Sermon for September 18th, 2022

John 3:16 has often been called a summary of gospels, or sometimes the very heart of the gospel message. Today's sermon--the heart of our sermon series featuring the gospel music of Johnny cash--focuses on the story of Jesus, which is summarized so succinctly in this one verse. But I've also included the next verse, John 3:17 because that verse talks about condemnation--and how that was NOT what Jesus came to do. Johnny Cash (you know, the other JC), in his own life and his music, was always careful to focus on God's salvation, and never on judgement or condemnation.

John 3:16-17 (NT p.94)

16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Music & Message: The Gospel According to Johnny Cash, Part II

For those of you who weren't with us last week, Patrick Kell is an El Paso native, a member of First Presbyterian Church and a lifelong Johnny Cash fan. He has released two albums which are available on Apple Music, Spotify, and pretty much anywhere else you can purchase or stream music. Please welcome Patrick Kell...

When I was in seminary, I had a professor who would always tell his students that the very best thing a preacher could do is to get out of the way and just let the scriptures speak for themselves. That's kind of my plan for today. I'm going to introduce the songs, maybe throw in a comment or two, but Johnny Cash knew his bible well, especially when it came to the life and ministry of Jesus. So I'm going to let his songs tell the story.

We begin that story NOT with the birth of Jesus or his childhood, but with his miracles. Because that's how the people in Jesus' own time would have first heard about him--through some of the amazing things he did, that spread by word of mouth throughout the land of Galilee. And the very first miracle of Jesus was turning water into wine...

• He turned the Water into Wine (3:14)

Speaking of where things begin, I was thinking last week about where this idea for a sermon series based on the gospel music of Johnny Cash came from. Patrick and I have talked about this for a long time, but probably the real origins go back to the origins of our friendship--and some long conversations about God. Patrick knew that I was a pastor, and would ask me questions about the Bible or about what Presbyterians believed...but every time I said the name "Jesus" he would start singing a Johnny Cash song: "Jesus was a carpenter and he worked with a saw and a hammer." I would usually say something like, "Well, actually Jesus was more of a stone mason than than a carpenter" and Patrick would happily change the words to the song. Whenever I mentioned the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, Patrick would also break out in to song: "Matthew, Mark and Luke and John told about Jesus on that gospel highway." I would then say, "Well, that probably wasn't really the names of the actual writers..." And then Patrick would make up his own names. As you can imagine, we had some pretty fun, pretty interesting, and pretty musical conversations, and even then, Johnny Cash was part of them. I'm going to let Patrick sing those songs for you now, staring with "Jesus was a Carpenter."

Jesus Was a Carpenter (3:25)

Jesus was a carpenter and he worked with a saw and a hammer
And His hands could join a table true enough to stand forever
And He might have spun His life out in the coolness of the morning
But He put aside His tools and He walked the burning highways
To build a house from folks like you and me

And He found them as they wandered through the wild Judean mountains
And He found them as they pulled their nets upon the Sea of Galilee
And for a thousand evenings while the day behind Him emptied
He walked among the poor, and he stopped to touch the dying
And He built His house from people just like these

It was on a shining Sunday when He rode to old Jerusalem
And the palms they cast before him were the crimes they laid against Him
It was on a storming Friday when He climbed the streets to Calvary
And where He died today why they're selling beads and postcards
And they tell us too that that was long ago

But would He stand today upon the sands of California
And walk the sweating blacktop in New York and Mississippi?
Where the mighty churches rise above the screaming cities
Would He be a guest on Sunday, a vagrant on a Monday?
With the doors locked tight against his kind you know

Come again now Jesus be a carpenter among us
There are chapels in our discontent, cathedrals in our sorrows
And we dwell in golden mansions with the sand for our foundations
And the raging water's rising and the thunder's all around us
Won't you come and build a house on rock again

Jesus was a carpenter and he worked with a saw and a hammer
And his hands could form a table true enough to stand forever
And he might have spun his life out in the coolness of the mornings
But He put aside His tools and He walked the burning highways
To build a house from folks like you and me

Gospel Road (5:00)

Matthew, Mark and Luke and John told about Jesus on that gospel highway
Matthew, Mark and Luke and John told about Jesus on that gospel road
How his pillow was the stone where he laid his head; How the hungry five thousand on the hill were fed;
How they sent him to the cross but he came back instead to walk upon that gospel road

The desire of ages now had finally come; born to walk upon that Gospel Highway
Born of a virgin down in Bethlehem; Born to walk upon that Gospel Road
And life would begin at the touch of his hand; The people would listen to him throughout the land
For never a man spoke like this man; Walkin' down that Gospel Road

John the Baptist said the kingdom has come; Baptizing’ people in the Jordan river
John the Baptist said the kingdom has come And they came to hear him at the Jordan stream
The voice from the wilderness said hear what I say: A redeemer is comin’ and today is the day
I was sent to tell you now to make straight the way For him to walk upon that gospel road
 
So two by two and three by three they walked in His footsteps on that Gospel highway
Two by two and three by three Walked in His footsteps on the Gospel road 
And they would die in shipwrecks and in the lion's den they would die on crosses and on spears of men
But when one fell back, two more would start again Walking down that Gospel Road

Yes, Paul and Silas in the midnight jail For talking 'bout Jesus on that Gospel highway
Paul and Silas in the midnight jail For talking 'bout Jesus on that Gospel road
And they sang out rejoicing and the jail split wide The doors busted open and they walked outside
But they went back to preaching through the countryside Walking on the Gospel Road

Goin’ to tell the people now in Nazareth He’s come to walk upon that Gospel Highway 
Goin’ to tell the people now in Nazareth He’s come to walk upon that Gospel Road 
And into the Synagogue the road did lead to let them know the thing on which their soul must feed
The time has come to help the poor and those in need; The weight upon that Gospel Road

Hey, won’t you come on with me from Jerusalem And walking to Emmaus on that dusty highway?
Hey, won’t you come on with me from Jerusalem And walking to Emmaus on that dusty road?
The traveling gets harder and with each rebuff Some turn back because they’ve had enough
But Jesus told you it was gonna be rough To walk upon His Gospel Road