As a Spurgeon fan I can recall many of his quotes at will, and one of them is, “No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching…”
This would be most relevant in preaching from the Old Testament, where we (should) use our Biblical theology skills, and preach Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old testament text.
That’s what sets us apart from Jews, for example, as many have said (regarding preaching from the Old testament), “If a Jew likes your sermon from the OT, then that’s an indication you’ve missed the fulfillment of the text.”
“No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching…”
Our friend Charles Spurgeon is certainly on to something here, and I suppose he had heard sermons where Christ should have been the topic, fulfillment, or hero of the text, and wasn’t, for whatever reason.
As it is an obvious challenge worth remembering from the OT, a worrying thing I see too often for my liking, is preachers doing this from Paul’s epistles.
Perhaps not ‘no Christ’ in the sermon, but not having Jesus as the ‘hero’ or fulfilment of the text.
Just like we would rightly push back at Catholicism, for minimising Jesus at the expense of Mary, perhaps an evangelical/Reformed version regarding the epistles is minimising Jesus at the expense of Paul.
Far too often, nearly always, I hear sermons on the epistles, where the main application, is “Be like Paul.” where Paul is the hero of the passage.
I’m suggesting, that this isn’t handling any passage from Paul’s epistles well, if our application, is some version of “Be like Paul.”
“We see here that Paul was content in all circumstances…Be like Paul.”
“We see here Paul rebuked false teachers…Be like Paul.”
“Paul was looking forward to heaven…Be like Paul.”
“Paul had a great training mindset with Timothy…Be like Paul.”
In these examples, while true, they only take the text half way.
If that’s where we land, then my suggestion is we have not landed the text where it needs to be.
Point people to Jesus. Use Paul, to point people to Jesus.
As Spurgeon’s quote (rightly) suggests, the hero of any text should be Jesus, what God has done. Not Paul.
But, what about 1 Corinthians 11:1? Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ…”
I would say imitation is a long way from making him the hero of the passage, and not Jesus. Also, Paul says to imitate him, as he imitates Christ.
So, use Paul as an example, but not the hero. Don’t give him a role in the passage he is not meant to have, and he himself would not want.
So, from the above examples, how could we preach them, remembering Jesus is the hero of the passage, to give Him the glory?
“We see here that Paul was content in all circumstances…”
Instead, say, “Why was Paul content in all circumstances?” Because of what Jesus has done in his life.
“We see here Paul rebuked false teachers…”
Point to Paul following Jesus’ lead here. Following Jesus means loving His truth.
“Paul was looking forward to heaven…”
Why was Paul looking forward to heaven? Because Jesus is there, eternity with Him.
“Paul had a great training mindset with Timothy…”
Again, point to Paul following Jesus’ lead. Jesus is building His church and told all believers to make disciples. This is Paul’s obedience to Jesus.
I hope you see the difference, and push application from the epistles beyond, “Be like Paul.”