Every book, every chapter, every sentence, every line – even “the smallest letter or stroke” (Matt. 5:18)—proceeds from God, and has been given to us by God so that we might know Him more intimately, worship and serve Him more faithfully, and proclaim Him more urgently. So when it comes to selecting texts of Scripture to preach, why is it that we are more likely to select Psalm 51, Romans 12:1–2, or Ephesians 2:8–10 rather than 1 Chronicles, Ezra, or 3 John?

“Good morning, church. Please open your Bibles to Zephaniah 3:8.”

With rare exceptions, these are words that most pastors have neither said nor congregants heard in their churches. A review of most church websites and sermon databases will find sparse sermons from the book of Zephaniah (and other similarly-untrodden passages of Scripture). As most pastors plan out their preaching calendar, Galatians is far more likely to be chosen for a verse-by-verse series than Joel.

The same tendency can be found in those who preach as “pinch hitters” for the church’s pastor-teacher. An associate pastor or visiting preacher is less likely to preach Paul’s visit to Malta (Acts 28:1–10) than one of the early chapters of Acts. A Pauline epistle, with its built-in transition from proclamations of transcendent truth to implications and applications for the believer, is more likely to be selected than an incendiary little tome like Jude. A series through Isaiah 40–48—which has a landscape dotted with descriptions of the dazzling attributes of God—is a more likely choice than a series through Esther, which does not so much as mention the name of God.

For those committed to the inerrancy, infallibility, sufficiency, and clarity of God’s Word, we understand and affirm what Paul declares in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (emphasis added). Every book, every chapter, every sentence, every line – even “the smallest letter or stroke” (Matt. 5:18)—proceeds from God, and has been given to us by God so that we might know Him more intimately, worship and serve Him more faithfully, and proclaim Him more urgently. So when it comes to selecting texts of Scripture to preach, why is it that we are more likely to select Psalm 51, Romans 12:1–2, or Ephesians 2:8–10 rather than 1 Chronicles, Ezra, or 3 John?

This article does not seek to diagnose the motives (because the author cannot) of faithful preachers across the globe—and throughout the centuries—in regularly favoring familiar texts. Nor is what is written here intended to minimize the importance of preaching more recognizable, oft-preached texts. Rather, this article is an appeal to preachers to preach overlooked passages of Scripture; that is, to preach texts which might not otherwise be brought to light in a modern church. This appeal is grounded in the following five reasons.

1. A preacher’s decision to preach through less-traversed sections of Scripture will have the constructive effect of confirming what Scripture teaches about itself.

Preachers of God’s Word are followers and proclaimers of Christ who are committed to the Word of Christ (Col. 3:16). As such, Christ’s undershepherds are called not only to affirm that all parts of Scripture are profitable (2 Tim. 3:16), but that every word in Scripture comes from God (2 Pet. 1:20–21), and that every jot and tittle of Scripture is true (John 17:17). The God who breathed out the Bible was not holding His breath when He gave us the book of Nahum or moved Luke to pen the genealogy recorded in Luke 3:23–28. All Scripture is of God, from God, and worthy of proclamation to God’s people. Preaching from less-preached passages demonstrates that the preacher actually believes that what he is proclaiming is not merely the words of men, but the very word of God (1 Thess. 2:13).

2. A pastor’s preaching from lesser-known texts offers his listeners a well-balanced diet.

The importance of this insight is easy to overlook in a day when “pastors increasingly are finding themselves wearing many hats, including that of preacher, counselor, administrator, PR guru, fund-raiser and hand-holder. Depending upon the size of the church he serves, he may have to be an expert on youth, . . . something of an accountant, janitor, evangelist, small groups expert, and excellent chair of committees, a team player and a transparent leader.”¹ However, as men called by God to preach His timeless Word, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the chief responsibility of the pastor is to “shepherd the flock of God” (1 Pet. 5:2) and to tend to Christ’s sheep (John 21:15–17). Central to this charge is a pastor’s devotion not only to prayer, but to the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). As John Owen has noted: “The first and principal duty of a pastor is to feed the flock by diligent preaching of the word.”² Just as “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17), shepherding God’s people comes through feeding them, and feeding them specifically well-balanced portions of the soul-nourishing word of God.

Every faithful pastor wants strong, healthy sheep. An effective way to increase the spiritual nutrition of a body of believers is to preach widely from the counsel of God, including difficult and oft-avoided texts. It is important for God’s people to hear preaching from both Testaments, from a variety of literary genres, and from pages of Scripture in believers’ Bibles that otherwise might be stuck together. As we strive to fulfill our task of “equipping the saints for the work of service” (Eph. 4:12), it ought to be the pastor’s aim to provide his flock with a variety of tools to disciple, counsel, minister, share, and love one another, as well as to practice the various other “one anothers” of Scripture. Preaching from diverse sections of Scripture builds doctrinal dexterity and spiritual strength in the people God has allotted to a pastor’s care.

3. Preaching neglected texts of Scripture will progressively cause the preacher to wonder at the wisdom of the Word.

God has always used “the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (1 Cor. 1:27), whether it be communicating to Balaam through a donkey (Num. 22:21–39), or communicating to His precious people through fallen men like ourselves. Preaching every portion of Scripture will help the preacher to truly appreciate that it is not his wisdom, but rather God’s, that carves, convicts, and calls. This will help the preacher to root out the default tendency that all preachers have (this author included) to ascribe glory to self—even if only subtly—rather than to ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name (Ps. 29:2).

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