Why Expository Preaching Is Important

There is a significant difference between doing book-by-book serial exposition — which dates all the way back to John Calvin and the Lectio Continua preaching tradition — and doing topical preaching. The difference is that when you do topical preaching you create some pegs on which to hang your thoughts. And these pegs are not necessarily biblical pegs. On the other hand, when you do expository preaching you get the symmetry and structure from the biblical text.

I’m much more confident taking the text (in its context), opening it up, seeing the structure of the text, and understanding the full idea of the passage as the Holy Spirit revealed it. This kind of expository preaching is much better than saying, “I’m going to preach a sermon on love and these are the five pegs I’m going to hang it on.”

Now with topic preaching, it’s not all bad. In fact, it can be easier to remember these sermons. But topical preaching creates a synthetic outline that is only your outline. If you’re going to preach a topical sermon you should take a topical-textual approach. For example, you might take a key text on love, exposit it, and then bring in other supporting texts.

The Scriptures should give you the symmetry to your sermon.

R. Kent Hughes (DMin, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois and a visiting professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hughes is also a founder of the Charles Simeon Trust, which conducts expository preaching conferences throughout North America and worldwide. He and his wife, Barbara, have four children and an ever-increasing number of grandchildren. He is the author of multiple books, most recently The Pastor’s Book: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry.