Why I (Usually!) Preach Through Books of the Bible

This week, I’m doing something that I don’t often do—I’m preparing a series of sermons focused on a topic rather than a specific book of the Bible. The topical approach has not been the norm for my preaching ministry, though I do like to preach a topical series from time to time—usually when I’ve just wrapped up one book and just before I start another. It’s a good way to deal with a subject that might be a common struggle, a hot-button issue, or a very thought-provoking question.

I’m going to venture to say that preaching through books of the Bible is not as common as it used to be. I might be wrong, but I’d be surprised if I am! In light of that observation, I thought I’d offer a brief explanation as to why I stick with the book-focused approach most of the time. I have two main reasons why.

#1—Everything God said is important, and preaching through books will force me to teach on all of it eventually.

Focusing on topics leaves a lot up to the wisdom and discretion of the preacher. While that doesn’t have to be bad, it certainly could be—and I think it’s more likely to be problematic than a book-focused approach. If I consistently focus on topics, I have to frequently decide what is most important for my congregation to hear. But what criteria should I use to make that decision? Do I go with whatever people want to hear? Do I go with what I think they should hear? Do I go with what seems to be most interesting to the broadest group of people? Of course, I do have to ask those questions when I decide which book to preach on next, but they tend to come around less often with a book-based approach, and once I’ve answered them and selected a book, the content of my sermons is guided by whatever is in that book. Thus, there is less that is simply up to my discretion.

The topical approach can also suffer somewhat from the personality, interests, and—frankly—the boldness of the individual preacher. For example, I tend to think that apologetic topics are more interesting and important than most people do, so I’m sure I would gravitate toward such topics more often than what might truly be helpful for my congregation. Also, with the topical approach, controversial subjects can be easily avoided. Do you dread the thought of preaching on hell? Then simply never bring it up as a topic!

Avoiding controversial subjects is much less likely with the book-focused approach. For example, I’ll be starting a series through the Book of Romans in a few months, and in the very first chapter I’ll have to deal with the subject of homosexuality! Later on, the book will force me to talk about the proper response to government, and it will take me through a passage that is hotly contested in the Calvinism-Arminianism debate.

I suppose you could say that the book-focused approach is simply an attempt to offer my congregation a well-balanced diet. We all know how important a well-balanced diet is for our physical health; as it turns out, it’s vital for our spiritual health as well. There is purpose and value in everything that God inspired in the Bible. We might not easily see the value in each passage, and so we might neglect some of them—which would end up being to our detriment.

#2—Preaching through a book helps my audience learn how to study the Bible for themselves.

As I preach through a complete section of a book—whether a paragraph or a whole chapter—my audience gets to hear how I make observations about the passage and then draw those observations together to form an interpretation. Though they don’t realize it, they get to hear the proper process of Bible study presented to them week after week, and eventually they start to catch on. As they learn by example, over time they start to internalize some of the training that I’ve been blessed to receive at a seminary—and all without having to attend classes themselves!

This learning-by-example happens on a grand scale as a sermon series winds its way from the first verse of a book to the last. The book-focused approach highlights and illustrates what might be the most crucial interpretive principle of all—keeping statements in their original context. As I move though a passage, my audience gets to hear the full context of each statement—and not just on any given week, but from week-to-week as well as I simply pick up where I left off last time!

This learning process is much harder to replicate in a topical series since these series tend to draw from all over the Bible—and not just from week-to-week, but sometimes within the same sermon. Now to be sure, sometimes it is very important to see how various verses from different books fit together. Topical sermons can be very useful for presenting such connections, but it is rarely possible to touch on the context of all the various verses that I might pull together. Thus, my audience is left a bit more in a position where they just have to take my word for it that I’ve interpreted those verses correctly. By tracing one context through the course of a book, there’s a greater likelihood that they can see the correct interpretation for themselves.

And so, while I appreciate using the topical approach from time to time, chances are that if you ever catch one of my sermons, you’ll find me working through a book, saying things like, “As we saw last week in the previous verse.” If you didn’t catch the previous week’s sermon, you’ll know just where to look to get caught up!