Different Things, Different People
As a preacher, there are many moments when you have to leave great ideas or application points on the cutting room floor. It is impossible and usually unkind to the congregation to try to communicate too many things in a sermon. I remember thinking on one occasion during a very very long sermon that I had lost the thread of the argument and the will to live amidst a forest of good points. And I was the one giving the sermon!
Well, all of that is to say that as the one who gets to write a short piece for your encouragement each week, sometimes as the cutting room floor is swept up on a Monday, a piece is revived—and this is such a piece.
I wonder if you noticed an important principle in Galatians 2:7–8. Speaking of Peter and the other Apostles, Paul writes:
“On the contrary, they recognised that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.”
You may have heard me summarise this idea in the little phrase “different things reach different people”. Peter and Paul both recognised that God could be at work through them both sharing the same gospel in different ways to reach different people.
This speaks to our attitude to other gospel and Jesus centric denominations and churches—Sydney Anglicans are not the only ones with the gospel. We ought never think that our church has the truth and is the only place where people can be saved. Our church is awesome but it is not only.
This also speaks to our attitude to different styles and ways of doing church. The 9.00 or 10.30 Church style is not best, it’s just seeking to reach and connect with certain people. The St Ives Park Church style is not best, it’s just seeking to reach and connect with certain people. The Tuesday Church style is not best, it’s just seeking to reach and connect with certain people. You may not like what happens at 6.45 but if the Gospel is preached and Jesus is the focus; let us celebrate that God can be at work in more ways than one.
So here at Christ Church, let’s celebrate Gospel-centered difference and distinction. Let’s celebrate all the different things we are doing in an effort to reach different people with the Gospel. Let’s recognise that God works through his one Gospel in various ways among various peoples at various times—all for his glory. And, let’s pray—pray for the congregation you are a part of, the other four, and our youth and children’s ministries—that we we may, through difference, but with one Gospel, reach many people for Christ.
