Expository Preaching

This past Sunday, Hope enjoyed hearing from Mick Martin -- a member of our leadership team and an incredible guy. Mick challenged us to think through what it means to be a healthy, effective church. At the end of his message, he invited everyone to share some feedback about where we're at and (more importantly) what each of us can do to help make Hope even better.

One person shared a really interesting comment, suggesting that one way a church can become better "would be to preach expository instead of topical." They even added an enthusiastic exclamation: "God's Word!" Of course, the feedback is absolutely correct in saying that the proclamation of God's message from the Bible must be offered through exposition, and I hope that's at the heart of all our teaching at Hope. But is "expository" teaching in conflict with studying the Bible topically? What about organizing systematic exposition thematically? Hmm. Perhaps it's time to consider some definitions together!


"Exposition" literally refers to "a setting forth of meaning or intent." When it comes to preaching, exposition involves proclaiming Biblical truth in a manner that derives the content of the message (i.e., the main idea as well as the sub points) directly from scripture itself. It's an effort to be true to the text -- to set forth the meaning or intent of the original Biblical author.

J.I. Packer says it this way:

Expository preaching is the preaching of the man who knows Holy Scripture to be the living Word of the living God, and who desires only that it should be free to speak its own message to sinful men and women; who therefore preaches from a text, and in preaching labors, as the Puritans would say, to 'open' it, or, in [Charles] Simeon's phrase, to 'bring out of the text what is there;' whose whole aim in preaching is to show his hearers what the text is saying to them about God and about themselves, and to lead them into what Barth called 'the strange new world within the Bible' in order that they may be met by him who is the Lord of that world. (J.I. Packer, "Expository Preaching: Charles Simone and Ourselves," an essay in Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching, page 141)

It's not the traditional definition of exposition that seminary students hear in their Homiletics 101 class, but I think Packer is quite profound here. Expository preaching involves knowing the power and authority of God's Word, and remembering...

The word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12 NLT)

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT)

Through the exposition of the Bible, the preacher seeks to direct attention to the life-changing truth of the Bible in a compelling way, according to the intent of the original author as inspired by God. Expository preaching proclaims what God thinks, not merely what the preacher thinks.

But there are several legitimate approaches to organizing expository sermons in a series.

One way -- and the manner in which the original feedback was intended, I suspect -- is to preach through a book or section of the Bible. For example, at Hope this past year we walked through the book of Galatians together very slowly and deliberately (though I titled the series "Grace is Still Amazing" because of a central theme in the book rather than "The Study of Galatians" in hopes of making the messages accessible to newcomers). In my Sunday afternoon Bible study this past year, we explored the books of Philippians, James, Habakkuk, Amos, and Daniel.

Of course, systematic exposition isn't limited to an entire Biblical book at a time; sometimes it involves just working through a single section of a book (such as our recent exploration of the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation, or our study of the life of Joseph in the final portion of Genesis).

Personally, I enjoy working through a book of the Bible as the basis of a sermon series. From a preaching perspective, it's refreshing to simply allow the agenda of a Biblical author to outline the subject of the various messages in a series. Not only does it offer a full reflection of the original author's message in its complete context, but it provides a demonstration of how we all can study the Bible personally. (I also prefer to go back and forth between the Old Testament and the New Testament when planning these kinds of series.)

However, the "book at a time" or "section at a time" is not the only valid means of expository preaching. It is equally acceptable to organize a message series thematically. For example, I've been preaching on the theme of "The Joy of Being Forgiven" for the past couple of weeks. Each sermon in the series is, in itself, an exposition of a single passage of scripture. The first message in the series focused entirely on Psalm 32 (which, itself, stands independently), and that was followed by a look at Peter's restoration from John 21. Each message allowed a single passage to define its content, though the two stood back-to-back because of a common thematic element.

I also think it's possible to present solid exposition in a topical manner, even within a single sermon (though, admittedly, the preacher must carefully guard himself to remain accurate to what God wants to say rather than using a series of verses to enforce what the preacher wants to say). In a systematic or thematic expositional series, the preacher is asking "What does God have to say in the book of Hosea, or Acts, or the letters of John?" In a topical series, the preacher asks "What does the whole of the Bible have to say about the subject of friendship, or sexual purity, or the end of history?" As long as the answers are drawn from scripture itself by opening up the meaning and intent of the original authors, even the most topically organized message can be expository.

And this topical/expository manner of preaching is what's commonly seen in the New Testament. Consider Peter's sermon at the dawn of the church in Acts 2. Peter begins by explaining how the events of Pentecost are the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, and he uses Joel 2:28-32 as his main text. However, in just a couple of paragraphs, Peter turns to explaining Psalm 16:8-11. Then he moves to discussing the opening of Psalm 110. Without a doubt, this is a prime example of a topical sermon, yet it certainly remains expository in nature in that Peter seeks to reveal the meaning of each passage according to the intent of God.

And how about the entire Sermon on the Mount? In Matthew 5-7, Jesus draws from passages all throughout the Law of the Old Testament (and even the teaching of rabbinical tradition) rather than preaching on a single book or section of scripture. Yet he persists in being expository in his preaching -- in "exposing" the full meaning of each passage -- even while organizing his presentation in a topical manner.

Personally, I believe there are certain passages of the Bible that are best served by a topical approach. It's practically impossible to preach from Proverbs without drawing from the various passages topically. And any good study of one of the gospels will always be presented with an awareness of the parallel and supplementary passages found in the other gospels, as well as the theological commentary on the identity and work of Christ throughout the epistles.

So there are a variety of valid, effective ways to organize our study of scripture and still remain expository. The key is to always point attention to the truth revealed in the Bible and allowing God to speak to us rather than wrapping up a personal agenda with Biblical references and illustrations. Hopefully our teaching at Hope continues to meet people right where they're at and helping them hear from God in the pages of scripture. We must also show sensitivity for those just joining a study (rather than making them feel "left in the dust" because we're on week 18 of a study of Romans and they've missed all the rich wonders that the rest of us have already pursued). And it's important to convey a sense of consistency in content, not to mention compelling memorability, as any series unfolds regardless of its organizational premise.

Here's to expository preaching! May it continue to be a core value at Hope as we continue to share God's life-changing love with others!