Christless Christianity

The original date on this post was June 6, 2007. After enjoying sweet communion with Jesus Christ yesterday, I wanted to push this back out today.

Have you ever been in love? If you have, you know what it is like to desire to be in the presence of your lover. You delight to hear and speak his name, to feel his embrace and just be in his presence, to know his thoughts and desires. I feel this way about my husband, Johnny. I also feel this way about Jesus, the bridegroom of the church. I desire to know Him, to be with Him… especially on the Lord’s Day. Recently, Johnny and I searched the city looking for a good church. Most churches we visited, could be crossed off the list after only one visit. We found one very straight-forward worship element to look for in the Lord’s Day worship service. Do they practice corporate confession of sin? A few churches we visited did have corporate confession of sin once in a while. Of all the churches we visited, the church we decided on was the only church that confesses sin every Lord’s Day. Another sign of a good church is if the minister preaches Christ and His finished work on the cross. This might seem like an obvious thing to look for in a church, but we found that it is not the norm, even in reformed churches.

We gather on the Lord’s Day to worship Jesus. I desire to hear about Jesus and His finished work… not just about God, generically. God has come in the flesh and His name is Jesus. Do I need the gospel every week? I think I need to hear the gospel every day. If I do not read it, or hear it, I must preach it to myself. I need the hope of the gospel. How sweet it is to hear again and again what Jesus has done for me. If you have no taste for Jesus, I wonder if you ever tasted Jesus? If your favorite food is placed in front of you, do you not desire it? I do need to know what the Bible says about being a godly wife, a good neighbor, etc. But, that should not be the focus of the Lord’s Day service. I write this post because I just finished listening to the current White Horse Inn broadcast titled Christless Christianity. If you haven’t subscribed to the White Horse Inn podcast, this is the time. This is a great round table discussion. You can subscribe to the podcast or download or stream the current episode at this LINK.

It occurs to me that someone might object by saying that there are more topics in the Bible that I need to hear about besides Jesus. But, the finished work of Jesus is the theme of the entire Bible, Old and New Testaments. Concerning all wisdom and knowledge…

from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:36 (ESV)

And, Jesus affirms that the Old Testament testifies about Him.

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they [the Scriptures] that bear witness about me. John 5:39 (ESV)

Every topic in the Bible should be viewed in light of the finished work of Jesus. It is really all about Jesus.
One more thing… I jotted down the following sermon diagnostic tool while listening to Todd Wilkin, the host of Issues, Etc.

As you listen to the sermon, take out a pen and jot down a few notes.
1. How often is Jesus mentioned?
2. Is He the subject of the verbs? Is He the One Who is doing the doing, is the preacher telling you about what Jesus has done for you or is the preacher telling you about what you’ve done or should do for Jesus? Who’s running the verbs? Who’s doing the action?
3. What are those verbs?
4.Then, step back and ask the question, what did the preacher diagnose as my problem? And, then what solution did he give for that? What remedy or prescription for the problem?

Todd regularly plays a sermon stopping it occasionally to discuss how it meets or fails to meet the primary criteria of a good sermon… is the sermon Christ centered, cross focused? A talk about “how to” can be given in other settings. We meet on the Lord’s Day to worship Jesus. Is the sermon about Jesus? If you would like to hear the example sermon that I took the above notes from, you can find it at this LINK. Scroll down to Monday, May 14, 2007. In hour one, “The Goodness of God’s Law,” you can fast forward about half way through the hour to hear the diagnostic I quoted above. Then, Todd plays a sermon and applies the diagnostic. Sadly, this one is D. James Kennedy’s Mother’s Day sermon and though Dr. Kennedy does preach the gospel on other Sundays, Christ is almost nonexistent in this sermon.

Related Posts:
More Christless Christianity
What Is the Gospel?
What Do You Do With Your Guilt?