Why I Love Expositional Preaching

Tomorrow morning I will finish teaching through Genesis 1-3 verse by verse. I am absolutely 1,000 percent committed to the teaching and preaching style known as “Biblical Exposition.” I want to talk about that for a quick minute and then recap the Genesis series.  

Personally I love God’s Word (The Bible). A verse God powerfully used in my life when I was 19 is John 8:31-32, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.’” The work of transformation God did in my life through the application of this verse is what fuels my commitment to expositional preaching as much as anything else.

EXPOSITIONAL PREACHING

I am/we are committed to verse-by-verse Bible Exposition at Fellowship Raleigh. Biblical Exposition is the methodology of preaching and teaching that undisputedly most honors God’s Word. Why not preach the Bible the way God wrote it? Expositional preaching asks “What is the main point of this Biblical text and how can I faithfully preach that point on Sunday Morning?” Here are a few faves of the many benefits: 1- Less creativity required for preacher (i.e. just preach the next passage), 2- Church members leave Sunday with a better grasp on section God’s Word that will serve them well later, 3- Your preaching models good Bible study habits that you long to instill in your church members, 4- When you say hard things it is clear to people that it is God and not you saying the hard thing, 5- As a pastor & preacher when you finish a book of the Bible or a long section (i.e. Genesis 1-3) there is a great sense of accomplishment. Note: The best and purest form of Biblical Exposition is careful verse-by-verse. Some very good preachers who are thought of as expositional habitually ignore key verses and difficult verses in order to do a big picture fly-over of the text at hand and passionately preach their “theology.”

TOPICAL PREACHING

Topical Preaching is where a preacher chooses a topic and seeks to give a Biblical message on that given topic. Topical preaching asks “What  do I want to say? or What do people want to hear? or What is this 5-week series about? … and where can I find some Bible verses to back up my points? Needless to say, these days I am not a huge fan of topical preaching. Personal confession- I used to love and defend topical preaching! Important Note: I do believe there is a time and place to address relevant & urgent topics through topical preaching (we do this at Fellowship Raleigh). However, if topical preaching is the main diet….well…. I’d be bummed.

GENESIS 1-3

Let me just close with a Recap of the texts & man points from our Genesis 1-3 Series. Thanks for reading. And thanks be to God for His Word and all the preachers who will preach it on Sunday morning.

Introduction (1:1-2)
1.     What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us

Days 1-5 of Natural Creation (1:3-23)
2.     A Right Relationship with my Creator and Creation happens through the Gospel

The Creation of Humanity (1:24-31)
3.     The image of God makes us truly human

The Seventh Day Sabbath (2:1-3)
4.     My heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee

Creation of Adam (2:4-14)
5.     An overflowing life is from and to God alone

A Work to do and a Will to obey for Adam (2:15-17)
6.     God’s blueprint should revolutionize my approach to life, particularly manhood

God graciously provides a wife for Adam (2:18-25)
7.     Give praise to God’s glorious grace

Original Sin (3:1-7)
8.     To walk with Jesus I must understand the fall of Adam

Consequences & Curses for Sin (3:8-21)
9.     There are seeds of hope in the brokenness of sin

Banished from Eden (3:22-24)
10.    Sin changes my address to “exile”