2 Corinthians 5:16–21Scripture
Over the years, I've had the opportunity to meet lots of people. These are my two boys. This is my oldest son, Ashton. This is my youngest son, Landon. I think before the age of... Brook will have to help me with numbers... 12. Before the age of 12, they had already traveled. They had already moved and lived in probably 15 houses. And so we have moved a lot, and we've lived in a lot of places across the US.
Now, that was the first half of our life, moving and meeting new people. We have now been here in this area for close to 15 years. And so about the same duration of time, nearly the same duration of time, as our first stint in our marriage. Not only in our marriage, but in ministry, in our life as a young family. I feel like I'm getting older every day. I am officially getting older. Somebody actually said... I think J.R. Posted a picture this week of his gray in his beard. I think it's fantastic that he's graying out, because he'd been making fun of me for years. So I love it. I think it's awesome.
Somebody threw him a bone. I think it was J.D. Who threw a bone on Facebook and said, "That's not gray, son. That's chrome." I like that. I like that. So i'm pretty much chroming out over here. And, you know, young people, chrome was cool back in the day. I don't know how it is now, but chrome was in back in the day. Now it's kind of gold that's making a comeback or whatever. But all right. 2 Corinthians chapter... Oh, so I was actually going somewhere with that. So we've met a lot of people. I've met people... Of course, I grew up in the church, so a lot of my association, even from the age of five, when I recall running around the church... My parents served in the church, so a lot of my associations were church people. That sometimes can be good, and that sometimes can be bad, because, I don't know if you knew this, but there's some messed-up people
Introduction
Inside the church as much as outside the church, right? And so I've met a lot of people both inside and outside the church. And the number one question that seems to come to me, oftentimes, particularly from lost people, is, "What has he ever done for you?" I love that question. I think it's fantastic, because when somebody asks me that question, I'm like, "Oh, I'll tell you what he's done for me. Do you have a moment? Do you have a moment?"
I think this is the moment that I want to tell you what he's done for you and what he's done for me. It's more than we realize. I'll be honest with you, this is going to seem harsh: I don't really like Easter sermons. I don't like preaching them, and I'm the one who preaches them, and I don't like them. I don't like them because of the burden that comes with preaching this message. Oh, it's the message we should preach every week. But how do you extrapolate out of the gospel the gravity of what Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross, and the gravity of what he accomplished by coming out of the grave and ascending to the right hand of the Father? How do you get across to people what truly happens, and what faith and belief in such a moment accomplishes in the life of those who are far from Christ and in the lives of those who have placed their faith in him? How do you really get it across? I think the apostle Paul tried to do it in Corinthians. That's where we're at today: 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
And I want to just try to extrapolate out some truths out of here that might be pertinent for you today. I'm not actually interested in tickling your emotions. I am not interested in swaying your opinion. I simply want you to know the truth about the gospel, and whatever that does in your heart, that's God's business. That's God's business. 2 Corinthians 5:16–21 says, "From now on, therefore..." Because of what Christ accomplished, "...we regard no one according to the flesh." Oh man. "Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God." It's not according to your works. It's not according to your awesomeness.
It's not according to your choices. It's because God did it. God did a thing for you. He did it all by himself. "...Who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." Notice he calls you into the same ministry he ministered to you. That's important in the life of the church, because we need some unity, and we need some reconciliation within the walls of the church. We, the church, ought to be the most loving, accepting, understanding about people who've done wrong against us, who've perpetrated all kinds of evil against us, who've wronged us, who've backstabbed us, who've been unkind. The church should be the most understanding, and there should be reconciliation. If there's reconciliation anywhere in the world, it should be in the church. Why? Because Christ reconciled a people who were unreconcilable, who did not deserve forgiveness and did not forgive, did not deserve his grace nor his love. But where else in the world, if not the church, should we see this kind of behavior? There are some of you in here today... And I'll just speak candidly, and no, I don't know about your situation, and know your name isn't popping into my head, or I probably wouldn't even say this... But there are people in this church who live an unreconciled life with their brother and sister in this building. How dare us? How dare us? Do you know what Christ did for you? Do you know what he accomplished on the cross for you in spite of you? Let us be reconciled with one another. "...Who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them." That's a tough one. That's a part of the ministry of reconciliation. Yeah, I don't know. I'll pray about whether I want to be signed up for that or not. Not holding trespasses against a brother or sister. "...And entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." You know how many people preach a message of reconciliation but say the opposite with their life, because they live unreconciled lives?
They know what to say. They don't know what to do.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 7:35
That's why, when we take communion, it says, "Go be reconciled to your brother or sister in the fellowship before you take that communion," because you're wanting to partake in something that Christ offered without extending it to your brother. Welcome to Easter, right? It seems like a heavy message, but this is important, because you know what people outside the church want? They want to be able to see a ministry of reconciliation within it. And it's troubling when we can't see that. We can't even be reconciled with one another as husbands and wives at times, because everybody has their rights, wants to be in control, has been mistreated, and we hold it against our brother and sister and husband and wife and friend.
Isn't it good that Jesus didn't wait for you to get straight before he loved you?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:22
You ever been in a fight with... Okay, for all the married people in here: you ever been in an argument with your husband or your wife, and you kind of hold out on them until they get straightened out? Some of you might give the silent treatment. Some of you might get snarky. That's what we called it back in the South. You ever met a snarky person? That's a person that's, well, snarky. I don't know how else to describe it.
And so we hold out on being kind because they have to earn it. It has to be merited. Our kindness is earned. Did you know that you should bring the ministry of reconciliation within your marriage, in your home, and with your children, with your friends? "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be..." Now listen, this is one of the most powerful sentences in all the Bible. Don't let it be lost on you. I know we hear it every Easter, but don't let this be lost on you. "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." That's what Easter's about. That's what Easter is
Point 1We are ambassadors, not tourists
About. I have a couple things I want to talk about. The first one is this, we can extrapolate out of this text: we are ambassadors.
We're not tourists here on earth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:08
You're not simply just kind of floating through and checking things out, seeing what's going on, seeing what's shaking. You're ambassadors. You have a purpose to being here. And how can that be anyway? It would have been an outstanding measure of grace if he just sent us to hell for a little while.
That would have been grace upon grace, if we only went to hell for a season. But he kept us out completely, for all who believe. It would have been an abundant measure of grace if he just placed us somewhere neutral for a while to get us out of his hair, or maybe eternally. But instead he drew us nearer through Christ Jesus our Lord. It would have been an abundant measure of grace if we would have just been servants in his courts for the rest of eternity, and we simply did what he asked, and we served, and we lived in servants' quarters, and our life was a life of slavery in heaven. Yet he makes us ambassadors. I mean, when I'm thinking of somebody that I want to be a spokesman for me, I'm not going to find the worst person I can possibly think of to go speak on my behalf. I'm not going to go find the worst of the worst, the person that everything they do in their life is the opposite of my character. I'm not going to go get them to speak on my behalf. Yet God, not only did he not send us to hell, but he sent us as ambassadors and made us speak on Christ's behalf.
Every time you open your mouth as a believer, you're speaking on Christ's behalf.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:27
What are you speaking? Your words matter. Yet though this truth is so beautiful, it is sharp. It is so sharp, in fact, that it kills every individual if you think about it too long. It has the power to disintegrate your mind and shatter your heart, to know what Christ has done for you in spite of you. I know you want to come and you want to hear how awesome you are, but you're not. That's what makes this season so magnificent: that in spite of the fact that you're not so awesome, he died for you anyway, and he called you into ministry and into his service.
You don't need much. You only need a deeper, wider, and more exalted view of Christ in your life. And that's what I am endeavoring to do today. And I'm going to fail. I'm going to fail, because words will not do justice to what God accomplished on Calvary's cross. It never will. No matter how large your vocabulary, no matter if you're the greatest orator in the entire world, words will fail to describe what Christ has accomplished. It is amazing. But the problem is today that we walk through life and we have a big self-view, small God-view. The people around the world today, they don't need strategies on how to live a better life, seven steps to be better. They don't need the wisdom of men and all the self-help books of the world. They don't need more clever ideas, and they don't need more control. We've proven we can't handle that very well. They need a greater view of Christ. See, marriages change, families change, churches change, nations change, cities change.
The world changes when our view of Christ changes.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:17
I'm afraid we have a small view of Christ. Even Easter has become an opportunity to make ourselves more exalted and Christ minuscule. I wrestle with preaching in general, and especially Easter, because whether or not you are a great orator, ultimately your efforts in preaching fail. Now, how do I know this? Words will fail to fully portray the goodness, the glory, and the majesty of Christ. And here's how I know: because in just a few hours, many of us will walk out of here and will begin magnifying the petty things of life. And week by week, I see that. Easter is an opportunity for us to exalt and magnify Christ, but in moments you'll walk out and you'll magnify petty things. You'll get in arguments about petty things. You'll get frustrated about petty things. You'll enter into worry about petty things. You'll be run, and your life steered, by petty things.
What's small becomes big, and what's eternal becomes background noise in your life.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:33
We're not here to blend in or build a name for ourselves. We're here to speak on behalf of our King as ambassadors of Christ. And you're not here by accident. You're here to represent the King faithfully, boldly, and with love. For it says in verse 21, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." But before we really dig into that, I want to go to
Point 2How can a just God forgive the guilty?
Point two. Listen to this. There's a dilemma here. Whenever we get into Easter, particularly every time we open up the Word and every Scripture we read, there is a dilemma. And here's the dilemma in this text: how can God forgive guilty people? And is that just? Listen, the gospel is the cure for the malady in both the preacher and churches and for the world. The great dilemma is, how can God be just and justify wicked people at the same time? And then we reflect back to Exodus 34. As we were going through Exodus, 34 is key. I felt it fitting. I know, because you're wondering if I'm ever going to get to Exodus. It's more of a bullet point than anything in this sermon. But let us turn to Exodus 34: 6–7. I want to look at the Old Testament about the dilemma. Chapter 34 says this, 6 and 7. I think that's right. Oh, I'm in Numbers. I was like, why? That don't seem right. Okay, so I was like, man. Okay, 34. Sorry, guys. Gives you more time to find it. Okay. "The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin...'" Listen to this. Here's the dilemma. He forgives. He forgives. He forgives. He forgives. He forgives all types of sin. He forgives it all. He forgives it. He forgives. He's a forgiving God who forgives all types of iniquities, all types of sin, "...but who will by no means clear the guilty." God forgives all types of sin, but then the next statement draws us to the great confusion, or in my personal opinion, a dilemma. He does not clear the guilty. How can this be true?
And then in Psalm 32:1–2, it says this: "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven." That don't seem like justice. They should pay. They should pay. Someone comes in, kills my wife, kills my children. I go to court, and the judge goes, "Forgiven." I'm going, "They should pay. Let them pay.
That's justice." "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity." There's a dilemma. Yes, we want a forgiving God, but we also want a just God. Who wants an unjust judge? Micah 7:18–19, and I love this one, another old Testament text: "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love." These are all things we love to sing about in worship songs. "He will again have compassion on us."
Listen to this, and this is actually in a worship song: "He will tread our iniquities underfoot." He will roll them up into a ball "and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Oh, we love that. As far as the east is from the west. I actually don't know if that's east and that's west, but you get my point. You have to ask Brook. She's like, north, south, east. She knows everything. She's weird. She's kind of a freak like that. Okay. Anyway, we write songs about this. God has taken our sins and thrown them on the ground. He's trampled them underfoot, and boom, my sins are gone. God took my sins like a baseball, and he wound up, and he threw them into the depths of the sea, and boom, my sins are gone. And we rejoice, and we praise him, and we celebrate his name. That makes no sense whatsoever if it's not interpreted through the lens of Christ. God did not simply take the sin off his people, throw it on the ground, and trample it. He did not take your sins off and hurl them into the sea.
God took the sin off you, and he placed it on Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:31
And according to his wrath, and by his wrath, God stomped on his Son to his death for you. A man who knew no sin. God put your sin on him and trampled him to death. That's Easter. He rolled up your sin, cast it upon Christ, took Christ and your sin, and threw him into the sea of his ever-raging wrath for you.
The only reason God can be just and the justifier of the wicked is because there's a ransom, and his name is Jesus Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 23:14
Somebody had to get theirs because of you. He is our scapegoat. There is a
Point 3Christ became the curse he did not deserve
Dilemma, and the dilemma is answered in Christ. God certainly can be just and the justifier because of Christ. Number three: the curse. Christ became what he was not. "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." You wouldn't believe the kind of bad theology that's out there about Christ actually becoming sin. He had to be without sin to redeem you. What does this mean, then? He who knew no sin became sin.
What does this mean? First of all, let's talk about this. Let's talk about the fact that he knew no sin. That's crazy. I mean, I know some of you might think you're sinless, but, I mean, you're not. That's crazy. Here's a man... Now, I know some of you might have a picture of Jesus as, you know, some kind of soft-to-the-touch kind of man, kind of hanging out and letting people recline on him, and he's just kind of a gentle fellow. But this is the man of all men. Some of us can't even control our temper and stay calm. Jesus is not like you. He's strong, man. When we look at this and say he knew no sin, we think that he kept the law. And that's true in part. Yes, that's true in part, but it's greater than that. What do you suppose would be the greatest sin ever perpetrated? Do you think it might be to break the greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself? Do you think that might be the greatest sin? Listen, there has never been a human being on this planet that has ever, for one minutia of a moment, loved God with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind, and all their strength. Not for a moment. Not a person on the planet. Not the billions of people that have lived on this planet. Not those that have come before, not those that are coming now, not those that have been, not those that will come. No one has ever done that, but Jesus did. Do you know who he is? Jesus, not for one moment... There was not one moment that he did not love the Lord his God with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, and all his strength. That's insane. He knew no sin. Now, because I keep working out, and I'm 47, and I don't know how to do things in moderation: I shatter clavicles; need surgery. I hurt ankles doing squats; need surgery. I tore my meniscus in my knee. I'm having surgery next Monday, because I don't know when to stop, because I'm an idiot. It isn't that you don't stop. It is that you should do it in moderation. There's only a certain threshold that I can actually handle. Now, I know I might be able to actually get all the way down... I can't do it now, because my knee hurts... All the way down in a squat and get all the way back up. I might be able to do it, but it doesn't mean stuff's not going to get broke over a certain threshold. Can I get an amen? My frame was only built to handle so much. Do you know who Jesus is? It would be like me going in. Now, if I were to go in and put one plate on, I wouldn't like it a whole lot, but I could do it pretty easily. I could do 10 of those, and I could do multiple sets of those, okay? Multiple reps and multiple sets. You put two plates on there? Got it. Even with the torn meniscus, if I didn't want to hurt it more... And you might hear me whine all night... I could probably still get down and back up. It would look ugly. It'd be bad form, but I could do it. And if I really wanted to prove my manhood to you, I could do it. But throw three plates on there? Even without a torn meniscus, I ain't doing that. I might be able to get down, but bro ain't coming back up. I'm not coming back up. Now, there are people like Dave in here that are laughing, because he played football, and he did all that, and he probably could curl that. But I'm not like Dave. And the reality is my frame can only handle so much. And if I go down...
You put four plates on it, Dave, either back in the day or now, could do four plates and come back up and be like, "Oh, what up?" But not me. I'd go down and turn into a puddle and die. You were tempted once, and you cracked under the pressure. The first time temptation came to your doorstep, you cracked under the pressure. You needed a doctor. You needed help. You were broken beyond measure with one temptation. Yet there was a man who endured not one, not two... The greatest temptations you could ever imagine, the greatest pressure anyone has ever experienced, the greatest pain and persecution you could imagine. At any moment, he could have called on God and been pulled off the cross. Yet he stayed on it for you and me. And he was beaten and stabbed and flogged and ripped to shreds for you. And he loved the Lord his God with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, and all his strength to his final breath. While I crumbled under the pressure, he stayed strong under the weight that was insurmountable for any man. Do you know who Christ is? He made him to be sin. The moment we placed our faith in Christ, we were treated as righteous. You weren't righteous, but because of Christ, through faith in him, you're treated as if you are. So when it says he made him to be sin, you need to know God treated him as if he was a sinner when he was not one. Don't let that be lost on you. That's tragic. That's what we're celebrating today: that God treated somebody who stood up under the pressure as if he cracked under the first temptation, for you. For you. He stayed on the cross. We can't even stay in church for any duration of time. Are you with me today? I don't care how that strikes you, because you're an ambassador representing him. He stayed on the cross, and we can't stay in a relationship that makes us uncomfortable. Come on now. I'm getting in your business. It's okay. Just hang on, because your business is his business.
And you can't appreciate his goodness until you appreciate your badness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:15
We got problems. We're not long-suffering. We don't have patience. We don't do any of those things. We need Jesus. Can I get an amen? We need Jesus. Galatians says this: "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written..." And listen to this, if not for Christ, this is what's coming to you: "cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." This is the beauty of Christ. Works don't save you. There's only one way to salvation: through Jesus Christ our Lord. So listen to me. Cursed is the one who does not abide by all things. How do we abide by all things? Be hidden in the one who abided in all, who did everything he was supposed to. See, oh man, let me summarize what it means to be accursed: the sinner, not only before God, but before every holy creature in heaven when he dies.
The last thing the sinner will hear... And this is sobering. Listen, he is so vile. He is so loathsome before God. He disgusts God. God's very presence is on a pathway to destroy and trample underfoot this person who's not hidden in Christ. All of the heavenly angels and all of the hosts and all the cherubim and seraphim and God himself and Christ and the Holy Spirit are disgusted at the presence of a sinner that stands before them at death. And all they want to do is not hug them, but kill them and destroy them, because sin is disgusting to God. The last thing that sinner will hear, what it means to be accursed... The last thing that sinner will hear when he takes his first step into hell, because he's cast there, is all of heaven standing to its feet and applauding God because he's rid the earth of that person. That's what it means to be cursed. That's what it means to not be in Christ. Place your faith in him.
That's the final thing you hear when you exit his presence and head to hell: the heavenly host applauding your demise. "Why, Shawn? Why are you using such graphic language?" Because that's the truth. That's the truth. Okay, don't hear it from me, because, you know, I'm bald and I have tattoos. "I don't know if we can trust anything he says." Here's what R.C. Sproul says. R.C. Sproul has a powerful and sobering reflection on Jesus' cry from the cross, when Jesus says, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" In Matthew 27. In it, Sproul emphasizes the depth of what was happening in this moment, because he's experiencing what a sinner will experience when they go to hell. He's moved from a place where his Father says, "In him I am well pleased," to now he is getting what a sinner will get when he exits the presence of heaven and heads to hell. And notice Jesus' angst here: "why have you forsaken me?" What's the switch in it? Sproul emphasizes the depth of what's happening in the moment, particularly regarding the wrath of God being poured out on Christ as he bore the sin for you and for me. And here's what it says in The Truth of the Cross, which R.C. Sproul wrote: "At that moment, Jesus was not simply experiencing the withdrawing of the Father's fellowship with him. He was experiencing the full measure of the divine curse" that you deserve. "It was as if the Father said to the Son, 'God damn you to hell.'" When Jesus prayed that the cup would pass, what was he praying? And some of you might think, "Well, he's about to get nailed to a tree, man. He's about to be flogged. He's about to be beaten. He's about to have his hair ripped out in chunks. He's about to literally have some of his entrails hanging out of his backside, because they've basically gutted him from scourgings. That's what he's scared of. That's what's in the cup. That's what's in the cup." As Paul Washer says, that's not what was in the cup. He wasn't worried about the scourging. He was worried about the wrath of God. That's what he asked to pass, because what man can do to you is nothing compared to what God can do to you if you're not hidden in Christ. It was the wrath of God. It was to be accursed. That's what he wanted to
Point 4He gets our sin, we get his righteousness
Pass. And that's coming to each of you who are not in Christ. But there is an exchange that happens in him. We become righteous. We are treated as righteous. We are not treated as cursed, for all who believe in Jesus Christ, "so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
That's the scandal of grace. He gets your sin, and you get his righteousness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:37
You're not just forgiven; you're counted righteous. You're not just free; you're adopted. You're not just clean; you're clothed in Christ. Listen, don't let this be lost on you this Easter. We walk out of Easter services and get caught up in the mundane. We magnify the petty and minimize and trivialize Christ. He easily becomes the small thing in our life. But we need perspective. We need a deeper, wider, more elevated view of Christ in every moment of our life, because it puts your life in perspective. Can I get an amen? Some of you came in here stressed out today. You know why? You need a new perspective about what Christ accomplished for you. Because there's nothing in this world that can come, there's nothing that can happen here in this world, that would be worse than being cursed by God. And Jesus made a way where there seemed to be no way of escape out of that. You know why he can confidently tell you, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worry of its own"? Because anything you have to worry about would have been found and held up in God's curse of you, because of you. And you can escape that through Jesus Christ. But let this truth crash into your heart again: God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him you might become the righteousness of God.
You don't need clever strategies. You don't need better techniques. What you need is a bigger Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:21
You're an ambassador. You're an ambassador of Christ in the earth. What do you think God would say? What do you think Christ would say about our petty tiffs in our relationships? What do you think he would say about that? "But I have a point now. I'm right, and you need to get on the same page as me, or I'm going to give you the silent treatment, and I'm the..."
You're an ambassador of Christ. You're not an ambassador of your opinion.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:14
The church has gotten in the business of holding up agendas while we stand on Christ, while we trample Christ underfoot, and we say it's for Christ.
But he didn't send you as a spokesman for an agenda. He sent you as a spokesman for Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:34
"We're trying to take back this nation for God." I'm so glad you think he needs you
Point 5Go be ambassadors of reconciliation
To do that. Why don't you worry about being an ambassador and do the one thing he asked you to do? Be an ambassador of reconciliation. Do that. Do the one thing he asked you to do, and he's got the rest. How do you know he doesn't want this nation to go to its destruction? How do you not know that? How do you know? How do you know? How do you know? You worry about being an ambassador of reconciliation. "Well, Shawn, I came for easter, and I heard your word. I'm going to be an ambassador for reconciliation." No. Be saved first, and then he makes you an ambassador of reconciliation. Because you can't be an ambassador, a spokesman for a reconciliation you know nothing of, because you have not yet been a recipient of reconciliation yourself.
There are people in here today that need to know a reconciliation that they have never known, that they will only know in Christ. And there are people in here today who need to understand that they have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Listen to me. And they need to understand they are an ambassador and minister of reconciliation in their home, in their relationships, in their churches, and with people out in the world. You have a job to do. And your job is not to fight for the cause and for your right to be right. From now on, whenever somebody calls me and talks about how they can't get along with somebody, I'm just going to read this Scripture. Because it gets easier to love people when they seem unlovable when you realize just how much God loved you in spite of you being unlovable. Some of you need to lay down your swords, and some of you need to embrace the Lord. I had a guy... And I'll close with this. I had a guy that I ran into many years ago, and I won't tell you the long story. It was kind of bizarre, but he asked me, when he was cutting my hair, when I had some... He asked me, when he was cutting my hair, "Why would you serve God?" And I told him, "I don't think you have enough time in this haircut for me to tell you why I serve God." "Well, what has God done for you?" "I don't think you have enough time, sir." He said, "I'll take the time." And although he was a part of the occult, although he was a Satan worshiper... It was kind of crazy... I went line upon line, preaching the gospel of what Jesus accomplished for his life in spite of him. See, we want houses. We want cars. We want a bank account. We want stuff. We want God to bless us and heal us. But he has done more for you on the cross, and when he came up out of the grave, than you will ever imagine. And you may feel like he's forsaken you, but I came here today to tell you he took what you could not take, and he took it upon himself. And if he does nothing else for you, nothing else ever, that's more than you ever deserved. Amen. And so from a barbershop of yesterday to a house of God today, I came to tell you something today: that God loves you beyond measure. So much so that it held him on the cross.
It was not the nails. It was his love for you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 46:20
And you did not deserve it. You did not earn it. You did not deserve it. This is the reconciliation of our Lord, and you can't get along with your spouse because they said something snarky to you? But you're an ambassador of Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you not know what he's done for you? You can't get along with your brother and sister? Did you forget? Is he that small to you? What he accomplished, is that lost on you now? Have you forgotten what he did for you? You can't even throw your brother or sister a bone in spite of them? You are an ambassador of reconciliation. You cannot do it in your own strength, but he empowers you to live this sort of life.
For you are not what you were.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 47:31
You, ladies and gentlemen, are a new creation. And the church needs to be a place where we see the ministry of reconciliation happen. Let me tell you, we're about to take some communion today. I don't even know how this thing's set up. There. There we go. I thought there was something under there. On your table, under the white napkin, is an opportunity for you to understand that his body was broken for you and his blood was shed for you, to reconcile you to a God who was coming to kill you. And this table is for those who believe in Jesus Christ. Listen, there's business that has to take place before we receive this communion. And I'm just going to be real plain and simple with this right now. There are people in this room who are far from Christ, who are still, like my friend of yesterday, asking the question, "What has God ever done for me?" Hopefully you get a glimpse of what he's done for you. He made a way where there seemed to be no way. You were headed to hell, and God sent a scapegoat whose name is Jesus Christ to take your place. That one who was without sin became sin, that you might be the righteousness of Christ Jesus through belief. Now, I have done Easter service after Easter service after Easter service over the years, and quite honestly, I'm just disgusted with the way that we have manipulated people into response. And I'm not against altar calls, and I'm not against "everybody close your eyes and raise your hands." I'm not against that. But God can take care of business. He takes care of business in your heart, and he might have already done it while I'm preaching this sermon, or before you came here today, or after you leave. But I came here today to tell you, we partake in this because we believe in Christ, in remembrance of what he has done for us, in remembrance of what we escape because of Christ. And there might be somebody here today that goes, "You know, I need Christ."
And no altar call will make you receive him. Only his call will.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 50:17
His call will. When he called me, there was no escaping the call. Matter of fact, I couldn't say no to it. I couldn't run from it. I could not avoid it. I couldn't dodge it like a dodgeball. When he called me, I came. And there are people in this room, I believe, right now, without having to come forward or stand up, that are coming to God's call. And there are people who have received the call. They answered the call many years ago, and they're here today, and they've been in church a long time, but they've forgotten the ministry of reconciliation that Christ accomplished. And they did not know that they were ministers of reconciliation themselves, and so it's not affected the way that they live in a community of believers. May this be an opportunity to remember not only what he did, but what you're called to do through Christ.
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