Max Lucado at Southeast
Max did our sermon on Sunday...great stuff: probably his standard single sermon based on his new book on John 3:16-- probably the most famous verse in the Bible.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Lucado has sold 55 million books-- tops among Christian authors. I've read a handful of them; they're always easy-to-read, pleasant, somewhat informative and usually inspirational.
Cute but profound lines in the intro:
-the verse begins with God and ends with life
-the verse is a "parade of hope"
-if you know nothing about the Bible, start there; if you know everything about the Bible, come home to that verse
In particular, he focused on the word "whoever". From there, he divided it up into however, whenever and wherever.
The key text for "however" was Lk 16-- the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Christ came that the availability of The Kingdom might be announced to all people. This is a key theme in Dallas Willard's awesome book, The Divine Conspiracy, as he develops the Beatitudes at the beginning of "the Sermon on the Mount".
The key text for "whenever" was Mt 20-- the parable of the landowner and the workers. God hires at the last hour and they get the same wages. In the context of what else the Scriptures say about such things, the analogy is to salvation and eternal life-- these are available in equal measure no matter when one embraces the gift of God's grace. One could say that this is not fair-- and the best answer is that it isn't. Then again, it's not "fair" that anyone would receive salvation!
The key text for "wherever" was Lk 15's Prodigal Son. You can come to Christ from a profligate lifestyle, from the pig sty, or from the legalism of dutiful, self-righteous "service".
Often, people will point to Christ's outstretched arms on the cross as the answer to the question: "how much did he love me?...this much". But Lucado closed by re-crafting the question: "Who can come?...whoever"
If you haven't done so already, accept the grace of God as best manifested by the person, ministry, and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
posted by Eric Schansberg @ 11:17 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
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Max is a gifted author. Managing to overcome a Campbellite (Church of Christ) pedigree to endear oneself to mainstream evangelicals is no easy task. His religious views, I understand, are palatable.
55 million books x $2 royalty per book (possible for best-selling authors, I suppose) makes him a financial success as well.
Unbelievable sermom this weekend.
I don't know what exactly it was (we attended Saturday night after his brother's funeral service that morning) but this sermon was the best my eyes had ever seen and that my ears had ever heard.
When he first pointed to the text for the sermon I thought oh know John 3:16 again. Wow how he made that verse come to life again.
This was my third time seeing Max, but it was by far his best.
We attended Max Lucado's home church, Oak Hills, last February. They no longer adhere to the non-instrumental view of Church of Christ. They had full instruments on some songs and acapella on others. It was a nice mix. They did two interesting things at the service:
first they had elders meet people in the aisles to pray quietly with them at the beginning of the service.
second they read a prewritten well- thought prayer which covered many different requests and praises.
Visit if you get the chance.
I watched the Sunday second service online. We attended Saturday night service. There was a stark contrast in the delivery of the sermon. I wish everyone could have seen the conviction and passion in the Saturday service. I understand the passion and enthusiasm, as Max had stepped off a plane which had just left the funeral service which he preached for his deceased brother. The meat of the message was 90% the same, but the delivery was very different.
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