Subtitle: Why Are Some Churches Spiritually Ill? Maybe it’s the Food….
By food, I mean the analogy
used in scripture indicating the Word of God. Perhaps some spiritual illness we see today can
be traced to the pulpit or to the congregational ambivalence towards the
preached Word. An antidote to spiritual
illness in a church is most always connected to worship and the faithful
exposition of the Word of God.
However, there seems to be a
tendency in some churches to avoid expositional preaching. By expositional preaching I mean that
preaching which begins with the preachers determination to present, explain,
and apply the text of the Bible to his congregation.
As Dr. Al Mohler has stated,
“expository preaching begins with the text and works from the text
to apply its truth to the lives of believers. If this determination and this
commitment are not clear at the outset, something other than expository
preaching will result. The preacher rises in the pulpit to accomplish one
central purpose: to set forth the message and meaning of the biblical
text….Once the meaning of the text is set forth, the preacher moves to
application. Application of biblical truth is a necessary task of expository
preaching.”
T. H. L. Parker (Professor
Emeritus at Oxford, U.K.) describes preaching like this: “Expository preaching
consists in the explanation and application of a passage of Scripture. Without
explanation it is not expository; without application it is not preaching.”
The Q & A portion of the
9Marks website outlines expositional preaching this way:
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.
This means that an
expositional sermon does NOT
1.
Need
to focus on just a verse or two.
2.
Need
to present complex exegetical arguments or endless historical background.
3.
Need
to be dry, lifeless, or removed from people’s lives.
4.
Confuse
the primary point of a passage with any legitimate application of that passage
(that is, use a verse to say what you want to say).
Dr. Mohler again writes, “….in
many churches there is very little reading of the Bible in worship, and sermons
are marked by attention to the congregation’s concerns, not by an adequate
attention to the biblical text. The exposition of the Bible has given way to
the concerns, real or perceived, of the listeners The authority of the Bible is swallowed up in
the imposed authority of congregational concerns.
In many churches, there is
almost no public reading of the Word of God. Worship is filled with music, but
congregations seem disinterested in listening to the reading of the Bible. We
are called to sing in worship, but the congregation cannot live only on the
portions of Scripture that are woven into songs and hymns. Christians need the
ministry of the Word as the Bible is read before the congregation such that
God’s people—young and old, rich and poor, married and unmarried, sick and
well—hear it together. The sermon is to consist of the exposition of the Word
of God, powerfully and faithfully read, explained, and applied. It is not
enough that the sermon take a biblical text as its starting point.
How can so many of today’s
churches demonstrate what can only be described as an impatience with the Word
of God? The biblical formula is clear: the neglect of the Word can only lead to
disaster, disobedience, and death. God rescues his church from error, preserves
his church in truth, and propels his church in witness only by his Word—not by
congregational self-study.”
This may explain why some
Christians and some churches struggle in worship and are therefore spiritually
malnourished.
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