How do I Forgive God and Make Peace with Him?

Father, we thank you for the different friends and neighbors and co-workers that you've given us.

Sometimes, Father, we're not always thankful for them.

But we thank you for everyone that we have some contact with, some degree of influence over,

and even those who influence us.

And we ask, Father, that you help us to hear their questions and not to be afraid of them,

and that you help us to bear witness to Jesus.

Father, we ask that you help us not to be afraid of the questions that people might ask about why we follow Jesus.

Grant us, Father, a deep confidence in Jesus, a deep confidence in the Gospel,

a deep confidence in your Word, so that we are unafraid of questions.

And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, I guess some of you, if you're regulars, you've figured out that I do a lot of work in coffee shops.

And so there's one particular coffee shop where I do most of my sermon preparation.

And I don't think I've mentioned this before, but there's now, I think, about five different people,

they don't do it every week, who will come up to me and ask me what my sermon's going to be on this week.

And so sometimes it leads to very, very interesting conversations.

And something happened just this week, actually.

It's partially talked about on the blog.

I don't know how many people read the blog that I write every week that's in the bulletin and then on the web,

but that doesn't matter how many read it or not.

So this, I was working on my sermon, and this fellow, one of the fellows who occasionally asks me what I'm preaching on on Sunday,

and he asks me, and he listens very politely, and after I've told him, you know, very roughly what I'm going to preach on,

he then goes into this five-minute, very eloquent, impassioned monologue about all of the pain and suffering in the world.

And all of the natural disasters in the world, and all of the war and evil in the world,

obviously he can't cover it all in five minutes, but he just gave concrete example after concrete example,

and said, George, in light of all of this, what you're doing on Sunday is a waste of time,

because there is no positive news from God or about God, because God can't exist.

And so you can look in the blog a little bit about how I began to answer the question,

and a little tiny bit about what happened there, and I can't touch on all of that issue here,

but actually, afterwards I was thinking that his question, actually, his comment,

was actually very helpful for us, because the Bible text that Laurier read

actually gives us a really deep insight into that whole question and problem that my friend raised.

So if you get your Bibles out, we're not going to look at that text, all of that text immediately.

I'm going to do something which is a little, actually, get your Bible out now.

Get your Bible out. We're going to look at that.

It's 2 Corinthians 5, verses 11 to 21, and I'm just going to read it,

2 Corinthians 5:11–21

because it doesn't sound at first as if it has anything at all to do with the problem of evil

and how we try to think it through, but it actually, we'll see.

So here's how it goes.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is also known to you, your consciences.

We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us,

so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance

and not about what is in the heart.

For we are beside ourselves, it is for God.

If we are in our right mind, it is for you.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this,

that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves,

but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

It's a very complicated bit of a sentence, isn't it?

I might say a few things about that towards the end.

I'm actually leading us to a very, very odd thing,

and I want to try to show you the oddness of it.

We're actually going to spend most of this sermon on one odd bit of the whole scripture.

So keep reading verse 16.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.

And just pause here for a second.

That doesn't mean, flesh here doesn't mean bodily or physically.

The word flesh here means that part of human beings that are in rebellion against God,

that want to be like God.

I'm not playing particular favorites here.

I know the election in the United States of America is coming up very, very, very soon.

My guess is that both Trump and Clinton are pretty high up there in wanting to be like God.

You can all have a little bit of debate as to who has a bigger God complex, Clinton or Trump.

I'm not even going to get into it.

But in some ways, maybe they have a higher God complex than most of us here in the room.

But every human being has a bit of a God complex where we want to be like God.

We want to take God's place.

We want to act like God.

We want to be the center.

And when it says the flesh, it's talking about seeing the world from that perspective.

Okay, that's what it's talking about.

Understanding and seeing different people and processes from that perspective.

That's what it means by the flesh.

So verse 16 again.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh,

even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh.

We regard him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he has a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

All this is from God 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

and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

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 sin who knew no sin

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And it's that verse 21.

And I didn't know this before I started to read the academic commentaries.

And it's hard in English to put it and try to reflect

what the academic commentaries say is going on at the level of the original language.

So in the year 56 or whatever,

when the original hearers heard this letter in the original language,

they would have recognized that this last verse is an odd verse.

It's an absolute statement.

And in the original language,

it's as if it's not connected to what went on in verse 20,

19 and 20 and before.

And in some ways,

it's as if it's not connected to chapter 6, verse 1,

and what happens after.

It's this absolute statement.

And in some ways, almost,

we'd want to have it in bold and in a square

and in bigger letters.

Because in some ways,

it's this absolute statement.

It's in a Greek tense

that doesn't exist in English

where it's an act completed by God.

An act of God completed.

And it's just in an absolute sense.

In other words,

just all of a sudden,

it's just there.

And in some ways,

it's to explain everything in the book.

And in some ways,

it's connected to everything in the book.

In some ways,

it's connected to nothing in the book

at a literary level.

And that's just how it's written.

And it's hard to communicate in English.

And I didn't know that

until I was reading the academic commentaries.

And it's this,

whoa, comment.

And I'm going to have it put up.

Andrew, could you put it up on the screen?

And I've put it up here.

It's almost as if you translated it literally

in the order that it's given in

with these five different ideas.

And so,

you know,

I know one of the things

I like to try to do

with 2 Corinthians

is say certain verses

over and over again

so you memorize them.

And I have to confess,

I have,

when I'm going to look at it,

I have this verse memorized.

God made him

who knew no sin

to be sin for us

so that in him

we might become

the righteousness of God.

I have that memorized.

And all week,

I've been thinking about it this way

and I'm all messed up.

So,

those of you

who have memorized this verse,

I don't want to mess you up,

but

this is how,

a literal way,

so could you say it with me?

I know it's,

and I've done it on purpose

because it's,

and actually Andrew,

could you do something for me?

Could you put the word God

in the third line?

Could you put that in brackets?

Square brackets?

Because actually in the original language,

oh,

he has to take it off.

I guess we can't all read it together out loud

until it comes back on.

But in the original language,

the word God isn't there.

It just has this powerful word,

made sin.

And I guess,

Andrew,

when it comes to the third point,

you can do the same thing.

And just waiting,

waiting,

waiting.

Maybe we should sing a song,

tell a joke.

I wouldn't do a little bit of a dance

because then you'd all want to leave

or you'd be rolling in the aisles

with laughter

because I can't dance at all.

In heaven,

I'll learn to dance.

That's sort of my hope.

There we go.

Could you all say this with me?

The one who knew no sin for us,

God made sin,

that we might become

the righteousness of God in him.

Let's say it together again.

The one who knew no sin for us,

God made sin,

that we might become

the righteousness of God in him.

And I can't see the screen very well,

so I should make sure I read it the way it's...

Okay.

So,

here's the thing.

So,

put up the first thing,

Andrew.

We're just going to look at each one of those lines.

So,

the first line,

we're going to look at,

the one who knew no sin.

Well,

this sounds like a very,

very odd idea,

doesn't it?

And in fact,

at first,

it doesn't sound very attractive

if we think about it.

I want to share something with you,

true confessions.

I don't like Superman.

I've never liked Superman.

Even when I was a kid,

addicting to comic books,

every once in a while,

I would borrow a friend's Superman comic,

and I could hardly finish it

because it reaffirmed to me

why I so dislike Superman.

And I know I've now completely and utterly

alienated myself from some of you,

but basically,

the problem with Superman is

he had no weaknesses.

Come on.

Like,

he can't figure out when kryptonite's coming?

He has no weaknesses.

I mean,

even if things go really bad,

all he has to do is go with his

unbelievably super fast speed

to go back in time and fix it.

And it's not even as fun

as when Bill and Ted,

in their excellent adventure,

they go back in time

and forward in time to fix things.

That at least is amusing.

And I just never liked it.

He had no weaknesses.

And so for many of us,

when we hear this idea

that Jesus has no weakness,

that he has no sin,

he knew no sin,

and we think of it like

Jesus is like Superman,

only there's no kryptonite.

Well,

how interesting

or how relatable is that

to us in our human experience?

Like,

let's just be honest.

How can you relate to somebody

who just sort of goes through life?

I mean,

you know why?

Why did I not like Superman?

He's stronger than anything.

He can,

like,

there's no drama in his fights.

Like,

nothing.

Like,

it just,

and so that's how a lot of us

feel with Jesus.

Like,

we know we're supposed to love him

and we know we're supposed to adore him

and we know we can be thankful for him.

But the fact of the matter is,

how can he relate to us as human beings

when he knew no sin?

I know some of you may be your guests.

You're saying,

I knew I shouldn't have come

to an Anglican church

on a Sunday morning

because he's just going to preach heresy.

And,

and you're already tweeting,

Anglican minister once again,

preaching stuff which is heretical.

But let's just,

you know,

but here,

the text actually,

rather than telling us

that Jesus is like Superman,

is actually telling us

something radically different,

the complete and utter opposite

of Superman.

The,

the word knew there,

amongst,

another thing,

just before I,

I go to where this text is going,

the word knew,

know there,

isn't just having an idea

in your head.

It's,

the same word

that is often used

in the Bible

to describe sexual intimacy,

sexual intercourse.

Isaac saw Rebecca

and they went into their tent

and he knew her.

It's the same word

and it talks about experiential,

intimate knowledge.

But what's going on here,

this cryptic sentence,

it's almost a bit like a creed,

just said there very,

bluntly,

it's made a bit clearer

in a different part of the Bible.

Some of you might be familiar with it

and it's Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

If you just want to turn in your Bibles

to Hebrews chapter 4,

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 4

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

captures

what's going on in this verse

in the original language,

the idea there.

And it's Hebrews chapter 4

Hebrews 4:14–16

verses 14 to 16

and it goes like this.

Since then,

we have a great high priest

who has passed through the heavens,

Jesus,

the Son of God.

Let us hold fast

our confession.

Here's the bit.

For we do not have

a high priest

who is unable to sympathize

with our weaknesses,

but one who in every respect

has been tempted

as we are,

yet without sin.

And then note

the very surprising thing

that comes next.

Tempted in every way

like we are,

only without sin.

Let us then

with confidence

draw near to the throne of grace

that we may receive mercy

and find grace

to help in times of need.

In other words,

he's able to identify

with our weakness.

We get grace from him.

So this very puzzling phrase,

the one who knew no sin,

it's actually telling us

that nobody understands

human experience

better than Jesus.

I'll give you an example.

Let's say

I'm talking to my friend Bob

and I happen to know

something about Andy

and I don't like Andy.

Andy has hurt me

and he's hurt me

more than once

and I actually find

him a pretty obnoxious

and unlikable person.

I know none of you

have people like that

that you find obnoxious

or that have hurt you,

but you can maybe

get the idea.

And I also know

that Bob

doesn't like Andy,

that Bob's been hurt

by Andy.

And so both of us

have been hurt by Andy

and I happen

by happenstance

to know something

very embarrassing

about Andy

that would make Andy

look really,

really, really bad.

Now do I tell Bob?

Well, the Bible

would tell me

that I shouldn't,

that I should love Andy

and I shouldn't do something

that's going to belittle him

and if he knew

that Bob knew

it would embarrass him

because it's something

deeply, deeply shameful

and embarrassing

about Andy

and Andy doesn't know

that I know

and he definitely

wouldn't like it

that I knew

and he definitely

wouldn't like it

that Bob knew.

But I don't like Andy.

So how long

before I give in

to the temptation

to tell Bob?

Well, five seconds later,

because I'm not very holy,

I tell Bob.

Well, maybe that's

five seconds later

is what I was like

five years ago

and I've grown in holiness

and I wait 60 seconds

before I tell Bob.

But eventually I tell Bob.

Now here's the thing.

In terms of my experience,

I only know

what it's like

to withstand

this temptation

to do something wrong

and I only know

what it's like

to do something right

for one minute.

but after I give in

to the temptation,

well,

my experience

then goes

in a different way

because I've done

something evil.

I don't know

what it would be like

to actually,

let's say,

be on a flight

from Ottawa

to Vancouver

and I'm in

the security checkup

with Bob

and I sit beside Bob

on the plane

and in a sense

I'm with Bob

for about six and a half hours

and I don't know

how to go

six and a half hours

without telling

Bob

the embarrassing thing

about Andy.

I don't know

what that human experience

is like

because I gave in

within a minute

and what's more,

I don't know

what it's like

to know

over the next few years

because here's the nice thing

about telling really,

okay,

I mean nice

in a particular way,

okay,

here's the problem

with not liking

somebody like Andy

and wanting to tell them,

tell other people

bad and embarrassing

things that make them

look bad

is I don't just do it

a week after

or a day after

I hear about it

but it could even be

five years

or ten years

or twenty years

or twenty-five years later

when somebody is saying,

oh,

look at that,

Andy,

he's such a bleepity,

bleep,

bleep,

bleep,

and I said,

oh yeah,

you should have

known what he did

twenty years ago.

And I don't know

what it's like

to not give in

to that temptation

even if it takes

more than a minute,

five minutes,

an hour,

a week,

a month,

a year,

a decade,

I don't know

what it's like.

I only have

a shallow experience

of what it means

to be human

when I give in

to evil.

So what this line

is telling us

is that Jesus

experienced

all of the temptations

that we do

but he never gave

in to them.

He never gave

in to them.

He never succumbed

to the evil

and he would know

all the different ways

that evil would come up

and pop in

and give me suggestions,

give him suggestions,

you know,

an hour later,

five hours later,

a week later,

two weeks later,

all of the different ways

that the mind works

and the world works

and Andy works

and all of those types

of things

to tempt me

to finally give in

and say that thing.

I don't know

any of that stuff

because I gave in.

Jesus knows it.

He knows,

human experience

to its absolute depths

in a way

that none of us know

what it means

to be human

and how to live.

In other words,

he's not at all

like Superman,

just merely impervious.

He's not like

the bank machine

which can't

do anything evil.

It's just a bank machine.

It's just

circuits with pretensions,

you know,

and

Jesus is actually

deeply human.

Deeply,

deeply,

deeply human.

And this actually,

by the way,

is going to put

the problem of evil

in a very,

very different perspective.

See,

here's part of the problem

with the problem

of evil

is that for many of us

in this world,

we look at all the bad things

that have happened

to us in our life

and we look at the bad things

that go on in the world

and then when somebody

tells us that we need

to have Jesus in our life,

what's often going on,

even if it's unspoken,

is we think to ourselves,

well,

how on earth am I going

to get over all the bad things

that God has done?

How am I going to be able

to forgive God

to have a relationship

with him?

How am I going to be able

to be reconciled to God

given all the bad things

he's done?

Why?

Because I'm looking

at the world

from the perspective

of my flesh,

which is what the text

just said a little bit earlier.

I'm looking at Jesus

from the perspective

of my flesh.

I've done bad things,

God's done bad things,

how on earth are we going

to work this relationship out?

How am I going

to work it out with him?

But,

and,

and,

I mean,

it's not that God

is up there

sending lightning bolts

at people

the second we've done

something wrong

because in fact

if God sent lightning bolts

out to people

who the second

they've done something wrong

there would be nobody

left in this room

and nobody left

on the planet.

We'd have been zapped

a long time ago.

Even if you gave you

a clean slate

when you woke up

this morning,

I don't know how many

of us would have

made it here by now

to tell you the truth.

Including me,

okay?

I wouldn't be up here.

You'd be thinking,

where's George?

But he did something bad,

zap.

And you're gone,

you know?

Anyway,

and,

if in fact

no one

is perfect

and everyone

in a sense

deserves

a punishment

from God,

it changes

the whole problem

of evil.

And in fact,

I mean,

how do you now

relate to Jesus

if he's never

done anything wrong?

And he knows

human experience

so deeply and fully.

He's experienced

all of the temptations

you've experienced

and I've experienced

and he never gave

in to them.

How on earth

do I now relate to him?

On one hand,

he knows the depth

of human experience

deeper than me,

but now the relationship

is very different.

You know,

it's not like

me and my wife.

I mean,

you know,

one of the issues

with all marriages

is how does a marriage

survive discovering

that you're both sinners?

I'm a way bigger sinner

than my wife,

by the way.

She has a lot more

to forgive.

But how do you,

how do we relate

to Jesus?

Jesus.

So let's say that,

could you put the text up,

Andrew?

Could you say this text

with me again?

Let's say it.

The one who knew no sin

for us,

God made sin

that we might become

the righteousness of God

in him.

Let's say it together again.

The one who knew no sin

for us,

God made sin

that we might become

the righteousness of God

in him.

The next thing,

for us.

For us.

You see,

now here's the first thing.

You know,

one of the things

which is beloved

in Eastern religions

is the idea

that different monks

and stuff like that

and different people

who really get into it

that they can do

remarkable physical feats

of mind over body,

that they can lie

in a bed of nails,

that they can,

you know,

they can hold their hand

over fire

and not wince

and it's very appealing

to many of us

in the West

to have that type

of sense of mastery

and power over our body

and,

but Jesus is here,

it's not that he has

this type of iron will

that's controlling him

because that can be

so cold

and impersonal

and frankly,

amoral

and self-centered.

but the Bible tells us

the one who knew

no sin

for us

and this has,

this is once again

one of these powerful ideas.

If you,

in a sense,

I don't recommend

anybody get tattoos.

I don't care if you have a tattoo

or not,

that's up to you

but if you had a tattoo

for us

would be a good thing

to put on

thinking of Jesus

for us

because what motivates

everything in the gospel,

everything about

the one who knew

no sin

is that he's

for us

because he loves us

and he's for us

and it's also

this idea

of communicating

that somehow

or another

he represents

us

and the us

means everybody.

There's a really good book,

I can't pronounce

the guy's name,

he's a fellow

who became a Muslim

and he's now

a Baptist pastor

and I think his name

is Tabithi,

I can't remember

his last name

but he wrote

a really interesting book

called The Gospel

for Muslims

and one of the things

that he says

at the very beginning

of the book

is that there is

no gospel

for Muslims.

By that he means

is that there's

no separate gospel

for Muslims,

there's just the gospel.

There's not like

a gospel for Muslims,

a gospel for transgendered,

a gospel for gays,

a gospel for men,

a gospel for women

as if somehow or another

God has to change

the message

every time for the group,

there's just the gospel.

Why?

Because Jesus is for us.

He's for those

who identify themselves

as Muslim

or Hindu

or Republican

or Democrat

or transgendered

or whatever it is.

Jesus is for us.

Not necessarily

all how we,

not what we do,

not all of the things

we do,

not all the ways

we identify ourselves

but he's for us

and he's able

to represent us.

I mean,

one of the great fears

that there's been things

in the paper,

I don't read most

of the election coverage

in the states.

I mean,

it's really just

like a test

to analyze

the fears

and idolatries

and all of the writers.

I mean,

it's just,

it's quite astounding

and I know the candidates

are astounding

and I'm not going to,

I mean,

just pray for the American people

and that's good.

We should pray for them.

But, you know,

one of the big things

is as if there's going to be

somehow violence

in the states

because they understand

it's as if there's

these two tribes

and it's not as if

Clinton is running

to be the president

of the United States

but she's trying to be

the head of her tribe

to give them goodies

and against the Trump people

and if the Trump tribe loses

there's going to be

all this anger

and the Trump people

want to win

so they can do bad things

to the Clinton people

and it's almost as if

there's this dialogue going on

and what we have

to understand here,

the power of this phrase

for us,

for Republicans

and Democrats

and those who identify

themselves as

other,

you know,

same-sex attracted

or having multiple

different genders

or being rich

or being poor,

Jesus is for us

as individuals,

as real people.

Andrew,

could you put the text

up again for us,

please?

Let's say it together again.

The one who knew no sin

for us,

God made sin

that we might become

the righteousness of God

in him.

When they translate,

they often put God there

just to help clarify it,

but it's actually even more

powerful in the original language.

When the original people

heard it,

they would have understood

that God was implied,

but they would have heard

the one who knew no sin

for us

made sin.

For us

made sin.

Could you put up

the third point then

maybe in keeping God

in brackets?

You can put the God

in brackets.

Made sin.

Now,

this very,

very powerful two words,

made sin,

I don't know how to pronounce

this grammatical term.

I'm going to make

an idea of it.

All you grammar geeks

out there,

after the service,

you can tell me

how to pronounce it.

Metonymy.

Metonymy.

Basically,

what it is,

is it's this,

it's when you take

a small phrase

to represent

a fairly complex

but real reality.

So,

for instance,

we might say

that Justin Trudeau

is going to go

to Wall Street

to talk.

And by Wall Street,

we don't just mean

there's a street

in New York

called Wall,

right?

We mean all the

banking institutions,

the central power,

we mean the stock exchange.

You know,

there's a movie,

a famous

Jimmy Stewart movie

about Mr. Smith

goes to Washington,

right?

We go to Washington,

well,

it's because we want

to talk to the president,

we want to talk

to Congress,

we want to talk

to the Senate,

we want to talk

to the CIA,

the FBI,

the NSA,

Homeland Security,

all of those

types of things,

that's all captured,

real things captured

with this tiny

little phrase

going to Washington

and that's the same

thing here with this

idea of made sin,

made sin.

And it's this idea,

it's talking about

something that

actually happened,

it's a completed

action in the past

that God did

and it involves

a real death

upon the cross

at a certain

piece of real estate

in real history

at a certain time

outside a real city

done by real people

but it's not just

talking about

something concrete

and specific

and real

that happens

in space

and time

and history

that you could

have taken

a photograph of

but it's also

something that's

transcendental,

that it's talking

about something

that also God

is doing

and it affects

the things

in the heavens

and heaven

and earth

and hell

and it's talking

about human beings

at the very,

very depth

of who they are

and it's this image

of somehow

a burden

of all of the things

that we've done wrong

and all of the things

that are wrong acts

and all of our shameful acts

and all of the shame

that comes from

and all of the accusations

and all of our desires

to justify ourselves

and all of those things

that make us up

right from the depth

of the things

that go through our mind

as we're analyzing things,

you know,

we come into church

and say,

oh, those pants

don't go with that shirt

or whoa,

why on earth

is he wearing shoes

like that

to go with that shirt

or whoa,

boy,

that's a really nice

pair of glasses,

I wish I could have

a pair of glasses

like that

or whoa,

they shouldn't be singing

like that

or whoa,

the singing's a little bit

thing or whoa,

why is the pastor

wearing like that

whoa,

all of these judgments

that we go

that if we put them

up on the screen,

if all of a sudden

Dr. X from the X-Men

came and froze us

all in space

and all of those things

that were going

through our mind

and they went on the screen

and people would be horrified,

that's what you're like inside?

Oh,

we would be repulsed

and all of this complicated idea

somehow laid on the one

who knew no sin,

laid on him for us

and I know it sounds

very,

very,

very,

very,

give you a bit

of an illustration

about sort of

what it's trying

to capture as well.

This is hard

for young people,

for those of you

who are young,

I don't want to say

young people,

for younger people

to understand

because we get so used

to the way

the world works now

but when I was,

when I was first ordained,

one of the things

I had to do,

I was in a large

suburban church

and there was a lot

of elderly people

and there was always

people in the hospital

and I'm not making this up

and this isn't like

500 years ago

because I'm not that old,

I could go to the hospital

and I would say,

hi,

I'm,

you know,

they don't know me

from Adam

and I say,

hi,

I'm George Sinclair,

I have my collar on,

could you give me the list

of every Anglican

in the hospital

and they would give it to me.

I'm not making this up.

They'd give it to you

and I could just go

through the list

and I would be able

to tell by,

you know,

names and other things

that have my church list

and I would go visit

everybody who had

a connection to my,

the church or within

the parish boundaries,

I'd go give them a visit.

When I was in Eganville,

I could go to the hospitals

in Pembroke and Renfrew

and Barry's Bay

and I would just go

and say,

hi,

I'm George Sinclair,

I'm an Anglican minister,

could I have a list

of all the Anglicans

and they would give it to me.

A simpler time.

So,

so you see now,

I was just re-watching

the movie Inception

and now,

we only imagine

that maybe the president

or the CIA

or some unbelievable billionaire

would be able to go in

and get behind the scenes

and go to all of the

different databases

and get all of the information

and move things around

so that,

so that things could be made right.

because we don't have

that type of knowledge,

you know,

I mean,

I couldn't even if my,

one of my married kids

was in the hospital

and,

and,

you know,

him and his wife

were both,

let's say,

in a coma

because he'd been in a car accident,

I'd have no authority

to go in

and actually try to,

to make things right

or to do things

and that's just the way

the world is

but if you just picture this,

if God in effect

can move things around

to make things right,

part of that process

is going to be

that all of the wrong things

that I've done,

all of the debt

that everything,

every accusation against me

that somehow or another

he's going to be able

to somehow,

the Bible doesn't go

through the mechanics,

place it

on the one

who knew no sin.

Just as for those of you

who watch the movie

Inception,

it's all driven

by the fact

that the man wants

to be reunited

with his children

and he comes across

a rich man

who can move

everything around

behind the scenes

to allow him

to return to his children.

I won't tell you

whether it happens

or not,

that would spoil the movie.

Can you put up

the thing again,

the sentence please?

Can you say it with me?

The one who knew no sin

for us,

God made sin

that we might become

the righteousness of God

in him.

Fourth one,

that we might become

the righteousness of God.

So how does this go?

The one who knew no sin

for us,

he's for us,

he can act as a representative,

God made sin,

some type of idea

that something

that should have been on me

can somehow be placed

on him

and as it's placed

on him,

this righteousness of God

doesn't mean

that I'm a better person

than anybody else,

it's far from it.

The word righteousness

of God

in Greek,

it has

usually one

or more

of three different meanings.

One of them is

it's talking about

God being right,

that God acts

in a way

which is right

and another way

which is used

which is hard

for North Americans

to understand,

it's an image

that made a lot of sense

and it would make

a lot of sense

in most of the world.

Like in China,

you're not innocent

until you're proven guilty,

right?

I mean,

you know,

basically if the state

wants to throw you in jail,

they'll throw you in jail.

And this word,

this second word

about being

given complete

and utter

blameworthy status

and set free,

that makes a lot of sense

in China.

It doesn't make as much sense

in Canada

where you're innocent

until proven guilty.

So often in Canada,

the third sense

is the one

which is a bit better

which is to make things right,

to set things right

in a way that shows

that God is right

and to illustrate it,

I'll give you a story.

Some of you have heard

the story before.

Hopefully this will get you

a bit of a sense

about what it means

that in Him

we become the righteousness

of God.

I was a very,

very,

very,

very bad student

when I was in elementary

and high school.

I was very lazy.

And I can't remember now

if it was grade 7 or 8.

We,

coming up into the spring,

the end of the year,

and I had in my French class,

we had to give,

I think it was a two-minute

speech in French

and it was a big project,

culminating project

for the year.

And I,

being a lazy,

bad student

and despite the fact

that I'm absolutely terrible,

I was terrible at French,

I did absolutely no work on it.

I would,

I would play road hockey

or baseball

or touch football

with my friends

and after that

I would either read,

but I would do

no school work,

no preparation.

One of the reasons

I didn't do it

is because I was very confident

that when,

in that class,

she said it would take us

a whole week

to go through the speeches

and this teacher

always did it

in alphabetical order,

usually from A to Z,

occasionally from Z to A

and if she was really

feeling wild and crazy,

she'd mix it up

and use first names

rather than last names.

But I had been blessed

with the perfect name,

George Sinclair,

which meant that

no matter which way

she did it,

I would never be

in the first group.

And being lazy

and being cocky

and being stupid,

I did absolutely

no preparation.

So the day comes,

beautiful sunny day,

I can still picture it

in my mind,

beautiful sunny day,

we're all sitting

hubbub, hubbub

and she says

in her cheery teacher voice,

okay, we're going to do

our French speeches

right now,

as if everybody's just

looking forward to do it.

And she said,

I've been thinking

about this

and I think it's unfair

that,

well, it's not unfair,

but you know,

it's not maybe always fair

that I always do things

in alphabetical order.

In modern,

postmodern language,

she'd say,

and I don't think

it's fair to privilege

people with names

that begin with K

or something like that

that are always

in the middle.

So she said,

you know,

I've been thinking about it,

you know,

it's maybe not always fair

to do it by alphabetical order

and I was thinking,

you know what would be more fair,

the most fair way

in the world to do it

is why don't we pick

numbers out of a hat?

And I've come to the class,

I have a hat

and there's 30,

I think there was 30 students

in the class

and you know,

we're going to have

six students today

give their speech

and I have numbers

one to 30

and it's cut up

and we're just going

to pass the hat

around the room

and you just take

a name out of the hat

and whatever number

you have,

that's the order

you're going to give

your speech in

and isn't that fair?

Everybody in the class

including myself

said that's very,

very fair.

I didn't realize

that my doom

had come

because when the hat

came to me,

I picked out

number one.

I laugh now,

I was not laughing then.

If you had seen me,

you would have seen

my face get red.

If there was a way

to measure body heat,

my body got very hot.

Sweat probably started

to pour out of my armpits

and other parts

of my body

and I sat there

completely

and utterly devastated.

My doom had come.

So the teacher

and her cheery teacher voice

said,

okay,

who has number one?

As if,

who would like number one?

I don't know.

I guess there's always

a keener in some class.

At coffee,

you could say,

you know,

by the way,

I was always the one

who wanted to be number one

to do things

but I was not that student

and I say,

I'm number one

and she said,

well,

come up,

George,

do it

and I said,

I'm sorry,

I can't do it

and there's this long,

embarrassed,

stuttering conversation

back and forth

between me and her

that lasted several minutes

because this wasn't something

I could just blow off.

This was something

that if I was to do it at all

would really require

hard work on my part

and I had done no work

and I couldn't just get up

and do it

and she says,

well,

George,

it wouldn't be fair

to the class

to let you go

as number 30

and move everybody else up.

That wouldn't be fair.

I mean,

it wouldn't be fair

if there's,

that for number seven

who's right now

thinking that they can do it tomorrow

that all of a sudden

just because,

just because of you

that now

they become number six,

it's not fair to number two,

it's not fair to anybody

and it's very uncomfortable

because I couldn't deny

that it wouldn't be fair

and then she said,

I mean,

the only thing

that could work

is if somebody

traded their spots with you

and then she said,

is there anybody here

who would trade places

with George

and there's a silence

and then Ricky

of blessed memory

possessing

the great number 17

put his hand up

and said,

I'll do it

and he got up

from his seat,

he happened to be about

a couple of seats

behind me

and to the side

and he got into my aisle

and he came

and he put number 17

on my spot

and literally

picked up number one

and went to the front

and did the speech.

Everything was right,

everything was fair

but it's an act of grace

that made things right

that was for me,

that was good for me

and that's

what this phrase means.

Could you put up

the whole verse again,

Andrew?

The one,

let's say it together,

the one who knew no sin

for us,

God made sin

that we might become

the righteousness of God

in him.

That's what Jesus does for us.

That's what Jesus does for you.

All of those things

that are out of whack

and deserve punishment

and just not right

that separate us from God,

they're laid on him

by God

because he loves us

and there's this,

he can represent us,

there's this substitution,

there's this taking our place

that at the end of the day

when it's received,

makes us right.

If I had said to Ricky,

no, no, no,

I only want number 30,

I'm not taking it,

it wouldn't have worked, right?

But I gratefully received

what Rick

was going to do for me

and did for me

in that trade.

Can you please stand?

See,

this is the good news,

this is the gospel.

If you go back

and look at the text,

you'll see

it puts the whole text

in a very,

very different aspect,

in a different light.

when you receive this

and as it grips you

and more and more

in your life

as you have

a deeper understanding

as the gospel,

what Jesus does

for us on the cross

becomes more real to us.

When the Bible talks

at the beginning

of this text

about the fear of the Lord

leading us

to persuade others,

our natural inclination

is to manipulate people,

to coerce people,

to get what we want.

But the more

that we're gripped

with what Jesus did for us,

we realize

that we can't use coercion

with people,

that our goal

should be to persuade.

And the more

that this grips us,

that we understand

that it's not

that God and I

are equals

and we have to figure out

how we can get along together,

but I'm dependent upon

God to reconcile me

to himself.

I'm dependent upon

God to forgive me

for what I've done wrong.

I'm dependent for God

to make me right

to himself.

And the more

I'm gripped

with this story,

the more I understand

that if this

is the love of God

that has made me

right with himself

at such huge cost

to himself

and the person

of his son,

then there's a type

of compelling

that I relate to others

out of love.

And if you go back

and you look at

the rest of the text

in light of all of this,

that you understand

that if this is

what's going on

and this is what

has fundamentally

with the creator

of the entire universe

and this is how

he has acted

towards me

and how he's made me

right with himself

and as I become

more gripped

by this,

then the whole

model and idea

that I might start

to live for others

in some way,

that actually starts

to become some type

of real thing.

It starts to make

sense for me.

And then the idea

that I can let

other people know

who are broken

and hurting

and need to be

reconciled to God,

the idea that I can

somehow bear witness

to Jesus,

even if I can't

explain everything,

even if you have to say,

I can't answer

all your questions

but come and speak

to Daniel Gilman

because that's where

I send everybody

because he can make

it more clear

or you go speak

to him or whatever

but the rest

of the text,

it starts to make

sense from a different

perspective,

not from the ideas

of the flesh,

not from the idea

of power politics,

not from the idea

of trying to look good

but as the gospel

becomes real to us

as we receive it,

it starts to change

how we live.

That's what the text

is talking about.

And so the question

is for you

and me,

I mean,

the mission statement

of the church

is making disciples

of Jesus gripped

by the gospel

living for his glory

and I'm going to pray

and I mean,

all you need to say

to God right now

if you've never said

to him for the first time

is God,

thank you that you

gave me 17

and you took my place.

Thank you that

in a far greater way,

Jesus is a far greater

Ricky for me

and Jesus,

I accept that

and please make it

real in my life

that that shapes me

and forms me.

See,

we enter into

the Christian life

allowing it to happen

and we live

the Christian life

as this story grips us.

Let's bow our heads

in prayer.

Father,

I thank you

for what Ricky

did for me

way back,

many years ago.

I can't remember

if it was grade 7

or grade 8

but many years ago,

I thank you

for what Ricky

did for me

and Father,

I confess before you

that Jesus

is the true

and greater Ricky

not just for me

but for everyone

who is here

and I thank you,