This Christmas we found ourselves away from our home church, yet wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service.  So we decided to visit a local church that had an excellent reputation over the years. When we arrived, we found a first-class facility, and a warm, inviting, ethnically diverse congregation. On that point alone, I was truly impressed, as Sunday morning continues to be one of the most segregated hours in American life, with more than 8 in 10 congregations made up of one predominant racial group.

And when the service began…well…the orchestra-led worship and drama was Broadway quality, and the diversity of the congregation was reflected on the stage. Again…I was blown away. Phenomenal.

So, when we transitioned into the sermon, my expectations were through the roof, as, over the years, I had always heard great things about the quality of their expository teaching.

Now, let me preface my reflections that follow by saying:

1.     As someone in ministry for 20+ years and often the recipient of well-intentioned criticism, I make a point to avoid having a critical spirit whenever possible.

2.     As someone who is in the midst of being entrepreneurial for the Lord, and is living in such a way that, fundraising-wise, as Francis Chan writes in Forgotten God, “I am desperate for God to come through. That if He doesn’t come through, I am deep trouble.” I want and need to keep clean accounts with the Lord. (Psalm 66:18)

3.     This was one sermon, and, in fairness, should not be the basis of evaluating the ongoing teaching ministry of this particular church.  (Although that is my fear, and the source of my discouragement, given the presence, presumably, of many Christmas/Easter only visitors.)

However, I think it bears addressing, by way of a cautionary tale, that the mention of SIN was nowhere to be found, apart from the gospel presentation itself. (Again, another plus for actually presenting the gospel!) But you cannot have someone saved without his or her realizing and acknowledging that they are perishing (Romans Road 101).  When we speak in vague generalities about having a “relationship with Christ” or “receiving Christ,” we do our congregations and all members of the godhead a grave injustice.

I love this quote from a Christmas Devotional I have been reading by John Piper, Good News of Great Joy: Daily Readings for Advent,

“Christmas is an indictment before it becomes a delight. It will not have its intended effect until we feel desperately the need for a Savior.”

A.W. Tozer says in From Heaven: A 28-Day Devotional,

“Whenever Christ is preached in the power of the Spirit, a judgment seat is erected and each hearer stands to be judged by his response to the message. His moral responsibility is not to a lesson in religious history but to the divine Person who now confronts him.”

But for “Christ to be preached,” and “fruit in keeping with repentance” to occur, where an individual is confronted with their sin and the perfection of the Lord, SIN most be part of the equation, as Paul noted when defining the Gospel,

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” (1 Cor. 15:3-4)

Otherwise, we relegate the babe in the manger who became the God-Man on the cross to a Tony Robbins-like life coach, offering us a Better Life Now, as opposed to “the way, the truth, and the life,” apart from which there is no salvation from a Christ-less eternal existence. (aka. Hell…but that’s another post)

Again…A.W. Tozer to close:

“Why would the Son of God come to our race? Our own hearts—sin and darkness and deception and moral disease—tell us what His mission should be. The sin we cannot deny tells us that He might have come to judge the world!

Why did the Holy Ghost bring this proclamation and word from God that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world” (John 3:17)? Men and women are condemned in their own hearts because they know that if the Righteous One is coming, then we ought to be sentenced.

But God had a greater and far more gracious purpose—He came that sinful men might be saved. The loving mission of our Lord Jesus Christ was not to condemn but to forgive and reclaim.”