The Dangerous Task of Expository Preaching

Since the inception of the Church on the day of Pentecost, the “sermon” has been a central part to the worship experience. The history of the sermon is quite intriguing. The communication of ancient wisdom and tradition passed down and delivered into the hearts and minds of the congregation is the task of the preacher. The preacher’s responsibility is to proclaim “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” However, in our culture, preaching a sermon is often a lost art and practice. Many churches prefer “conversations” as opposed to an outright monologue.

Now, we must be honest with ourselves. Just think about the ridiculous nature of preaching for a moment. People take an hour or so out of their week to listen to an oral presentation from an ancient book that contains documents that are over 2,000 years old. Now, why would one subject themselves to such torment? No doctor is suggesting that they should return back to the methods of Hippocratic medicine. We have advanced beyond the knowledge of ancient Greece. So why would a preacher suggest that we govern our lives by the writing of ancient Israel?

Perhaps this is because most preaching today is not really “preaching the ancient wisdom” but more along the lines of motivation and self-help. We’ve advanced beyond preaching a sermon. Our culture is driven by “tweets” that contain no more than 140 characters, therefore, in order to communicate information, our preaching must contain one-liners, quick turns of phrase, and “5 Simple Ways to (_fill in the blank_).” In the busyness of our day, many feel that they don’t have the time to sit and listen to an oral presentation for 30-45 minutes.

In light of this reality, the “sermon” is reduced down to the equivalent of a McDonald’s Dollar Menu burger. It’s quick, easy, and cheap. It will fill you up for a bit but after a while, you will need something more filling. You can only live off one-dollar burgers for so long until you begin to get sick. Read more