Here it helps to know a little church history, because wherever systematic expository preaching has been practiced, it has brought great blessing to the church. The technical term for this method is lectio continua, the reading and teaching of consecutive passages of Scripture. One notable example is John Chrysostom, the great preacher of the fourth century, who transformed the city of Constantinople by expounding large sections of the Bible, especially from the New Testament. Or consider Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, who reformed the church primarily through their daily expositions of God’s Word.

There are more recent examples as well. From his pulpit in Aberdeen, William Still influenced an entire generation of Scottish ministers by preaching and teaching through the entire Bible in fifty years. And here in America the late James Montgomery Boice inspired many to become better preachers by publishing substantial expositional commentaries on Genesis, Psalms, John, Romans, and many other books of the Bible.

Advertisement

The point is that systematic Bible exposition is always beneficial in life-changing and culture-transforming ways. And it will remain beneficial as long as there are sinners who need to be saved and sanctified.

The best reason to practice expository preaching is not simply that it works, however, but that it brings glory to God, which ought to be the ultimate purpose for everything we do. Expository preaching does this by making it clear that all spiritual blessing comes from God’s Word, and not from any human being. When a church grows through the plain teaching of God’s Word, it becomes obvious that whatever has been accomplished is not due to the gifts of men, but to the grace of God, who alone deserves all the glory.

The apostle Paul was well aware that preaching would not always be popular. This reality seems to lie behind his exhortation to “be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). Usually this is taken as a comment on Timothy’s own personal circumstances. Whether it is convenient for him or not, he must always be ready to preach at a moment’s notice. However, the word for “season” (kairos) more properly refers to the times in which he lived.

Sometimes preaching seems to be in season; at other times it is out of season, according to popular opinion. But whether it is in season or out of season, Bible exposition is the minister’s God-given responsibility, and he must keep doing what God has told him to do. Preaching is God’s primary and permanent method for converting sinners and teaching them to grow in grace.

It is an awesome responsibility to preach to the glory of God. Consider the charge Paul gave to Timothy: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom . . . preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:1). This is a solemn charge, urgently given with a view to Christ’s Second Coming. This is why a calling to pastoral ministry is such serious business. It is a matter of spiritual life and death. It also explains why it is such a serious error for ministers to abandon their responsibility to preach the Bible. In the final analysis, God will hold us accountable for making God’s Word plain.

On the day of judgment preachers will not be asked where they went to seminary or whether they earned any advanced degrees. They will not need to present membership statistics or submit their annual budgets. It will not matter how popular they were or whether they could make people laugh.

Instead, when they stand before the heavenly tribunal they will be asked, “Did you preach the Word?” Those who followed their own agenda — or even worse, the world’s agenda — will hang their heads in shame. But many humble preachers, who were held in little esteem, will shine in the brightness of their Father’s glory. For in their proclamation of God’s Word they were faithful to the very end. Their preaching was evangelical, doctrinal, and practical. Their Lord will say to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant! . . . Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matt. 25:23).

_____________________

Used by permission of Moody Publisher, Chicago, Illinois. From the book City on a Hill by Philip Graham Ryken. Copyright 2003.

_____________________

Philip Graham Ryken is Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

_____________________

1 David Brooks, Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), quoted in Modern Reformation, January/February 2002, 36.