This blog post is part one of four in the series Renewing Expository Preaching.

Expository preaching plays a vital role in the life of the church.

The regular, faithful preaching of the Bible in weekly corporate worship services has endured as one of the most important qualities of the Christian faith. While various forms of such as topical, textual, or narrative have their place, Im convinced that expository preaching is the most vital way for to continually teach Gods Word to their people.

At times, Im asked why I prefer preaching through books of the Bible. This is particularly true when Ive served in the role of interim pastor. I want to unpack my convictions on expository preaching while noting other approaches over these four articles. These are updated from an earlier series I published at my old Christianity Today blog.

In Part 1, I want to lay out some reasons why I believe verse-by-verse, expository preaching through books matters. In a day with so many opportunities to use technological resources to amplify our preaching, we who preach need to constantly renew our commitment to expositional preaching.

I dont primarily preach this way because that method is commanded in the Bible, but because of the very nature of the Bible. As the Word of God without error and inspired throughout, Gods Word requires us to treat every word, phrase and sentence accordingly. Thus, the Bible is best taught using an approach to preaching that explains what God has inspired, looking at the words, phrases, sentences and sections in the process.

Because the Bibles inspiration is word-for-word, the words of the Bible should set the agenda for the message taught or preached in a gathered worship service. In other words, this message should largely be the explanation of the inspired Word of God in the order and in the format that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors to write.

Thus, the preferred form of preaching is that which is driven by the text and where the text sets the agenda.

There are a number of benefits of expository preaching. Let me cite five here.

1. It Reminds You To Preach All Scripture, Including the Parts You Might Otherwise Skip.

As I preached through the Gospel of Matthew, I dealt with every verse I encountered. When I came to Chapter 19, I read Jesus very strong words about marriage and adultery being the allowable exception for divorce. It is a hard passage to preach, as his commands are countercultural for our day. Thus, as I preach through Matthew, I am forced to stand before the congregation with conviction, raising a view of marriage that Jesus said the world would not be able to handle. I do that because the text brings me there, just as the text might bring me to challenge racism, consumerism or other issues facing modern listeners.

2. It Reveals The Thoughts and Intents of the Authors of Scripture As They Were Led by the Spirit.

As I preached through Matthew, I not only deal with the specific words and phrases, but I also help hearers to see bigger issues at play as Jesus makes his path to the cross. Matthew, under the Spirits guidance, reminds us of the countercultural values of the Kingdom. In other words, Matthew did not just haphazardly collect and write down these passages.

I am being more faithful and helpful as a preacher if I communicate to my people what Matthew said. This does not mean it has to be a boring, running commentary. But I would be ignoring part of the Holy Spirits inspiration if I did not preach the text as the author and Author delivered it.

3. It Raises Up Self-Feeders, Helping Them Learn How To Read the Bible.

As preachers of the Word, we seek to help disciples read the Bible more faithfully and effectively, personally and with their families. Preaching through books helps to model such reading, as the Bible is not best read as a series of unrelated passages. Our preaching should encourage a better way to look at Scripture. By preaching through books of the Bible, I show people they can open books of the Bible, read them, and trace the thoughts and the arguments presented. By preaching in an expositional way through books, I can teach people to read the Bible well.

As I often remind the people at my church, the Bible is not written to you, nor is it about you.

If we solely devotionally, we can end up under that impression. Instead, the Bible is written for you.

Its written for you to follow the point, trace the ideas, and apply the truth. Thus, preaching through books of the Bible teaches you to receive the message in that way.

4. It Refers Believers to the Value of Important Contextual Issues in Scripture.

The Bible was written in historical settings and contexts that help us to understand Gods message and apply that to our time. Understanding issues of context, customs and culture amplifies a given passage we are proclaiming.

When I preached on Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (), I explained that he did so in the midst of an elaborate situation: Mourners were there, the highway from Bethany to Jericho was in a place that cant be missed, and thus a place where the Pharisees would see as opportune to turn against Jesus. In discussing these details, listeners learn that when Jesus heals, the specific details often point to other realities. It reminds people the details of the Bible are to be valued because of the very nature of the Bible.

5. It Helps Us Resist Interpreting Scripture Based on our Preferences.

We proclaim Gods Word as the standard by which we measure our lives. This means our preferences take a back seat to the revealed truth of Scripture. When we come to the Bible with a preconceived idea or preference, we might apply Scripture out of context (proof texting).

Never in such a way that if your people dig deeper, they will find you took a verse out of context for your preference or any other reason. Never preach in such a way that when you get to heaven and meet the apostle Paul, he says, Thats not what I meant, and it was obvious from the context.

My approach to preaching aligns with the late s approach. At , he once said that the majority of preaching in the church should be verse-by-verse and should be expositional. I would add that it should be specifically verse-by-verse exposition working through books of the Bible, as thats the best way to teach and shape a congregation.

Having said that, preaching by way of verse-by-verse exposition is not the only way to preach Gods Word faithfully. I will pick that idea up in Part 2 next Wednesday.

and more writing by Ed Stetzer are available on .