God has revealed Himself to mankind in two primary ways. He has revealed Himself in His creation which King David proclaims in Psalm 19:1-6. In verses 7-11 of Psalm 19, David goes on to say that God reveals Himself in His written Word -- The Bible. The Bible, then, is the centerpiece of an expository ministry as it is the authoritative source for knowing God and it is sufficient for living a life pleasing to God (2 Corinthians 5:9). It is also where we learn of His gracious plan to redeem sinners, reconciling them to Himself so that they may glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
And expository ministry starts with having a high view of God – to exalt Him. We exalt God by esteeming the greatness of His attributes, His works of creation, and His sovereign involvement in the affairs of mankind. We exalt God by worshipping Him exclusively and bowing our knee to His authority. Bowing to God’s authority is expressed by a life that pursues humble obedience to God and is the natural expression of a faith lived out – in short, we seek to be pleasing to Him.
An expository ministry believes certain truths about the Bible. First, and foremost, it believes the Bible is God’s inspired and inerrant Word, given to mankind. By the word inspired we mean to communicate that God Himself is the ultimate source of all that is recorded in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16). By the word inerrant we communicate that the Bible has no errors. The human authors, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, wrote down all that God wanted to communicate to mankind with perfect accuracy.
An expository ministry believes that the Bible is authoritative. The authority of the Bible is the Bible’s right to be heard, believed, and obeyed because it presents us with God’s absolute truth and it communicates God’s existence, attributes, standards, and will for our lives. We live in a world that rejects absolute truth – yet the Bible claims this very thing for itself and an expository ministry submits to the Bible’s authority.
An expository ministry believes that the Bible is sufficient. Sufficiency means that the Bible contains everything a person needs for salvation, for trusting God fully, and for obeying Him perfectly. Paraphrasing the Apostle Peter, the Bible provides us with everything we need for life and godliness
(2 Peter 1:2-4).
There is more that we could say about the Bible – but these are the essential things that an expository ministry believes about the Bible. Given the forgoing then, the Bible must be the centerpiece of a church that will honor and glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
At Community Church of Taichung, we live out these beliefs by a commitment to preach the Bible verse-by-verse, using the expository preaching method. The focus of expository preaching is to discover the Biblical author’s intended meaning in order to apply that meaning to our contemporary audience. We believe this method best allows us to accurately handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), and equip the saints for the work of the ministry to the building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12).
To conclude, we find the goal in all this is best captured by Colossians 1:28 where the Apostle Paul says, “Him (referring to Christ) we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. At CCT this is the aim of our commitment to being Bible-centered – to ensure that all under our care are complete in Christ.