Expositional Preaching

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

Take Strength

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

~ 2 Timothy 2:1

These strong, simple words can be spiritual adrenaline for us when we need them. They were written by a man who knew what he was talking about, as he himself was in prison. He was writing to a young minister who was also suffering and evidently tempted by doubt, fear, even uncertainty of his call. The older man admonishes him very lovingly to take his share of suffering, take his share of hardship like a good soldier, and to take strength from the grace of God (2 Tim. 2:1 NEB).

Where shall I ever find the strength I need to get through this experience, this ordeal, this day, this week? The answer is Take it! Take it from the grace which is ours already, in Christ Jesus.

"Here it is," He is saying, "Will you have some?"

"Yes, thank You, Lord. I'll take it."

~ Elisabeth Elliot

from A Lamp for My Feet

The Ramban's Letter, Part Five

Today, finally, is the last segment I want to post from this ancient Jewish document.

Today, finally, we see the distinction between Jewish thought and Christian. We've come to a fork in the road; and depending on where you land on this issue, you end up in two very different schools of thought.

The Jewish perspective:

Read this letter at least once a week and neglect none of it. Fulfill it, and in so doing, walk with it forever in the ways of Hashem, may he be blessed, so that you will succeed in all your ways. Thus you will succeed and merit the World to Come which lies hidden away for the righteous.

~ from The Ramban's Letter to His Son

Did you catch it? Do you see how different this thinking is than Christian beliefs?

The Christian perspective:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved...[a few verses later, Paul writes it again]...For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.

~ Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

~ 2 Timothy 1:8-9

Which would you rather have:

"...neglect none of it...then you will succeed and merit the World to Come..."

OR

"...not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace"?

I know myself. I know my weaknesses. I know my tendency to "neglect" what I know to be right. I know my inability to "merit" salvation. Because of that, I gratefully accept the second choice. I cast myself on the mercy of God and say, "Thank You forever for your purpose and grace!"