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,
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.
If you just want to turn in your Bibles
to Hebrews chapter 4,
Hebrews chapter 4
captures
what's going on in this verse
in the original language,
the idea there.
And it's Hebrews chapter 4
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,
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,
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.
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,
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,
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 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,
Father,
that your Holy Spirit
led me to come
and accept
what Jesus did
for me
and accomplish
for me
what you accomplished
for me
in the person
of your son.
I thank you,
Father,
that your Holy Spirit
brought that home
to me
and I said yes
and I ask,
Father,
that if there are
any here
who have not yet
or even now
just allowing that
to happen
that your Holy Spirit
would move deeply
in their lives
as that wonderful
transaction
is taking place
and Father,
for myself
and for all
who are followers
of Jesus,
may this knowledge
of what your son
did for us
on the cross,
may it grip us,
may it grip us
more and more,
may it be
the ground
upon which we stand,
the roof over our head,
the air by which we breathe,
the lens through which
we see ourselves
and the lens through which
we see the world
and this we ask
in Jesus' name.
Amen.