The scripture reading today comes from 1st and 2nd Corinthians.
Please follow along the screen or in your bulletin.
Starting from in 1st Corinthians 15 verse 1 we read,
Now I will remind you, brothers of the gospel,
I preach to you which you receive, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.
If you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believe in vain.
For I deliver to you as of first importance what I receive,
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance to the scriptures,
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve,
then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Then in 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 9,
But he said to me,
My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
This is the word of God.
Great. Thank you, Kristen.
Thanks, Kristen.
Let's pray together briefly as we come to this passage.
Heavenly Father, as we come to your word this morning,
we want to hear you speak to us.
We want to be encouraged in the gospel.
We want to encounter you in a real way.
God, I pray that as we look at your word, God,
you will speak to each one of us in a deep and a profound way.
Lord, won't you open our eyes to see the depth of the beauty of what you did on the cross for us.
Reassure us, God, of your love and our standing in you.
And help us, God, to live these lives that really are centered on you.
We pray this in your awesome name.
Amen.
Okay.
Let's start off playing a little word association game.
Okay.
So I'm going to say a word.
And I want you to think of the first word that comes to your mind when you hear the word that I'm going to say.
Okay.
You can say it out loud if you want.
Or you can just say it under your breath.
It's up to you.
But when I say the word sport, what's the first thing?
Okay.
Tennis.
Netflix.
Okay.
Food.
Burger.
Okay.
Hong Kong.
Okay.
You don't have to say that if you want.
Celebrity.
Home.
Watermark.
If you are new to Watermark Church, when I say Watermark, one of the first things that comes to mind might be church or Ebenezer or the 970 bus or something like that.
But if you have been part of our church for a little while, some of the words you might say, you might say friendly, hopefully.
Hopefully you'd say that, not unfriendly.
That would be a problem.
But you might say, my guess is one of two words comes to mind.
One is probably community.
Yeah.
I don't know how many of you thought of that.
The other one is maybe the word gospel.
I don't know if anyone thought of that.
In fact, in our mission statement, yeah, Marilyn just pointed it out.
We talk about our three values, our gospel, community, and mission.
And our mission statement talks about seeing the growth of gospel communities, disciples of Jesus raised up and released to impact Hong Kong for the glory of God.
And about 20 or 30 years ago, in kind of Christian circles, there was this movement called the gospel-centered movement, where suddenly everybody started talking about the gospel and being gospel-centered, right?
And it seems like every church around the world, if you wanted a sign of authenticity, all you had to do was put the word gospel somewhere in your website or on your brochure.
And the more times you said the word gospel, the more kind of authentic or legitimate you were.
Does that make sense?
Anyone recognize that?
Okay.
And then Christian authors, right, they wanted to sell lots of books, so you had to have the word gospel in your title somewhere, and then you would sell lots of books.
In fact, if you wanted to sell anything, right, duvet covers, coffee mugs, underwear, you just put the word gospel on there somewhere, and some Christian out there is going to buy it.
But the word gospel became this kind of like Christian buzzword, that everything Christians spoke about was just gospel, gospel, gospel.
And maybe if you come to Watermark for a while, you feel like that's true of us as well.
That's all we ever talk about.
Well, we're doing this four-part series called Why Do We Do That?
And last week, Chris looked at why do we come to church on Sundays.
Today, I want us to look at the question, why do we talk about the gospel so much?
And in order to do that, let's just go and define some of our terms.
Okay.
So the word gospel in the Greek is the word evangelion, where we get the word evangelist or evangelical from.
And in original languages, it meant the announcement of some good news.
Okay.
So it was used in the ancient world of a town crier.
So the emperor has a son.
There is a next one in line in the throne, and he will cry out in the town.
I have some good news, some gospel, some evangelion.
The emperor has had a son.
Or maybe your armies go off to war, and they are victorious, and someone comes back heralding the good news.
Our forces have won the battle.
Victory has been determined.
Right?
So it is the announcement of some good news.
And as we've often said in this church, it's not good advice.
It's not telling you what to do.
It is the proclamation or the announcement of something that has happened that is very good news.
Well, what is the good news that the Bible talks about?
Well, our passage today tells us.
So look at 1 Corinthians 15 with me again.
Paul writes and he says,
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel, this evangelion, the good news,
that I preached to you, which you received and which you stand, by which you are being saved,
if you hold fast the word that I preached to you.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
that he was buried, he was raised on the third day, also in accordance with the Scriptures,
and that he appeared to see first, then the twelve, and then the five hundred.
So here in our passage, Paul actually defines what he means by the gospel.
He says,
I announced it to you that Christ Jesus died for our sins,
that he was buried and he raised again on the third day.
Now, we could spend many weeks unpacking this and looking at many elements of it,
but one of the things I want us to see here is that according to Scripture,
the gospel, the good news, is not just a worldview,
it's not just a philosophy, even though it will shape your worldview,
it's not just some wisdom or advice, though it will make you wise.
The gospel is a historical event.
It's something that has happened.
Something that has happened that changes the course of human history,
that changes the course of the history of those that believe it and receive it.
And what is this event?
Well, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man,
fully man and fully God,
came to earth as a man and died on a Roman cross on Easter Friday.
He was buried in a tomb,
but he didn't stay dead.
He rose again on Easter Sunday.
This is the good news, the gospel.
Now, why is this good news?
I mean, that's maybe an unfortunate event.
Maybe it's a miraculous event.
But how does that help us today, you and I, in 21st century Hong Kong?
Well, as you said, I'm so glad you asked that question.
I've got four answers for us.
Four reasons why this historical event of something that happened to Jesus 2,000 years ago
in Palestine, in the Middle East, is good news for you and I today.
Firstly, the gospel is good news for sinners.
Look again at verse 3, I think it is, in our passage.
I left something out.
Jesus died on the cross not just as an example of selflessness and servant-heartedness.
Jesus died on the cross not just as suffering, as a political martyr.
He didn't just die to demonstrate the brutality of the Roman Empire.
Now, look at what it says.
Jesus died for our sins.
Jesus' death on the cross is what the Bible calls an atoning sacrifice.
Now, if you're new to church or you're new to Christianity, this may be unusual for you,
but the Bible's diagnosis for the problem with our world, the Bible's assessment,
is not just that mankind is selfish.
I mean, that is true, but that's not the main problem.
It's not just that, you know, corruption in the world.
It's not just economic inequality, that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
It's not just that we marginalize and abuse the poor in our world,
or that we take advantage, don't steward our world.
It's not just the education problem, though that may be a challenge,
or mental health or social media.
The Bible says that all these problems in the world that we experience,
is actually, these are symptoms of a far deeper problem, a far deeper root problem.
It's like when you go to the doctor, right, and you say,
I've got this pain in my chest.
Well, a poor doctor would just give you an aspirate,
or give you something just to take away the pain.
And a good doctor would say, let's go under the surface, let's do an MRI,
let's see what's happening underneath there.
The root cause for the symptoms of my world is that God,
who created us for Himself to know Him and love Him and trust Him
and walk with Him and be in relationship with Him,
we've rejected Him.
We've rebelled against Him.
Rather than loving and trusting and serving Him and knowing Him
and being in relationship with Him,
rather than finding our identity in Him,
we've pushed Him aside and we've wanted to love and trust and serve
created things rather than the Creator.
We put our hope and identity in things around us,
whether people or people's approval or the praise of man or ourselves.
The world is working against its design and its designer.
We've rebelled against God and we've set ourselves up as our own gods.
And the Bible calls this sin.
Sin in the Bible is not just lying or stealing or doing something you shouldn't do.
Actually, the Bible says those again are symptoms.
The root cause is that we've wanted to set ourselves up as our own God.
Do you remember Martin Luther famously said,
No one breaks any of the Ten Commandments,
like not honoring your parents or lying or stealing,
without first breaking the first commandment,
which is to have no other gods before me.
And so what the Scripture says is that
despite our sinfulness, that all of us are in this category,
God has made a way to rescue us, to redeem us,
to restore that which is broken.
God has made a way for those that are unrighteous,
that's me and you, to be counted righteous.
Those that are rebels to be brought back into relationship with God.
Those that are declared in rebellion and guilty of sin to be declared innocent.
Those who are at enmity with God to be reconciled.
And how does this happen?
Well, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
came to earth as a man, died on the cross,
took our penalty for us, in our place,
so that we don't have to bear the penalty for our sin,
that we are no longer counted unrighteous,
but are considered righteous in God's sight.
Jesus died in our place so that we don't have to.
Jesus took the penalty of our sin.
Jesus bore our sin.
And Jesus was counted unrighteous instead of us.
By receiving Christ's atoning death as our own,
by receiving His sacrificial death as our own,
we are reconciled to God.
It's like our sin is completely done away with,
washed away.
I think it's in Micah,
it says that our sin is cast into the depths of the sea,
removed as far as the east is from the west.
We are reconciled to God.
Do you remember what John the Baptist says
when he sees Jesus across the Jordan?
He says,
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
And how would Jesus do that?
Well, He wouldn't just sweep them under the rug.
He wouldn't just redefine sin and say,
Well, let's talk about this.
He wouldn't just say,
Let's go for some inner healing.
No, no.
Jesus went to the cross.
Jesus had the sins of the world poured out on Him.
The wrath of God poured out on Him.
So that all who come to Him will be justified,
set free, reconciled.
Jesus, the author of life, would die
so that we who are dead in our sins
may be made alive together.
And why did He do this?
Well, Cynthia read it for us earlier.
Ephesians 2.
As for you, as for me,
we who are dead in our sins,
but God who is rich in mercy
because of His profound love for us,
made us who are dead in our sins alive in Christ.
It's because of His love for people like you and I.
It's because of His profound love for us.
Friends, God's love for us is not a feeling.
It's a commitment, a devotion, a dedication to us.
In the modern world, we tend to think of love as a feeling, right?
When I feel in love, then I love you.
But in the Bible, love is a decision.
It's a devotion.
It's a dedication.
Because of His profound love for us,
Jesus went to the cross.
And did Jesus go to the cross because you're on the right track
or you're a good person?
No, no, no.
When we were God's enemies,
He loved us by sending His Son to die on the cross.
Friends, this is the gospel.
This is the good news.
Jesus died on the cross for sinners like us.
I don't know if you know the words of that old hymn,
Man of Sorrows.
Man of Sorrows, what a name.
For the Son of God who came,
ruined sinners like me, like you,
to reclaim, oh, what a Savior.
Bearing shame and scoffing ruin,
in my place condemned He stood.
By His, sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah, what a Savior.
Friends, why do we talk about the gospel so much?
Because the gospel is good news for sinners.
For people like you and me,
people who are at enmity with God,
Jesus reconciles us and brings us into His family.
But if that is true, and it is true,
you can understand why we talk about it out there, right?
In the marketplace, in schools,
why maybe somebody wants to tell his neighbor
or his colleagues or his friends
about the good news of the gospel?
But why do we talk about it in here so much?
I mean, my guess would be that many of us
would have already believed that,
understood that, received that,
accepted that.
Why is it that we as a church,
those of us that have already received the gospel,
why do we talk about it so much?
Well, look at what our passage says again
in 1 Corinthians.
Look at what Paul says here in verse 1.
He says,
I would remind you, brothers and sisters,
of the gospel I preached to you,
which you received,
in which you stand,
and by which you are being saved.
Now, who's Paul writing to here?
He's writing to the Corinthians,
that's true,
to Christians,
those who have come to put their faith in Christ.
They're already Christians.
They're already born again and saved,
reconciled, redeemed.
And yet he writes to them
to remind them of the gospel.
In fact, we see this throughout the New Testament.
In the book of Romans,
Paul writes,
and look what he says in Romans chapter 1.
He says,
To all you in Rome who are loved by God,
called to be saints.
Okay, the word saints there
doesn't just mean those that are very righteous
and very wonderful,
like Niels and Chris and Claire.
Okay, okay.
Those that have got it all together
and don't make any mistakes.
The word saints actually means
anyone that is a Christian.
Anyone who loves and trusts Jesus,
who has been reconciled.
So Paul writes here,
he says,
To all who are in Rome,
who are loved by God,
okay, that's the motivation for the gospel,
and called to be saints,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all,
because your faith is proclaimed
throughout all the world.
So here's a church that's pretty mature.
Their faith is so mature
that actually it's got a track record.
It's talked about throughout the known world.
He says,
I long to see you,
that I may impart to you some spiritual strength.
I'm eager to come to you
to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.
Why does Paul want to go to these Christians
and share the gospel with them?
I mean, surely Paul should go to places
where they don't know the gospel
and tell them the good news of Jesus.
Why does he want to write to Christians?
Well, the reason is
because the gospel is not only good news for sinners,
it's also good news for saints.
When you look at the New Testament,
the evidence is overwhelming
that the apostles are constantly writing
and applying to believers
the gospel again and again and again.
If you look at the book of Romans,
one of Paul's greatest books, right?
16 chapters long.
The first 11 chapters
are all about
the multifaceted wonder of the gospel.
So Paul writes and says,
well, let's consider it from this angle.
And he applies it to their life.
And he says,
well, but your objection might be this.
So let's see how the gospel deals with that.
Oh wait,
well, let's see how the gospel deals with this issue.
Oh wait, you got a problem here?
Let's see how the gospel deals with it
from that issue.
Paul spends 11 chapters
writing to these Christians
who are mature,
showing them how the multifaceted dimension
of the gospel speaks to every area of their life,
even as Christians.
Now,
one of the reasons we often say this
is because the gospel
is not just the way into the kingdom of God,
it's the way of the kingdom of God.
It's not just the doorway or the entrance,
it's how you become a Christian,
it's the pathway you walk along
until you get to glory.
And so what that means is that
if you're a Christian here this morning,
one of the ways that you're going to grow
as a Christian
is to keep on applying the gospel
ever deeper into your heart
and to the challenges you face.
Why do we keep on talking about the gospel?
Well,
one of the reasons
is because we forget.
Look at what Paul says here in verse 1.
He says,
Now I want to remind you,
brothers,
of the gospel.
We spoke about this two weeks ago
when we looked at Deuteronomy 6, right?
Remember Deuteronomy,
Paul,
not Paul,
Paul wasn't born yet,
Moses,
okay?
Wrong testament.
Moses writes and he says,
He says,
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
soul,
mind,
strength.
Teach this to your children.
And then he says,
when you go into the promised land
and you count these houses
and vineyards
and everything is wonderful,
take care lest you forget
the Lord your God
who delivered you out of Egypt.
And we spoke about the fact
that in the Bible
to forget
doesn't mean to have a lapse of memory.
It means you start to assume something.
You start to take it for granted.
What was once
front and central in your mind
starts to move to the periphery.
And you say,
Yeah,
yeah,
I understand that,
right?
Well,
Paul writes to remind them
of the gospel
because he wants to bring it
front and central
to their lives.
Friends,
when we tend to
assume the gospel,
take it for granted,
we tend to think that
God saved us from our sins
but then salvation
is a means of self-help.
Like God just giving us a help up.
God,
we need some of His help.
We don't quite have it all together
and so we need God
just to help us get our lives
together.
We need God to help heal us
from our hurts
or we need God to help us
sort out this area of our lives.
In other words,
what we do is we start to trust ourselves
for our salvation
along with God.
But when we do that,
we rob the gospel of its power.
It becomes like a shell
of what it originally was.
In Romans 1,
Paul says,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel
for it's the power of God
for salvation.
It has the power
to change your life,
to revolutionize your life.
But when we think of the gospel
as a means to self-help,
as good advice
rather than good news,
it disempowers the gospel
of its very essence,
its power.
And it becomes just
the advice
of how to live our lives.
And so the one reason
we keep on talking about it
is because we tend to forget.
But the other reason
is because,
as I alluded to earlier,
the gospel is also the way
you grow as a Christian.
For those of us
that are already Christians,
justified,
forgiven,
we need to keep on hearing
the good news of the gospel
and ever dive into
the richness of the treasure
of who Jesus is
and what he's done
on the cross
in order to grow
and mature
as Christians.
Christians.
We see this
throughout the New Testament.
The Apostle Paul
is constantly applying
the gospel
to every area of life.
In other words,
Paul in Ephesians chapter 5,
he wants to help
some of the Christians
with their marriages.
And so what does he say?
He writes and he says,
Husbands,
love your wives
just as Christ
loved the church.
Well, how did Christ
love the church?
He gave himself up for her,
laying down his life
on the cross.
Paul wants to help
people who are not
getting along so well
to get along in the church.
And so what does he do?
He says,
Have this mind
which is yours
in Christ Jesus
who though he was God
didn't count equality
with God
something to be grasped
but emptied himself
becoming a man,
humbling himself
to the point of servanthood,
even death on the cross.
You see,
when there's conflict
in the church,
Paul doesn't just say,
Listen,
you've been Christians
for 10 years,
sort yourselves out now.
What does he do?
He says,
Remember the humility
of Jesus
and let that
humble you
of your pride
so that you can receive
and love one another.
Later on in Ephesians,
Paul writes
and he wants to help
two Christians
forgive each other
who are struggling
to forgive each other.
And he says this,
Let all bitterness
and anger
be put away from you.
Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted,
forgiving one another
just as God
in Christ
forgave you.
Friends,
isn't that amazing?
Let's say,
Claire and I
are not getting along
so well.
Marriage is hard.
Paul doesn't just say,
Kevin,
you're the man,
sort yourself out.
Okay?
Have you guys seen
that skit
where the counselor
says,
I've got two words
for you.
He says,
just stop it.
Someone comes in
and says,
I've got a problem.
He says,
okay,
just stop it.
That's not what Paul does.
He says,
Kevin,
I could tell you
to stop it.
But remember
how Christ treated you
when you were his enemy,
when you were shaking
your fists at him,
when you were saying,
stuff you,
God,
I want to be my own God.
How did Christ forgive you?
He went to the cross.
Let that melt your heart
and forgive the one
that has hurt you.
When Paul wants to help
Christians be generous
with their money,
what does he do?
He says,
remember Jesus
who was infinitely rich
in heaven
and yet for your sake
became poor
so that you who are poor
have become infinitely
rich in him.
Paul massages
the kindness of Jesus,
the grace of Jesus,
the indestructible love
of Jesus
into the hearts
of those that are
followers of Jesus
and he applies it
to the exact area
of their lives
where they are struggling.
But did you notice,
for Paul,
the gospel
is not just a theory
of atonement
or of how,
you know,
Paul doesn't just say,
let me tell you
the doctrine
of propitiation,
okay?
He doesn't just
throw a textbook
at them.
What does he do?
The gospel
is always
a person.
You see,
it's the love
of Christ
that secures
our anxious hearts.
It's the forgiveness
of Christ
that helps us
to forgive one another.
It's the gentleness
and kindness
of Jesus
that melts our hearts.
Remember,
Romans 2 says,
it is the kindness
of God
that leads us
to repentance.
As Paul massages
the wonder
of Jesus
and who Christ is
and what Jesus
did on the cross,
it so melts
the hearts
of those
that are receiving it
that it actually
changes them
from the inside out.
In other words,
the more we come
to see
and realize
the depth
of the chasm
that lay between
us and God,
how utterly hopeless
our situation was,
how despairing
and desperate
our situation was
apart from
the mercy of Christ,
the more we see
that,
the more our hearts
will melt,
the more we'll
understand the love
of Christ for us,
the more that God
will change you.
Friends,
when we see
the wonder of Jesus
and the good news
of the gospel,
let me put it this way,
when that is not
vivid and real to us,
when it's not
clear to us,
when we assume
the gospel
rather than treasure
who Jesus is
and what he's done,
what happens
when things
come into your life?
What happens
when you come up
against issues
in our life?
I know what happens
in my life,
I get defensive.
I start to say,
well,
it's not my fault.
If that person
hadn't done that,
I wouldn't have
acted this way.
When the gospel
is not real to me,
I find someone else
to blame.
I start to come up
with all sorts
of excuses
why things
that have gone wrong
in my life
are not my fault.
It's my parents' fault.
It's the government's fault.
It's global warming's fault.
It's the church's fault,
right?
It's Claire's fault.
But when the wonder
of Jesus
and what he's done
for me,
that I,
a sinner,
he rescued,
ransomed,
healed,
forgiven,
that when I was
at my worst,
Christ went to the cross
for me.
It gives me
an identity.
It changes me.
It makes me
the kind of person
that can face
my flaws
and my flaws
no longer define me
because I'm defined
by the love of Christ.
Friends,
if you're a Christian today,
you,
like me,
need to appropriate
the gospel
ever deeper
into your heart
in order to grow.
Friends,
are you a Christian
and you've become
stagnant in your faith?
Are you no longer
growing in your faith?
Have you become
bored and blasé?
Have you,
maybe you became
a Christian a few years
ago and your life
changed and God
blew up your life
and it was all amazing,
but over the last few
years you've just
plateaued and you
walk with God.
You don't need to
just understand
more stuff
or read more books.
You need to marvel
at the wonder
of what Jesus did
on the cross for you.
That you,
a sinner,
condemned and unclean,
could be welcomed
and ransomed,
healed and restored
because Christ
loves you.
Grapple with,
marvel with,
wonder,
preach the gospel
to yourself.
Okay,
quick story.
C.S. Lewis,
I only discovered
this two weeks ago.
C.S. Lewis,
the great C.S. Lewis,
the guy who wrote
Narnia and
Mere Christianity
and Screwtape Letters
and all these
wonderful books,
became a Christian
in 1931.
He grew up
in a Christian home.
He rejected his faith
in his 20s,
became an ardent atheist
and he was friends
with J.R.R. Tolkien,
the guy who wrote
The Lord of the Rings
at university.
Tolkien was a Christian
and Tolkien preached
the gospel to him
and led him
to faith in Christ.
And so he became
a Christian in 1931.
And he wrote
these amazing books
like Narnia
and C.S. Lewis
and Screwtape Letters.
20 years later,
on the 21st of April,
1951,
he has a life-transforming
encounter.
the realization
of the forgiveness
of God's sin
became real to him
in a way
that had never
become real
previously.
And even though
he had been a Christian
for 20 years,
as the depth
and the wonder
of the gospel
became real to him
in a way
that it had never
been real,
it changed his life.
Listen to how
he describes it.
He writes to
some lady
three years later,
1954,
he says,
he had this
experience,
he says,
perhaps this is
the most blessed
thing that has
ever happened
to me.
Oh,
how little people
know of Christianity,
those who think
the story ends
with conversion.
Two years later,
1956,
he's writing
another letter
and he says,
I'd always believed
in my mind
the doctrine
of God's
forgiveness of sins
and I said
I believed it
but then
one blessed day
it suddenly
came to me
and it made me
realize that
previously
what I had
called belief
was absolutely
unreal.
Two years later,
1958,
he writes this,
I had been a
Christian for many
years before I
really believed
God's love for me
in the forgiveness
of sins
or more strictly
before my
theoretical belief
became a reality
to me.
Friends,
is that true for you?
Maybe you've been
a Christian for 20
years.
So yes,
I know Jesus died
for me,
yes,
I know he loves me
but has the gospel
captured your heart?
Is it changing you?
Is it today,
this week,
reassuring you
of God's love?
Is it melting
the pride
and the ego?
Is it destroying
the defensiveness?
Is it making you
more lovely
and kind
and gracious?
Is the gospel
real to you?
Friends,
why do we always
talk about the gospel?
Because it's
not only for sinners,
it's also for saints.
Now,
I've got two very
quick things to say
as well.
This is not going
to be too long.
Thirdly,
the gospel is not
only for sinners,
not only for saints,
it's also for sufferers.
Every religion,
every secular worldview
will tell you
that it's the strong,
the devoted,
those that have
got it all together
that obtain the favor
of the gods
or make a success
in life.
But Jesus says,
it's those of us
who come to him
in weakness,
those who come
to the end of ourselves,
those who are despairing
that find the grace
of God.
Chris reminded me
of this this week,
that what makes
suffering so intolerable
is not just
the suffering itself,
that's part of it,
but it's the stories
we believe
about our suffering.
When you're suffering,
the story in your mind
that says,
I'm suffering
because I've done
something wrong,
because I must have
done something
to earn this
displeasure of God.
Or maybe we tell
ourselves that
this suffering
will make me unlovable,
I'm now damaged goods,
no one will ever love me.
Or we think
this is the way
it will always be.
Or we take that on
as our identity.
But Jesus Christ
came with the broken world,
suffered unbelievable,
infinite rejection,
not only by his disciples,
not only by the Romans,
but by his father
on the cross.
Jesus suffered
in order to give
you and I
an identity
that does not change
with our successes
or our failures.
That does not change
when life is amazing
or when life is suffering.
Jesus gives you
an identity
that is based
on his profound
love for you.
And so look at
what Paul says here
in 2 Corinthians.
He says,
God said to me,
Paul's going through
his sorrow time,
suffering unbelievably.
He cries out to God
and says,
God, is this ever
going to change?
And look at what God says.
My grace is sufficient
for you.
My power is made perfect
in your weakness.
Therefore,
says Paul,
I will boast
all the more gladly
of my weaknesses
so that the power
of Christ
may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ,
then,
I am content
with weakness,
insults,
hardships,
calamities.
When I am weak
because of Christ
and the gospel,
then I am strong.
Friends,
no one likes suffering.
None of us
choose suffering.
But Jesus' death
and resurrection
transform suffering
from a sentence
into a steward
that will lead you
to the grace of God.
Just this week,
I was sitting with a man
who is going through
unbelievable suffering.
The kind of suffering
that I hope
I will never experience
in my lifetime.
And as I sat across
the room from him
with tears streaming
down his face,
he said to me,
this is the hardest thing
I've ever gone through
in my entire life.
And yet,
I would not change it
for the world
because in this hardship,
I have experienced
the intimacy
and the closeness
of Christ
that I never thought
was possible.
Friends,
are you suffering
this morning?
Yes,
you're in a battle,
but the battle
doesn't define you.
Jesus' death
and resurrection
gives you an identity
that defines you.
Your battle
will be won
because the ultimate battle
was won on the cross.
Yes,
destruction and danger
and even death
will come close,
but they won't consume you.
They won't overwhelm you
if you're in Christ
because Christ's death
and resurrection
changes suffering
from a sentence
into a servant.
But then,
not only is the gospel
good news for sinners,
not only is it good news
for saints,
not only is it good news
for sufferers,
it's good news
for sojourners.
I'm sorry about
the four S's,
but,
you know.
You see,
the good news
of the gospel
is that,
yes,
Christ is with us
in our suffering.
He's with us.
He doesn't abandon us.
But actually,
the ultimate good news
is that one day
our suffering will end.
If you're new
to church this morning,
the Bible talks
about Christians
as being sojourners
or pilgrims.
And what that means
is that this world
is not our home.
We are kind of pilgrims
in this world
as we make our way
towards our final home,
which is glory
for all eternity
in Christ.
You see,
as wonderful
and as precious
as it is
that the risen Lord
Jesus Christ
is with you
in your suffering,
the Bible says
there is coming a day
when every bit
of suffering,
every bit of brokenness,
every bit of wickedness,
every tear
that you encounter
in this world
will be done away with
if you're in Christ.
There is a world
that is coming
that is your true
and lasting home,
your final home
where there will be
no more tears,
no more pain,
no more death,
no more sorrow,
no more suffering,
no more agony.
Friends,
the day you become
a Christian,
God saves you
from the penalty
of sin.
In this lifetime,
God is saving you
from the power
of sin in your life.
There is coming a day
when God will deliver you
from even the very presence
of sin and brokenness
and wickedness
in our world.
And so Paul goes on
and he says,
if we are Christians,
he says,
if as Christians
we have hope
in this life only,
but then after this life
that's just the end,
we of Christians
are the most of all people
to be pitied.
But in fact,
Christ died
and raised from the dead
so we also
will raise with him
when he comes again.
Friends,
for those of us
that are Christians,
as it was with Christ,
so it will be with you.
Yes,
you will suffer
in this world.
Jesus said,
in this world
you will have hardship
and difficulty.
But just as Jesus died
and rose again,
if you are in Christ,
that is going to be
your story too.
Because Jesus will give us
an identity,
a hope,
a home,
a glory
that no one
and nothing
can take away from you.
Friends,
this is why we talk
about the gospel.
This is why we sing,
pray,
delight,
celebrate the gospel.
gospel.
This is why we are not ashamed
to call ourselves
gospel-centered.
Friends,
I pray that at Watermark,
when in years to come
you think of Watermark,
you don't just think of
a friendly church.
You don't just think of
community,
as wonderful as that is.
You don't just think of
gospel-centered
because that is on
everything we ever write.
But I pray that
as you think of Watermark,
you will think of
the wonder of God's love.
That though you were a sinner,
lost and dead in your sins,
because of His profound
love for you,
Jesus Christ went to the cross,
took your sin upon Himself,
that you can be
rescued,
healed,
restored,
forgiven.
I would remind you,
brothers and sisters,
of the gospel
that I preached to you,
says Paul,
in which you received,
in which you stand,
by which you are being saved,
as you hold fast
to the word of life.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus,
I do pray,
God,
for us as a church,
Lord.
I pray that
one of the marks
of Watermark Church
is that we will be
so rooted and anchored,
that we will
not just know
the good news
of the gospel in our head,
but that it will
infiltrate every area
of our lives.
It will shape
every area of our lives.
It will change us,
God,
that we will be so
anchored and grounded
and established
in the profound
good news
of what you did
on the cross,
that God,
we will be a taste
of heaven on earth,
that in this little community
and as we spread out
into Hong Kong,
that we,
God,
will be almost
an enclave
of heaven on earth.
Christ,
I pray,
come and do that.
Lord,
I pray for those of us here
that are maybe
not even Christians.
We've never come
to experience
the life-transforming
power of God.
God,
won't you come
and open eyes
to see the gospel.
Won't you come
and help us
to see what you did
for us,
that your death
on the cross
wasn't just
a historical event,
it was a power.
It was an event
to change the course
of human history
and to change
our lives too.
Christ,
come and have your way
in our lives
and in our church,
we pray.
Amen.