Featured Andy Stanley Trashes Expository Preaching; Calls it “Easy” and “Cheating”

That was me and it was 7 years from when he started to when he finished but there were breaks in there as well. So it was not 350 weeks straight.

My husband and I have talked about this some. My previous pastor was very much a focus on the tree in the forest and our pastor now is very much a forest for the tree guy, and I think both have value. There is diving in and preaching through Ps. 23 for 6 weeks and then there is stepping back and looking at the big picture, and they both have value.

 

When I preach I am not leaving it to the listener "to come to his or her own conclusions". I want them to come to the biblical conclusion that I am making in my sermon. That is why preaching is so serious. The preacher is saying, "thus says the LORD!" There should be no equivocating from the pulpit. A preacher who is not well-studied, and with a firm opinion of the text, has no business preaching.

As far as expository vs. inductive; an effective sermon is both. A good preacher should be able to take one verse, or a series of verses, and preach them contextually and thematically. There is an art to preaching. The ability to proclaim truth in such a way as to convey, not only its meaning, but to motivate (through the agency of the Holy Spirit) listeners to action, is not a simple task. Some self-proclaimed prophets treat it as such, but that is the difference between those who are called to preaching ministry and those who are not.

 

Let me give further clarification to what I mean by expository (deductive) and inductive sermons.

An example of an expository (deductive) sermon would be:
Text: Proverbs 3:5
Proposition (main idea): Believers should put there whole trust in God.
Support (points):
A. God knows what's best.
B. God can't fail.
C. There's no one better to put your trust in.

An example of an inductive sermon would be:
Text: Gen. ch. 16 & 21
Outline:
A. Sarai's choice to give Haggai to Abraham showed a lack of trust in God to bless her own womb.
B. To make matters worst, Abrams choice to cooperate showed a lack of trust in God's timing to bring forth a son from Sarai.
C. However, God remains faithful even when we aren't.
D. The birth of Isaac shows the trustworthiness of God's promise.
Conclusion (proposition): So we should place all of our trust in God.

Rough example of course but I hope this clarifies the difference.

Both have a main idea (proposition). An expository sermon begins with the main idea and the points come out of the main idea. In an inductive sermon, the points lead to the main idea. Both are effective and can making preaching week by week even fresher.

For a more in depth explanation check out Haddon Robinson's "Biblical Preaching".

 

Well stated. Any human being is going to form their own opinion of what a text means. You need only look at the raging Cal vs Arm debate or the eschatological debates to see that. But preaching should lead to the conclusion God has established, sort of like the writer in Ecclesiastes said "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter."

I've personally never considered preaching an art, but I can see where you are coming from. Like Paul's exhortation to Timothy to be instant in season and out of season, and to be ready at all times to give account for the faith. I've always been a believer in letting the Lord lead on where I should preach. Then again, I don't come out of a church that does sermon series. We do study through entire books in our Wednesday night Bible study, but that's more of a class than preaching. The Sunday morning services have never featured a series.

Around here those folks carry the label of "Mama called and Daddy sent" preachers, instead of "called of God. Some people don't understand just how difficult it can be to get up and preach. Sometimes you can stand up and fall almost immediately into God's hands. Other times it feels like you have to strive for the Spirit for a bit.

 

Which is why I said:

 

Minor point - fact check, Northpoint Church is in Alpharetta, Georgia.

 

Fact check? It's the 'Pulpit and Pen' blog.

 

Sorry, I was referring to the OP, which refers to Andy Stanley as a "Texas Pastor", Northpoint is based in Alpharetta, Ga., I was not referring to Ed's blog. Ed is currently based in Nashville himself. We need to be careful in our assertions, it doesn't take many factual errors to hurt someone's credibility.

 

It was JD Hall's 'Pulpit & Pen' interwebsite that made the error. The OP was just quoting from that trashy outfit.

It is confusing because RevM. does not use quotation marks; he'll just copy and paste and then tack on the link at the very end.