Christ-filled Preaching

Josh, I thank God for you writing your last post. You have written in words what my head has been mulling over for some months now and my heart has been urgent to express. As a matter of fact, I had just the other day been voicing my same concerns to Joey while getting (or trying to get) a raspberry mocha during a break in class. The topic has been so impressed upon my heart that I found myself writing a comment to you that was, well, commending itself more towards a post itself than a comment at all! So, that being the case, I have decided to give my response in this here post. Here are my thoughts which I gladly add to yours:

The church has become paralyzed with its overwhelming demands to do and has forgotten the source that ought to move it to do anything ever really at all. It is Christ and Christ alone that ought to compel us. It is only as Christ is the sum and substance of our teaching that we will ever be and do things that are Christ-like. We can only "do" when we are so filled with what Christ has already done for us. It is only then that we overflow with good works. To acknowledge the stream but neglect the fountain from which the water flows is to not only lack appreciation for the fountain but to kill the stream. To call the church to action for Christ yet neglect how Christ has acted for us is not only to lack appreciation for the Savior but to thwart all honest zeal to serve him faithfully. If we come to church only to hear what we must do for Christ it will result only with us leaving with our heads down, bowed under the enormous weight of how much we have yet to accomplish. We will be convicted at first yes, since we do indeed bear great responsibility, but this will only turn into an overwhelming sense of our own failure. We will become paralyzed by condemnation, tortured by guilt, and dragged down by the weight of our own inadequacies. And even more tragic, we will see God as never happy with us. No, He will seem to us as the cold unaffectionate father who is never satisfied with his children's efforts and cannot spare them the least bit of love due to their constant unimpressive performance. We will feel as if we are never good enough for Him. We will feel as if we can never measure up. We will feel as if we can never earn a kind smile or even the slightest affirmation. We will feel as if all He ever sees in us is failure after failure and sin after sin. Just to feel His love for us will be our greatest battle. For we will feel as if He cares little for us. We will feel as if He delights in everyone else more than us. In fact, far from being the objects of his delight, we will feel we are only the objects of his pity, since all we ever do is let him down after all. Yes, we will feel as if God loves us very little indeed. Yet this is not the God of the gospel. This God is the God of legalism.

The God of the gospel says that He loves us more than we can ever imagine. The God of the gospel says that He loves us just as much as He loves His precious and perfect Son. The God of the gospel says that while we were yet sinners- weak, hopeless, inadequate failures- He sent His Son to die for us. The God of the gospel says that because that man stood condemned in our place we can be convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God. Oh yes, the God of the gospel loves us very much. In fact, there is no greater, no stronger, no more passionate, no more tender, no more steadfast, and no more committed love in all the universe than the love God has for you. It is a deep sea of love, a shoreless ocean. We may swim an age and find no shore; dive throughout eternity, and we shall find no bottom. It is infinite altogether; it never ends.

But why? Now here is a great question. What warrants such love? How can we, of all people, come to be the privileged recipients of this unspeakable love? Because of what Christ has done for us. See this is the difference between one soul leaving the church burdened and the other leaving the church singing. One hears what they must do for Christ, the other hears what Christ has already done for them. One realizes they can never accomplish what they must, the other realizes Christ has already accomplished more than enough. One is filled with guilt, the other is filled with glee. One is filled with a sense of duty, the other rapturous delight. One never feels as if they can raise their head, the other if it had wings would fly away. What a difference this makes in the hearts of the saints! To preach of what Christ has already done for us is the only great motivator to do anything for him! To hear of his great mercy and tender compassion towards us, we most certainly will show the like towards each other! To hear of how he has with such longstanding patience dealt with us, what patience we will have with others! To hear of how he has so graciously forgiven us, how could we not forgive another? To hear of his amazing grace in saving such undeserving sinners as ourselves, what grace is too much to show? And to be filled with the dying love of the Savior, oh what measures will we go to spend and be spent for the rescuing of perishing souls! Oh yes, this is the beauty and wonder of Christ-filled preaching. People who simply cannot get enough of Christ in the church will never be able to give enough for him outside of it.

So, Josh, I thank God that he has put this same burden on your heart for a revival of Christ-centered preaching. I pray more pastors will find equal passion and commitment. I end in the words of Paul: "We preach Christ crucified.” I cannot see how we as people who have been saved by such a wonderful Savior can preach anything else.