The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Grace and Forgiveness

Jesus at the center of all we do.

Jesus is the center of all we do.

Hey You! (Get the audience’s attention)

I like to have control of where I am going. I have gotten used to it. Turning, planning routes, taking care of my vehicle, making these crucial decisions. I am comfortable. No longer like a novice, newbie, maneuvering around possible accidents, seeing ahead in anticipation of what might happen.

However, I am still Getting used to hailing a ride, you know Uber, Lyft.

as I am a passenger, in the backseat, a backseat driver, I have a perspective. It’s my perspective, from my years of experience.

As I am white knuckled, I have to learn to let go, and let the driver drive. However, I am thinking, what gps app are you using? What, you aren’t using Waze? Now how will we know about upcoming traffic, accidents in time? I will surely be late to the airport.

You see, I like to have control of my environment. I have gotten used to it.

I imagine that’s why I pat myself down and look two or three times in the seat after I leave a ride, to make sure I haven’t lost control of my environment, especially concerning losing control of my possessions, by forgetting them, losing them to the black hole abyss of the Uber backseat.

Uber Names Top Forgotten Items in 'Lost and Found' Index

Ethan Adams, PreachingToday.com; source: Sylvie Brew, "Introducing the Uber Lost & Found Index," Uber (3-29-2017).

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Uber, the global ride-hailing service which has become a popular alternative to taxis in many cities, recently released some humorous data on items that riders accidentally leave behind in Uber vehicles after they arrive at their destinations. And, as any good technology company should, the analysts seem to have examined the data from every angle to extract any useful information.

For example, the most common items lost include cell phones, rings, keys and wallets. The "most forgetful" U.S. city is Los Angeles. The most forgetful day in 2016 was October 30. Sundays saw the largest average spike in lost wedding dresses, and Tuesdays saw the largest average increase in lost bathing suits. The list rounds off with some of the "most unique" items left behind in Uber vehicles, including: valuable Nordic walking poles, a lobster, corn hole boards, a potted plant, elf cut out, Nintendo, money bag, and a violin.

I wonder what the accumulated data from a "Lost & Found Index" from God's perspective might look like, and who might top the list. Liars? Cheaters? Thieves? Executives? Public servants? Widows? Teachers? Children? Pastors? Californians?

Paul's words could round off the list for each one of us: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst."

Look! (Examine the Scriptures)

Unpack . It tells what the good news is, for whom it is meant, and what we are to do with it.

Romans 1:1–6 CEB

1 From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for God’s good news. 2 God promised this good news about his Son ahead of time through his prophets in the holy scriptures. His Son was descended from David. 4 He was publicly identified as God’s Son with power through his resurrection from the dead, which was based on the Spirit of holiness. This Son is Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we have received God’s grace and our appointment to be apostles. This was to bring all Gentiles to faithful obedience for his name’s sake. 6 You who are called by Jesus Christ are also included among these Gentiles.

It is the good news of Jesus Christ. What he has done for us.

It is to guide our living.

It changes how we approach ourselves and others. We are saved through Jesus and so are those we are trying to share the good news with.

Paul is using it to guide his work and mission. It gives meaning.

It keeps us grounded. We remember where we came from.

It keeps us patient and understanding as we work with others, for we remember what it was like.

It gives us confidence, meaning, self-worth.

We demonstrate the gospel in how we relate to our fellow church members and the public as we face difficulties, conflict, and make ministry choices.

Let the gospel rule our lives.

How can we better our neighborhoods?

Jesus is the center of all we do.

Forgiveness is at the center of the message.

See! (Explain the passage)

Let’s start at the beginning. It is a message of Jesus love for humankind, that he forgave us through his death on the cross.

The Beginning

At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God. 2 You used to live like people of this world. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience. 3 At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.

Ephesians 2:1–10 CEB

1 At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God. 2 You used to live like people of this world. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience. 3 At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else. 4 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace! 6 And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. 7 God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus. 8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.

4–5 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace! 6 And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. 7 God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.

This is where we came from

8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.

Increasingly Teenagers Report 'Overwhelming Anxiety'

Benoit Denizet-Lewis, "Why Are More American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering From Severe Anxiety?" New York Times Magazine (10-11-17)

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Benoit Denizet-Lewis, "Why Are More American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering From Severe Anxiety?" New York Times Magazine (10-11-17)

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Over the last decade, anxiety has overtaken depression as the most common reason college students seek counseling services. In its annual survey of students, the American College Health Association found a significant increase—to 62 percent in 2016 from 50 percent in 2011—of undergraduates reporting "overwhelming anxiety" in the previous year. Surveys that look at symptoms related to anxiety are also telling. In 1985, the Higher Education Research Institute at U.C.L.A. began asking incoming college freshmen if they "felt overwhelmed by all I had to do" during the previous year. In 1985, 18 percent said they did. By 2010, that number had increased to 29 percent. Last year, it surged to 41 percent.

For many of these young people, the biggest single stressor is that they "never get to the point where they can say, 'I've done enough, and now I can stop,'" [one expert] says. "There's always one more activity, one more A.P. class, one more thing to do in order to get into a top college. Kids have a sense that they're not measuring up. The pressure is relentless and getting worse."

We came from a place where we feel like we are not measuring up. But the gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that because of Christ’s merits, even though we don’t measure up, it is of no consequence. It doesn’t impact our standing with Jesus. He loves us and forgives us anyway. That was his whole purpose. That is the good news.

Do! (Make application)

Share the message of forgiveness. Live the message of forgiveness. Show it in the way we respond to other people. In how we fulfill our desire to share the good news.

1 Timothy 1:12–17 CEB

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength because he considered me faithful. So he appointed me to ministry 13 even though I used to speak against him, attack his people, and I was proud. But I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and without faith. 14 Our Lord’s favor poured all over me along with the faithfulness and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 This saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I’m the biggest sinner of all. 16 But this is why I was shown mercy, so that Christ Jesus could show his endless patience to me first of all. So I’m an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. 17 Now to the king of the ages, to the immortal, invisible, and only God, may honor and glory be given to him forever and always! Amen.

Common English Bible, (Nashville, TN: Common English Bible, 2011),

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Matthew 28:19–20 CEB

19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 11—Things New and Old

All who receive the gospel message into the heart will long to proclaim it. The heaven-born love of Christ must find expression. Those who have put on Christ will relate their experience, tracing step by step the leadings of the Holy Spirit—their hungering and thirsting for the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, the results of their searching of the Scriptures, their prayers, their soul agony, and the words of Christ to them, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” It is unnatural for any to keep these things secret, and those who are filled with the love of Christ will not do so. In proportion as the Lord has made them the depositaries of sacred truth will be their desire that others shall receive the same blessing. And as they make known the rich treasures of God’s grace, more and still more of the grace of Christ will be imparted to them. They will have the heart of a little child in its simplicity and unreserved obedience. Their souls will pant after holiness, and more and more of the treasures of truth and grace will be revealed to them to be given to the world.

Ellen White, Christ’s Object Lessons, (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1900), 125.

Police Officer Forgives Teen Who Paralyzed Him

On July 12, 1986, Steven McDonald, a twenty-nine-year-old police officer on patrol in Central Park, stopped to question three teenagers about a bicycle theft. The oldest, a fifteen-year-old, took out a gun and shot him in the head, neck, and arm. McDonald was rushed to a hospital, where surgeons told his wife that he would be paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life. McDonald spent the next eighteen months in the hospital.

A few years later, McDonald made headlines again, this time because he publically forgave his shooter. Before his death in January 2017, McDonald explained why he forgave his shooter:

Looking back, pondering on my life since that time, it's clear to me that God was in charge. All he wanted was the opportunity to use me. He just needed my yes, and that was made possible by prayer. It's that simple, really. Through the family and friends that God put in my life, and their prayers, God spoke to me and said, "Will you love this boy who shot you?" And the best way that I could love him was to forgive him. Left to my own abilities, I don't think I would have done it. … And I know that I would have died a long time ago had I not listened to God, said yes to God, followed the example of his Son, and loved and forgiven.

Steven's son Conor McDonald, now an NYPD sergeant, recounted how his father would call him every day at 5:00 a.m. while he patrolled, just to wish him a good morning, and how during his college years his father would make a weekly trip to Boston just to have lunch together at Applebee's. "My father was always committed to me," Conor said, "He did more than most able-bodied fathers could ever do with their sons. … My parents created the most phenomenal life out of such darkness. It was due to their unmatched, unconditional devotion and love for each other, which I witnessed from the beginning of my life."

Adapted from Sam Hine, "God's Cop," The Plough (April 2017)

Because we have second chances, grace, we respond to the trouble unfairness, abuse, trauma, wrongdoing, slights, rubs, rudeness, harassment, that comes our way. We respond like Christ. We use it for good. We prayerfully ask for help in sharing the gospel of Jesus christ, a message of forgiveness.

Let the gospel of Jesus Christ take control of your life. You once were lost but now you are found.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Jesus is the center of all we do.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ centers our lives around forgiveness.