I might humbly propose that maybe it is not that Christ is preached too often, but that He is not preached with sufficient depth and diversity. I travel for work and find myself attending church services whenever and wherever possible, regardless of denomination. And I’ll sadly agree that, across the board (though certainly with exceptions), American churches fail miserably to preach the Christ “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:3) Too many of the sermons that I hear are simple moralisms, particularly those drawn from Old Testament narratives. Too often we are told to “be brave like Joshua” or “be courageous like Esther” instead of finding Christ working in the lives of OT saints. We are given moral sermons, moral admonitions and moral examples instead of getting to know, to truly savor, the Christ of Scripture. Christ is the central figure of Scripture, Genesis to Malachi, Matthew to Revelation. He says so Himself, “‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Lk. 24:25-27)
We don’t need moralisms, and the church needs to stop preaching Christ as merely an escape hatch from hell or the guy who’s going to fix all of our financial woes and our self-esteem issues. We need to hear about the Christ who is supreme over all things, who is God, the Creator, come in human flesh for the purpose of displaying Himself as God the Redeemer. He is so holy that no amount of morality matches his standard and yet so loving as to suffer, to pay our penalty, at the expense of His own life. We need to hear about His patience, justice, wrath, mercy, wisdom, holiness, righteousness, love, knowledge and truth and we need to know Him intimately, as He has revealed Himself to be in Scripture. (And the Trinity is absolutely essential to knowing Him as He is. Please don’t neglect it simply because it is difficult to understand. The richest things in theology and life are found in tension, in struggle.)
Anyway, I’d recommend two books to you. First, Edmund Clowney’s The Unfolding Mystery: Finding Christ in the Old Testament. It’s fantastic. Buy it, read it and give a copy to whoever preaches in your church. It’ll change the way anyone reads the Old Testament. Second, go old school. Read Augustine’s Trinity. It’s worth it. It’s been said that one could spoon the Pacific Ocean onto dry land before comprehending the doctrine of the Trinity. But what would you expect? “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Is. 55:8-9)
If you’re not interested in book buying, you could check these links out instead:
The Trinity (http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/trinity.html)
Christ in the Old Testament (http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/OTredemptive.html)
charliefoxtrot
Nov 28 2005
04:06 pm
I might humbly propose that maybe it is not that Christ is preached too often, but that He is not preached with sufficient depth and diversity. I travel for work and find myself attending church services whenever and wherever possible, regardless of denomination. And I’ll sadly agree that, across the board (though certainly with exceptions), American churches fail miserably to preach the Christ “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:3) Too many of the sermons that I hear are simple moralisms, particularly those drawn from Old Testament narratives. Too often we are told to “be brave like Joshua” or “be courageous like Esther” instead of finding Christ working in the lives of OT saints. We are given moral sermons, moral admonitions and moral examples instead of getting to know, to truly savor, the Christ of Scripture. Christ is the central figure of Scripture, Genesis to Malachi, Matthew to Revelation. He says so Himself, “‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Lk. 24:25-27)
We don’t need moralisms, and the church needs to stop preaching Christ as merely an escape hatch from hell or the guy who’s going to fix all of our financial woes and our self-esteem issues. We need to hear about the Christ who is supreme over all things, who is God, the Creator, come in human flesh for the purpose of displaying Himself as God the Redeemer. He is so holy that no amount of morality matches his standard and yet so loving as to suffer, to pay our penalty, at the expense of His own life. We need to hear about His patience, justice, wrath, mercy, wisdom, holiness, righteousness, love, knowledge and truth and we need to know Him intimately, as He has revealed Himself to be in Scripture. (And the Trinity is absolutely essential to knowing Him as He is. Please don’t neglect it simply because it is difficult to understand. The richest things in theology and life are found in tension, in struggle.)
Anyway, I’d recommend two books to you. First, Edmund Clowney’s The Unfolding Mystery: Finding Christ in the Old Testament. It’s fantastic. Buy it, read it and give a copy to whoever preaches in your church. It’ll change the way anyone reads the Old Testament. Second, go old school. Read Augustine’s Trinity. It’s worth it. It’s been said that one could spoon the Pacific Ocean onto dry land before comprehending the doctrine of the Trinity. But what would you expect? “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Is. 55:8-9)
If you’re not interested in book buying, you could check these links out instead:
The Trinity (http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/trinity.html)
Christ in the Old Testament (http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/OTredemptive.html)