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This podcast is a production of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, USA. Watermark exists to be and make more fully devoted followers of Christ, looking to God's Word as our only authority, conscience and guide.
Good morning, Watermark. How are we doing today? I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I'm glad you made it. If you're just traveling this week and in town visiting family, I'm glad you made it. If you're just living in town and visiting for the first time, I'm glad you made it as well. My hope is that every person here today will take a step with Jesus Christ.
We're about to jump into studying God's Word. We believe God wants to speak to us today. So, I want to give you a chance right now to pray and ask God to speak to you. Would you do that really quickly? Then, would you pray for the people around you and ask God to speak to them as well? Then, would you pray for me that God would speak through me to you?
Lord, I pray that this morning would be marked by your power, your power at work in our lives. I pray, Holy Spirit, right now, that you would do something unmistakable in people's hearts and minds, that people would leave here having met with the living God. We give this time to you, Lord. I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart would be acceptable in your sight, O God. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
I want to ask… Did anyone put Christmas lights up outside of your house? Okay, several. Not everyone, but some people did. Great. We did as well. So, my question for you is: What type of Christmas lights person are you? I am a "use what you have" type person. Okay? I was committed this year… Like, "I'm not spending any more money on Christmas lights, so we're just going to use what we have." Which means I'm also a "something doesn't look quite right" lights guy.
I took the lights we bought for our bushes when we lived in Austin and combined those with the lights we bought in College Station to decorate along the sidewalk. The lights I bought for the bushes in Austin are over a decade old. So, you know, a big net. _This_ half works, the middle section doesn't, and then _this_ side _does_. So, what you have to do is take _this_ side and overlap it with the middle that doesn't, and then you have one solid section. That's what's happening there.
The unfortunate thing is when you take the lights from the bushes in Austin and combine them with the lights for the sidewalk in College Station, you have a warm white light for the bushes, and then you have an ice white/bluish white for the sidewalks. When you put two different whites right next to each other, something isn't right. It just doesn't look right. If you live by me, you've probably walked by and been like, "That doesn't look right." You would be correct. But I'm committed to not spending any more money on Christmas lights this year, so that just is what it is.
I don't know what type of Christmas light person _you_ are. I would imagine there are probably a few "use what you've got; something doesn't look right" people in the room, but then we probably have some projector lights people in the room. Like, you're the type of person who wants the appearance of Christmas lights, but you don't want to do the work to put up actual lights, so you buy a projector, put it in the ground, push "on," and there you have the appearance of Christmas lights, but everyone can tell those aren't real lights.
Then you have the "our neighbors probably hate us" people. Maybe that's you. Maybe you're a "my neighbor probably hates me" type person, because you've put on so many lights that you're blinding them. They can't sleep at night it's so bright. Or you have such big inflatables that when they wake up and drink their morning coffee and look out their window, all they see is your inflatable, and it drives them crazy. Maybe that's you.
Then there are the "clean and crisp" people. You don't stand out on the block, but you represent the block. You know what I mean? It's clean and crisp. You have straight lines. You have 90-degree angles. Again, you don't stand out, but people are like, "Hey, man, you represent us well." You're faithful. You're faithful on the block. People can drive by, and they're like, "Way to go. Bill has got it."
Then you have the people in the room who are the "go all out" people. Your aim is to be a destination house. Like, you're invested. You've gotten creative. You have put in a lot of time or have hired someone to put in a lot of time, because you want one of those houses people talk about. You want to be the subject of someone's conversation. You want somebody saying about you, "Have you seen \[so-and-so's\] house? Let's go drive by their house. You've got to see it. It's amazing." It's a destination house. People are drawn to your house.
Which type of Christmas light person are you? We're really not talking about house lights today. What I really am getting at is…_What type of light will_ **you** _be this Christmas season?_ I want you to think about your house lights, and then I want you to think about yourself as a light for Christ. If you know Jesus Christ, then the light of Christ is in you. What type of light will you be in a dark world this Christmas season?
Here's the reality. The goal is for each one of us to be a bright and attractive light for Christ. You don't want to be the projector Christian. You don't want to be the person who appears to be light, but when people get close to you, they sense something fake about you. You don't want to be the "something just looks off" Christian. You don't want to look like my house lights, where people look at your life and come to the conclusion that what you say you believe and how you actually live don't match.
You don't want to be the "my neighbor probably hates me" Christian because you're an obnoxious Christian. You're known more for what you're _against_ than what you are _about_. What you want to be is one of those faithful, crisp, clean… Not perfect, but when people drive by your life, they look and see faithfulness, or you shine in such a way that people are drawn to Christ because they're drawn to Christ in you. What type of light will you be for Jesus this Christmas season as we walk out into a dark world?
Today, we're stepping into 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, which is going to show us how to shine brightly for Jesus. If you've been reading through the Bible with us in 2025, then you just finished reading 1 and 2 Corinthians this week. Hey, good news. If you've been tracking with us, starting tomorrow, we have a month left before we finish the entire Bible. Keep going. If you haven't been on the Journey with us, hey, read with us for the month of December. You can get to the end of December and say, "I read all of December with my church." That's a win.
We just finished 1 and 2 Corinthians. As we step into 2 Corinthians 5, Paul is going to show us what it looks like to be bright and attractive lights for Jesus this Christmas. There are really three keys we're going to see in this passage. I'll give them to you now. If you want to shine for Jesus this Christmas, then, first, _fear God this Christmas_; secondly, _love radically this Christmas_; and thirdly, _live missionally this Christmas_.
You might hear those three things and come to the conclusion, "Okay. I already get it. I don't even need to hear this message. This is a simple message." I'll tell you this. It's simple in words only. That's the only thing simple about it. The application is impossible apart from the supernatural enablement of the Holy Spirit in you.
Because of that, here's the way things are going to flow this morning. I'm going to talk for a little, and then I'm going to give you an opportunity to pray and process with God, right in the middle of the message, for you to spend some time asking God to give you the supernatural strength you need to fear God or to love radically or to live missionally. So here we go.
1\. _Fear God this Christmas_. Look at what Paul says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, starting in verse 10. **"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience."**
Do you see what Paul is saying here? Paul is actually driven to engage with unbelievers because he lives with the end in mind. Paul is living with an understanding that a day is coming where he will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for the way he has lived. That understanding leads to a fear of the Lord. That's what Paul is calling us to. He's calling us to live with the end in mind.
Paul has the understanding that every single day is leading to _the_ day when you'll stand before Jesus. You need to know that every single day of your life, every day this Christmas season, is leading to _the_ day when you will give an account to Jesus Christ for the way you have lived. This is the topic known as the _judgment seat of Christ_ in the Bible.
Now, I don't talk about the judgment seat of Christ in order to scare you if you're a Christian. I talk about the judgment seat of Christ not to scare you but to focus you, because the reality is, if you know Jesus Christ, the day is coming where you _will_ stand before him, and you _will_ give an account. What will that time be like? That's a good question to ask. What will it be like to stand before Jesus at the end of your life as a Christian?
Well, there are certain tensions we need to hold at the same time. One tension is that all of your life, all of your motives, and all of your works will be exposed and laid bare before God, and you'll give an account to God for the way you've lived. That's one tension. At the exact same time, you also have to hold the reality of Romans 8:1, which says, **"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."**
At the judgment seat of Christ, if you know Jesus, Jesus won't condemn you for the ways you've fallen short. If you do experience any regret for how you've lived, Revelation 21 tells us that Jesus will wipe away every tear from our eyes. So, I firmly believe that every single one of us who knows Jesus and stands before Jesus will be overwhelmed by just how sufficient Jesus is for all of the ways we've failed.
Yet, if you were to go and read 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, you would see that everyone's work is tested. For the works you have done to the glory of God you'll receive a reward. For the things you have done that have not glorified God…the text is very clear…you will suffer a loss of reward. That's just a reality. That's a tension to live with.
If we're going to stand before God one day and our works are going to be laid bare and we'll receive reward for what has glorified God and suffer loss of reward for what has _not_ been glorifying to God, then that should lead to a proper fear of God. The fear Paul is talking about here is not a terror. It's not this terror of what is coming. It's a sober reality.
It's a sober awareness and worship of the totality of God's character, where you have a really good grasp on the fact that God is loving and full of grace, yet his love and grace are never divorced from his holiness, his justice, and his unrivaled importance. My point to you is to let the same fear of the Lord focus you this Christmas season, because every day this Christmas season is leading to _the_ day when you will stand before him.
Several years ago, I did a doctoral program. During my doctoral program, I experienced… What you have had as a bad dream I experienced as a reality. Here's what I mean. It was April, and I was registered for a class that was supposed to start in the summer. So, in April… I don't know what prompted me to do it, but I logged into my school account just to check something. I hadn't logged into my account in a while.
When I logged in, what I found out was that very day, that night, I had an assignment and a quiz both due for the class that started in the summer. I don't know if you've ever had that bad dream where you're taking a class you didn't even know you were taking and had an assignment due that you didn't even know was due. That was me. So, here I am in the evening coming to the realization that not only do I have an assignment, but I also have a quiz, and they're due for a class I didn't even know had started.
It was a realization that what was happening in the future already had bearing on my present. There were assignments _now_ for what was coming in the future. I just tell you this to say… When Paul tells us to fear the Lord, he's saying your future should inform your present. You have assignments _now_ that will bear out in your future. We will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. **"Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord…"** Fear God this Christmas.
One of the reasons I'm talking about this now is because when Kat and I were driving to Wichita Falls on Tuesday to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family, Kat pulled out her calendar, and she began to walk me through every day of December and what we had to do, and low-level anxiety began to rise in me. She was like, "Okay. _This_ is what we have going on on the 1st, and then we're getting together with _these_ people on the 2nd, and then you have _this_ on the 3rd, and then _this_ is happening on the 4th, and _this_ is when we're going out of town _here_, and _this_ is what's happening _here_."
It was like every single day. It was like, "There is something going on nonstop." If I'm not careful, something in me wants to shift into the mode of "We just need to get through December because it's going to be exhausting." Does anyone feel that? Like, "We just need to get through December." Something in you might be thinking, "I just need to get through the next couple of weeks so I can shut it down for vacation" or "We just need to get through and get done with all of the Christmas shopping now."
Like, Black Friday. Just the anxiety level now that it has spanned into… It's not a Friday. It's a week or 10 days where we're all like, "What do I need to buy? I don't even need anything, yet somehow I need everything. I don't even know what I need to buy. I just know I need to buy something. It's Black Friday. Don't miss a deal." It's like, we just need to get through that. You just need to get through that time with those unpleasant family members. We just need to get through it.
Yet God cares about every single day of this Christmas season, and every day is leading to _the_ day when we'll give an account for how we lived our lives. Instead of just getting through December, allow yourself to be led by God through December. This is where you have to make a choice what type of light you're going to be. If you really want to shine this Christmas season, you have to switch from _getting_ through to being _led_ through.
So, this is where I want to give you an opportunity to pause and pray. Here's what I specifically want to give you a chance to do. I want to give you a chance right now to walk through your next week with God. If you need to pull out your calendar to even know what you have coming up, you should totally do that. With every single thing you have tomorrow… Walk through your whole day, then the next day, and the next day.
Here's what I want you to do. I want you to invite the rule and reign of Jesus Christ into every single one of those moments. Ask Jesus how you can glorify him in every single thing you have going on. You might look at an appointment you have, a meeting you have with someone, and you might ask God from now, "How do you want me to bless them? What attitude do you want me to carry into that meeting?" I'm just going to give you a couple of minutes right now to pause and walk through your next week and invite Christ's rule and reign into it. Go ahead and pray.
\[Pause\]
Lord, we want you to be glorified every day, in every meeting, in every interaction, in every meal we eat, every bit of work we do. May everything be pleasing to you. May we live with complete clarity that every day matters to you. We'll give an account for how we live this Christmas season, so would you lead us through it? I pray in Jesus' name, amen.
2\. _Love radically this Christmas_. Skip down to verse 14 and look at what Paul says. He says, **"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."**
When Paul starts out and says, "For the love of Christ controls us," that idea is that Paul is arrested, dominated by the love of Christ. He's so controlled by the love of Christ he really doesn't have a choice but to proclaim Jesus Christ. He's that gripped by it. Have you ever been controlled by love?
I think about when Kat and I were dating. We dated for eight and a half months before we got engaged. We saw each other every single day. We were on a crash course for marriage. I loved and looked forward to seeing Kat every single day. But in December of 2005, I went to New York with some friends to videotape one of my friends' engagement, which meant I was away from Kat for two to three days. I know. It was super tough.
On the flight home… We were flying home on a Sunday night from New York. I had a paper due for seminary Monday morning that I hadn't written yet, but I really wanted to see Kat. I was like, "I've gone two whole days without seeing her. I have to see her. I'm struggling to breathe without her." So, I made a decision. Remember, this was 2005, people. I turned to my friend sitting next to me and asked to borrow his BlackBerry.
His BlackBerry was the type that still had multiple digits assigned to one key, but I decided, "I'm going to write my entire paper on this plane on my friend's BlackBerry." Why? Because I was gripped; I was controlled by love. Like, I just got into a zone. My friend, when he handed me the BlackBerry, was like, "Are you serious?" I was like, "You just watch how serious I am." I just started cranking on this thing. We landed. I emailed the paper to myself, and I went to see Kat.
That's what Paul is talking about. You're so gripped by something. You are so one-track-minded. Like, "This is what I _must_ do. I don't see any other options. This is what is required of me because of the love of Jesus Christ." He's talking about being gripped by love. So, if you want to shine for Jesus this Christmas, love radically this Christmas.
Now, this is very important. What I'm about to say is so important. I hope you don't miss it. I want you to see what Paul does here. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the importance of being a gospel-saturated church and being gospel-saturated people. We talked about the importance of preaching the gospel to yourself regularly. That has been a new idea for some people. Paul models for us, right here in 2 Corinthians 5 what I'm even talking about when I say to preach the gospel to yourself.
When I tell you to love radically this Christmas, you need to understand I'm not telling you to just go out and try hard and love better. You have to start by preaching the gospel to yourself. That's what Paul does. Paul doesn't just give us a command to go out and love people. No. Love is a response to love. Paul says that the love of Christ controls him because of the gospel.
He's going to show us even what it looks like to preach the gospel to yourself. Look back at it. He says, **"For the love of Christ controls us, because…"** This is his application of the gospel. Paul preaches the gospel to himself by thinking deeply about what truly happened when he and the church became Christians.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever just slowly thought about what really happened when you trusted Christ? I think a lot of people never dive below the surface. You just stay on the surface of "When I trusted Christ, it changed my eternal destiny." But Paul teaches us to think deeply about our salvation. He says, **"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died…"** Who was that? That was Jesus. Jesus died.
If you're a Christian, it's because you came to an understanding of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection and how it applies to your life. Paul says, **"…one has died for all, therefore all have died…"** What Paul is saying is that when you became a Christian, you died. Have you ever thought about it that way? Have you thought about the fact that when you trusted Christ, a death took place in your life?
Jesus died, and you have been identified with his death. That's why when you get baptized, you go underwater. It signifies that you have actually died with Christ. You are no longer who you were before you knew Jesus Christ. You are a different person. Who were you before you knew Christ? Well, the text tells us. He says, **"…one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves…"**
Before Christ…it doesn't matter who you are…you lived for yourself. That's who you were. Before Christ, you were a person who lived for yourself. My question to you is: How did that go for you? Well, there's a reason you gave your life to Jesus. You gave your life to Jesus because you were tired of brokenness or tired of the emptiness, restlessness, darkness, meaninglessness, depression, or anxiety you experienced apart from God, living for yourself. Paul would say that person died.
Here's the Christmas message: In love, Christ was born to die so that you and I could die. In love, Jesus was born to die so we could die and be raised to a new life full of joy and peace and purpose, living life for the one for whom we've been made. You're a completely different person. Think about it this way. Before Christ (BC) you were a PC. Now that you know Christ, you're a Mac. You're an Apple. That's the way it works. Before Christ, PC. After Christ, you're running a completely different operating system. You're a new person.
When Saint Augustine returned to his hometown after his conversion in Milan, his former girlfriend called to him, "Augustine, Augustine, it is I!" He turned to her and said, "Yes, but it is not I." What was his point? "The person you knew, that person who lived for himself… He died and has been made new."
We have been made new to live for Jesus. Instead of living for ourselves, we've been made to live for Jesus. Now, you might hear that and think, "Well, how does living for Jesus bring joy and peace?" Because you've been made for Jesus. Your soul has been made to be satisfied in Jesus. When you live for Jesus, you have the joy, the peace, and the purpose that come with becoming who you were actually made to be.
So, how do we practically live for Jesus this Christmas? Well, we love others with the love we've experienced from Jesus. Do you see how Paul's motivation is the gospel? He's controlled by love because he has been loved. Experiencing love results in expressing love. If you want to shine for Jesus, then the goal is for your roommates, your coworkers, your neighbors, and your immediate and extended family members to tangibly experience the love of Christ through you. What does a Christlike love look like? Let me give you three things. These aren't exhaustive.
First, a Christlike love _pursues_. First John 4:10 says, **"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."** If you call yourself a Christian, what you're saying is "I have been pursued by Christ. Jesus left heaven for me. Jesus took on flesh for me. He lived perfectly for me. He died on the cross for me. He pursued me, his enemy. I know God not because I reached out to God; I know God because God, in the person of Jesus Christ, reached out for me. I've been pursued by him."
Because you've been pursued by Jesus in love, you can pursue others in love. So, my question to you is…_Who will you pursue this Christmas season?_ Who will you initiate with? Who will you have lunch with? Who will you go visit? Who will you call or text? Who will you pursue?
Next, a Christlike love _sacrifices_. Ephesians 5:2 says, **"And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."** Do you see it? "Walk in love as Christ loved us." How did Christ love us? By sacrificing himself for us.
If you say you're a Christian, you're saying, "Jesus laid down his life for me. He sacrificed the realities of heaven for me. He sacrificed the privileges of his deity to enter into my humanity. He sacrificed his very life to pay the debt I could not pay. In love, Christ sacrificed for me." So, my question to you is…_Who will you sacrifice for this Christmas season?_ For whom will you sacrifice comfort or time or your preferences or your traditions or your routines in order to love radically?
Then, a Christlike love _endures_. Romans 8:38-39 says, **"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."**
If you say you're a Christian, you're saying, "Jesus Christ is so committed to me. He will never allow us to be torn apart. He's so committed to forgiving me and enduring with me for all of eternity." So, my question to you is…_Who will you endure with this Christmas season?_ Who in your world is hard to love, yet you will commit to loving radically because you have been loved radically by Christ?
I just want you to think. Paul says, "The love of Christ controls us." What are you normally controlled by during the Christmas season? What normally controls you? Is it anxiety to reach a quota? Is it a scatterbrain, just constantly thinking about all of the different things and all of the different gifts you need to buy? Is it a bitterness toward difficult family members that controls you? Is it discontentment in your relationship status that controls you? Is it comfort that controls you? This is where we shine for Jesus: when it's the love of Christ that controls us.
So, this is where I want to give you a couple more minutes to pause and pray. Here's what I want to invite you to specifically ask God. I want you to ask him and then make space for him to respond. Here's the question: "God, who are you calling me to pursue, to sacrifice for, or endure with in love this Christmas?" If he brings someone to mind, then follow it up with this question: "How?" Just watch him bring specific things to mind for you to then go and activate on. Take a moment and pray.
\[Pause\]
Lord God, I thank you that you have pursued us. You have sacrificed and given your life for us, Lord Jesus. I thank you that you're committed to enduring with us in love for all of eternity. Would you empower us by your Spirit to do the same with others this Christmas, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen.
3\. _Live missionally this Christmas_. Look at what Paul says in verse 16. **"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."**
Here's what Paul is saying: "Look. We're completely new people. We have been made new. We're new creations. The old is gone, the new has come. Because we are new people, because who we were before Christ has died and we've been raised to a new life, we live with a new perspective. We see life differently than those who don't know Jesus Christ. We see the world not through worldly lenses but through godly lenses. So, we see people how God sees people."
That's interesting, because if you think about it, people in our world want to be seen for that which is physical or material. People want to be seen for things like their success or their status. People want to be seen for their wealth or their poverty. People want to be seen for their physical beauty or their physical strength. People want to be seen for their sexuality or their political affiliation. But as new people, we live with new perspective, so we see people through spiritual lenses. We see people as those who have been made by God and as those who are in need of God.
Every person you encounter this Christmas season is in one of two camps. Either they know Jesus or they _need_ to know Jesus. So, I just want to invite you right now to think about everyone you know you're going to come in contact with over the Christmas season. Think about coworkers. Think about people at the gym. Think about extended family. Think about all of the different people…your neighbors, people at the coffee shop you go to every day.
Just think about whether people in your life know Jesus or need to know Jesus. Really quickly, go through specific faces and zero in on the people who need to know Jesus. Now, with those people in mind, listen to what Paul says. Verse 18: **"All this is from God…"** What's from God? Being made new. Being new creations. Living with a new perspective.
**"All this is from God, who through Christ…"** What did Christ do? **"…reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…"** This piggybacks on what we talked about last week. What has Christ done? He has reconciled us to God. That means we have been made at peace with God. The war with God is over for those who know Jesus Christ.
But it's not just that the war ended; it's that our relationship with God, our status, changed completely. We're no longer enemies; we're children and friends. God doesn't just forgive us and tolerate us; he actually invites us in, moves in with us, and leads us through life. We've been reconciled to God. But not just that. He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. So, the reconciled become reconcilers.
He goes on in verse 19. **"…that is…"** He's explaining further what he means. **"…that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself…"** What does that mean? **"…not counting their trespasses against them…"** Isn't that good news? The war is over. Why is the war over? Because God is not counting your sin against you anymore. How? Because Christ paid for your sin on the cross.
**"…and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation."** You see it again. He reconciled us and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. He reconciled us, and he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. Verse 20: **"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."** That's our message: "Be reconciled to God." We're ambassadors.
Now, when you hear that word _ambassador_, when Paul says we're ambassadors… What word comes to mind when you think _ambassador_? _Representative_. Right? That's what an ambassador is. It's a representative from one country to another. In this passage, it carries a little bit of a different connotation. Listen to what one commentator said. "Ambassadors were messengers sent from an overpowering army to one that was about to be destroyed. As was military custom, the messengers brought terms of surrender and, thus, peace to the army that was about to be overwhelmed. It was a final offer before utter destruction."
Do you see it? We've been reconciled to God. The war is permanently over. Now God wants us to be messengers who go to those who are still at war with God to tell them the war with God can be over. It _can_ be over. You can have peace with God today, but it only comes through Jesus Christ. One day, you will stand before God, and either _you_ will give an account to God for your sin or Jesus Christ will give an account for your sin. Whose shoulders do you want the weight of your sin on? You don't want it on yours. Be reconciled to God.
Here's our message. Verse 21. This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I've shared it from this stage a lot. Paul says, **"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."** This is known in the Bible as the _great exchange_. What's the great exchange? It's very simple. Our sin to him; his righteousness to us.
We've done this exercise before. Let's do it again. Everybody say, "Our sin to him; his righteousness to us." Let's say it one more time. "Our sin to him; his righteousness to us." That's our message to an unbelieving world. That can be true of them. Jesus can take your sin. You can have his righteousness so that when you stand before God, instead of his condemnation you receive his commendation, where the God of the universe looks at you and delights in you because he sees Christ in you.
When I talk about living missionally, one of the things I have to remember that I want to invite _you_ to remember is that God is already at work in people's hearts right now. God is already tilling the soil of people's hearts, preparing them to respond to the message of the gospel.
When I talk about living missionally, I'm just talking about being open to share with those in whom God is already working. We've talked before about checking the locks just to see if there's an open or a locked door. That's what we're talking about. This holiday season, are you willing to check the locks to see if people might be open to respond to the message?
I was talking with a friend not too long ago, and he was sharing with me about this guy who graduated from A&M. He went on the mission field, and he was a missionary in East Asia. The country he was in is a country closed to the gospel. If you are found to be proclaiming the gospel, you can be arrested. But this guy was going from… I couldn't believe it when he told me this. He was going from one eating establishment to the next.
He'd walk into the restaurant, and he would say, "Hey! Hello! Hey, can I have everyone's attention? Did anyone have a dream last night about Jesus Christ? No? Okay. I'll come back." And he would go to the next place. What's he doing? He's just checking to see where God is already at work tilling the soil of people's hearts, because God _is_ at work. He is awakening people, revealing himself to people.
Now, you might hear that and be like, "That's crazy. Is that what you're asking us to do?" Yeah. Go to Chuy's today, and when you walk in, just be like, "Hey! Hello!" No. I'm not asking you to do that. But now that you've heard _that_, anything else I ask you should feel a little bit more doable, because you're actually in a country that's open to the gospel.
You might not have to walk into an eating establishment in a closed country and ask, "Has anyone had a dream about Jesus?" But imagine talking to a coworker or someone at the gym and just asking them, "Hey, do you celebrate Christmas? What does that look like for you?" A question a ministry asks that a friend has put in front of me recently that I haven't even used yet… I want to try, but it's just new to me. It's such a great question. You can ask anyone.
Imagine asking someone this question. "Hey, do you ever feel like God is trying to get your attention?" What a great question. A lot of people could say, "Nope." It's like, "Okay." But what if someone was like, "Sometimes"? Open door. We're just talking about checking the locks. So, I want to give you a moment really quickly to pray right now and ask God to work in the lives of those who don't know Jesus and to use you in their lives this Christmas. If courage is what you need, ask him to give it to you. Just take a couple of moments and pray.
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For some of you in this room, you don't know Jesus Christ, and God is using me as a messenger to you this morning, saying, "Look. There are terms of surrender that can lead to peace. Would you respond now?" Because the day will come where you will stand before God. You can stand before him in confidence with the righteousness of Christ, but it only comes through faith. Would you right now, even, invite Jesus into your life through prayer? Would you invite him to be your Savior, to forgive you of your sins, and begin to lead you in a new life?
For everyone else here, with your eyes closed, I'll just finish the story. You know, we put those lights on the outside of our house, and then a big rain came, and it tripped the outlet. I tried to get the lights back on. They wouldn't come back on. Part of me wonders if it's like, "You know what? Maybe we just need to go a new direction."
I just wonder if this morning God is tripping the outlet in your life, saying, "Look. There are some things about what you believe and how you're living that just don't match." We can be bright and attractive lights for Christ this Christmas, but maybe right now God is just tripping the outlet, inviting you to take a step in fearing him, loving radically, and living missionally.
God, I pray that you'd have your way in our lives this Christmas season. Thank you for the light of Christ that we've received. I pray that we would go out and be the light of the world. Would you use us for your glory this Christmas? In Jesus' name, amen.