Christocentrism in Sermon and Scripture
A major type or style of preaching that has been very popular recently is called narrative preaching. The essential idea is that through the telling of stories, you teach concepts in Scripture. There may be some good things about this type but often it teaches very little doctrine and is not as applicable as some other types.
Christocentric preaching takes this style of preaching and adapts it. Instead of simply preaching the David and Goliath story with the idea that “you too can defeat your giants,” christocentric preaching instead would say, “Like David against impossible odds gained victory over Goliath, Jesus against impossible odds gained victory over death.”
This christocentric preaching style seeks to compare Old Testament narratives to the Grand Narrative. Essentially, show how one event in the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of something to come. This way of going about teaching the Scriptures does essentially what Jesus did in Luke 24:27, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Such preaching is designed to “open the Scriptures” as verse 32 later says. Luke 24:45 says that in this event, “He [Jesus] opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” From Jesus’ perspective, they knew the Scriptures but never grasped the essential character of that text, himself!
In Matthew 5:17 Jesus states, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” In many ways, it seems as though many preachers do just that; they either refuse to acknowledge these fulfillments when preaching or they refuse to acknowledge the Scriptures fulfill anything. I wonder how many times I’ve listened to a pastor preach an Old Testament text and never once mention how the New Testament speaks of that exact passage. The text is about Jesus!
As an example, how could we ever preach Isaiah 6 without mentioning Jesus? A portion of that text (6:1-6) states, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.’”
Many pastors will preach this text and speak of how holy God is, how great and awesome he is, etc. but why do we never mention Jesus here? In John 12 immediately after Jesus quoted another section of Isaiah 6, he states in verse 41, “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.” This text is about Jesus! In fact, all of Scripture is about the glorious holiness of Jesus Christ.
So many “religious people” study Scripture earnestly seeking to find God’s grace through it, but we often forget that it is through Jesus Christ as spoken of in that word that we are saved. John 5:39 states, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” It is not through our own works, our rituals, or even our beliefs that Scripture is true that we gain salvation but purely the grace of Jesus Christ. He alone gives salvation and He alone can change our hearts, minds, and attitudes.
How sad it is that I so often seeing people claiming that they are Christians and yet believe they are right with God simply because they do the right stuff. They believe that through a high moral standard, becoming holy, reading Scripture, going to church, doing ministry, and telling people about Jesus that they are saved. No, as Ephesians 2:8-9 states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Not by our vain attempts do we become right with God but solely through repenting before Jesus Christ – of our sin and of our pride. All Scripture attests to the miraculous work of Jesus and only through Jesus do we gain salvation.
