2.
Expository Preaching is the Power of the Pastorate because it is Biblically
Faithful.
We
have seen that Paul tells Timothy to preach the Word, and we all know why. Preach
the Word because the Word is divinely wrought. It is God's Word, and what could
be nobler? If there were no other reasons to proclaim His Word other than the
mere fact that the Bible is His Word? that would be enough. The matter, then,
becomes how shall we do it? To "preach" the Word must be to faithfully
communicate that Word (from another world). Expository preaching, properly understood
and properly done, fulfills this mandate.
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Expository
preaching is, as Al Mohler put it in his contribution to Give Praise to God:
A Vision for Reforming Worship: "Expository preaching is that mode
of Christian preaching that takes as its central purpose the presentation and
application of the text of the Bible."4 And if expository
preaching is really exposing the mind of God in a given text and communicating
the mind of God to men and women, then no other methodology will do.
William
Temple was not an expository preacher, though he said enough good things that
we often quote him. But the old Bishop of Canterbury did not believe that God
would communicate His Word propositionally in the Bible because man could not
understand it even if He did. Temple did not believe in the inerrancy and infallibility
of the Bible. Temple did believe that you could understand what he wrote; otherwise,
he wouldn't have written anything, but that is another argument.5
Enough to say, that if we believe that the power for our ministries is the Bible,
as Paul teaches us, then it surely follows that expository preaching is the
only model we should seek in communicating that Word.
As
an adjunct professor who gets to teach preaching every now and then, and who,
as a pastor, gets to mentor younger preachers before sending them to other places
of service, the subject of "the future of expository preaching" in
light of post modernity and post Christian America is a hot topic. I have found
that many are wrestling with the question of whether such communication really
can reach across the widening and ever-changing rivers of modern culture to
reach the hearts of an emerging generation. The realities of the emerging generation
cause them to question expository preaching, and, in fact, have led several
on a journey to "find their voice," as they tell me. I'm happy to
say that many of these with whom I have met have worked through that question
to re-discover the power of expository preaching for this generation.