Demolish and Rebuild: The Task of the Expository Preacher

As has been often lamented, there is an unfortunate shortage of expository preachers in pulpits today.  By expository, I mean more then a Sunday morning commentary on a biblical text or a short devotional on a passage of Scripture.  That is not expository preaching.  Expository preaching consists of accurately unpacking a passage or passages in their context in order to reveal God's truth contained therein and then specifically explaining how God's truth applies in the lives of today's hearers.  And unlike the feel-good, best life now messages that are often times today passed off as preaching, expository preaching means that those who are listening may get uncomfortable.  The thesis of this post is that such discomfort, if the preaching is truly of an expository nature, is not only a possibility, it is inevitable.  At the same time, simply because a sermon resulted in discomfort for its listeners does not mean that it was expository.  In order for a message to truly be expository, it must not only demolish the listener, but also rebuild the listener.  As the process unfolds, the listener is lovingly brought face to face with his imperfections as revealed in Scripture, and then shown how to respond appropriately.

More then once I have heard words to the effect of, "I love coming to this church.  I never feel bad about myself when I leave!"  Now in one sense, statements like these are an absolute condemnation on a preacher.  If no one listening to you is ever feeling challenged, then you have two options, as I see it.  You can either go to your study, shut the door, ask God's forgiveness and start making some changes to your philosophy of preaching, or you can get out of the way and let someone else stand in the pulpit.  Why?  Because you, my friend, are not preaching.

At the same time, it is just as great a condemnation of a preacher if his people walk out every morning with their heads hung in shame, drowning in guilt, with no idea how to make the changes he has so passionately and vocally declared that God demands of them.  The preacher who simply lambasts his listeners without lovingly offering them the accompanying refreshment so critical to them responding appropriately to the Bible is a preacher who fundamentally does not understand the gospel which he so viscerally preaches.

As he accurately preaches the Scripture, the preacher's sermon should suck the air out of the lungs of the congregation, but then it should blow new air back in.  Sadly, what passes for much of preaching these days does only one or the other.  The former is nothing more then a brow-beater and a bully; the latter is little more then an inspirational speaker.  True expository preaching brings the congregation to the scalpel, but it does not leave them eviscerated and hemorrhaging; it brings them healing and encouragement after the cutting is done.  Likewise, it does not prescribe a band-aid for a broken leg, or worse yet, ignore that the leg is broken.  Expository preaching shows how the Word of God wounds, but also how it heals.  Armed with the Scriptures and empowered by the Spirit, the preacher is a demolisher, but he is also a re-builder.  As they respond appropriately to the Word and the Spirit, listeners leave the meeting experiencing both repentance and joy.  Their love for Christ is rekindled by God's Word and their commitment to persevere is recharged by God's grace.

None of this occurs simply because a preacher is talented or a good orator.  This effect does not require absolute precision in speech  or a dynamic style.  Nor must the preacher shout and pound the pulpit in order to accomplish his task (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God accomplished this dual-task of demolishing and rebuilding even though Jonathan Edwards apparently delivered the sermon in his usual monotone).  Rather, it is simply the natural consequence of true expository preaching.  And it occurs only when the preacher has first allowed the text to penetrate his own heart.  If a preacher is going to guide his congregation to the sword and the accompanying refreshment of God's Word, then he must first experience it himself.  Only then is he prepared to stand before his congregation and discharge that most sacred of responsibilities: the ministering of God's Word to God's people.

Soli Deo Gloria