THIS MATERIAL BELOW
is a borrowed material
for DISCUSSION PURPOSES at
HIS LIFE DIVINITY SCHOOL
PART 5 of 10
THE PREACHING FACTOR
He was tall, well dressed, serious looking, yet polite.
I was shaking hands at the door after sermon which I thought had really rung a bell.
I could see him waiting by the wall; I knew he wanted to talk to me.
Finally, when everyone else had left, we talked.
Though not an exact quotation because of the number of years that have passed, this is what he said, “I came to church today to hear from God through His word, I didn’t come to hear some subjects talked about laced with illustration, sprinkled with Bible verses, and concluded with a tear-jerking story.”
We exchange pleasantries, he left, and I never saw him again.
In typical ministerial style, wrote his remarks off as another bell yacher and complainer, a kook, and trouble-maker that I hope wouldn’t return. After all, he had attacked the thing that I did best, preach. (At least I thought I did a good job in that department.) as I sat in my study that Sunday afternoon, I couldn’t get his words off my mind.
Monday, they came back to haunt me again.
Opening my sermon file, I spent the whole day examining every sermon I had preached in my life, about three hundred at that time.
Guess what? 95% of them were subject sermons.
Shortly thereafter, I came into contact with a preacher at a conference that wowed the audience with a simple, yet profound expository sermon. I couldn’t wait to talk to him in private. He asked me what kind of sermons I preached. Somewhat shame-facedly I told him.
I will never forget his remark, “People will never be drawn to a diet of hors d’oeuvres and snacks consistently, they will invariably crave meat… you must preach the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter verse by verse.”
That was probably the biggest turning point in my ministry.
I went home and destroyed my existing sermon schedule, and started preaching through the gospel of John, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. It took me a year and a half to finish that discipline, but by then I was hooked!
Expository preaching is defined differently from school to school.
Laying no claim to being a homiletical expert, and without delving into all the academia concerning homiletic principles, here is a description of what I believe Bible preaching or expository preaching is.
It is taking what is usually more than one verse of scripture and drawing from those verses truths in the present tense with which listeners have no problem identifying. That is a mouthful, but the essence of this type of preaching is simply taking the truth of God’s Word and applying it to life, where people are. It is not expounding a truth or principle, then frantically searching for verses to back it up. In this sense, expository preaching is primarily deductive, i.e., taking the truth of the Word, then deducing from that word its truth for the present.
People are drawn to that kind of preaching because in it they not only learn the Word of God over the months and years, they are equipped with God’s principles derived from that word.
The advantages are obvious.
First, it is advantageous for the preacher in that he never wonders what he’ll be preaching the next week. It will always be the next few verses from where you stopped the week before! “But doesn’t that get boring?” some ask. Never! To the contrary, when people can see the Word they have read for years come to life, they are far from being bored. Another advantage is that difficult and objectional subjects are covered in expository preaching naturally.
For example, one can’t preacher through the book of II Corinthians without coming to chapters 8&9 where Paul goes into long detail about giving. If you preach on those verses as you come to them, it means you haven’t selected them over others for a special stewardship Sunday, but that they too are truth and must be preached just as boldly and strongly as the resurrection in chapter 15 of I Corinthians.
Still another obvious advantage is the Biblical teaching given over an extend period of time.
In 18 years at my pulpit, I have preached through John, Mark, Acts, Revelation, Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, I&II Peter, I&II Thessalonians, Hosea, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, I John, and I & II Samuel. That doesn’t mean you should never preach a subject sermon. There are many occasions when strong prophetic sermons need to be preached concerning issues of our day like abortion, homosexuality, drunkenness, etc. we should never shy away from those things, but 90% of the time, a diet of expository preaching will draw and feed people. It will serve as the greatest conservation program a church could ever have.
The advantage of people coming to church with their Bibles tucked under their arms is great indeed. Last of all, but not least of all, expository preaching keeps the preacher’s pump primed. It demands intensive exegetical study weekly, thus keeping him in the well of Biblical truth. In fact, it probably does as much or more for him than it does for his listeners.
Maybe you are saying (if you are a preacher), “but who has the time for this?”
Maybe you’re in charge of the printing, the maintenance, the finances, the worship, the evangelism, the shepherding, the Christian Education, etc. and to devote the extra hours to this would complete your burn out. The only answer to this is to ask what it is God has called you to do as a minister.
I firmly believe we cannot evade or avoid our responsibility to be a preaching/teaching pastor if nothing else gets done!
I believe there comes a time when every pastor must say what the twelve said,
“It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables” (Acts 6:2b).
We need to do what God has called us to do. That doesn’t mean a preacher shouldn’t get his feet wet in all areas at various stages in his life, but great blocks of time must be cleared to prepare depthful and meaty messages from God’s Word. That means of course that he cannot be everyone’s errand boy and the church printer.
Without applying all the rules of homiletics, here’s a step by step sequential order for planning an expository message.
Select a book whose message speaks to the current needs of the church.
Every preacher needs to have his hand on the pulse of the people.
Do you have many new believers?
A trip through Mark will help acquaint them with Jesus.
Is your congregation short-sighted about vision?
Take them through the book of Acts! Its power and action will awaken the dead.
I guarantee it!!!
Perhaps there has been much tragedy in the congregation, try II Corinthians.
It’s amazing how God can take what we consider to be an obscure section of scripture and use it to bless people in just about any situation.
I am of the firm conviction that Sunday morning messages should feed, bless, equip, challenge the saints. To be sure, there is always an evangelistic atmosphere and spirit, but the primary purpose of preaching on Sunday mornings is to mature the believers. But every pastor knows his sheep.
And their needs change from time to time, and their needs will become the criteria for selecting the book which to preach.
Lay out the sections of scripture you will cover each Sunday for about three or four months in advance. That doesn’t mean those sections can’t change, but for example, If you are preaching through I John, the first few messages would look like this:
DATE
___________ Sermon No. 1 FROM THE BEGINNING I John 1:1-4
___________ Sermon No. 2 THE LIGHT & DARKNESS I John 1:5-7
___________ Sermon No. 3 SIN & THE CHRISTIAN John 1:8-10 etc.
This lets you know well in advance what verses of scripture will be under consideration for that Sunday.
Read the verses under consideration at least 6 times from the version out of which you will preach. Write in your own words exactly what you think those verses are saying.
Read those verses from at least 5 modern speech translations in order to pick up a drift in the way a phrase or verses is translated. Helpful translations for me are ones by Wuest, Goodspeed, New English Bible, Amplified Bible, Phillips translation, Barclay, and Williams.
Jot down key words in the verses. Sometimes these are verbs, sometimes nouns.
What a key word? It is a word whose root meaning you suspect will make a difference if it is looked up in the original. Occasionally there will be several key words up in a good word study book for root meanings. Often, this enhances you preaching by enabling you to get more than just what appears on the surface.
Now you need to write the main points from you study.
Every preacher has his own way of identifying those words, phrases, and flow that make up the main points. One thing must be remembered in expository preaching; your main points flow out the verses, the text. These points need to be clear, simple, short, and reflective of what the verse is saying.
John 3:16 is a good example:
Main Points Text says
A Wonderful Fact “God so loved the world,”
A Wonderful Act “. . . gave His only Son.”
A Wonderful Pact “That whoever believes in Him
should have eternal life.”
I am of the persuasion that main points need to be always in the present tense.
This proves how relevant scripture is. In other words, it’s not that Jesus SAVED (past tense) Daniel from the jaw of the lion, but that God delivers you today from so much more that would devour you!
Now it’s time for the commentaries.
A word of warning here. Our tendency is to always grab the commentary first, when in reality it should be the end of our preparation.
Why? Remember that those men who wrote the commentaries had to get their insights from someplace. Where did they get them? Obviously they came by pouring over the scriptures themselves. Not to deny scholarly insight, nor minimize others’ ideas, God still wants to internalize His word in the preacher who preaches it. There is no substitute for poring over the passages in meditation and prayer.
The final input in preparation comes from listening to messages of other great contemporary preachers who have preached on that passage. I also believe in anointing and unction that comes even while the message is being preached. I always pray this prayer before I preach: “Lord, set aside anything I have planned that is in your way, and replace it with your fresh word for this hour.”
What about notes?
I’ve found it to be very helpful to keep a manuscript out of the pulpit.
I jot my main points, sub-points, illustrations, and support references on 5x8 cards.
Too much dependence on too many notes keeps one’s head looking downward far too much!
Nothing can take the place of eye contact in preaching.
By now you’re asking, “well and fine, but what does all this have to do with church growth?”
Much in every way! There are two extremes in preaching today. At one end of the spectrum is didactics only. This is the preacher who literally teaches from the pulpit. His interests become the impartation of Biblical truths, organized, outlined, laced with appropriate scriptures, etc.
Often, this becomes the end in itself.
People leave this kind of service with eight pages of a notebook full on both sides, but few lives are changed.
At the other end of the spectrum, there is the experiential preacher.
His sermon consists of a series of experiences, stories, examples, poems and quotations, maybe sprinkled with a verse here and there. This kind of feeding only temporarily satisfies the scriptural hunger, then hunger pangs return very quickly because no meat has been dispensed.
History has borne out that church grow by neither extreme, but by steady week by week expository preaching covering so many verses per week, but preaching those verses using all tools of exegesis and delivery.
Christians visiting will return because perhaps where they’ve gone before, not much of the bible is preached.
Unsaved people will return because the word preached creates hunger for more of it. I can safely and honestly say that I do not know of one dynamic and growing church in America where the bible is not preached faithfully.
These “ten commandments” are for every preacher who desires to preach effectively so the church will grow.
THOU SHALT PREACH PREPARED.
There is no substitute for poor or no preparation.
THOU SHALT PREACH IN THE VERNACULAR! Jesus preached in terms all could follow.
We should do no less.
THOU SHALT PREACH NOT RIDE THY HOBBY HORSE IN THE PULPIT.
The tendency to get sidetracked onto our favorite subject is ever before us all. Avoid it!!
THOU SHALT SO PREACH THAT THE AUDIENCE USES THEIR BIBLE.
They have brought their Bibles to uses, disappoint them.
THOU SHALT PREACH WITH EXCITEMENT.
Your audience will not become more excited than you are.
THOU SHALT NEVER BACK AWAY FROM CONTROVERSIAL SCRIPTURE BECAUSE
IT ISNT POPULAR.
God wants it all preached.
THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER TASK BEFORE THEE THAN TO PREACH THE WORD
IN POWER.
You have not been called to entertain, but preach God’s word.
THOU SHALT PREACH WITH A SMILE.
Seldom does the Holy Spirit use a lead a soul to Christ.
THOU SHALT PREACH FOR DECISIONS.
Every sermon should answer the question, “So what?”
THOU SHALT PREACH EVERY SERMON AS THOUGH IT WERE YOUR LAST.
It’s called preaching with a sense of urgency. There is no place for casual preaching.
Paul said: “. . . it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”
I believe we need strong Biblical preaching for the world today more than ever before.
There are some obvious enemies of preaching today. Every would-be effective preacher should be familiar with them:
TELEVISION.
Far more than 50% of adult Americans watch television in excess of 20 hours per week. They are accustomed to color, cleverness, concise communication, and clarity. When they walk into your church on Sunday morning, the demand for sharp, interesting, and colorful preaching is heightened greatly today.
THE COMPUTER AGE.
Nothing has affected the work place more in our generation than the computer. It dawned on me one day that my audience consisted of hundreds of people whose eyes are on a computer screen during much of their 40-hour work week. They are not accustomed to doing a lot of intense thinking, nor are they accustomed to only LISTENING to communication. They have come to church from a week of SEEING charts, graphs, percentages, cleverly done comparisons and price inventories, all done in living color on a screen! That means my sermon must be extremely relevant, stimulating and motivating. The computer age has put all us preachers on our toes.
THE ENTERTAINMENT BINGE.
The last ten of twelve years have seen a dramatic change in people’s church-going habits. Entertainment has entered the church in the form of traveling “artists” who are “booked” for their “performances.” They draw crowds and standing ovations. No one should ever be opposed to any group who ministers music and drama in churches and arenas, and certainly no one would argue against the fact that there is a message in much of the Christian music today. But if church A is featuring a popular singing group on Sunday evening and Church B in the same town is featuring their able bodied pastor who is preaching, church A will be crowded and church B will probably be lower than usual in attendance. So a new dimension of “competition” is with us and likely to stay for a while.
I believe there is no room for tame, vanilla, generic preaching.
We are up against a supernatural power of evil, and that requires a supernatural message delivered in a supernatural way. If we want people to bleed, we must hemorrhage. That’s why good, expository preaching is much more than just teaching some verses and their meaning for today. Authentic preaching is mouth to ear resuscitation! It is a matter of life and death, it is preaching as a dying man to dying men, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Let it never be done casually. Real Bible preaching is always done with exclamation points and never question marks. People have not come to hear you air you doubts reservations about this and that, but rather to hear a word from the Lord, preached in a major key, not in a minor one. I find myself praying this prayer before “mounting” the pulpit to preach:
O God . . . don’t let the pulpit call me to the sermon . . . let the sermon call me to the pulpit.
Before I break the bread of life, Lord, break me! Wash from heart and lip the iniquity there . . .
I want to preach, yea hemorrhage under the divine anointing. God . . . strip me of all pride . . . all cleverness . . . all showmanship . . . and salesmanship. Deliver me from reliance on suaveness, education, academics, personality, notes, canned quips and celestial cliches.
Let me speak with the humility of Moses, the patience of Job, the wisdom of Paul, the power of
Peter and the authority of Christ. Lord, make my preaching clear, not clever; passionate, not pitiful; urgent, not usual; meaty, not murky.
May it comfort the disturb the comfortable, warn the sinner, mature the saint, give hope to the discouraged, and ready for Heaven the whole audience.
Let self be abased, Christ be exalted, the cross be central and the plea be with passion. May my eyes never be dry. Just now Lord, take me out of myself, usurp anything I’ve planned to say when it’s in the way of YOUR message. Here I am Lord, I’m your vessel! AMEN.
Whenever else may be present in dynamic growing churches today, the preached word is there in power and prominence. Many are highly critical of growing churches who seem to grow because of the preacher. Accusations of “preacher-worshippers” are attached to members of those churches. And to be sure, there is a danger that while the dynamic, Bible-centered preaching of a man draws people to a place and may be the same thing that keeps them there even for years, that somehow their worship and admiration of the man doesn’t graduate on to the Lord as it should. But, is that a reason for a gifted expositor who happens to be God’s prophet for the hour and place, to “cool” his calling, and throttle back his own God-given style just so people won’t come just because of Him? No, because God has consistently used His anointed people at seasons and places. I think of the Moodys, the Whitefields, the Weasleys, the Sundays, the Grahams, plus many other contemporaries whom God has used and is using.
When preaching is restored to its proper place in the church again, we’ll begin to see tremendous growth. The Word still stands as a reminder to every would-be preacher:
. . . preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching (II Tim. 4:2)
The preaching factor cannot be ignored in the local church if growth is to come.
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