![]() In his book, Biblical Preaching, Haddon writes, “Whether or not we can be called expositors starts with our purpose and with our honest answer to the question: ‘Do you, as a preacher, endeavor to bend your thought to the Scriptures, or do you use the Scriptures to support your thought?’” Whenever the biblical text becomes a servant to our ideas (or to our outlines) we miss our calling as preachers. Each was specifically selected to “fit” the preacher’s outline. Sure enough, the Bible verses quoted on the outline came from at least four different modern translations and paraphrases. I pulled out the sermon outline from the previous day. He mentioned how some went so far as to search various translations until they found the wording that best supported each of their individual outline points. The next morning at breakfast, Haddon mentioned how some preachers will essentially outline their sermons and then go fishing for Bible verses that support their outlines. He lets the text speak for itself and shapes his sermon accordingly.ĭuring my second-year D/Min seminar, I attended services at a well-known, rapidly growing church. In other words, an expository preacher never imposes a topic on the text. So what makes an expository sermon expository? An expository preacher never brings his sermon idea to the text. An expository sermon can take many forms-inductive, deductive, narrative, and yes, even topical. If this is expository preaching at all, it is bastardized expository preaching! As taught and modeled by Haddon Robinson, expository preaching is as crisp and relevant as the Bible itself. Until I do, my sermon will not be relevant, nor can it be practically applied to the lives of my hearers.Įxpository preaching-properly understood and practiced-is our calling.īefore I go further, please don’t miss the phrase, “expository preaching-properly understood and practiced.” Much of what goes by the name “expository preaching” amounts to little more than a running commentary on the ancient biblical text (“Last Sunday we got through chapter 7, verse 12. Jowett, “I have the conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching…until we can express its theme in a short pregnant sentence as clear as a crystal.” Each week I need to do the hard work of determining the central truth of my sermon text. As another preaching professor was fond of reminding me, “Fog in the pulpit, fog in the pew.” In Biblical Preaching, Haddon quotes J.H. It’s impossible to preach an effective sermon if we don’t specifically know what we’re preaching about. In Haddon’s words, “A sermon should be a bullet, not buckshot.” He writes, “Ideally, each sermon is the explanation, interpretation, or application of a single dominant idea supported by other ideas, all drawn from one passage or several passages of Scripture.” He continues, “Three or four ideas not related to a more inclusive idea do not make a message they make three or four sermonettes all preached at one time.” I might address them all in one sermon or, I might preach a three-week series on “Praying with Faith.”Įvery sermon should have one central “big idea.” For instance, when I read a passage like Matthew 21:21-22 (“I tell you the truth, if you do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.”), my heart cries out for answers to all three questions. In some sermons I might answer only one of these “developmental questions.” In other sermons I might address all three. There are only three things a preacher can do with a text.Īs a preacher, there are only three ways I can approach a biblical text: 1) I can explain it by answering the question, “What does it mean?” 2) I can prove it by answering the question, “Is it true?” 3) I can apply it by answering the question, “What difference does it make?” Here are a few of the lessons he’s taught me:ĭon’t make preaching more complicated than it is. ![]() God has used him to help me grow as a preacher, a pastor, and a follower of Jesus. His instruction and his life have greatly impacted me. During the past decade I’ve been privileged to sit under Haddon’s teaching-first in his Doctor of Ministry program and later during annual preaching seminars (for alumni of the program). Haddon Robinson, the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. It was the first lesson I learned about preaching-and about life and ministry-from Dr.
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