kingdom
3. It is for an unbelieving audience
This begs the question “What is it that’s being done on Sunday mornings from pulpits all over the world?” I know we call it preaching-expository, topical etc.-but it doesn’t seem to have the flavor of apostolic preaching. It’s not an announcement although some preachers can raise the decibel levels. Sadly many times it’s not focused on the King and his kingdom. And it’s being done in the context of a believing audience. Now before you get all mad at me HEAR ME OUT: I’m not saying stop preaching. I’m not saying that what we do on Sunday mornings is not beneficial. What I am saying is that what the Bible portrays as preaching (at least in the Gospels and Acts) is very different from what I have seen in most pulpits just by virtue of the fact that it’s being done from a pulpit (or a stage for you contemporary folks). So what do you think? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Do you have any instances in scripture you can cite where preaching happened in the context of a majority believing audience? Can you make the case that what we do in the contemporary church is biblical preaching? What is preaching to you?
photo credit: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/fredarmitage/14089991342/”>Frédéric Poirot</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>
