Sojourner #030: The Nature Of Expository Preaching & A Honduran Pastors' Conference

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, 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, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:1-2)

One of the things I'm most excited about in Honduras next week is teaching a Pastors' Conference (3 hours of teaching). 

My topic is expository preaching, which I'm defining as showing people what you see in Scripture. That may seem over-simplistic, but that doesn't mean it's not true.

As a pastor I am convinced of a couple things according to Scripture:

1) My most important pastoral task (as the preaching pastor) is to devote myself to the preaching of God's Word (Acts 6:1-4). 

As important as visiting the sick and counseling people and being visible in the community is, devoting myself to prayer and to the ministry of the Word eclipses them by far.

There are many reasons for this that would make this article longer than I intend, but suffice it to say, God has chosen to reveal Himself primarily through His Word. To see what is in Scripture is to see God Himself and I cannot show you what I do not see in myself - I am using sight in a spiritual sense as well as in a literal sense.

The power of preaching comes from the Word, from the preacher seeing how God has revealed Himself in any given passage of Scripture and believing Him (2 Cor. 3:18).

2) The task of preaching is ultimately working to show you (the congregation) what is there. It is not enough to tell you. That's an impossible task left on my own. My sufficiency to preach is not in myself (2 Cor. 3:5). It is not in my abilities or even the gifts that God has blessed me with. 

Therefore, it is not sufficient for you to take my word for it. A good preacher must take the time necessary to see the glory of God that is displayed in any given text AND show his work.

Now, I used to hate when my math teachers would tell me to show my work. I didn't want to show my work. I wanted to solve the problem in my head (there is no telling how many points that cost me). But, working out a passage of Scripture in my head is NOT my task as a pastor. 

My task is to show you what I've seen. I want you to experience what I've experienced as the God of His Living Word revealed Himself to me through the Scriptures. I pray that you see it too! That you can look at the words on the page and see why I'm saying what I'm saying. 

It is not the pastor's job to tell you his interpretation. It is the pastor's job to show you what is in the text that has led him to the interpretation that he holds. This is because every interpretation shapes how we see God. 

Perhaps an example will help:

At the beginning of this article, I made the statement that my most important task as a pastor is to devote myself to the preaching of God's Word. That's a lofty statement and I can't unpack it all, but I want to show you why I believe that it is the most important thing from the Acts 6 passage.

"Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word." (Acts 6:1-4)

Let me show my work:

1) Widows getting left out of the daily distribution of food is an important issue. We are called to love one another like Christ loves us. Therefore, to neglect needy people in our congregation is a problem that needs to be solved (Acts 6:1)

2) The Apostles declared that "it is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables" (Acts 6:2).

Accordingly,

3) As important as feeding widows is, devoting themselves to preaching was more important. Feeding widows can be left to others but pastor's must devote themselves to the Word.

Can you see it? There are other passages as well, I am just giving this one as an example. But my goal in preaching a sermon based on this Scripture would be to help you see it, so that you can believe it. That is the ultimate task of a preaching pastor: showing people what you see.

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Editor's Note:

James Gilbert and other members of FBC Meridian will soon be departing for the Honduran department of Valle, where they will be living among and serving in support of their host missionaries in the region, as a part of their ongoing ministry in the region. 

Please join us in praying for them as they finalize their preparations and travel to minister to the people of Honduras. Specifically, please pray for James as he prepares to teach and train other pastors in expositional preaching, so that they might faithfully preach Christ crucified.

About the Author: James Gilbert serves as the Lead Pastor of First Baptist Church Meridian in Meridian, Texas. FBC Meridian is a body of believers dedicated to helping people experience the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Learn more about FBC Meridian here.

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