Why "Sermons on the Life of Christ" is the Best Place to Start a Podcast

(My recording setup for The Vintage Sermons Podcast, taken on day 1 of recording.)

I hope you are enjoying and learning from The Vintage Sermons Podcast as much as I am while recording them. So far we are 4 episodes in, but there are so many to go! Today, I wanted to take a moment to explain why I selected Sermons on the Life of Christ by St. John Chrysostom to start off the series. The 9 sermons in this volume took us from episode one until November 22. Why start with these 9? I had a few reasons.

1) These sermons focus us on the life of Jesus.

Each sermon in this collection was preached on a major feast day of the Church year, focusing on the most significant moments in Christ's life, including His birth, baptism, betrayal, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and the sending of the Spirit. Since Jesus is what the Christian faith and Christian preaching is all about, I couldn't think of a better way to start this sermon podcast series than going through the most significant moments in Jesus' life, the moments that bring us our salvation. Right at the start, we get a bird's-eye view of all Jesus accomplished for us and that every other sermon should bring us back to.

2) Chrysostom is the church's best preacher.

St. John Chrysostom is widely considered the best preacher in church history. In fact, Chrysostom was not his name. That is a nickname meaning "the golden-mouthed" and was given to him 100 years after his death (See Justo L. Gonzalez's The Story of Christianity Vol. 1, p. 225). If the purpose of The Vintage Sermons Podcast is to bring the best preaching of the ancient church to the contemporary church, I can't think of a better preacher to start with than the one widely considered the best of them all.

3) Early Chrysostom feels like less pressure than later Chrysostom.

Hey, this podcast is new, and starting with a figure like Chrysostom actually feels intimidating for a new podcaster. All the sermons in this volume are taken from Chrysostom's first year of preaching, when he himself was a new preacher. Rather than dive into him at the height of his preaching abilities, starting with him as a new preacher felt more doable at the beginning of this podcast journey!

I hope this series is already helping give you fresh insights into Scripture and see Jesus more clearly!

In the comments below, which sermon so far has given you the most food for thought?