There is a perennial tension in modern Reformed preaching, particularly among Presbyterians—the tension between sermons that are merely theological lectures and those which are authentic proclamations of the gospel.

The former can be described as an information download: the minister walks the congregation through a passage of Scripture, presenting interesting textual details, theological insights, and usually concluding with a demonstration of how the text finds its fulfillment in the ministry of Jesus. The content is orthodox and Christ-centered, yet an academic tone pervades the message. Congregants leave church better informed, but little moved.

Gospel proclamation is something more than a theological lecture. While never ignoring the details of the text or the duty to instruct, in gospel proclamation the minister seeks to preach in such a way that God the Holy Spirit will use the words of the sermon not only to inform, but also to transform. Instruction is foundational, but not eschatological: having explained what the text means, gospel proclamation advances to demonstrate how it matters to the life of the hearers. 

Gospel ministers feel this challenge every time we prepare a sermon. One church planter described it to me as the tension between being “in the weeds” of the text and “taking a step back and showing people how to live the Christian life.” A few months ago, another colleague approached me with a parallel question: How do we preach evangelistically and experientially when the main focus of the text is neither explicitly evangelistic nor overtly experiential? How do we preach the fullness of the gospel’s content and its real-life connections while still “preaching the text”?

We must never ignore the details of the biblical text. Hearing our Lord’s words that every dot and iota will be fulfilled (Mt 5:18), we can draw the inference that every dot and iota matter. There are no extraneous words in the Word of God.

Yet we must also never ignore what Jesus said about the unity of the biblical message. On the road to Emmaus, our Lord told his disciples that all Scripture is ultimately about one burning question: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Lk 24:26). According to Jesus, this necessity, this divine plan to rescue sinners, forms the deep context behind the immediate context of all biblical history. 

Later that same day, Jesus said the same thing to the apostles. “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled… that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (Lk 24:44, 46-47). Behind every episode in the Bible, God has unfolded a single grand epic. 

Our Lord’s summary of the Scriptures provides two helps for differentiating between a theological lecture and gospel proclamation. First, it teaches us that ministers are called not simply to “preach the text,” but rather to “preach the gospel from the text.” If the deep context of every text is the epic of Jesus, we are not only permitted but required to move through the details of that text to its theological doctrines and gospel connections.

Our Lord’s summary also shows us the four integral components of gospel proclamation. First, there must be a disclosure of God and his goodness: who is this God who sent “the Christ,” and what is the “glory” which he designed for Christ and Christ’s people? Second, there must be honesty about humanity’s rebellious distortion of God’s design: why was it “necessary that the Christ should suffer”? Third, there must be a declaration concerning the work of Christ—especially his death and resurrection. Finally, gospel proclamation must always include activation—a call to tangible next steps in the Christian life. We offer Christ’s promises and call our hearers to respond: “repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.”

Following the above outline, we can map out four questions that every sermon should answer. Anchoring our answers in the details of the text before us, yet remembering that every text is finally framed within the single context of God’s eternal gospel plan, we ask:

1. Disclosed Good News: What does this text reveal about God — especially his goodness? What does it reveal of God’s good design, his desire, for humanity? What good obligation does it place upon us? How would it be good if we believed and obeyed God here? How is God’s way better than ours or the world’s? How is his imagination bigger than ours? What does this tell us about life in heaven and the new creation?
2. Distorted Good News: What does this text reveal about us — as creatures and/or sinners? How does our sin distort or deny the disclosed good news, God’s good plan for humanity? Why is this such a struggle — what is the why behind the what of our sin? How has sin gained power by hijacking our legitimate desires with false pictures and false promises? In reality, how does sin replace the life of heaven with foretastes of hell?
3. Accomplished Good News: How does Jesus make this text good news, the best news we’ve ever heard? How did Jesus accomplish everything we need? How did he prevail where we fail? How did he fulfill God’s good design for us in his life? How did he pay for our denials and distortions in his death? How does everything Jesus did for us transform this text from a sentence of doom to a declaration of good news? How does his person and work bring celebration to this text? How does he reveal afresh God’s goodness, show us a better fulfillment for our legitimate desires, and offer us new life?
4. Activated Good News: How does the Holy Spirit do in us what Jesus did for us? What is the big promise? Through this promise, how does Jesus captivate our imaginations and capture our affections? How will he grow the life of heaven in us today, even in this life? How should we respond to this good news? What is today’s next step in believing? How should we think, repent, obey, and pray differently? Believing Christ’s promise and relying on his Spirit, what is our next step away from selfishness and sin, and into the life of heaven?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the best news the universe has ever heard. There is therefore zero excuse for Reformed preaching to be dull or merely academic. Presbyterian preaching must never be content with sermons that are mere theological lectures. We must not simply “preach the text,” but “preach the gospel from the text”! Authentic gospel proclamation must not simply ask, “What does this text say?”—but go on to ask, “How is this text good news for us today?”