I love listening to a preacher who has studied a text in its historical and cultural context, and then can gracefully present the “breathed” Word of God in a way that exalts the text. That may be thrilling, but that should not be the goal of preaching. Excellent exegesis is not the end of preaching, but Christ is. We don’t have to allegorize to preach Christ in the Word of God, but neither should we minimize that the goal of preaching is to exalt Christ.
Preaching to the needs of man, preaching to change lives, or other such noble catch-phrases must not be the goal of Biblical preaching either. We must preach to exalt Christ, for when Christ is exalted he will draw men to him where their true needs will be met.
As a Christ-chosen preacher of the Word of God, I must not preach to change hearts (that is God’s job). I must not preach to show how great my exegesis is (but I had better exegete correctly). However, I must preach to exalt Jesus Christ; for that is the goal of sound, exegetical, Biblical preaching.
Matt,
I’m really enjoying your articles, but I have a special request. Can you post some more pictures of Carter? I’m going through withdrawals.
Love ya,
Ruth–>