EXPOSITORY EXULTATION: CHRISTIAN PREACHING AS WORSHIP, by John Piper

A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance

by Steve West

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Roots and Scope of Expository Exultation

Part 1: A Setting for Preaching:
God’s People Gathered for Worship

1. The Essence of Corporate Worship
2. Corporate Worship: Biblical and Beautifully Fitting

Part 2: Why Is Expository Exultation Integral to Corporate Worship?
Heralding, History, and Trinity

3. How Paul Brought Heralding into the House of God
4. Four Roots of the Beautiful Fitness of Expository Exultation in Worship
5. The Trinitarian Roots of Expository Exultation

Part 3: How Does Preaching Become a Means of the Miracle of Worship—Supernaturally? 
Expository Exultation in the Power of the Holy Spirit

6. Expository Exultation: A Humanly Impossible Act with a Humanly Impossible Effect
7. Expository Exultation by Faith: How I Pursued the Miracle in My Preaching

Part 4: How Does Preaching Become a Means of the Miracle of Worship—Naturally? 
Expository Exultation and the Use of All Our Natural Powers

8. Expository Exultation: Loving People with Clear Thinking and Valid Logic
9. “Lest the Cross Be Emptied of Its Power”: The Perils of Christian Eloquence

Part 5: Rigorous Attention to the Text for the Sake of Radical Penetration into Reality 
Making Connection Manifest between Text and Reality

10. Text, Reality, and Sermon: Making the Connections Clear
11. Showing How Reality Shines through the Words of the Passage: Three Examples

Part 6: What Reality Shall We Preach?
Three Pervasive Emphases of All Expository Exultation

12. Preaching in the Light of an Author’s All-Encompassing Vision of Reality 
13. Expository Exultation and the Glory of God, Part 1: As the Ultimate Goal of All Things
14. Expository Exultation and the Glory of God, Part 2: How It Shapes Every Sermon
15. Expository Exultation and Christ Crucified, Part 1: Boasting Only in the Cross in Every Sermon
16. Expository Exultation and Christ Crucified, Part 2: “That We Might Live to Righteousness”
17. Expository Exultation and the Obedience of Faith, Part 1: The Path of Love That Leads to Life
18. Expository Exultation and the Obedience of Faith, Part 2: The Pursuit of Joy, Love, and Eternal Life

Part 7: Expository Exultation and the Old Testament
The Glory of God, the Cross of Christ, and the Obedience of Faith

19. Expository Exultation and the Old Testament, Part 1: Preaching the Glory of God
20. Expository Exultation and the Old Testament, Part 2: Preaching Christ Crucified
21. Expository Exultation and the Old Testament, Part 3: Preaching the Obedience of Faith

Concluding Thoughts: A Dangerous and Glorious Calling

Summary

Part 1: A Setting for Preaching

Preaching is worship, and it serves worship. The essence of worship is seeing and savoring the beauty and glory of God in Jesus Christ. Worship is an internal, spiritual event directed by the Spirit, based on truth. It takes place in the heart, and everything our heart does is to be done for the glory of God: “worship means consciously knowing and treasuring and showing the supreme worth of and beauty of God.” The NT shifts away from the OT emphasis on place and form to an intense focus on the inner reality of worship. This shift is both theological and missional, so that worship can exist in every culture around the world. In Philippians 1, Paul magnifies Christ by arguing that even death is gain for himself since that will bring him into a closer experience of the Lord. It is in showing the magnificence of Christ that we worship him in life and death. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

As God’s people worship him, knowing, savoring, and showing his worth and glory, it is eminently fitting that they join together corporately. There is a moral fitness and beauty to corporate gatherings for worship since it aligns with God’s nature and ways. In the OT there was corporate worship and the Psalms call us to praise while gathered, and now we are in the era of fulfillment. It is fitting for individuals to praise God, but in corporate worship, God overcomes more obstacles and does a special work of showing his power and glory by uniting greatly diverse people into one expression of praise. . . .

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EXPOSITORY EXULTATION: CHRISTIAN PREACHING ON WORSHIP, by John Piper

Crossway, 2018 | 328 pages

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