I enjoy listening to the guy who is creative in how he packages and presents his messages. I also enjoy the guy who really knows how to do "exegesis," i.e., can get into a passage, walk me through it, unpack it carefully, and make me feel, when he's done, like I really understand that passage much better than I did before.
Unfortunately those two guys are rarely the same person.
Some preachers astound me with their creative ability to perceive spiritual questions people are really interested in, apply biblical principles to their lives, and package their teaching in ways that capture the attention. Often, however, I feel like they are not letting the Bible drive their content--their messages are more driven by their experiences and creative genius. I also feel like if I sat under their preaching for a while that I would not really be getting the full scope of what God has left for me to know in the Bible. And rarely do I feel like I understand passages of Scripture much better as a result of their preaching.
Other guys astound me with their ability to perceive what a text is saying and unpack it. However, quite often they bore me, and fail to make me see how a particular passage is absolutely essential for my life. They are usually only decent in application; they almost always suck in introduction and approach; they don't package in a way that captures my attention. Quite often they ramble on way too long in too many scattered directions (usually, they excuse this by saying they are just going wherever the text itself goes).
I think both elements, careful exegesis and creativity, are absolutely necessary.
I think the key is knowing what order to employ each of those elements in your sermon preparation. I think you must know how to discipline and harness your creativity so that it serves the text, not trump the text.
Both are essential, but exegesis must precede creativity.
When I let my creativity precede my exegetical work, then I end up cramming what I want to say into a text. The text serves as I kind of playground in which I find ways to use it to say what I already want to say. That kind of preaching is interesting but, at the end of the day, unfaithful to my calling and unsatisfying to those wanting to know God. The Summit Church does not need my word, it needs God's word.
But when I force myself to do the exegesis FIRST, trying to strip my mind of all creative elements, I can let the Holy Spirit teach me what He was trying to say in a passage first. THEN, AFTER I'm done with that, I can look back at what I've gleaned and allow my creativity to go to work, packaging that content in a way that captures people's attention.
If you stop with the exegesis, you will be right in what you preach, but unfortunately a lot of people will miss what you are saying. Our message is too urgent to be satisfied that we have simply presented the material accurately. No true fisherman consoles himself for catching no fish by pointing out the excellency of his bait.
Weighting yourself too heavily toward exegesis or creativity are both lazy approaches. The first fails to connect; the second fails to be faithful to God's calling. As a teacher of God's word, I am called to do both: to be faithful and connect. I am not called to simply expound a book; I am called to expound it to people.
Sure, if I had to choose one or the other, I'd much rather choose to be faithful to the text... but I do not have to choose.
