Biblical exposition does the heavy lifting of building up a church.
Expositional Preaching, ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: [email protected] Free: (888) 543-1030. Used by Permission. p. 12.
God reveals Jesus to people as a consequence of prayer [Lk. 2:27, 37; 3:21-22; 9:18-20, 26-36]. And so, if we really want Jesus to be revealed in our preaching – if we really want to uncover Jesus as the very center of all the Scriptures – then we must begin with prayer in our preparation (David Helm).
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Expositional preaching is empowered preaching that rightfully submits the shape and emphasis of the sermon to the shape and emphasis of a biblical text. In that way it brings out of the text what the Holy Spirit put there…and does not put into the text what the preacher thinks might be there.
Expositional Preaching, ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: [email protected] Free: (888) 543-1030. Used by Permission. p. 13.
You begin by quieting your heart with a simple reading of the text. Then you meditate, perhaps on a single word or phrase from the text, and in so doing intentionally avoid what might be considered an “analytical” approach. In essence, the goal here is to wait for the Spirit’s illumination so that you will arrive at meaning. You wait for Jesus to come calling. Once the word is given, you go on to pray. After all, prayer is dialogue with God. God speaks through his Word and the person speaks through prayer. Eventually, this prayer becomes contemplative prayer, and it gives to us the ability to comprehend deeper theological truths. It sounds wonderfully pious… [However] it substitutes intuition for investigation. It prefers mood and emotion to methodical and reasoned inquiry. It equates your spirit to the Holy Spirit.
Expositional Preaching, ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: [email protected] Free: (888) 543-1030. Used by Permission. p. 31.
While it is true that people are converted and matured through expositional preaching, the word of the gospel must be wedded to the Spirit’s work in order for conviction of sin, regeneration, repentance and faith, and lifelong perseverance to come. Or to put it differently, “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:7)
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If we don’t consider the gospel context of the Bible as a whole, even well-exegeted imperatives turn into moralism. And this fosters a legalistic culture in our churches.
Expositional Preaching, ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: [email protected] Free: (888) 543-1030. Used by Permission. p. 59.
