Why Do We... Always Talk About the Gospel?

The scripture reading today comes from 1st and 2nd Corinthians.

Please follow along the screen or in your bulletin.

Starting from in 1st Corinthians 15 verse 1 we read,

Now I will remind you, brothers of the gospel,

I preach to you which you receive, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.

If you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believe in vain.

For I deliver to you as of first importance what I receive,

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture,

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance to the scriptures,

and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve,

then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time,

most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then in 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 9,

But he said to me,

My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,

so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses,

insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

This is the word of God.

Great. Thank you, Kristen.

Thanks, Kristen.

Let's pray together briefly as we come to this passage.

Heavenly Father, as we come to your word this morning,

we want to hear you speak to us.

We want to be encouraged in the gospel.

We want to encounter you in a real way.

God, I pray that as we look at your word, God,

you will speak to each one of us in a deep and a profound way.

Lord, won't you open our eyes to see the depth of the beauty of what you did on the cross for us.

Reassure us, God, of your love and our standing in you.

And help us, God, to live these lives that really are centered on you.

We pray this in your awesome name.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay.

Let's start off playing a little word association game.

Okay.

So I'm going to say a word.

And I want you to think of the first word that comes to your mind when you hear the word that I'm going to say.

Okay.

You can say it out loud if you want.

Or you can just say it under your breath.

It's up to you.

But when I say the word sport, what's the first thing?

Okay.

Tennis.

Netflix.

Okay.

Food.

Burger.

Okay.

Hong Kong.

Okay.

You don't have to say that if you want.

Celebrity.

Home.

Watermark.

Watermark.

If you are new to Watermark Church, when I say Watermark, one of the first things that comes to mind might be church or Ebenezer or the 970 bus or something like that.

But if you have been part of our church for a little while, some of the words you might say, you might say friendly, hopefully.

Hopefully you'd say that, not unfriendly.

That would be a problem.

But you might say, my guess is one of two words comes to mind.

One is probably community.

Yeah.

I don't know how many of you thought of that.

The other one is maybe the word gospel.

I don't know if anyone thought of that.

In fact, in our mission statement, yeah, Marilyn just pointed it out.

We talk about our three values, our gospel, community, and mission.

And our mission statement talks about seeing the growth of gospel communities, disciples of Jesus raised up and released to impact Hong Kong for the glory of God.

And about 20 or 30 years ago, in kind of Christian circles, there was this movement called the gospel-centered movement, where suddenly everybody started talking about the gospel and being gospel-centered, right?

And it seems like every church around the world, if you wanted a sign of authenticity, all you had to do was put the word gospel somewhere in your website or on your brochure.

And the more times you said the word gospel, the more kind of authentic or legitimate you were.

Does that make sense?

Anyone recognize that?

Okay.

And then Christian authors, right, they wanted to sell lots of books, so you had to have the word gospel in your title somewhere, and then you would sell lots of books.

In fact, if you wanted to sell anything, right, duvet covers, coffee mugs, underwear, you just put the word gospel on there somewhere, and some Christian out there is going to buy it.

But the word gospel became this kind of like Christian buzzword, that everything Christians spoke about was just gospel, gospel, gospel.

And maybe if you come to Watermark for a while, you feel like that's true of us as well.

That's all we ever talk about.

Well, we're doing this four-part series called Why Do We Do That?

And last week, Chris looked at why do we come to church on Sundays.

Today, I want us to look at the question, why do we talk about the gospel so much?

And in order to do that, let's just go and define some of our terms.

Okay.

So the word gospel in the Greek is the word evangelion, where we get the word evangelist or evangelical from.

And in original languages, it meant the announcement of some good news.

Okay.

So it was used in the ancient world of a town crier.

So the emperor has a son.

There is a next one in line in the throne, and he will cry out in the town.

I have some good news, some gospel, some evangelion.

The emperor has had a son.

Or maybe your armies go off to war, and they are victorious, and someone comes back heralding the good news.

Our forces have won the battle.

Victory has been determined.

Right?

So it is the announcement of some good news.

And as we've often said in this church, it's not good advice.

It's not telling you what to do.

It is the proclamation or the announcement of something that has happened that is very good news.

Well, what is the good news that the Bible talks about?

Well, our passage today tells us.

So look at 1 Corinthians 15 with me again.

Paul writes and he says,

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel, this evangelion, the good news,

that I preached to you, which you received and which you stand, by which you are being saved,

if you hold fast the word that I preached to you.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,

that Christ Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

that he was buried, he was raised on the third day, also in accordance with the Scriptures,

and that he appeared to see first, then the twelve, and then the five hundred.

So here in our passage, Paul actually defines what he means by the gospel.

He says,

I announced it to you that Christ Jesus died for our sins,

that he was buried and he raised again on the third day.

Now, we could spend many weeks unpacking this and looking at many elements of it,

but one of the things I want us to see here is that according to Scripture,

the gospel, the good news, is not just a worldview,

it's not just a philosophy, even though it will shape your worldview,

it's not just some wisdom or advice, though it will make you wise.

The gospel is a historical event.

It's something that has happened.

Something that has happened that changes the course of human history,

that changes the course of the history of those that believe it and receive it.

And what is this event?

Well, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man,

fully man and fully God,

came to earth as a man and died on a Roman cross on Easter Friday.

He was buried in a tomb,

but he didn't stay dead.

He rose again on Easter Sunday.

This is the good news, the gospel.

Now, why is this good news?

I mean, that's maybe an unfortunate event.

Maybe it's a miraculous event.

But how does that help us today, you and I, in 21st century Hong Kong?

Well, as you said, I'm so glad you asked that question.

I've got four answers for us.

Four reasons why this historical event of something that happened to Jesus 2,000 years ago

in Palestine, in the Middle East, is good news for you and I today.

Firstly, the gospel is good news for sinners.

Look again at verse 3, I think it is, in our passage.

I left something out.

Jesus died on the cross not just as an example of selflessness and servant-heartedness.

Jesus died on the cross not just as suffering, as a political martyr.

He didn't just die to demonstrate the brutality of the Roman Empire.

Now, look at what it says.

Jesus died for our sins.

Jesus' death on the cross is what the Bible calls an atoning sacrifice.

Now, if you're new to church or you're new to Christianity, this may be unusual for you,

but the Bible's diagnosis for the problem with our world, the Bible's assessment,

is not just that mankind is selfish.

I mean, that is true, but that's not the main problem.

It's not just that, you know, corruption in the world.

It's not just economic inequality, that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

It's not just that we marginalize and abuse the poor in our world,

or that we take advantage, don't steward our world.

It's not just the education problem, though that may be a challenge,

or mental health or social media.

The Bible says that all these problems in the world that we experience,

is actually, these are symptoms of a far deeper problem, a far deeper root problem.

It's like when you go to the doctor, right, and you say,

I've got this pain in my chest.

Well, a poor doctor would just give you an aspirate,

or give you something just to take away the pain.

And a good doctor would say, let's go under the surface, let's do an MRI,

let's see what's happening underneath there.

The root cause for the symptoms of my world is that God,

who created us for Himself to know Him and love Him and trust Him

and walk with Him and be in relationship with Him,

we've rejected Him.

We've rebelled against Him.

Rather than loving and trusting and serving Him and knowing Him

and being in relationship with Him,

rather than finding our identity in Him,

we've pushed Him aside and we've wanted to love and trust and serve

created things rather than the Creator.

We put our hope and identity in things around us,

whether people or people's approval or the praise of man or ourselves.

The world is working against its design and its designer.

We've rebelled against God and we've set ourselves up as our own gods.

And the Bible calls this sin.

Sin in the Bible is not just lying or stealing or doing something you shouldn't do.

Actually, the Bible says those again are symptoms.

The root cause is that we've wanted to set ourselves up as our own God.

Do you remember Martin Luther famously said,

No one breaks any of the Ten Commandments,

like not honoring your parents or lying or stealing,

without first breaking the first commandment,

which is to have no other gods before me.

And so what the Scripture says is that

despite our sinfulness, that all of us are in this category,

God has made a way to rescue us, to redeem us,

to restore that which is broken.

God has made a way for those that are unrighteous,

that's me and you, to be counted righteous.

Those that are rebels to be brought back into relationship with God.

Those that are declared in rebellion and guilty of sin to be declared innocent.

Those who are at enmity with God to be reconciled.

And how does this happen?

Well, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

came to earth as a man, died on the cross,

took our penalty for us, in our place,

so that we don't have to bear the penalty for our sin,

that we are no longer counted unrighteous,

but are considered righteous in God's sight.

Jesus died in our place so that we don't have to.

Jesus took the penalty of our sin.

Jesus bore our sin.

And Jesus was counted unrighteous instead of us.

By receiving Christ's atoning death as our own,

by receiving His sacrificial death as our own,

we are reconciled to God.

It's like our sin is completely done away with,

washed away.

I think it's in Micah,

it says that our sin is cast into the depths of the sea,

removed as far as the east is from the west.

We are reconciled to God.

Do you remember what John the Baptist says

when he sees Jesus across the Jordan?

He says,

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

And how would Jesus do that?

Well, He wouldn't just sweep them under the rug.

He wouldn't just redefine sin and say,

Well, let's talk about this.

He wouldn't just say,

Let's go for some inner healing.

No, no.

Jesus went to the cross.

Jesus had the sins of the world poured out on Him.

The wrath of God poured out on Him.

So that all who come to Him will be justified,

set free, reconciled.

Jesus, the author of life, would die

so that we who are dead in our sins

may be made alive together.

And why did He do this?

Well, Cynthia read it for us earlier.

Ephesians 2.

As for you, as for me,

we who are dead in our sins,

but God who is rich in mercy

because of His profound love for us,

made us who are dead in our sins alive in Christ.

It's because of His love for people like you and I.

It's because of His profound love for us.

Friends, God's love for us is not a feeling.

It's a commitment, a devotion, a dedication to us.

In the modern world, we tend to think of love as a feeling, right?

When I feel in love, then I love you.

But in the Bible, love is a decision.

It's a devotion.

It's a dedication.

Because of His profound love for us,

Jesus went to the cross.

And did Jesus go to the cross because you're on the right track

or you're a good person?

No, no, no.

When we were God's enemies,

He loved us by sending His Son to die on the cross.

Friends, this is the gospel.

This is the good news.

Jesus died on the cross for sinners like us.

I don't know if you know the words of that old hymn,

Man of Sorrows.

Man of Sorrows, what a name.

For the Son of God who came,

ruined sinners like me, like you,

to reclaim, oh, what a Savior.

Bearing shame and scoffing ruin,

in my place condemned He stood.

By His, sealed my pardon with His blood.

Hallelujah, what a Savior.

Friends, why do we talk about the gospel so much?

Because the gospel is good news for sinners.

For people like you and me,

people who are at enmity with God,

Jesus reconciles us and brings us into His family.

But if that is true, and it is true,

you can understand why we talk about it out there, right?

In the marketplace, in schools,

why maybe somebody wants to tell his neighbor

or his colleagues or his friends

about the good news of the gospel?

But why do we talk about it in here so much?

I mean, my guess would be that many of us

would have already believed that,

understood that, received that,

accepted that.

Why is it that we as a church,

those of us that have already received the gospel,

why do we talk about it so much?

Well, look at what our passage says again

in 1 Corinthians.

Look at what Paul says here in verse 1.

He says,

I would remind you, brothers and sisters,

of the gospel I preached to you,

which you received,

in which you stand,

and by which you are being saved.

Now, who's Paul writing to here?

He's writing to the Corinthians,

that's true,

to Christians,

those who have come to put their faith in Christ.

They're already Christians.

They're already born again and saved,

reconciled, redeemed.

And yet he writes to them

to remind them of the gospel.

In fact, we see this throughout the New Testament.

In the book of Romans,

Paul writes,

and look what he says in Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

He says,

To all you in Rome who are loved by God,

called to be saints.

Okay, the word saints there

doesn't just mean those that are very righteous

and very wonderful,

like Niels and Chris and Claire.

Okay, okay.

Those that have got it all together

and don't make any mistakes.

The word saints actually means

anyone that is a Christian.

Anyone who loves and trusts Jesus,

who has been reconciled.

So Paul writes here,

he says,

To all who are in Rome,

who are loved by God,

okay, that's the motivation for the gospel,

and called to be saints,

I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all,

because your faith is proclaimed

throughout all the world.

So here's a church that's pretty mature.

Their faith is so mature

that actually it's got a track record.

It's talked about throughout the known world.

He says,

I long to see you,

that I may impart to you some spiritual strength.

I'm eager to come to you

to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.

Why does Paul want to go to these Christians

and share the gospel with them?

I mean, surely Paul should go to places

where they don't know the gospel

and tell them the good news of Jesus.

Why does he want to write to Christians?

Well, the reason is

because the gospel is not only good news for sinners,

it's also good news for saints.

When you look at the New Testament,

the evidence is overwhelming

that the apostles are constantly writing

and applying to believers

the gospel again and again and again.

If you look at the book of Romans,

one of Paul's greatest books, right?

16 chapters long.

The first 11 chapters

are all about

the multifaceted wonder of the gospel.

So Paul writes and says,

well, let's consider it from this angle.

And he applies it to their life.

And he says,

well, but your objection might be this.

So let's see how the gospel deals with that.

Oh wait,

well, let's see how the gospel deals with this issue.

Oh wait, you got a problem here?

Let's see how the gospel deals with it

from that issue.

Paul spends 11 chapters

writing to these Christians

who are mature,

showing them how the multifaceted dimension

of the gospel speaks to every area of their life,

even as Christians.

Now,

one of the reasons we often say this

is because the gospel

is not just the way into the kingdom of God,

it's the way of the kingdom of God.

It's not just the doorway or the entrance,

it's how you become a Christian,

it's the pathway you walk along

until you get to glory.

And so what that means is that

if you're a Christian here this morning,

one of the ways that you're going to grow

as a Christian

is to keep on applying the gospel

ever deeper into your heart

and to the challenges you face.

Why do we keep on talking about the gospel?

Well,

one of the reasons

is because we forget.

Look at what Paul says here in verse 1.

He says,

Now I want to remind you,

brothers,

of the gospel.

We spoke about this two weeks ago

when we looked at Deuteronomy 6, right?

Remember Deuteronomy,

Paul,

not Paul,

Paul wasn't born yet,

Moses,

okay?

Wrong testament.

Moses writes and he says,

He says,

Love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

soul,

mind,

strength.

Teach this to your children.

And then he says,

when you go into the promised land

and you count these houses

and vineyards

and everything is wonderful,

take care lest you forget

the Lord your God

who delivered you out of Egypt.

And we spoke about the fact

that in the Bible

to forget

doesn't mean to have a lapse of memory.

It means you start to assume something.

You start to take it for granted.

What was once

front and central in your mind

starts to move to the periphery.

And you say,

Yeah,

yeah,

I understand that,

right?

Well,

Paul writes to remind them

of the gospel

because he wants to bring it

front and central

to their lives.

Friends,

when we tend to

assume the gospel,

take it for granted,

we tend to think that

God saved us from our sins

but then salvation

is a means of self-help.

Like God just giving us a help up.

God,

God,

we need some of His help.

We don't quite have it all together

and so we need God

just to help us get our lives

together.

We need God to help heal us

from our hurts

or we need God to help us

sort out this area of our lives.

In other words,

what we do is we start to trust ourselves

for our salvation

along with God.

But when we do that,

we rob the gospel of its power.

It becomes like a shell

of what it originally was.

In Romans 1,

Paul says,

I'm not ashamed of the gospel

for it's the power of God

for salvation.

It has the power

to change your life,

to revolutionize your life.

But when we think of the gospel

as a means to self-help,

as good advice

rather than good news,

it disempowers the gospel

of its very essence,

its power.

And it becomes just

the advice

of how to live our lives.

And so the one reason

we keep on talking about it

is because we tend to forget.

But the other reason

is because,

as I alluded to earlier,

the gospel is also the way

you grow as a Christian.

For those of us

that are already Christians,

justified,

forgiven,

we need to keep on hearing

the good news of the gospel

and ever dive into

the richness of the treasure

of who Jesus is

and what he's done

on the cross

in order to grow

and mature

as Christians.

Christians.

We see this

throughout the New Testament.

The Apostle Paul

is constantly applying

the gospel

to every area of life.

In other words,

Paul in Ephesians chapter 5,

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

he wants to help

some of the Christians

with their marriages.

And so what does he say?

He writes and he says,

Husbands,

love your wives

just as Christ

loved the church.

Well, how did Christ

love the church?

He gave himself up for her,

laying down his life

on the cross.

Paul wants to help

people who are not

getting along so well

to get along in the church.

And so what does he do?

He says,

Have this mind

which is yours

in Christ Jesus

who though he was God

didn't count equality

with God

something to be grasped

but emptied himself

becoming a man,

humbling himself

to the point of servanthood,

even death on the cross.

You see,

when there's conflict

in the church,

Paul doesn't just say,

Listen,

you've been Christians

for 10 years,

sort yourselves out now.

What does he do?

He says,

Remember the humility

of Jesus

and let that

humble you

of your pride

so that you can receive

and love one another.

Later on in Ephesians,

Paul writes

and he wants to help

two Christians

forgive each other

who are struggling

to forgive each other.

And he says this,

Let all bitterness

and anger

be put away from you.

Be kind to one another,

tenderhearted,

forgiving one another

just as God

in Christ

forgave you.

Friends,

isn't that amazing?

Let's say,

Claire and I

are not getting along

so well.

Marriage is hard.

Paul doesn't just say,

Kevin,

you're the man,

sort yourself out.

Okay?

Have you guys seen

that skit

where the counselor

says,

I've got two words

for you.

He says,

just stop it.

Someone comes in

and says,

I've got a problem.

He says,

okay,

just stop it.

That's not what Paul does.

He says,

Kevin,

I could tell you

to stop it.

But remember

how Christ treated you

when you were his enemy,

when you were shaking

your fists at him,

when you were saying,

stuff you,

God,

I want to be my own God.

How did Christ forgive you?

He went to the cross.

Let that melt your heart

and forgive the one

that has hurt you.

When Paul wants to help

Christians be generous

with their money,

what does he do?

He says,

remember Jesus

who was infinitely rich

in heaven

and yet for your sake

became poor

so that you who are poor

have become infinitely

rich in him.

Paul massages

the kindness of Jesus,

the grace of Jesus,

the indestructible love

of Jesus

into the hearts

of those that are

followers of Jesus

and he applies it

to the exact area

of their lives

where they are struggling.

But did you notice,

for Paul,

the gospel

is not just a theory

of atonement

or of how,

you know,

Paul doesn't just say,

let me tell you

the doctrine

of propitiation,

okay?

He doesn't just

throw a textbook

at them.

What does he do?

The gospel

is always

a person.

You see,

it's the love

of Christ

that secures

our anxious hearts.

It's the forgiveness

of Christ

that helps us

to forgive one another.

It's the gentleness

and kindness

of Jesus

that melts our hearts.

Remember,

Romans 2 says,

it is the kindness

of God

that leads us

to repentance.

As Paul massages

the wonder

of Jesus

and who Christ is

and what Jesus

did on the cross,

it so melts

the hearts

of those

that are receiving it

that it actually

changes them

from the inside out.

In other words,

the more we come

to see

and realize

the depth

of the chasm

that lay between

us and God,

how utterly hopeless

our situation was,

how despairing

and desperate

our situation was

apart from

the mercy of Christ,

the more we see

that,

the more our hearts

will melt,

the more we'll

understand the love

of Christ for us,

the more that God

will change you.

Friends,

when we see

the wonder of Jesus

and the good news

of the gospel,

let me put it this way,

when that is not

vivid and real to us,

when it's not

clear to us,

when we assume

the gospel

rather than treasure

who Jesus is

and what he's done,

what happens

when things

come into your life?

What happens

when you come up

against issues

in our life?

I know what happens

in my life,

I get defensive.

I start to say,

well,

it's not my fault.

If that person

hadn't done that,

I wouldn't have

acted this way.

When the gospel

is not real to me,

I find someone else

to blame.

I start to come up

with all sorts

of excuses

why things

that have gone wrong

in my life

are not my fault.

It's my parents' fault.

It's the government's fault.

It's global warming's fault.

It's the church's fault,

right?

It's Claire's fault.

But when the wonder

of Jesus

and what he's done

for me,

that I,

a sinner,

he rescued,

ransomed,

healed,

forgiven,

that when I was

at my worst,

Christ went to the cross

for me.

It gives me

an identity.

It changes me.

It makes me

the kind of person

that can face

my flaws

and my flaws

no longer define me

because I'm defined

by the love of Christ.

Friends,

if you're a Christian today,

you,

like me,

need to appropriate

the gospel

ever deeper

into your heart

in order to grow.

Friends,

are you a Christian

and you've become

stagnant in your faith?

Are you no longer

growing in your faith?

Have you become

bored and blasé?

Have you,

maybe you became

a Christian a few years

ago and your life

changed and God

blew up your life

and it was all amazing,

but over the last few

years you've just

plateaued and you

walk with God.

You don't need to

just understand

more stuff

or read more books.

You need to marvel

at the wonder

of what Jesus did

on the cross for you.

That you,

a sinner,

condemned and unclean,

could be welcomed

and ransomed,

healed and restored

because Christ

loves you.

Grapple with,

marvel with,

wonder,

preach the gospel

to yourself.

Okay,

quick story.

C.S. Lewis,

I only discovered

this two weeks ago.

C.S. Lewis,

the great C.S. Lewis,

the guy who wrote

Narnia and

Mere Christianity

and Screwtape Letters

and all these

wonderful books,

became a Christian

in 1931.

He grew up

in a Christian home.

He rejected his faith

in his 20s,

became an ardent atheist

and he was friends

with J.R.R. Tolkien,

the guy who wrote

The Lord of the Rings

at university.

Tolkien was a Christian

and Tolkien preached

the gospel to him

and led him

to faith in Christ.

And so he became

a Christian in 1931.

And he wrote

these amazing books

like Narnia

and C.S. Lewis

and Screwtape Letters.

20 years later,

on the 21st of April,

1951,

he has a life-transforming

encounter.

the realization

of the forgiveness

of God's sin

became real to him

in a way

that had never

become real

previously.

And even though

he had been a Christian

for 20 years,

as the depth

and the wonder

of the gospel

became real to him

in a way

that it had never

been real,

it changed his life.

Listen to how

he describes it.

He writes to

some lady

three years later,

1954,

he says,

he had this

experience,

he says,

perhaps this is

the most blessed

thing that has

ever happened

to me.

Oh,

how little people

know of Christianity,

those who think

the story ends

with conversion.

Two years later,

1956,

he's writing

another letter

and he says,

I'd always believed

in my mind

the doctrine

of God's

forgiveness of sins

and I said

I believed it

but then

one blessed day

it suddenly

came to me

and it made me

realize that

previously

what I had

called belief

was absolutely

unreal.

Two years later,

1958,

he writes this,

I had been a

Christian for many

years before I

really believed

God's love for me

in the forgiveness

of sins

or more strictly

before my

theoretical belief

became a reality

to me.

Friends,

is that true for you?

Maybe you've been

a Christian for 20

years.

So yes,

I know Jesus died

for me,

yes,

I know he loves me

but has the gospel

captured your heart?

Is it changing you?

Is it today,

this week,

reassuring you

of God's love?

Is it melting

the pride

and the ego?

Is it destroying

the defensiveness?

Is it making you

more lovely

and kind

and gracious?

Is the gospel

real to you?

Friends,

why do we always

talk about the gospel?

Because it's

not only for sinners,

it's also for saints.

Now,

I've got two very

quick things to say

as well.

This is not going

to be too long.

Thirdly,

the gospel is not

only for sinners,

not only for saints,

it's also for sufferers.

Every religion,

every secular worldview

will tell you

that it's the strong,

the devoted,

those that have

got it all together

that obtain the favor

of the gods

or make a success

in life.

But Jesus says,

it's those of us

who come to him

in weakness,

those who come

to the end of ourselves,

those who are despairing

that find the grace

of God.

Chris reminded me

of this this week,

that what makes

suffering so intolerable

is not just

the suffering itself,

that's part of it,

but it's the stories

we believe

about our suffering.

When you're suffering,

the story in your mind

that says,

I'm suffering

because I've done

something wrong,

because I must have

done something

to earn this

displeasure of God.

Or maybe we tell

ourselves that

this suffering

will make me unlovable,

I'm now damaged goods,

no one will ever love me.

Or we think

this is the way

it will always be.

Or we take that on

as our identity.

But Jesus Christ

came with the broken world,

suffered unbelievable,

infinite rejection,

not only by his disciples,

not only by the Romans,

but by his father

on the cross.

Jesus suffered

in order to give

you and I

an identity

that does not change

with our successes

or our failures.

That does not change

when life is amazing

or when life is suffering.

Jesus gives you

an identity

that is based

on his profound

love for you.

And so look at

what Paul says here

in 2 Corinthians.

He says,

God said to me,

Paul's going through

his sorrow time,

suffering unbelievably.

He cries out to God

and says,

God, is this ever

going to change?

And look at what God says.

My grace is sufficient

for you.

My power is made perfect

in your weakness.

Therefore,

says Paul,

I will boast

all the more gladly

of my weaknesses

so that the power

of Christ

may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ,

then,

I am content

with weakness,

insults,

hardships,

calamities.

When I am weak

because of Christ

and the gospel,

then I am strong.

Friends,

no one likes suffering.

None of us

choose suffering.

But Jesus' death

and resurrection

transform suffering

from a sentence

into a steward

that will lead you

to the grace of God.

Just this week,

I was sitting with a man

who is going through

unbelievable suffering.

The kind of suffering

that I hope

I will never experience

in my lifetime.

And as I sat across

the room from him

with tears streaming

down his face,

he said to me,

this is the hardest thing

I've ever gone through

in my entire life.

And yet,

I would not change it

for the world

because in this hardship,

I have experienced

the intimacy

and the closeness

of Christ

that I never thought

was possible.

Friends,

are you suffering

this morning?

Yes,

you're in a battle,

but the battle

doesn't define you.

Jesus' death

and resurrection

gives you an identity

that defines you.

Your battle

will be won

because the ultimate battle

was won on the cross.

Yes,

destruction and danger

and even death

will come close,

but they won't consume you.

They won't overwhelm you

if you're in Christ

because Christ's death

and resurrection

changes suffering

from a sentence

into a servant.

But then,

not only is the gospel

good news for sinners,

not only is it good news

for saints,

not only is it good news

for sufferers,

it's good news

for sojourners.

I'm sorry about

the four S's,

but,

you know.

You see,

the good news

of the gospel

is that,

yes,

Christ is with us

in our suffering.

He's with us.

He doesn't abandon us.

But actually,

the ultimate good news

is that one day

our suffering will end.

If you're new

to church this morning,

the Bible talks

about Christians

as being sojourners

or pilgrims.

And what that means

is that this world

is not our home.

We are kind of pilgrims

in this world

as we make our way

towards our final home,

which is glory

for all eternity

in Christ.

You see,

as wonderful

and as precious

as it is

that the risen Lord

Jesus Christ

is with you

in your suffering,

the Bible says

there is coming a day

when every bit

of suffering,

every bit of brokenness,

every bit of wickedness,

every tear

that you encounter

in this world

will be done away with

if you're in Christ.

There is a world

that is coming

that is your true

and lasting home,

your final home

where there will be

no more tears,

no more pain,

no more death,

no more sorrow,

no more suffering,

no more agony.

Friends,

the day you become

a Christian,

God saves you

from the penalty

of sin.

In this lifetime,

God is saving you

from the power

of sin in your life.

There is coming a day

when God will deliver you

from even the very presence

of sin and brokenness

and wickedness

in our world.

And so Paul goes on

and he says,

if we are Christians,

he says,

if as Christians

we have hope

in this life only,

but then after this life

that's just the end,

we of Christians

are the most of all people

to be pitied.

But in fact,

Christ died

and raised from the dead

so we also

will raise with him

when he comes again.

Friends,

for those of us

that are Christians,

as it was with Christ,

so it will be with you.

Yes,

you will suffer

in this world.

Jesus said,

in this world

you will have hardship

and difficulty.

But just as Jesus died

and rose again,

if you are in Christ,

that is going to be

your story too.

Because Jesus will give us

an identity,

a hope,

a home,

a glory

that no one

and nothing

can take away from you.

Friends,

this is why we talk

about the gospel.

This is why we sing,

pray,

delight,

celebrate the gospel.

gospel.

This is why we are not ashamed

to call ourselves

gospel-centered.

Friends,

I pray that at Watermark,

when in years to come

you think of Watermark,

you don't just think of

a friendly church.

You don't just think of

community,

as wonderful as that is.

You don't just think of

gospel-centered

because that is on

everything we ever write.

But I pray that

as you think of Watermark,

you will think of

the wonder of God's love.

That though you were a sinner,

lost and dead in your sins,

because of His profound

love for you,

Jesus Christ went to the cross,

took your sin upon Himself,

that you can be

rescued,

healed,

restored,

forgiven.

I would remind you,

brothers and sisters,

of the gospel

that I preached to you,

says Paul,

in which you received,

in which you stand,

by which you are being saved,

as you hold fast

to the word of life.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus,

I do pray,

God,

for us as a church,

Lord.

I pray that

one of the marks

of Watermark Church

is that we will be

so rooted and anchored,

that we will

not just know

the good news

of the gospel in our head,

but that it will

infiltrate every area

of our lives.

It will shape

every area of our lives.

It will change us,

God,

that we will be so

anchored and grounded

and established

in the profound

good news

of what you did

on the cross,

that God,

we will be a taste

of heaven on earth,

that in this little community

and as we spread out

into Hong Kong,

that we,

God,

will be almost

an enclave

of heaven on earth.

Christ,

I pray,

come and do that.

Lord,

I pray for those of us here

that are maybe

not even Christians.

We've never come

to experience

the life-transforming

power of God.

God,

won't you come

and open eyes

to see the gospel.

Won't you come

and help us

to see what you did

for us,

that your death

on the cross

wasn't just

a historical event,

it was a power.

It was an event

to change the course

of human history

and to change

our lives too.

Christ,

come and have your way

in our lives

and in our church,

we pray.

Amen.