Theocentric Preaching

Tim Keller writes:

Ed Clowney points out that if we ever tell a particular Bible story without putting it into the overall main Bible story (about Christ), we actually change the meaning of the particular event for us. It becomes a moralistic exhortation to ‘try harder’ rather than a call to live by faith in the work of Christ. There is, in the end, only two ways to read the Bible: is it basically about me or basically about Jesus? In other words, is it basically about what I must do, or basically about what he has done? Example: If I read David and Goliath as basically giving me an example, then the story is really about me. I must summons up the faith and courage to fight the giants in my life. But if I read David and Goliath as basically showing me salvation through Jesus, then the story is really about him. Until I see that Jesus fought the real giants (sin, law, death) for me, I will never have the courage to be able to fight ordinary giants in life (suffering, disappointment, failure, criticism, hardship). The Bible is not a collection of “Aesop’s Fables”, it is not a book of virtues. It is a story about how God saves us. Any exposition of a text that does not ‘get to Christ’ but just ‘explains Biblical principles’ will be a ’synagogue sermon’ that merely exhorts people to exert their wills to live according to a particular pattern. Instead of the life-giving gospel, the sermon offers just one more ethical paradigm to crush the listeners.

From an interview with Graeme Goldsworthy, author of Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture:

Biblical theology shows us that all texts do not have the same relationship to the Christian believer. What happens when people are not shown this is a tendency to short circuit texts. In other words, evangelical piety can lead people to rush from reading a text straight into the question of what this says to us and about us. But, there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus and biblcial theology helps us to see how Jesus mediates the meaning of any text to us. The Christian is defined by his or her relationship to Christ, not to any other person or event. Thus all persons and events in the Bible must stand in a discernible relationship to Christ if they are to say something about us.

Fred Craddock on the importance of study in a pastor’s ministry:

Time spent in study is never getting away from daily work but getting into daily work. The hours of study bear directly and immediately on who the minister is and the minister’s influence by word and action. It is in the study that so much of the minister’s formation of character and faith takes place. There are so many terms to describe this activity. Study is an act of obedience: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your mind.” It is a time of worship: “An hour at study,” said the rabbis, “is in the sight of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as an hour of prayer.” What minister has not experienced a desk becoming an altar? It is a time of pastoral work; the whole congregation will benefit from the fruit of his labor. Study will protect the parishioners from the exclusive influence of the minister’s own opinions, prejudices, and feelings. Study is getting a second and third opinion before diagnosis and treatment. No minister has to do the world’s thinking over again, but every minister needs to spend time with the writings of those who have for a lifetime wrestled with matters of importance. Study gives distance on the minister’s own life as well as the congregation’s and there is health in that. Unrelieved intimacy smothers and distorts. (Preaching, p.70)

Here’s an interesting question. What gets more attention when we gather to worship: the sermon or the Word of God?

Even in churches that emphasize the public reading of Scripture, I suspect that the sermon is seen as the main event. We read Scripture to prepare for the sermon.

What if it is meant to be the opposite? Imagine the reading of Scripture as the main event. The preaching, then, becomes commentary in service of the text. “We’ve read God’s Word today,” the preacher says. “This is what it could mean for our church community today. I don’t want to give you my thoughts. I simply want to reflect on today’s Scripture reading as it relates to us.”

I don’t know that we’re supposed to pit the sermon vs. the Word of God, but I suspect it’s happening. Perhaps our preaching needs to take a more subservient role to the text. “This is the Word of God,” the preacher might say. “I simply offer commentary on what it means for us.”

In his excellent book The Drama of Doctrine, Kevin Vanhoozer argues that doctrine serves the church, which he calls “the theater of the gospel,” by directing individuals and congregations to participate in the drama of what God is doing to renew all things in Jesus Christ. In other words, doctrine allows us to participate in the theo-drama in which Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the principal players, but in which the audience is called to participate.

The Bible functions “not as a book filled with propositional information,” he writes, but “as a script that calls for faithful yet creative performance.”

This is one of the best treatments of theocentric doctrine and preaching I’ve found. Vanhoozer is clear that the theo-drama is primarily about God, but that doctrine enables us to find our place in the drama of what God is doing. Theocentric preaching allows us to understand our place in the script.  Theologians help us live among the texts in our contemporary context, giving us practical wisdom so that we can “turn the gold of the gospel into the workaday stuff of ordinary life.” The task of every Christian is to perform the Scriptures “that attest to the covenant and its climax, the person and work of Jesus Christ.” Our goal is “not simply to play a role but to project the main idea of the play.”

Vanhoozer reminds us of the importance of preaching:

What the pastor/director really needs to do is to take the congregation’s imagination captive to the Scriptures so the theo-drama becomes the governing framework of the community’s speech and action (2 Cor. 10:5). The pastor/director needs to instill confidence in a congregation that playing this script is the way to truth and abundant life. Such direction is largely through preaching, an obedient “listening to the text on behalf of the church.” Herman Melville’s image of the pulpit as a ship’s prow that leads the way through uncharted waters is strikingly apt:

“[T]he pulpit leads the world.”

For preachers who do this, the rewards are great:

The sermon, not some leadership philosophy or management scheme, remains the prime means of pastoral direction and hence the pastor’s paramount responsibility. The good sermon contains both script analysis and situation analysis. It is in the sermon that the pastor weaves together theo-dramatic truth and local knowledge. The sermon is the best frontal assault on imaginations held captive by secular stories that promise other ways to the good life. Most important, the sermon envisions ways for the local congregation to become a parable of the kingdom of God. It is the pastor’s/director’s vocation to help congregations hear (understand) and do (perform) God’s word in and for the present.

Only theocentric preaching can do what Vanhoozer describes. Preaching helps us understand our part in the theo-drama, and places our lives in the context of what God is doing. When done well, it’s much more relevant than anthropocentric preaching. Preaching like this enables faithful performances of the gospel within particular settings. Not a bad way to preach at all.

Tim Ellsworth has some great advice for preachers, including this:

Talk less about yourself and more about God. Too many times after I’ve listened to a sermon, I could tell you quite a bit about the preacher, but precious little about God. There’s nothing wrong with using personal examples from time to time, but keep it to a minimum.

As an I example, I can cite a sermon I heard about a year ago from Vance Pitman, pastor of Hope Baptist Church in Las Vegas. Vance was preaching at a conference I attended. I’d never heard him before and didn’t know anything about him. After the first time I heard him preach, I still didn’t know anything about him – but I knew more about God. He exalted the Lord in his message, and not himself. Follow this pattern, and your listeners will benefit.

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