Preaching That Changes the World

Three Ways to Apply Expository Preaching to Cultural Questions

Photo by Nycholas Benaia on Unsplash

As someone who believes the church should be about gospel proclamation and social action that obeys Jesus’ command to love our neighbor as ourselves, I encourage pastors to be unafraid to discuss important cultural issues in the pulpit. If people cannot find guidance on how to live in the world in church, they will find it in other ways. We are always being formed, but faithful churches ensure that God’s people are not being catechized by pundits, parties, and politicians.

But how does a pastor do this while also preaching, as I believe the majority of preaching should be, in an expository, book-by-book way? How can a preacher help his people live in the world without turning the pulpit into another segment on cable news?

This is where I think expository preaching, rather than a hindrance to equipping God’s people for life in the world, is a benefit. I’m not against topical weeks and occasional sermons that mark significant holidays, but we mostly grow by being fed a steady diet of God’s Word over a lifetime. Also, expository preaching, done right, doesn’t let us skip those hard passages we’d rather avoid.

So how can we apply our expository preaching to the culture? Here are three ways I’ve found extremely helpful: