Is it a Christ-Centered Sermon? Part Three
April 4th, 2006This is a great quotation from Tim Keller that I think is very relevant to the question of whether we or Jesus should drive the verbs of the sermon (read the comment section of part two to understand what’s behind the question. Matt’s question/comments help nuance the quotations from this series).
“The ‘informational’ view of preaching conceives of preaching as changing people’s lives after the sermon. They listen to the sermon, take notes, and then apply the Biblical principles during the week. But this assumes that our main problem is a lack of compliance to Biblical principles, when … all our problems are actually due to a lack of joy and belief in the gospel. Our real problem is that Jesus’ salvation is not as real to our hearts as the significance and security our idols promise us. If that’s our real problem, then the purpose of preaching is to make Christ so real to the heart that in the sermon people have an experience of his grace, and the false saviors that drive us lose their power and grip on us on the spot. That’s the ‘experiential’ view of preaching (Jonathan Edwards).”
~Tim Keller - MINISTRY IN THE NEW GLOBAL CULTURE OF MAJOR CITY-CENTERS (part 2 of 4).
(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Four)
(HT: DC)
April 4th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Dan,
Part three and the quote in it strikes home in a terrible way. For so much of my preaching in the past has been informational. And this would be my only outspoken criticism of the method of expository preaching which I learned, pointing to the place where I learned it. While truth is important in the sermon, if it is not coupled with the spirit - that attitudinal rising of emotive and mental response to the gospel generating fresh and greater belief - then is the sermon really worship in spirit and truth? Thanks for posting this brother. My dear seminary friends would do well to imbibe this statement again and again.
Rob
April 4th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
This truly is an excellent point. This distinction, I fear, is too often lost by those who love sound doctrine and are turned off by modern “light preaching.” They “settle” for “informational” preaching because it’s “Biblical” in content and don’t see that they’ve only exchanged bad preaching for a commentary. Thanks for sharing this excellent quote.
April 4th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Wow, what a comment. I find that most “expository preachers” (and I was one of them) ultimately believe in informational transformation. What I mean by that is that we believe that if you get the right information then you can use self-discipline to apply it and become the kind of person God wants you to be. Breaking away from that type of thinking is not easy…it requires me to believe in a Risen Lord Jesus Christ who is actually real to my heart…
Thanks.
April 4th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
One series that made similar points was John Piper’s “Preaching as Worship: Meditations on Expository Exultations.” You can find notes on this series at http://www.beginningwithmoses.org/bigger/preachpiper.htm. And of course, Piper’s preaching itself exemplifies the point of presenting people with the risen Christ in such a fashion that they might treasure Him more!
April 4th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
From Piper’s messages on preaching as worship:
So biblical preaching always aims to quicken and sustain God-exalting satisfaction in God. … In other words, the task of preaching is to warn people about the futility of the broken cisterns of sin that hold no water (Jer 2:13) and to compel them with truth and power to come to the fountain of living water that satisfies forever.
Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance. (Isa 55:1-2)
That’s the essence of preaching. The best way to glorify an inexhaustible fountain is to keep on drinking and to keep on being so satisfied with that fountain that nothing can draw you away. And therefore the task of preaching is to display the all-satisfying glories of God in such a way that the power of all competing pleasures is broken and God himself holds people captive. For in his presence is fullness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps 16:11).
April 4th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Evers,
Yes, both Tim Keller and John Piper have been very influential in the development of my thinking. I am very thankful for those two men. Thanks for the great comments!
BTW, I like your blog!
Dan
April 4th, 2006 at 11:50 pm
Thanks Dan, I enjoy your blog as well, mostly via RSS feed. Regarding preaching, it’s funny. I’ve been exposed to schools of thought that diminish preaching in favor of “relevance,” diminish preaching in favor of “one another ministry,” and escalate preaching but of the “informational” expository sort. Keller’s and Piper’s quotes above are helpful in putting preaching in its proper place: not primary to the life of the church, but a nevertheless essential means of equipping saints to treasure Christ so as not to be captivated by the deceitfulness of sin.
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