Encountering and Enjoying Christ in Preaching: Appendix Article to Articles on Tone and Posture
In previous articles (found here, here and here), I began to unpack that preaching is to be an encounter with Christ such that his Bride comes to enjoy her Husband as he speaks to her in the sermon. It has been suggested that I give some examples to make clear what this might look like.
Part of what this might partly address is a question that could be swimming around about how this relates to imperatives in preaching. There is much to say about this, so let this article serve as just the beginning of the conversation.
Also, as I ended my last article, everything said here assumes the necessity of the work of the Spirit of Christ.
Before we get specific, let’s say a few things about this in general, which will probably prompt more articles to develop more fully.
Preliminary Thoughts
Think of a passage, where the congregation is called to a particular response, either explicitly or implicitly. This is all passages, so this should not be difficult! The Lord is always engaging us and a response from us is always expected.
For example, consider a passage that speaks about contentment. As a pastor considers what he might include in his sermon, elements along these lines are likely to make the cut:
1. What contentment is
2. Why we are not content
3. Show ways that we are not content
4. Explain how and why we ought to be content
5. Tell the congregation that Jesus should be our contentment
At the end of a sermon like this, a person may have come to understand what true contentment is, begun to recognize their lack of contentment, know (to some extent) how to become more content, even desire to be more content, and believe that Jesus should be their contentment.
This is all good, but it is not enough.
If we are going to preach in a way that has the Bride encountering and enjoying Christ, then we must preach in a way that leads the people into contentment in him, during the sermon. In other words, we want to try to preach such that the people become more content in Christ.
This doesn’t mean that the above elements are not in the sermon. They will probably be necessary, but it’s often the case that the preacher spends much of his time on #’s 1-4 and thinks of #5 as a climax.
What I am arguing for is that we must show how Christ is our contentment not simply say that Christ ought to be our contentment. This means that #1-5 are just preliminary. There should be a #6, where we display Christ in such a way that the congregation is drawn into contentment in him. And this should be the majority of our sermon. I do not necessarily mean “majority” by time, though that should also probably be the case. What I mean is that #6 ought to be of such enormous weight in the sermon that everything else revolves around it.
Perhaps the reason a preacher might spend his time on #’s 1-4 is because of the goal he has for his sermon. In a sermon on contentment, what are some possible goals?
1. That the people understand what contentment is
2. That the people realize that Christ should be their contentment
3. That the people experience contentment in Christ
I submit that anything less than #3 is not a grand enough goal. And the only thing that can carry the weight of that goal is Christ himself. This means that he must be sufficiently manifested to the congregation such that they do find their contentment in him.
If preaching is a means of grace, as we confess, then a sermon cannot simply inform the congregation of contentment, make them aware of their discontentment and call them to find contentment in Christ. The sermon must also be an effort to bring them more deeply into contentment in Christ (or whatever specific purpose the sermon may have). To do less would be, in some measure, to stop short of a sermon being a means of grace.
At this point, my two, more specific, examples will hopefully make this all a little clearer.
Mary’s Anointing of Jesus – John 12:1-8
For the first example, we will look at Jesus being anointed by Mary in John 12. This is one of the most beautiful and devotional scenes in the Bible. Here we have a woman spending a lot of money and social capital to show her love for Jesus. Her resources and reputation are on the line.
There is an implied imperative in the passage, which is fairly obvious: our devotion to Jesus should look something like Mary’s. That is not all that is going on (and is probably not the heart of the passage), but I think the tendency of the reader and the preacher is to focus on this. There may be nothing wrong with this being our focus, but how it is our focus is the question.
My guess is that a typical sermon will seek to show Mary’s devotion and tell the congregation that our devotion should look like hers. And then probably have the congregation put their eyes on themselves by asking: does your devotion look like this?
The goal of the sermon, with regard to the response of the people, may be that the congregation becomes more devoted to Christ. That’s a good goal! Let’s go with that. The question is: how do we accomplish that goal?
This is where I would like to try to shape the thinking of the preacher (and the congregation) just a bit.
It has been my experience that the question that is often running through the sermon is: “What does Mary’s devotion look like?” Then the preacher describes her devotion and calls us to imitate her. There is no doubt that that question will need to be answered, but it’s not the main question that should be driving the sermon in order to bring the congregation into greater devotion to Christ.
The question that should be driving the sermon is: what has caused Mary to be devoted in this way? There is only one answer: Christ.
Think of the significant difference between these questions and how it shapes a sermon. If our overarching question is, “What does Mary’s devotion look like?”, the power of the implied imperative is resting upon the actions of Mary.
The logic goes like this:
1. Look at Mary
2. Mary shows us true loving devotion to Christ
3. This is how we ought to be, so be devoted like Mary (implied imperative)
No doubt the preacher will speak of Christ along the way or may just bring him in at the end (the dreaded “Jesus-Jack-in-the-Box” sermon; a future article awaits!). My point is that this is not enough to bring people into Mary-style devotion. Mary was not convinced or motivated to devotion to Christ by watching someone else’s devotion. The reason she did what she did is because of Christ and his glory. Therefore, the sermon must do the same thing if we are going to be drawn into similar love and devotion.
This is why we must be asking: what caused Mary to show love and devotion in this way? This leads the sermon to be infused and saturated with Christ and his glory.
Remember the goal: to bring people into deeper love and devotion of Christ. Mary’s actions can show us what it can look like, but Mary’s actions cannot bear the weight of what causes one to be devoted in that way.
If we want people to follow in the footsteps of Mary, we must put before them the same thing that caused her to respond the way she did: the Lord Jesus Christ. We must come to better know who he is and what he is like in order to grow in our love and devotion.
For clarity, it’s not good enough to simply say in the last few minutes of the sermon, “It was Jesus that caused her to do this. He died and rose again for you and so you should follow in her footsteps. Let’s pray.”
No, no. I’m talking about spending significant time in unfolding the glory of Christ before the congregation such that their love and devotion for Christ rises during the sermon. How we might do that will probably differ from preacher to preacher, but it must be done or we will not lead the Bride of Christ into the type of devotion that the scene lays before us.
If you’re interested in the way I dealt with this: after laying the necessary exegetical groundwork in the passage, I used clues in the text and the surrounding stories that Mary would know (raising of her brother, Lazarus) to unfold Christ as Prophet, Priest and King. I do not remember the time ratio, but my hunch is that about half the sermon was devoted to this, perhaps more.
To say all of this another way, the Bride must encounter and experience the love and devotion of her Husband in order for her to respond in love and devotion to him. This is always the way it works (1 John 4:19).
Jesus Washing the Disciples’ Feet – John 13:1-17
Another passage to consider is the incredible scene of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. This passage has implied imperatives, but it also has an explicit imperative. Jesus tells them that they ought to do the same thing he is doing (v 14).
Now this imperative is not all that is happening in the text, but like the above passage, my hunch is that the reader and the preacher will focus on this. And the goal of the sermon will probably be to bring the congregation into humble service. Again, that’s a good goal! But how do we go about accomplishing that goal?
Well, we might think that the overarching question is: “What does it look like for us to humbly serve?” In this, the preacher will put before the congregation why we don’t often humbly serve, how we can humbly serve and why we ought to humbly serve. All of this is good and necessary to some extent, but it will lack the necessary elements to bring people into humble service.
The text never describes what our humble service should look like. It is far more about posture than it is about action. Jesus isn’t saying that we should go out and literally wash peoples’ feet (though that would be fine too!). He has something far greater in mind. He is saying that we should be willing to serve others in humility in everything.
When we consider who it is that is doing this, the scene is shocking and beautiful. The God of the universe has taken the form of a servant and condescended to make his friends clean. Just me saying that should make it clear that this passage displays the heart and work of Christ.
But our overarching question should not be, “How do we serve like Christ?” There is nothing wrong with saying a few things about this, but, if this is our emphasis, we will miss the point of the text and more importantly, fix the eyes of the congregation on themselves rather than on Christ. In a similar way to the above example, having our eyes upon ourselves cannot bear the weight of leading us into humble service.
To achieve our goal, an overarching question we might ask is something like this: “What does Jesus know that allows him to serve in such humility?”
A question along these lines allows us to put Christ before the congregation in such a way that they encounter him and enjoy him in his glory. He is the only thing that will lead the congregation into humble service, so if they don’t encounter him, they will not grow in their desire to humbly serve.
We might think that since Jesus says it that we should just do it. There is something to that, but even Jesus doesn’t work that way. He lovingly and gently displays himself before them and calls them to follow him in his footsteps. We must watch and experience his humble service, not just be told to do what he does. He always gives sufficient reason for our response. And that sufficient reason is himself.
If you’re interested, here is how I preached the text: Again, after doing the necessary exegetical work, I made a very clear (hopefully gentle!) statement to the congregation about how everything we do should be characterized by humble service. Then I asked the question, “What does Jesus know that allows him to do this?” My answers were:
1. He knows what he’s been given – everything (v 3a)
2. He knows where he is going – to his Father (v 3b)
3. He knows his Father’s greatness (v 16)
The outline should make clear that the focus and emphasis is on Jesus. However, each of these were, in turn, related to us. In Christ, we know (and are coming to know more fully) the very same things, therefore we can follow him into humble service. But it is seeing and encountering him in this way that has the necessary power to cause us to increase in our willingness and ability to humbly serve.
Concluding Thoughts
I am certain neither of the ways I developed these two sermons are the only ways to put Christ in front of the congregation from these passages. The point is that we need to effort to display him and ask the proper questions that lead us in that direction.
Some might think that preaching Christ in order for the Bride to encounter and enjoy him will not bring the proper conviction. If so, then we are misunderstanding what it means to encounter and enjoy Christ in this life.
In our non-glorified state, encountering Christ will always bring some measure of conviction. We will see his beauty and his glory and recognize that we do not live up to either. But this is part of what it means to enjoy Christ in this life. We experience that conviction before him. We repent in love and devotion as he cherishes and nourishes us in his grace and love.
This type of preaching, which seeks to bring the congregation into an encounter with and enjoyment of Christ, will cause conviction, it will grow the Bride’s desire for him and it will cause her to love and follow him more. Anything less than Christ cannot and will not accomplish this.