Study Committee on Expositional Preaching [2021]
EDITOR’S NOTE: This committee was formed by Conference at the request of a local church’s elder board in 2018. At the 2019 Conference, their report was accepted but their proposed legislation was referred back to committee. At the 2021 Conference, the committee brought back a modified proposal, listed in the report below, which was approved at First Reading 92-39. Second Reading is pending approval by 2/3 of the churches’ elder boards.
FIRST READING – 2021 Yes – 92; No – 39. Minutes
SECOND READING – pending
The discussion from the floor of the 2019 BFC Conference surrounding our proposed legislation on preaching was both enlightening and encouraging. However, it was the conversations that took place afterward that especially emboldened the study committee to continue our efforts to protect the practice of preaching the Word of God within BFC churches through a proposed addition to our Articles of Faith.
It is clear that preaching the word of God, as a means of making disciples, is presently under attack in evangelicalism, and denominations that seek to be faithful before God must contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. Preaching is not in season, and yet the apostle Paul left no uncertainty as to what we are to do, even in light of the difficulty in doing it: we are to preach the Word.
Since last we met in April 2019 the study committee has sought to understand and address the concerns that were voiced when our legislation on this most vital topic was initially brought before the Conference. We heard from some who felt the words “primary” and “priority” in the legislation indicated that we were trying to legislate one “style” of preaching over other styles. We heard from others that the legislation was simply trying to say too much. Still others affirmed their agreement with the substance of the legislation, but felt it was misplaced in the Articles of Faith, and should rather be placed in the Biblical Principles for Living. In the end, the majority of those who took issue with the legislation seemed to be under the impression that our aim was to command every BFC preacher to preach according to one “style” to the neglect of every other style. While we believe that the legislation proposed in 2019 did not refer to a style at all, it is nevertheless clear that we needed to address this misconception.
The members of the study committee do not consider expositional preaching to be merely a style of preaching, but to be at the heart of what all preaching is intended to be. When we understand the words of Scripture to be the very words of God, and the only means for salvation and sanctification, the faithful preacher will endeavor to preach that Word for the purpose of exposing the meaning of that Word. In this way, the faithful preacher will not merely use the Word of God to buttress his own ideas, but will preach God’s Word so that God will be glorified and His people will be edified as the Word’s intended meaning is opened, explained, and applied. For this reason, we were careful to define expositional preaching as we did in the legislation we proposed in 2019: “the reading, explaining, and application of a biblical text, wherein the meaning of the biblical text is the message of the sermon.” Brothers, this must be the aim of every faithful preacher; regardless of style, regardless of venue, genre, or occasion, we must be seeking to give God’s people God’s Word, God’s way, for God’s glory.
Our denomination is at a crossroads. Will we pursue church growth through man-centered philosophies that cater to the demands of the culture? Or will we trust the Lord Jesus Christ to keep His promise to build His church, His way?
This committee rests on the study and scholarship that we submitted in 2019, and ask you to refer to it in your 2019 Yearbook. Despite attempts to refute it, that study proves beyond any doubt that the preaching of God’s Word as defined in the proposed legislation of 2019 is both commanded and exemplified in Scripture. However, it is clear that a change in our approach to legislate that biblical command was necessary. Thus, the committee has sought to simplify the legislation in the Articles of Faith, and we herein present that for your prayerful consideration.
Whereas, the Bible Fellowship Church holds the highest and most reverent view of the Holy Scriptures as the living and active Word of God, and
Whereas, the Scriptures are clear about their own authority, necessity, and sufficiency for the salvation and sanctification of God’s people, and
Whereas, the preaching of God’s Word is clearly demonstrated and commanded in both the Old and New Testament, and
Whereas, the church universal, including the evangelical church at large, has progressively minimized and abandoned the ministry exegetically based preaching of the Word of God, and
Whereas, the Bible Fellowship Church seeks to be distinct in biblical fidelity and ministerial faithfulness, and
Whereas, the Church Health Committee of the Bible Fellowship Church has included expositional preaching of the Scriptures in the Distinctives of a Healthy [Bible Fellowship] Church, and
Whereas, the Articles of Faith of the Bible do not explicitly proclaim our belief in the high value of exegetically based preaching of the Word of God, therefore be it
Resolved, that Article 18-5 be included in the Bible Fellowship Church Articles of Faith in order to clearly communicate our belief in the priority of exegetically based preaching in the church.
18-5 The ministry of the Word of God,13 through the agency of the Holy Spirit,14 is used by God for the salvation,15 sanctification,16 and equipping17 of His people. The public ministry of the Word within congregational worship18 must include faithful, Spirit-empowered preaching19 in which the biblical text is read, explained, and applied so that the meaning of the text is the message of the sermon.20
13 … preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (2 Tim. 4:2); He said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4:43); For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (1 Cor. 1:17); How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:14)
14 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (1 Cor. 2:13)
15 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17); …and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim. 3:15)
16 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17); But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess. 2:13-14).
17 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph. 4:11-16); All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
18 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. (Nehemiah 8:5-8)
19 … preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2 Tim. 4:2-4); He said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4:43); For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (1 Cor. 1:17); How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:14); And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (1 Cor. 2:13); …whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11)
20 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8); But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Cor. 4:2); And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27); They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)