Every generation of preachers can learn from Francis J. Grimké. In his biography of Grimké, Carter G. Woodson states,
“[Grimké] never preached what he did not earnestly try to practice. For the hypocrite he had the greatest contempt. He had no use for the minister who selfishly advanced himself at the expense of the church, or who used the pulpit to advertise himself before the world. Dr. Grimké was an unselfish and humble follower of Jesus of Nazareth and endeavored to follow in his footsteps and to become like him. Yet Dr. Grimké was conscious of his own imperfections and daily sought to remove them in order to present himself at last in the image of his Maker.”
What can today’s preachers learn from Grimké that we can apply to our own craft of preaching? Let’s look at four lessons on preaching from Grimké’s public ministry and writings, as well as the practical implications they have for our own preaching. All of the Grimké quotes in this essay come from “The Works of Francis J. Grimké,” edited by Carter Woodson.
#1: Keep Christ Central
There is no doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ was not only central to Grimké’s life, but also to his preaching. He believed that “the true mission of a church in the community where it is located is to preach the Gospel, with the double purpose, first, of winning men to an acceptance of Jesus Christ, and second, of building them up in faith and holiness.”
In Grimké’s reflections at the end of 50 years of pulpit ministry, he wrote that John 12:32 was the central verse inspiring that ministry. Jesus says there, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Grimké truly sought to lift up the person and work of Jesus Christ in all his preaching.
When Grimké finished his 50th year of ministry, he wrote,
“The close of these fifty years was marked on last Sabbath morning in the church, without any parade or demonstration of any kind, it was my request that there be none, but by the preaching of a simple gospel sermon by myself, from the text John 12:32, expressive of the character of my ministry from the beginning. I wanted to mark the close of the half century by calling attention to the fact that I began my ministry with the old, old story of Jesus and his love, and that with the same old gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, it was my purpose to end it, having no faith in any other means of saving men.”
This is not to say that Grimké didn’t tackle hard or complex topics of his day – he had to, being as he was born as a slave and ministered in the eras of slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, and the early beginnings of civil rights work in this country. But he approached every topic through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how the gospel calls us to live in all situations.
#2: Preach with Power
Preachers of every generation need to know what Grimké referred to as “the secret of power in the pulpit.” In an essay of that name, Grimké clarified that he was not referring to physical power, oratorical power, or intellectual power, as important as each of these are for preachers. But he saw the secret of power in the pulpit being “spiritual power – power to affect the heart and conscience, power to produce conviction of sin, and to awaken in sinners a desire for Christ and His salvation.”
He went on to clarify that this power comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit. He cites the presence of this power as the greatest need of the church of his day, and “to secure it should be our constant aim and desire.” Without the power of the Holy Spirit empowering our preaching, “if the preacher himself is not clothed with power from on high, it will go for naught.”
He adds, “the way to get power in the pulpit, therefore, is to be filled with the Holy Ghost, to preach in dependence upon the Holy Ghost.” He took seriously Jesus’ teaching on prayer to his disciples in Luke 11:13, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Along these lines, Grimké wrote,
“The preaching of the apostles consisted very largely of the simple story of Jesus and his love, culminating in his death upon the cross, his resurrection and ascension, calling attention particularly to the purpose for which he came, and the meaning of his suffering and death; and depending for the effect of their words, not upon anything in themselves, but upon the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. And it is upon this same power that we must depend if any results are to follow our preaching. When the Spirit gives the message, and prepares the heart of the messenger to give it, and the hearts of the people to receive it, then, and only then, may we expect results. The man who is to preach effectively must keep in close touch with God; must be much in the secret place of the Most High.”
#3: Watch Your Life
What stands out maybe more than anything else in Grimké’s preaching is his constant emphasis on the gospel of Jesus calling us and shaping us to live like Jesus. All of his writings and sermons contain the emphasis on the development of Christian character, of turning from sin and living for righteousness. Naturally flowing from that emphasis, Grimké preached the importance of the preacher himself reflecting the character of Jesus.
Grimké exhorted ministers, “the message which we preachers bring to others, Sabbath after Sabbath, we should be very careful to see that it is enforced by example; that what we exhort others to do, that we ourselves do. Otherwise our preaching will be in vain.”
Again, in an address to ministers at an annual meeting, Grimké shared that “the only effecting way of propagating Christianity is to live it. It is all right to preach it by word of mouth; but if we are not careful to live it, our words will go for nothing. It is the truth incarnate in our everyday living that gives it power. If we preach one thing and live another, our preaching is in vain.”
#4: Feed Christ’s Sheep
Grimké hoped and prayed that his preaching would be helpful in producing Christ-like character in the lives of his people. He was adamant that the preacher was not primarily an entertainer, a politician, or a dispenser of intellectual information. He wanted his sermons to help people. He wrote, “My constant prayer to God is, that he would help me to preach, not great sermons, but helpful sermons,—sermons that will appeal, not mainly to the intellect, but to the heart, sermons that will tend to strengthen and develop the good within us, to inspire us with right desires and that will fortify the will.”
Grimké shared a moving personal story from the conclusion of a Sunday worship service:
“a lady came up to me at the close of the services and, after shaking my hands cordially, said, ‘I thank you for that sermon. Every time I hear you preach I feel that I want to be a better woman, a better Christian.’ I thanked her. There is nothing in the line of praise that she could have said to me that would have been half so acceptable as the simple assurance that what I said in the sermon had helped her, had intensified, had deepened her desire to get on higher ground. That is the only kind of preaching that counts, that is of any value in the sight of God or that results in any good to man. My earnest prayer is that, more and more, mine may be such a ministry; that, more and more, I may lose sight of self and think only of the good to be done, of those who come into the sanctuary who need the helping hand, the ministry of love, the tender, watchful care of some loving heart.”
What does this mean for our preaching?
Being able to balance the clear preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ while also challenging people with the gospel’s implications on daily living, publicly and privately, is not a new phenomenon for preachers. Grimké knew what it was like to navigate preaching in a world where people were more comfortable separating social concerns from gospel concerns.
In an upcoming book on the life and ministry of Francis Grimké, Drew Martin highlights this gospel balance that Grimké sought to hold:
“In stark contrast to many progenitors and popularizers of social gospel ideas, Grimké comfortably emphasized individual salvation, the forgiveness of individual sin, the distinction between soul and body, the centrality of eternal life, and the hope of heaven, while he explicitly warned against conceptualizing the kingdom in ‘secular,’ ‘temporal,’ or purely social terms. In other words, Grimké expressed the individual and social, the eternal and temporal, the spiritual and the material, the salvific and the ethical as ‘both/and’ rather than ‘either/or’ categories. He also placed them in a particular order relative to one another. Both ‘bread’ and ‘the bread of life’ were right, good, and important, but one clearly received priority and gave shape and direction for thinking about the other” (137).
Grimké’s preaching along these lines is extremely helpful to today’s preachers who try to and need to navigate the turbulent waters of modern day evangelicalism. To borrow from an expression used by Martin Luther King, Jr., holding these gospel truths not only in tension, but in relation to each other is imperative in the church being able to act as a thermostat rather than a thermometer in our society.
Thurman Williams serves as assistant professor of homiletics at Covenant Theological Seminary.