Preaching the Power of the Person of Christ

If we are not personally captivated by the Triune God, our preaching will inevitably drift into instruction without encounter and exhortation without warmth. Listeners can sense whether we are speaking about doctrines or about a living Person we know and love. Scripture does not present abstract truths detached from God Himself; it reveals the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in living relationship with His people. When preaching centers on principles alone, it produces pressure. When preaching centers on the Person of Christ, it produces a response. Faithful preaching flows from real communion with God and invites others into that same living fellowship.

I’ve been pondering the issue of preaching the person. The person of Christ. The personal Triune God. If we aren’t captivated by the personal God we know, then our preaching can too easily slip into instructional education and moralistic tirades. It is the person who captivates and draws listeners. Let’s ponder a simple scale of personal encounter:

1. The Moment of Meeting

The truth is that, as humans made in the image of a relational God, we are well attuned to each encounter we have with other persons. Within seconds, we will subconsciously determine whether we like somebody. They might be a waitress, an airline check-in clerk, or a salesman. It really doesn’t take long to determine our feelings about someone we meet. And those initial feelings can take a while to be reversed by further interaction. (Incidentally, as preachers, we need to understand the power of our opening moments, those first seconds of encounter and introduction. But that is to get side-tracked.)

2. The Power of Love

Then there is the ongoing relational encounter. After the first impressions come the ongoing interaction, communication, sharing of life experiences, and so on, all building a relationship so that we go beyond liking or disliking to deeply trusting (or distrusting), to loving (or the opposite). The follow-up relational interaction can be so powerful.

(Again, to get sidetracked for a second, we mustn’t be naive about the power of inappropriate interaction with members of the opposite sex—the magnetic power of interpersonal attraction has led many to compromise everything and discover the regret of the stealing power of sin. Preachers, we are susceptible!)

Getting back on track, what am I saying with all this? Well, I can, if I’m honest, express whether I like someone after a few moments of meeting. And those whom I’ve known and developed a relationship with, mutually loving and caring and sharing life together ... these are people I can talk about at some length, with my heart showing for them.

Preach from Fellowship, Not Pressure

What does all this have to do with preaching? The second level of enthusiastic personal connection is missing with some. Even the initial encounter response is apparently absent in some preaching. It is hard to tell with some preachers if they really like God at all. What are we to say to this?

If the God in our sights is benign, our preaching will be the same. Rather than putting this in the negative, let me state this positively. Read God’s Word and get to know our personal and wonderful God. Then preach His Word. What a privilege. And when we preach the Person, our preaching won’t feel like a pressure project, but will have a captivating and gripping power beyond words!