Equipping University

Expository preaching is becoming increasingly popular and we can only rejoice in this trend. Expository preaching is often defined as "going through a book of the Bible verse-by-verse" but it is much more than this. Some think expository preaching is doing a line-by-line verbal commentary on a passage with a few points of application tacked on to the end of the message. Again, it is much more than that. Expository preaching (or expositional preaching) is "preaching that takes for the point of the sermon the point of a particular passage of Scripture." Effective expository preaching makes clear and compelling the one thing that the text makes most central. In expository preaching, the passage governs the sermon. This type of preaching is preaching in service to the Word, not putting the Bible in subjection to the preaching event. It presumes a dependant belief in the authority of God's Word and a deep desire to hear from God's Word.

Why are we committed to expository preaching? Why is expository preaching a necessary component of every healthy church? The answer to both questions is the same: preaching should always (or almost always) be expositional preaching because the Word of God must be at the very center of the sermon, the worship service, and the church. This centrality of the Word is the pattern set forth in Scripture and in God's ordination of the church's history. A healthy church is a church that hears the Word of God and continues to hear the Word of God and is constantly growing and changing because of the Word of God. We must be shaped by the Word and not our own selfish desires and personal agendas. For this reason, the preaching of God's Word (ALL OF IT) must be central in the life of the pastor and the church.

A healthy church is not one that has arrived. It has not gotten everything figured out. I does not have a perfect pastor or a perfect blend of contemporary and traditional music. It does not mean that your children will beg you to take them there or that they will never come home complaining about being bored. However, a healthy church is filled with health-conscious Christians will continuously strive to take God's side in the battles it faces. They will seek to conform itself according to God's Holy Word in all areas of life - both individually and corporately. In essence, a healthy church will increasingly reflect God's character and God's desires for the church as his character and desires are discovered in the study and proclamation of God's Word.

The way the church has been designed to display the glory of God is through simple obedience to His ordained plan for the body of Christ. The Bible tells us all we need to know: we listen to God's Word and we follow God's Word. The church is not called to look at the worldly community around it and determine how it can more closely mirror that environment in an attempt to be "cool" or "relevant" or "sensitive." The church is called to examine itself and its ministry and discern whether or not it has been faithful to all God has called the church to be.

When we read stories of people who have allegedly "died and gone to heaven," it is easy to get excited about the prospects of seeing such wonderful sights ourselves one day. At the same time, Christians are encouraged that the biblical record is true and that their faith is well founded. However, we need to read these stories carefully and reflect upon them through the lenses of theological study. Many have theological concerns with the accounts given in these two books and the numerous other stories told by near-death "experiencers" (their term).

Research in this area indicates there is a certain consistency in NDE reports. These similarities exist regardless of gender, religion, culture, and race. Many suggest that the phenomena must therefore actually be occurring objectively outside the body. These proponents argue that such consistency allows only for the explanation at NDEs are exactly what they are reported to be - the soul's journey out of the body through a tunnel to another plane of existence.

However, beyond a narrow list of parameters that are remarkably consistent, thousands of widely subjective accounts remain. Are NDEs real? Many believe so but just as many remain skeptical. No one can deny that NDErs are definitely experiencing something. The question is: Exactly what are they experiencing? Are they leaving their bodies and traveling to other dimensions? Is there some natural explanation for what they see and hear and remember?

There are biological and psychological factors that can account for every single NDE element listed in the scientific studies. In fact, you do not actually need to be "near death" to have a near-death experience. It appears highly likely that many (if not all) NDEs take place entirely in one's mind as biologically-based hallucinations built from preexisting memories, thoughts, dreams, and religious beliefs.

No one can judge the experience that they had. However, as Christians, we have the right and the duty to judge their interpretation of what they experiences.

Modern Christians seem so desperate for tangible evidence of their personal beliefs that they gravitate and grasp at any information that would lend validation to their faith. This would explain our fascination with expeditions to find Noah's Ark and quick acceptance of forwarded email nonsense. Christians do not need this information; we have the words of God revealed to us in the Scriptures. Those words in the Bible describe for us what awaits those who truly believe. There is no reason to believe that God wants us to know more about heaven than what He has revealed to us already. As the old hymn asks, "What more can He say that to you He has said?"