From the latest issue of Home Educating Family magazine:
Expositional preaching in a nutshell is defined best by Mark Dever, founder of Nine Marks Ministries:
An expositional sermon is a sermon that takes the main point of a passage of Scripture, makes it the main point of the sermon, and applies it to life today. In other words, an expositional sermon exposes the meaning of a passage of Scripture and shows its relevance to the lives of one's hearers. That's it.
Why is it important? Expositional preaching is important because God's Word is what convicts, converts, builds up, and sanctifies God's people. Preaching that makes the main point of the text the main point of their sermon makes God's agenda rule the church, not the preacher's...
A sermon about Jesus feeding the five thousand could be used to say, "God will provide for your needs." But that would not be an expositional sermon, because that's not the primary point of the passage. Rather, the point of the passage concerns who Jesus is. "Jesus is someone with the authority of God himself, the authority to create and provide for his people." One application of this text is that Jesus will provide for his people, but the text is most fundamentally about Jesus and who he is. Therefore, an expositional sermon on this passage will make the question of who Jesus is its primary point.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
~ 2 Timothy 2:15
