Category Archives: Christ-centered interpretation

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A Fresh Angle On Sermon Application

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My friend, Dr. Abraham Kuruvilla, has written an excellent book, Privilege the Text! A Theological Hermeneutic For Preaching (Moody). In his attempt to interact with the subject of Christ-centered preaching, Abe presents a fresh angle on application. He advocates what he calls, Christiconic interpretation, utilizing the Greek word, eikon, in Romans 8:29. “God’s goal for his children is, ultimately, to conform them into the image…of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who perfectly exemplified ‘faith-full’ obedience. He alone fulfilled divine demand. Thus every pericope [every portion of Scripture you select to preach] points to a facet of the image of Christ; to that facet God’s people are to conform, in the power of the Holy Spirit” (p. 269).

I found the discussion helpful because it gives me a way to tie sermon application to the larger picture of God’s goal for every Christian. It also helps me realize that the divine demand in every preaching portion is calling me to one slice of the life of Christ. Without this angle, it’s possible that we will only talk in terms of morality. Abe’s angle on application helps keep application distinctly Christian.

For instance, the wisdom and humility of Christ is displayed in Luke 9:49-50 “John answered, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.'” When I encouraged us to adopt the humility that does not attack other Christians and other ministries, I was urging us to take on part of the image of Christ. He was secure in His relationship with God and wise enough to have such perspective and balance. God wants the same for His children.

What part of the image of Christ did your preaching portion call you and your people to yesterday?

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Add Theological Thinking To Your Exposition

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I’m in the final stages of editing my manuscript, Preaching With Greater Accuracy, and will soon send it off to Kregel Publishing. I have come to appreciate the fact that exposition of Scripture often involves answering questions that are implied in a preaching portion. Implied, but not spelled out. If the preaching portion doesn’t have an answer, that means the rest of Scripture must provide an answer. That process is what I refer to as theological thinking. An example is Psalm 139:23-24

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

One implied question in v. 24 is, if perchance God finds some grievous way in me, what does He do about it? How does God lead me in the way everlasting after searching deep within my sinfulness and seeing what’s there? The Psalmist doesn’t answer that. I believe, as expositors, we need to answer that. An important segment of the sermon involves showing how Scripture provides an answer. I want to allow the theology of the rest of Scripture to inform my understanding of the Psalm.

How would you complete this sentence: “After searching my heart and finding some grievous way in me, God can lead me in the way everlasting because…”?

Lord willing, in future posts I’ll show other examples of this from Luke’s gospel.

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Preaching Jesus’ First Sermon in Luke 4:14-21

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One of the challenges of preaching in the Gospels is trying to apply to Christians what appears to be written/said to non-Christians. For instance, in Luke 4:18-19 Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2. Isaiah’s message seems tailor made for an evangelistic sermon or as a call for social justice (i.e., the poor, captives, and oppressed are mentioned). Isaiah and Jesus certainly contain an evangelistic and social thrust. Primarily, however, Luke writes for the Church to bolster their faith (cf. Luke 1:4). If, as Jesus says in Luke 4:21, this Scripture from Isaiah was being fulfilled that day, Jesus’ short message is a time for us to challenge believers to be sure they are experiencing the reversal of fortune described initially by Isaiah. All who profess faith in Christ move from poverty to spiritual wealth/power, from captivity to spiritual freedom/power, from blindness to spiritual perspective/vision, and from oppression to spiritual courage and hope.  According to Luke 4:22-30, the church-going folks in Jesus’ hometown did not believe Him. They did not believe they were needy. Believers, by definition, need to believe that Jesus does what He says He’ll do and receive His gracious gift of salvation/sanctification.

I’m not saying evangelism or social justice have no place. It’s just that Luke intends to say something to the Church about their response to Jesus’ person and work.

For those who are interested in preaching Christ from such a seemingly-already-Christ-centered text, remember, Jesus would later face rejection greater than that recorded in Luke 4:28-29. On the cross He would experience the deepest and darkest forms of human distress described in Luke 4:18. And He would do so so that those of us who believe His Word would never have to experience them.

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How Not to Moralize John’s Moralistic-sounding Gospel

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One hurdle in preaching the Gospels is the presence of moralistic-sounding messages. Luke 3:10-14 contains John’s message. In response to John’s warning about the need for bearing fruit “in keeping with repentance,” his listeners ask, “What then shall we do?” John answers with three specific things to do. That’s it. No talk of faith in Christ. I suggest that in order to preach Luke 3:1-14, we need to make a clear statement about John’s moralistic-sounding Gospel making sense with the following section on Jesus’ soon-coming baptism with the Holy Spirit (cf. Luke 3:15-17). John preaches his moralistic-sounding message knowing that faith in Christ will create the desire and capacity to do those three distinctly Christian acts and more.

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Creating Creative Christological Connections

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Say that the title of this blog five times fast!

One of the more difficult interpretive moves I attempt is connecting the Gospel to practical instructions such as James 5:16. The book of James is difficult in this regard because the letter/sermon doesn’t begin like other NT letters. James doesn’t give a clear statement of the Gospel at the beginning. The first I encounter is James 1:18 and James 1:21. Another one is in James 2:1. So, in many of my teaching times, before I urge the faith-family to implement James 1:16, for instance, I try to take a moment to explain who faith in the Gospel creates the desire and capacity to obey the instruction. There are times when I can make a creative connection. For instance, our healing began when Jesus died on the cross. He was the only Person who did not have sins of His own to confess. When Jesus died He took our sins on Himself so we could be healed and forgiven. Wording it like that allows me to make a connection to the Gospel directly from the wording of my preaching portion. Now I can urge Gospel-driven obedience or what I’ve referred to elsewhere as faith-first application.