Help on Preaching Christ from the Bible
Some books and other recommended resources
To preach the Bible faithfully the preacher must proclaim the goodness of God in Christ Jesus the Son. The Bible’s message is the good news so preaching it should always be preaching goodness. And goodness is not an abstract reality. Instead, goodness is the apex of God’s glory (Exodus 33:18-19) and all goodness that exists is only good by its relationship and connection to the God. One must preach Jesus Christ if one is to preach God’s goodness because God’s goodness only comes to us in Jesus Christ and never apart from him (Colossians 1:15-20).
So how do you preach in a way that legitimately connects to Jesus Christ and faithfully proclaims the goodness of God in Jesus Christ?
That is a bigger question than I will take time to write out today. But I saw a video today with some book recommendations that inspired me to write a blog post with some recommended books on connecting the Bible and the lessons/sermons learned from the Bible to Jesus Christ legitimately and in a way that edifies the soul.
Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldsworthy. Not only does he lay out a biblical theology of preaching, he shows how biblical theology is both Christ-centered and how to preach the Bible connected to Jesus Christ. One should also check out his books According to Plan to understand how he puts the whole Bible together (his biblical theology explained), Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics and Christ-centered Biblical Theology. The kids version distillation of this biblical theology by David Helm’s The Big Picture Story Bible does a masterful job communicating this theology for kids.
D. A. Carson’s lectures on preaching at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors really shifted my thinking.
Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell. His teaching “fallen condition focus” helps frame preaching and the Bible theologically in the way it connects to humans today through Jesus Christ.
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament by Sydney Greidanus gives 6 ways of connecting the OT to Christ and his list differs a bit from David King’s.
Your Old Testament Sermon Needs to Get Saved by David King. This is a handbook that goes through 6 legitimate ways of connecting an Old Testament to Jesus Christ.
Expository Exultation by John Piper, focus especially on chapters 15, 16, and 20. John Piper shows a theological framework for preaching Christ. He also seeks to correct some errors in preaching Christ in every sermon.
Preaching by Tim Keller. Tim Keller is a master at pointing to Jesus and most of his book shares his reflections on this. You can also see Tim Keller’s course with Edmund Clowney called “Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World“ and his section on preaching Christ in his book, Center Church.
Preaching and Biblical Theology by Edmund Clowney.