A great majority of preaching today is not preaching in the true sense of proclaiming God's Word to His people, but is instead an opportunity to offer inspiring speeches on personal morality or political causes. Even in many conservative pulpits that lift high the Word of God as the Word of God, the great Message of salvation from sin in Christ is neglected in favor of "messages" that use the Bible as a means to a moral end.
Now, I don't want to promote a hyper-critical approach to evaluating sermons, as everybody wrongly fancies themselves as an expert. The Word always stands over its hearers, rather than vice-versa. All the same, there are several basic elements that should be demanded of every sermon:
1) God, the Creator, as One who created all things but is entirely distinct from all created things. He is neither part of the creation nor unknown to it, but has revealed Himself to His creation through His Word. Not every word of this has to be spelled out, but people must know that God is not only Creator, but judge, and that He is in control of all things, including salvation. As a holy God, His standard for salvation is perfection.
2) Man, created in the image of God, but absolutely sinful and unable to meet God's standard for salvation. The law does nothing for salvation, but does condemn man and reveal his total depravity. The only hope for sinful man lies in a gracious historical act by God...
3) Christ, eternally God, became fully man as well when He entered human history and existence. He then lived a life of perfect obedience in fulfillment of God's law (and meeting His standard), and then died on a cross, taking upon Himself our sin and giving to us His perfection. Thus, we are not only forgiven, but counted as righteous.
Too often in contemporary sermons, sin and Christ are both left out of sermons. Both the disease and cure are callously kept from the sinners in the pews, leaving them without hope or purpose. All of these elements can also be found within any passage in Scripture. As Christ told the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, all of the Scriptures point to Him.
Brothers and Sisters, whenever the Gospel of salvation from sin through Christ is missing from the pulpit, a true sermon is missing as well and God's people are being neglected and abused. Using the Bible is not enough, but using it as God intended is what blesses His people and brings glory to His Name.
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2 comments:
Hey Stephen, great post!
I agree with what you say. I have been wondering myself about some of these things.
One of my "wonderings" has to do with moralism in the Reformed tradition. In the Heidelberg Catechism ("the" Catechism, for me) we have two coordinating large sections: one on redemption (the Gospel) and one on gratitude - how the Gospel inevitably leads to Christian action.
We Reformed folk remember Calvin's third use of the law. Yes, the law does nothing for us in terms of salvation, and rather convicts us. But Reformed folks also think the Law a blessing. It's a guide for faithful Christian living and outlines how we can live out our gratitude to God.
In this sense, a sermon cannot be good *without* moralism, or at least it cannot be Reformed (and Reformed people would say, not faithful to God's Word).
So for Reformed folks like you and me and many of your readers, talking about "moralisms" in the same way as many generically conservative Evangelicals is not so easy to do. The extent to which we do this may in fact reflect how much of the Reformed tradition we have traded away in favor of American Evangelicalism.
Another question of mine has to do with the task or scope of a good sermon. How many things are essential to a good sermon, or can these essentials be balanced out (proportionally to their importance) over the course of a preaching year. Can you have one sermon focused on faith-in-action primarily and another focused on sin-salvation? (This seems inevitable of one were to preach through one of the catechisms.)
Certainly, of course God's redemption in the work of the Trinity (not leaving out sanctification by the Holy Spirit or providence of the Father, as examples) certainly must play a role in every orthodox Christian sermon.
Anyways, you got me thinking. Thanks!
(We need to talk, btw)
"certainly, of course...certainly"
I stink. But I emphasized what I needed to.
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