This is really good, can't wait to see part II.

Melody

Some good thoughts. That's why I prefer expository preaching and preaching through books of the Bible.
This year I'm actually taking an entire year to preach through highlights of the entire Bible, going from Genesis through Revelation. It's September, and so far in 2006, every main text has been in the Old Testament. We are getting into Matthew in October.
Why? Because I believe it takes time to teach a biblical worldview.

Thankyou for a thought-provoking article.

I've always found it interesting that Jesus spoke in parables. It seems that he spoke sometimes not so much to provide a blueprint for life, but to have people with 'eyes to see and ears to hear' develop understanding.

Unfortunately, we seem to go to other extremes. Either everything is laid out cold with no mystery, or we speak in language that can only be understood by someone with a doctorate in archaisms.

I would imagine that Rob the stockbroker would have given up on Jesus. "Cut to the chase," he would have said, "don't waste my time!" Perhaps another example of our 'instant' (one-minute)and conveniently blind and deaf culture.

but dude, if preaching became what you are describing - dare i call it prophetic preaching? - people may not like it cause it would be hard to hear sometimes and maybe take to much effort to grasp and god forbid, it may take more than one 20 minute sermon to flesh it all out. then we would be stuck with only the people who want to hear from god and we all know you can't build a ministry empire on that kind of stuff.

several thoughts come to mind here:

a) this is certainly a western culture thing, where we want everything black and white, do this and that will happen. i dare say there's not a lot of quick fixes in the bible anyway, but gradual, spiritual growth. but the Western mind has been taught to break things down into a-b-c, 1-2-3.

b) this reductionism also plays into our idea of "salvation". with the spreading of the (false) doctrine of an eternal, tormenting hell, there's little reason to look at the broader picture of what paul's idea of salvation is. when you have the 800-pound gorilla of burning in hell eternally in the room, the bottom line, accept-Jesus-as-your-savior invitation makes all the other points moot.

c) the "5 ways to handle snakes" and the "3 lessons from a naked noah" often lead to what i see as extremely arrogant, presumptuous lists put together by preachers. i remember reading "the purpose driven life" and coming across warren's "the 3 kinds of worship God accepts." it was almost like warren was standing in front of God with a checklist and saying, "uh, no, your Majesty, that's not one of my three points."

d) i believe God can work through Scripture, but i think it's overplayed. as a previous poster wrote, Jesus didn't generally exposit the hebrew bible for the people who came to hear him. if anything, look at the sermon on the mount - he took the texts and said "think wider and broader than what you read here." any message that makes one think of our relationship with God can work with or without a biblical text. as i've written before, i believe we have fogotten in our evangelical churches that the Word in john 1 is not the kjv...

-mr

I am happy to see this article on here and look forward to the second post. I have been questioning the role of the pastor on Sunday morning for a while now and especially as I'm entering seminary this semester. I know I will be told that expository preaching is the way to go and have heard that most of my life. For the last 6 years I have heard one point messages (practical and bottom line combined I guess??). When I look at both of these I can honestly say that there might be two sermons (except the ones I make fun of) I remember in the first 21 years of my life listening two expository preaching. The last 6 years of my life under the practical/bottom line preaching have been a completely different story as I can recall many messages from memory when the need arises. So I wonder wonder how a teacher is held accountable? I am still working through this issue and haven't fallen on one side or the other and don't know that I should. In the end, may God be glorified when Jesus is lifted up as the Savior!

You make a good argument for a well argued message. Obviously when you preach you do have a bottom line. Any thoughtful listener will track with you, assuming you also have an engaging personal style, good illustrations, and clear application.. Too much preaching is just talking in a circle that has no point. Expository or not, the preacher describes the thing to death. This leaves people asking, “So, what’s the point?”

Excellent post. It seems to me that the trouble is even deeper than Lee suggests. The essence of scripture is to be transformational, not merely informational: God wants to change who we are, not just help us to live the lives we're alreadly living more efficiently.

The practical and bottom line mentalities also treat Scriptural principles as a means to an end--the end being a life that is better, where "better" is defined by us, as though we were the arbiter of what our lives should be. Scriptural principles are intended to "transform us by the renewing of our minds" and help us to be "conformed to the image of His Son." Almost by definition, this is a development that will not appear positive to us until after the transformation takes place. We have to be transformed to recognize why transformation is a good thing.

This is not to say that preaching should be impractical or should never reach a conclusion. It is merely to say that the practicality and the conclusion cannot be separated from the transformation God wants to make in us.

Wow! What a concept! Much of our preaching today invites people to remain where they are presently rather than empower them to progress. I find that if we constantly preach on where they are they remain there, after all, God must want me to be in this situation, He had the minister speak to my need. Preaching must be prophetic, causing people to not recognize where they are, but who God is and how that they can move beyond their circumstances into a mature walk with Christ. Thanks for a powerful thought!

Great thoughts on the challenge of preaching. Preaching must always be looked at as both a specific utterance of God's Word and a part of the life long process of discipling God's people. We think people need more answers than they really do. People don't always need to be told how to go live, in fact quite often they need to be left to wrestle with tough questions on their own. 2 Corinthians 3 talks about the formative practice of contemplating God's glory. Sometimes we are just supposed to point the way to God and get out of the way.

Great article! I agree wholeheartedly - we are always looking for shortcuts to spiritual growth. In our microwave generation, we need to let our sermons simmer more!

The funny thing about the logic "Stan" uses ("He believed in sound doctrine, but he felt he had to give people something they could take to work on Monday morning.") is that, in most cases, this sort of Cliff's Notes teaching doesn't even last until Sunday night in most hearers hearts, much less stick around to impact a Monday...Wednesday...or Saturday the following week.

I would even go farther and say that learning, say, about Five Ways To Manage Money becomes nothing more than a bunch of rules by which we think we might be able to live our lives more successfully if we follow them. Isn't this what Jesus came to save us FROM? Following a code of behavior?

If a pastor or teacher is going to talk to me about money from the pulpit, I need to hear about how Jesus can conquer my selfishness and covetousness. I need to know what Proverbs says about money. Or maybe I need to be confronted with Ananias and Sapphira. (You get the idea.)

Thanks, Lee.

Jesus knew the Word, He knew what was in the hearts of people and He knew the Father and was completely convinced of the necessity of His message. This combination made His communication exactly what it needed to be every time, no matter what style he used to communicate. I have been preaching for the past two plus decades here is what I have focused on in my own preparation and presentation.

One ingredient to preaching is to know the Word extremely well. In doing so we can teach sound doctrine, instruct people to live, encourage can comfort people.

Another ingredient is to know the hearts of people and the culture in which these people live. Many preachers’ pastors today seem just a bit out of touch with where people are. This is evidenced in the “christianese” we speak as preachers, the lack of understanding of peoples struggle, the way people’s learning styles have changed in the last couple decades and our insistence on one style of communication over another.

We must also know the Father. Jesus relationship to the father is truly inspiring. He could honestly say, I speak for the father because of his closeness to the father. Many times I listen to preachers who know the word and even know people but their friendship with God has left them impotent in their communication.

Finally one more ingredient in great communication is to truly believe what you are saying. I recently had a guest speaker in my church who handled the text well, understood people and I know he loves God but was fairly unconvincing. One person commented, “I don’t think he would fight for what he just said. I am not sure he believes it deeply.” Passionate preachers with know knowledge of scripture are dangerous, knowledgeable preachers with no passion are hard to believe. Thanks to you pastors who wrestle every day with God’s word, honing your faith friendship with God, learning the culture in which you serve. May your tribe increase!

I like this article and discussion. In response, two points:

1) approaches described in this article probably contribute largely to our loss of 'mystery' when approaching and exploring the love and character of our god;

2) such approaches might not be the classic 'give-a-fish' v. 'teach-how-to-fish' but it is no less than 'teach-how-to-fish' v. 'line-up-the-pole-and-set-the-bait-then-hand-it-to-the-fisher' - in either case, it is shortchanging the recipient.

An excellent article. I look forward to
Part 2. There are so many factors competing
to shape preaching today, it is difficult
to simply "preach the word". This post, in
my estimation, indicates that's what should
be done. May God give all who stand in the
pulpit the courage to do just that!

-bill

Good words ... challenging to me, for I have been one that wants the "bottom line" to be known in my preaching. Now you challenge me to concentrate on how to get to the bottom line. Thanks much!

I'm with Tom and Paul Goddard on this - expository preaching isn't a magic Band-Aid. Good exposition isn't easy; a preacher can get so caught up in the context and the subtext and whatnot that you get the whole way through the sermon without the text!

There needs to BE a point. But good preaching, whether expository or topical, will include a scriptural basis that gives a deeper understanding of its meaning and relevance.

After attending church nearly all my adult life, I quit going to church a number of weeks ago. Although I've never seen a shrink, I felt like I was attending a "therapy" session or "self-improvement" session and learned little about Christ, G-d, or much of anything I read in the Bible. So now I spend my Sundays (and the rest of the week, too) LIVING Christ by caring/sharing/encouraging and/or enjoying time with the elderly, shut-ins, friends, and family. I do miss the concept of "church" but not the empty, G-dless sermons and the bureaucracy and politics which I truly believe G-d did NOT intend, nor the restaurant style atmosphere of overeating and attending specifically to eat with G-d as a side-dish who is often overlooked or viewed as unappetizing. Give it ALL to me. I CAN handle it--really! I don't need sugar-coated messages or cliff notes served with pastries and espressos (food seems to now be the "main event" at every "service"). But I won't get the full and true message at CHURCH because today the Church is IN AND OF this world and therefore unathentic, generic and bland. G-d warned of the lukewarm church. Here we are.

I was just about to launch my bible study ministry and was about to work on a few outlines when I clicked onto this article and discussion.
Toni's "give it to me" reminded me that that was what I wanted and craved from preaching when I was new to the pew.
Thank you for catching me just as I uncapped my pen. (The cap is going back on until Part II)

Thanks for speaking clearly and concisely on this matter so vital to the life of the Body. Thank you also for bringing a touch of soothing balm in your confirmation of what the point of our preaching really is. I have been a bit disheartened of late from the inculcation of "pointless" sermanizing in so many of the fellowships in our area.

We cannot expect people to apply "information" to a hopeless situation - the only thing that will work for them then is the pure, unadulterated Truth of God straight from His own mouth.

A big Amen to this article and the discussion! However, it suggests that I can either be engaging and popular or expository and reach only a few people. It is a problem that many preachers who are committed to expository preaching are so caught up with the logic of the text that they lose their connection to their people. John Stott put the balance so well many years ago in his book "Between Two Worlds". To be effective I must be a vigorous student of the world of Scripture AND the world of my people. I must communicate both the logic of the passage AND its connection to the lives of people. If I over-commit to either side of the equation I lose my effectiveness.

When an effective expositor learns to preach expository truth in the heart language of his people, then people will flock to it, because that is what people are craving for.

Bottom line to bottom lines.

I love yo-yos but when the string breaks, it's just a yo. Whether bottom line preaching or 2 hour lectures, I believe the call for application is the key. I am sure that the pew, or chair sitter is merely calling for help to understand and apply God's Word so that he can do what I believe all believers long to do: please their God and Savior.
I see the string in any sermon as the application. Do we need to present God's Word with clear analysis and precision. Of course, but we need to help people apply the message heard as well. We as pastors some how seem to think that people can remember ever element of our message and the hard facts are that they can't. Therefore concentrate on what I was taught to be the transitional sentence, or the take home point. That is where I believe the call for bottom line stems from.
Give excellant exegesis, but remember they will not remember it all. As on pastor put it, "preach less to acheive more"