Championing Biblical Preaching
Every generation stands in need of biblical preaching and biblical preachers. That need has never been greater than it is today.
Recently I talked with a pastor who told me about a couple who have begun to attend his church. They were looking for solid, expository preaching. They had visited a dozen churches in their community and did not find a single pastor who preached genuine expository sermons.
The church today is anemic spiritually for many reasons, but one of the major reasons has to be the loss of biblical content in so much of contemporary preaching. Pop psychology substitutes for the Word of God in some sermons. Feel-good sermons on “Five Ways to Be Happy” and “Three Ways to Love Your Mother” have become the steady cotton candy diet fed to the average church.
Everyone talks about expository preaching; many assume they are doing it; but in listening to the average sermon today, I’m convinced only a few are really preaching expository sermons. Sometimes preachers use a text of Scripture, but the sermon is not derived from the text. The text of such a sermon is not its source; it is only a resource. A true expository sermon develops a text by explaining the meaning, illustrating the meaning, and applying the meaning.
Biblical content accordingly must precede application. Otherwise, how else can we possibly know what to apply? Today’s sermonic focus is on application, but application without textual warrant for such, does not “stick.” It needs the glue of textual meaning.
In the headlong rush to be relevant, People magazine and popular television shows have replaced Scripture as sermonic resources. No wonder so many spiritual teeth are decaying in our churches. The conjuring adroitness of many preachers who keep producing fat rabbit after fat rabbit out of an obviously empty hat is the marvel of much contemporary preaching. There is mounting evidence that people are beginning to grow weary of these trite pop-psychology sermons. Biblical preaching, especially when it is done in a creative way, will always meet the needs of people, felt or otherwise. Only biblical preaching can meet the ultimate spiritual needs of people.
People instinctively feel and experience the troubled times in which they live. Currents of circumstances crisscross one another in endless complications in their lives. They are looking for stability, for hope, for meaning, for purpose. They are looking for a word from God. Only biblical preaching meets that need.
Mid-America Baptist Seminary has been in the business of training godly, biblical preachers since her founding more than 50 years ago. One of the core commitments of Mid-America Seminary is expository preaching. Her graduates serve in churches of all shapes and sizes, but one thing in common you will always find among all Mid-America graduates—biblical preaching.
We are not only about training students to become biblical preachers. We are also focused on equipping pastors to take their preaching to the next level. Regardless of experience, no pastor or ministry leader comes naturally endowed with the ability to handle the demands of ministry in a multidisciplinary world. Pastors recognize there is a gap between where they are and where they want to be in their preaching. All leaders need support to grow in their preaching and Mid-America Seminary is developing a plan of conferences and workshops to assist pastors and other ministry leaders to do just that.
This is why the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching has been established. In August we relaunched our annual Adrian Rogers Preaching Conference. The Adrian Rogers Legacy Center, including his library and resources, are now housed at Mid-America. Along with my own preaching library now at Mid-America, preachers from all over the country can come to the Seminary for specialized training during scheduled events every year.
For more than 35 years now I have been teaching students and pastors how to do expository preaching. Sometimes preachers need some practical help in developing genuine expository sermons. A good expository sermon should include sound exegesis and exposition. “Exegesis” is a term that means “to lead out the meaning.” Exegesis is a procedure for text analysis in sermon preparation. “Exposition” is a word that means “to explain the meaning of a text.” Good expository preaching lays open a text in such a way that its original meaning is brought to bear on the lives of contemporary listeners.
A good expository sermon should be text-driven in three ways.
First, the preacher should stay true to the substance of the text. The substance of the text includes two things: 1) What the text is about. 2) What the text is saying about what it is about. These two things are not identical. What a text is about is the question of theme or topic. What a text is saying about what it is about includes everything within the text that elaborates, explains, illustrates, etc. what the text is about. Text-driven preaching attempts to stay true to the substance of the text.
Second, the preacher should stay true to the structure of the text. This means two things: 1) grammatical/syntactical structure. 2) Semantic Structure. Every text has grammatical structure that indicates main information and secondary information. Every text also has a structure of meaning—semantic structure. The grammatical structure encodes the semantic structure. We derive meaning from an analysis of the grammar and syntax of the text. Text-driven preaching conveys the main-line information and the subordinate information in a text in a way that is easily apprehended by the listener.
Third, the preacher should stay true to the spirit of the text. By the word “spirit,” I do not mean the Holy Spirit, though He is vital to all good preaching! Rather, I use the word “spirit” to refer to two things: 1) the genre of the text, and 2) the emotive tone or “feel” of the text. Identifying the genre (literary category) of the text is crucial for preaching it well. Is the text a narrative? Seventy percent of the Bible is couched in narrative. Is the text an expository text? All of the letters of the New Testament are examples of expository genre—a literary category that consists of any text that explains something. Is the text a hortatory text? This is any text that commands us to do something or not to do something. Is the text poetic or prophetic or apocalyptic in genre? Identifying the genre is important for good text-driven preaching.
The spirit of the text also includes its emotive tone or feel. Every text conveys a certain tone. It may be happiness, sadness, anger, or any number of emotions. The emotional tone of the text is a part of textual meaning and should be conveyed during the sermon.
Good preaching is about biblical content. What you say is important. But how you say it has never been more important. Creative sermon delivery is almost as important as solid content. We must know what to say and how to say it. These are the two wings that are critical for the sermon to fly! What do Pizza Hut, Federal Express, and Nolan Ryan all have in common? They are famous for their delivery. Many preachers do a good job of exposition of the text in their preaching, but they need to work on their delivery for maximum impact in preaching. Things like eye contact, rate, pitch and volume variation, the use of gestures and facial expressions, posture, and a host of other things are crucial for effective sermon delivery.
Remember, it’s not a bell until it is rung; it’s not a song until it is sung; and it is not a sermon until it is preached! So strive to preach with clarity, competence, and confidence. Preach the Word!
Dr. David L. Allen serves as Mid-America’s Distinguished Professor of Practical Theology and Dean of the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching. It was recently announced by Mid-America President Dr. Michael Spradlin that our school is the recipient of Dr. Allen’s 25,000-volume preaching library, as well as the 5,000-volume library of Dr. Adrian Rogers.
In addition to serving on Mid-America’s faculty, Dr. Allen also has a preaching website, PreachingCoach.com, a coaching, mentorship, and encouragement ministry for pastors and ministry leaders, born out of David L. Allen Ministries.