The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

The difference between expository and topical preaching

There seems to be a great deal of confusion between what is and what is not expository preaching. A lot of preachers make a great show of proclaiming their dedication to expository preaching and then get up wee after week and preach a message that is anything but. I cam across a great quote from David Wells in The Courage to be Protestant that really gets to the heart of the difference...

About preaching, I think I discern two rather clear and distinctive viewpoints. On one side are those who have become convinced that it is the Biblical text that must be preached. Perhaps they come to this opinion through reading older sermons, or by understanding the emptiness of topical preaching, or as a reaction to the older liberalism. But they hold a conviction that the Word of God, in the hand of God, is sufficient for the people of God. The form this conviction most often takes is expository sermon, in which the text or passage provides both the structure and content of the sermon.

On the other hand are those who have become acutely aware of how postmoderns think. These are the preachers who want to meet their audiences on their own turf in a way that they think addresses their world and needs. Sermons here, most commonly, begin not with a text but with something in the postmodern experience. Perhaps a movie, a sitcom, an excursion into the mall that yielded an amusing anecdote. If the intent is to be biblical at all in these sermons, the preacher will try to find his or her way back from the opening story to some aspect of biblical truth.

(David Wells, The Courage to be Protestant, pp. 230-231)

That is precisely right. Topical preaching may have it's place, but in my humble opinion the first and foremost mode of preaching should be expository preaching, preaching the whole counsel of God. There needs to be application, exposition is not just a running commentary on a text (which I have been guilty of before). But the focus of worship services should be on the preaching and the focus of the preaching should be on Christ and the best way to focus on Christ is to preach the text. Period. I would rather head a mediocre expository sermon than a hear wrenching topical sermon any day of the week.