Verse-by-verse preaching generally gets a head nod from preaching books as a technique for the overly-zealous Bible expositors who view the Bible more as a lecture than a sermon. But I’d like us to reconsider not simply expositional, but verse-by-verse preaching as a means to bridge the gap between this generation and the millennial generation for several reasons:

Expositional preaching is all the rage: take a chapter, a book, a verse, and say to us what the text says. This is a wonderful transformation in our culture, but in our enthusiasm we sometimes forget why expositional preaching has been dropped: it’s incredibly difficult.

So, I’d like to submit an out-worn idea: verse-by-verse preaching. Verse-by-verse preaching generally gets a head nod from preaching books as a technique for the overly-zealous Bible expositors who view the Bible more as a lecture than a sermon. But I’d like us to reconsider not simply expositional, but verse-by-verse preaching as a means to bridge the gap between this generation and the millennial generation for several reasons:

1. It eliminates the frustration of non-brilliant communicators.  It’s difficult to craft a one point, clearly outlined, well-illustrated and application oriented message from any given text of the Bible every single week. In fact, I’m willing to admit that many times it’s impossible, unless the preacher is absolutely brilliant exegetically, rhetorically, and creatively. Alliteration, similitude, focus, clarity – have we ever considered that in an age where rhetoric has been dropped from school systems, this type of weekly communication may just be way too difficult for the average preacher? It’s not that one point with three perfectly alliterated sub-points is a bad idea – it’s just, at times, not in reach for the average communicator. Verse by-verse preaching eliminates the headache of coming up every week with a pithy statement to summarize mounds of Biblical truth by giving us the structure that’s already in place in scripture: the play by play written down by the original author.

2. It retains Biblical Structure. “The medium is the message” once said Marshall Mcluhan, and it’s been the mantra of communication majors the world since. How does this apply to preaching? Think about it: if we summarize the parable of the prodigal son with the phrase, “God runs after sinners”, we’ve created a nice, memorable teaching point. But we need to ask ourselves: is that statement what Jesus intended his hearers to remember? No – he intended them to remember a story, the story of a father with his two rebellious sons. When we strip that story of its acts and sequences, and summarize it with a pithy statement, we lose something biblically. Anytime we re-structure or reframe scripture, we’re in deep danger of changing the medium, and thus changing the message. Verse-by-verse preaching eliminates the need to ask, “Should this be inductive or deductive; one point or three; apologetic, explanatory, application-oriented, etc…?” The answer is in the text – take it verse by verse and whatever it does, you do – like a great ballroom dance partner.

3. It cuts prep time. Expectations on the next generation of preachers has expanded from pulpit leadership and shepherding to a wide variety of other skills: pastors must be strategists, managers, visionaries, etc. As the expectations for the pastor increase on other planes, the need to prepare sermons efficiently increases. Yet the most frustrating, time consuming and mentally draining aspect of preaching – organizing information – could easily be eliminated by verse-by-verse preaching.

4. It encourages faithfulness for those without theological training. See points #2 – whether you agree or not, the fact of the matter is that most preachers in the coming generation will not have the theological training of a generation previous. The best way to ensure biblical faithfulness is to train preachers not simply to preach expositionally, but verse by verse: it best ensures that preachers will follow the flow of thought of the original authors, and stay faithful to the text at hand.

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