Preaching Christ Alone (pt. 4)

Here is the last of my reflections on Michael Horton's article Preaching Christ Alone, where he lists four problems with preaching today: Moralism, Verse-By-Verse Exposition, Carelessness, and (the topic of this post) The "Christ And..." Syndrome. He writes:

Today, we see this in terms of Christ and America; Christ and Self-Esteem; Christ and Prosperity; Christ and the Republican or Democratic Party; Christ and End-Time Predictions; Christ and Healing; Christ and Marketing and Church Growth; Christ and Traditional Values, and on we could go, until Christ himself becomes little more than an appendage to a religion that can, after all, get on quite well without him. That is not, of course, to say that the evangelical enterprise could do this without some difficulty. After all, every movement needs a mascot. We say we are Christ-centered, but what was the sermon about last Sunday?

How do we slip into a "Christ And..." mentality?
I was listening to a talk by Tim Keller on my iPod today, and he made a terrific point. He contrasted "Religion" and "Gospel" like this:

Religion says... "I obey, therefore I am accepted by God."
Gospel says... "I am accepted by God, therefore I obey."

The default tendency of the human heart is to follow Religion instead of Gospel. We want to work for God's approval. We want to try just a little bit harder so we will be a little more blessed. We can know we are saved by faith alone, but then not live like this is true. Jesus is our Saviour at conversion, but then our own efforts become our new substitute Saviour afterwards. We can embrace a "Christ And..." outlook on life without even realizing it.

What is the antidote to a "Christ And..." mentality?
Go back to the cross. As Horton says: "If the pulpit is not committed to this utter centrality of the Cross [emphasis mine], then our preaching, however, brilliant, is doomed to sterility and failure."

If a sermon is going to have any real life-giving power--the kind of power that comes from Gospel instead of Religion--then we have to preach the cross. The message of the Gospel is that Jesus paid it all, and there's nothing more we can add. Nothing else we can do to earn God's approval. Any obedience, any fruit needs to flow from a love and appreciation of what Jesus has already done.