That Was Then...

How can this be true? Let’s look back at the things we’d be foolish not to have considered. Does the Gospel of Jesus Christ meet those needs? The first thing was speed without direction, aimlessness. The first thing that happened when I became a Christian was that I found a purpose, a meaning…direction. I was somebody! God loved me and created me and God doesn’t make junk! Everything clicked, it is cool being a Christian Dad, husband, friend and worker. To realize there is something in the body of believers that only I can be and do for God. We are not alone in this big universe, we have knowledge and a purpose in life. Christians know where they are going.

Next we discussed existence without life, emptiness. The French philosopher Paschal said, “each person is born with a God-shaped void.” People in the world are busy trying to fill it with all kinds of things. I was too, until I became a Christian, but it is a God shaped void and it is only God who can fill it and He gives us the fullness of Jesus Christ.

Take amusement without happiness. Please! We are restless in so many ways, and then we hear Christ’s words, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Remember Augustine, who left North Africa for Rome; he had a mistress, slept around, but deep down he was restless. Then one day he accepted Christ as his Savior, and look at what God did through him. He composed a beautiful prayer that says, “Lord, You have made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.”

Then acquaintances without friends, loneliness. One of the greatest things I have found about being a Christian is that I literally, have family all over the world, wherever I go. I have found places to worship and fellowship in Germany, Bosnia, Paris, Hungary, Africa and in the deep dark reaches of Savannah, Georgia. And even though we live in a world that is incredibly short on hope, I know the true church is the only organization in the world that has never lost a member through death. For the Christian the best is yet to come. In a world that lacks hope, where death is the last thing we think about, Christians can look at death and echo Paul when he wrote, “Death; where is thy sting? Oh grave where is thy victory? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord!” That is what I am saying today, the world would say I am crazy, but I say that the wisdom of the world is nothing in God’s eyes. This Gospel is the power of God, the answer, the way to salvation to everyone that believes.

Then I mentioned sex without love. The very heart of the Christian message is that God loves the world and He loves each one of us. I like the story about the Swiss theologian Karl Barth who came to America to lecture in theological colleges. At the end of one of his lectures during a question/answer session, a student asked him, “what is the greatest thought that has ever crossed your mind.” There was silence for a moment; the student thought he had Barth stumped. He put his head in his hands, then lifted up his head and said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!” If you don’t remember anything today if you are bored stiff or have slept through most of this, please wake up and don’t forget that! In a world of sex without love, where it seems that nobody loves and nobody cares, every time we come to church and think of Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, we are reminded that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) that is the message. Foolishness to this world, but the very power of God.