"But where is the Lamb?": an ancient question for modern pulpits

Editors Note: This article was adapted from a discourse of Christ-centered preaching delivered during the “H. M. S. Richards Lectureship on Preaching” at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States.

The pastor must have mentioned it, though I do not remember it. As a matter of fact, I cannot imagine that type of sermon not having it, especially that sermon. What I do remember quite vividly about my boyhood worship that Sabbath is the dramatic style in which the young intern pastor of my home church in Dallas raised his hand above the pulpit, clenching a butcher knife in expectant readiness and then exclaiming, “Abraham, Abraham: . . . Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me” (Gen. 22:11, 12). From there the minister recited the usual “Jehovah-jireh,” “the Lord will provide”—whatever your needs, God will step in right on time.

That sermon comes to my mind today as vividly as when I fi rst heard it more than four decades ago. Although it satisfi ed a felt need at the time; nevertheless, in my refl ection, something was missing or at least something special did not occupy center stage. I remember Isaac, the planned offering. I recollect a thicket-trapped ram, the prepared offering. But I do not recall Jesus Christ, the prophetic Offering. As the biblical story of Genesis 22 unfolds to me now, the high point, the apex, the zenith of the Abraham-Isaac narrative is not so much that God will provide for our daily earthly needs (as true as that may be) but rather that God will provide for us a lamb—the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, even Christ our Lord! Ellen White climaxes this touching narrative by applying it to “the mystery of redemption” and “the wonderful provision that God had made for [our] salvation.”¹

Ancient question asked

Bearing on his young obedient shoulders the wood fuel for the offering, Isaac spots in his father Abraham’s hands the knife and the fire while seeing no animal and knowing not the critical part his own body is to play in the sacrificial offering. So Isaac speaks tenderly some tough words as if reminding a forgetful dad of something he failed to pack for the journey: “Father, behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

A poignant question also for the pulpit; indeed, a veritable thorn in the side of our preaching today. Your sermons may have the fire—and that’s quite commendable. What would preaching be without the “feeling” and “emotional involvement” of the speaker? Where would preaching be without the warmth of audience participation and response as well as some rapport with the speaker? If you have the fire, don’t put it out! There is a sense in which “The science of salvation cannot be explained; but [only] known by experience.”² Ellen White further states that “Earnestness and energy are essential in presenting Bible truth, the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. . . .”³ and raises the challenge: “Shall we not show that we have some enthusiasm in His service?”⁴ Keep the fire burning!

I trust your preaching also has the wood, for that is quite vital too—the hard timber of thought, reason, and cognitive strength. When Dwight L. Moody was preaching in Britain, a woman supposedly said to him sarcastically, “Mr. Moody, the Lord can do without your ‘learning.’” To this Moody replied, “Yes, Madam, and without your ‘ignorance’ also.” Our prophetic messenger encourages us to seek to “become intelligent Christians,”⁵ that we need “an intelligent faith,”⁶ that God’s service needs “intelligent piety,”⁷ and God is best glorified by “serving Him intelligently.”⁸

I am aware of a summons to avoid overshooting our target or preaching above the people, for Jesus did say: “Feed My lambs.” But that’s the flip side of our challenge. The nature of the human condition seems to keep us faced with dualisms and two sides to every question, so let’s talk about “intelligent preaching.” George Buttrick, we are told, used to say that “church doors ought to be high enough for people to bring their heads in with them.” Have you the wood? This wood of which I now speak transcends eggheadiness that idolizes or even blocks headiness that barricades against intellectual inquiry. If you have the wood of converted intellect, by all means plane it, treat it, preserve it, and build with it!

The fact remains, moreover, that although your preaching may possess fire and wood, the central question pricking and needling your pulpit, haunting its homiletical psyche remains: “Where is the lamb?” What place does Jesus Christ occupy in your sermons?

According to some theologians and homileticians, the ideal pattern has already been set by God Himself, the first Preacher of the very first “sermon” as recorded in Genesis 3:15. Speaking directly to the serpent Satan, within earshot of Adam and Eve, God declares, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (NIV).

This invective against Satan contained at its core the promise of salvation, the “Protevangelium” or first gospel, and for our Eden parents and their progeny, a promise of the “seed” or “offspring” of the woman culminating in the atonement of our Lord at Calvary.

A key word bantered about in theological circles for decades now is kerygma, the central core message of Scripture heralded by the herald, proclaimed by the proclaimer, declared by the declarer. Someone has suggested that if you would feed the Bible into a computer programmed to summarize the one single message or golden thread running throughout Scripture, the computer would spit out the kerygma or the central golden thread of the gospel. Martin Kahler, German theologian, who had much to say about Jesus and the kerygma, understood that “A kerygma without Jesus is a verbal vacuum, and Jesus without the kerygma is a meaningless surd.”9 How does the kerygma sound? What does it look like? How is the kerygma expressed? Among early and popular expressions of kerygmatic content in Scripture is the following by Archibald Hunter:

God’s promises made to His people in the Old Testament are now fulfilled.The Long-expected Messiah, born of David’s line, has come. He is Jesus of Nazareth, who went about doing good and wrought mighty works by God’s power; was crucified according to the purpose of God; was raised by God from the dead and exalted to His right hand. He will come again in glory for judgment. Therefore let all who hear this message repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins.¹⁰

Understandably some preachers, perhaps prone toward being more doctrinaire in Bible interpretation, would probably want to expand Hunter’s gospel statement summary or kerygma to include more of your church’s particular fundamental beliefs. At any rate, our point here is that the theme of the kerygma, regardless of particular doctrinal threads, is Jesus Christ the hope of salvation.

Historical answer given

Probably no less today than earlier in our own church history, we have had no small problems with Christ-centeredpreaching and teaching. Go back to 1888, and you findlines drawn in the sand between righteousness by faith in Christ and righteousness by faithfulness to the law, trusting in Jesus or trusting in your obedience. You may recall that sanctified tempers rose to such a fever pitch until Ellen White commented that if Jesus Christ Himself had appeared on the 1888 scene, they would have literally crucified Him.¹¹ She remained constant, nevertheless, in appealing for the centrality of Christ in pulpit and practical life as when she asserted that “Faith in Christ as the sinner’s only hope has been largely left out, not only of the discourses given but of the religious experience of very many who claim to believe the third angel’s message” ¹²and, consequently, much of the preaching of that era was Christless. Later she would set forth this imperative: “Let the law take care of itself. We have been at work on the law until we get as dry as the hills of Gilboa. . . . Let us trust in the merits of Jesus. . . . May God help us that our eyes may be anointed with eyesalve, that we may see.”¹³

She received criticism for her article entitled, “Christ the Center of the Message.” She wrote,

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. By many who have been engaged in the work for this time, Christ has been made secondary, and theories and arguments have had the first place. The glory of God that was revealed to Moses in regard to the divine character has not been prominent. . . .

A veil has seemed to be before the eyes of many who have labored in the cause, so that when they presented the law, they have not had views of Jesus, and have not proclaimed the fact that, where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound. It is at the cross of Calvary that mercy and truth meet together, where righteousness and peace kiss each other. 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.¹⁴

Another inspired observation depicted a homiletic allegory in the worship offerings of Abel and his brother Cain:

Many of our ministers have merely sermonized, presenting subjects in an argumentative way, andscarcely mentioning the saving power of the Redeemer. Their testimony was destitute of the saving blood of Christ. Their offering resembled the offering of Cain. He brought to the Lord the fruit of the ground, which in itself was acceptable in God’s sight. Very good indeed was the fruit; but the virtue of the offering—the blood of the slain lamb, representing the blood of Christ—was lacking. So it is with Christless sermons. By them men are not pricked to the heart; they are not led to inquire, What must I do to be saved?¹⁵

Some historians see a connection between the decided stance of Mrs. White for Christ-centered preaching and teaching and that she was commissioned away from the American scene to Australia in 1891. She considered this a missionary assignment that she reputedly admitted to not having received definite signals from God but was simply trusting in and cooperating with the decision of the leadership. Further thinking along the line of her possibly paying a price for her Christ-centered stance surfaces when in 1892 her book, Steps to Christ, was published by F. H. Revell Company rather than by the publisher of most of her previous works. Albeit that our church has done much in recent years to focus on righteousness by faith, the battle still rages on several fronts.

Modern response declared

Quite noticeable in some of our churches these days is the liturgical practice of having the congregation recite a “profession of faith.” In the dozens of worship services I have witnessed that follow such a procedure, all but a very few limit themselves to the oral reciting of the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. . . ” Understandably, time limits during a worship service would not permit a rehearsal of all our cardinal beliefs; however, if there is time only for a line, why not “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)? If there is time only for a line, why not “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)? Confining your expression of “profession of faith” to reciting the fourth commandment might raise the optical problem of what (or whom) do you see as your Savior—the Sabbath or the Christ? Jesus longs to occupy center stage in our worship and as well as our preaching.

What do we mean by preaching Christ? Certainly it is more, infi nitely more than merely mouthing His name, glibly bearing it on the tip of our tongue, or arbitrarily connecting His name to whatever our personal convictions happen to be. One extreme example of preaching Christ, if not misusing and misapplying Christ, is a statement I heard a minister make in a sermon recently when he asked the question: “Why do we not wear lipstick? Why do we not go to the movies? Why do we not wear jewelry?” Then he followed with his point-blank answer like the crack of a whip: “Because Jesus said so, and that’s all I need to know!” He offered no biblical grounding, no quote from Christ, no logical reasoning, no persuasion but only an authoritarian pronouncement.

Of a surety, preaching Christ runs deeper than convenient name-dropping, merely attaching His name to give scaffolding to what you otherwise lack in cause to affect thinking or your inability to interpret Scripture responsibly. In such a case, you are merely bully-pulpiting. I often think you andI as preachers of the three angels’ messages would benefit from doing what I call some zero-based theologizing—starting all over at ground zero with nothing, so to speak, but Jesus Christ, then working ourselves out from Him andadding only what is absolutely necessary for a saving relationship with our Lord in the context of our time. Engaging in this kind of practical theological reflection might prove not only refreshing but also help move us closer to determining what is authentically Christian andwhat may be excess baggage. I am here challenging our traditional approach of confronting prospective converts and each other right off with “things to be believed,” a constellation of “do’s and don’ts,” rather than beginning with “Christ in whom to believe,” a saving relationship with God. Oh, yes, we will discover a way whereby He can be made the theme of a Christian lifestyle without just inadvertently and loosely attaching His name.

I would define or describe Christcentered preaching as proclaiming the Old Testament summarily as promise of the Messiah first prophesied in Genesis, while proclaiming the New Testament as fulfillment with a consciousness of the claims Jesus Christ continues to make in our personal lives.

An experience from John Killinger, my former faculty colleague in homiletics at Vanderbilt Divinity School, might be of help. Subsequent to more than a decade as professor of preaching in the rarified environment of a seminary, he decided to resign and serve a church pastorate. After ministering to several congregations over time, Killinger describes one of them as,

never in their lives having been confronted by the Spirit of Christ and made to choose whether they would give their hearts and souls to Him or go for the remainder of their earthly lives centered upon their own selfish aims and desires. Spiritual temperature of the congregation had been kept resolutely at only a little above freezing, cool enough to retard spoilage but warm enough to suggest that religion was about to become a hot issue in their lives. Even those who had experienced a meeting with Christ and begun their Christian pilgrimage with some excitement had generally lost their ardor in this damp and chilly climate.¹⁶

Killinger’s solution? In his own words,

I eventually came to the realization that almost every sermon I would preach must center on Christ and that it must be aimed at the raw conversion of their lives. I did not cease to preach sermons on prayer and the devotional life and life situation and social needs, but I would drive each sermon to a more basic level so that my hearers would be compelled (before anything else) to address Christ Himself. If I preached on ‘Prayer’, it would be ‘Christ’s Call to Prayer.’ If I preached on living sanely in an insane world, it would be on ‘Christ’s Power to Live Sanely.’ The bottom line is that something happened to me and my congregation. My church and I began to sense an extra Presence in our worship and in our relationships. The Presence was almost tangible.¹⁷

When I think of this pastoral preaching experience of Dr. Killinger and the general parallel between him andthose of us who also have traced a professional itinerary that includes classroom and pastoring, I must include no small number of us who often claim to know the last word about everything while people in our pews want to know the first thing about Jesus Christ.

Is it any wonder, then, that the apostle Paul declared to the Corinthians, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Cor. 4:5) and “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23)? Charles Spurgeon often remarked to his students, “Wherever you begin in your sermon, make tracks as fast as you can to Calvary.” Karl Barth was asked to summarize his half century of vast theological thought, and without any hesitancy he replied: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

I often recall the words of James Stewart (the famous Scottish preacher) who said, “Preach Christ today [and everyday] in the total challenge of His imperial claim. Some will be scared, some will be offended, and some will bow in homage at His feet.” Yes, “Christ is the answer,” declares Gardner C. Taylor in one of his final sermons concluding a brilliant pastoral preaching tenure at the Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York.

Where is the lamb? God will provide for Himself the lamb—the Lamb slain, offered for your sins and mine from the foundation of the world.

Where is the Lamb? I can imagine a ram, as it were, caught in the thicket of your sermon preparation, begging to point to God’s eternal Lamb. And Abraham called that place Yahweh yireh, the Lord “will see” in the sense that the Lord “will provide.” “And to this day,” says Genesis 22:14, “in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.”

God indeed provided for Himself a Lamb in the temple, mount of Jerusalem, and on Calvary’s mount. Today, in our pulpit mounts of New York and Miami, London and Johannesburg, Sydney and Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Chicago, and everywhere that God’s Word is being preached by the power of the Holy Spirit, let the Lamb be seen!