Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon

If I must have one book on preaching on my bookshelf, this is it. It is a tour de force that offers much more than its title suggests. While the book's focus is helping pastors deliver better sermons, it also functions as an superb book on hermeneutics. A significant portion of the book is devoted to helping pastors understand and interpret Bible passages . . . and the bridge to non-pastors understanding/interpreting Scripture is short. In particular, this book takes the insights of biblical theology and applies them in practical terms to understanding Bible texts. The book makes the most compelling case I have ever read for "redemptive hermeneutics," or making sure that we interpret Bible passages in their overall redemptive context. This is why the book is also useful to non-pastors: it helps you read Bible passages with a whole-Bible mentality (which is of necessity a redemptive and salvific mentality). When our church's School of Theology taught a class on basic Bible heremeneutics for non-pastors, we used three chapters from this book. Thankfully, Chappell is deeply concerned about the necessity of practical application . . . both as an author when writing this book and as he instructs preachers. The prose is easy to understand and non-technical. It provides many practical suggestions.

The title says it all: Christ-Centered preaching! We live in the age of attention-deficit congregations who are incredibly short sighted and want things in sound bites and to be readily digestible. On the other hand, there are still congregations that hunger for preachers who deliver more substantive sermons. Lost in this culture even amongst many conservative Christian congregations is the value of the expository sermon, which really delves into the Word of God. Chapell makes a case for the value of the expository sermon. Moreover he shows how to effectively deliver expository sermons. He shows how we can learn from the great expositors of the past. He addresses the need for Christ-centered preaching, effective delivery, and he soundly explains components of exposition and offers techniques for effective illustration. He offers some poignant advice on delivery, dress and style, which is important to connecting with the congregation. His exhortation is gentle and understanding, but he reminds the pastor not to lose sight of the Cross or fall into familiar traps of trying to humor the congregation as a constant comedian least the efficacy of one's Gospel message get lost in a sea of worldliness and pride. Chapell really hits the point home that Christ-centered preaching is vitally requisite to the efficacy and power of a speaker's Gospel message. He devotes whole chapters to developing redemptive sermons and taking a redemptive approach to preaching. Looking at notes is not off limits, but eye contact is vital to exhibiting knowledge and preparation and ultimately in effectively communicating the message to a congregation. Finally, he reminds the evangelist or pastor that the efficacy of one's preaching ultimately lies in much contemplation-seeking God through prayer and supplication-and a humble commitment to the Word of God. If we boast in anything we should boast in the Cross! This book was extraordinarily helpful in preparation for my first sermon this past June and I chose a more substantive expository sermon than a simple topical sermon to kick off my debut, and this book was most helpful in preparation, structuring and planing. Soli Deo Gloria!

Bryan Chapell, president of Covenant Seminary, is to be congratulated for this excellent book. It is a book that has had a positive impact on evangelical preaching in general, and Reformed preaching in particular. It is warm, exhaustive, practical, and predominately Biblical. It is an important achievement within the arena of practical theology and homiletics, which tends to be a field dominated by books that either argue that preaching is a relic that should be abandoned, or are mainly emotional/hysterical exhortations to revitalize preaching with little practical application.In my view, no seminary student preparing for a preaching ministry should be without this book - nor should even seasoned pastors who are open to good homiletical teaching. It is a book that is truly exhaustive, making it a wonderful resource that can be referred to over and over again. To some readers, the exhaustive nature of the book might be intimidating and might scare someone who does not yet have an appreciation for how much of an art and skill good preaching really is. But in this book are a myriad of tools that have the potential to make otherwise good preachers much better, and to have their messages be truly life transforming.Chapell spends time focusing on the character of the preacher and the necessity of the preacher to rely on the Holy Spirit and not himself - a statement that is obvious but often ignored to the detriment of the preacher and his flock. Chapell also spends a good bit of time discussing the mechanics of preaching, from preparing a sermon, to things as down to earth as preacher posture and sanctuary acoustics. It is here that Chapell drives home a number of his chief points - exegetical sermons are great and shouldn't be discarded, and that exegetical sermons are at their best when a good portion, maybe a third, of the sermon is devoted to application. Chapell also gives the reader an inside look at the weekly routine of a preacher in terms of sermon preparation - what he does, how he does it, what references or sources does he use, how does he organize his thoughts, etc. Extremely informative, and again, something that can be referred to repeatedly for years.Chapell, consistent with his 'Christ-Centered Preaching' book title, strongly advances the view that preaching should be redemptive in character, with Jesus Christ as the climactic focus of the entire Bible. It is here that Chapell gets into some trouble, but not severely. His assertion that Jesus Christ can and should be legitimately brought into any sermon preached from any passage of Scripture is a bit suspect, because contrary to the wishes of the Biblical Theology people, this approach puts the Bible into a systemic grid and flattens it every bit as much as a systematic approach to theology or homiletics - it's just a different kind of system. So while the redemptive historical approach to preaching is good and helpful on balance, the discerning reader will recognize that

While Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Preaching and Preachers is more comprehensive and is unsurpassed in addressing the life of the preacher, this is the best book on the actual preparation and delivery of sermons that I've read yet. Chapell takes preachers step by step through the process of preparing expository sermons which are faithful to the text, redemptive in focus, and application-oriented in style. His emphasis and teaching on finding their fallen redemptive focus of every text will help preachers keep the sermons redemptive and Christ-centered, rather than moralistic, legalistic, and discouraging. The balance Chapell suggests between explanation, illustration, and application is something more expositors need to heed. The book is well-written, well-documented (interacting well with most of the other material out there on preaching), and easy-to-apply. I cannot overstate how helpful this book has been for me. I recommend it very, very highly.

This is the most comprehensive book on preaching I have ever read and without a doubt one of the very best. Chapell presents the reader with a thorough analysis of the preparation, development and delivery of expository sermons. Chapell not only tells the reader what to do, he shows him. For instance, the author will not only tell how to write a sermon introduction, he gives several excellent example of good and bad introductions and then explains the strength and weaknesses of both. Chapell persuasively makes the case that a sermon is much more than imparting biblical information. He succinctly states, "no application, no sermon." I also appreciate that he addresses the issue of pastoral authority. All the sermon preparation in the world will do little good if the pastor does not speak with the authority that God has given him. The author does not try so squeeze the reader into a particular method of sermon preparation, he outlines the necessary steps and then allows the reader to develop his own particular style So much information was packed into so few pages that I found it very difficult to read this book fast. It took me longer to read it than it id Duduit's Contemporary Preaching that is nearly twice its length. There were two faults I found this book. I was a little confused with the terms. The FCF (Fallen Condition Focus) was a new concept for me. I had trouble separating it my mind from the sermon proposition. Second, his advice on preaching one's doubts needs to be addressed with more clarity. He wants preachers to have a genuine style, but he fails to caution us as H.W. Robinson does on the dangers of preaching your unresolved doubts and conflicts. This book gave me confidence to develop my sermons first and then look in the commentaries after the message is outlined. It also helped me with the most elementary, but needed advice- that I need to read, read, and reread the text. Nothing will help one develop a sermon more than knowing what the text says. I appreciate his 3:00 a.m. test, that is, if someone woke you up at 3:00 a.m. and asked you what your sermon was about could you respond with a single sentence? How sad it is that for many years I preached sermons with no real focus. Speaking of focus, Chapell explained the difference between biblical preaching and Christ-centered preaching. Sometimes people would complain that I wasn't peach Christ even though I was preaching "biblical sermons." Now I know why. Every sermon on marriage, family, etc. must end at the cross.Yes, yes, yes. This is truly a great book, one of the few books I feel compelled to read again. It is a treasure chest of practical information for the preparation and delivery of sermons.