A Message for Theo Von | Baptism Service | 2 Corinthians 5:21

You're listening to City Church Manchester. We

are a church that invites everyone to enjoy Christ

for the glory of God. If we can serve you in

any way, then visit our website at citychurchmanchester

.org to find out more. Good afternoon, everyone.

It is great to be here with you today. If you've

got a Bible, do go ahead and grab it. We're going

to come to our Bible reading in just a few moments,

but it is really good to have you here with us

today, especially if you are here today to see

this wonderful baptism that's going to be happening

in just a few moments time as we see Azaria and

Amy stand in front of all you lovely folks and

tell their story about what God has done for

them. in the good news of the gospel. And that's

really what I just want to talk to you about

today, which is this good news of Jesus. This

message of heaven that completely transforms

our reality. A reality that we are going to see

in real time today that has impacted the lives

of modern people to the degree that it has changed

their entire life's trajectory. That is the good

news, the message of Jesus, the reality that

God Himself looks on us, messy people, broken

people, ordinary, weak people, He looks on us

with love and grace and mercy to the degree that

He has done something to rescue us. And it's

that good news, that transformative message that

I'd love to talk to you about today. Now you

might have heard this before some people talk

about the gospel as being like a Multi -faceted

diamond, you know, if you imagine having a big

diamond in your hand You can look at it from

every angle and it's the same beautiful complex

reality But you can look at it through different

angles and and the good news of Jesus is like

that. It's not linear It's beautiful. It's complex.

It's something that is precious for a lifetime

and yet it's not beyond any one of us. It's not

beyond our grasp. It's complex because it is

at the centre of this message of the Good News.

It is a message about God, God who is eternal,

God who is above, God who is beyond, God who

is infinite, and yet it is a message that has

been given to us. It's not beyond our reach.

You know, if you've come in here today, you don't

need to be a professor of theology, or even be

someone who's attended church before in order

to hear and receive this multifaceted, beautiful,

precious message of Jesus. Now, Augustine, Augustine

was a Christian from a long, long time ago, and

he put it this way. He said, the gospel, this

message of the Bibles on the screen is shallow

enough for a child not to drown. but deep enough

for an elephant to swim. And I just love that

because it means that if it's your first time

in church today, and if it is your first time,

again, so good to have you here with us. Maybe

already in this service that you've kind of found

it a bit like it's a bit strange. We were singing

the songs and you were trying to join in the

songs, but you don't really know the tunes. Reading

Confessions, which seems a bit of a strange thing

to do, is about to get even weirder. We are about

to watch some people have a public bath. So,

you know, welcome to church. We are... a little

bit different in here. Church is a new kind of

thing, it brings a new kind of life, but maybe

you've walked in, you don't have that knowledge

of Jesus, but actually all I just want you to

hear from the very beginning, this message of

the gospel, this good news is not beyond you,

it's not out of your reach. I'd love you to hear

it today. and consider it because it's a message

that isn't earned. You don't have to come in

here and pretend to be someone you're not. Actually

the gospel message says the absolute opposite.

It says come as you are, come and hear, come

and receive. It is a message that is shallow

enough that not even a child could drown. It

is whatever your knowledge, whatever your story,

it is for you. And so I just want to look at

one Verse from the Bible and if you're a seasoned

churchgoer, you know this verse. This is like

a verse with depth This is a verse that you can

swim for Multiple lifetimes and still never reach

the bottom of its beauty. This is a one verse

sermon by the way So I've said it from the front

if I go over my time you're allowed to be mad

at me, right? It's this is to Corinthians chapter

5 verse 21 and in this one verse. I think we

get at least one angle of the beauty of the gospel.

Here it is, let me read it to you. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:21

chapter 5 verse 21. God made him, that is Jesus,

the Son of God, God made him who had no sin to

be sin for us so that in him we might become

the righteousness of God. We're gonna come back

to that in just a moment, but quickly just give

me a nod if you recognize This guy on the screen

Theo von any nods in the room people recognize

him. It's all just guys nodding right now I've

asked this all week to so many people Very few

females know this, so I don't know what that

says about us guys. But Theo Vaughan is a comedian.

He is actually kind of from the same neck of

the woods -ish to our Oak Mountain and Macon

friends who are here today. He's from Florida,

so you know, he's got that real Southern drawl,

as we just beautifully heard, being shared with

us from the front here. And there's this clip

of him that went really viral this week, and

some of you may have seen it. On his podcast,

he had this session where he was just talking

about his life. talking about his career, talking

about where he's come from. And on the outside,

if you know anything about this guy, it all looks

good. Like, he's really successful, he's wealthy,

he's famous, he's really well -liked. You know,

he's the kind of guy that I imagine if you used

to go hang out with him, he's just a very likable

person, very cool guy. But he had this really

vulnerable moment on his podcast where he opened

up and he... you could see he was he was struggling

with his emotions being able to talk openly about

this and he was talking about these behaviors

that he struggles with in his life. He says he

just doesn't want them anymore. There's this

brokenness he said that's like deep somewhere

deep inside him that stops him from changing

and now Theo Von is not a Christian. And I should

say that if you are a Christian in the room,

maybe don't go listen to him. But he is someone

who in this moment of vulnerability, he says

he started crying out to God. It seems like God

is doing a work in his heart. And he said this,

I'll read the quote. He said, I'm ready for a

new story. I pray God these behaviors, I don't

like them. Will you help me? Even though I might

do them again, even though I know I want to do

them again Will you come into those parts of

me and will you help me there? Will you come

and he pauses here? And he gets very emotional.

He says will you come all the way? past the roots

and I saw that and I thought that is a profound

statement and it's something that spoke to me

as I heard him say it I loved it because In that

clip, I think he is expressing something that

every single one of us in this room knows all

too well in our own lives. I mean, hands up,

and actually joining with me here, this is church,

you're allowed to put your hands up. It's encouraged,

actually. Hands up if you know you're someone

who knows what it's like to know what the right

thing to do is, but you've gone and done the

wrong thing anyway. Put your hand up. If you

know what it's like to know what the right thing

to do is, do the wrong thing. Okay, put your

hands down. What we just saw there, I just saw

two hands up there, by the way, whoever that

was. What we just saw there, we got a bunch of

people in the room who get it, and we also have

a bunch of liars in the room, because not every

hand in the room went up. Because we get it,

right? We all know what it's like to know what

the right thing to do is, and yet something inside

us, there's a battle, and we go and do the wrong

thing anyway, the thing we know we shouldn't.

And this is what I just want to speak about a

moment, because I think you can relate to this.

There is this complex inner battle going on in

every single one of us, all of the time, if we're

honest about it, this battle of we know what

is right and still we can feel our hearts being

drawn to things that we know are wrong. There

is this part of you, a very real part of you

that you have brought into this room with you

today, which longs for good, which longs for

that which is right, which longs for justice.

A part of you that wants to live in a way that

is good and honorable. That's a very real part

of who you are. And actually, the Bible puts

words on that. Romans chapter two, Romans, which

is in the New Testament. It says there that the

moral law of God has been written on every single

one of us, on our hearts. And what I'm saying

here, that is evidence that you and I, whatever

background you come from, Wherever you have walked

into this room believing this afternoon, the

Bible is saying that that fact that you have

morals is evidence that you and I that we're

made in the image of God. We're different to

the animals. We're different to the trees. We're

different to the sea. We are made with the fingerprint

of God on our lives. It's evidence that we know

what is right because God made us. God who is

good. God who is righteous. He made us in his

image and yet Yet, there is this other part of

you, a very real part of you that you've brought

into this room with you this afternoon, that

doesn't always want to live according to what

God says is right. That doesn't want to listen

to what he says. And actually, you'd rather just

live in your own way. That's my story anyway.

And I just think Theo Von is totally right on

this issue. That simultaneously, There is this

part of us that, like him, is longing for a new

story, that is longing for that which is good,

longing for that which is right. But at the same

time, there is this deep, rooted brokenness in

every single one of us that all too often can

steer the direction of our lives. And we end

up going down roads that we thought we'd never

go down. And the bigger problem, even bigger

problem, welcome to church, by the way, even

bigger problem, I think, in your life than just

that. is that we can learn to control these behaviors,

right? We can stop the gossiping. We can stop

looking at pornography. We can stop being lazy.

Whatever it is that you know in your life, you

keep going to, that's not right. It is possible

that you can stop that wrong behavior, but still,

so often, there's still a problem. What's the

problem? Desire. I still desire it. inside me.

It still lives in here. The roots of my life

still want to draw up from those wrong behaviors.

I still want to live like that. A good example

of this, I think, is when my friend, my very

good friend, got off cocaine. He'd struggled

with cocaine for years and he was on a journey.

He wasn't a Christian, but he was on a journey

where he was exploring Christianity. And along

that journey, he got off Coke, he'd been off

Coke a few weeks, and he had this profound moment

in his life where he'd been clean for weeks,

and he looked at himself in the mirror, and he

had this realization moment where he realized,

Coke was never the problem. I've changed my behavior,

but there's still a brokenness inside me. Maybe

you can relate to that, whatever that version

of that story looks like for you. And in that

sense, I think we're all kind of like Christmas

trees. Just hear me out on this. I know we're

heading into summer. I know nobody wants to be

thinking about Christmas, but guys, it is 235

sleeps until Christmas. So you might want to

be getting on with your Christmas shopping soon.

It'll be here before you know it. We just heard

it from the front. Your life goes by like that.

Get on with your Christmas shopping. But we can

all be a bit like Christmas trees. You know,

on the outside, we can look good. You know, we

have the baubles of good behavior. We have the

fairy lights of discipline. People look at us

and go, that's a good person. But inwardly, we're

dying. Like a Christmas tree, we have been cut

off from the roots of life. Like, you know, it's

like that 1st of January when your tree and all

the needles have fallen, the tree's dead. It

doesn't look so good anymore. And I just think

so often that's a bit like us. We are living

life outwardly that can look great, look impressive.

You have all the money, all the friends, all

the whatever in the world. But inwardly, when

you lie in your bed at night, there's this thing

inside you that can struggle. It's like we're

living with this inner brokenness, these dead

roots in our lives. And it's like as long as

the roots of our lives are sick, ultimately we

know we're a bit sick as well. And if you know

what I'm talking about, and I'm aware I'm kind

of really going for this quickly right now. If

you know what I'm talking about, please just

like lean in and take comfort right now. Because

the Bible gets it. The Bible gets you. Because

the Bible puts words to this brokenness that

you and I struggle with. And it's sin. I've already

spoken about sin from the front this afternoon.

And here's the thing about sin. Sin isn't simply

the wrong stuff we do or the right stuff we don't

do. Actually, the Bible has a more complex view

of sin. It says sin is a condition. It's a condition

inside of us that each of us have and the Bible

says that this sin inside of us is a root problem.

And I say root problem not just because it's

a brokenness that is deep down inside every single

one of us as individuals, but actually according

to the Bible, it's a root problem that every

single one of us shares. because it all goes

back to the same source, the roots go back to

the same beginning. When we open the pages, the

opening pages of the Bible, and we meet a man

called Adam, the first man in the Bible that

God made. And if your name is Adam here, you

might know this already, in the Bible your name

literally means man, so hey man, it's great to

have you here with us. Adam was made by God,

and he was made for God, and the whole purpose

of Adam's life was to enjoy God. It was a life

of joy, a life of freedom, a life with no brokenness,

just glorifying God, enjoying God in freedom.

And Adam stands in the Bible as humanity's representative.

And we're going to kind of, this is maybe a bit

of an alien concept for some of us. But according

to the Bible, Adam stood as Adam's representative.

What do I mean? I mean, Adam was like the prototype

human when God made him. God breathed life into

him, and this is what humanity will be like.

He was the blueprint. He was humanity mark one.

He was like the sourdough startup of humanity.

Whatever he would be like, all of humanity would

be like. And you know, this is biblical theology

we're talking about here and it's not the kind

of thing you maybe normally think about over

the weekend. But just bear with me because I

think this story helps to frame your life and

make sense of that brokenness that you struggle

with the same as me. Because what we see is despite

being humanity mark one, Adam, when faced with

a moral decision, he knows what is right. God

has told him right from wrong. He has seen what

God is like. But still, when faced with a moral

decision, what does Adam do? He does what all

of us who just raised our hand up have done.

He chooses the wrong thing deliberately, not

an accident. Despite knowing what is good and

right, he does the wrong thing. And in that moment,

according to the story of the Bible, in that

moment the poison of sin enters the story and

it's like it gets into the sourdough starter

and it infects every single person who comes

from the line of Adam. And I just think that

makes total sense of my life. makes total sense

of your life because it makes sense of that inner

battle that I know so well because it means that

when you and I when we desire to do that which

is good when we desire righteousness and justice

and we want this world to be put to right when

we have that desire we want to live in that way

actually that is an echo in your heart of the

very purpose that God made you for you were made

like Adam to know God, to live in freedom, to

enjoy Him, to live righteously. And yet, our

roots are sick with sin because of what Adam

has done and because of what we have contributed

to that story. And here's the greatest tragedy

of sin, the greatest tragedy of that brokenness

that lives in us. It isn't, oh, I wish I could

just be a better person. You know, if only I

didn't have this struggle. That's not the greatest

tragedy. According to the Bible, the greatest

tragedy is that, like the Christmas tree, we

were cut off from God, cut off from the source

of life. Because how could our offence stay in

the presence of a God who is holy? That would

be like expecting us to be able to fly up and

touch the sun and not be burnt up. God's sun

blazes, sorry, God's holiness blazes like the

sun. this brokenness of Adam has been passed

down through the roots ever since and will continue

to be passed down. And that's why I think Theo

is right in what he said. You know, secular comedian.

I think he hits the nail on the head with what

he said there. We do have a problem and it's

in our roots, but it's also beyond our roots.

It's beyond anything that you and I can get about

fixing on our own. We're stuck. But this is why,

and if you're a Christian, like, you know the

gospel. Please, like, lean in, let your heart

be filled with joy as you hear this message again.

This is why the gospel is such good news. And

it's not beyond any one of us. It's not beyond

our reach. Look at the scripture. It's on the

screen again. Second Corinthians. God. This is

how the gospel starts. God. It's his story. Praise

God that the solution to this brokenness doesn't

start with me, and it doesn't start with you,

and it doesn't start with Adam. It starts with

God, what he has done, what he has done to bring

us, to make us right again. It's him. He is the

one who changed the story. God made him. That

is Jesus, the Son of God, God himself, who came

down from heaven. God who puts on human flesh.

Have you let yourself think about that one recently?

God puts on human flesh. He lives the experience

that you and I experience. He walks this dark

world. He experiences pain, frustration. He knows

what it's like to be in flesh. And because God

came in flesh, because Jesus joins us in our

humanity, it means he goes to the very roots.

of who we are. He didn't try to fix the problem

from the outside, he comes into the brokenness.

And that means that Jesus gets you, whoever you

are, Jesus gets you. And I just think this is

so important that we lean in here, because in

the Bible, Jesus is spoken about in so many glorious

ways, like the multifaceted diamond. There are

so many names of Jesus because he's done so much.

There's one name that I just want to focus in

on here. in other parts of the Bible where Jesus

is called the second Adam. The second Adam. Adam

stood as representative for humanity, but into

the story of the gospel steps this second Adam,

a new kind of representative for humanity, where

the first Adam failed. Where the sourdough starter

went wrong, this second Adam wouldn't fail. Because

what does the scripture say? It says, this second

Adam had no sin. He knew no sin. Jesus lived

a completely sinless life. Our entire faith rests

on this reality. Jesus lived a sinless life.

And I think lots of us make a misstep about Jesus

here because we think of him being like Superman.

You know in the old cartoons, Superman's not

scared to stand in front of the U .S. Army and

have all his bullets hit him in the chest because

he's indestructible. And we think of Jesus like

that, but... That's not what the gospel tells

us because, yes, it's true, Jesus is fully God,

fully divine, but he joins us in our humanity.

He takes on a fully human nature. He was fully

human, which meant that Jesus would get hungry.

Jesus would get weak. Jesus knew what it was

like to get sick. Jesus knew what it was like

to be tempted. Have you ever thought about that?

To have the brokenness of the world around him

trying to reach in to his heart to pull out evil.

You know, that's what temptation is like, isn't

it? It's like when you go fishing with a lure

on the end, it's trying to get you to take the

bite. But Jesus never took the bite of the brokenness

around him because he was sinless. No wrong in

him whatsoever. Unlike us, he never gave in to

temptation. Unlike us, there wasn't a moment

in his life where he took his eyes of the glory

of God. He never sinned. No brokenness, no poison

of sin in his roots. He enjoyed God and glorified

him in all he did. And here's the profound mystery

of this verse behind me. God made him who had

no sin to be sin for us. Did you hear that? Christ,

the sinless one, the son of heaven, the one who

only ever loved, the one who healed, the one

who walked through this darkness as light. He

didn't become a sinner, don't get it wrong, he

became sin. He became a sin bearer. Now as this

second Adam, he stands as our representative

before God. And as our representative, He doesn't

say, no, I don't know this crowd over here, these

messy people, I'm not with them. He 100 % identifies

with our brokenness, with our sin, taking it

upon himself. The gospel story tells us he carries

that brokenness. He carries that sin all the

way to the cross where this sinless second Adam

dies in our place and in his death. ends the

power of sin for all those who would come after

him. And do you see what's happening here? Jesus

is dealing with our root problem, our greatest

problem. As the second Adam, it's like he goes

back to the very origins of our brokenness, the

very origins of our story, and he makes a way

for us to be rooted back into the very source

of life itself, which is God himself. And at

the cross, Jesus stands in the place where you

and I should be found. Maybe you go, wow, that

seems really harsh. I don't feel like I should

be killed for my sin. Just remember this. In

the ancient world, for the Romans, the sign of

crucifixion was a symbol of being cursed by God,

cut off from God. That's what our sin really

deserves. We don't deserve God. And what does

Jesus do at the cross? He becomes the one who

is cut off. from the life of God because at the

cross Jesus truly bore humanity's sin and he

truly died for us. That's what the verse says,

for us. He takes our sin, he dies in our place

and he makes a way for us to go back to God himself.

And then let me just start closing here because

it goes even beyond that. Yes, the roots of our

brokenness are forgiven. Yes. we can have new

life but then it goes even further past the roots

because the gospel doesn't simply say this and

some of you might need to hear this it doesn't

simply say receive this forgiveness and now just

go out and behave yourself you know don't get

into any more trouble it's like sometimes we

talk about it like we all have this great debt

of sin but Jesus pays the debt and then we're

reset to net zero and now the challenge of life

is to through our morals and good behavior to

kind of build up the bank again to put credit

in the bank again but that's not what this scripture

says what does it say it says no christ bore

our sin so that in him you and i we might become

the righteousness of god In Jesus, God doesn't

simply just take our brokenness and our sin away,

but He gives us His righteousness. It goes beyond

the problem of our roots. It is past the roots.

And do you see what that means for us? It means

that righteousness isn't something we achieve.

Righteousness is something we receive. And that

is good news for us this afternoon. Past the

roots. God knows. He knows the struggle. that

Theo Vaughan talks about in his video clip. God

knows that we're broken, that we're sinful, that

we're in desperate need. He knows that we can't

save ourselves from this poison of sin that every

single one of us has wrestled with throughout

our lives. And so he did it for us. He took on

the fight. He defeated the problem. He did it

for us. The gospel tells us we don't make ourselves

right with God. God makes ourselves. right with

God. And that is good news. So let me close here.

I'll invite the band up as I wrap up here. The

Bible says the only difference between a righteous

person and an unrighteous person, it isn't good

behavior versus bad behavior. It isn't church

upbringing versus not a church upbringing. The

Bible says the difference between a Christian

and a non -Christian is whether or not you are

trusting in Jesus. Where is your life found this

afternoon? Are you resting on Him? Are you relying

on Him? Are you saying, yes, this gospel message,

this good news, yes, I trust that Jesus in His

death has put to death that brokenness in me

and in His resurrection, He raises me to new

life because His The best bit. Jesus didn't stay

dead. Jesus is alive. Amen. Amen. Jesus is alive

and he's at work in our lives today, which is

why in just a few moments we're going to gather

around this pool and we're going to see how this

living Saviour, this second Adam, how he has

transformed the lives of two people who know

what it's like to struggle with this brokenness

and yet to be set free from it. to go on through

life struggling, but resting in the knowledge

that as long as Jesus stands in heaven, my righteousness

still stands, and nothing can take that away

from me. So that's what we're gonna celebrate.

But let me just pray before we sing together

and then we're gonna hear the real stories of

what Jesus is doing in the lives of people here

in Manchester. Let me pray. Oh God, we thank

you. We thank you, Lord, that... Despite our

brokenness, despite this rooted problem, Jesus,

you have looked on us with mercy and you have

made a way for us to be rooted back into the

life of God. And Lord, we pray now that as we

see this mysterious, beautiful thing happening

in front of us in just a few moments, God, by

your Spirit, would you fill our hearts? Would

you fill us with that joy again, that you are

the God who forgives broken people. You are the

God who has carried sin away. Lord, we love you

and we praise you. We pray these things in your

name. Amen