On failing to preach the Gospel

What does it mean to preach the Gospel?

At the risk of tremendous arrogance, I think I know. And, sadly, despite having the very best of intentions, I think a lot of people don’t have any idea.

True preaching begins with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, aims at revealing it, and leads people to a richer understanding of it, beginning, middle, and end. It is based on the Bible, but for the point of showing how Scripture points to Christ. It addresses our problems, but with the offered solution of being transformed by Christ. And it draws us into the worship of Christ by revealing His magnificence and love more clearly and vividly to us.

In contrast, what often passes for preaching is really a variation on the self-help lecture, whose essential message is, “Life is hard, but if you follow some advice from the Bible, things will go better.” Even when such a sermon features a careful exposition of the text, it’s still not preaching the Gospel since the focus and solution is self, not Christ. Sensing this, some people try to remedy the deficiency by attaching a brief summary of the Gospel at the end of such lectures, like an appendix.

But the Gospel isn’t a postscript. It’s the whole script! And if, after preaching a sermon, you feel the need to also say something about the Gospel just to be sure It doesn’t get left out entirely, the horrifying reality is that it already has been because you weren’t really preaching a sermon in the first place.