Tag Archives: Preaching

Why some fear expository preaching

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Back when I was in college, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the Abilene Christian University Lectureship was in its heyday. Attendance was high, and the quality of teaching was excellent. Churches of Christ across a wide spectrum of our brotherhood supported the event.

It was a Wednesday evening lecture. I think I remember who gave it, but I’m not sure so I won’t name him. But I remember well the concerns he expressed. He felt that churches of Christ were getting soft in many doctrinal areas, and he placed the blame squarely on expository preaching. There were certain vital doctrines, he sustained, that could only be taught via topical sermons.

At that time, I thought to myself: “If it can’t be taught expositorily, it doesn’t need to be taught.” Though I’ve changed my mind on a lot of things over the years, I still feel that sentiment is accurate. If we can’t teach something supporting it with a full text, then maybe we aren’t teaching what the Bible says.

Is that going too far? Some, for example, might point out that some major themes can be present in an entire book, yet not be shown easily from just one passage. Others might argue that it takes many different verses to properly shed the light on a given subject.

What do you think?

Context and topical teaching

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In our discussion on context last week, Scott brought up some interesting questions. He said:

What I wonder is this: when we see the sermons in the Bible (Peter, Stephen, Paul – all in Acts) do we not see topical sermons using scripture from various areas? Is not the very point made – that Paul’s letters have a clear message and should not be broken down into single verses – show that he has a topic, a theme in his writing of that letter? And could not the same imagery be applied in this instance – using certain threads of scripture to knit a complete message?

He also goes on to say that he had been taught that topical preaching was “wrong.” These are issues that I’ve discussed with others over the years of my ministry. Let me offer some observations:

  • I don’t think that topical preaching is wrong. However, I read the other day where a brother said that he typically uses 70 or more verses in every sermon he preaches. It’s hard for me to see how any concept of context can be given around that many verses, though I haven’t actually heard this man preach. Topical preaching has a place, a valid place, in our preaching. In fact, I think churches need a mix of topical and expository preaching. (Apparently expository preaching is playing the bad guy role in contemporary preacher training, much as topical preaching did in my day)
  • I think that topical preaching can be done contextually, sort of a combination of topical and expository. That is, when I’m asked to speak on a topic, I always try to hang that topic on two or three passages that can be looked at in depth.
  • As for the New Testament writers, I believe that they enjoyed a guidance from the Holy Spirit that we don’t. When we start playing cut and paste with what they’ve written, it’s almost like saying that we know better than the Holy Spirit how to address certain topics. To me, an excellent example is Titus chapters 2 and 3. In those chapters, the point is driven home that to spur people on to good works, you need to teach about grace. I don’t know that you arrive at that conclusion by doing a piece by piece study of the text; you’ve got to grab the large chunks.

Before asking for your opinion, I wanted to share one last context story that I happened to remember yesterday. Years ago, I was at a church service where an older brother got up to lead the closing prayer. During the prayer, he said, “As Peter said on the Mount of Transfiguration, ‘It is good that we were here.'” Nothing like quoting something that earned someone a healthy rebuke.

Now I’ll ask. How does topical teaching fit in with the idea of context? Is it legitimate, as Scott says, to take threads from many different places and sew them into one garment?

How Preachers Can Disrupt A Church

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I said yesterday that I would talk a bit more about preachers and congregational dissatisfaction. I’m sure that any preachers that read that were excitedly looking forward to getting dumped on. And I could do that, I guess. But a lot of the problems that come up aren’t the fault of preachers.

For example, so many churches seem to live and die by how exciting the preacher is. Skilled preachers can fill pews; bad preachers can drive them away. I don’t really know how to change that, apart from encouraging preachers to do the best they can. It’s another aspect of how we do church that I don’t find to be healthy. Too much focuses on the assembly, and too much of the assembly focuses on the preacher.

Most preachers wrestle with what one book called “the drum major” tendency. It’s the desire to be up front and leading that often makes them good at what they do; it’s the same desire that can cripple a church.

Much of the health of a congregation has to do with the behind the scenes things that a preacher does. Visiting people is a vital part of a minister’s contribution to a healthy church. Counseling. Studying the Bible with outsiders. So many of these things go unseen, yet are so important.

Anyway, here are some things that I see that a preacher can do that lead to congregational dissatisfaction:

  • Be lazy in study
  • Be unbalanced in preaching, focusing on the same topics time and again
  • Be insensitive with change. All Christians need to be changing and growing. Preachers, however, can be impatient and push congregations to change too much, too fast.
  • Be indifferent to a lack of change
  • Display a sense of entitlement. In most congregations, people naturally reach out to preachers in a loving way. When preachers take that for granted, it hurts a church.
  • Fall prey to one of the three major temptations of preachers: girls, gold and glory. Preachers need to be above reproach in their dealings with women and money. And they need to constantly check their motives to escape the trap of seeking recognition.
  • Join in power struggles within the congregation
  • Follow the fads more than the Lord
  • Preach the truth to a congregation that doesn’t want to hear it
  • Preach the truth in an unloving way

Those are some that come to mind. What else can you think of?

Field Guide to Church Fauna: The Blustery Sloth

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The Blustery Sloth (blabbingus et boringus) is truly a wondrous creature. Blessed with amazing lung capacity, the sloth can literally talk for hours, nonstop. Virtually incapable of other physical activity, the sloth has a great capacity for oratory, mimicking intelligent speech in a most convincing way.

The Blustery Sloth seeks to meet every challenge with vocal strategies; any problem to be solved is greeted with “We should have a class on that” or “A good sermon will fix everything.” Suggestions of physical action are meet with artful filibuster; the sloth is willing to talk about anything, but unwilling to act on anything.

Attempts to force the sloth into action will prove counterproductive. The only successful way to guide this creature to overcome inertia is through gentle prodding and constant example. Praise and understanding go a long way when dealing with this sluggish critter.

OK, so I was wrong…

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bible1I was edified by yesterday’s discussion. It’s what I would love to see happen all the time, not just on this blog, but around the Internet. I saw little to no anger, no name calling, no harsh words. And I was shown to be wrong in something I said! While I don’t enjoy being wrong, I do like to learn. This Kitchen is meant to be a place where one can present “half-baked” thoughts for evaluation, critique and even correction.

Some of the debate centered around form and function, trying to separate what is done from why it is done and accepting the fact that the same thing can be accomplished in more than one way. I still think that today’s sermons are a form of teaching that grew up over the last few centuries; they fulfill the function of teaching God’s Word, but it’s not wholly impossible that the same function could be fulfilled in other ways. If we look at 1 Corinthians 14, there is little there that looks like our traditional preaching, yet its a description of the public teaching that went on during the assembly in Corinth.

I hope we can explore ways in which we can restore a balance to our worship services, rather than making them so sermon centered. That was one of the main things that came out of yesterday’s discussion. We need more focus on the reading of God’s Word, more focus on the Lord’s Supper. I’d like to see more times for interaction: sharing prayer concerns, confessing sin, offering words of encouragement, seeking and giving forgiveness. I fear the unthinking routine that I see myself falling into at times. We get into a rut and, as my high school choir director used to say, “A rut is just a grave with both ends knocked out.”

I like to preach. No, I love to preach. As I’ve said before, I would love for the whole service to be centered around the preacher and the preacher to be me. But I don’t think that’s what the assembly should be. That doesn’t fit what I see in the Bible.

But I’m definitely open to being corrected. :-)

{If you didn’t vote in yesterday’s poll, please go back and do so! }