Earlier this morning, I reviewed my notes on the astounding book God Is The Gospel by John Piper (Crossway, 2005). What this book posits is, for me at least, both revolutionary and yet obvious. I can’t believe I’ve missed these truths before. Piper suggests that the whole point of the gospel (the “good news”) is God. He asks the cutting question, “Would you be happy in heaven if God were not there?”, and then goes about proving that the whole point of the gospel is that we might see and savor the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. As usual, Piper’s single-minded focus on the glory of God (and finding our ultimate pleasure therein) is refreshing, challenging, and invigorating. Reading Piper is for the soul like a brisk morning swim in a cold river for the body.

As I was setting up for work in my office, I got to thinking about an article I re-read yesterday in Leadership Journal. The Leadership Journal team interviewed Craig Gross, the “porn pastor” who has gotten a lot of attention for his concerted efforts to reach out to those in the pornography industry with the message of the gospel. A significant part of his ministry is working with churches to try to bring about more openness on the issue of sexual sin and pornography. Gross was asked whether or not it was working, and responded that yes, it was, but many pastors were still uncomfortable addressing it. He said, “Not to knock sermons about the end times, but porn is killing people in our churches. We’ve got to talk about it.” I couldn’t agree more. Biblical literacy and education are important. But not nearly as important as openly discussing the sin that is killing our churches.

Gross is currently conducting ministry on the Strip in Las Vegas—without a doubt one of the most temptation-filled, sinful places in the country. But he points out that with the ubiquitious nature of the internet and the abundance of porn and sin on it, Sin City is now in almost every home, business, and even the pockets of those with cellphones. Our ministry mindset must change. Parents must change their perspective—it seems to me most parents (especially mothers) are in denial or ignorance of their teenage sons’ struggles with lust, porn, and addiction. It is a rampant infection in our churches, and is destroying our effectiveness for the Kingdom.

This morning I put these two thoughts together: The need to openly discuss the sin that is secretly destroying us, and the fact that the gospel is the good news of the glory of God. I came up with an insight I first read in John Piper’s excellent treatise The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Baker, 2004). What our churches need is God-enthralled, Christ-saturated preaching that emphasizes the glory of God.

In God Is the Gospel, Piper explains that we become like Christ as we behold His glory. The cure for our sin is to find superior pleasure in God, and the pathway to sanctification is to see and savor God’s glory. They are one and the same. As we revel in the glory of God, finding our satisfaction and pleasure in God, sin melts away, and we become more like God. In the words of the hymn, ” Turn your eyes upon Jesus / Look full in His wonderful face / And the things of earth  will grow strangely dim, / In the light of His glory and grace.”

The answer to our churches desperate need for deliverance from our sinful addictions is not simply theological education or edgy, relevant topical sermon series. The cure we are looking for is simply this: The preaching of the glory of God. Christians need to know that God is glorious. We need preachers proclaiming His beauty, His wonder, His excellency. We need worship leaders singing of His surpassing greatness. We need theology that exposits His attributes and who God is. We need less teaching, preaching, and singing about us and more about God. The gospel is not ultimately about us being loved and made much of, but is really about God being glorified in us.

The cure for our personal sin is beholding and savoring the glory of God. The cure for our churches’ sin is preaching that elevates Christ and holds Him up for the congregation to see and savor God’s glory in Him. Oh, that our church leaders would grab ahold of this and give us the drug God has prescribed!