Sermon Pointers
T. David Gordon on Preaching as Spiritual Cartography
Conscientious preachers have long wrestled with the question of homiletical relevance: how to make Christian proclamation “relevant” to their hearers. Ordinarily, wrestling with the question of relevance is understood to be a homiletical activity; I believe that it is also a theological activity, not merely a homiletical one.
That is to say, the question—how the redemptive work of God is relevant to hearers of that redemptive work—is not merely a rhetorical one. It is not merely a question of how we gain the interest or attention of our hearers to our message. Yes, we preachers are responsible to preach “in a language understanded by the people”—as the Lord did, in terms of a general knowledge and understanding of his audience. But beyond this, there is a theological question of the substance or content of the proclamation itself. The preacher is not so much responsible to learn from his hearers “where they are” as he is responsible to declare to his hearers “where they are,” and indeed to correct their misapprehensions of that matter.
Under Judgment & Curse
To borrow language from the Lutheran tradition, the preacher declares both law and gospel. “Where they are” is this: Our hearers are law-breaking rebels who have revolted against the majesty of God (both in Adam and in themselves), and who therefore justly have fallen under his judgment and curse. This judgment and curse are not merely the source of the other “where they are” circumstances; they are those circumstances.
People may indeed be lonely, because of Genesis 3; they may be depressed; they may be dysfunctional; they may be neurotic, or anxious, or a host of other things. But none of these things constitutes “where they are.” Where they are is under God’s judgment and curse: “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13). Our universal circumstance is this: We must give an account to God. Outside of Christ, we, like Adam and Eve, are “naked and exposed” to God’s all-perceiving sight; only in Christ are we clothed with a redemptive covering.
Apostolic preaching did not discern “where they are”; apostolic preaching declared “where they are.” Further, “where they are” was not individually considered, but corporately considered. The apostles did not attempt to discern the particular “where they are” of each individual, but the general or corporate “where they are” of the entire race.
Peter, for instance, twice proclaimed at the inaugural apostolic moment, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36; cf. 4:10). He did not ask his hearers: “Do you feel like you crucified Jesus?” He declared to his hearers what they were likely astonished to hear—that they were responsible for the crucifixion of Christ.
Paul, similarly, did not ask the Romans, or survey the Romans, to discover whether they regarded themselves as God-seekers or good; he declared to them, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Rom. 3:10–12).
Diagnosis & Cure
T. David Gordon is Professor of Religion and Greek at Grove City College. His notes on John’s Gospel appear in the New Geneva Study Bible and the Reformation Study Bible, and his articles have appeared in New Testament Studies, Journal for the Evangelical Theological Society, Modern Reformation, and other periodicals. He, his wife, and their two daughters live in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and attend Grace Anglican Fellowship in nearby Slippery Rock.
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