Tuesday, January 06, 2009

A Comment on Christian Preaching

A friend and former classmate at St. Louis Seminary penned a piece about the state of Evangelical preaching today. The assessment that he made is no different than that which I perceive.

All too often the call is for "relevant preaching". You know how to be a Christian parent, how to balance your checkbook like a Christian, how one may open a Christian business, and others ad nauseum. Please understand the role of the Holy Scripture is to give voice and view to the heart of God toward us as revealed in Jesus Christ.
The use of the LAW (after all that is what "how to..." sermons are) is as St. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit put it - "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." Romans 3:20
I know of no more relevant topic than that of a God who can and does forgive. The stresses and strains of life will never be overcome by simple cosmetic applications to our finances, or social interactions...becasue the problem of a broken heart still remains. The means by which we, who are broken, may be bound and healed is the power of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here is a fine example of a Evangelical Christian sermon proclaimed by the Christ Himself.
"And he (Jesus) said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."

The Holy Spirit fill all Christian sermons - those you preach and those you may hear with the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1 comment:

Peter said...

Kelly,

Wise and well-written words. I pasted your blog to mine.

I read a book about six months ago on preaching. It was written to be a textbook for Evangelical preachers. The author laments the sorry state of preaching that has been practiced in the church for the last several years. His theme in this particular book is to show preachers how to preach from the Old Testament with Christ crucified as the main theme.