Next week a number of us will be attending the Family Camp held at Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George, NY. The focus for the week will be the book of 1 John. In preparation for this I have been reading the book through repeatedly in order to acquaint myself with it. There is much to be said about the major themes of abiding, love, fellowship, truth, light, antichrist, and righteousness vs. sin. However, one section in particular has been very striking to me. Each time I read through it I get fascinated by its bold and convicting content.
I was reading Luke today:
When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who is invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. - 14.7-10
Peter Woodcock works with the Co-Mission Initiative, a church planting group in London, and is Co-Pastor of Fairfield Church, Kingston. Previously he worked as a church evangelist in London and has been involved in missions in the UK and abroad.
This talk called “Whatever Happened to the ‘S’ Word?” was delivered in 2003 at The Evangelists Conference held in the UK. In it Pete describes the white washing of sin that has occurred in our culture. Sin has been reduced to behaviorism and sinners have been recast as victims of their environment. With speed and passion Pete describes the seriousness of sin using both cultural references (like Pulp Fiction and Silence of the Lambs and shampoo commercials) and biblical grounding (the Genesis 3 account). Throughout he is engaging and enthusiastic. Though he does not share the solution to sin (that was the next person’s job during the conference) he builds a case that before one repents and accepts Jesus as Christ we are all sinners and if we do not include the conviction of sin in our evangelism we are chopping the arms and legs off the gospel. Enjoy!