Expository preaching to postmoderns
At Pulpit, John MacArthur offers insights on expository preaching to postmoderns:
The bottom line is that expository preaching confronts the amorality of postmodernism with an authoritative message of absolute truth. It’s not a question of debating. It’s not a question of trying to find some way to sneak that in. It’s an issue of confronting this kind of thinking with the absolute authority of Scripture and then letting the Spirit of God make the application to the heart.Amen. The excerpt is from Part One. You might also be interested in Part Two.
Expository preaching is the only thing that is going to change anything. There isn’t any other way to affect people positively aside from hitting them with that kind of authority. In my own preaching, my objective is not to court the postmodern mind. My objective is to confront it—to hit it stone cold in the face with truth. It’s irrelevant to me how the person thinks. It’s only relevant to me how they need to think. So I’m not going to play around with their sensitivities to postmodernism.
posted by Milton Stanley at 8:03 PM
9 Comments:
Yes, Milton. I agree with the notion that expository preaching confronts the amorality of postmodernism with truth.
However, I'm not sure if I am able to agree with the idea that the ONLY thing that is going to change anything is expository preaching.
I've also seen textual/topical preaching which is reinforced with narrative applications (even testimonials) make a big impact.
What do you think? -bill
There is a definite lack of expository preaching in the church I attend, and it shows, sometimes.
Milton, I hope your wife is doing well in these days.
Yes, I think that MacArthur is using hyperbole--but not much! Topical preaching certainly has a place, but I do think the church benefits most from a steady diet of expository preaching.
Phil: If we truly believe in the power of God's Word, God's grace and God's faith, then we need to get out of the way let God have His way.
Milton: Amen!
Thanks, Kim. Carolyn is recovering well, but considering the extent of her surgery (about a 10-inch incision and lots of stuff cut out of her belly), a good recovery still involves quite a bit of pain and fatigue. Still, as these things go, she's doing fine!
hmmmmm....
seems to me the problem with this statement is the phrase "It's irrelevant to me..."
He hasn't got a single concern for how people listen, just a concern for how he delivers.
How is his message to get across if his only concern is to hammer home a point to people who won't listen to him anyway?
Good question.
As I see it, proclaiming the Word of God doesn't require that we understand the intricacies of the minds that have not yet accepte it. Of course, we have to be able to communicate at some level. In the same sense the hearer's thinking is irrelevant, so is my delivery. The power is in the Word.
Peace.
Seems to me that, upon reading Peter and Paul's sermons in Acts, they definitely take the way their audience thinks into account. To not do so is simply irresponsible and arrogant.
I understand what MacArthur is saying in that expository preaching must challenge many elements of the postmodern worldview to its core - which I totally agree with - but I think the way he presents the idea is too simplistic and reductionist. I find Don Carson (the Gagging of God) and Tim Keller - both reformed expositroy preachers - more helpful on this issue.
Thanks for your comments, Spooh. You may well be right. I'd like to see what Carson and Keller have to say. Peace.
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