Expository Exultation—Piper

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

In every generation, God puts men in places of Christian influence for the benefit of the collective body of Christ. In this generation, John Piper is one of those men. While serving for nearly forty years as the senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, his weekly expositions consistently exposed his congregation to the Glory of God through the window of Scripture. His pulpit ministry lives on through his immense resource-driven website, desiringGod.com, where thousands find practical biblical help daily. As the author of more than fifty books, including Desiring God and Reading the Bible Supernaturally, Piper is an established authority in the Christian community. As a local church practitioner with a global audience, his experience has uniquely positioned him to deliver a substantive and respected book on biblical exposition. Indeed, many would read this book, including myself, simply because John Piper wrote it. Expository Exultation is a tremendous contribution to the genre of homiletics, not for its technical instruction but its exploration of God’s purpose in the divinely mandated labor of preaching.

THE BIG IDEA AND WHY IT MATTERS

“Worship” is one of the essential words in the Christian faith, yet the church has often failed to define it properly. In Expository Exultation, John Piper challenges the widespread belief that corporate worship is reserved for the church’s music department. Instead, the author claims that worship in the church extends beyond the “worship” team’s twenty-minute song set. By exploring God’s intent for the preached Word, euangelizomai & kēryssō, Piper concludes that “preaching not only assists worship but is worship” (18). The worship objective of preaching is biblically defined and defended in Piper’s typical passionate style throughout Expository Exultation. Namely, the famous Piper-sim, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him,” enlightens the entire argument for worshipful preaching. As the preacher leads the congregation to see and savor the glorious Christ, worship will follow. Through Piper’s explanation, the reader is challenged to conclude that “preaching in corporate worship is essential for the health and mission of the church” (17).

Preaching not only assists worship but is worship.

By emphasizing the philosophy of biblical exposition as the means of worship in the sermon, Piper presents an essential counter to the modern views on preaching. In the seeker-sensitive, entertainment-driven, self-help preaching era, the case is made for text-based exposition that reveals God through Scripture. Piper rightly claims that “the more clearly and deeply we know Him (Jesus), the more authentically and intensely we love Him” (102). Therefore, the preacher aims to expose the repentant and the unrepentant to the Glory of God through the Word that the good news of Christ will enrapture the heart and produce the fruit of righteousness in the life of the hearer. Exposure to the holiness and beauty of the perfect God and Savior Jesus Christ is the only path to worship and obedience — and, therefore, the direct aim of preaching.

The more clearly and deeply we know Him (Jesus), the more authentically and intensely we love Him.

Since worship results in obedience, we must recognize that a Christless, moralistic “just do it” message cannot sanctify believers (213). Preaching is the divinely appointed agent of sanctification. Indeed, when properly executed, expository preaching leads to knowing and treasuring the worth of Christ (30). All humanity pursues what it knows and loves. Paul desired to “know (Christ) and the power of his resurrection” (Phil 3:10). We preach Jesus so that he may be known, loved, and obeyed through the life of worship.

In summary, Piper explains that when the sermon is delivered as expository exultation, it will “become an instrument in the hands of God … showing the glories of Scripture” so that “the church might be supernaturally awakened to … worship” (120). Unfortunately, seminaries, religious podcasts, and church practitioners have failed to emphasize preaching as worship. Piper aims to bring a renewed understanding of corporate worship in preaching to this void. Indeed, Expository Exultation has an essential place in the library of every preacher who desires to honor God in the stewardship of the pulpit.

WHAT IS EXPOSITORY EXULTATION?

In support of his thesis, preaching is worship, Piper develops Expository Exultation around the two words of the book’s title. To exposit is to expose the reality of the words of Scripture through preaching, and to exult is to glory in the discoveries of God through the reality of the words of Scripture exposed.

Expository Exultation is the third book in a three-part series. Books one and two, A Peculiar Glory and Reading the Bible Supernaturally, expose the authenticity of God’s Word and the importance of reading to discover the glory of God through the supernatural illumination of Scripture. Book three, Expository Exultation, asks, “if the Bible is completely true and is to be read supernaturally in the pursuit of worship, what does it mean to preach this Word, and how should we do it?” (16) Piper explains, the aim of preaching is the Spirit of God through the Word of God, exposing the glory of God through the preaching of the biblical text. The deep conviction that God uses the very words of Scripture to reveal His glory leads the preacher to value the Words of Scripture as the primary source of sermon development.

Though Expository Exultation is not a technical manual on homiletics, it is not lacking specificity and insight into the practical requirements of exposition. Piper’s emphasis on the preacher as herald, through his discussion of the Greek word, kēryssō, is an instructive illustration of the role of the preacher (59-65). A herald has no message of his own, only a word from the King. The preacher’s authority comes from the words and the reality of the words of Scripture alone (200). Therefore, the expositor gives “rigorous attention” to the very words of the biblical text and seeks a “radical penetration” into the reality the text aims to communicate (175). Piper, quoting John Stott, says, “to expound Scripture is to bring out of the text what is there and expose it to view.” (57) Preaching is not giving the opinion of the preacher but exposing the truth of the text. Indeed, Piper’s pulpit ministry consistently models faithful exposition. Moreover, “Preach the Word” is the command for all that would preach; therefore, we conclude, like Piper, that all faithful preaching is expositional preaching.

Preaching is not giving the opinion of the preacher but exposing the truth of the text.

While Expository Exultation delivers a well-reasoned defense for the primacy of expositional preaching, the stated goal of the book and thus its most significant contribution is to clarify our understanding of the purpose for expositional preaching — revealing God so that he may be worshipped.

Preaching is more than content delivery. Preaching leads to worshipping God through the delivered biblical text.

Piper guides the preacher to understand that preaching is more than content delivery. Preaching leads to worshipping God through the delivered biblical text. As the exposition reveals the central theme of Scripture, God’s Glory, the preacher’s heart should burn with the “white-hot” (23) worship of his Savior. Exposition is not the sermonic delivery of a “mere body of facts to be clarified, but a constellation of glories to be treasured.” (79) I found this insight significant. The preacher cannot expect God to ignite a fire in the hearts of his hearers if the preacher has not, as Jim Shaddix said, swam in the “swimming pool” of God’s glory revealing Word. The “dip in the water” must be the divine instrument igniting worship in the preacher’s heart. Heralds report. Lovers Convince. The effective herald’s goal must be to embody a lover herald fully.

Above all, the preacher must believe that worship is the Spirit’s work (105). Thus, the Holy Spirit must be relied on in the preparation and delivery of the pastor’s exposition. Piper emphasizes the necessity of the Spirit’s “supernatural” work in corporate worship in parts three and four of the book. He explains that the supernatural means of the miracle of worship is through the natural means of preaching (146). The preacher is further encouraged in part four not to make the goal of his preaching eloquence. Piper encourages the careful and deliberate selection of words but admits that rhetorical eloquence as a substitute for scriptural supremacy and integrity has significant “peril” (151).

Piper’s emphasis on relying on the Spirit of God in sermon delivery is valuable. However, I would have appreciated Piper further developing how the preacher relies on the Spirit in sermon preparation. The content of the message is crafted in study and manuscript preparation. Therefore, Spirit reliance is just as crucial in sermon preparation as delivery. Piper does give excellent advice for guided prayer before pulpit entry. This pre-delivery prayer A.P.T.A.T. (Admit. Pray. Trust. Act. Thank.) is extremely helpful (120). Little, however, is explained about the place of prayer in sermon preparation. I am confident this was not a purposeful omission on the author’s part. Not every topic can be addressed in one book. Undoubtedly, Piper could say much regarding reliance on the Spirit of God in the mining of the text. Indeed, the preparation and delivery of the biblical sermon require a David-like dependence on God in prayer. As David prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). I would like to have heard more of Piper’s insight on the preacher’s prayer in preparation.

Like many of Piper’s books, Expository Exultation is thorough, insightful, and convicting. As a preacher, I recommend this book to young and seasoned preachers alike. I do not, however, see this book as limited to expositors. Instead, the emphasis on preaching as an essential and primary element of corporate worship would benefit any serious-minded church participant. Congregations must see God’s intent for preaching as worship and then pray that God, through the glory-revealing revelations of the text, would ignite “white-hot” worship in their hearts. I conclude with Piper that the “ultimate goal of all biblical truth, and therefore every text, is that God is glorified by seeing and savoring and showing him as the greatest beauty and treasure in the universe.” (229) Preaching, expository exultation, is seeing, savoring, and showing the immeasurable beauty of the triune God. Therefore, Preaching is Worship.