Two Kinds of Sermons that Seem Expositional but Really Aren’t
Written by Matthew T. Martens and Theodore D. Martens |
Friday, August 11, 2023
Study the text. Understand its words. Observe the relationship of the words to one another. Consider the structure. But do all of this not as an end itself. Do it in order to get to the point of the text. Only then can you deliver a truly expository sermon that makes the point of the text the point of your sermon in a way that will thoroughly furnish your congregation unto all good works (2 Tim 3:17).
Common in conservative evangelical circles today—certainly among the readers of ministries like 9Marks—is a professed commitment to expository preaching. We say “professed” commitment because our experience over decades as both a pastor and faithful church member, having either delivered or listened to thousands of sermons, has led us to the conclusion that much “expository preaching” does not in fact meet the definition.
Too many sermons focus on the biblical text, but fail to exposit the main point of the scriptural passage under consideration. To be clear, this critique isn’t merely an academic or definitional one. If a sermon fails to unpack the main point of the text at hand, the pastor is failing to preach the whole counsel of God regardless of how throughly the speaker examines the scriptural passage. Such a sermon fails to communicate what God intended to communicate by inspiring that text.
Let’s be more specific. Two kinds of preaching are often confused with expository preaching because of a superficial resemblance: “sequential preaching” and “observational preaching.” We’ll discuss them below. We pray that this discussion will be edifying to preachers as you seek to feed your flocks.
1. Sequential preaching is not necessarily expository preaching.
Many preachers believe they’re engaged in expository preaching simply because they sequentially preach through a particular book of the Bible. While there’s much to commend about this approach, it doesn’t necessarily equate to expository preaching.
For example, a pastor may preach a 16-week series through the book of Romans. That fact by itself would cause many preachers to think they’re doing expository preaching. But it’s not. Whether the sequential preacher is delivering an expository sermon in any given week depends on two things:
- whether the preacher has rightly identified the main point of the week’s assigned passage,
- and whether the sermon then keeps as its focus the main point of the passage.
An example may clarify this point. If, in the third week of the series, the preacher delivers a sermon on Romans 3 that centers on and rightly explains the doctrine of inspiration, then the preacher would not be preaching an expository sermon. Why do we say that? Because the main point of Romans 3 is not the doctrine of inspiration, but rather the fallenness of man. The entire chapter builds to man’s fallenness; Paul surveys the Old Testament and concludes that “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory” (3:23).
To be sure, the doctrine of inspiration is mentioned, but only in passing in verse 2 (“the very words of God,” NIV). Simply put, inspiration is not the main point of Romans 3. Rather, the inspiration of the Old Testament is invoked by Paul to give authoritative weight to his recitation of passages that make his main point.
Furthermore, the main point of Romans 3 is not the unbelief of Israel (vs. 3), the faithfulness of God (vs. 3), the righteousness of God (vs. 5), the coming judgment of the world (vs. 6), or the ways men demonstrate depravity (vs. 13–18). All of those concepts appear in Romans 3 not as ends in themselves, but rather as elements of an argument toward Paul’s main point: we all, Jew and Gentile alike, have a sin problem that we cannot solve.
What distinguishes an expository sermon is not simply that what the preacher is saying is biblically accurate, but that it draws its main truth from the main point of the passage. An expository sermon on Romans 3 requires that the main point of the sermon is the main point—not a sub-point, not peripheral to the main point—of Romans 3.
Of course, there’s value in sequentially preaching through books of the Bible. It helps to ensure that the whole counsel of God is preached and you have “kept nothing back that was profitable for” the congregation (Acts 20:20 KJV). Furthermore, by taking an entire book under study, the preacher is forced to grapple with the flow of the author’s argument throughout. This increases the likelihood that the preacher is rightly identifying the main point of a particular sermon’s text.
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Why Your “Christian” Friends Have Become LGBTQ Allies
Many of us love and fear our friends and family more than we love and fear God. We’re more afraid of becoming enemies with our loved ones than becoming enemies with God.
Some of your supposedly Christian friends have recently said they are members of the LGBTQ community. That’s becoming increasingly common. However, an even bigger number of your supposedly Christian friends have become LGBTQ allies.
You already know that. But do you know why?
There are, of course, several reasons why many professing Christians are embracing LGBTQ ideology. Satan has devised many schemes to lead us into apostasy. With that in mind, although all people who support LGBTQ ideology do so for the same reason: sin—people can commit the same sin from different temptations.
As I’ve alluded to, one of the reasons why many professing Christians have become allies with LGBTQ people is because many of their friends and family have become members of the LGBTQ community.
Studies show that this is statistically the biggest reason why people become LGBTQ affirming. For instance, a 2013 study from Pew Research Center shows that 32% of Americans changed their minds on gay marriage because they “know someone who is homosexual.”
When a loved one says their sexual sins are an intrinsic part of who they are, they’re suggesting that if we do not love their homosexuality or transgenderism—then we do not love them. That is a powerful, manipulative argument that many parents, siblings, and friends do not have courage or integrity to resist.
Many of us love and fear our friends and family more than we love and fear God. We’re more afraid of becoming enemies with our loved ones than becoming enemies with God. Therefore for every person who becomes a member of the LGBTQ community, many more of their friends and family will become LGBTQ allies.
In a sense, familiarity breeds acceptance. Our culture knows that.
In a leaked video about Florida’s Parental Rights In Education bill, an executive producer at Disney said they had a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda.” Since people are more likely to become LGBTQ allies when they know and love others who are members of the LGBTQ community—influential institutions in our culture like Hollywood, mainstream media, social media, and academia have created an agenda to produce favourable LGBTQ representation to make us more accepting of LGBTQ ideology.
Therefore the most popular movies, TV shows, and books today feature characters and storylines designed to normalize LGBTQ sexuality. Knowing this, my wife—Annie Sey—has created a service called Library 4 Littles to help parents protect their children from deceptive books that indoctrinate them.
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What Does It Mean to Abide in Christ?
We are called, as part of the abiding process, to submit to the pruning knife of God in the providences by which He cuts away all disloyalty and sometimes all that is unimportant, in order that we might remain in Christ all the more wholeheartedly.
The exhortation to “abide” has been frequently misunderstood, as though it were a special, mystical, and indefinable experience. But Jesus makes clear that it actually involves a number of concrete realities.
First, union with our Lord depends on His grace. Of course we are actively and personally united to Christ by faith (John 14:12). But faith itself is rooted in the activity of God. It is the Father who, as the divine Gardener, has grafted us into Christ. It is Christ, by His Word, who has cleansed us to fit us for union with Himself (John 15:3). All is sovereign, all is of grace.
Second, union with Christ means being obedient to Him. Abiding involves our response to the teaching of Jesus, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you” (John 15:7). Paul echoes this idea in Colossians 3:16, where he writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” a statement closely related to his parallel exhortation in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit.”Related Posts:
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God’s Lavish Mercy for Sinners
Every Christian has the sure hope of the forgiveness of sin and the resurrection. In Christ the end of your story has already been written, and it is not a tragedy but rather the best of all endings—resurrection from the dead and a life everlasting to glorify God.
Upon hearing the gospel some people think, “I’m not that bad. I don’t need that much mercy.” Other people think they are too bad—too unworthy, too far gone for mercy to reach them. What does the Bible say?
Before the apostle Paul became a Christian, he was a “blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of Christ’s church (1 Timothy 1:13). Yet, Christ’s mercy covered all Paul’s sins and his mercy forgave all Paul’s sins, every last one:This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” of whom I am the worst.1 Timothy 1:15
And so it is true for all who trust in Jesus alone for their salvation. And why can Christ’s mercy perform such wonders? How can he be so merciful? He can because he suffered the full punishment for the sins of his people. As the righteous one, Jesus was nailed to the cursed tree. He was exposed to the reproach of God’s enemies. Jesus lived a perfect life, but in his death he bore in his own flesh the punishment for your sin, so that his mercy might cover all your sin. This is the surpassing glory of Christ’s mercy.
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