There’s good news and bad news in Alan Hirsch’s and Lance Ford’s book Right Here, Right Now (Baker, 2011).  And the bad news is quite bad:

1. Christianity is quickly fading in the Western world, especially in North America.
2. Most churches and Christian organizations have either turned inward or have been come ineffective in re-engaging the changing culture with the gospel.
3. Even outward oriented congregations and organizations who have embraced more effective approaches face significant limitations in their ability to impact a post-Christian culture.

But here’s the good news: you and every Christian you know are the key to reviving the Christian faith.  The ultimate solution to the bad news is not just stronger churches or more effective Christian organizations.  They solution is a wave of ordinary and average Christians who infiltrate and impact the culture on a day to day basis.  The authors believe that “All Christians, whether suburban or urban, blue collar or white collar, have already been sent by God on a mission and they have tremendous kingdom potential in the here and now of their current situations.”  For the Christian faith to radically impact the Western world, each and every Christian must learn once again to live every sphere of life on mission for God.

What does this look like?  Hirsh and Ford propose that we embrace four “moves”:

1. Move out (find ways to get into contact with non Christians, wherever they may be).
2. Move in (better understand the post-Christian culture of these people).
3. Move alongside (create genuine friendships with non-Christians).
4. Move from (clearly live in contrast to the dehumanizing and sinful aspects of the culture).

Moving out is critical, Hirsch and Ford state, because too many Christians operate with a salt-block mentality.  Just like a farmer places a salt block somewhere expecting the horse or cow to come and lick, many Christians rely solely on church events to which non-Christians are to come and “lick.”  What’s needed is a salt-shaker mentality.  Similar to the way we place a salt-shaker at the table where people gather, Christians must learn to go where people gather.  They must bring the salt to the people rather than asking the people to come to salt.

Moving in is important because many Christians have become so disconnected from the post-Christian culture they no longer understand the values and lives of those who live within it.

Moving alongside may be the most difficult because Christians and non Christians alike live within compartmentalized “silos.”  We have separate home lives, work lives, church lives, exercise lives, recreation lives, etc.  As a result there are few opportunities for relationships to easily form and faith conversations to take place naturally.  Hirsch and Ford urge Christians to do whatever it takes to swim against this tide and form authentic friendships with non Christians.  Ultimately, they charge each Christian to practice hospitality as a way of reaching out.  They write, “People should be able to experience a foretaste of heaven from our families and our homes.”

Most of Hirsch’s and Ford’s attention is directed at “Moving from.”  The authors fear that too many Christians in North America have unwittingly adopted sinful practices from the culture.  Their salt has become salt-less.  This section is thus filled with a prophetic call for Christians to regain their distinctiveness.  They write, “The most consistent way to challenge the destructive forces in popular culture is to live contrary to them—to actually be the change we want to see.”

The authors especially target our view of and use of money.  They argue “the average American Christian is just as drunk on consumerism as the non-Christian at the other end of the bar.”  This section is filled with practical ways that Christians can pursue simplicity and generosity and thus have more resources available for blessing others.

The book has weaknesses.  It reads like the script of a conversation and thus frequently backtracks, overlaps, or jumps ahead in ways that can cause a reader to wonder where the conversation is headed.  In addition, the book needs more practical application regarding the first three moves.  The greatest application is given to the fourth move, leaving the reader with questions about how to truly engage in the first three moves.  Finally, the authors give little attention to how readers might not only live out the gospel but also share the gospel.  How does the average Christian talk about Jesus in a post-Christian world?  This question is not answered in this book.

Weaknesses aside, the book is an excellent beginning point for Christians who want to know “What can I do?”  It provides a helpful first-step for considering a practical and comprehensive model for living out God’s mission “right here, right now.”

Today is the fourth Sunday in a series on sharing Jesus with others.  As we begin this morning, I’d like you to write on the card we’ve provided the name of a person you know who is not yet a follower of Jesus.  At some point during this message, I want you to write the name of one person who is not yet a follower of Jesus.

Mark Buchanan is a wonderful author who has written an inspiring book about heaven.  It’s called Things Unseen.[1] Buchanan ends the book with a chapter entitled “Living for the Moment.”[2] He writes about that moment when followers of Jesus will finally see Jesus face to face.  And he tells the story of a woman named Marlene who realized that she had lived her whole life for that one heavenly moment.  Every day was lived so that one moment with Jesus would be possible.

Marlene and her husband Al were married for forty five joyous years.  They had children, grandchildren, and a wide circle of caring friends.  When Marlene was first diagnosed with cancer, everyone expected her to beat it.  She was strong and vibrant—the kind of woman who could roll right over a disease like cancer.  In addition, she was the kind of woman who ought to be allowed to survive cancer.  Marlene, in Buchanan’s words, “was hospitable, an entertainer of angels, a friend to the lonely, the wounded, the perplexed.”  She had blessed dozens of people throughout her life.  She and her husband Al planted the church where Buchanan now preached.  If anyone should live through cancer, Marlene should have.  But the cancer hit with a ferocity that no one expected.  And soon, it became clear to everyone, including Marlene, that this cancer was terminal.  She was moved to Room 318 in the small hospital—the room reserved for those in their final days.

Buchanan writes, “Somewhere in those last days, Marlene’s friend Eugene…leaned close to her.  He took her papery, willowy hand—her cold, cold hand—in his, and held it tight…Marlene could barely turn her head, but she looked toward him.  And then she spoke in a voice surprising in its clarity and strength.  ‘It’s all right, Gene.  You can let go.  Don’t you understand?  I’ve lived my entire life for this moment.’” Her husband Al read to her from Psalm 121.  “‘Marlene,’ he said, ‘thank you for forty-five years of marriage.’” Buchanan writes, “He paused only a moment, and then spoke the words she longed to hear: ‘Run into the arms of Jesus.’  Joy flooded her.  In that single instant, youth came back to her: a brightness, a freshness, a wonder-struck expectancy that swept away her haggardness and pallor.  Her body grew light.  She sat up straight, jaunty, like a child waking after a good sound sleep. I’ve lived my entire life for this moment.  And she was gone.  Heaven-bent.”

Buchanan’s story of Marlene is a comforting story.  We who are followers of Jesus are living our entire lives for that moment—that moment when we will be able to run into the arms of Jesus; that moment when we will finally be face to face with the one who is the center of our lives.  That one moment will make all the effort, all the cost of following Jesus worth it.  We Christians live our entire lives for that moment—when we are finally face to face with Jesus.

Peter writes about that moment.  Peter was one of three of Jesus’ closest friends.  His preaching was turned into a Gospel by an author named Mark.  He is the author of two letters in the New Testament.  Peter wrote 1 Peter from Rome to Christians undergoing persecution in Asia Minor.  This was not an organized empire-wide persecution.  It was instead the kind of persecution that came because Christians refused to participate in local festivals or public events because they promoted idolatry or immorality.  It was the kind of persecution that comes when you live in a culture whose values are the opposite of Christian values.  The word or concept of “suffering” occurs 11 times in 1 Peter.  Peter is writing to Christians who are having a very difficult time. 

For example, Peter writes about how the culture has made these Christians feel like “exiles” (1:1).  They are suffering “various trials” (1:6).  Peter describes them as being rejected in the same way Jesus was rejected (2:4).  He remembers how some in that culture “speak against” the Christians (2:12).  Peters writes to Christians who are doing the right thing but are nonetheless mistreated (2:20).  He writes of some who “revile” the good behavior of the Christians (3:16).  He tells how many non Christians are “surprised” when the Christians don’t participate in certain activities (4:4).  And finally Peter calls their experience a “fiery trial” (4:12).  Evidently, it’s a tough time to follow Jesus.

It is not surprising then that 1 Peter is filled with references to that moment—that moment when these hurting followers of Jesus will finally be face to face with Jesus.  Peter writes about that moment when all their suffering will end and they’ll be in the arms of Jesus.  For example, he writes about their “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1:5).  He talks of how they will receive “praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:8).  He tells the Christians they are living in the “last times” (1:21) and that “The end of all things is at hand” (4:7).  Peter encourages the leaders of the church to anticipate that day “when the chief Shepherd appears” and they “will receive the unfading crown of glory” (5:4).  Finally, he reminds them all that “after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (5:10).  In other words, Peter is telling them, “You’re living your entire life for that moment—when you are finally face to face with Jesus.” The pain of this life will be absent and the comfort of Jesus will be present.  That moment will make all their suffering worth it.

But there is another moment.  The Bible says a great deal about that moment which Buchanan and Peter write about.  The Bible speaks repeatedly about it.  But the Bible also speaks of another moment.  The Bible urges us to also live our entire lives for another moment.  And Peter writes about this as well: 11Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Pet. 2:11-12 ESV)

Let’s walk step by step through this text.  First, Peter reminds us who we are: “sojourners and exiles.”  These words describe people who are geographically displaced.  They refer to people living in a country not their own.  We could use the words “illegal alien” or “immigrant” or “refugee” to get at the spirit of these words.  Peter’s saying, “Remember who you are.  This culture is not your culture.  Its values are not your values.  You don’t belong in this culture.”

This does not mean, however, that we no longer care about the culture and the people in it.  I’m afraid we followers of Jesus too often think “This world is not my home I’m just a passin’ through” and so we don’t care at all about the culture or the people in it.  That’s not what Peter is advocating.  This identity of “sojourners and exiles” does not lead us to think less of our culture and the people in it.  As we’ll see in a moment, it leads us to think more about them.

Second, Peter reminds us how we live: “abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable…” The word “conduct” is a key word.  It occurs several times in 1 Peter.  The word refers to day-to-day living.  Having established our identity, Peter now wants to talk about how that identity impacts our day-to-day living.  The word is his way of saying, “Live your entire life in this way.”

Then he talks about the negative impact of our identity on our conduct.  Because of our identity we are to “abstain from the passions of the flesh.”  The word “abstain” means to stay away from.  We are to stay as far away as we can from the passions of our flesh.  In the sixties and seventies “passions of the flesh” might have been called the “if it feels good do it” way of living.  Today we might call it the “nothing’s wrong with it as long as it doesn’t hurt others” or “no one has the right to tell me what I do in private” way of living.  It’s giving in to your most base desires.  Peter writes in 1 Pet. 4:3-4 that the people in our culture often “live…for human passions.”  But because we are sojourners and exiles we don’t live that way.

Then Peter talks about the positive impact our identity has on our day-to-day conduct: we live in a way that is “honorable.”  Peter specifically mentions living honorably “among the Gentiles.”  Literally, the word “Gentiles” refers to anyone who is not a Jew.  But Peter’s using the word symbolically.  Peter has already called us “exiles,” referring back to the time when the Jewish people were exiled from their land and forced to live a in a foreign land.  Christians, Peter believes, are just like those Jews.  We’ve been “exiled” into a culture that is not our own.  And the non Christians around them he calls “Gentiles.”  Thus Peter wants to talk now about our day-to-day conduct around non Christians.  Just because we are sojourners and exiles doesn’t mean we don’t care about the non Christian world and non Christian people.  It means just the opposite.  Peter makes it clear that our identity must lead us to be very concerned about the way we live around non Christians.

Specifically, he urges us to live in a way that is honorable.  The word “honorable” can mean simply “good.”  It also means “beautiful” or “attractive.”^[3] Peter is saying, “I want you to pay special attention to non Christians.  Be sure you live a beautiful and attractive life around them.”

I recently got to see and listen to a woman named Mama Maggie Gobran.  Gobran is a Coptic Christian.  She was born into wealth in Egypt but left the comfort of wealth to begin a ministry among the poor who live in the garbage slums of Cairo.  Known as “Cairo’s Mother Teresa,” Gobran became a successful professional, first on the management team of a marketing firm and later as a university professor of computer science.  But when she learned of the plight of children living among the garbage pits of Cairo, she turned her back on her career and devoted herself to serving these children.  For two decades she has given herself to Cairo’s poorest of the poor.  Recently I got to hear Gobran tell her story.  And as she spoke, everyone in the room hushed.  There was such a simple beauty to her life.  She almost seemed to blush when she spoke of Jesus, as if she were enamored with him.  She wept with joy and gratitude that Jesus had counted her worthy to serve in garbage pits.  And as she finished speaking she knelt and kissed the platform where she stood, asking that God might bless all of us who gathered to hear her.  Gobran lives the kind of life which Peter captures in his word “honorable” or “beautiful.”  Peter is saying,  “Make sure that the day-to-day life you live around non Christians is that kind of beautiful life.”

Peter reminds us who we are.  He tells us how we live.  Finally, Peter writes of why we live this way: “so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” Peter is channeling Jesus here.  One statement of Jesus’ is driving this verse.  Matthew records that statement in the Sermon on the Mount: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).  At the most basic level, Peter is saying that a beautiful life can have a powerful impact on the non Christians who see it.

According to the Open Doors Ministry, in the 1990’s Chinese government officials became frustrated with crime, drug addiction, and sickness in the Yunnan province.  They turned for help to the only model citizens in the area: Christians.[4] One official spoke anonymously, “We had to admit that the Lahu people were a dead loss because of their addiction to opium…Their addiction made them weak and sick. Then they would go to one of their ‘priests,’ who required animal sacrifices of such extravagance that the people became poor. And because they were so poor, they stole from each other, and law and order deteriorated. It was a vicious cycle that no amount of government propaganda could break.  We noticed, however, that in some villages in the country, the Lahu were prosperous and peace loving. There was no drug problem, or any stealing or social order problems. Households had a plentiful supply of pigs, oxen, and chickens. So we commissioned a survey to find out why these villages were different. To our astonishment and embarrassment, we discovered the key factor was that these villages had a majority of Christians.”  Officials then launched a daring experiment—they asked these Christians to go into a crime-ridden village and share their faith.  Christians moved in and started living and teaching in one of the villages.  A year later, that village was completely transformed.  A radical drop in addiction.  Much less sickness.  Greater prosperity.  A beautiful life can have a powerful impact on non Christians who see it.

That’s what Peter is saying.  If you live your entire life as a beautiful life in front of non Christians, it can have a powerful impact.  In fact, Peter says, it can lead non Christians to become Christians.  Here is where we finally get back to that moment.  Only it’s not necessarily the moment we might have envisioned.  Peter looks into the future and pictures a day which he calls the “day of visitation.”  This is a reference to the day Jesus returns.  The return of Jesus is chapter 6 in our story of Jesus.  The Bible says elsewhere that Jesus will return with a loud trumpet call to reign finally and fully.  And on that day, here’s what Peter sees: all the non Christians who have been critical and hateful and hurtful have become Christians because so many Christians have lived such beautiful lives that the non Christians have decided to follow Jesus, and when Jesus arrives, they glorify him.  That’s a fancy way of saying they worship him.  I love how Eugene Peterson translates this in The Message: Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives (1 Pet. 2:12 The Message).  Peter looks into the future to that moment when there’s a loud trumpet call and Jesus returns.  And at that moment there will be raucous celebration.  It’ll be the biggest worship service ever held.  And among the most enthusiastic worshipers, those singing the loudest, those raising their hands the highest, those jumping to get a glimpse of the returning Jesus, are these non Christians who are now Christians because of the beautiful lives lived by the Christians around them.

In essence, here’s what Peter is saying: Live your entire life for that moment—when others are face to face with Jesus. Peter does not just want us to think about that moment when we are face to face with Jesus.  He wants us to think about that moment when the non Christians around us will be face to face with Jesus.  Peter is saying, “Live a beautiful life every day, because it can persuade those far from God to draw near to God with the result that they will be jubilant worshippers on the day Jesus returns.  Don’t live your entire life just thinking about how you’ll finally get to see Jesus face to face.  Live your entire life thinking also about how others could be overjoyed at seeing Jesus face to face because you’ve been intentional and your way of life has won many over to Christ.”

When we think of that moment when Jesus returns, we should not just think about ourselves.  We should think of the person whose name we’ve written on that card.  And we should live every day from now until that return in such a way that that person will become a follower of Jesus and thus will truly celebrate when Jesus returns.  We should not merely think of how to live our lives so we are prepared for that moment.  We should think of how to live our lives so that others are prepared for that moment.

And that moment puts an urgency into our sharing of Jesus.  Whether we are sharing Jesus with our lips or our lives, the story of the trumpet creates a sense of urgency.  As Peter sees things, the story of the trumpet means that there’s a great party coming.  It’s like the one Jesus envisioned in Lk. 15 when he imagined the kind of party a father would throw when his long lost son finally comes home.  They kill the fattened calf and invite all their friends and neighbors to come and rejoice.  There’s never been a party like it in the village before.  Peter can see a similar party taking place when Jesus returns.  There’s never been a party like it in the world before.  But the point is that Jesus will return.  And there’s a limited time to extend the invitations to that party.  There’s a limited time to live our lives so that others are prepared for that moment.  There’s a limited time to live a beautiful life that leads others to have joy on that day.  And because time is short, we should get busy living for others.  Not living for ourselves and our face to face reunion with Jesus.  But living for others and their face to face reunion with Jesus.  You never know whether the next year, month, week or day may be the last one before the return of Jesus.  So let’s start living beautiful lives for the sake of others.  Let’s live our entire life from this moment forward for that moment.

[2] Ibid., 231-236.

^[3] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1995). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (402). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.

[4] The Pastors Connection (Open Doors USA e-mail, August 2002); corroborated by Kelly Callaghan, prayer and courier coordinator, Open Doors USA.

In his book Megan’s Secrets Mike Cope writes stories of his mentally disabled daughter named Megan.  Early in the book he tells this story which involves Megan and Mike’s wife Diane:[1] I head a sound from the other room: splash, splash, splash.  I walked into the bathroom to find Megan lapping up water from the toilet.  Her ladle was Diane’s toothbrush.  I was too tired to worry about it; I guess I thought, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you” (plus the toilet had just been cleaned), so I slung the water off the toothbrush and put it back in the toothbrush holder.  That evening, I walked into the bathroom to see Diane brushing her teeth.  The laughter I’d been fighting back now came out like a locomotive.  She looked at me strangely and asked, “What’s so funny?”  I choked out the words, “Megan used your toothbrush in the toilet.”  That’s when she started laughing hysterically.  I said, “What’s so funny?”  Diane replied, “She usually uses yours.”

There are some stories we just don’t share. At least initially Mike didn’t share with Diane the story of Megan using Diane’s toothbrush in the toilet.  And Diane didn’t tell Mike the story of Megan using Mike’s toothbrush in the toilet.  There are some stories we just don’t share.  We hold them in.  We keep them to ourselves.  We’re a little afraid what might happen if we tell them.  But when we finally do share them, they can lead to great surprise and laughter.

In some ways, that is the case with the story that is the focus of our current Sunday morning series.  We’ve been focusing on the story of Jesus.  The New Testament summarizes this story in six chapters.  Sometimes it’s a story that too few of us share with others.  We hold it in.  We keep this story to ourselves.  We’re a little afraid of what might happen if we tell this story to others.  But if we’d just start sharing it, I think we’d see it leads to great surprise and even laughter.  Here are those six chapters:

First, there is the manger.  Jesus’ comes to earth as a human.  He is God in the flesh.  We call this the Incarnation.

Second, there is the cross.  Jesus dies in our place on the cross.  We call this the Crucifixion.

Third, there is the tomb.  Three days after his death Jesus is raised.  This is the Resurrection.

Fourth, there are the clouds.  Jesus’ followers watch the risen Lord ascend to his throne in the clouds.  This is called the Ascension.

Fifth, there is the fire.  Jesus sends the Spirit on his followers in the form of tongues of fire.  This is called Pentecost.

Sixth, there is the trumpet.  With a loud trumpet call Jesus returns to reign finally and fully.  This is known as the Second Coming.

These are the key chapters in Jesus’ story.  They are chapters of very good news.  Too often we don’t share this story.  But if ever a story was worth sharing, this one is.

We’ve seen in this series that we can learn a great deal about sharing Jesus with others by looking at how God shared Jesus with us.  These six chapters not only summarize how God shared Jesus with us.  They also instruct us in how we can share Jesus with others.

This morning we come to the fourth and fifth chapters of Jesus’ story: the clouds and the fire.  We find both of these chapters close together in Acts: 4And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.  6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:4-11 ESV)

1When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.  5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”  14But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: (Acts 2:1-14 ESV)

Let’s begin with the ascension.  The ascension of Jesus tends to be one of those chapters in the story of Jesus which we neglect.  It seems to pale in comparison to other chapters like the tomb and the cross.  But there’s something essential about the ascension.  New Testament scholar N. T. Wright points to two critical aspects of the ascension.[2] First, because of the unique relationship between heaven and earth, a person in heaven can be present anywhere and everywhere on earth.  The ascension therefore means that Jesus, who ascended to heaven, can now be present anywhere and everywhere on earth.  He has risen to a position so high that the entire earth is under his gaze.  He can be accessed by all on the earth and he can be present anywhere on earth.  Thus, first the ascension means that Jesus is present everywhere.

Second, the ascension means that Jesus rules everything.  Point number one means that heaven is the “control room” for earth.  Heaven is the CEO’s office.  It is the President’s office.  There is no office higher than the heavenly office.  And since Jesus has ascended to that office, he is now in charge of all the earth.  Not only can he be present everywhere on earth but he is in charge of all the earth.  N. T. Wright says, “The early Christians knew the world was still a mess.  But they announced, like messengers going off on behalf of a global company, that a new CEO had taken charge”.[3] Jesus rules everything.

This is why virtually every passage in the New Testament which speaks of the ascension sounds something like this: 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things… (Eph. 1:19-22 ESV).  The ascension means that a new CEO has taken charge.  And there’s not a square inch of dirt on the planet that he does not rule over.  All things are under his feet.  He is present everywhere and he rules everything.

What then do the clouds of the ascension teach about sharing Jesus?  They teach many things.  Here’s just one: The clouds of the ascension reveal the conviction which fuels evangelism. I believe one of the reasons we’re experiencing a decline in evangelism is that we’re experiencing a decline of conviction.  That loss of conviction can be illustrated by a church sign I recently saw.  Last week I was speaking in Oak Ridge, TN and I passed a church sign which said this: “Jewish?  Agnostic?  Spiritual?  Gay?  Straight?  We Are Too.”  In other words, whatever you believe is fine.  There are no absolute truths when it comes to spirituality or morality.  Believe whatever you want to believe.  You’ll be welcome here.  We live in a culture that does not believe there is one true God.  Our culture believes in many gods.  Each is as good as the other.  We live in a culture that does not believe that everyone outside that one true God is in peril.  And we live in a culture that does not believe that everyone needs that one true God.  Whatever you want to believe is fine.  There’s very little reason to share Jesus in a context like this.  With more and more of our culture believing this, it begins to affect our conviction regarding evangelism.  Why share Jesus if no one really needs him?  Why share his story if his story is no better than someone else’s story?

But the ascension challenges this.  The ascension says that Jesus, and no other god, is seated on the throne.  The ascension says that Jesus, and no other spiritual figure, reigns supreme.  The ascension says that Jesus is above all other powers, rulers, and authorities.  He’s the only one with ultimate spiritual authority.  He’s the only one who can be everywhere and rule everything.  And thus all people everywhere need Jesus in their life.  All people everywhere need to follow Jesus’ way of life.  All people everywhere are in peril without Jesus. The clouds of the ascension reveal the conviction which fuels evangelism. Why do we evangelize?  What motivates us to share a story that too often is kept to ourselves?  The short answer is this: the ascension.  In the ascension we are reminded of the uniqueness of Jesus, the preeminence of Jesus, the exclusivity of Jesus and the fact that he is the one and only true God and all people everywhere need him.

Let’s turn now to the fire of Pentecost.  What does the fire of Pentecost teach us about sharing Jesus?  I’ll answer with a recent study.  A couple of years ago three thousand Christians were polled about their spiritual gifts.  Can you guess what percentage of Christians said they possess the spiritual gift of evangelism?  One percent.[4] We have about 900 people at Highland this morning.  That means only about 9 of us feel we are gifted evangelists.  The other 891 of us do not feel gifted when it comes to evangelism.  That makes evangelism hard, doesn’t it?  It’s tough to do something you don’t feel gifted at.  For example, for several years I’ve been an assistant soccer coach.  At first it was very hard.  I never played soccer in school or recreationally.  I was introduced to it the same time my daughter was when she started playing in elementary school.  During those first few soccer seasons as an assistant coach, I felt completely incompetent.  I’d say something to the kids in practice and the head coach would have to correct me.  I’d yell something to the kids on the field during the game and the head coach would have to yell, “No.  Don’t do that.”  Today, it’s much better.  I think I’ve come a long way.  I feel much more comfortable in that role.  But it’s hard and humbling to do something we don’t feel gifted in, isn’t it?  And that’s why many of us may not even try to share Jesus.  99% of us don’t feel gifted in it.

That’s why we need the fire of Pentecost.  The clouds of the ascension reveal the conviction which fuels evangelism.  And the fire of Pentecost provides the collaboration we need for evangelism. The fire of Pentecost was the visual symbol of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent to live within each of his followers.  That Spirit does many things within us and through us.  But notice how Jesus speaks of the Spirit in Acts.  Jesus tells his followers to wait for the Spirit, so they can receive power, and thus become Jesus’ witnesses.  One of the primary roles the Spirit plays is to empower them to witness to others about Jesus.  The Spirit does many things, but one of the primary things he’s doing in Acts is empowering people to witness about Jesus.  We see this early in Acts.  The mighty wind comes blowing through and the Spirit rests like flames on Jesus’ followers.  And each of them is enabled to speak to those in Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is filled with people from all over the world.  Luke focuses on groups from five large areas: people from the Caspian Sea westward; people from Asia Minor or Turkey; people from North Africa; people from Rome and the Mediterranean; and Cretans and Arabs.[5] And they speak many different languages.  But when the Spirit comes upon Jesus’ followers, they each are empowered to speak in different languages.  And they each proclaim the mighty works of God.

Luke then gives us an in-depth example of the Spirit’s collaboration.  Peter gets up to speak.  Who could have ever expected Peter to get up and speak?[6] Toward the end of Luke’s Gospel we find Peter following Jesus “at a distance.”  We find Peter denying Jesus three times.  We find Peter saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.”  But now he’s transformed.  Now he’s filled with boldness, with eloquence, with courage and conviction.  Peter stands in Acts 2 and preaches the kind of sermon that leads three thousand people to become followers of Jesus.  How?  It was the Holy Spirit collaborating with Peter.

We see this again and again in Acts.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them… (Acts 4:8 ESV)

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31 ESV)

But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. (Acts 6:10 ESV)

9But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10and said… (Acts 13:9-10a ESV)

Again and again the Spirit empowers Jesus’ followers to witness to others.  Evangelism in Acts becomes this collaboration between people and the Spirit.

And the Spirit orchestrates opportunities and directs the mission.  In Acts 8 the Spirit leads Philip to an Egyptian official whom Philip teaches and baptizes.  In Acts 10 the Spirit leads Peter and Cornelius to one another and Cornelius becomes a follower of Jesus.  In Acts 13 the Spirit prompts Paul and Barnabas to engage in a mission that results in numerous churches being planted.  In Acts 16 the Spirit directs Paul where to go next to find the most fruitful hearts for the good news of Jesus.

The point is not that we can expect the Holy Spirit to physically move us into the path of people against our will or stuff our mouths with words so that we are the puppet and he is the master.  The point is that sharing Jesus is a collaborative effort.  It’s not merely us being launched into the unknown forced to do what we feel ill-gifted to do.  It’s us walking stride by stride with the Spirit, with God himself, working in tandem with him to lead others to Christ.

In his book A Meal with Jesus, Tim Chester tells of Jim Petersen.  Jim had a friend named Mario from South America who was a non Christian and deep into philosophy.  Over a period of four years Jim studied the Bible with Mario.  Eventually Mario became a Christian.  One day Jim and Mario were reminiscing: “Do you remember what it really was that made me decide to become a Christian?” Mario asked.  Jim told Mario he thought it had to do with all their Bible studies and philosophical discussions.  But Mario said it was something else: “Remember that first time I stopped by your house? We were on our way someplace together, and I had a bowl of soup with you and your family. As I sat there observing you, your wife, and your children, and how you related to each other, I asked myself, ‘When will I have a relationship like this with my fiancé?’ When I realized that the answer was ‘never,’ I concluded I had to become a Christian for the sake of my own survival.”  Jim indeed remembered that day.  Only he remembered it differently.  He remembered his children behaving badly and his frustration at having to correct them in front of Mario.  Yet it was that messy, ordinary scene which finally opened Mario’s heart.

What happened here?  It was the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit was at work.  There was a divine collaboration taking place between the Spirit and Jim—and Jim didn’t even realize it.  We can trust the same will be true with us.  In each relationship, in each interaction, every time we listen to their story, or share Jesus’ story, or share our own story, or plan a Divine Dinner, the Spirit is at work.  There is a divine collaboration taking place, though we may not even be aware of it.  It doesn’t matter how ungifted or incompetent we may feel.  The fact is that the Spirit is working right beside us.  We can depend on him to do what we think we cannot do.

How do we leave here and start living out the stories of the clouds and the fire?  I want to make one simple application.  Those of you my age or older may remember a song written as a prayer.  It goes, “Lead me to some soul today, O teach me, Lord, just what to say, Friends of mine are lost in sin, And cannot find their way.”  It is a simple song with a profound theology.  The song summarizes the theology of the clouds and the fire.  Like the ascension, the song reminds us that Jesus is Lord—“O teach me Lord.”  Like the ascension, the song reminds us that Jesus is preeminent and those without him in their lives are lost in sin.  And like Pentecost, the song reminds us that this Lord can help us know just what to say and work with us in reaching those who need him.  So here’s my recommendation for one small way to begin living out the story of the clouds and the fire: each time you enter a space where there are other people—your classroom, the field or gym, a locker room, a home, a mall, your workplace, and even the church building—quietly pray this simple prayer: “Lead me to some soul today, O teach me, Lord, just what to say, Friends of mine are lost in sin, And cannot find their way.”  Each time you find yourself around others this week, pray that simple prayer.  Then trust that the Lord and the Spirit will be at work.  And as much as you are able, follow their lead.

[2] N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne, 2008), 111.

[3] Ibid., 111-112.

[4] http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/211-survey-describes-the-spiritual-gifts-that-christians-say-they-have?q=evangelism.

[5] John Stott, Acts The Bible Speaks Today (IVP, 1990), 65.

[6] William Willimon, Acts Interpretation (John Knox, 1988), 31.

Many of you know that I grew up outside of any religious faith.  As a child, I didn’t know anything about Christianity.  I couldn’t tell you a single book in the Bible.  I couldn’t name a single character in the Bible except Jesus.  For the first sixteen years of my life I knew nothing about Christianity.

I did, however, know three images from the Christian faith: the manger, the cross, and the tomb.  My family always observed Christmas.  And even though it had very little spiritual significance for us, I had seen the Charlie Brown Christmas special enough to know that Christmas revolved around the story a baby in a manger.  In addition, my family always observed Easter.  We rarely attended church on Easter, but we usually had Easter egg hunts.  And I knew, from friends and television, that Easter was tied up with two symbols: the cross and the tomb.  Though I knew nothing of the significance of them, I had heard that a man named Jesus died on a cross and rose from a tomb.

Though I was ignorant of Christianity, its three major symbols still found their way into my consciousness: manger, cross, and tomb.  In fact, the most basic stories of Jesus which many know are the manger, the cross, and the tomb. We still see manger scenes at Christmas in public places.  We still see crosses on jewelry and in art.  And we still find people who know to associate Easter with a tomb—they just can’t explain its meaning.

These three images are an important part of how the Bible summarizes the story of Jesus.  As we saw last Sunday, there are a handful of places in Scripture when the author stops to give us an overview of Jesus’ story.  These overviews are comprised of six chapters.  We can imagine this large book as the story of Jesus told in six chapters (the first three chapters are those more well-known stories):

• First, there is the manger.  Jesus’ comes to earth as a human.  We call this the Incarnation.
• Second, there is the cross.  Jesus dies in our place.  We call this the Crucifixion.
• Third, there is the tomb.  Three days after his death Jesus is raised.  This is the Resurrection.
• Fourth, there are clouds.  Jesus’ followers watch him rise to heaven in the clouds.  This is called the Ascension.
• Fifth, there is the fire.  Jesus sends the Spirit on his followers in the form of tongues of fire.  This is called Pentecost.
• Sixth, there is the trumpet.  With a loud trumpet call Jesus returns to reign finally and fully.  This is known as the Second Coming.

These are the key chapters in the story of Jesus.

And as I pointed out last Sunday, these six chapters teach us a lot about sharing Jesus.  Dr. Monte Cox from Harding University spent time with the Highland staff earlier this year and showed us that we can learn a lot about how to share Jesus with others by looking at how God shared Jesus with us. This Sunday morning series is built on that assumption.  We are exploring what we learn about sharing Jesus with others by looking at how God shared Jesus with us through manger, cross, tomb, clouds, fire, and trumpet.

Last Sunday we considered the tomb.  This morning we’ll look at cross and manger.  First, the manger.  What does the manger teach us about sharing Jesus with others?  At our staff retreat with Monte Cox, he suggested this: through the manger, Jesus acted in a way that communicated to people far from God: “I want to be with you.”  If we could boil down the meaning of the manger to its essence, it is this: Jesus acting in a way that said to those far away from God: “I want to be with you.”  It was Jesus moving onto our turf.  It was Jesus closing the distance between himself and us.  It was Jesus creating a presence in the midst of the people he longed to save.

I want to build onto this point.  This closing of the gap did not come without cost.  Eugene Peterson translates one of the summary texts—Phil. 2—in this way: Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! (Phil. 2:5-7 The Message).  Jesus set aside the privileges of deity to become human.  In order to live out the story of the manger, Jesus had to set aside his way of life. Jesus could not continue his current way of life and act in a way that said to those far from God “I want to be with you.”  Jesus’ current way of life and his goal of drawing close to those far from God were incompatible.  Jesus had to set something aside in order to live out the story of the manger.  And among the many things Jesus set aside was this: community.  Jesus was enjoying perfect community with Father and Spirit for eternity.  And in order to move onto our turf so we’d know without a doubt that God wants to be with us, Jesus had to give that community up.  He had to leave that divine community in order to live out the story of the manger.

One of the greatest steps we can take in sharing Jesus is to act in ways that communicate to people far from God: “I want to be with you.” I’m convinced that the most significant thing Christians can do today to share Jesus is to start living in ways that communicate to people far from God: “I want to be with you.”  Why?  Because far too often we communicate explicitly or implicitly that we do not want to be with people who are far from God.  When it comes to our posture toward people who are far from God and who act like they are far from God, too often we Christians communicate something like, “I do not want to be with you.  I do not want to be anywhere near you.  I don’t want you in my neighborhood.  I don’t want you in my school.  I don’t want you on my radio or my television.  I don’t want you in my workplace.  And I certainly do not want you in my life.”  Too often, when it comes to those far from God, we Christians simply shake our heads at them.  We snicker at them.  We condemn them.  We gossip about them.  And worse, we avoid them.  But if we are truly interested in sharing Jesus with others the way God shared Jesus with us, we must repent!  We must start living in ways that tell non Christians we truly wish to be with them.

But here’s the most salient point: In order for us to live out the story of the manger, we will have to set aside our way of life. Just as Jesus could not continue his way of life in order to live out the story of the manger, neither can we.  If we want to start communicating to people far from God how much we want to be with them, it’s going to cost us something.

One of the primary things standing in the way is our compartmentalization. I’ve borrowed this word from Alan Hirsh and Lance Ford in their book Right Here, Right Now.[1] They explain it in this way: “Prior to modern suburban design and zoning categories, living was done across a rather seamless landscape. People were significantly connected to others beyond their immediate family through a network of relationships that were formed as a natural by-product of daily living. There was consistent and genuine connection with others. People frequently interacted with one another as they walked to the neighborhood drugstore, pub, or corner market. As they were on their way, off-the-cuff conversations took place with neighbors sitting on their front porches having morning coffee or catching an afternoon breeze. This was just one of the ways people got to know one another. Over the years friendships developed and true community was nurtured and developed.”[2] In other words, there was once a time in our culture when we connected with the same group of people across the spheres of our lives—work, play, church, school, etc.  We were in contact with one group of people, including those far from God, and we saw them regularly and formed relationships with them naturally as we lived together, shopped together, schooled together, and recreated together.

Then culture changed.  Central air-conditioning and television drew more and more neighbors inside.  The front porch was traded for the living room.  Friendships with neighbors were replaced with friendships with the Bunkers and Waltons.[3] Our lives become compartmentalized into “silos” for commerce, employment, worship, exercise, education, etc.  Hirsh and Ford write, “This results in a life that becomes compartmentalized. We live multiple lives (e.g., home life, work life, church life, exercise life) among different sets of people. So, the people we live near are usually not the same people with whom we work, shop, or worship. There is no genuine network of relationships, just sets of relationships.”[4] I see this in my own life.  There are a small set of people I see for about one hour each day when I exercise at the gym.  There’s a different set of people I see for a moment when I walk around my neighborhood praying each morning.  There’s  a different set of people I interact with perhaps once a month who are publishers and authors.  I don’t have any in depth relationships with these people, especially those who may be far from God.  Rarely are there relaxed moments of off-the-cuff conversations and easy discussions that lead naturally to talk of faith.

Here’s the bottom line: There was once a time when we had many opportunities to form natural relationships with some people because we lived near them, shopped with them, worked with them, and even played together.  Today, we have neighborhood friends, work friends, exercise friends, school friends, shopping friends and we have very few opportunities to form natural relationships with people because we see them so briefly each week.  And this compartmentalization is standing in the way of our living out the story of the manger.  If we want to share Jesus with others the way God shared Jesus with us, we have to become dissatisfied with our current compartmentalized way of life.  We have to work hard at creating ways of getting into meaningful relationships with people who may be far from God so that conversations about faith and life can naturally happen.  We’ve got to pay whatever price is necessary to leave our silos and start connecting deeply with people who are far from God.

A few years ago the Chicago Tribune ran the story of Steve Bankes.[5] Bankes was very interested in forming friendships with his neighbors through which he could have faith conversations.  But he knew he could not maintain the status quo of neighborhood life and accomplish this goal.  He knew he couldn’t accept the way so few neighbors interact these days.  Specifically, he realized relationships could not form easily when the only porches in his neighborhood were back porches.  So Bankes built a patio in his front yard.  It included shade trees, lots of chairs, and a fire pit.  No one else in the neighborhood had a front patio.  Neighbors started coming over and just sitting and relaxing and talking.  And in the context of these naturally occurring relationships, Bankes began sharing the good news of Jesus.  It was one way of decompartmentalizing life, moving out and connecting with people, and thus living out the story of the manger.

Living out the story of the cross is equally as critical.  The cross has many things to teach us about sharing Jesus.  I want us to consider just one.  Through the cross, Jesus acted in a way that communicated to people far from God: “You can measure God’s love for you by my love for you.” How do those far from God know that God so loved them?  They know it because Jesus so loved them.  People were able to measure the depth of God’s love for them by measuring Jesus’ love for them.  Jesus became a living example of just how passionately God loves humanity.  It is virtually impossible to stare at the cross and still wonder whether God loves you or cares for you.  We can measure God’s love for us by Jesus’ love for us on the cross.

But just as with the story of the manger, living out the story of the cross did not come easily.  Jesus did not merely have to set aside his way of life.  In order to live out the story of the cross, Jesus had to set aside his very life.  To show us that we meant everything to God, Jesus had to give up everything.  Jesus could not express how deeply God loved us without a deep and costly sacrifice himself.

One of the greatest steps we can take in sharing Jesus is to act in ways that communicate to people far from God: “You can measure God’s love for you by my love for you.” Not only do people far from God need to know we want to be with them.  They need to know we love them and that they can measure God’s love for them by our love for them.  Consider for a second your actions or lack of actions toward people who are far from God.  On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being “no love” and 10 being “unbelievable love,” how would people far from God in your life rate your love for them?  Would any of them rate us above a 3?  If we want people to fall in love with God, they need to meet a God who fell in love with them.  And in order for them to know how deeply God’s fallen in love with them, they need to feel how deeply we’ve fallen in love with them.

In order for us to live out the story of the cross, we may have to set aside our very life.

It may cost us a great deal to love people far from God.  It may require great sacrifice of time, energy, or resources in order for us to become a living expression of God’s love just as the cross was.

There is, I think, one place to begin living out the story of the manger and the story of the cross.  It is not easy.  But it is simple.  A first step toward living out the stories of the manger and the cross is hospitality. By hospitality I don’t mean inviting church friends over for a meal.  I mean sitting down with a person far from God and eating a meal together.  Hirsh and Ford write: “I clearly remember when Nick Wight, friend and church planter, suggested that if every Christian household regularly invited a stranger, or a poor person, or a work colleague into their home for a meal with the family once a week, we would literally change the world by eating! At first I thought that this was an overstatement, but upon reflection we actually believe it is true. There are at least five million Christian households in America. What if each of these adopted the missional practice of regular hospitality? What do you think would happen?”[6] One author named Michael Frost writes about his congregation.[7] They are a congregation deeply committed to sharing Jesus.  To achieve that goal, every member makes this commitment: they will eat a meal with a non Christian person once a week.  It is as simple as that.  I call this Divine Dinners.  Living out the stories of the manger and cross can begin by simply planning a Divine Dinner once a week.  Imagine what might happen if every person at Highland committed to sharing a meal once a week with someone far from God.

I believe that in our compartmentalized culture, in our busy and hectic world, in our society in which few have meaningful relationships, being invited to share a meal is immensely appealing.  It is a powerful statement of friendship and love.  It says “I want to be with you.”  It’s a concrete step toward saying, “You can measure God’s love for you by my love for you.”  A simple way for those of us who live such compartmentalized lives to form a relationship in a natural way with a person far from God is to share a meal together.  And a simple way for us to demonstrate real love is to pay the price of time, energy, and expense to share a meal weekly with people who are far from God.

In his book Outlive Your Life, Max Lucado writes about hospitality.[8] He’s writing largely about Christians showing hospitality to other believers.  But his point is still valid for Christians showing hospitality to those far from God: Not everyone can serve in a foreign land, lead a relief effort, or volunteer at the downtown soup kitchen. But who can’t be hospitable? Do you have a front door? A table? Chairs? Bread and meat for sandwiches? Congratulations! You just qualified to serve in the most ancient of ministries: hospitality.  Something holy happens around a dinner table that will never happen in a sanctuary. In a church auditorium you see the backs of heads. Around the table you see the expressions on faces. In the auditorium one person speaks; around the table everyone has a voice. Church services are on the clock. Around the table there is time to talk.  Hospitality opens the door to uncommon community. It’s no accident that hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing. When you open your door to someone, you are sending this message: “You matter to me and to God.” You may think you are saying, “Come over for a visit.” But what your guest hears is, “I’m worth the effort.” That simple but costly invitation to share a meal in your home says “You matter to me and to God.”  Do you want to live out the story of the manger?  Do you want to live out the story of the cross?  Let it begin this week with something as simple as a table, chairs, meal and the invitation, “Come over for a visit.”  I guarantee that person far from God will hear, “I’m worth the effort.”

Before the sun goes down today, try to answer two questions:

• What is the name of one person far from God whom I can share a Divine Dinner in some form this week (it could be breakfast, brunch, lunch, midafternoon snack, coffee, supper, or dessert)?
• What day this week am I going to share that meal?

Start with those answers and you’ll start living out the story of the manger and the cross.

[2] Ibid., 2381.

[3] Ibid., 2396.

[4] Ibid., 2418.

[5] Barbara Brotman, “Front patio makes a great hook if fishing for people.” Chicago Tribune (8-3-09); Barbara Brotman “Oak Park neighbors’ spot has East Chicago.

[6] Ibid., 3035.

[7] Ibid., 2828.

[8] Max Lucado, Outlive Your Life (Nelson, 2010), 55.

And there are a lot of stories to choose from.  Many of us choose contemporary best-sellers: Now You See Her by James Patterson, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, or Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo.  Others of us choose classic and time-tested stories: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerad, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, or The Story of My Life by Helen Keller.

I have with me a book cart, the kind you might find in a library.  And it’s filled with all kinds of good stories.  These would be great books to pick up and read right now…[mention some of the books on the cart]

There are a lot of great stories.  Libraries and bookstores and our shelves and electronic readers are filled with them.  But for the next four weeks I want to talk about one story: the story of Jesus.  It’s not a terribly popular story today.  The latest research by the Barna organization finds that only 40% of adults read the Bible on a weekly basis.[1] The story of God and Jesus is still on the I’ve-not-read-it-yet-but-I-want-to pile for many Americans.

And perhaps that helps explain why so few Christians share that story today.  The latest Barna research finds that the number of Christian teenagers who shared the story of Jesus with people of another faith dropped from 64% to 45% in the last few years.[2] That’s a 20% decrease.  There’s declining interest in the story of Jesus and there’s declining numbers of Christians sharing that story with others.

Yet I think most of us here know that Jesus’ story is the greatest story ever told and that it’s a story that deserves to be told.  I think many of us want to share that story.  We want everyone to have the chance that we’ve had, the chance to make Jesus’ story our own story.

I would not be a Christian today if a high school senior named Gary Cox had not befriended me and talked to me about Jesus for about a year.  I think many of us know how critical it is to share the story of Jesus.  We know there are people just like me out there who need his story.

For the next four Sundays I’d like to talk about this.  I want to talk about getting into the lives of people, living the gospel before them, and verbalizing the story of Jesus.

Let’s start with the story of Jesus itself.  Several times throughout the New Testament the authors stopped to summarize Jesus’ story.  Here are the key summaries:

John 3:16-17

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

1 Cor. 15:3-8

³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Col. 1:15-20

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Phil. 2:6-11

⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

1 Tim. 3:16

¹⁶Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Heb. 1:1-4

¹Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ²but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ³He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Rev. 1:5-7

5and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.  To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

These texts summarize Jesus’ story.  And in these summaries we find six “chapters.”  Jesus’ story comes to us in six chapters:

First, there is the manger.  Jesus’ comes to earth as a human.  We call this the Incarnation.

Second, there is the cross.  Jesus dies in our place.  We call this the Crucifixion.

Third, there is the tomb.  Three days after his death Jesus is raised.  This is the Resurrection.

Fourth, there are the clouds.  Jesus’ followers watch him ascend in the clouds.  This is called the Ascension.

Fifth, there is the fire.  Jesus sends the Spirit on his followers in the form of fire.  This is called Pentecost.

Sixth, there is the trumpet.  With a loud trumpet call Jesus returns to reign finally and fully.  This is known as the Second Coming.

These are the key chapters in Jesus’ story.

Dr. Monte Cox from Harding University spent time earlier this year with Highland’s staff.  Monte showed us that these six chapters are the record of how God shared Jesus with us.  How did God share Jesus?  He shared Jesus with us through a manger, cross, tomb, clouds, fire, and trumpet.  And Monte demonstrated that we can learn a great deal about sharing Jesus with others by looking at how God shared Jesus with us.  Each of these six chapters teaches us something about how we share Jesus with others.  This series is inspired by some of the information Monte shared with us.  Some parts of this series are built directly upon Monte’s presentations.  Other parts are original with me.

We’re going to start this morning with the tomb.  [VISUAL AID]  This large book represents the story of Jesus.  And these pages represent the chapter on the tomb.  What does the tomb teach us about sharing Jesus with others?

Think for a moment about another question: what is evangelism?  In the early years of my Christian faith, I came across two wrong views of evangelism.  First, some Christians in my life shared Jesus in a way that suggested that evangelism is mostly about this: fill a seat. For some Christians evangelism was mostly about getting people to attend a Christian event.  Fill a seat at a worship service.  Fill a seat at a youth devotional.  Fill a seat at a gospel meeting.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with these events.  They can be great first-steps.  Events like these are central to Highland’s evangelism.  But for some of the Christians whom I knew, this was the extent of evangelism.  Evangelism was complete once they got an individual to fill a seat.  And I think we all know that there’s much more to becoming a Christian than filling a seat.

Second, other Christians in my life shared Jesus in a way that suggested that evangelism is mostly about this: Flee the flames. By flames, I mean the flames of hell.  Evangelism was primarily envisioned as just rescuing people from hell.  Once in college I was invited to participate in an evangelistic campaign.  We were to go door to door in this town and ask people this question: “If Jesus came back today, do you know, for sure, that you would go to heaven?”  It’s not a horrible question.  But it’s not a good first question. It suggested to me that the primary issue in evangelism is getting people to avoid hell.  There’s some truth in that.  But it left a question in my mind: What then?  Let’s say someone is persuaded to be baptized and become a Christian in order to escape hell.  What do they do for the rest of their lives while they are waiting for heaven?  We rescued them from hell but we didn’t give them anything meaningful to be part of until they died and went to heaven.

Jesus had a different view of evangelism.  He put it simply in Matt. 28: 19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  The problem with the view that some have of evangelism is that it’s too short-sighted.  Jesus wasn’t merely interested in filling seats.  Jesus wasn’t even merely interested in saving people from hell.  What Jesus was after is summed up in the word “disciple”—Go and make disciples.  We don’t use the word “disciple” much today.  But it was the word of choice for Jesus.  He envisioned the goal of evangelism with this one word: “disciple.”  In Jesus’ day, a disciple was someone who followed a mentor or a leader; someone who did what the mentor or leader did; someone who surrendered his/her story for the mentor’s or leader’s story.

Here, then, is a better definition of evangelism: Play your part. To be a disciple means to make Jesus’ story your story.  Thus, to evangelize is to invite others to make Jesus’ story their story.  To evangelize is to invite people to play their part in Jesus’ story.  It’s not simply to get people to fill a seat.  It’s not merely to help people flee the flames.  It’s so much bigger than that.  Evangelism is inviting people to find the purpose of their life in the story of Jesus.  It’s inviting them to play their part in Jesus’ story.

That brings us back to Jesus’ story.  What exactly is Jesus’ story?  What would it mean to invite a person to play his/her part in that story?  I’d like to use the tomb, the resurrection, to answer that question.  About three years ago a scholar named N. T. Wright wrote a book about the resurrection.  In this book, Surprised by Hope, Wright says that many in the Christian faith assume this is the point of the resurrection: “Jesus was raised from the dead so that when we die we too can be raised and go to heaven and live there forever.”[3] Many of us automatically think that’s the main point of the tomb.  Jesus was raised from the dead.  Thus, I will be raised from the dead.  If that’s the main point of the tomb, it would seem evangelism is largely about inviting people to be part of a story that allows them to escape death.  That’s a pretty good story: “Come follow Jesus so you can escape death.”  That’s a compelling story.  But it’s still short-sighted.  Wright shows the biblical meaning of the resurrection is much grander.  In the context of the whole story of Scripture, here’s the true meaning of the tomb: “Jesus was raised from the dead to inaugurate the final chapter of God’s renewal of the cosmos so that one day heaven can come to earth.”  God brought life from death and restored wounded flesh and bones at the tomb as the ultimate illustration of what he’s doing with the entire cosmos.  The great story of God, which Jesus participated in, is bringing wholeness to brokenness, breathing life into death, making beautiful what has become ugly.  The tomb was the climax of that work.  And according to Wright early Christians believed that “God [is] going to do for the whole cosmos was he had done for Jesus at Easter.”  If you want one scene that best illustrates what God has been working on since Genesis 3, look at the tomb.  His primary work is repairing, restoring, and turning death to life.

Here’s the point: Jesus’ story is about so much more than just getting people off the earth and into heaven.  Jesus came as part of God’s historic project to renew and recreate the cosmos and us.  The story of the tomb is essentially this: Through Jesus God is renewing, recreating, and reconciling. Jesus’ story is the climax of a much larger story that starts in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve and their rebellion throw the entire universe off center and decay and death and evil start to reign.  Ever since that moment, God’s been recreating and renewing us and the world.  He’s been taking dead things and breathing life into them.  And this work climaxed at the resurrection.  The resurrection was God’s announcement to the world that this is what he intends to do to the entire world.  And we’ve been invited to play a part in that story.  God not only wishes to renew and recreate us so that we are the people he created us to be.  He also invites us to participate with him in this renewing work.  That’s what the tomb is about.

We hear an echo of this in one of the summary passages.  In Col. 1:20 Paul writes that through Jesus God is reconciling to himself all things.  One definition of that word “reconcile” is this: “to bring back a former state of harmony.”^[4] In other words, it means to bring everything back to the way it was created to be.  To bring everything back into its right relationship with God and with others.  To bring everything back to its right function and role in the world.  That’s why Jesus lifted up women, children, the poor and the marginal.  He was restoring to them their original worth.  That’s why Jesus urged rich people to give to the poor.  He was restoring to the poor the life they were meant for.  That’s why Jesus forgave the unforgivable and befriended the unlovely.  He was restoring them to the position of value and love they were intended for.  And at the tomb, God showed just how great his power is to restore, renew, and recreate.

Evangelism, then, is inviting people to let Jesus renew, recreate, and reconcile them.  But it’s even more.  It’s inviting them to take up their role in working with Jesus to renew, recreate, and reconcile the whole cosmos.  Just think of this: There was an ideal way that people were to relate to each other, an ideal way that governments were supposed to function, an ideal way in which families were to live, an ideal way in which marriages were supposed to thrive, an ideal way in which friendships were to be rich and rewarding, an ideal way in which work was to be fulfilling, an ideal way in which companies were supposed to operate, an ideal way in which churches were to function, an ideal way in which nations were to relate to nations, an ideal way in which people everywhere related to God.  And through Jesus God is working to bring back everything to that ideal state.  And the resurrection was God’s way of demonstrating that even when things look dead and broken beyond repair, he has the power to breathe new life into them and restore them to their original and intended state.  That’s what the tomb was about.  And if evangelism is inviting people to be disciples, it’s inviting them to take up their part in that story.  It’s not simply inviting people to fill a seat or flee the flames.  It’s inviting people to take up their part in Jesus’ story of renewal, recreating, and reconciling.  One thing the tomb does is remind us what evangelism is really all about.

But how do we do that?  How do we invite others to take up their part in Jesus’ story, a story of renewal and reconciliation?  I want to briefly introduce a concept I’ll call Three Story Evangelism.  Sharing Jesus revolves around three stories. 

• First, listen to their story.  The first step in sharing Jesus is to listen.  Listen to others as they share their story.  Ask questions so you can learn the story of the person you’re trying to share Jesus with.  Listen for the things in their story that seem broken.  Listen for areas that need renewal.  Listen for perspectives that have gone askew.  That will give you a better sense of how to help them see that Jesus can renew even them.
• Second, look for opportunities to share one story in Scripture that, to you, summarizes the renewing, recreating, and reconciling story of Jesus.  Find one story in Scripture that captures the renewing work of Jesus and look for opportunities to share just that one story with other people.  Share it in a way that says, “To me, that’s the heart of Jesus’ story and that’s why I follow him.  That’s why I’ve made his story my story.  That’s why I’m a Christian.  And that’s why you should be one too.”
• Third, look for opportunities to share one story from your life that summarizes what it’s like to play a part in the story of Jesus.  Think back through your life.  There are probably a handful of experiences that capture the way in which Jesus has brought new life into some aspect of your life or in which Jesus has allowed you to be part of bringing renewal to the cosmos.  Find just one story from your own life that summarizes how you’ve experienced Jesus’ story.  Then share that story with others.  Share it in a way that says, “This is how I’ve experienced Jesus’ story.  This is why I follow him.  This is why I’ve made his story my story.  And this is why you should as well.”  ‘

Life Center Only – A band called Gungor has a song called “Beautiful Things.”  It’s a song about the tomb.  It’s a song about how God is making beautiful things even out of dust; how God renews and recreates.  As we listen to this song, I want you to think of those last two stories I just mentioned.  What is one story from Jesus’ ministry that best illustrates how God is makes all things new through Jesus?  And what is one story from your own life that best illustrates how you’ve experienced Jesus’ renewing work.  As the video plays, think of one or both of those stories.  And be prepared to share them with someone this week.

[2] http://www.barna.org/teens-next-gen-articles/403-how-teenagers-faith-practices-are-changing?q=evangelism.

[3] N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne, 2008).

^[4] Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the text of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.

A couple of years ago Kendra and I made our first-ever trip to New York.  We did all the typical tourist things—go to the top of the Empire State Building, walk through Times Square, see theatrical shows on Broadway, and stroll through the museums.  We even visited the Statue of Liberty.  The morning of our visit to Ms. Liberty we stood in a long line for tickets.  While we waited, some local “entrepreneurs” sold their products up and down the line. They finally made their way the spot where we were standing.  The men claimed to be selling Rolex watches and Gucci handbags.  For a very reasonable price, they said, we could have a Rolex or a Gucci.  The products looked like the real thing.  But in fact they were not.  They were fakes.  The lady in front of us knew this.   But she bought one of the watches anyway.  She said, “I know it’s a knock-off, but who cares?  When I show it to people back home, they’ll think I’ve got the real thing.”  I found her comment interesting.  She actually wanted the fake watch because it would make her look like she had the real watch.  In life there is the fake and there is the real—and sometimes we prefer the fake. This woman knew the watch wasn’t real.  But she wanted the fake one because it was an easy way of fooling everyone into thinking she had the real deal.

I recently read an article about Spray-on Mud.[1] Spray-on Mud is designed for the outside of your SUV.  You spray what appears to be mud so that it looks like you’ve been driving off-road rather than just taking the kids to soccer practice.  Sales of the product are apparently quite healthy.  SUV owners want the fake mud because it makes their vehicles look like they have the real mud.  They get the appearance of having gone off-road without having to go off-road.

There’s something in us that gravitates toward the fake.  We like the fake because it gives the appearance of the real without the cost or inconvenience of the real.  In life there is the fake and there is the real—and sometimes we prefer the fake.

This tendency is found especially in our spiritual life.  In Matthew’s Gospel, we find Jesus contrasting what I’ll call “The faith of the frauds” with “The religion of the real.”  In Matt. 5-7 Jesus describes “the religion of the real.” We know this section as the Sermon on the Mount.  It is Jesus’ most powerful teaching on what it looks like to live an authentic, genuine, and real Christian life.  In Matt. 5:2-11 Jesus blesses those who practice this religion of the real—he blesses those who are poor in spirit, the meek, those who truly hunger for righteousness, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.  Jesus goes on to describe in Matt. 5:13-16 how those living the religion of the real are like salt and light.  They positively impact and influence others.  In fact, Jesus says that when others see the good lives of the religion of the real, they end up giving “glory to [the] Father who is in heaven.”  The religion of the real is one that leads other people who see it to praise God.  Jesus then paints a portrait of this religion of the real in Matt. 5-7.  It’s one in which people give to the poor, pray, and fast for God’s sake, not their own; they don’t harbor anger but they do seek reconciliation; they don’t respond to evil with violence but with love; they do to others what they would have others do to them; and they don’t worry but they trust in the caring provision and kingdom purpose of God.  That’s the religion of the real.  Jesus says that God blesses that religion.  That religion positively impacts others.

But in Matt. 23-25 Jesus describes the “faith of the frauds.” The “religion of the real” is the topic of Jesus’ first speech in Matthew.  “The faith of the frauds” is the topic of Jesus’ last speech in Matthew.  Thus, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ teaching ministry begins with the religion of the real and ends with the faith of the frauds.

Jesus’ speech on the religion of the real in Matt. 5-7 starts with statements of blessing—how God blesses those who practice that religion.  We call those blessings the beatitudes.  Jesus’ speech on the faith of the frauds starts in Matt. 23 with statements of woe—how God curses those who practice the faith of the frauds. [2] The 7 “woes” in Matt. 23 are the exact opposite of the 8 “blessed are” in Matt. 5. ^[3] If the beatitudes are the blessing on the religion of the real, these 7 woes in Matt. 23 are the condemnation of the faith of the frauds.

And sadly, Jesus finds that when it comes to the spiritual life, some prefer the faith of the frauds to the religion of the real. Just like that lady chose the fake Rolex over a real one, so Jesus finds that some choose the faith of the frauds over the religion of the real.  In Jesus’ day, those most often making that choice were a group called the scribes and the Pharisees.  Each of the 7 woes in Matt. 23, with one exception, begins with “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees…”

If you lived in Jesus’ day, you would have been very surprised to hear Jesus condemning this group.  The Pharisees were thought of as “the most devoted practitioners of religion” and the scribes were viewed as “Bible experts.”[4] There were few spiritual people respected more than the scribes and the Pharisees.  Yet this same group was the very one most guilty of choosing the faith of the frauds over the religion of the real.

Six times Jesus says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.”  The word “hypocrite” was Jesus’ one-word summary of the faith of the frauds.  The word means “actor.” ^[5] These people of faith were performing their faith.  They were masquerading as spiritual people.  They adopted a superficial faith because it gave them the appearance of having a real faith without the cost or inconvenience of a real faith.

In Matt. 23:1-12 Jesus summarizes this faith of the frauds.  His summary focuses on honor.  Jesus spotlights how the Pharisees and scribes are seeking marks of honor (23:5), wanting honored treatment (23:6), and desiring honorary titles (23:7-11).[6] That is, the scribes and Pharisees want the honor that comes from being known as spiritual people.  But they are not the real-deal.  They are knock-offs.  What you see is not what you get from them.  Jesus pointedly says in Matt. 23:3 “they preach, but do not practice.”  They talk the right talk but they don’t walk the right walk.

In Matt. 23:13-36 Jesus then uses these seven “Woes” to further explore what a fraudulent faith is and why he’s so dead-set against it.  In this Sunday morning series we’ll be exploring these seven woes and what they teach us about fake and real faith.  But we begin this morning with the simple realization that some people prefer the faith of the frauds over the religion of the real.

Steve Sample, president of the University of Southern California, once wrote this:[7] “In the spring of 1970…I learned I had won a fellowship from the American Council on Education, which would allow me to serve an administrative internship with Purdue University…I was elated by the opportunity…Soon after the award was announced, I happened to bump into a colleague, Vern Newhouse…‘So, Sample,’ Newhouse said, ‘see you’ve won some sort of administrative fellowship in the president’s office.’  ‘Yes, that’s true,’ I said.  ‘And you’ll be learning how to become an administrator?’  ‘I suppose so.’  ‘And then you’ll probably want to be president of a university somewhere down the road?’  ‘Well, I don’t know. I guess I’ve thought about it now and then,’ I said, somewhat disingenuously.  He smiled and said: ‘Personally, I’ve never had any ambition whatsoever to be an administrator. I am totally inept at managing things…. But I’ve been a careful observer of ambitious men all my life. And here, for what it’s worth, is what I’ve learned: many men want to be president, but very few want to do president.’” He was saying that it’s much easier to wear a title than it is to do what the title infers.  It’s much easier to be called President than it is to live and act as President.

In the same way, it’s much easier to wear the title “spiritual” or “Christian” than it is to actually do what the title infers.  Many want to be spiritual but very few want to do spiritual.  And for this reason, many choose the faith of the frauds over the religion of the real.  It gives them the title without the cost and inconvenience of the real-deal.

But so what?  So what if some of us want to preach and not practice?  So what if some of us want the appearance of being spiritual without the actual work involved?  Jesus begins his seven woes by answering that very question: 13″But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Matt. 23:13-15 ESV).

In the other woes Jesus will give us a detailed picture of the faith of the frauds.  We’ll see in detail what characterizes a hypocritical faith.  But in these first two woes, Jesus wants to look at the big picture.  He describes in general how choosing the faith of the frauds will impact those around us.  Jesus commends the religion of the real because of its positive impact on others.  But Jesus condemns the faith of the frauds because of its negative impact on others. Back in Matt. 5 Jesus says the religion of the real is like salt and light.  It can eliminate spiritual decay in the world.  It can drive darkness from the lives of people.  Most importantly, when others see the good deeds of those living the religion of the real, Jesus says that those people will give glory to our Father in heaven.

We have talked numerous times at Highland about this concept—how the religion of the real has a positive impact on others.  We’ve summarized it before in the brochure you’ve been handed called “Through You.”  The brochure shows four ways in which God can reach others through you.  One of those ways has to do with your character.  Your character, your way of life, has the capacity to draw people to God.  Your lifestyle, when it reflects this religion of the real, has the potential to draw others to God.

Bill White writes: “During a Saturday afternoon community service day, I was walking down a narrow side street in the city of Compton, California, heading towards one of the worksites sponsored by a local church. It was towards the end of the work day, and dozens of yellow-shirted church volunteers—maybe 50 in all—were streaming out of the site, getting ready to head off to lunch after finishing a complete makeover of a local house.  I was six or eight houses away when I passed a married couple working in their own yard. I paused to compliment the woman on her roses, and she asked me what we were doing down the street. I replied that we represented a band of churches united in our desire to serve the city. Then we continued chatting about the radical neighborhood transformation she had witnessed by our simple acts of goodness.  During my conversation with this woman her husband had been weed-whacking the other side of the front yard. But when he saw my yellow ‘volunteer shirt,’ he turned off his weed-whacker, set it down, and started walking straight towards me and his wife. I will never forget his words. After looking into my eyes, he nodded approvingly towards the renovated house down the street and then said, ‘I love your heart. Where can I get a heart like yours?’

Flabbergasted, I simply said, ‘We got our hearts from Jesus, and he would be glad to give you one like his, too.’

People are drawn toward the religion of the real and thus toward the God behind it.  That’s why Jesus commends it.  The religion of the real has such a positive impact on others.  People want to know where they can get it.

But the faith of the frauds is just the opposite.  And that’s why Jesus condemns it.  Jesus warns that the hypocritical way of life lived by the Pharisees and scribes is actually slamming the door of the kingdom of God in the faces of people trying to get in.  Their fraudulent faith is keeping other people from finding and enjoying God.  Worse, some so respect the scribes and Pharisees that they are persuaded to take up that way of life.  They become proselytes—a reference to people who convert to the way of life lived by the scribes and Pharisees.  But when they convert into this faith of the frauds, Jesus says they become children of hell.

The word “hell” is literally the word “Gehenna.”  Gehenna refers to a valley south of Jerusalem.  This was the valley where godless Jews offered their children in sacrifice to the god Molech (2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6; Jer. 7:31; 19:2–6).  Later it became the common receptacle for all the refuse of the city.  Gehenna was the garbage dump.  The dead bodies of animals and of criminals, and all kinds of filth, were tossed there.  Constant fires burned in Gehenna.^[8] Jesus used the valley as a symbol for the eternal resting place of the faith of the frauds.^[9] Jesus says that the lifestyle of the faith of the frauds is so destructive, so dark, and so contrary to God that it leads people to spiritual Gehenna.  The faith of the frauds can turn otherwise promising and sparkling lives into trash—forever.

Jesus’ point is that the world is watching.  They are watching those who live the religion of the real and they are drawn toward it.  They are driven toward heaven by it.  But the world is also watching those who live the faith of the frauds.  And they are repelled by it.  They are driven toward hell by it.  Jesus warns us because the faith we live will impact others.

A police officer pulled a driver aside and asked for his license and registration.[10] “What’s wrong, officer,” the driver asked. “I didn’t go through any red lights, and I certainly wasn’t speeding.”  “No, you weren’t,” said the officer, “but I saw you waving your fist as you swerved around the lady driving in the left lane, and I observed your flushed and angry face as you shouted at the driver of the Hummer who cut you off, and how you pounded your steering wheel when the traffic came to a stop near the bridge.”  “Is that a crime, officer?”  “No, but when I saw the ‘Jesus loves you and so do I’ bumper sticker on the car, I figured this car had to be stolen.”  When we live the faith of the frauds, we don’t do so in isolation.  We’re being watched.  And our way of life influences those who watch.

Karl Rahner writes, “The number one cause of atheism is Christians.  Those who proclaim God with their mouths and deny Him with their lifestyles is what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable.”[11] That is an apt and painful description of the faith of the frauds: those who proclaim God with their mouths and deny Him with their lifestyles.  And Jesus condemns such a faith because of its horrendous impact on others.  It causes an unbelieving world to continue disbelieving.  It sends people straight to the garbage pit.  In future woes Jesus will help us understand what the faith of the frauds is all about.  But here he issues this general warning: don’t think you’re the only one getting hurt by your hypocritical lifestyle.  Your fake faith is slamming the door in the face of people who want God.  Your fake faith drives people to Gehenna.

Earlier this month the Washington Times ran a story on Christianity in China.[12] One piece of the article read this way: “Beijing wants to limit the exposure of a religion based on charity, self-sacrifice and love of neighbor. Christians were barred from participating in relief efforts after the April 2010 earthquake in northwest China because the government feared they would set too good an example and attract converts.” That’s why Jesus blesses the religion of the real.  It’s so attractive.  People who live it will set such a good example that they will attract converts.

And ultimately that’s the vision Jesus wants to leave with us.  He wants to condemn our preference for the fake.  But he also wants to inspire us with his vision of the religion of the real.  It is possible by the Spirit to live such good lives that when people see our deeds they glorify our Father in heaven.  It is possible this year for God to work through you to lead others to him.  And part of that process has to do with your character.  If you strive to live out the religion of the real, God will draw others to himself through you.  But live out the faith of the frauds, and just the opposite will happen.

[2] Craig S. Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Eerdmans, 1999), 535.

^[3] France, R. T. (1985). Vol. 1: Matthew: An introduction and commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (329–330). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[4] Keener, 547.

^[5] France.

[6] Keener, 541-546.

[7] Steve Sample, The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2002), pp. 159-160.

^[8] Easton, M. (1996). Easton’s Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

^[9] Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (516–517). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

[10] Adapted from Homiletics magazine (May 2004).

[11] Karl Rahner, quoted in the Wittenburg Door (June/July l988). Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 8

[12] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/9/crucifying-chinas-christians/.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/medmss/3879056764/sizes/m/in/photostream/

A friend of mine, Jason Knight, has started a new blog.  He’s reading through the Muslim Quran and blogging regularly about the experience.  Jason is one of the most centered, thoughtful, intelligent and insightful Christians I know.  He teaches Bible at Memphis Harding Academy and is a Sunday School teacher at the congregation where I preach–the Highland Church of Christ.  Jason’s goal is grow in understanding of Islam and to help his readers to do so as well.  I encourage you to follow his progress.

I ate lunch earlier this month with a man who had recently moved to Memphis.  His sixteen year old son was having a hard time transitioning to his new school and neighborhood.  His best friends were still back in his Florida hometown and he hadn’t yet made new friends in Memphis.  The son felt like an outsider.  “I guess the move has hit him the hardest of anyone in our family,” the father said.

It’s hard to be an outsider isn’t it?  We want to be included.  We want to be accepted.

And that’s one of the most challenging things about following the leader whom we call Jesus.  Walking Jesus’ way puts us into the role of an outsider.  When walking in Jesus’ footprints, we become excluded not included, rejected not accepted.  To use the title of this series, following Jesus often puts us on the fringe.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the beatitudes:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

4″Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

5″Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

6″Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

7″Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

8″Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

9″Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”(Matt. 5:3-12 ESV).

As we heard last Sunday, the beatitudes begin and end with the image of “the kingdom of heaven”:  3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The beatitudes describe life in “the kingdom of heaven.”  This phrase “kingdom of heaven” refers to the world that God desires.  In other words, there are two worlds.  One is the world as it exists right now.  The other is the world as God desires it to exist.  That world is the “kingdom of heaven.” And the beatitudes describe the kind of life God favors in his world, in his kingdom.  In the words of one author, the beatitudes are the “norms of the kingdom.”[i]

But the beatitudes quickly reveal that what is normal in God’s world is not normal in our world.  What is favored in God’s world is fringe in our world.  The beatitudes disclose that if we truly wish to live under God’s reign and in God’s world, it will mean embracing ways of life that are fringe—not widely accepted by our world.  The beatitudes show that following Jesus requires living in the fringe world of God’s reign.

Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, “[Many Christians] demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings…I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.  ‘Blessed are the merciful’ in a courtroom?  ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ in the Pentagon?”[ii] There’s something counter-intuitive about the beatitudes.  They don’t seem to belong in our world.

This point is critical to understanding the beatitudes, especially the first four.  The first four describe difficult conditions or circumstances which will be reversed under God’s reign.[iii] God will reverse the circumstances of the meek, the hungry, the mourning, and the poor.  In our world, those people in those circumstances are forgotten.  In God’s world, they are favored.  The first four beatitudes focus on the fringe conditions or circumstances in which people experience God’s reign. God’s transforming reign will reverse these circumstances.  God will show favor on them.

But the second four beatitudes are different.  The second four beatitudes focus on the fringe conduct or actions by which people express God’s reign. These second four beatitudes focus on conduct or actions favored by God—showing mercy, making peace, being pure in heart, and being willing to do what is right regardless of the cost.  And these are actions that are not very popular in our world.

The seventh beatitude is especially fringe in nature: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9 ESV)  Let’s walk backwards through this statement beginning with the phrase “sons of God.”  What does it mean to be called “sons of God”?  The phrase “son of…” in Jewish culture meant someone who had the character of their parent.”[iv] Today, we would use the phrase “a chip off the old block,” meaning that the son or daughter behaves just like the father or mother.

For example, a few months ago my son Jacob had his first soccer tournament.  It was held in Jackson, TN.  Kendra was out of town visiting her sick mother and I was able to be at the tournament on Saturday, but had to return to Memphis to preach on Sunday.  Jacob thus spent Saturday night with another coach and returned to the tournament on Sunday.  Sunday morning, that coach made pancakes.  He set a plateful in front of Jacob.  Jacob just stared at them.  “What’s wrong Jacob?” the coach asked.  Jacob said, “Well, I like peanut butter on my pancakes.”  “Oh,” the coach said.  He had never heard of such a thing.  So he smeared a little peanut butter on Jacob’s pancakes.  Jacob just stared at them again.  “What’s wrong Jacob?” the coach asked.  “Well, I usually like a lot more peanut butter than that.”  “Have at it,” the coach said as he passed the knife and jar of peanut butter to Jacob.  Jacob smothered the pancakes with peanut butter.  Then the coach poured some syrup on the pancakes.  Jacob just stared at them.  “What’s wrong now, Jacob?” the coach asked.  “Well,” Jacob said, “I usually have a lot more syrup than that on my pancakes.”  Jacob took the bottle and poured about half a gallon of syrup on his pancakes.  When the coach told me the story, I laughed because that’s exactly what I would have done when I was Jacob’s age.  In fact, well in to my teen years my stepfather would scold me for putting so much syrup on my pancakes.  He would actually wait until I was done with my pancakes, then pour the leftover syrup from my plate onto his pancakes.  I used enough syrup for two people.  Jacob was just doing what his father did.  He was acting like his father.  He was acting as a “son of Chris.”

Jesus is interested in what it means to be called a “son of God.”  What does it look like to share the character of God?  Jesus says it comes down to this: being a peacemaker.   This is the only beatitude which uses the phrase “sons of God.”  In other words, no other beatitude encapsulates the character of God.  This trait alone is singled out as the quality that summarizes what it means to act like our Father.  This one attribute is what Jesus says will make you a chip off the old block: being a peacemaker.  Above all, Jesus says, God is a peacemaker. 

What does it mean for God to be a peacemaker?  In Col. 1:19-20 Paul uses the verb “to make peace” when discussing God: “19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” What does it mean for God to make peace?  Here, it means God reconciling all things in heaven and on earth to himself.  Peacemaking is not just stopping a war.  It’s not just resolving a fight.  Here, peacemaking is restoring everything, on earth and in heaven, to the right relationship with God it was intended to have.  When everything and everyone in heaven and on earth is in right relationship with God, bringing glory to God, and living out the purpose given to it by God, that’s peace.  That’s the kind of peace God is making on earth.

And Jesus says that’s what lies at the very heart of God.  That’s the most critical part of the character of God.  Above all, God is a peace maker.

Jesus says we become a chip off the old block when we embrace peacemaking.  We can almost use the word “wholemakers” instead of “peacemakers.”  In the Bible, to be a peacemaker is to bring wholeness to things and to people.  It’s to repair what is broken.  Biblical peace means “comprehensive well-being.”[v] It’s bringing wholeness and well-being to everything and everyone.  At its core, biblical peace means returning all things to their normal state, the state intended by God.[vi] Families.  Friendships.  Creation.  Physical health.  Spiritual health.  Organizations.  Congregations.  Governments.  For everything in heaven and on earth there is an ideal and normal state which God intended when he created it or allowed us to create it.  “Peace” comes when every person, family, congregation, government, organization, group, animal, mountain range and plain lives at that normal state.  And to be a peacemaker is to work for that wholeness.

God’s reign is expressed as we live out the fringe conduct or action of peacemaking.  God’s kingdom come as we act out our role of peacemaking.

Mike Breaux points out that there are two kinds of people: thermometers and thermostats.  Thermometers adjust to the climate of the room.  Thermostats set the climate of the room.  Peacemakers, Breaux says, are thermostats.[vii] To be a peacemaker is to walk into any situation or any relationship and refuse to accept status quo.  It is to refuse to adjust to what everyone else accepts as normal.  It is to refuse to accept the brokenness.  It is, instead, to set the climate.  It is to move things to a new normal.  It is to repair whatever may be broken.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Jesus’ own description of peacemaking.  Later in this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches what could be summarized with the word “peace”: 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift… 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.  43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

What is peace?  Peace is reconciling with a brother, responding to a request by going the second mile, and meeting abuse with grace.  It’s loving an enemy and praying for a person who persecutes you.  These, of course, are perfectly illustrated by Jesus.  If we could summarize Jesus’ ministry in one word, it would be “peacemaker.”  Jesus sought reconciliation.  He loved his enemy.  He went the second mile.

The counter-intuitive nature of peacemaking can be seen in the local controversies surrounding Muslim mosques.  Many in this country view Muslims as enemies.  A few weeks ago in Murfreesboro, TN protestors marched with signs at the site of a new Muslim mosque and center.  A fire was started and residents have vocally spoken out against Murfreesboro Muslims.  By contrast, when a church a few blocks from here learned that Memphis Muslims were in need of a facility that church invited the Muslims to use their facility.  The uncommon hospitality made news around the country.  I’m not here to argue the merits of a Christian church hosting Muslim prayers in their building.  But I am here to point out that people struggle with making peace.  The kind of peace that mirrors God’s character is one that very few today are willing to pursue.  We’d rather picket our enemy than love our enemy.  Yet God’s reign is expressed when we commit to being peacemakers.

Last year friends of mine at the Sycamore View Church of Christ committed to hosting a Boys and Girls Club at their church building.  Children who live in the many apartment complexes along Sycamore View between I-40 and Bartlett go there after school.  It’s the only Boys and Girls Club located in a church building.  Volunteers from the church assist the kids with homework, fix snacks and prepare a dinner for the kids every Wednesday night.  The church is providing the space, utilities and janitorial service.  The Boys and Girls Club is thus able to operate that branch at a third of the cost of the other clubs in town.  That’s a church trying to bring peace.  Trying to mend broken families and bring wholeness to Memphis children.  They are acting just like their Father.  And through them, God’s reign is being expressed.

Since 1996 Bill and Cathy Ivey have led Dynamic Marriage classes where they repair and restore challenged marriages and strengthen and mature healthy marriages.  Currently they are investing in the lives of eleven married couples.  It’s a work that few of us ever see.  Yet it’s peacemaking work.  It’s helping marriages to exist at the state God designed them for.  Bill and Cathy are acting just like their Father.  And through that work God’s reign is being expressed.

In his book Hidden in Plain Sight, Mark Buchanan writes about a woman named Regine.[viii] Originally from Rwanda, Regine came to Christ while reading her sister’s Bible during the genocide that ravaged Rwanda. When she fled to Canada for refuge, she met her husband, Gordon. They decided to return to Rwanda to make peace.  Regine told Mark Buchanan this story: A woman’s only son was killed. She was consumed with grief and hate and bitterness. “God,” she prayed, “reveal my son’s killer.”  One night she dreamed she was going to heaven. But there was a complication: in order to get to heaven she had to pass through a certain house. She had to walk down the street, enter the house through the front door, go through its rooms, up the stairs, and exit through the back door.  She asked God whose house this was.  “It’s the house,” he told her, “of your son’s killer.”  The road to heaven passed through the house of her enemy.  Two nights later, there was a knock at her door. She opened it, and there stood a young man. He was about her son’s age.  “Yes?”   He hesitated. Then he said, “I am the one who killed your son. Since that day, I have had no life. No peace. So here I am. I am placing my life in your hands. Kill me. I am dead already. Throw me in jail. I am in prison already. Torture me. I am in torment already. Do with me as you wish.”   The woman had prayed for this day. Now it had arrived, and she didn’t know what to do. She found, to her own surprise, that she did not want to kill him. Or throw him in jail. Or torture him. In that moment of reckoning, she found she only wanted one thing: a son.  “I ask this of you. Come into my home and live with me. Eat the food I would have prepared for my son. Wear the clothes I would have made for my son. Become the son I lost.”  And so he did.  [Followers of Jesus] do what God himself has done, making sons and daughters out of bitter enemies, feeding and clothing them, blazing a trail to heaven straight through their houses. She was acting just like her Father.  She was making peace.  And through her, God’s reign was expressed.

Please stand.  We’ll close by praying through the beatitudes.  I’ll read the beatitude.  You read out loud the line beneath each one as a prayer:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Bless us when we are poor in spirit, and let us bless those who are poor in spirit.

4″Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Bless us when we mourn, and let us bless those who mourn.

5″Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Bless us when we are meek, and let us bless those who are meek.

6″Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Bless us when we are hungry and thirsty, and let us bless those who are hungry and thirsty.

7″Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Enable us to bless others by showing mercy.

8″Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Enable us to bless others by being pure in heart.

9″Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

Enable us to bless others by making peace.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Enable us to be willing to do what is right regardless of the cost.

[ii] Kurt Vonnegut, “Cold Turkey,” In These Times http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/cold_turkey/

[iii] Carter, 131.

[iv] D. A. Carson Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount And His Confrontation with the World (Global Christian Publishers, 1999), 28.

[v] Frederick Dale Bruner Matthew Volume 1 The Christbook Matthew 1-12 (Word, 1987), 149.

[vi] . Vol. 2: Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964- (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (412). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

[vii] Mike Breaux “Which Rung Are You On?” PreachingToday.com.

[viii] Mark Buchanan, Hidden in Plain Sight (Thomas Nelson, 2007), 187ff.

On her 2004 album, Natasha Bedingfield released a song called “Unwritten.”  The song imagines that our lives are stories which are in the process of being written.  Here’s the first part of Bedingfield’s song:

I am unwritten, can’t read my mind, I’m undefined

I’m just beginning, the pen’s in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty window

Let the sun illuminate the words that you cannot find

Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten

The song imagines that our lives are stories to be written.  We are staring at the blank pages before us.  We are waiting for the story which will define our life.

The song points to the reality that life is governed by a story. There is a narrative that guides what we do and why we do it.  There is a plot which shapes the kind of people we are.  For example, a little boy who is told repeatedly by his father that he is weak and useless will grow up living out of that storyline.  He will play the role of a weak and useless man the rest of his life.  Or a teenage girl who is told by a teacher that girls aren’t good at math or science and she ought to just get married may eventually live out that storyline.   Her life may be shaped by that plot.  Our life is often governed by a story.  We’re not always aware of that story.  But it shapes us nonetheless.

In this morning’s text, Paul points to two different kinds of stories that shape people’s lives: 13And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last! (1 Thess. 2:13-16 ESV).

As we’ve witnessed during this Sunday morning series, Paul spends the first two chapters in 1 Thessalonians remembering what happened when he came to Thessalonica and told people the story about Jesus.  He remembers how that story turned their lives around.

In fact, Paul remembers what happened in Thessalonica as a group of people exchanging of one story for another: 13And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God… Paul indicates that there are really two kinds of stories which shape our lives: human—the word of men, and divine—the word of God. Paul says that when he told the Thessalonians about Jesus, they could have responded in one of two ways.  First, that story about Jesus could have been accepted as just a human story—the word of men.  It’s a good story.  But it’s just a human story.  Second, Paul’s words about Jesus could have been accepted as a divine story—the word of God.  And Paul says that second response is what the Thessalonians had.  They took Paul’s words to be the divine word, God’s story, the authoritative plot about life.  As a result, the Thessalonians abandoned their stories and embraced God’s.

The truth is that each person here today is governed by some story or a set of stories.  And the question is this: are you governed by human stories or by God’s story?  Which story is the narrative of your life?  Which story influences your values and your priorities?  Are you under the influence of just another human story or the one divine story?

Robert Webber was a famous theologian who published more than 40 books.  The last book he published before his death was called Who Gets to Narrate the World?[i] The most important question on his mind before dying was this: Who gets to narrate the world?  Who gets to write our story?  Webber wrote that the three most popular answers to that question were Islam, humanism, and Christianity.  And he lamented that there were more and more people writing the pages of their lives based on the storyline provided by Islam and humanism.  Webber’s book was a dying plea for people to write the pages of life based on God’s story.

There are two kinds of stories: human and divine.  The Thessalonians chose the divine story.  Have you?

Here’s why the Thessalonians did.  They recognized that the Christian story, the one true divine story, is a story with power, with a price, and with a promise.  First, Paul writes that the divine story is a story with power: “you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.”  The words “at work” are a translation of a Greek word which gives us the English word “energy.”  This divine story which the Thessalonians embraced had energy.  It had power.  It began to do something within them.  Soon, Paul writes, these Thessalonians became “imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.”  The phrase “churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea” may not mean much to you.  But that’s code for “the original churches,” “the first churches,” “the Acts 2 churches.”  The churches in Judea were the first ones started after the resurrection of Jesus.  They are the ones we read about in Acts 2 in which powerful ministry, selfless service, and amazing growth happens.  Paul says to the Thessalonians, “This story was so powerful it made you act like the very first people who responded to Jesus after the resurrection!”  This story turned them into imitators of the very best churches.  In addition, earlier Paul noted that this story turned them into “imitators of us and of the Lord” (1 Thess. 1:6 ESV).  The “us” refers to Paul and his companions—some of the best Christians in the Bible.  And of course “the Lord” refers to Jesus himself.  In other words this story of Jesus was so powerful that these former pagan Thessalonians started looking like the best churches, the best Christians and even like Christ himself.

This divine story has the power to change the lives of the people in your neighborhood, your workplace and your school.  It’s not just words.  This is a story with power and energy and transformative ability.

Second, Paul writes of this divine story as one with a price: “For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last!” When these Thessalonians started to allow the divine story to narrate their lives, the plot quickly thickened.  There was opposition.  We read in Acts 17 that Jewish leaders in Thessalonica were so upset that they started riots and ran Paul, Silas, and Timothy out of town.  The Thessalonians paid a high price for dumping their story for God’s story.  It caused friction, and tension and rejection.

We must never leave the impression with others that God’s story is a health-and-wealth or name-it-and-claim it kind of story.  We must never promise that days will be sunny and nights will be serene just because you embrace God’s story.  This story comes with a price.  To allow this story to narrate your life is to invite danger, trouble, conflict, strife and rejection.

But, Paul shows, the Thessalonians nonetheless clung to it.  All that strife didn’t turn them from God’s story.  Why?  Because this is a story with promise: “For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last!” Paul mentions that this story makes it possible for people like Gentiles to be “saved.”  It has implications for our eternal future.  It secures a forever life with God.  And that promise makes this story worth the price.  One author states that the reason the Thessalonians converted to Christianity and remained with the Christian faith in the face of persecution is that they were dissatisfied with the worldview given to them by their society and their religion and they found a far more satisfying worldview in Christianity.[ii] They found this story so satisfying, so promising, that they willingly paid that price.

And because this divine story was one with a power, a price, and a promise, Paul was deeply convicted that it must be proclaimed.  The divine story is one that must be proclaimed.  Paul writes in vs. 13 of sharing this story with the Thessalonians.  He writes in vs. 16 of his desire to verbalize it to “the Gentiles,” those who knew nothing of the biblical God.  He writes in 2:2 how they had boldness to “declare to you the gospel of God.”  He writes in 2:8 how they shared not only their lives but also the gospel with the Thessalonians.  And in 1:8 he writes about how this “word of the Lord” is now sounding forth from the Thessalonians.  The Thessalonians themselves are now proclaiming this story.  They, like Paul, are convicted that the divine story is one that must be proclaimed.

If we wish to be used by God to turn people’s lives around, a Christlike character and a commitment to closeness are not enough.  Eventually we must proclaim this divine story.  We must invite people to make this story their story.  We must engage in what I’m calling “conversation.”  Turning lives around takes character, closeness, and conversation—a commitment to verbalizing the divine story and inviting others to live by it.

But how do we do that?  How do we engage in conversation about this divine story?

One way is to host a neighborhood or workplace Bible study.  We’re offering a training session on Sept. 29 at 7 PM for anyone interested in starting a 5 week discussion group at your work or in your neighborhood oriented around conversations about Jesus.  We’ll provide you the material.  You provide the space and the friends. That’s one way to practice conversation.

But this morning we’re also giving you another way to get into conversation.  It’s called “Getting Your Story Straight.”  It’s a summary I’ve written of the story of the Bible.  We’d like you to hand this to someone, ask them to read it, and then follow up later with a conversation about it.  Just find a friend and say, “Hey!  My church is interested in helping people learn the story of the Bible.  So my church has produced this summary of the Bible.  Would you be interested in reading it?  I’d love to hear your impressions.  Take it home.  Maybe we could get some coffee this Thursday and you could share with me what you thought about it.”  One way to start a conversation about God’s story is to give someone this booklet and then follow up later with a discussion about it.  We’ll also post this booklet on our church website under downloads so you can print it anytime you wish or refer a friend to read it online.  You can also find it on my website under “The Story of God.”

This summary is based on the conviction that people today need a chance to hear the whole story of Scripture.  Many have such little knowledge of the Bible in general that they have a difficult time putting into perspective the smaller pieces, even the story of Jesus.  “Getting Your Story Straight” gives them a chance to hear the flow of the entire Bible and thus helps them make sense of the various pieces of the Bible.  It also helps them see that the Bible really has one seamless plotline.  “Getting Your Story Straight”  is oriented around 4 ideas: “Where We Are,” “Where We Were,” “Where We’re Going,” and “How We’re Going.”

• “Where We Are” discusses the present chaos, brokenness, and challenge of life in the 21^st century.  It points out our broken relationship with others, with nature, with God, and with the future.
• “Where We Were” demonstrates that things were not always this way.  God originally created a world that was whole and complete.  This section also demonstrates how human choices resulted in that transformation of the where-we-were-world of Genesis to the where-we-are-world of today.
• The section entitled “Where We’re Going” highlights God’s work to return us to the world he originally created.  It focuses on God’s vision for what life can be with God back in charge.
• “How We’re Going” shows how God is bringing about his desired future through a person who comes with a message about that future and a people who strive to model that future.  It further reveals that God is acting as our partner—one with the means to achieve his future.  This section climaxes with the story of Jesus as the one who finally and fully brings God’s future into the present.

“Getting Your Story Straight” ends with an explanation of how to make God’s story your story.

The 2008 movie “The Tale of Despereaux” tells of two mice.  Despereaux is a tiny mouse with large ears.  Unlike other mice, who are generally frightened at all times by all things, Despereaux has no fear.  In his mouse society, fear is taught in school as a mouse necessity, and those that cannot learn to fear are considered outcasts. Despereaux’s parents attempt to teach him fear by having him explore a castle’s library with his older brother “showing him the ropes.”  While in the castle, the brother shows Despereaux how to eat books.  He tosses one open for Despereaux and then starts eating others nearby.  But rather than eating the book, Despereaux begins reading the book—and he cannot stop reading.  He comes back day after day.  Despereaux eats none of pages, glue, or binding.  Instead of consuming the book he is consumed by the book.  It’s a story of a princess longing for happiness.  It’s a story of a knight with courage and valor.  Despereaux realizes that’s the life he’s been called to live.  He finds his purpose in that story.  And for the rest of the movie he lives out that narrative.

That’s how it is with God’s story.  Once we truly understand it, it replaces all other stories.  It consumes us.  And for the rest of our lives, we want to live it out.  That’s why this story must be shared.  That’s why conversation is critical to turning lives around.

[ii] Ben Witherington III 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Eerdmans, 2006), 88.

A movie called “The Book of Eli” is a parable illustrating the sometimes chaotic power of Scripture.  The story takes place in the near future of America, after a nuclear apocalypse leaves the country a desolate wasteland.  Through that wasteland travels a loner named Eli.  Eli believes God has sent him to bring one of the few remaining copies of the Bible to the west coast.  As he travels, Eli wanders into a ramshackle town ruled by a villainous man named Carnegie.  Most in the town no longer know how to read.  None in the town have ever read the Bible—except Eli and Carnegie.  Both believe in the power of Scripture.  And as they confront one another on the dusty streets of this western town, their talk of Scripture turns the town upside down: Carnegie: Is that thing loaded? I don’t think it’s loaded. Eli: Only one way to find out. Carnegie: Look, I need that book. I mean…I want the book.  And you.  But if you make me choose, I’ll kill ya—I’ll take the book. Eli: Why? Why do you want it? Carnegie: I grew up with it. I know its power. And if you read it, then so do you. That’s why they burned them all after the war.  Hey, just stayin’ alive is an act of faith; building this town is an even bigger act of faith, but they don’t understand that.  None of them.  And I don’t have the right words to help them, but the book does.  I admit…I’ve had to do things…many, many things I hate to build this, I confess that…but if we have that book, I wouldn’t have to.  Now imagine…imagine how different, how righteous this little world could be if we had the right words for our faith.  Well, people would truly understand why they’re here and what they’re doing and wouldn’t need any of the uglier motivations.  It’s not right to keep that book hidden away; it’s meant to be shared with others; it’s meant to be spread. Isn’t that what you want? Eli: With all my heart and soul.  I always believed that I’d find a place where this book belonged, where it was needed…but I haven’t found it yet. Carnegie: I love this guy.  I love this guy! Shoot him…please.” Guns flare.  People scream.  But as the dust settles, Eli walks out of town.  He has other places to go.  He’s got a mission to accomplish.

It’s tempting to have a similar picture in mind when we imagine the mission of Paul recorded by Luke in his book which is called Acts.  It’s tempting to imagine Paul traveling through the pagan wasteland of the Roman Empire.  He’s a loner out there—except for a few occasional rag tag supporters.  Again and again, Paul wanders into a dirty town, speaks words of Scripture, and the city gets turned upside down.  Then, as the dust settles, Paul walks into the sunset.  He has other places to go.  He’s got a mission to accomplish.

That image certainly resonates with Luke’s account in Acts 17 of Paul’s visit to Thessalonica:  1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.  10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea (Acts 17:1-10 ESV).

Paul saunters into Thessalonica.  And on three Saturdays, Paul teaches Scripture at the local synagogue.  He preaches Bible.  He speaks the Words of God.  And those words have power.  They spark an uproar.  They turn the city upside down.  What Paul speaks so shakes things up that he is forced to leave Thessalonica.  Can you see him–walking into the sunset?  He’s got other places to go.  He’s got a mission to accomplish.

And that image colors our view of evangelism.  For some of us the word “evangelism” means going to a country, a city, a neighborhood, a workplace, a school, or to a person and quoting Scripture, teaching Bible, and speaking the Word of God.  That word shakes things up.  And when we’re done speaking, we move on to the next country, city, neighborhood, workplace, school, or person.  The word “evangelism” conjures images like a crusade where the speaker and his team swoop into a city, fill a stadium with people, preach God’s Word, and then swoop away to the next city.  It’s about speaking and moving on, speaking and moving on.

That is certainly an aspect of evangelism.  It is part of what Paul recalls as he reminisces about his visit to Thessalonica in the first chapters of 1 Thessalonians.  Luke provides a news report on Paul and Thessalonica.  Paul provides a documentary.  Luke gives us the 30,000 foot overview.  Paul gives us the detailed account.   In 1 Thessalonians we learn there was a lot more to Paul’s visit than we may have imagined.

As we saw last Sunday, Paul describes in 1 Thess. 1:9 the ultimate result of his stopover: you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.  Because of what Paul spoke, these Thessalonians completely rejected the spiritual beliefs and practices taught them by their parents and grandparents and fully embraced the truth about God found in Jesus.  Lives were turned around when Paul came to town.

Last Sunday we explored the important role that character played in this turn-around.  Today we look at another aspect of the turn-around: 10You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 11For you know how, like a father with his children, 12we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thess. 2:10-12 ESV).

Paul uses two images to describe his role in turning people’s lives around.  First, Paul uses the image of a father: For you know how, like a father with his children….  When Paul remembers what he did in Thessalonica, he sees it as him playing the role of a father.  Paul writes of evangelizing like a father. In that ancient culture, the father’s primary role was to provide moral instruction.[i] The father taught the children how to live.  The father spoke to the children about the purpose of life.  That’s how Paul uses the image here.  Paul says in vs. 12 that he exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.  Like a father, Paul taught these Thessalonians how to live.  He spoke to them about the purpose of life.  He exhorted them.  He charged them.  Paul writes in vv. 8-9 that he preached to them the “gospel of God.”  Paul verbalized the message of the Bible.  That’s what he means when he remembers evangelizing like a father.  Evangelizing like a father is speaking and teaching the instruction of the Bible.

And that is an important element of evangelism.  Evangelizing like a father is critical.  If we want to turn lives around, we too must evangelize like a father.  We’ve got to preach like a papa. We have to speak Scripture with lost people.  We have to share the Bible with those far from God.

And that will be the focus of next Sunday’s lesson.  Next Sunday I’ll preach about the importance of verbalizing Scripture to non Christians.  I’ll introduce a tool that can help you preach like a papa, evangelize like a father.

But too often, that’s our only image of evangelism.  Too often, that’s all we can imagine.  Evangelism is the loner sauntering into a country, a city, a neighborhood, a workplace, a school, or a person’s life, speaking Scripture, and then moving on to the next country, city, neighborhood, workplace, school, or person.

But Paul points to another vital image for evangelism: 7But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.  9For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. (1 Thess. 2:7-9 ESV).  Paul uses a different image here.  He uses the image of a mother.  Paul remembers evangelizing like a mother.  In that ancient culture the mother’s primary role was one of nurturing the children.[ii] A father was in charge of moral instruction.  But a mother was in charge of nurturing.  Paul points to his role as a mother as he reached out to those in Thessalonica:

• He was” gentle” with them (vs. 7).
• He “took care” of them (vs. 7)—a phrase meaning to warmly cherish. ^[iii]
• He was as nurturing and caring as a “nursing mother” to her children (vs. 7).
• He was “affectionately desirous” of them (vs.8 )—a word which means to be drawn toward something with intense feelings.^[iv]
• They were “very dear” to him (vs. 8)—a word meaning “beloved.”

Can you feel the warmth?  Can you sense the affection?  Can you picture the way Paul was drawn toward these people?  This is not a teacher informing students.  This is not a speaker communicating to listeners.  This is not even just a father instructing children.  This is a mother nurturing her babies.  This is a man in love with Thessalonians.  This is a man filled with affection and concern for people.

This fondness led Paul to do something more than just speak.  Paul writes in vs. 8: we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves.  The words “we were ready” literally mean “we were delighted” or “we were pleased.”  “It gave us great joy to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves.”

Paul did much more than just evangelize like a father.  He also evangelized like a mother.  He didn’t just instruct.  He also invested.  He didn’t just communicate.  He was also concerned.  He didn’t just share good news.  He also shared himself.

Paul shows that it’s not enough to merely preach like papa.  We’ve also got to love like mama. Those are the two foundations of evangelism.  You’ve got to preach like papa.  You’ve got to verbalize God’s words to lost people.  You’ve got to share good news.  And next Sunday we’ll explore this.  But you also got to love like mama.  You’ve got to share your life.  You’ve got to invest in people.  You’ve got to do life with people.  You’ve got to love like mama.

And that introduces the second of four vital components of outreach.  Last Sunday we discussed the importance of character.  This morning Paul’s example reveals the role of closeness.  Lives are turned around as we practice closeness.  Paul drew close to those he reached out to.  He formed the kind of relationships with them that could be characterized as family.  They were not just acquaintances.  They were not just colleagues.  To Paul, they were family.  He loved them like a mama.  He drew close to their hearts and homes.

And that’s why turning lives around can never solely be accomplished through church programs.  Programs can be helpful.  Programs can bear fruit.  But ultimately evangelism necessitates more.  It requires not only preaching like papa.  It requires also loving like mama.  Evangelism is about drawing close to people.  It’s about doing life with people.  It’s about getting to know that student in the back of your classroom, eating lunch together, attending a movie, going shopping, playing basketball, and in that context sharing the good news.  It’s about introducing yourself to that neighbor you’ve lived next to for over a year, having him over for dinner, going fishing with him, catching a Tiger football game, and in the context of doing life, sharing the good news.

It’s at this point, however, that a defense mechanism kicks in.  As I began to see this picture of loving like mama, I also began to think that this was a lot easier for Paul than it was for me.  After all, Paul was a missionary.  What else did Paul have to do but hang out with people, get to know people, and do life with people?  Wasn’t that Paul’s job?  And if that’s the case, Paul’s model of evangelism is not every helpful.  Because unlike Paul most of us don’t get paid to hang out.  Most of us are much busier than Paul.  We have jobs.  We have school.  We have piano, and soccer, and dance and dishes to wash, and weeds to pick, and shutters to paint, and emails to answer, and diapers to change, and papers to write and calls to make and cards to send and groceries to buy and floors to sweep and kids to drive and notes to study and tests to take and projects to finish.  I began to dismiss Paul’s focus on loving like mama, because he doesn’t know how hard that would be for someone like me.  It takes time to practice closeness.  And time is something few of us have.

But then I re-read vs. 9: For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. Paul opens up his Outlook, his Franklin Planner, his Dayspring weekly calendar, and his to-do list.  And he shows just how busy he was in Thessalonica.  The words “labor and toil” refer to Paul’s  work as a tent-maker and leather worker.  To demonstrate just how deeply he cared for these people, Paul refused to ask for handouts, for a place to sleep, for a lunch or dinner from any of the Thessalonians.  Instead, Paul made a living while in evangelizing in Thessalonica.  He made tents.  He was a leather worker.  New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III points out that in a city like Thessalonica, where there was large seaport, a great deal of commerce, and recreation in the form of the Greek games, there would have been a large demand for temporary shelters like tents and leather goods like sandals.[v] And apparently business was booming.  Paul had to work night and day to keep up with the orders.  It’s not like Paul had eight hours a day to hang out with people and form friendships.  Instead, he had an eight hour, nine hour, ten hour, or eleven hour a day job working leather—just to pay his bills, just to put a roof over his head and some food in his stomach.  And in whatever time was left, Paul invested in forming these friendships.  That’s how critical closeness was to Paul.

Can’t you imagine how tempting it would have been for Paul, after a long work day, to just pick up some fast food at the Roman Arches, drive home, and turn on the Roman Idol competition?  And when Paul did evangelize in those after-work hours, can’t you imagine how tempting it would be to just rely on preaching like papa—just swoop into a house, preach some Scripture, and leave so he can get home to watch Leno?  But instead, Paul spent those remaining moments of the day getting to know some Thessalonians, hanging out with them, chatting, talking, conversing and doing life together.  He’d meet them early in the morning for breakfast.  Sometimes they’d do a round of Frisbee golf during their lunch break.  On some weekends they’d rush off to the nearby lake and fish.  This very busy man spent whatever time he could investing heavily in the lives of these people.  And in that context, Paul shared with them the gospel of God.

Long-term, here’s what you can do to put this message in to action.  In October, we’ll be hosting another Divine Dinner week.  During that week, we want you to make time to have someone into your home for a meal.  That person should be someone who doesn’t necessarily attend church anywhere.  Have that person into your home and spend a few hours just investing in that relationship.  It won’t be a time to preach like papa.  It will be a time to love like mama.  Start praying for God to lead you to someone you can invite to Divine Dinner.

But this week, there’s something you can also do.  “My Turn” is your turn to put this message into action immediately.  Spend some time today prayerfully reflecting on these words:

There are at least three groups of people whom you can love like mama:

1.            People you know (coworkers, classmates, neighbors, family members, etc.)

2.            People you used to know (acquaintances from a past school, job, neighborhood, etc.)

3.            People you’d like to know (the regular waiter at a diner you frequent, a student whose locker is nearby, etc.).

Write down some names of people who might fit into one of these groups: ________________________________________________________________.

There are a number of ways you can begin to build a relationship with one of those whose names you’ve written down: Involve him in an activity you are already doing (lunch during your lunch hour, attending a Tiger game, going to the gym, taking the kids to the park), invite her to a holiday party, interact with him on Facebook, invite her to participate with you in a church service project.

Write down one thing you can do this week to build a relationship with one of those whose names you’ve written down above: _____________________________________________.

[ii] Witherington III, 81.

Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the text of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.

. Vol. 5: Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964- (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (176). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

[v] Witherington, 38.