Mondays Musings: Why we preach verse by verse through books of the Bible?
I was asked yesterday by a dear member how long I would be preaching through the book of Galatians. My answer was “As long as it takes to finish it.”
Many members in our churches are not used to book by book, verse by verse preaching. This is what we call expository preaching. While it is not the only form of preaching, and perhaps what many people are used to is topical preaching, I believe book by book, verse by verse preaching is the best method of preaching, for many reasons, but the first is that I believe is it is taught in the Bible itself.
Expository Preaching is Biblical.
First, I believe it is biblical. In Nehemiah 8, the prophet Ezra was asked by the people of God to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis-Deuteronomy, known as the Pentateuch, were Israel’s scriptures. Verse 1 says they were gathered as one man. In verse 2, “Ezra the priest brought the book of the law of Moses before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.”
What we see here is that the congregation included even children who could understand. They weren’t in another area making crafts and coloring pictures of Noah’s Ark. They were listening to the reading of God’s Word. This is one reason that at FSBCW we prioritize children being in worship with their parents, because there is a biblical precedence for it. Verse 3 says, “He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until mid day, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law.” This was a multiple hour sermon, and even the kids were paying attention. I am not suggesting we go back to several hours of preaching, because technology has destroyed our attention spans. I recommend a book by Neil Postman, “Amusing Ourselves to death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business,” a book written in the 80’s to show how technology has changed public discourse and the ability to listen to public discourse, preaching included.
In verse 4 it reads, “Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for that purpose.” It records that other men were beside him. While I don’t think that this necessitates that churches must have a wooden podium, I personally prefer the traditional wooden podium verses the modern acrylic ones because of this text. In verse 5-6, “Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people, and when he opened it, all the people stood up. The Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen!” While lifting up their hands, then they bowed low and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”
The reverence and awe the people of God has for the Word of God needs to be recovered today. I am glad that the Bible has been translated into the vernacular of every day language and that everyone can have a copy of God’s Word. I have perhaps more copies of God’s Word on my bookshelf than I actually need (Although many of them are study Bibles and different versions that I consult with regularly). But having the Bible so readily available, perhaps has caused us to lose our awe of God’s Word, as the people of God had in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day. In verse 7, we get another list of people and it says, “they explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place.”
Verse 8 gives a great explanation of what happened during this multiple hour sermon experience: “They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understand the reading.”
This is why our sermons at FSBCW are book by book, verse by verse. We read from it, we explain it, so that people can understand it.”
As Steven J. Lawson writes in his book, Famine in the Land: A Passionate Call for Expository Preaching,
“Many evangelical ministers have succumed to delivering secular sounding motivational pep talks aimed at soothing the felt needs of restless church shoppers, or worse, salving the guilty consciences of unregenerate church members. Rather than expounding the depths of God’s Word, mant Bible believing ministers have chosen the path of least resistance, content to scratch the surface of shallow souls and tickle the ears of languid listeners. The result is congregations are starving, even though many of the famished may not be aware of it-settling for sickly sweet, yet totally inadequate, spiritual pabulum.”
I believe he is absolutely right. While expository preaching may not be as entertaining I believe it is what we are called to do, and I believe it is what every member in the congregation needs.
Expository Preaching is Beneficial.
While I believe book by book verse is biblical, I believe it is also immensely beneficial. First, expository preaching is faithful to the text of scripture and prevents us from taking scripture out of context. The desire of the expositor is to explain the text within its context. This will keep the preacher from taking scripture out of context to suit their own message. With topical or motivational preaching, instead of explaining the scripture, “preachers” can pull a verse out of its context, use it in a way it was not intended, to bolster support for their message, instead of explaining God’s message to those who need it. Second, expository preaching promotes clarity and understanding: There are so many passages of Scripture that are difficult to understand, and when a preacher explains them in their given context, within a passage, within a book, within its geographical, historical, and redemptive context, the light bulb begins to illumine in the minds of the hearers. Third, expository preaching prevents preachers from avoiding difficult and potentially divisive doctrinal truths. When we preach verse by verse, we cannot avoid verses that are in God’s Word that we would rather not address. We are called to preach the Word, not just the parts of the Word we like, or that are easier to handle. Also it prevents us from avoiding passages that are difficult in our own theological system. It enables us to put scriptures together that are hard to reconcile. Fourth, expository preaching contributes to the spiriutal growth and maturity of the congregation. If my daughter had it her way, we would have ice cream for dinner every night. A little ice cream is good, but we need a steady diet of meat, fruits, vegetables, and carbs. We put food on her plate that she probably would rather not eat. But she needs it. The church likewise needs a stead diet of all of Scripture. We need the Old and New Testaments, we need to hear sermons from the minor prophets and Paul’s Letters. We need to have some of the law of Moses and the gospels on our plate. When we have a steady diet of verse by verse preaching from different books in different genres of Scripture, we grow in spiritual maturity. The truth is, we need to sit under the expositional preaching of God’s Word, even if we don’t know it. It is good for our souls. Fifth, expository preaching deepens our theological understanding. As pastors faithful preach verse by verse from different genres we will begin to see how God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15 fits with the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. We will begin to connect various parts of Scripture as our theological understanding grows.
So at FSBW, you may not find the most entertaining sermons. While you will hear some humor, the purpose of preaching is not to tell jokes. (And for the record, our pastors jokes aren’t really that funny!) But out pastor is committed to faithfully preaching the Bible, verse by verse through books of the Bible. It is through this method of reading the text and explaining it that God’s people grow in the understanding of God’s Word, so that they may know Him all the more, and experience His love deeper and love Him more deeply.
