In Christ , we face the claim of love upon our lives. This living presence of Christ inviting us to receive salvation and calling us to embark on the pathway of discipleship is the depth-dimension of preaching . On the face of it, preaching involves a preacher giving an address to a congregation. There is, however, something much deeper than that going on when the Word of God is preached . ... 'In a real sermon ... Christ is the preacher. ... The biblical view of preaching is to confront men with the question, ‘What think ye of Christ?’ And out of this question, to have the encounter shift into the dimension of a personal confrontation by Christ , who himself asks, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ ... Preaching must always be for decision. Our aim is not merely to inform the mind, to stimulate the feelings so that men have a rather pleasant emotional experience: it is rather to strike directly at the will with the demand for decision ... until we have confronted men with the issue so that they either have to surrender or rebel further, to accept it or reject, believe or disbelieve.' This decision concerning Jesus Christ is also a decision concerning the meaning, purpose and direction of our own lives - ‘Deciding about him is at the same time deciding about ourselves.’As we hear the story of Jesus Christ, the word of God tells us the story of our own lives - what we are and what we can become. The call for decision is a call to leave behind what we are in our sin, and move on to what we can become in Christ .
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This post is an excerpt from my article on The Use of the Bible in Evangelical Preaching Today.
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This post is an excerpt from my article on The Use of the Bible in Evangelical Preaching Today.
