FAITH SEEKING UNDERSTANDING: Chapter 4: The Sweet Swap!

Gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s all about the gospel. We hear lots of talk not only within the Crossings community, but all around the world in the church about the gospel. And it can mean a variety of different things and different contexts within the crossings community, though we’re very specific about what the gospel is and how the gospel works, and being able to understand how the gospel works is one of the key ways of being able to understand what makes it such good news. So how does it work? Why is it good news? And really what is the role of faith in this whole relationship between the gospel, the good news and faith? What really finally is the connection? Martin Luther, as many of you maybe know, is famous or infamous for his often colorful language. Sometimes it was very crude, even gross language. We really wouldn’t even want to mention in public, let alone church. One of my favorite down to earth metaphors, models, if you will, that Luther used. It’s not crude or gross, but it’s very down to earth. Describes so well how the gospel works in German, it is the Veel English, the Happy Exchange. Or as a sainted teacher of mine once many years ago, Bob Bertram said the sweet swap.

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This is a great and wonderful down-to-Earth way to talk about how the gospel works and also a way to truly focus on Christ and the good news that only Christ can bring. Can you imagine if you had a pile of rocks and I came up to you and said, here, I’ll give you this pot of go for that pile of rocks. Or you got a dirty shirt, you’re ashamed, it’s ugly. You wouldn’t want to be seen out in public. And I come and offer you, Hey, give me your dirty shirt. I’ll give you a clean one. Or you’re swamped in debts ready to file for bankruptcy, and I come to you and say, Hey, I’ll pay for all your debts. Give them to me and I’ll give you a clean, fresh start.

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What a wonderful gift. What a happy exchange. What a sweet swap. And that is precisely the way the gospel works, and it always starts with God’s offer in the story of Jesus, of his gold, for our rocks, of his cleanliness, for our dirt, of his wealth, for our debt, or as we say often in the church, his righteousness for our sin, his life for our death. And given that kind of an offer, a exchange, a swap, I mean, how could we ever respond but joyfully, willingly? And as we always say in the crossings community, it is a get to. That is always the response to the gospel. It is, I get to believe this, that it is for me, for us. And because of this gift, I get to give up all of my dirt, of my sin, of my old way of life. I get to even die because of what God is offering me in Christ His life. And it’s all I get to it is all the sweetest of swaps and begins with Christ’s offer. It’s not that we first got to come and show how serious we are, what we want to do to prove or show ourselves worthy or competent or sufficiently prepared. No Christ comes to us, especially in our brokenness and says, here, I’ll give you this. You give me that, and when we trust it, we get it. That is faith trusting the offer. What a sweet, blessed exchange.

(04:47)
There’s an illustration of how the gospel works, a sweet swap that I’ve always found in my years of parish ministry to be very helpful to anyone at any stage of life. And I did not invent this. I learned this from another one of my dear Sainted teachers, ed Schrader and perhaps some of his other students have also used this. It works sort of like this. Oh, it’s a wallet. Hey Brandon, would you like my wallet? And I toss you the wallet and what’s your response going to be? Brandon, you’re probably going to want to catch it because inside that wallet, Hey, there’s even some money in here today. Oh, but I bet if I threw a rotten tomato your direction, I bet you’d have an entirely different kind of reaction because of what I am tossing in your direction. It is an entirely different response.

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What God offers in tosses to us in the good news of Jesus Christ is like the wallet. And because of what it is, it wins my trust and confidence, and I willingly catch it, receive it. I mean, that’s what faith is. It’s not something I have to do. It’s something I get to because God has singled me out and tossed to me the greatest happy exchange of all. But what happens if I’m still suspicious? God must be up to something. Nobody gives away gifts like that, and the wallet falls to the floor. Why am I going to get Brandon to open? I take up the wallet. I’m going to go show him what’s in the wallet. I’m going to tell the story of the dollars when the credit cards in Jesus Christ, because that is the power that’s going to win your consent, your trust, your faith, your life, and make you a rich man, a saint, one of the beloved children of God. That is how the gospel works. Irks the greatest exchange to the sweetest swap of all.