Christ-centered Preaching: Remembering A Modern Classic
Preaching is a task (and privilege) that can always be improved upon. Homiletics professors can help with this. Listening critically to audio of our sermons, as painful as this can be, is often useful. Even wives are among preachers’ most helpful critics. Yet we can also benefit by reading and reflecting on the counsel of reliable theologians and homileticians.
Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching and John Stott’s Between Two Worlds are among the most widely-read and influential books on Christian preaching. As both have now been in print approximately 20 and 30 years, respectively, we can safely think of them as “modern classics.” This week on the Forum, I’d like to offer readers reviews of each these important texts on the subject of preaching.
Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon (Baker, 2005) is regarded by many pastors and seminary professors as one of the premier texts on expository preaching. Bryan Chapell is not only a gifted speaker, but also a distinguished professor of preaching who now serves as Chancellor of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. His book was originally published in 1994, but because of necessary updates and continued popularity, Baker released a revised and extended second edition in 2005.
Summary
The book’s title and subtitle let us know that it is all about developing Christ-centered, expository sermons. Chapell puts forth his purpose this way: “By exploring how this gospel of redemption pervades all of Scripture, this book also establishes theological principles for redeeming the expository sermon from the well-intended but ill-conceived legalism that characterizes too much of evangelical preaching” (20).
The book is divided intro three major sections: principles for expository preaching, preparation of expository sermons, and a theology of Christ-centered messages. This first section predominately lays the groundwork for the rest of the book, which includes Chapell’s definition of an expository sermon:
An expository sermon may be defined as a message whose structure and though are derived from a biblical text, that covers the scope of the text, and that explains the features and context of the text in order to disclose the enduring principles for faithful thinking, living, and worship intended by the Spirit, who inspired the text (31).
One would be hard-pressed to find a more thorough definition than Chapell’s.
This first major section also provides some of the basic elements of sermon development. This includes unity in the sermon structure, the Fallen Condition Focus, the amount of text to be chosen, and the weighty emphasis on application. The most significant (and original) part of this section is Chapell’s employment of what he calls the “Fallen Condition Focus” (FCF). The FCF essentially pinpoints what fallen aspect of humanity that an individual author is addressing that is in need of redemption. This unique element of Chapell’s approach permeates the rest of the book.
Next, Chapell addresses the preparation of expository sermons. This is the meat of his work. By meat, I mean that this section of the book contains the most technical assessment and instruction on the development of expository sermons. This includes exegetical principles, exegetical and homiletical outline development, introductions, conclusions, transitions, illustration and application. To help the reader understand along the way, Chapell provides charts and sample sermons as concrete examples of the principles he is promoting. He also weaves the necessity of the FCF into nearly every element of the sermon development. These two things (charts/samples and the FCF) make this somewhat complex section more cohesive.
Finally, Chapell zeroes in on a theology of Christ-Center preaching. He lays a clear, theological foundation for why every expository sermon must be set within the context of Christ’s redemptive work and how it addresses a given theme or fallen condition. Then, Chapell provides several principles on how to actually accomplish this is a given sermon. Chapell firmly believes that all of Christian Scripture ought to be understood in relation to Jesus Christ. But he also explains that he arrived at this conviction from his own experience of moralistic preaching that was devoid of the grace found in Christ (316). This led many in his congregation to either despair or moralism. It is only when believers realize that they are accepted in Christ that they are truly free to worship Him out of love and honor rather than their own acceptance. Christ-centered preaching helps believers do this.
Critical Evaluation
This has to be one of the most thorough books on this topic. While Chapell does not always possess the clarity and style of writing that someone like Haddon Robinson does, he successfully addresses almost every imaginable detail of the development and delivery of expository sermons.
Yet thoroughness is not the most significant contribution that Chapell makes to the field. His most significant contribution is, again, the FCF. It is hard to imagine any other element of sermon preparation that proves to be more useful than this. For Chapell, the FCF permeates every aspect of the sermon development. From exegesis to outlining and introduction to conclusion, this unique focus directly informs how the preacher understands the text, as well as how he preaches it to his congregation. This is not some shtick that Chapell has developed to add uniqueness to his work. In the preface to the second edition he explains, “I have taken greater pains to indicate that the reason all Scripture has a Fallen Condition Focus (FCF) is so that it can expose God’s redemptive purposes for his people in order to magnify his glory” (14).
Personally, the FCF has added an element to my understanding of Scripture and biblical preaching that I believe will revolutionize both the way that I study the Bible and the way I present it to my local church. It is illuminating to come to every text and ask, “What sin is it that God is addressing in His people’s lives through this particular author?” Then, once that question is answered, it is much easier to think how any particular passage might directly address your congregation. In other words, the FCF immediately provides the angle from which you will preach the sermon, and it also assures the preacher that he is being faithful to the author’s original intent.
His addition of the FCF to the sermon development process directly leads to his emphasis on the necessity of a sermon being Christ-centered. Chapell develops this material well in a rather short amount of space. (This is such a short amount of space that it almost appears to be an addition to the book.) He provides many ways for a preacher to preach Christ in his sermon. Sometimes this directly involves typology, but in many cases Christ-centered preaching reveals how Christ is the solution to the text’s FCF. Chapell puts it this way, “Christ-centered preaching rightly understood does not seek to discover where Christ is mentioned in every text but to disclose where every text stands in relation to Christ” (279). This is such a strong point in Chapell’s argument for Christ-centered preaching. As he explains:
A passage retains its Christocentric focus and a sermon becomes Christ-centered not because a preacher finds a slick way of wedging a reference to Jesus’ person or work into a message but because the sermon identifies a function that the text legitimately serves in the great drama of the Son’s crusade against the serpent (301).
The Christ-centered sermon is not a magic trick, and it is not a moralistic or antinomian address. The Christ-centered sermon shows how Christ is the solution to mankind’s fallen condition. Chapell’s contribution here is dynamic.
Having complimented Chapell, this book could have been a bit shorter. The development of his argument is sometimes redundant in a way that goes beyond simple restatement for clarity, and enters into the realm of monotony. He constantly encourages being ruthless in cutting out excess material in preaching, yet this book could have used some of that. While this does add a certain level of thoroughness to the book, it loses some of its impact because of its length. Haddon Robinson’s Biblical Preaching is a good example of addressing the subject thoroughly in a much more enjoyable (and shorter) format. As Chapell himself puts it, “Share the fruit, not the sweat, of your exegetical labor” (124).
Conclusion
There is no doubt that this book ought to be read by every evangelical preacher. Whether one is new to preaching or just needs to be reminded of some fundamentals, Chapell provides everything that a preacher needs to develop and deliver God-honoring and Christ-exalting sermons. Christ truly is the answer to every human problem. Preachers need to be reminded of this at times so that their preaching does not drift into abstraction or moralism. After all, the Gospel really is good news, and Chapell helps us reclaim that perspective.
On Wednesday, I will post a review of John Stott’s classic, Between Two Worlds.
September 30, 2013
Jesse, great to see you review this book here. I read the pre-pub copy in Chapell’s homiletics class 20 years ago now. The FCF has stuck with me all these years, although I prefer to think of it more optimistically as the RF, the redemptive focus. I’ve also found it helpful to broaden the focus to “What brokenness does this text address?” Sometimes the brokenness is a result of our own sin; sometimes it’s the result of others’ sin. Either way, the brokenness can be redeemed by Christ. Thanks for the review!
October 1, 2013
Kevin,
Thank you for this helpful clarification. It is a perspective that I should have done a better job at emphasizing in the review. I think you are saying the same thing as Chapell, but simply expressing it in a potentially more compassionate (or at least nuanced) way.
Thanks again for the comment.
October 1, 2013
No, I thought it was a great summary, and I agree that we’re essentially saying the same thing. Calling it an RF just helps me to remember that the sermon isn’t about calling out the sin, but offering grace and redemption. And I actually meant it as a compliment to Dr. Chappell that I still occasionally use that rubric after all these years. Keep up the good work!
October 2, 2013
I definitely see how that perspective would be helpful for balance. I think the FCF (or RF) will likely continue to shape my preaching in the future.
Thanks for your readership and insights, Kevin.