The Priority of the Gospel

I am slowly and sporadically trying to make good on my promise to elaborate on (though not fully) the "principles of pastoral ministry" I outlined some time ago. Tonight I comment on the priority of the gospel.

There are many ways to preach the Bible. There is, however, only way to biblically preach the Bible. That way is the Gospel-centered way. This was the way of Jesus our Lord, who from beginning to end made the good news of salvation his sermons’ theme. This was the way of the apostles, too, who from first to last centered on Christ- His person and work- and showed how this message was the only hope of the world and the joy and strength of every believer. No matter their text or context, the Gospel was of first importance to them. And we could go on: the great men of church history from the Fathers through to the present- all who were most faithful from the pulpit uttered forth the old, old story.

We today must not give up on the great saga of salvation. We must not give in to mere moralizing or simplistic principalizing in our preaching, having the appearance of being biblical, but falling short thereof. Neither must we give in to that oh-so-common error of suggesting that the New Testament portion of Scripture speaks of gospel while the Old Testament portion is silent on this matter, as if the Law depicted none at all Christ’s glory and the prophets sang forth nothing of the good news. And again, let us not err in giving men and women the impression that they may begin with the Gospel, but afterwards must go on to the "deeper things." No, let us be Gospel-centered, from beginning to end, from Old Testament to New, from new birth to glory. In this does our stewardship chiefly consist.