I with you Mike. Thanks. My experience of listening to and reading about Christocentric preaching is that the role/Work of Christ can be emphasized at the expense of the Person of Christ. The best Christocentric preaching takes us to the Jesus Christ of the Gospels, as the lectionary does, and not just to his role in salvation history. Sorry, but my first comment like this one doubled, so I deleted one, and it deleted both.
This is a helpful perspective. I think of the many (too many) sermons where, at a certain point in the preaching, my wife and I would lean in to each other and say something like, "here it comes..." and the preacher would essentially copy and paste the same sermon tag. Usually something like, you're rubbish deserving judgement, but lucky Jesus died for you. I've seen some pretty tight shoe horning of substitutionary atonement into sermons over the years!
Very good points. I've preached extensively on the importance and place of the church. The healthiest Christians seem to be those that are part of and involved in a healthy local church. The only thing Jesus has specifically said He is building is the church. It seems to be the outpost of the Kingdom. Preaching also on the power and work of the Holy Spirit, and the role of the Father (John 14:6) seem I think are very important. Loved your Trinity query to your students!
I think people misunderstand, it’s not so much that every verse in the Bible is christocentric, but rather the Bible as a whole is a big narrative whose center is in Christ. So, for me, the correct way to be Christocentric, is to put every portion of scripture in the right place of the narrative. Well, that’s my opinion.
I with you Mike. Thanks. My experience of listening to and reading about Christocentric preaching is that the role/Work of Christ can be emphasized at the expense of the Person of Christ. The best Christocentric preaching takes us to the Jesus Christ of the Gospels, as the lectionary does, and not just to his role in salvation history. Sorry, but my first comment like this one doubled, so I deleted one, and it deleted both.
Scot, yep, I concur, its good, but insufficient itself.
This is a helpful perspective. I think of the many (too many) sermons where, at a certain point in the preaching, my wife and I would lean in to each other and say something like, "here it comes..." and the preacher would essentially copy and paste the same sermon tag. Usually something like, you're rubbish deserving judgement, but lucky Jesus died for you. I've seen some pretty tight shoe horning of substitutionary atonement into sermons over the years!
Very good points. I've preached extensively on the importance and place of the church. The healthiest Christians seem to be those that are part of and involved in a healthy local church. The only thing Jesus has specifically said He is building is the church. It seems to be the outpost of the Kingdom. Preaching also on the power and work of the Holy Spirit, and the role of the Father (John 14:6) seem I think are very important. Loved your Trinity query to your students!
I think people misunderstand, it’s not so much that every verse in the Bible is christocentric, but rather the Bible as a whole is a big narrative whose center is in Christ. So, for me, the correct way to be Christocentric, is to put every portion of scripture in the right place of the narrative. Well, that’s my opinion.
Hi Michael, I will always be a "Romans 10 verse 9" man .. blessings