Proclaimer Blog
A mindset not a method
Expository preaching, says Dick Lucas, is a mindset not a method. That's a really helpful thought and one I've been coming back to again and again recently. Someone asked me last week at our younger ministers conference whether there is a PT approved (!!) set length of passage to preach. That's a fairly bizarre question when you stop to think of it. Every text has a context right up to the context of the whole Bible and if you never stop saying 'this portion I've got belongs in a wider context' you just end up with the Bible as your text – and therefore one (rather long) sermon! So, a bizarre question. But the right answer is that we teach a mindset not a method.
In other words, the answer to the question is no. We do encourage preachers to take whole sections that belong together, especially in OT narrative. But you can preach a text in an expository way just as you can a longer section. (Though preaching a text which is faithful to its context and setting is much harder than a longer section; even though it may appear otherwise). You can even, I believe, have a topical series which is still expository. A wedding sermon can be expository, as can a youth club talk.
All that we teach tends to focus on handling the word of God accurately. These lessons apply whether you're preaching on Acts 2 in its entirety or just verse 42. Both can be expository sermons. Because expository preaching is a mindset not a method.