What is an “expositional” sermon?

An expositional sermon is a sermon that takes the main point of a passage of Scripture, makes it the main point of the sermon, and applies it to life today.

In other words, an expositional sermon exposes the meaning of a passage of Scripture and shows its relevance to the lives of one’s hearers. That’s it.

This means that an expositional sermon does NOT

1. Need to focus on just a verse or two.
2. Need to present complex exegetical arguments or endless historical background.
3. Need to be dry, lifeless, or removed from people’s lives.
4. Confuse the primary point of a passage with any legitimate application of that passage (that is, use a verse to say what you want to say).

Rather, it should take a small, medium, or large passage of Scripture and show how dramatically important the primary meaning of a passage is for the world today.