Geocentric Vs. Heliocentric Preaching

If you grew up as a Christian in a doctrinally sound church, you’ve likely heard that the entire Bible points to Christ. Hopefully, all believers, and especially teachers and preachers, would affirm that statement. Christ is evident from Genesis 1 as Creator to Revelation 22 as Eternal King.

Yet this is much harder to put into practice than it is to say. Especially with teachers and preachers, but with all believers as well, we must see and show Christ in the Scriptures. In this article, I will address teachers and preachers, but please keep reading if you are not one of the above. These principles apply to you as you read and study the Bible, and you should have a serious conversation with your pastor or stop listening to a teacher if he is failing to preach Christ in all of the Bible.

Geocentric Preaching

I have used the terms “Geocentric Preaching” and “Heliocentric Preaching” because of their references to views of our galaxy. Up until the sixteenth century, most astronomers believed that our galaxy revolved around the earth. In preaching and teaching, we can sometimes see this view in action. Preachers, rather than having their sermon revolve around the Son (get the pun?) have their sermon revolve around earthly wisdom.

Now, is earthly wisdom inherently bad? Yes and no. Yes, in that it comes from people, and people are inherently sinful. No, in that we can still get good things from it since people are made in the image of God, and so while that image is twisted, we can still be like Him in certain ways.

“What is earthly wisdom,” you might ask. Earthly wisdom is wisdom that keeps its focus on things in this world, with no focus on eternity or on Christ. Now, you may object and say, “My pastor has a call for salvation at the end of every sermon. Surely he can’t be teaching worldly wisdom!” However, sermons of substance don’t save the Jesus for the last two minutes. Earthly sermons give advice on how to live, but they don’t really get past a TED Talk.

Earthly sermons can even include Jesus throughout the whole sermon, but fail to show Him faithfully. I’ve heard this once in a sermon: “Your relationship with Jesus must be the most important thing in your life.” This is patently wrong! Your relationship with Jesus is your life, not one part of it! “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked . . . but God . . . made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-2, 4-5 ESV).” Jesus doesn’t make your life better. He becomes your life.

Heliocentric Preaching

So that leaves us with Heliocentric Preaching, preaching and teaching focused on the Son. This preaching focuses on Christ, the Christ revealed to us in the Bible. Heliocentric Preaching faithfully shows the glory and beauty of Jesus, and how He is sovereign over us. Heliocentric Preaching shows that Jesus is our life, and that we must be willing to hate everything else in the world to keep Christ (see Luke 14:26).

Sometimes, Heliocentric sermons may never even mention Jesus. Think of sermons going through Isaiah. A faithful preacher shows the depravity of Israel on their own, and he shows their inability to worship rightly without faith. In doing this, he is laying the groundwork for a proper view of Christ, who enables us to worship rightly and frees us from our sin.

As you read and study through God’s Word, don’t come away from it viewing it as a book of good morals. God’s Word does shows us how to live, but we can only rightly live in Christ and Christ alone. Today, open God’s Word and see Christ, from Genesis to Revelation.