Matthew Lickona, who currently writes the Sheep and Goats column for the San Diego Reader, recently came and reviewed Kaleo Church in San Diego. It could of gone a lot of ways, but Lickona focused on the experience one may have visiting Kaleo, particularly the sermon and the centrality of the gospel and grace:
But preaching the Gospel, he said, was essential and more important than telling stories and teasing out meanings and lessons. “The Gospel is news about what Jesus has done; it is not advice about how to live. Why? Because we are saved by grace. News is about something that is done; teaching is about something you do. If my role is to teach you about what to do, then what I’m saying is that you can be saved by following my teaching.” Christianity, argued Fairchild, is unique among world religions in that it is not about following a teaching, but about believing in particular historical events concerning Jesus. “We’re saved by grace, by something that’s been done for you.” If not, “that puts you on the hook: earn your own salvation. If Jesus Christ did not live, then we are in grave, grave trouble.”
I like it when pastors like David stick to preaching Jesus and what He has done. I have too many sermons that either end with what we need to do, or something that sounds like an ending to an episode of “Touched By An Angel” or a passage from “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” If you’re lucky Jesus may make the occasional cameo appearance.