Preaching the Whole Christ
What it means to preach Christ and Him crucified in a theological and practical manner
I was an undrafted rookie in May 2014 day by day trying to survive life in the NFL. I knew that if I was going to make it another day that I needed good leaders to look up to. I remember when I found one on the New England Patriots. One day after practice I was watching Tom Brady relentlessly work on his drop back steps. It became very clear to me at that point why the New England Patriots had been so good for so long. It was because of Tom’s leadership that many of his teammates learned how to practice like a champion. And that is a good principle for us today. Good leaders help others know what to do.
For better or for worse, one of the ways the people in our churches will learn the Christian life is by watching their leaders. This is why corporate worship is vital for the health and mission of the church. Public praying teaches our people how to pray in private. Public confession of sin teaches our people how to confess their sins to God in private. Public reading and preaching of Scripture teaches our people how to read the Bible and preach the gospel to themselves in private. It is the public ministry that informs and instructs private ministry. Because of this truth it is imperative that we have a clear understanding of how to preach the gospel to our people.
The last one is what I want to focus on here: The public preaching of the gospel is what informs and instructs the private preaching of the gospel to ourselves. This is why it is critical for us to know how to preach the whole Christ of the whole gospel from the whole of Scripture to the whole person. So, how do we preach this “whole Christ”? What I want to do to answer this question is give “Practices” followed by “Implications” for each practice.
Practice #1: Preach Christ and Not Just His Benefits
First, we must preach Christ and not just His benefits. The gifts cannot be separated from the Giver. All our spiritual blessings are in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). Sinclair Ferguson says in The Whole Christ, “The benefits of the gospel are in Christ. They do not exist apart from him. They are ours only in him. They cannot be abstracted from him as if we ourselves could possess them independently of him.”
Implications for #1
What was the worst news of The Fall? Sin forfeits our relationship with God. What is it that makes hell hell? The loss of all goodwill from God and the common grace enjoyment of God’s governance. What is it that makes heaven heaven? Getting to only experience the holy, merciful, and loving presence of God without any sin or curse. In other words, the good news of the gospel is getting God! To preach the benefits apart from Christ is separating us from the best ingredient of salvation! The benefits of Christ are for the end goal of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.
What good is it if we only get the gifts and not the Giver? It is clearly unhealthy when a child only enjoys their parents because of the gifts they receive. In a healthy relationship, gifts are the overflow of a loving relationship. If we separate the gifts from the Giver then our people will learn to see Christ as a means to an end rather than the means and the end. When we preach in such a way where the gifts are separated from the Giver our people might be tempted to enjoy the idea of a heaven where (hypothetically) their sin is eradicated, perfection attained, happiness restored, the world renewed, relationships glorified, and the kingdom manifested all while the King wasn't there.
Practice #2: Preach His Benefits and Not Just His Life
This is the other extreme. We must see that Jesus with no redemption is no gospel. Getting Jesus is getting the benefits—and the benefits matter! We are desperate for regeneration and faith (Eph. 2:1-10), forgiveness (Luke 7:47-50), justification (Gal. 2:15-16), adoption (Gal. 4), sanctification (Rom. 5-8), and glorification (Rom. 8:28-39). We must not only preach the fact that Christ lived, died, and rose again but that He lived, died, and rose again for us! And when we preach the benefits we cannot only preach some of Christ’s benefits but all of Christ’s benefits.
Implications for #2
If this is true then we need to use biblical and confessional terms in our sermons. We cannot ever take this knowledge for granted. The confessional definitions and explanations of these terms are incredibly pastoral! We need to dive deeply into what the benefits mean for us and that means we cannot only say the words but we must define and explain what we mean. Our people need to see how rich of a Savior we have in Jesus Christ. He comes with better gifts than the Wise Men did! When we preach the benefits as inseparable from the Benefactor then our people will see how the benefits help us see the riches of the Benefactor.
We must also make sure we are not off balance. The same Christ for justification is the same Christ for sanctification. The same Christ who brings the kingdom is the same Christ who commands repentance. We need to make sure we distinguish what the benefits are and in what order they appear but we must make sure we preach all the benefits. We also need to make sure we preach the benefits as related to each other. The adopted children of God will grow and need to grow in holiness. Those effectually called will learn to embrace a biblical identity. Those who receive the kingdom will also learn to promote Christian ethics. The New Testament authors were constantly overflowing with how the benefits of Christ were related to each other because they all come from the same Christ.
Practice #3: Preach Christ As The Main Emphasis
Paul was not exaggerating when he said Christ was the main emphasis of his ministry (1 Cor. 2:1-2). Every doctrine, every topic, every teaching was intimately connected to Jesus Christ. We are in danger today of losing the Christ of Christianity. Some sermons that sound more like “ianity” than Christ-ianity. Christ must be the main emphasis when we preach justification, sanctification, the kingdom of God, identity, sexuality, ethnic unity, and the mission of the church.
Implications for #3
We cannot allow any other critical theory, ideology, psychological theory, or any other emphasis to replace Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If we want to see ethnic unity then preach Christ and His gospel of grace. If we want to see repentance in the realm of sexuality then preach Christ and His gospel of grace. If we want to see people counseled well amidst their sin and suffering then counsel Christ and His gospel of grace. Don’t sound cheap or trite. Don’t slap Bible verses on people. Patiently, wisely, and pastorally unfold the infinite riches of the majesty of Jesus Christ. He is who has given us all things necessary for all of life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).
We are seeing too much emphasis on things other than Christ. We are failing to heed Paul’s main message to the Colossians: Stay focused on Christ who is sufficient for all of salvation! Ethnic unity, sexual purity, and loving community are part of sanctification and sanctification comes from union with Christ (Rom. 6). Therefore, preach Christ!
Practice #4: Preach Identity in Christ
Our primary identity is that we are in Christ (Rom. 6). Paul reveals how the gospel breaks down barriers that separate us from God and each other (Gal. 3; Eph. 4). Peter puts emphasis on how we are now the end-time Temple of God by virtue of our union with Christ (1 Pet. 2). Getting Christ is getting this identity! We must preach this!
Implications for #4
All Christians are saints, sufferers, and sinners. All three all at the same time. But, the priority of these three is saint. This does not ignore or downplay the other two. Matter of fact, when we take suffering and sin seriously then we will see God’s grace upon grace in making us saints. Suffering and sin might describe our lives but it does not ultimately define our lives.
Because Jesus was the Son of God we can become adopted sons (Rom. 8; Gal. 4). Because Jesus was righteous we can become righteous in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Because Jesus perfectly obeyed the Law we are now seen as having perfectly obeyed the Law (Rom. 3). My union with Jesus is so real and true that it is as if I accomplished what Jesus accomplished. In our day of obsession over personality tests, it is to our detriment that we neglect the fact that we cannot accurately think of ourselves if we don’t also think about Jesus (Gal. 2:20).
One of the unfortunate trends that has creeped into Christian counseling and books is the sufferer-only focus. People have treated Christ like He is important but the real work of sanctification is spending the time to go back to obsess over our suffering from the past. This inevitably makes us adopt a sufferer-only identity. We must bring Christ into our suffering and our suffering to Christ.
We have recently seen the trend of people defining themselves by their sin. What awful news if this were our ultimate identity! We dare not downplay our sin. Satan has us right where he wants us if we think our sin is manageable. My sin certainly increases! But, God’s grace for me in Christ abounds all the more (Rom. 5:20). The Second Adam is greater than the First. When I am united to Him then something amazing happens. Saint becomes my permanent identity while sufferer and sinner becomes a temporary identity. The former will forever remain positionally and only increase experientially. The latter two will one day be no more!
Another unfortunate trend that has creeped into the Church is the elevation of other lesser identities over our identity in Christ. As Christians we have allowed ethnic, sexual, geographical, and political identities to replace the ultimate identity of being “in Christ”. There might be other identities about us that are true, biblical, and important. They might mightily shape who we are but we do our people a great disservice if we fail to proclaim the glories of our identity in Christ. Nothing replaces our identity in Christ because Christ is infinite in worth. What could be better than having Him define us?
Suggested Reading:
The Whole Christ by Sinclair Ferguson
The Marrow of Modern Divinity by Edward Fisher
Devoted to God by Sinclair Ferguson
Saints, Sufferers, & Sinners by Michael Emlet
The Everlasting Righteousness by Horatius Bonar
Redemption: Accomplished and Applied by John Murray
Christ Crucified by Donald MacLeod
Name Above All Names by Alistair Begg & Sinclair Ferguson
The Glory of Christ by John Owen
The Glorious Feast of the Gospel by Richard Sibbes