The Bible is itself three-quarters narrative. The Holy Spirit does not seem averse to using the structures of story to speak to us; and following the leading of the Spirit is never a bad idea. One of the ways that we follow that lead, says Keller, is by expounding the grace of God in all the Scriptures. When we do so there is always an implicit story: God always comes to the rescue. When we preach grace from all the Scriptures, our consistent story is God is the hero of the text!

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My concern for consistently applying the story of the Gospel to Scriptural exposition had an intensely personal beginning. The inadequacies of my preaching were torturing me and I wondered whether I should leave the ministry. I could not discern what was wrong. Church members complimented my messages, but their own lives were consistently plagued by depression, addictions, and anger with each other. I had to question, “If I am such a good preacher, then why are the people I serve doing so badly.” Ultimately I determined a central reason for their despair, their escapist compulsions, and their judgmental impatience with one another was a pattern of thought I was encouraging.

Week after week I told the imperfect people in my church to “do better.” When God’s people only hear the imperatives of the Word, they are forced to conclude that their holiness is a product of their efforts. What I needed to learn was that the cure was not preaching less of Scripture, but more. In particular, I needed to learn to preach each text in its redemptive context.

No Scripture is so limited in purpose as only to give us moral instruction or lifestyle correction. Paul says, even the law itself functions as our “schoolmaster to lead us to Christ” (Gal. 3:24). Jesus also says that all the Scriptures the Jews searched “testify of me” (John 5:39). His story underlies and gives proper contour and context to every text. This does not mean that every text mentions Him (or should be made to do so), but rather our Savior’s words teach that every Scripture stands in some relation to Him as part of God’s revelation of His redemptive purpose. Really to expound a text, therefore, requires us to place it in its redemptive context.

I was not doing this because I had gotten the story wrong of what preaching really is. My thought was constrained by the context of my own narrative and background that indicated the Bible is mainly intended to correct human misbehavior or misunderstanding. According to this story my primary job was to tell people what they should do behaviorally or know doctrinally. In essence, I was heaping upon people ever greater obligations of doing and knowing while missing the story line that all of Scripture is about the revelation of God’s redeeming work in behalf of a fallen people. I am not saying that moral performance and doctrinal correctness are unimportant, but us getting ourselves straight is not Scripture’s ultimate aim. Resting upon and responding to the One who alone makes us whole is Scripture’s ultimate aim.