Tomorrow I will preach on my favorite Bible verse 2 Corinthians 5:21. For me, this has been the hardest sermon to ever prepare for. See, I had the coin drop in regards to preaching the gospel this past week. I heard two different gospel presentations within 2 days of each other, and had the, "Oh, wow. I GET IT!!!" Tim Keller says we don't really get the gospel when we get saved, and we only perpetually grow in our understanding of it. Every athelete gets this. The marathon trainer who can't seem to get past 8 miles, then one day is able to do 13, and never looks back. The hitter who is having a hard time figuring out the difference between a two-seam and four-seam fastball, and then one day in a Ted Williams way, sees the difference, and never looks back. Or like my wife, who is now at a level of decorating that she would have never thought possible, yet she stills laughs at pictures of our first apartment (we had a construction themed bathroom!). Well, I had a moment like that this week while hearing the two gospel presentations.
The first presentation was a simple, and excellent exegesis of Romans 6:23. It went over the wages of sin, and the gift of eternal life. It was written out and plain to see, arrows were drawn connecting sin to death and life to God. No one could walk out of that meeting without a clear understanding of what the gospel was. This education on the gospel was great, and I nodded my head many times. I was glad that many young Christians, and non-Christians were there to hear that.
The second presentation was audio, was far from simple. It was long and drawn out, and carried many facets. One struck me like a 2x4. The pastor started in to my favorite Bible verse about Jesus becoming sin on the cross in our place. I have loved this verse for so long because it is the essence of the cross, and reminds me of the lengths Jesus went to to save me. The night I heard this presentation I was saved again. To explain it in the simplest way possible, the pastor made sin personal. Not just personal to me in a Bible thumping, finger pointing, guilt inducing way. Instead he was sitting there Bible thumping, finger pointing, guilt inducing my sin: onto Jesus.
Am I being clear? In this gospel presentation, all my sin was named by the pastor (he tried to name as many in the audience as he could gather), and was thrown not at me, but at Jesus. This made me not only aware of how personal my sin is and how guilty I am, but it made me aware of how my sin personally affects God. It made me aware of how my sin personally affected Jesus on the cross. I walked around in a daze that night. Actually, Vicky and I were visiting her cousin at the club PURE at Cesar's Palace that night. There were girls dressed pretty scandalously that night, and my wife repeatedly asked me if I was doing okay with that. Honestly, I couldn't get my mind off the fact that Jesus became a pervert to God in my place. That Jesus became an arrogant jerk who is mean to his wife, in my place.
He did this so that I might become, in him, the righteousness of God. So that I could be clean, and right with God. The implications of this have left the gospel much more that a theory that floats above my head all day. For a while now I have understood that the gospel needs to be central to my daily life. Now, when temptation comes I am reminded of Christ's willingness to become my sin, and become guilty in my place. It is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. And at the end of the day, this gospel realization makes God's love much more personal to me. "Christ died for me" now produces emotion in me when I hear it. "God so loved the world" makes me more emotional and responsive than ever before.
This has made sermon preparation much harder becuase one doesn't just wake up and run 13 miles easily. In reality, I have been much more aware of my sin, and the battle of my flesh has seemed much more real in the past few weeks. I am only 25, and I want to preach like men who have walked with Jesus for 20-30 years. Men who have walked the darkside of their depravity, have learned to repent, and who are personally close to Jesus as a result. These men can preach Jesus personally becuase of the road they have walked. I have prepared my sermon this week in the midst of learning the gospel deeper, and deeper. I don't have 20 years of scars, I only have 7. Nevertheless, Jesus still became the sinner I am on the cross, and the tomb has been empty for 2000 years.
My prayer is that I would be able to preach the gospel tomorrow in a way that makes sin personal to my hearers. So that Jesus death on a cross in their place becomes more personal. So that God's love towards them becomes immensely personal. After all, Rick Warren says we are meant to be best friends with God. That's pretty personal.
Matt
Hey thanks for the comments, and I also agree with Chesterton, now I just need to find me a wife....
When and where are you preaching tomorrow? Please send me a text with the info bro!
Posted by: tom | October 31, 2006 at 03:38 PM