Typically when you hear the label “expository preaching” it’s in reference to someone who teaches verse by verse through the Bible. It describes a preacher’s style. This understanding puts expository preaching in contrast to topical preaching… right before one of them is jokingly bashed by those in a different evangelical camp.

This is how I’ve always understood “expository”. I’ve tended to lean towards the topical camp just because that’s who I’ve been shaped by.

After reading Biblical Preaching by Haddon Robinson, I wrote a new realization in my notebook of thoughts: Expository preaching isn’t a style, it’s a philosophy.

Expository preaching is a commitment to preaching what the Bible says. It’s a commitment to start with the text and then let the text speak. It’s an approach to preaching, not a format.

Preachers are constantly tempted to make up a point and then search Scripture for support. That’s not expository. That’s proof texting.

My goal is to always be expository, regardless of how the truth is packaged.

How do you maintain expository philosophy while being topical in style?

• Pick a topic
• Search Scripture for where the topic is talked about.
• Pick a text (a text… not 5)
• Exegete the text
• Teach what the text says about the topic

My hope is that we’d all embrace expository preaching, regardless of our style. People are searching for answers to life’s questions. Those answers are found in the Bible. Let’s just teach it.

One of the most interesting things about Jesus’ ministry is how much time he spent with sinners and tax collectors. Rather than hanging out with the religious elite, he hung out with society’s worst.

That’s become one of the most emphasized parts of Jesus’ ministry. We’ve all heard a million sermons about that. “This church is a place that welcomes the broken, the messed up, the misfits, the rejected… because that’s what Jesus did.”

We’ve all heard that. It’s a great thing the church is becoming more accepting of outsiders.

Here’s a potential problem though: A sinner’s acceptance by the church is not what makes him eligible to receive God’s grace and forgiveness.

Jarrett Stevens said it better than I could ever say it: grace isn’t grace until sin is sin.

A person can’t experience God’s grace until they acknowledge their sin. A person can’t receive the good news until they recognize that there’s bad news.

The sinners that Jesus hung out with knew they were sinners. They even felt shame because of it. Many of the sinners we need to reach don’t want to admit that’s what they are. That’s a huge difference. The guy who sins all the time and is content sinning all the time is not the guy who should be accepted the way Jesus accepted Matthew and Zacchaeus.

To quote Soul City again, we have to accept everyone, and then expect everyone to grow. That’s going to involve lovingly pointing out sin.

“The church can’t become a place that’s known more for what it’s against than what it’s for.” OK, that’s true… but we’re still against stuff, and we still have to talk about that stuff.

Have you met people unwilling to acknowledge their sin? How did you approach the situation?

Reggie Joiner and the Orange team have changed the conversation for many church leaders. Instead of thinking in terms of “children’s ministry” and  “student ministry” people are starting to think in terms of “family ministry”.

The reason: Families get exponentially more time with kids than churches do. So, as the thinking goes, in order for churches to leverage their influence most effectively, they need to partner with families.

That’s awesome. I’m completely sold that family ministry is the way to influence the next generation.

Here’s a problem I see, though:

Even in the Orange model, the church isn’t actually partnering with families… the Family Ministry is.

• As long as the Family Ministry Department is the one implementing family ministry strategies, then the Family Ministry is the only one partnering with families… the church isn’t.

Does that make sense? We haven’t changed the way our churches engage families, we’ve only changed the way our family ministries engage families.

In order for the church to truly partner with families, family ministry has to become the strategy of the church as a whole.

What does that mean? I don’t know. “Gee, Nate. Thanks a lot.”

I do have some thoughts.

• It’s not abolishing student ministry like some advocate.
• It’s going to involve churches becoming more strategic about what they’re teaching on Sunday mornings.
• If the family ministry has core principles they want kids to know, shouldn’t the ‘big wheels’ get it together and know what they want their parents to know.
• It’s going to need church programming to reprioritize around families. (Broad, I know.)
• It’s going to involve connecting older families with younger families.

I don’t know what any of this looks like. I just think something else is coming. Sending kids home with a sheet they’re supposed to look at with their parents doesn’t seem like much of a partnership to me.

Have you implemented the Orange strategy? Are you ready to embrace it as a church instead of a department?