Picking a New Church in a New City (part 3)

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word.” (2 Tim. 4:1-2)

Nearing the end of his life and ministry, the Apostle Paul passes his baton to his protege Timothy. The first thing he commands his disciple to do is “preach the word.” Why is preaching so important? Many people outside the church think of preaching as dry, boring, and out of date. Yet, Christians are people who have knowledge of God because God has first spoken and revealed Himself to us. Apart from the light of revelation, we would be blind men groping around in the dark, with no knowledge of God or His saving power.

Paul makes this very clear in Romans 10. There is no belief in Christ without hearing about Christ:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom. 10:14)

Preaching is central to our faith. The preacher's role is to speak what God has already spoken, that God's people might feast on the bread of life. This quote from Donald Coggan is quite good:

“Here is the miracle of the divine economy, that between the forgiveness of God and the sin of man stands- the preacher!... That between the truth of God and the quest of man stands- the preacher! It is his task to link human sin to forgiveness, human need to divine omnipotence, human search to divine revelation” (Coggan)

CHRIST-CENTERED PREACHING

When Teresa and I were picking a new church in a new city, one non-negotiable criteria was the preaching. Specifically, we were looking for Christ-centered preaching that would turn our gaze away from our sin, ourselves, and our circumstances and onto Jesus Christ.

A common objection to Christ-centered preaching is that not all of the scriptures can be interpreted that way. How about the Old Testament? The Mosiac Law? The Prophets?

Yet, Jesus tells the Pharisees (who only had the Old Testament) how to interpret scripture correctly:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 6:39).

So Jesus tells His opponents that all the scriptures clearly point to Him This means that whenever we pick up an Old Testament passage, God is revealing Christ in some fashion.

For example, the Old Testament priests foreshadowed the coming of Jesus Christ, the perfect and final High Priest. The earthly priests under the Mosiac law were “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things (Heb 8:5). A copy and a shadow implies the presence of the real deal who is from heaven, Jesus Christ.

Sermons on the Old Testament put this principle of Christ-centered preaching to the test. Too often we are called to follow some kind of example without being given the power or ability to do it. A preacher may call us to “go be a David (and slay the Goliaths in your life)” or “go be a Daniel (and be brave if you're thrown in the lion's den)”. There's some truth in that. However, the Bible was not written primarily as a “how-to” book for improving your morals or condition in life. The Bible was written to reveal our need for a Savior from sin and God's righteous anger. If this is the case, then the story of David and Goliath teaches us that we need a David in our life to rescue us (think Jesus Christ) rather than teaches us to be better (stronger, braver, etc...)

The difference is subtle, but important. Is Jesus primarily a good moral example to follow? Or is Jesus primarily a Savior we need and Lord we submit to? Of course, He is a good moral example, but before He is that, He is much more than that. A Christ-centered sermon shouldn't leave you inspired at your own potential. It should leave you inspired at the person and work of Christ.

CHRIST-CENTERED PREACHING AT COVENANT FELLOWSHIP

Our church Covenant Fellowship is currently doing a sermon series on Leviticus. The messages have enlarged and challenged my understanding of sin and the presence of sin in my life. A scary thought is that we may sin unintentionally and not even realize it:

“if anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD's commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them....” (Leviticus 4:2).

If you read on, you'll see that even unintentional sins require a sacrifice before God. Innocence because of ignorance simply doesn't exist! Unintentionally breaking God's commands is serious sin before God. But sin isn't just avoiding evil. In the message, our pastor also reminded us that failing to do what God requires is also sin. For example, God commands us to give thanks, to love one another, to meditate upon His Word, etc... Failure to do what God requires (because of forgetfulness, laziness, or any other reason) is also sin. This means that not complaining may fall short of God's glory if I fail to give thanks!

An expanded view of sin can lead to despair or great zeal to fulfill the law by our own flesh (e.g. like the Pharisees). Or, we can come with a humble and contrite heart to a Savior who laid down His life for the forgiveness of all of our sins and for the filling of the Holy Spirit who enables us to put sin to death (Rom. 8:13, Gal. 5:16).

God has used the preaching at Covenant Fellowship to remind us of our weak and sinful state and the glories of Christ, who is more than enough for our pressing need.

PREACHING AND WORSHIP

The Spirit-Filled worship was one factor that led us to choose Covenant Fellowship (see this post for details). Teresa also wrote a blog entry which mentioned how God used the worship at Covenant to expand her vision of God's glory. Good preaching leads to good worship. The Christ-Centered preaching that has fed our souls has also driven the Spirit-Filled worship.

I'll end with this quote from John Stott that explains this quite well:

"Our worship is poor because our knowledge of God is poor, and our knowledge of God is poor because our preaching is poor. But when the Word of God is expounded in its fullness, and the congregation begins to glimpse the glory of the living God, they bow down in solemn awe and joyful wonder before His throne. It is preaching which accomplishes this, the proclamation of the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God. That is why preaching is unique and irreplaceable." (John Stott)