Revolution: A New Spin on Turning People to Faith (Matt. 9:14-17) – Aug. 23, 2009

One recent morning I read these lines on a friend’s blog: “There are now 195,000,000 unchurched people in America. This makes America one of the four largest “unchurched” nations in the world…there is not a county in America that has a greater church population than it did 10 years ago.”[1] There is little doubt that Christianity in America is facing significant challenges and that fewer Americans are embracing the Christian faith.

Yet the same morning I read that on a friend’s blog, I received a message on Facebook from another friend named Gary. Twenty years ago I was part of that massive group of “unchurched” Americans. I was far away from God. Yet God used Gary to lead me to faith in God. It was a stunning contrast that morning: a friend’s blog telling of millions of Americans who have no faith in the Father, and a note from another friend who managed to lead me to faith in the Father.

On the one hand many of us recognize that we Christians aren’t doing even a mediocre job in leading people in America to faith in God. On the other hand, as my story illustrates, we know it is possible to lead people to faith. And, I think, most of us want to see that possibility become reality. We want the hurting people around us to know the joy of faith in God.

That is what makes Matt. 5-10 such an important season of Jesus’ life to explore. These six chapters may be the most important six chapters from Jesus’ life for those of us who no longer wish to see our country being the fourth largest unchurched nation in the world.

These chapters begin with a vision. It’s a vision which many of us share. As Matt. 5 opens, Jesus dreams a dream. Jesus sees us who follow him as salt which can remove and prevent decay in the lives of people around the world. And, Jesus sees us who follow him as light which can dispel darkness around the world. Here’s how Jesus puts it: You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:13, 14-16 TNIV) In Matt. 5 Jesus gives his vision: “Imagine being salt and light.” Jesus believes we can be so salty and so full of light that people around us will “glorify your Father in heaven.” That’s how this section begins.

Notice how this section ends. At the end of Matt. 9 Jesus urges us to pray for the Father to send out people to be salt and light: The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (Matt. 9:37-38 TNIV). Jesus urges us to pray for the Father to send people out to be salt and light. Then in Matt. 10, Jesus answers that prayer. In Matt. 10 Jesus actually sends us out to be salt and light: Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness…These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions… (Matt. 10:1,5 TNIV). Jesus begins Matt. 5-10 urging us to imagine ourselves as salt and light—agents who can lead lost, lonely, and hurting people to faith in the Father. Jesus ends this section by sending us to be salt and light. In Matt. 5 we get the vision: “Imagine being salt and light.” In Matt. 10 we get the commission: “Go and be salt and light.” section begins with a vision of us turning people to the Father. The section ends with us being sent to do just that.

But how do we get from that vision to that commission? How do we turn that possibility into reality? That’s what Matt. 5-9 is about. In Matt. 5-9 Jesus presents all that is necessary for the dream to be put into action. Specifically, in Matt. 5-7 Jesus gives us instruction. Jesus instructs us on the kind of character and lifestyle we must have if we want to be salt and light. Also known as the Sermon on the Mount, this instruction is the clearest teaching in the Gospels of the kind of people we need to be in order to be salt and light. In Matt. 5-7 Jesus instructs how to be the salt and light.

Then in Matt. 8-9 we find demonstration. Jesus demonstrates how to be salt and light. Jesus lets us tag along as he interacts with lost, lonely, and hurting people and becomes salt and light in their lives. Jesus models the kinds of practices which even we can do that will lead people to faith in the Father.

For the next few weeks on Sunday mornings we are going to explore these often forgotten and neglected practices in Matt. 8-9. We’re going to follow Jesus and relearn how to really be salt and light in the lives of people in our homes, schools, and communities. We’re going to let Jesus demonstrate how, even in a culture where fewer are embracing Christianity, we can still lead people to faith in the Father.

But before we dive into Jesus’ demonstration, there is a mindset we must embrace, because it sets the context for everything else in Matt. 8-9: 14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. 16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matt. 9:14-17 TNIV) John’s disciples ask, How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? John’s probably referring to the common practice of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays.[2] And he wants to know why Jesus’ disciples don’t fast on Mondays and Thursdays.

To answer, Jesus borrows imagery from Is. and Ez. in which God is described as a bridegroom.

Here, Jesus describes himself as a bridegroom. He imagines his ministry as a wedding, a time of joy and happiness. Thus, he says, now is a time for feasting, not fasting. As Matt. 8-9 will make clear, now is a time of celebration because people are being healed, forgiven, and freed from evil spirits.[3] But eventually, when the bridegroom is taken—a reference to Jesus’ crucifixion—then it will be a somber time, a time more suited to fasting.

Then Jesus uses this wedding imagery to address a larger issue. [4] A key ingredient of weddings in Jesus’ day was wine. When you hosted a wedding, you provided wine. So, having described himself as a bridegroom, and his ministry as a wedding-like celebration, Jesus now talks about wine. He says that if you put new wine, which is still in the process of fermenting, into an old wineskin, that wineskin may burst. In Jesus’ day people would sew animal skins together to make a container for liquid like wine. Once filled with wine, the container would expand as the wine fermented. But once these skins stretched to their limit and hardened, they could expand no more. Taking one of these old and inflexible wineskins and filling it with new wine would cause it to burst.[5]

Why does Jesus raise this issue of wineskins? His comment comes in the context of growing conflict between himself and the religious leaders. Jesus is busy in Matt. 8-9 demonstrating how to be salt and light, but the religious leaders keep criticizing him:

· For example, in Matt. 9:1-8 Jesus restores mobility to a paralyzed man and forgives his sins, but the teachers of the law respond by muttering, “This fellow is blaspheming!”

· In Matt. 9:9-13 Jesus establishes friendships with people far from God but the Pharisees respond by critiquing him for eating with sinners and tax collectors.

· In Matt. 9:27-34 Jesus drives an evil spirit out of a man but the Pharisees snap, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”

· And here in this morning’s text, we find even the disciples of John, one of Jesus’ greatest supporters, wondering about Jesus’ methods.

To use Jesus’ imagery, we could say that the religious establishment is not satisfied with Jesus’ wineskin. The wineskin is the external expression of Jesus’ ministry. It’s the words and actions Jesus is using to demonstrate how to be salt and light. That’s the wineskin. And the religious leaders don’t like what they see. They don’t like Jesus’ wineskin. Why? Because it doesn’t look like the wineskin of their traditions and customs. They are used to doing religion in a certain way. And here is Jesus doing it in a different way. In fact, Jesus’ wineskin, his way of being salt and light, looks so different that they have been accusing Jesus of abandoning the Bible. Earlier in this section Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets…” (Matt. 5:17). Jesus says this because that’s what he has been accused of doing. Jesus’ way of being salt and light is so revolutionary that that the religious leaders accuse him of abandoning the Bible.

And in the face of this controversy, Jesus says, “It’s time for a new wineskin. What I’m here to do for lost, lonely, and hurting people is so revolutionary, it calls for a new wineskin. It’s not going to look the way religion’s always looked. It’s got to be given new expressions, forms, and practices.

And this statement provides the foundational key to us becoming the salt and light we long to be. Because the truth is that we American Christians have strayed from Jesus’ way of being salt and light. We’ve developed our own customs, our own habits, our own ways of doing church, and ministry, and outreach. And some of these have actually gotten in the way of our being the salt and light Jesus envisions and commissions in Matt. 5-10.

Here’s one piece of evidence to consider: Among the 20 fastest growing churches in this country, only one is at least 50 years old.[6] Let me say that again: among the 20 fastest growing churches in this country, only one is at least 50 years old. Why? Why is it that most of the few churches in this country which succeed at being salt and light are new churches? Why are almost no older churches among the handful of churches turning people to faith in the Father? It has to do with our wineskin. We in old and established churches have developed our own wineskins, our own ways of being salt and light. And sometimes those ways are so different from Jesus’ way that when Jesus tries to pour his wine, his salt and light ways, into our wineskin, it just doesn’t work. Jesus’ way of being salt and light requires new expressions, forms, and practices.

This is especially true given the radical changes taking place in our culture. I have shared with you before that in America we are witnessing two “cultural revolutions.” One cultural revolution is the shift from Christian to non-Christian. One of the most comprehensive studies of the spiritual lives of Americans presents these findings:[7] the number of Americans who report being members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%; From 1972 through 2006 those with no religious preference have increased from approximately 5% to over 15%. Our culture is shifting from a Christian one to a non-Christian one.

A second cultural revolution is the shift from Modern to Postmodern. “Modern” and “Postmodern” are different worldviews, different ways of thinking about life.[8]

1. Modernism believed that reason, not religion, offered the best hope for understanding and explaining life.

2. Modernism believed in human autonomy. It said that humans are independent from God, do not need God.

3. Modernism believed in the positive progress of human history. Through reason, science, technology, and effort humans could create a bright future characterized by prosperity and peace.

But this Modern way of thinking about life is being replaced by a Postmodern way of thinking about life. In my book Preaching to Pluralists I use seven characteristics to describe Postmoderns.

1. The most dominant characteristic is pluralism. Pluralism is the belief that there is not just one Truth, but many truths. As a result, postmoderns are turned off by what they view as the intolerance and exclusivity of Christianity.

2. A second characteristic of the postmodern culture is its anti-institutional bias. That is, postmoderns are not interested in the institutional element of Christianity—the church.

3. Pragmatism is a third quality. In terms of spirituality, they are primarily interested in having a better life before death, not in securing a better life after death.

4. Fourth, postmoderns are uninformed about basic Christianity. Because they are growing up in a non-Christian culture and not pursuing a faith within Christian institutions, they know little about the Christian faith.

5. A fifth characteristic concerns their spirituality. Postmoderns may not be Christian. They may not be in church. But they are interested in spiritual matters.

6. Sixth, Postmoderns are experiential. When it comes to their spirituality, they do not care if a place offers the correct doctrine about God. They care more if a place offers a stimulating experience of God.

7. Finally, Postmoderns are relational. Of those who do darken the doors of a church, many say they are looking for some kind of community.

And here’s the challenge: most established churches like Highland developed a wineskin, a way of being salt and light, that fit a Christian culture filled with people who had a Modern worldview. But that Christian culture is turning more toward a non-Christian culture. And that Modern worldview is being replaced by a Postmodern worldview. As a result, our wineskin may need reinvestigation. We may, more than ever before, need to set aside our customs, our comforts, and our habits and embrace the new expressions, forms, and practices of Jesus.

This summer I read Barbara Kingsolver’s New York Times Bestseller The Poisonwood Bible.[9] It is the tragic story of a Christian who refused to set aside his own customs and embrace the ways of Jesus. The story revolves around an African word: bangala. Pronounced one way, the word means “great.” Pronounced another way, the word refers to a poisonwood tree which will, in the words of one of the story’s characters, “make you itch like nobody’s business.” The narrative takes place in the early 1960’s and focuses on a Georgia Baptist preacher and his family: Nathan and Orleanna Price and their girls Rachel, Leah and Adah (twins), and Ruth May. Nathan moves his family to the Congo in order to lead the Congolese to faith in the Father. Nathan ends every sermon in the Congo with these words: Jesus is bangala! What Nathan means is “Jesus is great!” But because he pronounces the word wrong, what he actually says is, “Jesus is poisonwood!” And the novel reveals how, even though Nathan wants the Congolese to believe Jesus is great, Nathan actually makes Jesus poisonwood to them.

How? It has to do with Nathan’s wineskin. The way Nathan goes about being salt and light actually makes Jesus unappealing to the Congolese. Nathan assumes that what worked in Georgia will work in the Congo. He makes this assumption about everyday kinds of things. For example Nathan started a garden in order to demonstrate to the tribe’s people how to grow food. Just as he had in Georgia, he planted his garden on a flat plot of land. But one tribesperson urged him to create large mounds on which to plant the seeds. Nathan refused. At the first torrential rain, all of Nathan’s seeds washed away. The tribespeople knew that to grow crops in the Congo, seeds must be elevated. But Nathan was unwilling to consider that what worked in Georgia wouldn’t work in the Congo.

Worse, Nathan did the same thing in his ministry. For example, when the Price family first arrived, the tribe welcomed them with a feast, a feast that cost the tribe a great deal. The tribe’s leader asked Nathan to say a word at the end of the feast. Nathan immediately started preaching about Sodom and Gomorrah. At the end of his remarks he grabbed one of the tribe’s women—all of whom wore no clothes on their tops—and he condemned her for her nakedness. What Nathan failed to realize was that none in the tribe considered going without a shirt to be immodest. They did consider it immodest to show one’s legs. But Nathan allowed his wife and his girls to go around the village in pants that revealed their legs. Nathan couldn’t fathom that what worked in Georgia wouldn’t work in the Congo.

And at his first Sunday service, Nathan urged all the tribe’s people to follow him to the Kwilu river to be baptized. Nathan envisioned hundreds of them in white clothes being baptized into Christ in the Kwilu river. Upon hearing the invitation, however, the tribe’s people were alarmed. Why? The Kwilu river was filled with crocodiles and children had been devoured in that river. Still, week after week Nathan urged people to be baptized in the Kwilu river. Jesus is bangala Nathan kept preaching. He wanted them to believe Jesus was great. But his way of being salt and light was ultimately making Jesus poisonwood.

There is a sense in which some of our customary ways of being salt and light may be as unfit for a post-Christian and Postmodern culture as the customary ways of a Georgia preacher are unfit for the Congo. There is sense in which in some of our attempts to be salt and light, we may be leading people to conclude that Jesus is poisonwood instead of concluding that Jesus is great. Like Nathan, we may need to reinvestigate our wineskin. We may need to confess that our ways are not the revolutionary ways of Jesus.

Fortunately, it’s not as complex as we may fear. Ultimately what it takes is a return to the simple and ancient practices of Jesus, those he demonstrates so well in Matt. 8-9. As we survey those chapters, we see five revolutions, five changes we may need to consider if we truly desire to be the salt and light Jesus envisions.

· First, Jesus’ words in Matt. 8-9 about wineskins call us to move from our customary ways of ministry, created for a Christian Modern culture, to a more contextual way of ministry that takes into account cultural changes. Jesus’ example in these two chapters reminds us to be open to new ways of thinking about and approaching outreach.

· Second, in Matt. 8-9 Jesus demonstrates closeness. Jesus leaves the safety of the mountain where he’s gathered for the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and draws closer in Matt. 8-9 to those who most need his salt and light. One of the most simple yet critical things Jesus does in this section is get onto the turf and into the lives of people far from God. Jesus’ example calls us to shift from our attractional strategies in which we tell people in our community “if you need salt and light, come to us and we’ll give it to you” to a more missional practice in which we tell our community “since you need salt and light, we’ll come to you.” Living so long in a Modern and Christian culture, we’ve gotten used to attractional strategies in which we try to get non Christians to come to us, to our buildings, and to our events. But in a non Christian and Postmodern culture, we also need to go to them. Saint Stephen Church in Louisville, KY has grown to over 10,000 people by doing this very thing.[10] Sunday School is a key element for them, but they hold many of their adult Sunday School classes in places like McDonald’s and White Castle. They’ve taken the gospel into the community rather than waiting for the community to come to them. If we want to be salt and light, we’ll need to practice more closeness: a move from attractional to missional. We’ll need to learn to spend time where non Christians are.

· Third, Jesus demonstrates compassion. Jesus’ compassion in Matt. 8-9 reminds us that being salt and light is not simply about telling good news but about being good news. Jesus heals, restores, and serves people in these two chapters. His example reminds us of the power of just being good news. In a non-Christian and Postmodern culture where people may not be interested in what we say to them, they will be open to what we do for them. A Highland member recently told me her conversion story. She said one Christian woman played a central role. And it had less to do with what that Christian woman said and more to do with how that Christian woman lived. The Highland member said of that Christian woman, “I guess it was the first time I saw somebody really living out their faith.” When we are good news, people respond better when we tell good news.

· Fourth, Jesus demonstrates the power of cuisine. Through eating with sinners and tax collectors in Matt. 8-9 Jesus builds and nurtures friendships with those in need of salt and light. He not only draws close to them but builds friendships with them. This practice calls us to move from just our focus on evangelistic programs with canned speeches and answers to a greater reliance upon networks of relationships and learning to be salt and light within the context of friendships. In his DVD series “Just Walk Across the Room,” Bill Hybels tells of building and nurturing a friendship with a non Christian that lasted more than eight years before that friend finally responded to the gospel. Jesus calls us back to this practice of building and nurturing friendships with irreligious people.

· Finally, in Matt. 8-9 Jesus demonstrates conversation. Jesus shares the story of the kingdom. His example calls us to reconsider how we tell the story of the kingdom in this new culture. Because of our legacy in a Modern and Christian culture, we’ve tended to focus on sharing pixels, very small pieces of the story of the kingdom. We could assume that people already had the big picture in their heads and just needed guidance on some of the details. But now in this non-Christian and Postmodern culture in which some know nothing at all of the Christian story, we’ll have to focus again on sharing image, the big picture of the Bible.

Over the next four weeks we’ll explore these last four practices of Jesus, rediscovering how to be salt and light through closeness, compassion, cuisine, and conversation. Through this ancient yet new wineskin, we too can have a revolutionary impact on people around us.