Expository preaching isn’t just about repeating propositional facts. It’s about using every imaginative tool available to ensure the action of God’s Word is felt and understood today.
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There’s a popular contemporary Christian worship song called “My Lighthouse” by Rend Collective. While it features a catchy chorus, the song has divided some churches over a fundamental question: Is it acceptable to call Jesus a “lighthouse” if the Bible never explicitly uses that term?
Usually, this question is framed within the debate about what’s “allowed” or “forbidden” in worship (regulative principle versus normative principle). Worship wars aside, if we look at this question through the lens of communication––specifically speech act theory (SAT), as I’ll discuss below––the question becomes whether the image of a lighthouse accurately captures the action God is performing in Scripture.
