Most weekly sermons I write include the three Cs: Celebrate, Challenge and Change.
There’s always something I want to celebrate. It’s the good news of Jesus, after all, that I’m preaching. Then, in light of God’s goodness, there’s something about who we are or what we allow that needs challenging. Of course, with God’s help, accepting the challenge propels us to change.
We do well to be careful not to ignore the first C. I know we want people to change right now. We want things to be different yesterday. So, an old way of getting people to fall in line was something akin to “turn or burn.” We made so much of our ideas of hell that we scared people to faith in Jesus.
I say that like it’s past tense. Many preachers still choose that route. How much of the “old time religion” some Christians want to go back to looks like that, too?
To be sure, salvation is something to celebrate. But salvation is not merely about heaven. So, our celebration expands. We celebrate because Jesus calls us friends. We celebrate that mercy and compassion are part of God’s character. Celebrate because even though we are impatient with each other, God is overwhelmingly patient with us. There’s joy, hope and healing that needs celebrating.
And all that shouldn’t be an afterthought. It should be at the forefront of our worship of God. It’s part of the reason we affirm that God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
Hell and evil get their playing time. And they’re good at making us feel defeated and discouraged. Many people bring those frustrations and discouragement with them to worship every week. And they carry them every day. But we stand before the throne of grace. So, our life with God is something to celebrate. God doesn’t want us to hold on to our burdens. God wants us to know freedom and resurrection. As we live into the goodness of God, we see there is more to celebrate.
Stay blessed…john
