Why the Great Debate Over How to Preach?
1 Corinthians 2:1-8
“1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
The past few weeks I have seen men break out in arguments over how we are to preach. Whether it is the method we use or the type of preaching, no two preachers are going to deliver the Word of God in exactly the same way. Is it worth arguing over? Of course not. Yet there are some who get their feathers ruffled and strike up a fight when someone has an opinion different from theirs on the topic of preaching.
This is not an exhaustive study on the matter(Perhaps I will another time). But, rather just a little observation on my part from what I see others saying.
There seems to be a great, unnecessary debate over two types of preaching today. Expository or Topical. I say unnecessary because this ongoing debate is just that. It has done nothing but bring discord between brethren and has broken longtime friendships and brought about the loss of fellowship. If all sides would just shut up and listen to each other during these debates they would see they are not all that much different.
Another problem I see is you have some who seem to be the biggest agitators, who say one thing in their debates but preach something different at other times. Hince all the confusion with the debates. This is on both sides.
Expository preaching has made big strides in the modern Reformed movement that has come to the Southern Baptist Convention. Those who are following that crowd have a high esteem of themselves and their newly found way of preaching and look down on the ones who refuse to follow their example. In fact it is nothing new. Baptists have been preaching expository sermons since the churches began. Jesus did it as did His Apostles. Look at the sermon Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. A perfect example. Peter taught from the Joel chapter 2. Why? Because he was preaching to Jews who were not yet members of the First Church in Jerusalem. In the same sermon he preached expositionally from Psalm 16. This sermon was also a topical sermon. The topic being the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The second sermon preached by Peter in Acts 3 was clearly a topical sermon. He quotes from multiple different scriptures from all over the Old Testament. But again the topic is the Gospel. The Apostle Paul often taught both ways. Depending on who his audience was or depending on the purpose of the lesson he was trying to get across.
Topical preaching or bringing scriptures together from multiple different places in the Bible has been popular with the Armenian crowd. It is my understanding that preaching nothing but topical sermons became popular with the Fundamental Baptist movement. Those who concentrated on mostly missions and evangelism. This group long ago denied the doctrine of God's Grace and the teachings of Election and Predestination. Their gospel became known as the Freewill of man or works based salvation. Denying the very Sovereignty of God. Many in the Reformed movement claim this is the reason against topical preaching. Yet following that claim is as ridiculous as saying expository preaching is wrong.
The fact of the matter is if you are going to preach doctrine as Paul instructed Timothy and Titus you will have to preach topically. Most of the core doctrines of the Baptist faith can not be preached in an expository manner. The preacher/teacher is going to be forced to go to multiple passages in the Bible to bring the truths of many of the doctrines we hold dear. Jesus did it as well as all the men whose writings and sermons are recorded in the Bible.
The big problem with topical preaching is if we are not careful we can take things out of context and make them say what we want and not what was intended. This was/is the great mistake of the Armenian crowd and even many Landmark Sovereign Grace Baptist have fallen for this over the years. However, there are passages in the Old and New Testaments that were for a certain group of people or a particle person that can be taken out of it's original context and used as an example for us today. A prime example of this is the frequently quoted II Chronicles 7:14. This was a command of God followed by promises of God for the Nation of Israel. God said “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Most of this verse is true for God's people today. Much of this verse is oftentimes reiterated in the New Testament to the Lord's churches. All except where He says “and will heal their land.” There is no promise from God that He will heal any of the nations in our modern world. The only nation we see being healed will be the Nation of Israel and that doesn't happen until the last half of the Tribulation when God saves a nation in a day and they will not be given dominion over the Promised Land until the Millennial Rain of Christ and then finally in eternity. But the rest of this verse is a very good lesson for us. In New Testament times we are commanded, as God's people, to call upon His name, humble ourselves before Him in prayer, and seek His face and to repent of our sins. The promise from God, if we will do this is He will hear our prayers and forgive us our sins. But, God never promised to heal the Gentile nations. Only the Nation of Israel. God does promise if we pray for our leaders He will give us peace in this life(I Timothy 2:1-4).
I believe the biggest problem on both sides of this argument of whether we preach expository or we preach topical is the fact that on both sides we have men who believe themselves to be more highly educated(whether from a Bible school or university or self taught from the reading of books and commentaries or all of the above) and some even seem to think they are more inspired from the Holy Spirit than those on the other side. We need to remember the words spoken of the “devout men, out of every nation under heaven.” when they heard the Apostles preach the Gospel in their own languages on the Day of Pentecost. “Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?” In that day the people of Galilee were not known for being the most educated in the religious world. Remember Peter and John were perceived to be unlearned and ignorant men by the priest of the Sanhedrin Court at the Temple in Jerusalem in Acts 4. Yet these very priests marveled at the knowledge these men from Galilee had of the scriptures and the boldness in which they preached. Not because of their degree from a school of higher learning or from their knowledge by studying after the popular commentaries of the day, but because “they had been with Jesus.”
Go back and read our text again in I Corinthians 2:1-8. Paul says he came to them “not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.” and “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Preacher/teacher if your preaching is with the enticing words of yourself or any other man and not by what the Holy Spirit gives you the power to preach then your preaching is in vain. It doesn't matter if you preach topical or exposition or a combination of both. If the Holy Spirit of God is not in it, if your studying for a sermon is directed by anything other than the Holy Spirit of God, it doesn't matter the method or the manner in which you preach or teach. We are commanded to preach the truth.
Paul warned Timothy about foolish and unlearned questions in II Timothy 2:20-26. It would do us all good to go back and study the lessons Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus on how to be a good and faithful servant. Look at I Timothy 6:1-16 and Titus 3:1-11. Are we like the examples Paul says to not be like?
In conclusion, if the Lord has called you to the ministry, whether it is as a pastor or a missionary or a Bible teacher, follow the charge Paul wrote to Timothy in II Timothy 4:1-5. Just simply stand and preach the Word of God as the Holy Spirit gives guidance. It doesn't matter your style or method or manner as long as you are preaching the truth. Above all, make sure it is the truth from God's Word. It would do us all good to remember II Timothy 3:10-17. Follow Paul's advice in these verses and heed his warnings for those of us who have been called into the Ministry of Jesus Christ. And yes, it is the Ministry of Jesus Christ and not our own.
Praise ye the Lord!!!
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