Scripture text: Romans 8:12-17, 31-39
Pastor's Note: We are using a wonderful resource from Cross The Sky Music for our Summer Worship services at SJNF. The plot of the skit comes from their Youth Sunday release, so I take no credit for that storyline, but I include it here to give context to the sermon that follows.
Image from History.com
Danny The Kid
A skit for four+ parts (Bad Image, Danny the Kid, and at least two townspeople).
Scene
Townsfolk are milling about an Old West town making small talk. “How nice is the weather,” “It’s such a pretty day,” “I heard that Old Joe picked up some new stock the other day,” and so forth.
Enter “Bad Image,” the villain. He’s a nasty bit of pure negativity.
Bad Image: Who cares about any of that? It’s too hot. Why can’t the sun just go away? You people disgust me. I can’t take all this anymore.
He draws his gun (finger and thumb gesture) and corrals the townsfolk, taking them hostage.
Bad Image: Let me tell you how it really is. God doesn’t care about any of you. You’re nothing. You’re worthless. You sin. You disobey. You think this sunny day is about you? Hah! Your lives don’t matter squat to anyone, let alone God.
The townsfolk become depressed, looking down at their feet. Bad Image makes to tie them up.
Bad Image: Here, hold this.
Bad Image hands the rope to a townsfolk, who does as he’s told without looking up. Bad Image then steps back to gloat over his work.
Bad Image: Look at you. How pathetic. You’re holding yourselves prisoner. Ha!
A loud noise from behind Bad Image. Maybe the “Good, Bad, and the Ugly” music riff and then Danny the Kid enters, carrying a Bible.
Townsfolk: Oooh, it’s Danny the Kid. He’ll save us.
Bad Image: Enough. There’s no hope for you.
Danny the Kid and Bad Image stare each other down.
Bad Image: Danny the Kid, this town ain’t big enough for the both of us.
Danny the Kid: You got that right. Let my people go.
Bad Image: Oh, no. It won’t be that easy for you.
Bad Image opens fire with his “gun” (make bang bang noises). Danny the Kid uses his Bible to block the shots. Bad Image fires six times and misses all six. He keeps shooting in futility after the sixth shot (make click sounds for the empty gun.)
Danny the Kid opens up the Bible and reads Romans 5:8.
Danny the Kid: But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him.
Danny then slams the Bible shut with a loud noise, like a gunshot. Bad Image staggers as if shot.
Bad Image: (stuttering) You...got...me. (Falls over)
Danny unties the townsfolk.
Danny: You’re free. Bad Image can’t hurt you anymore. God loves you. Go with God.
Cheers and end scene.
Sermon
So good and justice win the day. This bit of fun that you just saw is a depiction of what goes on inside our hearts and our heads pretty much every day. We humans are constantly torn between who we are and who we wish we were.
There’s always that voice, that bad guy inside us, who wants to hurl those ugly truths at us. We’re not worthy. God doesn’t really love us. We’re sinners. We’re inadequate. We’re failures. Listen to him too long and you're liable to put yourself in prison just like the townsfolk did. Bad Image, the villain in the skit, didn’t have to do much to kidnap the townspeople. All he had to do was remind them of their inadequacies and then they made it easy for him.
Just like we do.
There’s just one problem. This isn’t the whole story. There’s another voice that needs be heard in this inner trial: Christ’s voice. And what is it that he says?
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love.
And if Christ’s words are not enough, there are his actions. Going to the cross, being nailed to the tree, all for you and for me.
Martin Luther himself says of this. “So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!”
That’s the voice that really matters in the end. Not that we’re worthy or unworthy. That we’ve done right or that we’ve sinned. The last word is God’s. He loves us. He wants to be with us. He sent Christ to save us. Christ went to the cross and rose again on the third day to claim us as his own. End of story. He’s won. We’ve won. It’s over. It is finished.
Do you truly believe that God loves you as you are and not as you should be? Do you know that’s the truth? That this is what it’s all about? The whole story is God’s desperate passionate attempt to claim you, his beloved, for himself. You mean more to him than words can say. Human language, human thought, is inadequate to describe the level of God’s love for his people. Sin does not matter. It’s forgiven. Failure does not matter. It’s forgotten. All that matters is you and God loves you. Period.
For I am convinced that...nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
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