Preaching a Christ-centered Message

Presented at Field Seminary, Newbold College. England, July, 1948.

By THOMAS J. BRADLEY, Evangelist, London, England

For so greatly did God love the world that He gave His only Son, that everyone who trusts in Him may not perish but may have eternal life." John 3 :16, Weymouth. To this scripture, which reveals God's abundant inter­est in, and His plan for, man's salvation let us add another: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:32. The former is surely God's positive action for man's salvation; the latter is just as surely our duty and responsibility—the lifting up of Christ!

In directing your minds to preaching a Christ-centered message, I am conscious that we agree upon this proposition. But it is amaz­ing what retrogression of thinking and preach­ing can take place, as we become familiar with our work and surroundings. In order that we may not dismiss this discussion-hour subject as being of little interest, I ask these challenging questions:

Why does our speech lack impressiveness?

Why are we wordy but not mighty?

Why are we eloquent but not persuasive?

Why are we reasonable but not convincing? Why do we preach much but accomplish little? Why do we teach but not woo?

Why do we make a show of power but fail to move men?

Why do we crash in on modern man with our un­folding of prophecy that is positively startling but know that still the haunts of the evil one ring with scorn for our futility ? (Based on Jowett, pp. 59, 6o.)

We have all quoted 2 Timothy 3:1-4 as being fulfilled in this modern hour, forgetting at times that verses 4 and 5 apply to the church and its leaders : "They will love pleasure instead of loving God, and will keep up a make-believe of piety and yet exclude its power." (Weymouth.) The utter worldling has discarded all "make-believe of piety"; hence this condemnation does not fit him. It must be a divine estimation of last-day professing Christians. What, then, is our answer to this humbling challenge ? For we stand revealed in our frailty and condemned in our futility.

We have the greatest, grandest message to proclaim to the neediest world. I have no need to recount any of the facts of it or its prophetic setting. Our trouble is not found in get­ting hold of the facts, but in being moved by the realization of what those facts mean ! His­tory is repeating itself in our midst ! Half a century ago the messenger of the Lord wrote:

"Wake up, wake up, my brethren and sisters. . . The Lord lives and reigns. Soon He will arise in majesty to shake terribly the earth. A special message is now to be borne, a message that will pierce the spir­itual darkness and convict and convert souls. . . . We must now be terribly in earnest. We have not a mo­ment to spend in criticism and accusation. . . . We have no time for dwelling on. matters that are of no importance. . . . The sermons preached by some of our ministers will have to be much more powerful than they are now, or many backsliders will carry a tame, pointless message, which lulls people to sleep. Every discourse should be given under a sense of the awful judgments soon to fall on the world. . . Soon an awful surprise is coming upon the inhabitants of the world. Suddenly, with power and great glory, Christ will come. Then there will be not time to prepare to meet Him. Now is the time for us to give the warning message."—Testimonies, vol. 8, pp. 36, 37..

It is not difficult for us to sense the earnest­ness and urgency infused into these lines. But does that same urgency penetrate beyond the walls of our own souls, and vibrate through our whole being? "The message of truth is to be proclaimed by lips touched with a live coal from the divine altar."—!bid., p. 37. And right here let me record point number one in this matter of presenting a Christ-centered mes­sage. It is this : A Christ-centered message can be fully understood, and faithfully proclaimed only by the Christ-centered life. If our lives are revolving around any other center than Christ, then we are eccentric and not "Christ-centric."

"It is not knowledge that we chiefly need, Though knowledge sanctified by Thee is dear; It is the will and power to love indeed; It is the constant thought that God is near."

One of the basic hindrances to the growth of Seventh-day Adventism is the misunderstand­ing of its message. As Adventist preachers we are constantly on the stretch studying and re­viewing our doctrines, digging for and locating new evidences confirming our truth-filled mes­sage, and directing the heaviest barrage of our research against the modernist tendencies of current religious thinking. And all this is good and essential. But it has the tendency to be-tome mere formal, mental culture. A warehouse may be stacked to the ceiling with tins of kero­sene, but if no match is added, it retains only potential value. And thus it is with us as preachers. Even if our heads are filled with facts and evidences—all good in their sphere—and our hearts and lives are cold and void of the Christ-centric graces, then we too have only potential values.

With us, we watch the social, economic, and political worlds for mounting evidences of the fulfillment of prophecy, and then we preach a warning sermon on "another prophecy ful­filled." We become noted preachers of proph­ecy, but where is the Christ of the prophecies ? Prophecy can stir men into conscious, active thinking, but only Christ can save men for eternity. "We have no right in our preaching to waste time on side-issues and irrelevances.

If we are not determined that in every sermon Christ is to be preached, it were better that we should resign and seek some other vocation."—Heralds of God, p. 61.

Of the early Christian preachers it is re­corded, "That . . . which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled . . . declare we unto you." I John 1:1-3. They were communicating a vital, living experience and not just the recollections of a mystic legend. We too should "gather together that which our own experience has revealed to us of the pre­ciousness of Christ, and present it to others as a precious gem that sparkles and shines."—Evangelism, p. 186.

Every sermon must carry the impression and conviction that what we are saying is as real to us as was Job's greatest utterance: "I know that my redeemer liveth." Job 19:25. Let us not fool ourselves! An audience will soon dis­cern whether we are "show-men" or "Christ's-men" ; whether we are "paid speakers" or "praying-speakers"; whether we are "bookfilled" or "Spirit-filled"; whether we are inter­ested in men's "praise" or in their "souls." We must rise to greater heights of Christlike liv­ing, and then we shall rise to greater heights of Christ-filled preaching. What does the Spirit of prophecy say concerning our sermons?

"The third angel's message calls for the presentation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and this truth must be brought before the world; but the great center of attraction, Jesus Christ, must not be left out of the third angel's message. . . . The sinner must ever look toward Calvary ; and with the simple faith of a little child, he must rest in the merits of Christ, ac­cepting His righteousness and believing in His mercy. Laborers in the cause of truth should present the right­eousness of Christ."—Evangelism, p. 185.

Ever since the General Conference held at Minneapolis in 1888, we have had our march­ing orders, or I should say, our preaching or­ders, on this matter of preaching Christ. And we need not fear "that the emphasis placed upon this theme of righteousness by faith would, cast a shadow upon the doctrines that had been given such prominence from the beginning of our denominational history."—Christ Our Righteousness, p. 57.

Make the preaching of Christ your constant objective, and the doctrines the framework for the reaching of the objective. If we have any other objective, we are guilty of letter preach­ing, which "may be eloquent, enameled with poetry and rhetoric, sprinkled with prayer, spiced with sensation, illumined by genius, and yet these be but the massive, chaste, or costly mountings, the rose and beautiful flowers which coffin the corpse."—BouNns, Power Through Prayer, pp. 23, 24.

In Gospel Workers I read, "Bring nothing into your preaching to supplement Christ, the wisdom and power of God."—Page 160. Every­thing must be divinely permeated with the apostle Paul's injunction: "Christ is all, and in all." Col. 3                       Can you think of any sermon subject 'in which Christ could not be made the dominant theme of your climax? And by "climax" I do not mean merely a final gesture by the inclusion of the name of Jesus at the end of your sermon!

A sermon should have definite stages and progressive steps, and well-defined purposes and objectives. We need not be slaves to ser­mon outlines; but unless we have a clear pur­pose, we will merit, the criticism which it is reputed that Sister White leveled at one of our earlier preachers when she called him "a wandering star." Through every step we should move with mounting emphasis toward the clearer revelation of Christ. Sometimes the revelation will be by contrast, sometimes by comparison, at other times by direct descrip­tion; but at all times the claims of Jesus upon the people will be openly sought and taught.

I recall one of our leading preachers, speak­ing on "Antichrist-666," and finishing the meeting on a revival note, when between thirty or forty people accepted Jesus as their personal Saviour. Most of us would choose a different theme for revival, but it worked. If you think a little, it will be more than ever apparent that Christ may become the cure for every disease, the reniedy for every ill, the solace for every pain, the consolation for every heartache, the light in every darkness, the guide for every journey, the wisdom for every mind, the Sav­iour for every sinner. None of us dare to disregard the declaration of Gospel Workers: "Lift up Jesus, you that teach the people, lift Him up in sermon, in song, in prayer." "In order to be rightly understood and appreciated, every truth in the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, must be studied in the light that streams from the cross of Calvary. I present before you the great, grand monument of mercy and regeneration, salvation and redemption,—the Son of God uplifted on the cross. This is to be the foundation of every discourse given by our ministers."—Pages 160, 315. In some respects we are to blame for the wrong impressions many have gathered concerning us as a people. Our defense of God's law has been quite legitimate, and we have only continued the attitudes of hosts of church leaders and re­formers. But we have stressed the practical acceptance of the claims of the law, and we should have been more careful of our sermons, and have shown in a more emphatic way that Jesus is the answer to the claims of the law.

We were warned in Testimonies to Minis­ters long ago of this danger. I read: "The mes­sage of the gospel of His grace was to be given to the church in clear and distinct lines, that the world should no longer say that Seventh-day Adventists talk the law, the law, but do not teach or believe Christ."—Page 92. This heret­ical opinion about us still persists. It makes our work difficult. Brethren, from our first meeting in an effort we should lift up Jesus Christ as the world's only Saviour. Do not wait for the second meet­ing. Many people discover that we are Seventh-day Adventists on the first night, and then plan to come no more. If you give them nothing else, give them a strong portrayal of Jesus their Saviour, the One we serve, the One who has saved us, and the One who is coming again. Let this message blaze forth from a heart aflame for God. "If the pulpit is on fire, the people will come to see it burn," wrote Spurgeon.

Remember the "all power" promise of Matthew 28. This does not sound as if it would be manifest in lifeless manners, from a cold heart and staggering faith. It could best be mani­fested through the courage of a Daniel or a Paul, the devotion of a Jonathan or a John, the consecration of an Aaron or a Stephen, or per­haps the intensity of a Moses.

To us, then, as preachers, I can think of fewer lines more appropriate to sum up than the words of Uriah Smith in Looking Unto Jesus:

"Thus in whatever direction we look, above or below, to things near or afar off, to the past, present, or future, in every Bible doctrine, in every practical truth, at the summit of every divine plan, at the end of every vista, we see Jesus, the sum and substance, the center and circumference, of every anticipated joy, the One altogether lovely, the chiefest among ten thousand, under God, the all in all."—Page 46.



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By THOMAS J. BRADLEY, Evangelist, London, England

November 1948

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