What Do You Mean By “Gospel-Centered” Preaching?

Several decades ago, while “mid-career,” I underwent a paradigm shift of life and ministry that I often refer to as a “Gospel Renaissance.”  Neither my doctrine nor my personality changed appreciably, but the effect of my beliefs on my life were – at least in my mind – dramatic.  A key place that people have noticed it was in my preaching.  Since then, I’ve studied, reflected and practiced a lot on what I now call “Gospel-Centered Preaching.” (GCP) Some of that follows, in answer to the question: What do you mean by “Gospel-Centered Preaching?” 

NOT A Particular Style of Delivery – I certainly DO NOT mean some sort of stereotypical “tent-revival with hell-fire and brimstone altar calls.”  The Gospel of God’s Grace is first of all Good News.  It is the announcement of what God has done to redeem His broken creation through the death and resurrection of God the Son, not a style of emotional abuse or manipulation.  GCP is about the motivation and direction of the message, not the style of its delivery.

Biblical – GCP grows out of the text of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.  It recognizes the authority for “faith and practice” that resides there, and the preacher’s dependence on the Holy Spirit to understand and communicate those texts with transforming power for the hearers.  But GCP is more than just academically sound or doctrinally pure exposition of ancient books, it is communicating a timeless message from these ancient texts so a needful world can hear and respond.

Christ-Centered or Christocentric – Jesus Himself gave us the hermeneutical key to understanding all 66 books of the Bible: it was Him.  Listen to what He says in 

• Luke 24:27 (NIV) - 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 
• Luke 24:44 (NIV) - 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 
• John 5:39–40 (NIV) - 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 

Understanding the identity of Jesus as well as his life, death and resurrection is the meta-narrative that draws every verse of the Bible together.  CLICK HERE for an artful 2-minute video of Tim Keller demonstrating this through the Old Testament. 

God/Jesus/Spirit Is the Ultimate Hero of Each Story – There are stories in the Bible that have human heroes: David conquers Goliath (I Samuel 17), Daniel is faithful in prayer and survives the lions’ den (Daniel 6), Esther risks her life for God’s people and all are saved.  While these human heroes may be models of a Spirit-empowered life that can inspire us to faithfulness in our own setting, they are also humans, impacted by their own sin and shortcomings.  More importantly, they are intended to point us beyond themselves to the “True-and-Perfect” Hero of the greater story.  If we focus exclusively on them as human heroes, we are prone to moralism and miss the Gospel which is actually the power of God to transform our hearts.  

For example: If David is no more than an example of human bravery born of trusting God, then we exhort people to “be brave,” and hope no one asks about Bathsheba.  But if David is a brave deliverer that God has raised up to rescue Israel, then we see in him a “shadow” of the Great Rescuer who will conquer the giant of our sin – as well as David’s - at the cross.

So be inspired by David, Daniel and Esther.  See what it looks like to live trusting in God no matter what we face.  But in each of them, let your focus be on the True-and-Perfect One that they point to – the person of Jesus.

“In The Shadow of the Cross” – If the Gospel of God’s Grace is the central, meta-narrative of the Bible itself, then the cross is at the center of the Gospel – and of GCP.  Everything leads up to that ultimate moment, and then everything flows from it as well.  The Apostle Paul demonstrated this focus for his own ministry, writing in I Corinthians 2:2: For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  What happened on Golgotha has impact for all humanity and all human endeavors.  GCP aims to make that connection and impact clear for the church and the world.

Heart-Focused – The behaviors and words of a person flow from their motivational center – what the Bible calls “the heart.” (Luke 6:45, Mark 7:20, Matthew 12:35).  This means that the fundamental human problem is not behaviors that can be trained, educated or shamed away by preaching.  It is the heart that needs transformation.  When that happens by the power of the Gospel, then the behaviors and words that flow from that Gospel-transformed heart become different.  GCP understands the fruitlessness of behavior-based, moralistic preaching, depending instead on the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel of Grace proclaimed to effect a change of heart in the hearer.

Questions to Ask – There are a variety of questions that I ask myself as I prepare that help me keep a Gospel focus to my preaching.  They include:

• Have I helped my listener see Jesus as the ultimate hero of this text?  
• Who is the main or active character in the sermon?  The listener?  Me?  Or God?
• Did Jesus need to die and be raised for anything that was said in this sermon?
• If Jesus had not been crucified, would it change anything I said in this sermon?

Resources

• The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones
• A priceless book for all ages.  Each story is told for children with this Gospel-Centered perspective.
• Preaching: Communicating Faith In An Age of Skepticism by Timothy J Keller
• Keller is a prime practitioner of GCP in our time.  This gives you a look at his practice of it.
• Preaching Christ From The Old Testament by Sidney Greidanus
• An academic work that is very accessible by a CRC pastor and Calvin Seminary professor