Two articles on preaching.
The first, by Talbot School of Theology New Testament professor Clint Arnold offers seven reasons in support of sequential expository preaching.
(Preaching through a book of the Bible, one section at a time.)
Here’s the reasons, explanatory detail is in the article.
- It is the best way to feed the sheep a balanced diet.
- It enables you to treat hard topics without being second-guessed.
- It helps to insure that you preach the Scripture and not yourself.
- It doesn’t have to be boring and lacking in relevance.
- Expository preaching is and should be application oriented.
- Expository preaching models how to read Scripture in context.
- There is a long history of this kind of preaching in the church—with great impact!
The second is from J. D. Greear, who references his own contribution to a collected set of reflections on 9/11 which featured on Trevin Wax’s blog.
9-11 did not introduce tragedy into our world, but it certainly elevated it in our public concsciousness. In a tragedy-less world, simple, practical, ‘how-to’ messages seem relevant, but in the midst of deep pain and troubling questions, “3 ways to fix x in your life” is less so. Deep calls unto deep, and a God who is better than the pain and deeper than the questions is the only thing really relevant.
Since 9-11, I have found that the distinction between preaching relevantly and preaching deeply has vanished. Deep is the new relevant. (Unless, of course, by “deep” you mean parsing tenses of inconsequential, obscure Greek words or minute dimensions of theology. That is neither deep nor relevant.) If by depth we mean “depth in gospel”– showing how the God of the gospel is a superior trust than all other false idols, and how the wisdom displayed at the cross is deeper than the questions asked, then there is nothing more relevant to the modern audience than that.
It sounds ironic to say, but I find the “traditional seeker sermon” to be no longer very relevant. Silly, shallow sermons may attract bored, cultural Christians from other churches, but the number of that group is rapidly shrinking. Increasingly our society is made up of true skeptics and fervent believers; both want, and need deep, gospel-saturated preaching. Indeed, in my observation, both are turned off through light, personality-driven entertainment.
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