Oops

So I am preaching last week for Easter on “Everything You Need to Know about Human History.”

Yes, I know, it was a very ambitious undertaking. But good judgment about finding a topic for a time frame has never been a strong suit of mine.

(I once wrote 45 pages for a Systematic Theology paper. My esteemed professor informed that he quit reading after 30 so I better make my point early. Needless to say, there was some major surgery that was done.)

So back to Easter—I was preaching on the theme of “Two Adams.” The idea was to trace human history through Adam and Jesus, to show that one man came into a perfect world and ruined it for us all, and the second came into a ruined world to restore it. One man sinned and brought death, and the other was perfect and brought life.

This is everything we absolutely need to know about human history—I am a sinner without hope because of someone thousands of years ago who did something that I had nothing to do with, and I can have hope because of someone thousands of years ago who did something that I had nothing to do with. Other stuff may be fascinating, interesting, and even helpful. But it won’t solve sin and it won’t make me right with God.

So a couple of days later, a relatively new member of the church called me. He said, “I really liked that message on Sunday. Was that stuff about two Adams actually in the Bible?”

It was at that point that it hit me: In the midst of all the Scripture I read and quoted, I never got to 1 Corinthians 15:45 or Romans 5:12-21. These passages were n my mind. They were the basis for everything I was saying.

I just forgot to say it.

So it reminds me, you can never be too clear about Scripture and you should never take for granted that your audience knows the passage you are referring to.