15 February 2007
Supository…Oops, I Mean, Expository Peaching: Part 1
Every once in a blue moon someone will come up and ask me, Why don’t you do more expository preaching? That comment is usually followed up with something like, I just really like the deeper stuff.
Hmm…
Where to begin? That is the question.
In no particular order…the reasons I do not do more ‘expository’ preaching;
1. The best teacher who ever walked the face of the earth did not teach verse by verse (hint: He is the Son of God?).
2. The second best teacher in the Bible didn’t teach this way either (Paul), neither did the third best or fourth, fifth, sixth…none of them did.
3. The Bible wasn’t written that way in the first place. For example, the apostle Paul’s writings were letters written as you and I might write a letter (minus the inspiration factor), NOT verse by verse (do you write letters verse by verse?).
If you are unsure, see the illustration below.
verse 1: Dear Joe,
Everyone here is doing great! We had a wonderful summer.
verse 2: my boy learned to ride his bike and…
verse 3: my little girl learned to hold her breath under water. She is–
verse 4: really excited about it!
Is it just me? Feels a bit choppy, don’t you think?
The fact is, the verse references were added hundreds of years later in order to make it easier to go right to certain sections of scripture. The intention, however, was never to chop the Bible up into some sort of administrative, tracking manual!
Are the chapter and verse separations bad?
No. They are extremely helpful when used as intended and NOT USED AS THEY WERE NOT INTENDED TO BE USED.
Intended = Easy, quick access to specific sections of scripture.
Not Intended = Do we need to go over this again?
In part 2 of this series I will show you how topical preaching is really the deeper, more rewarding kind of preaching AND how you can do it more, ‘expositorally!’ <-- Is that a word?
It is now.
