Christ Centered Preaching

Written by Warren |Posted on December 16, 2008 | Comments

After going thru lesson 3 of Bryan Chapell’s online class, it occurred to me that a pastor’s message does not stop in the pulpit. It goes beyond that. Pastor’s message must have the ff components: Logos, Pathos, Ethos.

Logos
The word; verbal content; meaning of the word. This is what is being preached to the pew.

Pathos
Emotive content; passion; emotion. For example if the preacher is preaching on hell with a smile on his face doesn’t really make sense. Who would be happy about hell? There must be the emotion to show your sincerity in wanting to get the message across the pulpit.

Ethos
The perceived character of the speaker. Its not just the character of the preacher but the perceived character. Its how they live. What does the people think about the preacher outside the pulpit? Preachers don’t only preach behind pulpits. Their actions and lifestyles speak as well. If the preacher doesn’t show any concern to the church members, all they’re gonna get are head knowledge, morality, being legalistic.

I realized that being a pastor is not all about preaching. He needs to go beyond that. He needs to have good reputation (ethos), deep conviction (pathos), and ofcourse the words (logos) to get the message across. But above all we need the Holy Spirit to drive the nail to the head.

Bryan Chapell says that after each sermon the pew must have the ff: knowledge of the Truth and what to do about it. If they have only one of them it wouldn’t be right. If they have knowledge of the Truth, it will only lead to head knowledge. If they have action alone, it will lead to legalistic. It must be both. And that, according to Chapell, is ministry.

“because our gospel came to you not only in word (logos), but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction (pathos). You know what kind of men we proved to be among you (ethos) for your sake. ” 1 Thessalonians 1:5

So with all these components together, logos, pathos and ethos, the pastor will be able to show his sincere love towards the church.

I know some who would not do their own study that they would preach on someone else’s sermons. This action does not have the ethos. Because for the pastor to have the ethos towards the pew, he must know their concerns, their problems, their struggles, etc. I mean, isn’t that the whole point of pastoring people? But if the pastor is preaching someone else’s sermons, the pew couldn’t relate because they couldn’t find themselves in that sermon preached thus couldn’t convict them. So you can imagine them going out of the building left with no clue of what the sermon was all about to them. Where is the ministering to the church there? According to Bryan Chapell, preaching someone else’s sermons is a no-no.

I realized that Christ Centered Preaching (or Redemptive Historical preaching) is way harder than Textual Expository Preaching. It requires beyond preaching. It requires the preacher to be a pastor to the church.

Many thanks to Doc for introducing me to Bryan Chapell.