It has to go down as the sermon illustration with the most potential to get me into huge trouble. I spent all that afternoon going over it and making sure I could use it with a straight face and laughing out loud at the prospect of doing so.
I was preaching on Paul’s words in Colossians 2:20ff, on the Christian as having died with Christ and having been raised with him. We had sung a few songs, prayed and read the Bible. It was now time for the sermon. I began with these words:
"As we come to look at this passage, I have some serious news to share with you tonight: our dear friend John Smith* has died."
(*name changed for obvious reasons)
There was an audible gasp in church - John was sat there in our midst, alive and, seemingly, well. I then went on to say, after a short pause,
"That’s what our text tells us - and it says the same is true for every one who is a Christian…."
We were then going on to think about what that meant and its implications for us.
Trouble was, John had arrived reasonably late to the service and had been unseen by many of the not-very-large congregation. The gasp had that quality of "But he seemed well enough this morning - what on earth has happened? Oh, his poor family, they must be in terrible shock…" and other such thoughts that race through your mind at breakneck speed when faced with such news, in those time-is-standing-still moments.
I can vividly recall the horrified look on the face of one of the said gaspers - she seemed as though she might have a coronary at any moment. I think it was then that I realised the illustration could have done with tweaking slightly. The irony of causing a death by announcing a fake one was rather lost on me in the elation of having accomplished the feat of saying it all without the slightest hint of a smirk (the time spent in front of the mirror that afternoon had been worth it). But it has rather haunted me since.
What did John himself think? He found it a very positive experience, albeit initially somewhat perplexing. He looked up at me with a kind of 'hey, what - really?!?' expression on his face. I half expected him to start taking his own pulse and pinching his wife to see if all around him was real.
But it affirmed for him, in a distinct and memorable way, the wonderful and shocking truth that, yes, the person who is ‘in Christ’ has actually - really and truly - died with Christ, that his death counts for ours and that we shall never have to experience separation from God on account of our sins. And, more, that we are raised with him - really, truly and now - in newness of life.
What a great reality! What a wonderful text. What a……..sermon illustration (fill in the blank as you see fit).
