June 27, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode, your host Pastor Kent is joined by Matt and Jeremy for an in-depth discussion on expository preaching.The conversation begins by defining expository preaching, emphasizing how it ensures the sermon's shape and emphasis are solely derived from the biblical text. They explore the historical and biblical mandate for this approach, drawing from significant passages and examples:2 Timothy 3:16-17 & 4:2: Highlighting Paul's charge to Timothy to "preach the word" and the divine inspiration and profitability of Scripture.1 Timothy 4:13: Underscoring the importance of devoting oneself to the public reading, exhortation, and teaching of the Word.Nehemiah 8: Examining Ezra's public reading and explanation of the Law, demonstrating an Old Testament example of exposition leading to understanding, worship, and obedience.Luke 24:45-47: Discussing how Jesus himself, post-resurrection, opened the minds of his disciples to understand how all the Scriptures speak of him, reinforcing Christ-centered preaching.The discussion also clarifies what expository preaching is not, dispelling misconceptions about verse-by-verse constraints while maintaining a focus on the text's intended meaning. The speakers emphasize that the goal is not merely intellectual understanding but ultimately to lead listeners to worship, obedience, and a deeper grasp of Christ as revealed throughout the entire Bible. The episode concludes by portraying the Sunday service as a "kitchen table" where Christ feeds his people through the faithful proclamation of his Word, strengthening them for the week ahead.This conversation sets the stage for future episodes, particularly focusing on the practical benefits and applications of expository preaching in the life of believers and the church.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
Welcome back to Afterward, a podcast with extended
conversations about topics that matter in life and in ministry.
And for all of the fives and the10s of people that are listening
or watching out there, welcome back.
I'm joined today by Matt and Jeremy.
Again, guys, thanks for being here.
Thank you for having us. You're welcome.
I'm glad to be here. Yeah, and we are today tackling
(00:29):
a topic. So it's an important one guys,
because we, I think, would have this be everyone's experience in
the Christian life. If they're committed to coming
to church, they're going to at some point have a question about
what we're going to be discussing.
And that's with regard to the nature of preaching and the kind
of preaching that we're convinced of and committed to in
(00:50):
this church, which is expositorypreaching.
So we want to take some time today to flesh that out a little
bit. And if we do a second kind of
Part 2 to this, then then go into more depth.
But I think at least one episodehere on what expository
preaching is, what it isn't someof the benefits of exposition
(01:15):
from the pulpit. But then what do we do with what
it isn't? Are we ever allowed to veer into
some other kind of form of preaching?
And then how far does expositionextend?
Is it just in the pulpit and everywhere else in the life of
the church is a free for all, oris it nothing but exposition all
(01:36):
across the life of the church and nothing else is allowed and
so forth? There are other questions too,
no doubt, right? But let's try to get right into
things here. With regard to by the way, I did
think about some jokes that we could start with just to kind of
continue the theme, but I decided against that at the very
last minute. So the the idea of expository
(01:59):
preaching, we have some definitions guys that I think
would be helpful. And so if you have any on hand,
let's start with definitions andthen we should turn to the to
the couple of key texts as well in the scripture to help frame
us, frame us in here. So Jeremy, I think you had maybe
one or two that would be helpful.
Yeah, let me get to it. I wasn't quite there yet, but
(02:22):
I'm working on getting there. But I remember we were talking
too and I'll just mention it here while I'm scrolling about
making this not a seminary class.
So I am pulling stuff up from what we had in seminary.
But we're going to try our best for why the the average listener
should be should know this, you know?
So we'll try not to get too far into the weeds.
(02:45):
So here's one expository preaching is preaching whose
subject matter emerges directly and demonstrably from a passage
of Scripture. In other words, its content and
structure demonstrably reflects what Scripture says and honestly
seeks to explain it or elucidateit is the Word.
Yeah, it's good. There you go.
Elucidate. It's helpful.
(03:06):
I mean, it's it's similar to theword for illumination, right?
That's what we're praying for the Spirit to illumine, give us
light as we look at the Word of God.
John MacArthur would say that exposition is the message
finding its sole source in Scripture, extracted from
Scripture through careful exegesis.
The message preparation correctly interprets Scripture
(03:27):
in its normal sense and its context, and then the message
clearly explains the original God intended meaning of
Scripture. The message applies the
scriptural meaning for today. You're sensing if you're
listening or watching these, allthese definitions coming from
different godly men are basically saying the same thing.
(03:49):
Dave Helm would say that expositional preaching is
empowered preaching that rightfully submits the shape and
emphasis of the sermon to the shape and the emphasis of a
biblical text. I like that that's there's a
clear parallel. Anybody should be able to look
at the text that's being read tobe preached and then listen to
(04:11):
the sermon and say, I see that and that emphasis in the text is
the emphasis of his sermon. So that's, I think, very
helpful. Piper says just to maybe use one
more unless you guys want to throw in another one.
Piper says that expository preaching is expository
exultation, and what he means isby expository, that term, you
(04:36):
better see what you say in the book.
So whatever you say from the book, everybody should be able
to see from the book. That's expository.
And then exultation is you savorwhat you've seen in the book,
and you savor it from the pulpit.
In other words, preaching is worship.
It's not just explanation. It's not a running commentary.
(04:58):
It's not, let me show you all the stuff that I found in my
study. It's expository, drawing out
what's there in a way that explains it, applies it, and
rejoices in it, worships in it, And so praise the Lord for that.
So a lot of good definitions. We could probably share more,
but that's four or five right there.
(05:19):
And I like super low bar. I thought about it in the sense
of if, when someone preaches, ifit's an expositional sermon or
even teaching, I should be able to go home on a Sunday at lunch,
open up my Bible and say I don'tremember everything that the
preacher said. I don't I, I mean, I'm trying to
remember some of his points, buthonestly I don't even remember
all three of them. But I know what this passage
(05:41):
says. I know what this passage is
intended to say, and I have a better sense of my Bible because
of what they said, as opposed toI don't know what the passage
says and I don't know where he got it.
But that was awesome, right? You know, So it's the former.
Yeah, very good. Yeah, I'd hop in to these
definitions are all super helpful.
(06:02):
There's also an element of persuasion too, that you're not
just speaking to fill the air, you're doing it in such a way
that you're persuading the audience into the argument that
you're making from the text. So it's it's shaped, it's
working on your heart. So there's a component of like
the individual preachers gettingworked on, but then they're
persuading the audience into thethe argument that they formed.
(06:25):
I think of like Acts 17 with Paul there.
So he's studying the word and proclaiming it, and he's
persuading as well, so that you do go home and you've been
persuaded into what you think itmeans.
Like you, you believe it. Yes, yes.
Well, even the word expository. The idea is you're exposing
what's there, and because of thework of the Spirit in with the
(06:47):
Word, as the Word is being exposed, the preacher is being
exposed. Right.
And and the mirror of the Word of God is being held up to the
preacher first, and then that should be carried into the
pulpit so that the Word is held up to the people.
Yeah. And, and woe to the preacher who
is not letting the Word do its work before he gets up into the
pulpit to share how the Word should be working on the life of
(07:09):
the people of God. But yeah.
That's why hypocrisy for a preacher is so condemning,
because if you're up there and you're not matching your
message, no one's going to believe it.
Right. And it brings the word of God
into into a bad light. Yeah.
So it's, yeah, it's pretty much a mirror.
Yeah, it's good. A couple of passages.
(07:31):
Do you guys have any passages that come to mind with regard to
the call to preaching? The main one probably you're
thinking of, I'll ramp up there.So Second Timothy, same book
though Second Timothy 2:15 is the call from Paul to Timothy to
rightfully handle the word of truth.
(07:55):
Let. Me get there to rightfully
handle the word of truth and so not just understand it generally
and just let your character and let your experience talk.
You handle the word well, Timothy.
There's an even stronger call, though.
You guys did, Yeah. I mean, you kind of progress
through Second Timothy, where Paul's kind of in his last
(08:16):
words. So he's very strong.
And I'll progress to Second Timothy 4, where we're going.
But he's giving you reasons why it's so important to let
Scripture shine because he goes to 316 and 17, which we all
know. But that Scripture is not just a
book like any other book. It's inspired by God, profitable
for teaching and for a proof, for correction and training
(08:36):
righteous so that the man of Godmay be adequate, equipped for
every good work. So what you're opening and
proclaiming is not just like a regular book, it's inspired by
God. It's built for teaching and
making a change at the heart level.
Yeah, that's really good. Yeah.
I was even dipping backwards even a little bit further with
Paul's first letter to Timothy where he says, until I come
(08:58):
devote yourself Timothy to the public reading of the Scripture,
to exhortation and teaching. And so there's the the the
pulpit work, right? There is, is described in a
single verse, right? Read the Scripture, exhort from
it and instruct from it. And so that really is the the,
the kind of the component parts of exposition, all of it.
(09:18):
Of course, the the public ministry of the word is about
the word. And yeah, so that that's
helpful. And then it comes up to one of
the last imperatives that Paul would ever leave with Timothy
and second Timothy chapter 4. And you see how it's so sober
minded. I mean, This is why the call to
preach is a sobering task. It's a it's a mighty task.
(09:39):
It's a humbling task. But I charge you in the presence
of God and of Christ Jesus. And then this reminder from Paul
about who Jesus is in light of the command that's coming, who
is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and
his Kingdom. Preach the word, be ready in
season and out of season, reprove with it, rebuke with it,
exhort with it with complete patience and teaching.
(10:03):
And the reason why is because people are not going to want to
want that kind of teaching. We have to be able to continue
to contend for the simple proclamation of the word of God.
And so, and then really, I mean,in a lot of ways, the rest of
the letter, Paul's last words are just kind of, you know,
concluding words. There's this is kind of the
climax of Paul's last words to Timothy by way of imperative.
(10:26):
And so, so it is a strong, if you could say final word from
the apostle Paul to the one he'sentrusting the ministry to with
Timothy. So there really is the call.
I think if we were to to have someone ask us like, hey, why do
you guys preach like this? We'd say because we desire to
preach the Word and that is we think, bound up in Paul's final
(10:48):
call to to Timothy and the entrusting of the ministry from
one generation to the next. Yeah.
Kent, you had been sharing with us some examples too of like
where do you? So that's the call.
But what does it look like? Is there A lot of us would
think, oh, that's a New Testament thing, but it's
actually grounded in the Old Testament, right?
Yeah. Do you have any thoughts on that
or where you would go to just give an example?
(11:09):
For sure, I think you have a lotof if you, if you were to read
through the first part of the Bible in the, in the Pentateuch,
the first five books, you find Moses frequently appealing back
to hear the words of the law. And that's what that was their
Bible, right. So hear the words of the Bible.
You need to hear it and they would read it with regularity so
that it could be heard. The, the, the, I think maybe one
(11:31):
of the greatest examples in the Old Testament of what exposition
is, is actually remarkably in one of the high points of the
Old Testament spiritually, like maybe what you could call a
revival or an awakening in Nehemiah chapter 8 and in
Nehemiah chapter 8. It's actually not about
Nehemiah. It's about Ezra the scribe.
(11:51):
And here's what is said there inverse one.
All the people who had come backfrom exile back into Jerusalem,
back to Judah, all the people gathered is one man into the
square before the Watergate. And they told Ezra the scribe to
bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had
commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the
law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could
(12:13):
understand what they heard. So there's a, there's an idea
here that like the reason why they're gathering is to
understand God's word right on the first day of the 7th month.
And Ezra verse 3 read from it facing the square before the
Watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of
the men and the women and those who could understand.
So here again, like it's becoming very clear.
(12:34):
Why are the people of God gathering?
They're gathering to hear and understand, and the ears of all
the people were attentive to thebook of the law.
This is going to get into another episode that we want to
do on what does it mean to be attentive to the God's Word when
it's being opened? Verse 4, Ezra, the scribes stood
on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose.
(12:55):
So he's standing up. Verse 5, he opens the book in
the sight of all the people and he opened it as all the people
stood. Verse 6, Ezra blesses the Lord,
the great God, and all the people answered Amen, Amen,
lifting up their hands and then they bowed and then they
worshipped. So the posture isn't as
significant as the the inner disposition of the heart.
(13:16):
There's worship going on here asthe preaching is happening.
There's prayer going on as preaching is happening.
And so we would say like, that'sthat's a lot of the reason why
even here, but into the New Testament, why we do want to
pause and pray before the word is preached.
It's a, it's a pattern and it's a, it's a well worn pattern in
the history of the church too, that prayer and preaching go
(13:38):
together. And then in verse 8, actually,
I'm sorry, verse 7, there's people that are helping as this
is going on in the worship service.
You could say they all these different Levites help the
people to understand the law while the people remained in
their places. They read from the book, from
the law of God clearly, and theygave the sense of it so that the
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people understood the reading. I think that is exactly what
we're trying to do that that is Nehemiah 8 and specifically
maybe just verse 8, although there's a group that are doing
this. They're reading from the book
clearly to give the sense so that people understood what they
were hearing, what was being read.
(14:20):
And the immediate result of that, by the way, guys, is this
amazing confession that this, this celebration in chapter 8,
the Feast of Booths is celebrated.
So there's a response in worshipand obedience, and then there's
a response of confession and fresh commitment to God, Chapter
9. And so isn't that what we're
(14:40):
hoping for? I mean, it isn't to me, this is
an example of it's not, you know, Lord's Day by Lord's Day.
I understand that. But it's an example of when the
word is opened and the, and the word is explained and people
understand they long to worship and obey.
And that's what we're trying to do, I think, on Sunday.
Does that make sense? Drives it all the way through to
(15:03):
application, right? It's not just understanding what
the word says, it's understanding it to reach the
affections. I this ties in and my mind
started going to about how you'll say, and I think you do a
good job with this about making the, your tone as a preacher be
the same or match the tone of the text.
(15:24):
And again, it all goes into me as a listener.
You know, you're preaching week after week.
I'm listening. I want to know, I want to
understand the word of God and Iwant to come away knowing my
Bible better. And so understanding that you
are not trying to just capture my attention because you think
XYZ. But no, no, you're, you're doing
what you're doing on a Sunday morning behind the pulpit
(15:44):
because you're trying to do everything you can to bring this
point across the bear all the way through to application of my
own life. So in that sense, you have like
a there's a sense of anticipation as the listener.
The. Word of God is coming to bear in
my life or I wanted to. Yes, Amen.
Yeah, totally. Well, and and I hope what we're
(16:04):
seeing here is Ezra had zero interest in his own agenda,
right. I mean, he was not at all
concerned with what he was passionate about, what he, what
he, his vision was for the church or what he thinks we
should be about, you know, as North Creek or whatever.
No, no, he there's no concern about what he thinks.
His job is to open the book, read, explain and apply.
(16:27):
That's it. I mean, I think we have to be
careful with so many different churches.
And this gets into a little bit of what exposition isn't, but,
but we have to be careful to make sure that exposition, the
beauty of it, the benefit of it is it allows God to drive the
agenda. The Spirit of God is the one who
is casting the vision for the church because it's directly
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derived from the next passage up.
And so I think that that's a significant benefit in good
conscience. All of us at this table can say,
and we're the ones that, you know, fill the pulpit more than
anybody else. That's not because we're
amazing. It's because that's what we've
been appointed to right and entrusted with by God.
But but our job is not to set the agenda ourselves.
(17:11):
Our job is to stand up and let God set the agenda and get out
of the way. Yeah, because the the power is
not and how great an oratory youare, the power is in the content
of the word. And so you're just trying to
display that. It doesn't mean that you don't
think through your words and howto present them, right.
It doesn't, it doesn't mean that, but what it means is you
(17:31):
can be humble because you know it's not of you, it's of the
Lord. So it removes the, the
temptation of a public speaker to be prideful when you go in
like, hey, it's actually the Lord's work.
It's God's Word doing the work and I'm just presenting it.
It gives us a balanced diet too.Speaking of benefits, you know,
(17:53):
and it removes it from you. So let me bring those together.
Like so if it's a if it's judgement or something like
that, I mean, who's going to go pick like, well, let's do
judgement this Sunday. Let me let me bring some fire
and brimstone, you know, so the word forces you.
I'm looking at you, Kent, to bring that because that's Next
up in the in the passage. And so on the one hand, it's not
like, why is Kent so angry? It's like, no, no, no, this is
(18:15):
from the passage. So it disconnects it from you.
And it helps me to hear the wordof God.
But it also, over time, it's addressing unfelt needs.
And like I said, it just gives you a balanced diet over time.
And that's, that's what I want. That's what I need, Yeah.
One thing I was going to just bring here, and I don't know if
this is the right spot to bring or not, but there isn't a focus
(18:37):
to the whole of Scriptures whichcomes out in preaching, right,
which is Christ and him crucified.
And so you're providing this balance, but it's in light of
what Christ has done, right? You can get into like we're in
Isaiah right now and you're rolling through judgement, but
there's in the background this crystallogic hope that you know,
is sitting there both in the present and in the future and
(19:00):
which happens a lot in Isaiah. And so I think there's examples
even of why we should do that and not just preach, but we're
preaching with a focus. There's a centeredness to the
preaching. It's not just everywhere and and
anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's true because of the the nature of the Scriptures showing
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us who we are, right, as sinnersin desperate need of salvation.
And the only means of salvation is the Savior.
And so how can we open the Word to sinners and not address the
Savior? And of course Jesus says as much
immediately upon his resurrection, right?
He says, man, O foolish ones andslow of hard to believe all that
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the the prophets have said concerning me.
And then in Luke 24, he opens upand he shares that.
And I don't know if you have that opened.
I think it might be helpful justto access that and read it.
Yeah, it's helpful because he covers the genres too.
Like if you're tempted to think of certain parts of Scripture,
don't get to Christ or they're. Whatever Christ ruins that so
(20:03):
obliterates that concept becausehe says, and on the road to
Emmaus, was it not necessary forthe Christ to suffer these
things and enter into his glory talking to the two men he's
walking with and says, then beginning with Moses and with
all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning
himself and all the Scriptures. And then they respond knowing
like, oh, this is this is Christthat later.
(20:25):
And so he's walking through like, which would be the
sweetest sermon ever. Oh man.
Christ walking all the way through from the Pentateuch, all
the way up to where he was at and what had been revealed in
the Word, and explaining himselfso.
Yeah, Amen. Yeah.
I don't know if you had anythingto add there, Jeremy, with
regard to that. Yeah, he I was caught with or
(20:46):
looking at verse 45 here right now.
He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
So when he goes back through hisBible to talk about how it
showed how Christ is in that, not how it makes him think of
Christ or how you might get to Christ, but how it's Speaking of
him in verse 45. I just think it's I love the
wording. He opened their minds to
(21:07):
understand the Scriptures and soit's not new.
It's he's basically saying is what he said all along in his in
his earthly life. And have you not read It's
there. And so here when he's giving his
the sermon of all sermons, he's helping them to understand what
was already written, right? Jesus was doing some expository
(21:30):
preaching right there. So.
Yeah, exactly right. And there's that word understand
again, right. That helps people see with with
minds open supernaturally by theSpirit what the point of the
passage or what the point of thetext or what the point of the
Scripture is about, which is to point to him.
And we could talk about the mechanics of that.
I don't think that that is probably more for a seminar
classroom than it is for a podcast.
(21:52):
But there are different ways that, you know, from different
places in the Scripture. There are ways that to be able
to proclaim Christ that are moreconsistent than other ways.
But yeah, certainly we would want to say that ideally week to
week, Sunday to Sunday, you're, you're never moving far away
from Christ, no matter where youare in the Scriptures, because
(22:12):
the Scriptures speak of him. Yeah.
And that's what he said. So he left us that instruction.
Yeah. So that's helpful as a focus.
So, Matt, good job bringing thatup.
Can I ask you, unless you're moving on from what it isn't or
is and isn't, can you give a little bit more clarity on what
does that mean? Does that mean every single
verse? Does it mean every single word?
(22:33):
Does it mean someone's not doingexpository preaching if they're
in this passage this week and then in this passage next week?
So can you maybe bring some clarity in your mind?
Yeah, I think, I think if you were to look at the text in its
context, wherever you are in your church with preaching, if
you're coming to church on Sunday, Sunday by Sunday, you
(22:56):
would have an anticipation that something in Isaiah is going to
be, is going to be Speaking of the Savior.
And it might not be always connected to just the cross,
just the resurrection. It it might be just connected.
Like I think I even mentioned this recently, Isaiah 7, right?
The virgin birth passage, you would not be wrong and you would
(23:18):
be preaching Christ faithfully and the gospel to run Isaiah 7
to Matthew 1 about the virgin birth of Christ.
Do you need to go from there then and run through Matthew to
get to the cross? I mean, you're certainly free
to, but I think what we want to do is when Jesus says they all
speak of me, all the scriptures speak of me, then I, I think
we're, we're good to make that connection from in this example,
(23:43):
which is a simple one, there aremuch harder passages to get to
Christ to but Isaiah 7, the virgin birth of Isaiah and then
the passage of Matthew won the fulfilment.
And so I would expect that, you know, maybe not every single
verse, maybe not every single paragraph, but over time, you're
not going to move too far from Sunday to Sunday, sermon to
(24:04):
sermon without hearing Christ being proclaimed, preached, and
without the gospel coming to bear.
The death and the resurrection of Christ are never far away in
the Scripture, right. If you preach the Scripture
faithfully, that's easier in theNew Testament, obviously, than
in the Old. But there are reliable ways that
you should be hearing the preacher, even from the Old
(24:24):
Testament, preach Christ. Yeah.
By the way, can I just say another thing too?
And, and maybe this is where we can end and we can maybe pick
up, I think some, some things that expository preaching isn't.
I do think it'd be helpful to talk more about benefits and
then where, how far out does this extend into my life?
I think that'd be helpful for people listening or watching,
(24:45):
But I, I would just let the listeners know and the people
who are watching, when people come to our church and, and, and
I meet them in the lobby and they're new, I, and they asked
me like, what's this church about?
I will frequently start with, there's a lot of things that
this church is about, but the thing that we gather for right
(25:05):
now that you're either walking into service to to receive or
walking out of having received is that Christ is feeding his
people. And so I use the image of the
worship service as the kitchen table, meaning this is the place
we all gather and take a seat atthe table.
And Christ himself is leading and we are in our singing and in
our praying. We're speaking to Christ, We're
(25:28):
speaking to God. And then in the preaching he's
speaking to his people and he's also feeding his people with his
with his word. I take that from Romans 10
where, you know, how can they hear without a preacher?
How how can anyone preach? Not unless they're sent, You
know, that whole passage and it says at the end of faith comes
by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
(25:49):
In other words, this is not justthe word of God, it's the word
of Christ. It all points to him and it's
actually somehow it all belongs to him.
And so so when the word is beingproclaimed, when exposition is
being done, it's not the preacher speaking ultimately,
it's Christ speaking to his people directly in in some way
that we're not told. We do trust by faith that the
(26:09):
shepherd, the Good Shepherd is shepherding his sheep directly.
If if the word is being brought to bear faithfully.
And so I encourage our people like this is this is the meal
that you need for this week. It might not change your life
forever, but it might, it might change your life this week and
(26:30):
and you come back next Sunday tobe fed again by the Savior.
And week after week you're strengthened, sanctified in the
Christian life. So I just want you guys to know
that's in my mind, if there's a picture of what we're trying to
accomplish. If, if there's an image of
what's happening in the worship service and what is happening
specifically in the message as the word is being exposed, it's
(26:51):
being brought to light and then driven home.
I think, I think it's that I think it's the kitchen table.
Like come take a seat at the table and share all the reasons
why you love the Savior and thenlet him minister his word to you
and you leave strengthened for the next week until you need to
come back because you're hungry again for more of Christ
speaking to you. So I think to keep it really
simple. That's the the glory and the
(27:13):
simplicity of expository preaching.
There's a lot more to say, guys,and and I know that we would
want to spend another time just maybe being a little bit more
practical, not just definitionaland categorical and you know,
maybe scriptural. We want to try to get into some
more application. Let's save that for next time.
But thank you guys so much for cracking this open.
This is a really important topic.
(27:35):
So join us again next time as wedo a follow up episode on how we
can benefit from expository preaching on the next episode of
Afterward, a podcast with extended conversations about
topics that matter in life and ministry.
Thanks guys. Thank you.
Welcome back to Afterward, a podcast with extended
conversations about topics that matter in life and in ministry.
And for all of the fives and the10s of people that are listening
or watching out there, welcome back.
I'm joined today by Matt and Jeremy.
Again, guys, thanks for being here.
Thank you for having us. You're welcome.
I'm glad to be here. Yeah, and we are today tackling
(00:29):
a topic. So it's an important one guys,
because we, I think, would have this be everyone's experience in
the Christian life. If they're committed to coming
to church, they're going to at some point have a question about
what we're going to be discussing.
And that's with regard to the nature of preaching and the kind
of preaching that we're convinced of and committed to in
(00:50):
this church, which is expositorypreaching.
So we want to take some time today to flesh that out a little
bit. And if we do a second kind of
Part 2 to this, then then go into more depth.
But I think at least one episodehere on what expository
preaching is, what it isn't someof the benefits of exposition
(01:15):
from the pulpit. But then what do we do with what
it isn't? Are we ever allowed to veer into
some other kind of form of preaching?
And then how far does expositionextend?
Is it just in the pulpit and everywhere else in the life of
the church is a free for all, oris it nothing but exposition all
(01:36):
across the life of the church and nothing else is allowed and
so forth? There are other questions too,
no doubt, right? But let's try to get right into
things here. With regard to by the way, I did
think about some jokes that we could start with just to kind of
continue the theme, but I decided against that at the very
last minute. So the the idea of expository
(01:59):
preaching, we have some definitions guys that I think
would be helpful. And so if you have any on hand,
let's start with definitions andthen we should turn to the to
the couple of key texts as well in the scripture to help frame
us, frame us in here. So Jeremy, I think you had maybe
one or two that would be helpful.
Yeah, let me get to it. I wasn't quite there yet, but
(02:22):
I'm working on getting there. But I remember we were talking
too and I'll just mention it here while I'm scrolling about
making this not a seminary class.
So I am pulling stuff up from what we had in seminary.
But we're going to try our best for why the the average listener
should be should know this, you know?
So we'll try not to get too far into the weeds.
(02:45):
So here's one expository preaching is preaching whose
subject matter emerges directly and demonstrably from a passage
of Scripture. In other words, its content and
structure demonstrably reflects what Scripture says and honestly
seeks to explain it or elucidateit is the Word.
Yeah, it's good. There you go.
Elucidate. It's helpful.
(03:06):
I mean, it's it's similar to theword for illumination, right?
That's what we're praying for the Spirit to illumine, give us
light as we look at the Word of God.
John MacArthur would say that exposition is the message
finding its sole source in Scripture, extracted from
Scripture through careful exegesis.
The message preparation correctly interprets Scripture
(03:27):
in its normal sense and its context, and then the message
clearly explains the original God intended meaning of
Scripture. The message applies the
scriptural meaning for today. You're sensing if you're
listening or watching these, allthese definitions coming from
different godly men are basically saying the same thing.
(03:49):
Dave Helm would say that expositional preaching is
empowered preaching that rightfully submits the shape and
emphasis of the sermon to the shape and the emphasis of a
biblical text. I like that that's there's a
clear parallel. Anybody should be able to look
at the text that's being read tobe preached and then listen to
(04:11):
the sermon and say, I see that and that emphasis in the text is
the emphasis of his sermon. So that's, I think, very
helpful. Piper says just to maybe use one
more unless you guys want to throw in another one.
Piper says that expository preaching is expository
exultation, and what he means isby expository, that term, you
(04:36):
better see what you say in the book.
So whatever you say from the book, everybody should be able
to see from the book. That's expository.
And then exultation is you savorwhat you've seen in the book,
and you savor it from the pulpit.
In other words, preaching is worship.
It's not just explanation. It's not a running commentary.
(04:58):
It's not, let me show you all the stuff that I found in my
study. It's expository, drawing out
what's there in a way that explains it, applies it, and
rejoices in it, worships in it, And so praise the Lord for that.
So a lot of good definitions. We could probably share more,
but that's four or five right there.
(05:19):
And I like super low bar. I thought about it in the sense
of if, when someone preaches, ifit's an expositional sermon or
even teaching, I should be able to go home on a Sunday at lunch,
open up my Bible and say I don'tremember everything that the
preacher said. I don't I, I mean, I'm trying to
remember some of his points, buthonestly I don't even remember
all three of them. But I know what this passage
(05:41):
says. I know what this passage is
intended to say, and I have a better sense of my Bible because
of what they said, as opposed toI don't know what the passage
says and I don't know where he got it.
But that was awesome, right? You know, So it's the former.
Yeah, very good. Yeah, I'd hop in to these
definitions are all super helpful.
(06:02):
There's also an element of persuasion too, that you're not
just speaking to fill the air, you're doing it in such a way
that you're persuading the audience into the argument that
you're making from the text. So it's it's shaped, it's
working on your heart. So there's a component of like
the individual preachers gettingworked on, but then they're
persuading the audience into thethe argument that they formed.
(06:25):
I think of like Acts 17 with Paul there.
So he's studying the word and proclaiming it, and he's
persuading as well, so that you do go home and you've been
persuaded into what you think itmeans.
Like you, you believe it. Yes, yes.
Well, even the word expository. The idea is you're exposing
what's there, and because of thework of the Spirit in with the
(06:47):
Word, as the Word is being exposed, the preacher is being
exposed. Right.
And and the mirror of the Word of God is being held up to the
preacher first, and then that should be carried into the
pulpit so that the Word is held up to the people.
Yeah. And, and woe to the preacher who
is not letting the Word do its work before he gets up into the
pulpit to share how the Word should be working on the life of
(07:09):
the people of God. But yeah.
That's why hypocrisy for a preacher is so condemning,
because if you're up there and you're not matching your
message, no one's going to believe it.
Right. And it brings the word of God
into into a bad light. Yeah.
So it's, yeah, it's pretty much a mirror.
Yeah, it's good. A couple of passages.
(07:31):
Do you guys have any passages that come to mind with regard to
the call to preaching? The main one probably you're
thinking of, I'll ramp up there.So Second Timothy, same book
though Second Timothy 2:15 is the call from Paul to Timothy to
rightfully handle the word of truth.
(07:55):
Let. Me get there to rightfully
handle the word of truth and so not just understand it generally
and just let your character and let your experience talk.
You handle the word well, Timothy.
There's an even stronger call, though.
You guys did, Yeah. I mean, you kind of progress
through Second Timothy, where Paul's kind of in his last
(08:16):
words. So he's very strong.
And I'll progress to Second Timothy 4, where we're going.
But he's giving you reasons why it's so important to let
Scripture shine because he goes to 316 and 17, which we all
know. But that Scripture is not just a
book like any other book. It's inspired by God, profitable
for teaching and for a proof, for correction and training
(08:36):
righteous so that the man of Godmay be adequate, equipped for
every good work. So what you're opening and
proclaiming is not just like a regular book, it's inspired by
God. It's built for teaching and
making a change at the heart level.
Yeah, that's really good. Yeah.
I was even dipping backwards even a little bit further with
Paul's first letter to Timothy where he says, until I come
(08:58):
devote yourself Timothy to the public reading of the Scripture,
to exhortation and teaching. And so there's the the the
pulpit work, right? There is, is described in a
single verse, right? Read the Scripture, exhort from
it and instruct from it. And so that really is the the,
the kind of the component parts of exposition, all of it.
(09:18):
Of course, the the public ministry of the word is about
the word. And yeah, so that that's
helpful. And then it comes up to one of
the last imperatives that Paul would ever leave with Timothy
and second Timothy chapter 4. And you see how it's so sober
minded. I mean, This is why the call to
preach is a sobering task. It's a it's a mighty task.
(09:39):
It's a humbling task. But I charge you in the presence
of God and of Christ Jesus. And then this reminder from Paul
about who Jesus is in light of the command that's coming, who
is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and
his Kingdom. Preach the word, be ready in
season and out of season, reprove with it, rebuke with it,
exhort with it with complete patience and teaching.
(10:03):
And the reason why is because people are not going to want to
want that kind of teaching. We have to be able to continue
to contend for the simple proclamation of the word of God.
And so, and then really, I mean,in a lot of ways, the rest of
the letter, Paul's last words are just kind of, you know,
concluding words. There's this is kind of the
climax of Paul's last words to Timothy by way of imperative.
(10:26):
And so, so it is a strong, if you could say final word from
the apostle Paul to the one he'sentrusting the ministry to with
Timothy. So there really is the call.
I think if we were to to have someone ask us like, hey, why do
you guys preach like this? We'd say because we desire to
preach the Word and that is we think, bound up in Paul's final
(10:48):
call to to Timothy and the entrusting of the ministry from
one generation to the next. Yeah.
Kent, you had been sharing with us some examples too of like
where do you? So that's the call.
But what does it look like? Is there A lot of us would
think, oh, that's a New Testament thing, but it's
actually grounded in the Old Testament, right?
Yeah. Do you have any thoughts on that
or where you would go to just give an example?
(11:09):
For sure, I think you have a lotof if you, if you were to read
through the first part of the Bible in the, in the Pentateuch,
the first five books, you find Moses frequently appealing back
to hear the words of the law. And that's what that was their
Bible, right. So hear the words of the Bible.
You need to hear it and they would read it with regularity so
that it could be heard. The, the, the, I think maybe one
(11:31):
of the greatest examples in the Old Testament of what exposition
is, is actually remarkably in one of the high points of the
Old Testament spiritually, like maybe what you could call a
revival or an awakening in Nehemiah chapter 8 and in
Nehemiah chapter 8. It's actually not about
Nehemiah. It's about Ezra the scribe.
(11:51):
And here's what is said there inverse one.
All the people who had come backfrom exile back into Jerusalem,
back to Judah, all the people gathered is one man into the
square before the Watergate. And they told Ezra the scribe to
bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had
commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the
law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could
(12:13):
understand what they heard. So there's a, there's an idea
here that like the reason why they're gathering is to
understand God's word right on the first day of the 7th month.
And Ezra verse 3 read from it facing the square before the
Watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of
the men and the women and those who could understand.
So here again, like it's becoming very clear.
(12:34):
Why are the people of God gathering?
They're gathering to hear and understand, and the ears of all
the people were attentive to thebook of the law.
This is going to get into another episode that we want to
do on what does it mean to be attentive to the God's Word when
it's being opened? Verse 4, Ezra, the scribes stood
on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose.
(12:55):
So he's standing up. Verse 5, he opens the book in
the sight of all the people and he opened it as all the people
stood. Verse 6, Ezra blesses the Lord,
the great God, and all the people answered Amen, Amen,
lifting up their hands and then they bowed and then they
worshipped. So the posture isn't as
significant as the the inner disposition of the heart.
(13:16):
There's worship going on here asthe preaching is happening.
There's prayer going on as preaching is happening.
And so we would say like, that'sthat's a lot of the reason why
even here, but into the New Testament, why we do want to
pause and pray before the word is preached.
It's a, it's a pattern and it's a, it's a well worn pattern in
the history of the church too, that prayer and preaching go
(13:38):
together. And then in verse 8, actually,
I'm sorry, verse 7, there's people that are helping as this
is going on in the worship service.
You could say they all these different Levites help the
people to understand the law while the people remained in
their places. They read from the book, from
the law of God clearly, and theygave the sense of it so that the
(13:59):
people understood the reading. I think that is exactly what
we're trying to do that that is Nehemiah 8 and specifically
maybe just verse 8, although there's a group that are doing
this. They're reading from the book
clearly to give the sense so that people understood what they
were hearing, what was being read.
(14:20):
And the immediate result of that, by the way, guys, is this
amazing confession that this, this celebration in chapter 8,
the Feast of Booths is celebrated.
So there's a response in worshipand obedience, and then there's
a response of confession and fresh commitment to God, Chapter
9. And so isn't that what we're
(14:40):
hoping for? I mean, it isn't to me, this is
an example of it's not, you know, Lord's Day by Lord's Day.
I understand that. But it's an example of when the
word is opened and the, and the word is explained and people
understand they long to worship and obey.
And that's what we're trying to do, I think, on Sunday.
Does that make sense? Drives it all the way through to
(15:03):
application, right? It's not just understanding what
the word says, it's understanding it to reach the
affections. I this ties in and my mind
started going to about how you'll say, and I think you do a
good job with this about making the, your tone as a preacher be
the same or match the tone of the text.
(15:24):
And again, it all goes into me as a listener.
You know, you're preaching week after week.
I'm listening. I want to know, I want to
understand the word of God and Iwant to come away knowing my
Bible better. And so understanding that you
are not trying to just capture my attention because you think
XYZ. But no, no, you're, you're doing
what you're doing on a Sunday morning behind the pulpit
(15:44):
because you're trying to do everything you can to bring this
point across the bear all the way through to application of my
own life. So in that sense, you have like
a there's a sense of anticipation as the listener.
The. Word of God is coming to bear in
my life or I wanted to. Yes, Amen.
Yeah, totally. Well, and and I hope what we're
(16:04):
seeing here is Ezra had zero interest in his own agenda,
right. I mean, he was not at all
concerned with what he was passionate about, what he, what
he, his vision was for the church or what he thinks we
should be about, you know, as North Creek or whatever.
No, no, he there's no concern about what he thinks.
His job is to open the book, read, explain and apply.
(16:27):
That's it. I mean, I think we have to be
careful with so many different churches.
And this gets into a little bit of what exposition isn't, but,
but we have to be careful to make sure that exposition, the
beauty of it, the benefit of it is it allows God to drive the
agenda. The Spirit of God is the one who
is casting the vision for the church because it's directly
(16:50):
derived from the next passage up.
And so I think that that's a significant benefit in good
conscience. All of us at this table can say,
and we're the ones that, you know, fill the pulpit more than
anybody else. That's not because we're
amazing. It's because that's what we've
been appointed to right and entrusted with by God.
But but our job is not to set the agenda ourselves.
(17:11):
Our job is to stand up and let God set the agenda and get out
of the way. Yeah, because the the power is
not and how great an oratory youare, the power is in the content
of the word. And so you're just trying to
display that. It doesn't mean that you don't
think through your words and howto present them, right.
It doesn't, it doesn't mean that, but what it means is you
(17:31):
can be humble because you know it's not of you, it's of the
Lord. So it removes the, the
temptation of a public speaker to be prideful when you go in
like, hey, it's actually the Lord's work.
It's God's Word doing the work and I'm just presenting it.
It gives us a balanced diet too.Speaking of benefits, you know,
(17:53):
and it removes it from you. So let me bring those together.
Like so if it's a if it's judgement or something like
that, I mean, who's going to go pick like, well, let's do
judgement this Sunday. Let me let me bring some fire
and brimstone, you know, so the word forces you.
I'm looking at you, Kent, to bring that because that's Next
up in the in the passage. And so on the one hand, it's not
like, why is Kent so angry? It's like, no, no, no, this is
(18:15):
from the passage. So it disconnects it from you.
And it helps me to hear the wordof God.
But it also, over time, it's addressing unfelt needs.
And like I said, it just gives you a balanced diet over time.
And that's, that's what I want. That's what I need, Yeah.
One thing I was going to just bring here, and I don't know if
this is the right spot to bring or not, but there isn't a focus
(18:37):
to the whole of Scriptures whichcomes out in preaching, right,
which is Christ and him crucified.
And so you're providing this balance, but it's in light of
what Christ has done, right? You can get into like we're in
Isaiah right now and you're rolling through judgement, but
there's in the background this crystallogic hope that you know,
is sitting there both in the present and in the future and
(19:00):
which happens a lot in Isaiah. And so I think there's examples
even of why we should do that and not just preach, but we're
preaching with a focus. There's a centeredness to the
preaching. It's not just everywhere and and
anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's true because of the the nature of the Scriptures showing
(19:20):
us who we are, right, as sinnersin desperate need of salvation.
And the only means of salvation is the Savior.
And so how can we open the Word to sinners and not address the
Savior? And of course Jesus says as much
immediately upon his resurrection, right?
He says, man, O foolish ones andslow of hard to believe all that
(19:41):
the the prophets have said concerning me.
And then in Luke 24, he opens upand he shares that.
And I don't know if you have that opened.
I think it might be helpful justto access that and read it.
Yeah, it's helpful because he covers the genres too.
Like if you're tempted to think of certain parts of Scripture,
don't get to Christ or they're. Whatever Christ ruins that so
(20:03):
obliterates that concept becausehe says, and on the road to
Emmaus, was it not necessary forthe Christ to suffer these
things and enter into his glory talking to the two men he's
walking with and says, then beginning with Moses and with
all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning
himself and all the Scriptures. And then they respond knowing
like, oh, this is this is Christthat later.
(20:25):
And so he's walking through like, which would be the
sweetest sermon ever. Oh man.
Christ walking all the way through from the Pentateuch, all
the way up to where he was at and what had been revealed in
the Word, and explaining himselfso.
Yeah, Amen. Yeah.
I don't know if you had anythingto add there, Jeremy, with
regard to that. Yeah, he I was caught with or
(20:46):
looking at verse 45 here right now.
He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
So when he goes back through hisBible to talk about how it
showed how Christ is in that, not how it makes him think of
Christ or how you might get to Christ, but how it's Speaking of
him in verse 45. I just think it's I love the
wording. He opened their minds to
(21:07):
understand the Scriptures and soit's not new.
It's he's basically saying is what he said all along in his in
his earthly life. And have you not read It's
there. And so here when he's giving his
the sermon of all sermons, he's helping them to understand what
was already written, right? Jesus was doing some expository
(21:30):
preaching right there. So.
Yeah, exactly right. And there's that word understand
again, right. That helps people see with with
minds open supernaturally by theSpirit what the point of the
passage or what the point of thetext or what the point of the
Scripture is about, which is to point to him.
And we could talk about the mechanics of that.
I don't think that that is probably more for a seminar
classroom than it is for a podcast.
(21:52):
But there are different ways that, you know, from different
places in the Scripture. There are ways that to be able
to proclaim Christ that are moreconsistent than other ways.
But yeah, certainly we would want to say that ideally week to
week, Sunday to Sunday, you're, you're never moving far away
from Christ, no matter where youare in the Scriptures, because
(22:12):
the Scriptures speak of him. Yeah.
And that's what he said. So he left us that instruction.
Yeah. So that's helpful as a focus.
So, Matt, good job bringing thatup.
Can I ask you, unless you're moving on from what it isn't or
is and isn't, can you give a little bit more clarity on what
does that mean? Does that mean every single
verse? Does it mean every single word?
(22:33):
Does it mean someone's not doingexpository preaching if they're
in this passage this week and then in this passage next week?
So can you maybe bring some clarity in your mind?
Yeah, I think, I think if you were to look at the text in its
context, wherever you are in your church with preaching, if
you're coming to church on Sunday, Sunday by Sunday, you
(22:56):
would have an anticipation that something in Isaiah is going to
be, is going to be Speaking of the Savior.
And it might not be always connected to just the cross,
just the resurrection. It it might be just connected.
Like I think I even mentioned this recently, Isaiah 7, right?
The virgin birth passage, you would not be wrong and you would
(23:18):
be preaching Christ faithfully and the gospel to run Isaiah 7
to Matthew 1 about the virgin birth of Christ.
Do you need to go from there then and run through Matthew to
get to the cross? I mean, you're certainly free
to, but I think what we want to do is when Jesus says they all
speak of me, all the scriptures speak of me, then I, I think
we're, we're good to make that connection from in this example,
(23:43):
which is a simple one, there aremuch harder passages to get to
Christ to but Isaiah 7, the virgin birth of Isaiah and then
the passage of Matthew won the fulfilment.
And so I would expect that, you know, maybe not every single
verse, maybe not every single paragraph, but over time, you're
not going to move too far from Sunday to Sunday, sermon to
(24:04):
sermon without hearing Christ being proclaimed, preached, and
without the gospel coming to bear.
The death and the resurrection of Christ are never far away in
the Scripture, right. If you preach the Scripture
faithfully, that's easier in theNew Testament, obviously, than
in the Old. But there are reliable ways that
you should be hearing the preacher, even from the Old
(24:24):
Testament, preach Christ. Yeah.
By the way, can I just say another thing too?
And, and maybe this is where we can end and we can maybe pick
up, I think some, some things that expository preaching isn't.
I do think it'd be helpful to talk more about benefits and
then where, how far out does this extend into my life?
I think that'd be helpful for people listening or watching,
(24:45):
But I, I would just let the listeners know and the people
who are watching, when people come to our church and, and, and
I meet them in the lobby and they're new, I, and they asked
me like, what's this church about?
I will frequently start with, there's a lot of things that
this church is about, but the thing that we gather for right
(25:05):
now that you're either walking into service to to receive or
walking out of having received is that Christ is feeding his
people. And so I use the image of the
worship service as the kitchen table, meaning this is the place
we all gather and take a seat atthe table.
And Christ himself is leading and we are in our singing and in
our praying. We're speaking to Christ, We're
(25:28):
speaking to God. And then in the preaching he's
speaking to his people and he's also feeding his people with his
with his word. I take that from Romans 10
where, you know, how can they hear without a preacher?
How how can anyone preach? Not unless they're sent, You
know, that whole passage and it says at the end of faith comes
by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
(25:49):
In other words, this is not justthe word of God, it's the word
of Christ. It all points to him and it's
actually somehow it all belongs to him.
And so so when the word is beingproclaimed, when exposition is
being done, it's not the preacher speaking ultimately,
it's Christ speaking to his people directly in in some way
that we're not told. We do trust by faith that the
(26:09):
shepherd, the Good Shepherd is shepherding his sheep directly.
If if the word is being brought to bear faithfully.
And so I encourage our people like this is this is the meal
that you need for this week. It might not change your life
forever, but it might, it might change your life this week and
(26:30):
and you come back next Sunday tobe fed again by the Savior.
And week after week you're strengthened, sanctified in the
Christian life. So I just want you guys to know
that's in my mind, if there's a picture of what we're trying to
accomplish. If, if there's an image of
what's happening in the worship service and what is happening
specifically in the message as the word is being exposed, it's
(26:51):
being brought to light and then driven home.
I think, I think it's that I think it's the kitchen table.
Like come take a seat at the table and share all the reasons
why you love the Savior and thenlet him minister his word to you
and you leave strengthened for the next week until you need to
come back because you're hungry again for more of Christ
speaking to you. So I think to keep it really
simple. That's the the glory and the
(27:13):
simplicity of expository preaching.
There's a lot more to say, guys,and and I know that we would
want to spend another time just maybe being a little bit more
practical, not just definitionaland categorical and you know,
maybe scriptural. We want to try to get into some
more application. Let's save that for next time.
But thank you guys so much for cracking this open.
This is a really important topic.
(27:35):
So join us again next time as wedo a follow up episode on how we
can benefit from expository preaching on the next episode of
Afterward, a podcast with extended conversations about
topics that matter in life and ministry.
Thanks guys. Thank you.
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