The Great need for Biblical Exposition

ex·po·si·tion

1. A systematic interpretation or explanation of a specific topic

2. A statement or rhetorical discourse intended to give information about or an explanation of difficult material.

As you can see from the definitions above exposition is a hard and grinding task but one that I believe to be essential for Church life in every generation.

This weekend just past I was in Bristol with a few mates and it was encouraging when we attended Grace Church Bristol to hear the Pastor say that he was committed to expository preaching. I believe this needs to be true of all Pastors and Preachers, I am learning myself the values of exposition but also what a hard task it is.

Exposition is a task which requires a lot of work. As our first definition states its ‘a systematic interpretation or explanation of a specific topic.’ This means that you have to put in the hard yards so as to be 100% clear about the meaning of a text, the meaning of that text for the people of the day and its relevance to us now. This is by no means easy but it is needed for both individual and Church growth. I believe that Churches need to preach through books of the bible, week by week, with thorough exposition.

It seems that there are so many events within the Church Calender that seem to convince Pastors to deviate from their normal preaching programme. Although it can be a really good thing if you do a thematic sermon for the day or time of year I do believe that you miss out on so much if you keep dipping in and out of the book you are going through.

John Calvin was a man committed to expository preaching and here is what John Piper, another committed to exposition, comments on him:

Calvin’s preaching was of one kind from beginning to end: he preached steadily through book after book of the bible. He never wavered from this approach to preaching for almost twenty-five years of ministry in St. Peter’s church of Geneva – with the exception of a few high festivals and special occasions. On Sunday he took always the New Testament, except for a few Psalms on Sunday afternoons. During the week… it was always the Old Testament. The records show fewer than half a dozen exceptions for the sake of the Christian year. He almost entirely ignored Christmas and Easter in the selection of his texts.

I think this is very refreshing to hear. Its my conviction that the best way to preach is to go through a book of the bible and preach it week by week, this helps the Preacher and the congregation to understand better the big idea of the book. It also helps to be able to test what they hear one week against what they heard the previous week on the preceding passage or the following week on the following passage.

Of course this isn’t to say that there is never a time to do ‘Hot Potato’ sessions and evangelistic sermons; of course they do serve a very valuable purpose within the life of a Church. My concern, rather , is that some have lost the passion to exposit the word of God and I hope that more and more Pastors and Preachers rediscover the joy and value of biblical exposition.

Calvin on Preaching

Here’s a statement made by John Calvin that is as relevant to Pastors and Preachers today as it was when he said it:

‘Let the pastors boldly dare all things by the word of God… Let them constrain all the power, glory, and excellence of the world to give place to and to obey the divine majesty of this word. Let them enjoin everyone by it, from the highest to the lowest. Let them edify the body of Christ. Let them devastate Satan’s reign. Let them pasture the sheep, kill the wolves, instruct and exhort the rebellious. Let them bind and loose thunder and lightning, if necessary, but let them do all according to the word of God.’

– Taken from John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God by John Piper