Preach the Word!
The Scriptures just handed me another blade with which to continue my ongoing crusade to reintroduce the Gospel to Evangelicalism. I was listening to the book of 1 Peter on CD, when I heard that Peter writes that we were born again through the living and abiding word of God, he ended the passage clarifying what the “word” is that gave us new life: “And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25b).
“And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25b)
I’ve been amazed in the past couple of years how deaf the ears are on which this message falls. The constant reply to my constant pleas that every sermon should always be explicitly built on the foundation of the Gospel of the sinless life of Jesus, the death of Jesus because of our sins and the resurrection of Jesus because those who come to faith are justified is that “we are to preach ‘the Word’.
“And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25b)
What my dear brethren mean is that we should preach the “whole counsel of God.” We should preach more than just the Gospel, the Bible talks about all kinds of other things than just the Gospel, if we always preach the Gospel, we won’t have time to preach the rest of the Bible. What they miss is that I’m not talking about preaching the Gospel instead of the rest of the Bible, I’m talking about (and so did the Reformers, who recovered the Gospel out of the ash heap of Romanism, the “Founding Fathers” of “Evangelicalism”) preaching all of the Bible in context.
What is the context? The Gospel.
Everything that comes before the sinless Christ crucified and risen for sinners points to and reaches its pinnacle and therefore its ultimate point in the sinless Christ crucified and risen for sinners; likewise, everything that is revealed in Scripture after the sinless Christ crucified and risen for sinners (you know, all that “practical” and “relevant” stuff) flows out of and is built on the foundation of the sinless Christ crucified and risen for sinners.
If we talk about everything that leads up to the Gospel but leave out any explicit reference to the Gospel as the point of that material, and get off on things other than that ultimate point, then we are not preaching the Word.
“And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25b)
If we talk about all that practical stuff that is built on the foundation of the Gospel and flows from the source of the Gospel, assuming everyone understands that the Gospel is the source, foundation and reason we do these things, then we are not preaching the Gospel, because I don’t care how long people have been involved in church, if they don’t get reminded constantly (in every sermon) that all that stuff they are to do which is taught in Scripture is founded on, has it source in, and is done because of, and by the power of the Gospel, the Power of God for Salvation to Everyone who Believes, then they’re going to wind up doing it by their own power and for their own reasons. And therefore, the Word hasn’t been preached.
“And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25b).
What Am I Hearing in This Sermon?
Are the sermons you hear Christ-centered or Man-centered?
Get your pad and pencil or pen ready the next time you sit under the preaching of the Word of God, and see how you fare with the following three questions:
1. Is Jesus mentioned in this sermon?
2. Is Jesus the subject of the verbs?
3. If so, what are the verbs?
Among other considerations, there are two primary objectives that must be communicated in any sermon:
- Indicatives (What God or Christ does for or to sinful and/or saved man)
- Imperative (What sinful and saved men are to do for God and Christ)
For example, the Law (what God is and does, and so what man ought to be and do) is imperative, and the Gospel (what Christ has done for sinners) is indicative.
In Christ-centered preaching, the logic will flow from indicative to imperative; from what God does, in Christ, to what man ought to do. We derive the proper motive and power to perform the imperatives of Scripture from the proclamation of the indicatives of Scripture.
Whenever the focus of the sermon is imperative, what we can or should be doing, and the indicatives of God’s work on our behalf rates as a secondary concern in the sermon, we unintentionally slip into thinking we’ll earn the indicatives (that which God grants by his grace) by performing the imperatives (that which God gave us to prove to us we must rely only on his grace). This is the danger of man-centered preaching.
Is Jesus mentioned in the sermons you hear? If he is, is he the subject of the verbs; is he the one doing the work, or is Man? If Jesus is the one doing the work, what work of his is being proclaimed? Is he proclaimed as our Problem-Solver, Example (WWJD), Therapist or Sugar Daddy? Or is he proclaimed as our Creator, Redeemer, Advocate, Mediator, Judge, Prophet, Priest or King?
The reason this matters is because “the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Salvation is an all-encompassing work, including not only our justification, but also our sanctification and our glorification. Preaching on sanctification is vitally important; there is much for us to do, in dependence on God’s gracious empowerment, to grow in sanctification, but this is not achieved by majoring on detailing all the imperatives alone, but the imperatives of preaching, what we normally call “application” of God’s Word, must be built on the foundation of the indicative of the Gospel preached alone.
So, don’t forget to ask these three questions the next time you hear a sermon, and may it provoke you to pray that your preacher makes the Gospel plain to instill faith in the lost and to strengthen the faith of the saved.
On Head and Heart
I would like to refer you to a recent post by a soul mate of mine named Dan Phillips, who has just written on the connection and valuable relationship between “headknowledge” and “heartknowledge.” He shows how a great theologian of the early twentieth century helped him understand this truth. Consult www.teampyro.blogspot.com and read Phillips’ February 4 post entitled, “How J. Gresham Machen helped (and revolutionized) a young convert.” It will not only bless you, but challenge you that “knowing facts” about Jesus is an essential element in your “relationship” with Jesus.
Theological and Doxological Meditation #3
The Principal Teaching of Scripture
Q. What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man (2 Timothy 1:13).
Father of Mercies, In Your Word (click title to play)
Anne Steele, 1760
#144, Trinity Hymnal (© 1990)
Father of mercies, in your Word what endless glory shines;
forever be your name adored for these celestial lines.
Here may the wretched sons of want exhaustless riches find;
riches above what earth can grant and lasting as the mind.
Here the Redeemer’s welcome voice spreads heav’nly peace around;
and life and everlasting joys attend the blissful sound.
O may these heav’nly pages be my ever dear delight;
and still new beauties may I see, and still increasing light.
Divine Instructor, gracious Lord, O be forever near;
teach me to love your sacred Word, and view my Savior there.
The Captain Headknowledge Biblical & Theological Journal
God’s Covenant with Abram
Genesis 15:1-6
1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” [The barren household having adopted its servant as heir, Abram appeals to the LORD (“Covenant Suzerain”). The LORD affirms he is Abram’s shield, reward and deliverance following the exchanges with the Kings of Salem and Sodom. Melchizedek, the King of Salem, blessed Abram’s God as Abram’s shield; from the spoils of the King of Sodom, Abram refused to enrich or reward himself.]
3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”
5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” [The LORD multiplies his promise and illustrates the abundance of his promised children by comparing their number to that of the stars. The use of this hyperbole points to the fact that even accurate human calculation cannot number his descendents; it could if his children were restricted to the children of Isaac and the Ishmaelites; Israel and the Edomites and whichever other ethnic families may descend from him by ordinary generation. If Abram is to bless all families of the earth (Gen. 12:3), then God here also promises to bring forth the children of Abram from every family of the earth. Thus the progress of Scripture’s Special Revelation.]
6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. [Here is a transaction which transpired without a word, or a finger lifted; an invisible transaction between the mind/heart of Abram and the omniscient “Covenant Suzerain.” Abram believed the promise made to him by the LORD. This was not a conscious effort on Abram’s part to earn that which the LORD claims, but merely an expression borne out of grateful credulity. Abram knows the LORD not only can, but has, does and will keep his covenant oaths. The LORD, God Most High at this moment performs a judicial or an economic function and grants that believing Abram has officially met the terms of a covenant. God is the active initiator of this process by the power of his promise (the power of God to salvation, cf. Rom. 1:16), which is passively and gratefully received by means of faith: Abram has been given knowledge of the fact of what God says he’ll do (cognition, or “headknowledge”), he believes it is true that God can and will do it (assent), and he also trusts God to do it. These are the three levels of biblical faith: cognition, assent, trust. Thus we see that “headknowledge” is just the first step to true faith! Abram is assured of the certainty of God’s promise of an abundant offspring and will demonstrate that he stakes all on God’s promise (Gen. 22:1-19).
Theological and Doxological Meditation #2
Direction in Man’s Chief End
Q: What rule hath God given to direct ushow we may glorify and enjoy him?
A: The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (2 Tim. 3:16; Eph. 2:20), is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him (1 John 1:3-4).
Holy Bible, Book Divine (click title to play)
John Burton, 1803
#137, Trinity Hymnal (© 1990)
Holy Bible, book divine
precious treasure, you are mine;
mine to tell me whence I came;
mine to teach me what I am;
Mine to chide me when I rove;
mine to show a Savior’s love;
mine you are to guide and guard;
mine to punish or reward;
Mine to comfort in distress;
suff’ring in this wilderness;
mine to show by living faith,
man can triumph over death;
Mine to tell of joys to come,
and the rebel sinner’s doom;
Holy Bible, book divine,
precious treasure, you are mine.
Differences on one Saint’s capacity for forgiveness
Saturday, January 21st, I went to the blog of my favorite Contemporary Christian musician, Steve Camp (www.stevenjcamp.blogspot.com) and was disheartened to find he’d posted part of an article criticizing the new movie, “End of the Spear,” (PG 13 for intense, not graphic violence), which is the famous story of Nate Saint, Jim Elliot and three other missionaries in Equador whose lives were taken by a tribe considered at the time one of the most violent in the world, only to be converted to Christianity and true and lasting repentence of their violent ways once the wives of some of the slain missionaries went to live with the tribe, partly so that a young female member of the tribe, whom they’d previously rescued (it’s a long story), could prove to her tribe that not all foreigners are out to kill them. It’s a beautiful and compelling story, portrayed in the film from the perspective of the tribe, and is well worth watching. Below, I have cut and pasted the correspondence between myself and Steve Camp over the production company’s surprising and controversial decision to hire an activist for the unrepentant, sodomite lifestyle in the lead role.
“Capt. HeadKnowledge” said…
Forgive me if I’m getting off topic, however, I am compelled to defend Steve Saint’s decision to retain Chad Allen as the lead in “End of the Spear.” I was not sure how to respond otherwise, so I must intrude on this line of comments.On Thursday, before the release of the film, Steve Saint and Bill Ewing were interviewed on Michael Medved’s radio show. When Medved asked about the controversy over Allen, Saint commented that Allen had simply been the best audition, and they hired him. Fair enough. Saint, not being an American citizen, was originally unaware of Allen’s “politically corrupt” (PC)sodomite lifestyle. When he was informed, he was very let down. His initial response was much as your own. He feared this would tarnish the missionaries’ good names and bring undue stress to the Woudani people from any controversy over Allen’s participation, and Saint realized that the only way to rectify this would be for him personally to fire him. He found it hard to bring himself to do this. As Saint began to give it a second thought, he decided to keep him in the hopes that the message of the film would somehow affect him toward righteousness; undoubtedly, Saint prays for his salvation, as your post encourages all of us to do. Seems Steve’s “evangelistic” motives are paying off. A lot of Christians are praying for Allen who weren’t previously doing so. To Steve Saint’s own Master he stands and falls. His motive was honorable and I believe defensible. Forgive him if your faith is not such as can approve him in his decision, but he made the decision with the heart of a forgiving Christian himself.Now, if I may offer my own two-cents’ worth on Saint’s decision to keep Allen: I believe there is nothing inherent in film that is able either to promote the Kingdom of God. It is, after all, specifically the Gospel preached which is the power of God to salvation. Western Christianity is too turned on by the modern spirit of “Christian” commercialization and entertainment, as if it’s going to “help” advance God’s Kingdom. This is a pipe dream. Preaching is preaching and art is art, and outside the intervention of God, rarely shall the latter “assist” the former; rather Christians need to learn to leave the entertainment to the entertainers. To discriminate against the best audition because of his outside commitments is to consciously choose to make a film of lesser quality than possible. To consciously lower your production standards to satisfy a bunch of trigger-happy brethren is to compromise the quality of art. Sure, it may not have been the greatest work of art ever made, but they did what they could with what they had; Saint’s sanctified conscience is clear on the matter, he regrets the controversy this may cause, but he stands by his decision because Jesus and his dad both died for unlovely characters such as Chad Allen in the past. Steve’s honestly trying to follow in his dad’s footsteps.
January 22, 2006 7:15 AM
SJ C@mp said…
Captain Headknowledge:Here is a link to read the complete story.Steve Saint is wrong on this… The spin he is trying to do to justify his actions are shameful and probably driven by the motive that he doesn’t want this to hurt box office support (always follow the money). He should own this, repent of it, and ask forgiveness from the Christian community that he is desperately trying to market this film to.In the meantime, don’t go see the movie, but pray for Chad Allen that he comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
January 22, 2006 10:38 AM
Theological and Doxological Meditations
Welcome to the first posting of The Captain Headknowledge Theological and Doxological Meditations! The format is very simple: Featuring one of the 107 questions from the Westminster Shorter Catechism (with Scripture Proofs), accompanied by a relevant psalm, hymn or spiritual song from “The Trinity Hymnal,” simply read, pray, examine yourself, search the Scriptures, pray some more and your on the road to good, old fashioned, Reformed catechesis!
We may have it all over past generations when it comes to publishing information, but due to information’s modern easy accessibility, we’re as lazy as all get out when it comes to personally appropriating the information. This is especially true, and especially dangerous, when it comes to spiritual “information”: I can read it, put it on my shelf, refer to it when needed, post it for the benefit of others, but unless I stop what I’m doing, pay attention to what I’m reading, and personally apply it by finding out what is it in me that needs to change in order for God to accomplish his will for my life (sanctification, conformity to the image of his Son) with this information, then it will “profit me nothing,” to borrow a phrase from the Apostle Paul. In this regard, past generations are our betters. We could afford to go back to basics by renewing our minds (Rom. 12:1,2) the way our blessed forefathers did, and a major way this took place was by means of catechisms such as the one I feature, and theologically significant psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It is often repeated that the laity learns most of its theology from church music, which argues all the more for carefully crafted, biblically and theologically rich church music.
Perhaps in a later post I will introduce you to the Westminster Standards, from which our featured catechism is derived, but for now, with no further ado, I give you “The Captain Headknowledge Weekly Devotional & Theological Meditations.”
The Chief End of Man
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36),
and to enjoy him forever (Ps. 73:25-28).
In Sweet Communion, Lord, with Thee. (click title to play)
#657, Trinity Hymnal (© 1990)
In sweet communion, Lord, with thee
I constantly abide;
my hand thou holdest in thine own
to keep me near thy side.
Thy counsel through my earthly way
shall guide me and control,
and then to glory afterward
thou wilt receive my soul.
Whom have I, Lord, in heav’n but thee,
to whom my thoughts aspire?
And, having thee, on eart is naught
that I can yet desire.
Though flesh and heart should faint and fail,
the Lord will ever be
the strength and portion of my heart,
my God eternally.
To live apart from God is death,
’tis good his face to seek;
my refuge is the living God,
his praise I long to speak.
AMEN
The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge
I thought I’d kick it off with a few comments as to my blogging identity.
Growing up an Independent, Fundamental Baptist, I heard innumerable sermons about “missing heaven by 18 inches.” For those of you for whom this is a new concept, it’s a reference to the distance between your head and your heart. If you only learn about Jesus, you’ve got “headknowledge”, but if you trust Jesus, you’ve got “heartknowlede” so the typical sermon goes.
As I grew, I developed an insatiable thirst to learn about theology, which forced my horizons to expand until one day I had to admit, “you know, I just don’t believe this stuff.” The stuff I referred to was fundamentalist KJV onlyism, not the Christian faith.
In my IFB environment, I was inundated with the worldview I call “Soul-winning over Scholarship” so with my finely tuned sarcastic wit, I devised the alter ego, Captain Headknowledge, the “super” hero who, whenever called upon to give someone spiritual counsel or the like, is so encumbered with Bible Trivia, he just can’t seem to make a spiritual difference. Oh well, all my righteous works are filthy rags! May Christ be glorified by the correspondence on this page.
Soli Deo Gloria!
The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge 