Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a night of worship at Cumberland Community Church in Smyrna. They were hosting the "Explicit Gospel Tour." The tour is named after the new book by Matt Chandler and it features Chandler speaking and music by Shane & Shane. It was a great night!
I had a couple of guys from church go with me and we spent the hour car ride home talking about the things that had stirred our souls from the message. I wanted to offer some of the quotes and highlights that stood out to me for your edification. If you had rather not read my comments and just see the message for yourself, ignore the paragraphs below and go to the following website at 7:30pm on 4-21 for a live webcast:
http://lifeway.live.s3.amazonaws.com/TheExplicitGospelTour.html
My notes:
- Matt started off by saying that he hoped we would use the night to get serious about the Word of God, not as students per say, but as people looking to encounter the Living God through the Living Word.
- There was a sad statement in the intro video, a statement that probably applies to many. A member of Matt's home church was saying that she spent many years finding her identity "as a Christian" not "in Christ."
- Matt exhorted us to come to the Word tonight with a certain healthy dose of nervousness and fear...scared that God might just show up and do what he says he will do...take some of us to be broken and set upon a difficult path, but a path that would ultimately lead to greater freedom because of Jesus.
- The point of the message was to wonder how so many Christians could have been raised in church but never heard the gospel message. He said that too many believers grow up under a grid of behavior modification that is falsely placed under the banner of Jesus. Matt wanted to provide a very clear understanding of what the gospel is...hence the "explicit" gospel.
- His text tonight began in Colossians 1:13
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of jthe invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
- He stressed that we are in the "domain of darkness" when we either:
- seek to negate God through our self-reliance based upon elicit vice like sex, drugs, greed
- seek to negate God through false piety via Sunday School and Qiuet Time
- Matt said that he felt as if church without an authentic love for Jesus was the lamest hobby ever. "Hanging out with moral folk" in a constant atmosphere of self-help is really a depressing thought.
- He reminded us that God does not force anyone to love him. God simply reveals himself and we are compelled to love him based upon his intrinsic worth and loveliness.
- There was a wonderful prayer that I want to pray over my boys..."That my children would only ever know a progressive love for the deep joys of Christ."
- Matt told us that heaven is not a place for people who don't want to go to Hell, it's a place for people who love Jesus. The two are not the same.
- Wanna know God? Look at Jesus.
- There was a great part of the sermon regarding the difference between temporal and fickle "happiness" and the enduring nature of "joy." Joy is rooted in our view of God and cannot be taken by circumstance while being happy is shallow and easily disrupted.
- He expressed concern over the issue of "ecclesiological buffet syndrome." Essentially, people who jump from church to church to get what they want without ever being plugged in.
- Matt said that people don't want to get plugged in because it is a messy thing down in the trenches of life.
- It was a new and excellent perspective to hear Matt say that "iron sharpening iron" is actually a nasty process...something lost on us as we use that Bible verse with each other. He said that sometimes the hammering iron strikes too hard and sometimes the malleable iron fails to bend.
- One of the best things all night was the comment "Don't love the truth of the Word. Love the object of that truth."
- Matt reminded us that God is "pleased" when he looks upon us. He is pleased because he sees the righteousness of Christ covering us.
- The Law (10 Commandments and such) is a diagnostic tool to show all of us that we are far more guilty than we would ever imagine. No one comes out clean.
- We need a righteousness better than we could ever provide, even on our best day our efforts are like the stench of menstrual rags in the holy nostrils of God.
- Salvation is possible only through the "Great Exchange" of:
- Jesus taking our sin upon himself and absorbing the wrath of God
and
- Jesus giving us the righteousness he earned by living in complete accord with the Law
- The resurrection is proof that the payment was paid in full and that sin, death, and Hell are defeated.
- By trusting in Christ's payment and giving our lives to serve him, we gain the benefit of this exchange...eternal life.
- Doing right does not equal Loving right
- The Gospel isn't a one time deal of getting saved...it sustains all of us for our whole life if we abide in it.
Good stuff...I agree with Matt's assessment of what is potentially the lamest hobby if devoid of true faith
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