As a pastor I sometimes despair at the depths and variety of
human misery. Over the years I have heard a terrible array of confessions by
those who have committed unspeakable sins. And for every such confession, there
are another ten lives which are warped and wounded as a result.
But people also suffer because of their own choices. The
world is a messed up place, and maybe it doesn’t do any good to try to figure
out who to blame. You just know people are badly damaged and the reasons why
are complicated.
So what do we have to give people who are so broken? A story
about a Man who lived and died 20 centuries ago. And sometimes, when I tell
that story, I am not at my best, and it comes out half-hearted and tentative,
without the conviction and enthusiasm I would wish.
The temptation is to think that the Story is not enough.
That people’s troubles are too serious and too complex, and that telling them
about Jesus is not really the answer.
But then I discover what the Bible has been saying all these centuries: that the gospel is the power of God for salvation for
all who believe.
People’s problems are really serious and our sin is very
dark. I believe in counseling and mentoring and medication and all sorts of
helps. But I know that the story of Jesus is transforming at a level that far
exceeds the skill of its communicators and far surpasses the best help
available from any other source.
Paul said it this way: But such were some of you. Or do you not
know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men
who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of
you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 2 Corinthians 6:9-11 (my emphasis).
The church has always had within its ranks people who were
rejected and abandoned by others as too messed up, too evil, to hardened, too
stupid, too far gone. But it turns out that nothing and no one is unreachable
by the grace of Jesus.
What a Story we have to tell.
P.S. For a good summary of the Story, click here.
