A final reason for some expository preachers being weak in application is that they have over-intellectualized the faith. It is not that they object to application. They may well prize it. But their entire experience of the Christian faith is predominantly intellectual. The main thing for them is knowing the truth. When they apply, they apply abstractly. They are more naturally theorists than practitioners. They love the truth and firmly believe that all Scripture is not only God breathed but also useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. It’s just that their teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training is not that well earthed in real life. Their illustrations feel remote, often being drawn from church history and the lives of preachers; their sermons address theological controversies that may live in the academy but are distant from the lives of many of their hearers; they address principles of application but not practice; and so while their messages may be suggestive of how the truth is to be applied, they are seldom drilled down into life.
Murray Capill, The Heart is the Target, P&R, 2014: 22-23
Musings from WinDSwept Junction 
Leave a comment