Of course it is!
…He says with a cheeky grin ☺. I actually wrote this piece some time ago after visiting another church and experiencing the “abomination of desolation” that is topical preaching. It is true (if you hadn’t guessed yet) I am not a fan of topical preaching. Scripture should form not only the foundation of our sermons but the entirety of what we say week in week out to the community of God’s people. As Goldingay argues, “I would not want to argue that all preaching must be text centred – though 95 percent of my own is. There is a place for topical preaching, though it may become a sin when indulged in too often” (1995, p.9). Having spent many years in a church that only preached topical messages I became Biblically illiterate and anaemic to the text itself. Scripture was thrown around so wastefully and casually that it almost seemed to lose its Holiness. it is what i would call Biblical reductionism I realise that this is not the case for everyone and many have stories of the boring ‘Bible’ only preachers who have driven many from the church with their endless genealogies. Nevertheless, the text must set the context of our proclamation.
The place of scripture and preaching within the community of God’s people raises for me more questions than any other topic and less answers than any other problem. I remember lamenting to a friend not too long ago that the only people who seem to defend preaching as the primary means by which we proclaim the gospel and teach about the Christian life are preachers themselves. Why is this so? We live in a society obsessed with a ‘practical’ approach to the Bible. People come to church expecting the preacher to provide them with answers and ‘practical’ approaches to the text in order that they might live a Biblical life. Where did we ever get the idea that every time we hear Holy Scripture we should receive a ‘practical’ answer?
Holy Scripture and the pulpit belong together like peas and carrots. As Goldingay so eloquently describes, “The Bible is entirely at home in the pulpit because its words were spoken and written to do something along the same lines. “It is the preaching book because it is the preaching book.” Biblical statue, wisdom, prophecy, and epistle overtly urge people toward more confident faith or questioning and more specific commitment away from disobedience or false trust. Biblical narrative, poetry, and psalmody have similar aims. They offer not merely historical information or aesthetic experience or cultic record but implicit invitation. One reason why works of various kinds were collected and eventually became “scriptures” was so that they might continue to effect something in the lives of people.” (1995, p.9). As preachers and teachers we must remain faithful to the task of understanding, dwelling in, and interpreting the Biblical narrative. As Matthias Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece so wonderfully depicts; like John the Baptist we stand with a bible in one hand and our other hand points to the crucified Christ. Holy Scripture at every turn points us to the Word of God revealed in Jesus Christ. It is only as we faithfully teach and proclaim the text before us, and not our own ideas, that we faithfully proclaim the Word of God!
the archives near Emmaus 
I am not as savage on the topic as you are Mark. I like expository preaching and also like topical preaching. Topical preaching allows you the freedom when needed to preach on a given subject that faithful expository preaching will not let you do.
Take the Trinity as an example – there is no passage of Scripture that we can exegete to preach on the Trinity in its fullness and yet indeed one can preach faithfully on the Trinity.
I don’t know if I’d preach on the trinity although my preaching would be Trinitarian.
Theological sermons may have there place but topical – NEVER! 😉
The content of the sermons of most Catholic priests, from my experience, seem to be based on the Gospel reading they have just read. Presumably that would win your approval?
Occasionally they divert and talk about how a saint is somehow is related to the Gospel, but that is not the usual.
Ok. Not sure what you’re trying to say but it sounds like you’re having a go at Catholics…
Snob! 😉
Theological and Topical are the same thing. And depending whether your Ref or Arm… the other side has a terrible exegetical method of coming to their topical sermon… 🙂
I do agree that there are terrible Topical sermons about and that is because the preacher doesn’t know how to be faithful to the text…yet there are just as many baaaad expository preachers and sermons also..which totally get the passage wrong.
A good 3 point topical sermon in fact should be a combination of 3 mini exegetical sermons on the one point; using three passages to support the overall sermon….
Mark, I was pointing out that the sermons of most Catholic priests are mostly based on a Bible text. Which is what you want preachers to do. That is having a go at them?
Sometimes they add something irrelevant into to it, which you, according to this post, is a practice you don’t like.
I don’t understand why some people respond to this post by pointing out that some preachers who start with the text rather than a topic are bad preachers.
Some police officers are corrupt, but that does not mean enforcing the law is a bad idea.
I think the categories of “topical” and “expository” preaching are not helpful. They are too broad and cover too many things.
My concern is with preaching that starts with me and then uses the Bible like a Physicians Desk Reference to give me “answers” to my questions. It is all about me from first to last and God exists more or less to solve my problems.
I like a balance myself, although I might agree with John that the categories are not always helpful.
Right now, I am in the middle of preaching through the book of Jonah. Last month I preached on Faith in the Workplace. This summer I will preach through the gospel of Mark. This fall I will preach several weeks on family life. And so on and so forth. One might say that by preaching “Jonah” I am inherently doing more exegetical than topical preaching, but the argument could be made that my topic is Jonah. Of course, my series on faith in the workplace last month was organized in a topical manner, but the actual sermons were exegetical. I suppose it can all get kind of fuzzy. At the end of the day, I always come back to asking how the individual preacher is gifted. If I were forced to preach 100% expository sermons, I would be a terrible preacher much of the time – my brain just does not work that way. I want the preaching I hear to be the best the preacher can offer, forcing everyone into the same approach would not be helpful for achieving that end, in my opinion.
I don’t like topical preaching as much, either, but I liked Craig’s point: “A good 3 point topical sermon in fact should be a combination of 3 mini exegetical sermons on the one point; using three passages to support the overall sermon….” In this sense, it really isn’t topical preaching.
My main beef with topical preaching is that
sometimesa lot of the time it ignores the context of the verses used. I’ve been doing more expository preaching in the pulpit and expository teaching (is there another kind of teaching?) in Bible classes and I’ve detected a bit of resentment, as if people are not satisfied with it. Though it may be my lack of ability or something else on my part, I suspect it is that expository preaching keeps some from hearing what they want to hear (sectarian battles, hobby-horse sermons, etc.) and forces them to hear what God wants them to hear.Okay, so when I first read this I skimmed over the paragraph about the common desire for “practical” preaching. Upon reading it fully, let me say AMEN. Truly, God through the Scriptures should transform our lives and behavior but, sheesh, it seems that many sermons tap the first base of Scripture before running everywhere else “preaching.” (that’s an American baseball reference, Mark…just in case you didn’t notice 😉 )
For the most part, I think it all depends on who your audience is. I don’t think expository preaching or teaching would be very beneficial to a congregation that wants to learn how to apply Scriptures. In my church, we have plenty of people who know what the Scriptures say and what’s actually there, but their stories are filled with countless moments where they failed to correctly apply the Scriptures and therefore suffered the consequences. After taking a poll a couple years back, my pastor decided to emphasize a little more topical preaching and low and behold, the seats are filling up and we have more people coming forward to serve in some part of the church.
It’s not like he’s taking non-Biblical texts up to the pulpit, either; every Sunday morning his Bible is open before him. He preaches from Scripture in a topical format because it appears to be having the biggest impact for the majority of the congregants. I’m not saying you’re wrong by any means; but I am saying that to limit one’s preaching style to either expository or topical would be to possibly deprive the church-goers the word they need to hear. It depends on who you’re talking to and what’s most effective for the majority of the congregation.
Personally, I would prefer a blending of the two so that people would learn both what’s there and how to apply (or how not to apply it). But no matter what, I just want to hear God speak, no matter what style it comes in.
A few thoughts, I would say anything other than exegetical preaching is opionion preaching, which no matter how many pews or programs you fill is dangerous and ultimately will lead in the wrong direction. Having said that, topical sermons CAN be exegetical, as was pointed out above. That is, you can approach a topic, but only by exegeting scripture that really deals with that topic.
Again, as has been said, these term ‘exegetical’ and ‘topical’ are not adequate to label a sermon, I’ve heard ‘exegetical’ sermons with more story than text, and ‘topical’ that preached like a systematic text book!
I’m with you Mark. I would like to echo M Crowe’s comment in regards to the brief mention of scripture and then the actual “preaching” happens. I would really enjoy preaching that works its way through scripture but instead we tend to hop from one topic to another. I’ve started taking my ESV study bible to church and have been reading through the articles in the back…
I’m starting a new series, working titled how “American Christianity has failed”, although it will be topical in nature, it will be framed in a exegetical context. The idea behind the sermon will be to give clarity on what it means to be blessed, and that suffering is part of the Christian walk. Although those subject matters can be covered in a exegetical message, however they can’t be covered in a series of messages, which forces me to present them in a topical fashion.
WOW! A guy goes away for a day and all heck breaks loose!
@ Gerard. No worries. Thanks for clarifying. I am never sure of your humour! 😉
@John M My point is that the only hope preaching has to be faithful is to begin with a text and allow the topic to bubble up (contextually) from the passage.
@Larry Good to hear it works for you but my own opinion is that preaching on faith in the workplace or family life as a topic is not faithful preaching. I understand what you mean by people being wired that way but I am not wired that way. I work hard to discipline myself to say only what the text says. I don’t think the approaches have to be the same but the faithfulness to the text must be faithful to the text not a topic.
@Matthew – YEP! But I still disagree with Craig. I like to preach from a text (or on a text).
@Jeremy. I know this will sound harsh and I am honestly not trying to be negative but this “After taking a poll a couple years back, my pastor decided to emphasize a little more topical preaching and low and behold, the seats are filling up and we have more people coming forward to serve in some part of the church” in my opinion is never justification for topical preaching. I still apply the scriptures but often in a way that forces the person to think how the text my fit their life and circumstances.
@Robert – Let us know how it goes. I will be preaching a series on Sabbath later in the eyar – but everything I say will be framed within the context of the OT understanding of Sabbath and then how Jesus rediscovered its meaning.
Look, I just think topical preaching is light preaching that is directed by culture or opinion. We must remain faithful to the text first (in my opinion).