{"id":32610,"date":"2022-09-10T16:16:16","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/3-ways-expository-preaching-combats-biblical-illiteracy\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:16:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:16:16","slug":"3-ways-expository-preaching-combats-biblical-illiteracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/3-ways-expository-preaching-combats-biblical-illiteracy\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways Expository Preaching Combats Biblical Illiteracy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Staff<\/p>\n

Biblical illiteracy is a widespread problem that manifests itself in several ways. The basic nuts and bolts Bible knowledge of key stories, people, and concepts is much less common. People have little patience for the parts that are difficult to understand, let alone the parts that are clear and offensive.
What are you going to do about this, Pastor?<\/p>\n

If you’re the primary preaching pastor of your church, you may not have time to teach a Bible study methods class for your church. You may not have time to disciple some members one-on-one in biblical interpretation. The primary focus of your time and energy, rightly spent, will be given to your Sunday sermon.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean, however, that you have less of a platform to raise your church\u2019s Bible IQ. The pulpit is the bow of the ship; it points in the direction you’re leading like nothing else that happens at the church. Your Sunday sermon provides an integral opportunity to fight biblical illiteracy in your church, especially if you’ll give yourself to expository preaching. Here are three ways: <\/p>\n

1. Expository preaching provides biblical vocabulary.<\/h4>\n

Because expository preaching tends to plod through books of the Bible passage-by-passage, it doesn\u2019t take very long before you run into a \u201cBible word.\u201d Atonement. Sanctification. Grace. Sin.<\/p>\n

As you travel through a series, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to define terms and explain themes. Preaching through a book one passage at a time makes it impossible for you to avoid building your church\u2019s biblical vocabulary.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Out of fear of running seekers out of their church, some pastors avoid \u201cBible words.\u201d I understand the desire to not create unnecessary stumbling blocks for people who are beginning to explore Christianity, but when is it better for someone new to Christianity to encounter Bible words: While they’re reading on their own with no one to define words for them, or in your preaching where you can readily supply definitions?<\/p>\n

As you run into these words and concepts, you have the opportunity to explain them, increasing your congregation’s ability to understand the Bible when they read it on their own. <\/p>\n

2. Expository preaching models how to read.<\/h4>\n

Another characteristic of expository preaching is the habit of working through verses of a passage to arrive at an overall understanding of it. This provides your church with weekly examples of how to come to an interpretation of a passage on their own. Bible study methods are \u201ccaught\u201d this way, though not explicitly \u201ctaught.\u201d People go home and read their Bibles influenced by your preaching.<\/p>\n

There are many pastors, however, who preach through books passage-by-passage, but do not work through the passages themselves on a weekly basis. In this case, the order of the book provides the outline for the themes the pastor will cover. This is good, but since the pastor doesn\u2019t develop these themes from the verses in the text, such a style of preaching will fail to teach believers how to read a passage on their own. They can\u2019t \u201ccatch\u201d how the pastor arrived at his main idea.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
See also  4 Changes I’d Make If I Could Start Ministry Over<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A motto for expository preaching is \u201cthe message of the text determines the message of the sermon.\u201d But it takes a style of expository preaching that goes the next step of showing how the individual verses of the text point to the overall message for people to learn how to read their Bibles better. <\/p>\n

3. Expository preaching constructs a biblical worldview.<\/h4>\n

Expository preaching not only prioritizes the main message of the passage, it also focuses on locating that passage within the framework of the Bible\u2019s storyline and overall message of redemption in Christ. As we draw this out, we provide a biblical worldview. Why is worldview a necessary aspect of biblical literacy?<\/p>\n

Say a 9th grader cracks open his older sister\u2019s college level biology textbook. He’s able to read the words but cannot assimilate the information because he’s three years behind on the necessary framework.<\/p>\n

In the same way, Christians are decreasingly able to take what they know from the Bible and assimilate it into a thoroughly biblical worldview. Far too often, someone reads the Bible or learns something in church and naturally assimilates it into their secular worldview.<\/p>\n

Expository preaching\u2014the kind that preaches the details of the text and not just the overall message\u2014shows not only what the Bible teaches, but also why the Bible teaches it and how the Bible builds its argument for it. Beyond that, the preacher places the passage within the breadth of the Bible\u2019s storyline, showing how this small part fits into the big picture.<\/p>\n

The result is that Christians grow in their discernment and are equipped to distinguish that which is biblical compared to that which comes from a secular relativistic way of thinking. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget to aim at the heart<\/h4>\n

Based on everything I\u2019ve said so far, I could be accused of espousing a lecture style of preaching that leaves people full of information but empty of passion. I intend nothing of the sort. The preacher has not done his job until he hits people in their hearts.<\/p>\n

Therefore, if we will inspire our church to put biblical literacy to good use and actually read the Bible, we must marry principled exposition of God\u2019s Word with passion for God\u2019s glory, heartfelt pleas to believe the gospel, and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n

\n
Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Encountering God Through Expository Preaching<\/h2>\n

Ryan Fullerton, Jim Orrick, & Brian Payne
FIND OUT MORE <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Related posts:<\/h3>\n
What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times? What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? 3 Strategies for Cultivating a Biblically Literate Church 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Staff Biblical illiteracy is a widespread problem that manifests itself in several ways. The basic nuts and bolts Bible knowledge of key stories, people, and concepts is much less common. People have little patience for the parts that are difficult to understand, let alone the parts that are clear and offensive. What are you … Continue reading “3 Ways Expository Preaching Combats Biblical Illiteracy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}