The motto of all true servants of God must be, “We preach Christ; and him crucified.” A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching. [Exposition of Acts 13:13-49 published in 1904]
Leave Christ out? O my brethren, better leave the pulpit out altogether. If a man can preach one sermon without mentioning Christ’s name in it, it ought to be his last, certainly the last that any Christian ought to go to hear him preach. [sermon: “A Prayer for the Church” (1867)]
What was the subject? What was Peter preaching upon? He was preaching Christ and him crucified. No other subject ever does produce such effects as this. The Spirit of God bears no witness to Christless sermons. Leave Jesus out of your preaching, and the Holy Spirit will never come upon you. Why should he? Has he not come on purpose that he may testify of Christ? Did not Jesus say, “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you”? Yes, the subject was Christ, and nothing but Christ, and such is the teaching which the Spirit of God will own. Be it ours never to wander from this central point: may we determine to know nothing among men but Christ and his cross. [sermon: “The Mediator, Judge, and Savior” (5/30/1880)]
Aug 18, 2009
No Christ, No Holy Spirit!
Tony Reinke collected the following quotes by the prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, on Christ-centered preaching:
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5 comments:
I think, Christ-centered preaching is too far of an idea. Christ is the ultimate revelation. No doubt about it. He is the Final Revelation, but not an end in himself. More accurately, Christ is the Final/Ultimate Revealer, without whom no one knows the Father. The ultimate task of Christ is to reveal God (the Father) and bring people to God through him and his whole redemptive work. In Christ we learn God by the help of the Spirit. So, instead of being Christ-centered, we'd be better off biblically if we be God-centered. That's what Christ wants, isn't it?
What do you think?
Pax,
yuzo
hi Zo, I may have a slightly different idea. True, Christ's whole mission is glorify His Father. But the Father is glorified if the Son is glorified (Yoh 17:5) because the fullness of God dwells in Christ. This is why every story in the Bible whispers Christ's name. Every page tells about the work and the person of Christ. The clearest Scripture on this is found Christ's teaching en route to Emmaus: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." On that note, even Piper, one of the most pronounced God-glorifying theme proponents, admitted in a conversation with Carson and Keller, that his sermon lacks this Christ-centeredness aspect which should not be. Preaching Christ and his finished work on the cross every week through the Scripture slowly but surely breaks our stubborn reliance on our strength, performance, experience, etc.
I do agree that if Christ is glorified then the Father is glorified, no doubt about it. That means that the glorifying of Christ is the means of glorifying the Father. When you glorify Christ, you have God the Father as the end of the act. Christ's only mission is to reveal God and his holy will and glorify him (John 17:3-4). (if I may say, after a lot of prayerful thoughts, I prefer to be a Trinitarian-centered preacher.) And of Course, as you said, the Emmaus story reveals that Christ is the ultimate message of the Scriptures. But don't forget, as Richard Muller summarizes well the Reformed orthodox tenet on this matter, “Scripture is the place to which the faithful must go to learn of Christ, and through Christ to learn of the Father.” Christ is the only way through which we can go and know to the Father (John 1:18). What is the ultimate end of revelation, anyway? Are you going to take Karl Barth and his followers' path in saying that the only object of revelation is Christ? Or, God (including the Trinity) is the only object of revelation and Christ is the final/ultimate Revealer of God, as the Reformers and the orthodox have taught? Or, else?
Just bump into this blog. I wonder when we are in 'heaven' whether we will see 3 person in 1 and 1 in 3 person. The puzzling text in the bible is Colossians 1:15-23 about preeminence of Christ...all things were created through him and for him...?
I wonder when we are in 'heaven' we will still be not 'knowing' about God (Father), without Christ? Of if we don't need Christ anymore when we are in 'heaven' ?
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