Paul's Pattern for Preaching: Christ-Centered Preaching Series 3 of 6
By Larry Kirk
John Stott once observed that the secret of effective preaching is not mastering techniques but being mastered by convictions. That insight goes to the heart of Christ-centered preaching. The most important question is not how to preach Christ-centered sermons, but whether we are deeply convinced that this is what faithful preaching must do.
There is no shortage of advice today on how to do Christ-centered preaching. But the single most important issue is not technique—it is conviction. When it becomes a settled conviction that preaching must both turn up the music of the gospel and call the dance of obedience, the methods tend to follow.
This is why the analogy matters. If preachers are convinced that God’s grace in Christ must always be proclaimed and that obedience must be called forth faithfully, they will find ways to do both. Technique flows from conviction.
To deepen this conviction and to see what Christ-centered preaching looks like in practice, we can turn to one of the greatest church planters and pastors in history: the apostle Paul. Few books display his preaching pattern more clearly—or more beautifully—than the book of Ephesians.
The Music: The Riches of God’s Grace (Ephesians 1–3)
Ephesians divides naturally into two halves. Chapters 1–3 proclaim the riches of God’s grace in Christ. Chapters 4–6 show how that grace reshapes every part of life. Paul does not blur these together. He establishes the music before he ever calls the dance.
In Ephesians 1, Paul begins not with commands but with praise. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” sets the entire letter in the context of worship. What follows is a breathtaking catalogue of grace:
God chose us before the foundation of the world
He predestined us for adoption
In Christ we have redemption through his blood
Our sins are forgiven according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us
We have an inheritance
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of our redemption
The result is doxology and prayer. Paul ends the chapter praying that believers would grasp the power now at work within them.
Ephesians 2 presses even deeper into grace. Paul reminds us who we once were: dead in sin, following the course of this world, children of wrath. Then come two of the most powerful words in Scripture: “But God.” God, rich in mercy, because of his great love, made us alive together with Christ. By grace we are saved.
Later in the chapter, Paul shows that this grace reconciles us not only to God but to one another. Those who were once strangers are now members of God’s household. The dividing wall has been torn down, and Christ himself is the cornerstone.
In Ephesians 3, Paul celebrates the inclusion of the Gentiles in this gracious plan and declares the astonishing result: because of Christ, we now approach God with freedom, confidence, and boldness.
Here is a striking observation: in the first three chapters of Ephesians, there is essentially one imperative—to remember who we were before grace. For three chapters, Paul turns up the music.
The Hinge: A Prayer for Power and Love (Ephesians 3:14–21)
Before moving to commands, Paul pauses to pray. This prayer is the hinge of the entire letter.
He prays that believers would be strengthened with power through the Spirit in their inner being, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. This is not about whether Christ indwells believers—Paul has already affirmed that reality. Rather, he is praying for an experiential, lived awareness of Christ’s presence through active faith.
Paul prays that believers would be rooted and established in love—using images from agriculture and architecture—and that they would grasp the vast dimensions of Christ’s love: its width, length, height, and depth. This is not mere intellectual knowledge but a lived, transforming knowledge that fills us with the fullness of God.
Only then does Paul move to the imperatives.
The Dance: A Life Shaped by the Gospel (Ephesians 4–6)
Ephesians 4 begins with the turning point: “Therefore, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” “Worthy” does not mean earning God’s favor; it means living in a way that fits the grace already given.
Suddenly, imperatives abound.
Paul calls believers to humility, gentleness, patience, and unity. He urges them to speak the truth in love, to put off the old self and put on the new, to be angry without sinning, to stop stealing and start working, to use words that build up rather than tear down.
He addresses bitterness, slander, forgiveness, sexual purity, speech, time management, and substance abuse. He speaks to marriages, families, workplaces, and spiritual warfare. Children are told to obey, parents to nurture, believers to put on the armor of God and pray always.
As Sinclair Ferguson once observed, the gospel in Ephesians is like white light passing through a prism, refracted into every color of life. Nothing is untouched.
Paul does not weaken the call to obedience. The aim is nothing less than full obedience—100 percent, from the inside out, all of life, all the time. But the obedience flows from grace. The God who choreographs the dance also composes the music that empowers it.
Why This Pattern Matters for Preaching
Paul’s pattern teaches us something essential about Christ-centered preaching. Preaching the gospel does not diminish the importance of commands. It establishes the only foundation on which obedience can flourish.
We cannot dance well unless we are listening to the music. When preaching calls people to obedience without first immersing them in grace, it produces guilt, fear, or moralism. When preaching turns up the music without ever calling the dance, it produces passivity. Paul gives us neither option.
Faithful preaching follows his pattern: proclaim Christ, exalt grace, pray for the Spirit’s power, and then call God’s people to live lives worthy of the calling they have already received.
That is Paul’s pattern for preaching—and it remains a model for every preacher who longs to see the gospel transform real lives.