Proclaimer Blog
And yet another question preachers ask
In this very short series, I’ve left the hardest till last: does a gospel sermon always need to get to the cross?
It’s a commonly asked question, and one which is often used in a more pejorative way of preachers – especially by those unhappy with the current preacher and his evangelistic efforts. By way of answer, let me suggest that the question itself presupposes some fallacies:
It’s a strange view of expository preaching. We believe the Scriptures to be inspired, don’t we? That means the text we have in front of us has a kind of sufficiency for the moment. It is the entire Scripture that is sufficient, but we also believe the task of preaching is to present the passage as the Spirit has inspired it. If we start adding bits that we are think are missing, we are walking on a very narrow path with deep valleys either side. The preacher who feels in constant need to add in the cross to every passage has something of a deficient view of the doctrine of Scripture and of preaching.
It’s a strange view of the gospel. The gospel is good news, big news. At its heart is the atoning death of Jesus in our place – but this is not the entirety of the gospel. The danger with thinking that gospel preaching is cross preaching is that it is reductionist about the gospel itself. There are many ways of expressing the gospel, none of which deny the truths going on internally. If you believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, for example (Romans 10.9), you will be saved. How will you be saved? Through the death of Jesus in your place, of course, but the particular confession in this case is about the lordship and resurrection of Jesus, not his atoning death. The gospel is almost certainly bigger than we think.
It’s a strange view of the service of the word. Preaching does not happen in a vacuum. It’s good for us to remember that – especially many of us who are raised on a diet of internet listening. I shudder at the thought of people listening to last night’s sermon, for example, without hearing my preamble to the reading or the prayer I prayed at the beginning, or the way I drew attention to the words in a particular song. A lot happens in a service of the word which supports, emphasises, and sets up the ministry of the word. You can cover a lot of ground where the word is being proclaimed at one level – after all, if singing is a ministry of the word (Col. 3.16), then unbelievers are being ministered to from the get-go in a service.
But what about 1 Corinthians 2.2, I hear you cry. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Christ and him crucified.” Doesn’t that end the argument? We don’t know much about Paul’s ministry in Corinth from Acts, although there is a little hint there that is summary statement in 1 Cor 2 should be taken in its broadest sense – for he testified to the Jews that “Jesus was the Messiah” (Acts 18.5). It’s important to see Paul’s statement in context, Garland in the Baker Exegetical Commentary is helpful here:
“Paul’s reminiscence that he resolved to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ, and him crucified (see additional note), does not promote anti-intellectualism but explains his modus operandi. … He intended to proclaim the gospel in ways that were consonant with its message of Jesus Christ crucified and in ways that caused hearers to concentrate on that message and not on the messenger. He deliberately chose to set aside any methods that would showcase his own knowledge and wisdom. Paul is not anti-intellectual, but he does oppose intellectual vanity. He did not come to them as a know-it-all or compose speeches fishing for admiration. On the contrary, he was content to be identified as a know-nothing who preached foolishness: Jesus Christ crucified. But announcing the gospel was his sole focus, and the cross moulded his entire message and his whole approach. It was not a new development arising from some previous failure (cf. Acts 17:22–31) but his standard procedure everywhere (cf. 1 Thess. 2:1–10; Gal. 3:1). Jesus Christ can only be preached as the crucified one, and no one can preach Christ crucified to win personal renown.”
Please don’t mishear me. I’m not soft on the cross or – God forbid – penal substitutionary atonement. I delight in preaching the cross. It is at the heart of God’s saving work. If anyone shows even the remotest interest in Christianity, I quickly get there. So gospel ministry always needs to get to the cross. But does a gospel sermon always need to get to the cross? I think you now know my answer.