Out, into the World

 

Jesus tells his disciples, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. … Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:17).  Anyone who feels uncomfortable with the imperative on Christians to share their faith and lead others to follow Jesus needs to take that discomfort up with him.  The call to be witnesses and evangelists, comes from Jesus, so if we don’t like the idea of trying to influence others by introducing them to him, we need to take our dislike to him.  Don’t complain to the pastor that you think evangelism is spiritually arrogant or culturally imperialistic.  Take it up with the giver of the command, Jesus.

            I took our youth group for a walk on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, Sunday afternoon, when the weather was so intoxicatingly pleasant.  With social-distancing easing up a bit and the weather so nice, everyone was out.  College students; town residents; the street was abuzz with life.  We were able to catch a glimpse of a bit of the world Jesus wants us to evangelize.

            Refuge (the Hillside young adult small group) has been following the series “In Pursuit of Jesus,” https://inpursuitofjesus.net/.  Pastor Rasool Berry travels the world looking for signs of the presence of Jesus, and he finds them in New York City, Singapore, Sweden, and other places.  Viewing these videos, we get more impressions of the world Jesus sends us to, in order to be his witnesses.  I highly recommend you check this out.

            Evangelism is not easy and can feel kind of icky if we conceive of it as trying to sell strangers something they don’t want to buy.  But, if we can learn to see the people we meet as neighbors, and if we can love them deeply, and if we can think of evangelism as sharing the most wonderful truth that all people need, then we can embrace the call.  To be Christian is to be called by Jesus.  Will we answer?

            Let one of your Lenten practices be prayer for evangelism.  Pray that people who don’t know the Lord will come to know him through the testimony of humble, loving Christ-followers.  Ask God to help you see how he wants you to share your testimony.  Ask Him to infuse your own witness with gentleness, hospitality, and grace.  And, spend significant time asking God to show you the Judea and Samaria to which he is sending you.  What will be your evangelistic field?  Then, listen to His answer.  Then, go.  Go out into the world, to share the good news of life in Christ.

“The Story We’re In” (Acts 1:1-11)

Sunday, May 24, 2020

(Worshiping by streaming due to “stay-at-home” order/COVD-19)

Watch it here -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAtV5YMoMfc

            Jesus died on the cross, was buried in the tomb, and rose from the grave.  No one witnessed the resurrection.  Very early on the Sunday morning after Passover, some of his female followers made there way to the tomb to discover it empty.  An earthquake occurred as an angel rolled aside the great stone sealing the tomb.  Ignoring the trembling Roman soldiers, he reassured these women that Jesus had been resurrected (Matthew 28:2-5). 

            Spectacular as this encounter was, the women did not actually see the resurrection.  No one did.  They arrived, and the tomb was already empty.  Before the women came, the guards had no idea anything might have changed.  But it had. 

            The gospels each offer their own vantagepoint on the resurrection.  Only one of the gospel writers offers a sequel.  Luke, who wrote the third Gospel is the author of Acts.  Both the gospel and Acts are written as a remembrance sent to a friend named Theophilus. 

            Acts begins, “In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles” (Acts 1:1-2).  With these opening remarks, Luke signals that a new chapter is beginning in the story of God’s salvation of the earth and all people from sin, death, and destruction.  The most celebrated holidays of contemporary Christianity are Christmas, the birth of Jesus, and Easter, the resurrection.  Neither is mentioned in these two verses opening Acts. 

            Luke will not overlook these seminal events, and, in fact, Luke’s gospel is the primary scripture source for most of our Christmas hymns.  But, when he summarizes the story in just a few line and signals where the story is headed, he refers back to Jesus’ teachings, describes the ascension, and anticipates Pentecost. 

            To prevent any confusion, Jesus appeared to the disciples, numbering about 120 (Acts 1:5), including the women, the 12, and his own brothers who became his followers after he was raised.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul reports that the resurrected Jesus appeared before a gathering of 500 believers (15:6).  In these numerous appearances, called ‘proofs’ by Luke, Jesus taught about life in His kingdom.  Jesus’ resurrection was fully embodied; when he was with his disciples, he ate and, at times, invited them to touch him (Acts 1:3). 

When we are raised, we don’t know if we will need to eat or not; but we know Jesus most definitely did take in food, and do other things that indicate his raised body was indeed flesh, but flesh of a different nature than before the resurrection.  We believe, our resurrected bodies will be like his. 

He told the disciples they were to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father.  He wasn’t specific about this promise and they really didn’t understand what he meant, as their follow-up question shows.  He was talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit, but they asked, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel” (1:6)?

Why is that the wrong question?  First, in asking it, they forget that he has already said they would not know the times, so they needed to be ready all the time.  Second, the question reveals a serious distance between what God cares about and what was on the minds of these followers of Jesus.  God is God of the entire world.  Everyone everywhere is mercilessly enslaved to sin, powerless to break free.  The disciples asked about Israel when God had laid out before them the world.  Jesus had not come to make Israel the leading military power in the ancient near east.  He came to save the world.

This dissonance leads to a third indication of misunderstanding.  For Israel to be restored in the sense the disciples asked about, it would mean Rome had to be thrown out of the nation, probably by force, and the Herod dynasty would need to be deposed and replaced by a descendant of David.  The disciples assumed Jesus’ next move was to assume the throne.  Not only did they lack his global vision, they also failed to understand the thoroughly different nature of his kingdom. 

What happened next would set the course for the age of the church – the age in which we now live.  Noting that their question revealed how distant the disciples’ mindset was from Jesus’ agenda, it is worth a moment’s pause for us to examine our own perspective.  Are we, like they, asking the wrong questions?

As followers of Jesus, are we concerned about the salvation of the world and the expansion of God’s kingdom?  Or do we give our attention to more parochial concerns?  If we are driven by our desire for greatness of Hillside church, our priorities are in the wrong place.  If nationalism or patriotism are what motivates us, we are way off track.  Nationalism and patriotism are stumbling blocks that make it hard for us to see the Kingdom of God because we get locked in our heads the untruth that America is in some way God’s chosen nation.  It’s not!  The movement in Acts, as we will shortly see is outward, with a heavenly pull.  No nation – not Israel, not Rome, not America – serves God’s purposes.  So, if nationalistic fervor is what propels us in life, we’re headed in the wrong direction. 

To be the people of God, we must guard against seeking the grandeur of our church; rather as a church, we seek to expand the kingdom.  We guard against tying our hopes to any nation; instead, we hear God calling us to spread the Gospel in America because like every individual and every people, America needs the salvation only Jesus offers.   Is now the time?  Is now our time?  These were the wrong questions for the disciples.  We don’t want to get stuck on the wrong questions.

Jesus repeated what he had told them in his sermon on the Mount of Olives before he was crucified.  “It is not for you to know the times the Father has set” (1:7).  Then Jesus anticipates Pentecost and gives the Great Commission.  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” and empowered in that way, fueled by enduring love, endless mercy, compassion, and deep wellsprings of grace, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1:8).  There’s no room to worry about God’s long-term plans for Israel.  They will be Spirit-filled.  Spirit-filled they will then head out, East, West, South, and North.  They will keep moving, talking to whomever they meet about the love of God revealed in Jesus.  They will baptize whoever is willing.  And they won’t stop.

I’ve mentioned several ideas that might seem hard to grasp if thought of as theological doctrines: resurrection, Great Commission, Pentecost. However, we can make sense of this by seeing these as moments in a story – a story we’re in.  The resurrected Jesus assures that when we die, we will, like him, will be resurrected.  Our raised bodies are heavenly bodies destined to live in love and joy with God forever. 

Before that time comes, we, like the disciples in Acts 1, are sent out in the Great Commission.  No matter who you are or who I am, once we give our lives to Jesus, we have a life mission.  We are to love others in his name, with grace, and we are to tell others about the salvation he gives.  Pentecost, which we’ll look at next week, is the story of the Holy Spirit filling believers, encouraging us, and enabling us to know God, and empowering us to share our testimony. 

We know the story is in a new phase in verse 9.  “As they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”  This is the Ascension.  Jesus’ physical, touchable body rose.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking he rose up into the atmosphere and is out there in space somewhere beyond the reaches of our solar system.  It says he was taken on a cloud out of sight because that’s the language Luke had to describe the indescribable.  Jesus didn’t rise into the sky the way a plan does.  He traveled to another realm, outside the confines of our physical universe.  Heaven is a physical place.  It is a place, but one that operates by different physical laws – a world we really don’t have words to depict.  Luke did the best he could.

Also, this departure did not produce what we might think it would in the disciples.  They weren’t sad and did not grieve Jesus’ departure.  In Luke 24:52, it says they had “great joy.”  Somehow, they understood that for the mission to go forward, Jesus had to depart.  His ascension sets up one more point of doctrine that again, we treat as a key story point: The Second Coming. 

To review, the ascension shows, that resurrection is embodied and heaven is a physical place, even if very different than here.  The ascension signals that the age of the church has begun and we have an outward, inviting mission.  The ascension marks our lives with anticipation.  We long for the departed Jesus to return even as we celebrate our relationship with God in the present Holy Spirit. 

The rest of Acts amplifies the commission to Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and then to the end of the earth.  Peter will enter the home of a Gentile in order to baptize him into Christ.  The disciples will broker peace between Hebrew and Hellenist Jewish widows.  Philip will baptize an Ethiopian Jewish proselyte who will in turn carry the Gospel to Africa.  Paul will take numerous journeys to Greek and Latin speaking cities in order to preach Jesus and lead people to him.  Through prayerful discernment, the original disciples, themselves all Jews, will conclude that gentiles do not have to become Jews in order to follow Jesus. 

What questions are we asking God?  Are we asking about our church, our town, or our individual lives?  Or, are we asking him to help us grow in faith and expand our witness to the Gospel of Jesus?

In what ways are we removing obstacles to faith so that people who don’t currently know Jesus can become his followers?  How are we embodying his love?  To whom are we reaching out.  The story of Jesus is the story of the salvation of the world.  This is the story we are in, each and every one of us.

AMEN

Tell What You See and Hear (Matthew 11:2-6)

“Tell what you Hear and See” (Matthew 11:2-6)

Rob Tennant, Hillside Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Third Sunday of Advent, December 15, 2019

* First Sunday with new name – “Hillside Church.”

                In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, Jesus sends messages to persecuted Christians in Asia Minor.  Here’s the final promise of the message to the church in the city of Pergamum, “To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it” (Revelation 2:17).  A new name.

            When God called Abram, he renamed him Abraham.  Jacob God renamed Israel.  Andrew brought his impulsive, boisterous fisherman brother to meet Jesus.  Jesus took one look at the man and said, “You are Simon, son of John.  You are to be called Cephas,” Peter (John 1:42).  A new name.

            When the flood waters receded, Noah and his passengers disembarked on Mount Ararat.  When Moses dealt with a different ark, not a boat, but a gold-inlaid box carrying the law and samples of the manna God gave, he carried that ark to the top of Mount Sinai in order to meet God.  Atop Mount Carmel, in the power of God, Elijah defeated prophets of the false God Baal.  Psalm 148:9 invites mountains and hills to join nature’s song praising the Lord.  Isaiah 55:12 declares that the mountains and hills accepted the Psalm’s invitation.  “The mountains and the hills before you shall burst forth into song.”  Atop a mountain, three disciples, Peter, James, and John, see Jesus clothed with dazzling heavenly splendor (Matthew 17:2). 

            Where did Jesus win the victory, defeating death, covering our sins, and offering himself as the once and for all time sacrifice for humanity?  On a hill far away stood that old rugged cross.  Time and time again, God’s story is told on hills and mountains.  

            That’s what is happening here; God’s story is being told.  We will be a church for Chapel Hill, for everyone in Chapel Hill.  Hillside Church is here to tell God’s story, share God’s love, and help the people of our town see the way God is at work in their lives.  The late Senator Jesse Helms once derided us in his famous quip, “Why build another zoo?  Why not just build a fence around Chapel Hill?” 

We know better.  What Senator Helms mocked, we love.  We know Chapel Hill and Carrboro are exciting places full of interesting, beautiful people. We thank God for planting us here and giving us the privilege of being his storytellers.  We open our arms and our hearts to our community.

            Politicians and bigots today used less inflammatory language than Jesse Helms, but they still sneer as they describe the “Liberals” in Chapel Hill.  These so-called liberals are people Jesus loved.  He died for everyone in Carrboro and Chapel Hill and all the people living in the Triangle.  He wants us with Him for eternity.   “Hillside Church” is where people can come to be loved and introduced to the God who loves them. 

            A new name.  Hillside is the right name for us right now.  We’ve alluded to numerous times the story of God takes place on hills and mountains.  We’ve talked about our town’s name and what our town means.  Whatever anyone else has to say about our town, we know the people here are God’s beloved children.  We need God, and we as a church are here to point the way to God.  What about our church campus?

            Our church building, itself a setting in which we extend Godly hospitality, sits on a small hill.  If you think this slight incline insignificant, I invite you stand in the parking lot on a blustery day between November and early March.  As the wind whips up the grassy hill, it chills to the bone.  In this place, may the Spirit, the wind of God, blow fiercely, knocking our socks off, but also filling us that we may soar on Eagle’s wings.  In our people, in this place, from this Hillside, God bellows forth the blessing of salvation and life lived in Christ, free to all who would receive it. 

            John the Baptist had given his life to speak God’s word into the world’s pain.  For his efforts, the world almost swallowed him whole.  The wicked King Herod had John imprisoned when John publicly confronted him over his immoral marriage.  In isolation, only hearing reports when his followers were permitted to visit him, John wondered.  Alone, feeling cut off, he wondered. 

Matthew writes, “When John heard what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come’” (11:2)?  Hearing about Jesus, he had to ask.  John reacted to God in action.   That same impulse guides Hillside.  A widely used Bible study that first came out in the 90’s, Experiencing God, asks a simple set of questions.  Do we see where God is already working in the world?  Once we see, then will we join in where God is at work?

Having heard of Jesus’ actions, John, once so confident but now chained in the prisons of doubt, asks, “Are you the one?”  We have the post-crucifixion, post-resurrection perspective John did not.  We know the baby in the manger, the one baptized and anointed by the Spirit becomes the savior.  Are we living in what we know?  As a community committed to following and worshiping the crucified, resurrected Lord, are we showing him to the world?  John asked, “Are you the one?”  We have to ask, “Will we show the world Jesus is the one?”

Jesus responds to John’s disciples.  “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (11:4-5).  What do we hear and see?  The poor are all around us living throughout our town and in surrounding areas.  When we speak and act and open our doors to welcome the world in, do the poor receive good news?  The story John felt he was missing plays itself out every day here, in this space and in our community.  John was trying to respond to God at work.  Jesus honored John’s posture by inviting him to hear the story of healing that comes whenever Jesus is present.

If we share what we know of Jesus is it good news for our town, especially the poor and downtrodden?

We could describe the past two years in our church life as surprising.  We could say it has been tumultuous.  We may feel storm tossed.  At times the seemingly endless blows from unexpected places have pounded and exhausted us.  But God has raised us to our feet.  God has set a new vision before us, calling us back to the work He has always had for us. We are to help people become disciples of Jesus.  That’s always been this church’s calling and God has led us right back to that mission.  God has breathed new life into us. 

The next chapter in our story is the step forward we take.  John the Baptist played his role, died in Herod’s prison, and now awaits resurrection.  The disciples, after meeting with the risen Christ, played their roles.  They went through Jerusalem, then into Judea and all Samaria, and finally throughout the world, preaching salvation, making disciples, baptizing in Jesus’ name, and establishing churches. 

Now it is Hillside’s turn.  We share the hope of eternal life in Christ with all who come to us.  And, we equip all who go out from us, training them in the word of God and in knowledge of the Spirit of God that they might go in Jesus’ name wherever in the world God leads them. 

Jesus gathered his disciples around the table to offer bread and wine.  The bread reminded them of him.  Take and eat; this is my body, broken for you.  John’s suffering at Herod’s hands was a preview of the sorrow of Jesus beaten and crucified for us.  We eat the bread, his body.  We drink the cup, his blood, the blood of the new covenant.  In this act, we remember that we are united in Christ; whatever differences exist between people in our body of believers we are united in Christ.  In His blood, our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life.

One or two here have been with this church dating back to the 1960’s.  You are invited to this table, to this bread and cup, and to this new thing the Spirit of God is doing among us. 

Many of you were here when Carrboro Baptist Church became HillSong Church.  It’s still Carrboro Baptist, still HillSong, and is now Hillside.   Across the decades, we’re linked in our gratitude to God, in our love for him, and for one another.  You are invited to this table, and to this new thing God is doing, this Hillside adventure.

Some here have only been with us a few months; maybe today is even your first time.  You are invited to take communion and to the party afterward, and after that to live life with us – Hillside Church. 

Jesus told the messengers from John to go to him and tell what they had heard and seen.  Together as a church, we celebrate the salvation, the forgiveness, and the new life we have in Christ.  Then, we go into our little corner of the world to tell what God has done and is doing in Jesus, and we invite people to come be part of it.

AMEN

United in Christ

            We have to pray for our brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church and in the Southern Baptist Convention.  These are the largest Christian bodies in the United States, and both are scandalized by crimes of sexual assault committed by priests and pastors.  First and foremost, our prayers are for the victims who have been traumatized by men entrusted to lead them to God.  I say men because only men can be priests and in most SBC churches, only men can be pastors.  These victims, in the past silenced by institutional power structures (usually dominated by white men), have found their voice and it high time.  We Cooperative Baptists have to pray for our fellow Christians who have suffered. We also pray that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.   Perhaps through punishment and reparations the perpetrators can be saved from the evil lurking within them.

            We have to pray for our brothers and sisters in the United Methodist Church.  Adherents to traditional marriage in that world-wide religious body outvoted advocates of same-sex marriage and ordaining gay clergy 53-47% at their general conference special meeting in the final week of February.  That difference of 6% indicates a major denominational body facing a dangerous split that has the potential to hurt the wonderful work of Christ Methodists have carried out for decades.  We must pray for our Methodist friends, that God will continue working through them to bring the world to salvation.

            Finally, we must pray for ourselves.  Here at HillSong, we are in the midst of a conversation similar to the ones the Methodists had and are continuing to have.  God wants lost people in Carrboro and Chapel Hill saved, carried from the destruction of sin to new life in Christ.  Our mission is to bear witness to the salvation we have in Christ and to help people become his followers. 

Our enemy, the devil, thoroughly loves seeing us invest our emotional enemy in whether or not gay people can be married in our church or whether or not gay people can be ordained as elders in our church.  When is the last time you or I became deeply moved by emotion as we see our neighbors who are unchurched and who do not know the salvation Jesus gives?  Paul wished he could be cursed to Hell if it would mean the salvation of his fellow Jews who had rejected Jesus (Romans 9:3).  Jesus openly wept as he entered Jerusalem knowing the people had an opportunity to meet God in him and missed it (Luke 19:41).  How recently have you or I cared about the salvation of the lost people right in our town the way Paul and Jesus did? 

As a church, we have to decide a couple of things.  We have to decide, once and for all, will our church host same-sex weddings.  And we have to decide whether our church’s staff pastors can preside at same-sex weddings.  Whatever decision we make on these issues must be based on our reading of scripture.  Once the decisions are made, then we have to put our energy into sharing the message of Jesus’ salvation with the world around us.  That has to be what fills us with passion and emotion.  That has to be what drives us.

Clearly, within our membership, as among the Methodists, there are different readings of scripture as it relates to same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ-related matters.  We have to handle our differences with our goal in mind.  We want to lead people to Jesus.  And we have to be aware of the enemy’s strategy.  Satan wants us fighting about this issue instead doing the work of discipleship and evangelism.  Think about these things – God’s calling and Satan’s deceptions – when you feel your emotions arise over the side issue threatening to divide us.  A great opportunity stands before us.  As Jesus said, the fields are ready to be harvested (John 4:35), and like that woman at the well, the harvest is men and women who come to faith in Jesus. 

The American news media would have us believe this historical moment will be defined by sex scandals and a shift in sexual mores in our country.  That may be true from the perspective of world history.  Our greater concern, though, is salvation history.  If we can stay united and stay focused on God’s call, then this moment can be defined by how many people in Chapel Hill and Carrboro turn to Jesus.  Let’s join together in praying for that.  Let’s commit to uniting around the work God has for us and wants to do through us.

Gospel Expansion (Acts 8:26-40)

Sunday, May 3, 2015

            The Angel of the Lord told Philip, “Get up and go.”  And he did.  And we do.

            We are a few weeks removed from Easter Sunday, but we always Easter people.  Every day of the year, we are resurrection people. 

            This means many things.  This year, our focus has been on the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8 and how these words shape our understanding of who God is calling us to be.  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

            The statement is loaded. First, it is an imperative.  Jesus is not making a suggestion, but rather an assertion.  You will receive power.  You will be witnesses.  If we wonder where he gets the authority to say such things, well, he’s been resurrected. He was dead, buried, and now he stands alive, never to die again.

            Second, his words contain a promise, and what a promise!  We’re going to receive power from the Holy Spirit!! What does that look like in our lives? 

            Third, Jesus is specific.  We are to be witnesses.  Witnesses testify.  As resurrection people, it is inherent.  We are people who tell about Jesus, about His kingdom, and about how each person who comes to faith in Him has life in His name.  With the power of the Holy Spirit of God, through actions, through words, and through the approach we take to people, we testify to the Gospel – salvation in Jesus Christ.

            Fourth, the statement the risen Lord makes in Acts 1:8 is expansive.  He tells the disciples, you’ll be witnesses in Jerusalem.  This occurs in that season of Passover and then Pentecost.  It’s a time of year when Jews from all over travel to Jerusalem to worship.  Even though they are all Jews, they are not all from Jerusalem.  Many don’t even speak Aramaic or read Hebrew as their everyday language.  In Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit fills this diverse crowd and then Peter preaches, it is a fulfillment of the command of Jesus in chapter 1.  It is also a first step in the spread of the Gospel.

            Then throughout the rest of Acts, the movement is seen – Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria, and the ends of the earth.  In Acts 3 – 5 the gospel is preached in the city.  In Acts chapters 6-7, a conflict occurs between Aramaic speaking Jewish Christ-followers and Greek-speaking Jewish Christ-followers.  Such a dispute might threaten a young movement, but the church is the gathering of people who worship Jesus and have their life in Him.  The Holy Spirit leads the leaders to find a solution that not only preserves the life of the community but actually grows it.

            They appoint the first deacons – Greek speakers.  And these deacons, starting with Stephen join in the work of bearing witness, telling the story of life in Christ. 

            The beginning portion of Acts chapter 9 shows another boundary crossed.  This time the gospel expands not to another people group or a new language or across an ethnic divide.  In Acts 9, the story of Jesus breaks through to a Jew – the Pharisee who had been leading the persecution of Christians, Saul.  He meets the risen Lord in a flash of light.  Saul the Pharisee and Christian-killer becomes Paul the Apostle.  He does not ever stop being Jewish.  He simply understands every bit of life in the light of Christ. We’re all called to do this.  We don’t just become new creations in Christ.  We interpret our history based on who we are in Him.  Paul went from enemy to witness.

            Acts 10-11 give the story of Peter first sharing the good news with Gentiles, specifically the Roman centurion Cornelius.  A voice from Heaven pointedly tells Peter it is a new day and in this new day even those who are not of Israel can benefit from Israel’s Messiah because he is the Lord of all creation.  Even non-Jews can come to life in Jesus.

            So we see the statement and hear the word of Jesus.  “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  We follow through the chapters of Acts and we see it happening – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the earth.  The Kingdom of God expands as the story of Jesus is told and people come to faith in Him.  But, you notice we have skipped over Acts chapter 8.  There we see the Gospel expansion by way of a less-known witness in a direction not frequently considered.

            Acts 8 begins with one of those Hellenists ordained in Acts 6.  This is not Philip of the 12 disciples.  This is the deacon Philip.  He gives his witness in Samaria.  Samaritans and Jews did not like each other.  They were ethnically related, but as often happens with half-brothers and cousins, the closeness bred enmity.  Jesus touches on this when he makes the hero of a parable a Samaritan instead of a denizen of Jerusalem.  Part of Jesus’ point is that his way is so radically transforming that former enemies, like Jews and Samaritans, become brothers who love each other when they are his followers.

            Philip preaches Christ in Samaria and many believe including a magician named Simon.  So many barriers are broken down in a simple story.  A Greek-speaking Jews, Philip, share Jesus with Samaritan, a Samaritan practitioner of black magic, and that person becomes a believer.  The Gospel expands even beyond what the first believers would have imagined.  But the Holy Spirit does more than that.  In the latter part of Acts 8, the Gospel expands beyond what the first Christ-followers even considered.

            Then as now, Africa is often overlooked, forgotten.  But it is an enormous continent of millions of people made in the image of God.  Every African was on Jesus mind as he went to the cross.  Acts 8:26-40 is a Biblical reminder that this wonderful place and the people there are so important to the Lord, the story of the Gospel could not be told without mention of them.

            The angel of the Lord addresses Philip directly.  Philip is sent to a wilderness road, a remote, dangerous place.  There he sees an Ethiopian, a court official.  This man is in charge of the treasury of the royal house of Ethiopia.  His position gives him enormous power.  But, he is also a eunuch.  Deuteronomy 23:1 severely limits the participation of eunuchs in Israelite worship.  Provisions would have been made to allow some level of involvement.  But in the Jerusalem temple, this man of royal power would be a second class citizen.  He was gentile.  And he was a eunuch.  Why was he interested in Jewish religion in the first place? 

            I don’t know, but he clearly had a very strong attraction to Jewish religious practice.  He had traveled to Jerusalem to participate in Passover and Pentecost.  Now, as he rode southward in his royal procession, headed home, he continued reading scripture.  The Holy Spirit essentially put Philip there so he could bear witness to this “other.”  The Spirit sent the disciple to a gentile and one who could not carry on the normal sexual life of a healthy male.  He was asexual. 

            To him, Philip “proclaimed the good news about Jesus.”  This is the center of this story.  Philip told the Ethiopian court official about Jesus.  This is the core idea of the books Acts.  Philip bore his witness.  It is to this that we are called; Jesus makes us his witnesses. 

            We are also called to be that Ethiopian eunuch.  We are most ready to receive the good news of Jesus when we recognize how removed from God we are.  This gentile, this mutilated man – he had no trouble seeing himself as one who desperately needed God.  When Philip helped him see that the scriptures point to Jesus, he was thrilled.  When they came to a stream, he stopped the entire procession so Philip could baptize him. 

            And then, the Holy Spirit snatched Philip away.  What did the Ethiopian think at that point?  He was so fully open to God, he was too happy to be surprised.  Acts 8:39 says he went on his way rejoicing.  It was a natural as anything he could imagine.  God’s Spirit sent him a man to help him see salvation and once he got it, then God’s spirit whooshed that man away to bear witness somewhere else.  Of course!

            Christianity in Ethiopia is ancient.  I have often imagined that the eunuch went back home and told everyone about his new life in Christ.  Upon hearing him bear witness, I imagine the royal court becoming Christian.  I have searched for documents that tie the Ethiopian church back to this story, and I have not found any connections.  The earliest documentation of Christianity in that country is from the 4^th century AD.  Ethiopian Christianity is different than any of the threads of the faith you might know: Catholicism; Eastern Orthodoxy; Protestantism.  It does not fit in any of these categories.  Nor is there an easy connection to Philip and that eunuch.

            Still, I believe that’s where faith in Jesus was born in that place, on that Wilderness Road.  Philip the deacon testified, the Ethiopian Courtier believed and received Jesus, and there was a baptism and a new birth in Christ.  It all came about because of Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8.

            Today, the expansion of the Gospel continues as the church continues to bear witness.  Have you received salvation with the innocent joy that the Ethiopian had?  If you have not, today would you open your heart and ask Jesus in?  Would you give Him all your sin and let today be the day of your rejoicing as everything else fades from view and all you can see if Him and all you can feel is the love he has for you?

            If you have received Christ, then today, would you make yourself available so the Spirit can carry you as Philip was carried and place you?  And once the Spirit has placed you, will you testify there as Philip did, whether it is Samaria or a wilderness road or the street where you live.  What is at the heart of your story or my story?

            Jesus tells us the heart of our stories is power and testimony.  To us says, “You will be my witnesses.”  We are his witnesses.  We have a story to tell – the story of the Kingdom of God.  When we leave today, may we go ready to give testimony that will point the world to Him.

AMEN  

Confessions of a Failed Evangelical

December 30, 2012

 

I begin with the premise that there is urgency in the task of evangelism.  I can think of no worse condition for a human being than to be alienated from God, and I believe all people are sinners and sin cuts us off from God completely.  The solution for sin, which make relationship with God impossible, is the teaching, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Many will reduce the gospel to Jesus dying on the cross.  I see his work of salvation in his life and words, and in his death and resurrection.  Without the resurrection, the death on the cross is empty.

But he did rise.  He did conquer the greatest enemies – Satan, sin, and death.  To be protected from the enemy, to be free from the damning effects of sin, and to be assured that we will be resurrected and have eternal life, we need Jesus.  He is God in the flesh, by him all that we know was created, he is the eternal one, and he is the way, the truth, and the life.  All people need Jesus.

I offer this simple definition.  Evangelism is helping people meet Jesus as Savior and Lord.  In upcoming weeks, I will say more about why as we come to be saved from sin and by Jesus, it is just as important that we come to follow Jesus as master and Lord.  Evangelism is helping people come to Jesus. 

It is the work of Christianity.  Paul writes in 2^nd Timothy, “In the presence of … Christ Jesus, … and in view of his coming and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you; proclaim the message; be persistent, whether the time is favorable or unfavorable” (from v. 1, 2).  Why did he think this so important?  He writes in chapter 3,

in the last days distressing times will come.²For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,³inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good,⁴treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,⁵holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power (v.1b-5).

And in chapter 4,

³For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires,⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.

 

Who are the people who not only don’t have a relationship with God, but don’t even want to?  Who are those who don’t believe there is a God at all?  Who are they that are hostile to Christians and Christianity?  I don’t know who they are in your life.  In my life, they are uncles and cousins, people I have loved my entire life.  They are some of my closest high school and college friends.  They are neighbors, the parents of my son’s friends.  These people I care about deeply are the ones who are going through their lives with no relationship with God.  They don’t know the love of Jesus.  They don’t know they can turn to him for purpose in their lives.  They don’t know he rejoices when they become parents or when they graduate.  They don’t realize they have a heavenly Father who delights in them.  They don’t know that when life gets really hard they can turn to him.

On top of that, like me, they are mortals.  Like every person, these that I care about are one day closer to their own deaths each time they wake up in the morning.  Unless there is some evangelistic intervention, they will go into eternity without a relationship with God.  They will go to judgment day without Jesus covering their sins.  They will face judgment and then a godless eternity.  That is what is at stake. 

I grew up in a Baptist church that taught that people who did not know Jesus were lost and hell-bound. From what I have said, it’s clear I still believe this and it leads to the question: how do people go from being lost to being saved?  This is a New Testament issue. 

From Romans 10, beginning in vers 13.

¹³For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”¹⁴But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?¹⁵And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”¹⁶But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”¹⁷So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.

 

And also of Matthew 28:18-20

¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

These passages make it clear and the church in which I was raised reinforced this message. We must go out and share the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ.

To be Christian is to be evangelistic. I don't believe there are non-evangelical Christians. However, I do see a few problems with the evangelism teaching I received.

First, we were told what to do, but not taught how to do it. Go share Jesus. OK, how do I do it? If technique was taught, I sure did not hear it. We were sent off on a mission but not equipped for that mission. In my life, trying to live out the lessons I received at church, I found myself in conversations about faith with people outside the umbrella of church, and often they were far more prepared for those conversations than me.

A second problem with the teaching I received on evangelism is I did not see it modeled in the church. The people who taught the lessons were, at least when I saw them, with other Christians. Go share Jesus with unbelievers. But I only ever saw the adults who gave that instruction when they were with other Christians.  I did not really see effective evangelism.  I had no model to copy.

No practical equipping. No good modeling. A third problem is one I have discovered more recently. What we were taught did not exactly match up with what the New Testament emphasizes.  I have heard many pastors definitively state that nothing is more important than getting people out of Hell and into Heaven.  This idea has a common-sense feel about it.  If Hell is unending torment, then it is the worst possible conclusion for any soul.  No matter what else happens in someone’s life, it is crucial that we Christians do whatever we can to keep them out of Hell.

Though this seems to make sense, it is a flawed approach.  Recall the passage we began with, 2 Timothy 4.  This chapter says nothing about Hell.  Neither do Romans 10 or Matthew 28, passages cited earlier.  In Romans evangelism is urged because unbelievers need prayer but don’t know God, so cannot pray.  In Matthew the motivation is obedience.  We go because Jesus is sending us.  In 2^nd Timothy, we are urged to evangelize because people have “itching ears” (v3) full of false teaching.  They cannot know God because their minds are clouded with false doctrines.

To help people pray; to obey Jesus; to help people meet the real God and move away from false teachings: these are some New Testament reasons for evangelism.  Going to Heaven and staying out of Hell is part of evangelism, but I was taught that it is 95% of evangelism.  The Bible does support such an unbalanced approach.

So with no real equipping, no role models, and a skewed, limited view of what it is to share Jesus, I entered college, then seminary, then ministry and adulthood.  I was in a terrible place.  I did not know how to do evangelism.  I did not know fully what evangelism is.  Yet as the pastor, I was supposed to motivate the church to do evangelism and to show them how!

I won’t bore you with all my mistakes, just two of the glaring ones.  The first involves one of my best high school friends.  In our first year out of college, we were both back in Roanoke, Virginia where we had gone to high school. 

My friend wasn’t really a church-guy.  He would come once in a while, but walking with Jesus was not a driving force in his life.  I am not sure what role Jesus played for him back then, and 20 years later, I am still unsure about that.

Here’s what I did with my friend.  I went over to his house to play video-game football.  It was the 1992 version of Madden or something that preceded Madden.  Anyway, we’re playing the video game and arguing about the NFL like we always did.  All of sudden, I said, “Hey, I have to talk to you about something.”  And I whipped a gospel tract out of my back pocket and took him through it, step-by-step.  This conversation had the potential for unbelievable awkwardness because I didn’t prep him at all for what was coming and it was way out of the ordinairy.

What prevented it from falling apart completely is how easy-going my friend his.  He patiently listened, nodded his head in a show of interest.  When I was done I gave him the tract and he read it again without my commentary.  He did not ask any questions.  I did not push him to respond in one way or another.  And within a few minutes we were back to the game.

I can definitely say I clearly presented the gospel to my friend.  There is no mistaking that the tract which I read to him, with explanation, and then he read again, called for the reader (him) to make the decision to pray to receive Christ.  Some of you might think me a stumbling goof for forcing such a formulaic approach into a situation where it did not fit.  Others may commend me for using the tract but think me a coward for not pressing my friend to respond on the spot.

            All I can conclude about the episode is that he heard the gospel.  Since then he has heard me preach sermons.  We are still best of friends.  I still do not know where he stands with God. 

            Here is a second example from my own life, one that happened in completely different circumstances with completely different people.  I was a pastor, 30 years old.  I was rooming with some guys in Alexandria, Virginia, one a former college roommate and a really dedicated Christ follower.  Another of our college friends came to visit us.  Of course Alexandria, – that’s the Washington DC area.  Our friend was coming to participate in the national Gay pride march.  That he stayed with us while coming for that event was momentous.  He was coming out of the closet to me and my roommate.

            When we had all been in college together, we did not know he was gay.  We played rugby together.  We did 3 and 4-mile runs every morning together.  We were all in the bass section of the touring choir together.  I thought I really knew this guy well. 

            So there we all are at my apartment, reunited after being out of college 8 years, and our friend is explaining his sexuality and why homosexuality for him was affirming and wonderful.  As he talked I listened, and when he stopped, I said, “All those things you’re saying, I get that from Jesus.”  What I said was totally true – completely true.  The timing of it was terrible.  This guy needed to know his Christian friends wouldn’t judge him.  He needed to know we would love him.  What I communicated was hey, you’re OK if you follow Jesus, like I do. 

My intent was for my friend to know the Lord.  But my words did not communicate my intent because I had not earned the right to speak my piece.  Not with him anyway.  He would not have been able to hear me talk about Jesus unless he knew I was a safe person.  He was sharing something totally new in our friendship.  In other contexts, he had suffered from cruel words spoken by Christians.  He needed to know his Christian friends would love him.  By going with Jesus language so abruptly and bluntly, I lost the opportunity to actually share Jesus with my friend.   I did not say the wrong thing.  I said the right thing at the wrong time. 

I still see that friend once in a while.  Whenever I do, I try to be a good listener.  But something changed that day that we talked.  It was already changing as he was growing into honesty about his orientation.  But the change became stark when he looked to me for safety and friendship, and I said, “Jesus.”  I could see it in his eyes immediately.  When I said “Jesus,” he did not hear the name of one who loved him unconditionally.  He heard me judging him.  I needed to show Jesus-love first.  Had I done that, I think I would have had a better chance at sharing Jesus’ name and the salvation Jesus offers. 

These evangelistic attempts are not failures because of the response of my two friends.  Success or failure in evangelism is not determined by whether or not the unbeliever becomes a Christ-follower.  We have no control over that.  The Holy Spirit ultimately must speak and the Spirit speaks on the Spirit’s time table, not ours.  When the Spirit speaks, and I personally believe the Holy Spirit speaks to all people many times in their lives, then the person has to respond in faith or respond by rejecting God and rejecting faith.  We cannot control the Holy Spirit’s initiative or the person’s response.

My two examples are failures because I was not artful or tactful or patient in setting the circumstances.  In my eagerness to do my evangelistic duty, I failed to see how complicated this entire business is.  With my video-football playing buddy, I needed to press our conversations to where they were about matters that go deeper than who will win, the Redskins or the Cowboys.  I needed to get him talking about things that matter at the heart level.  Then, when he talked, I needed to listen.

My friend from college was already at the heart level.  He was already talking.  I needed to listen.  I needed to spend a lot of time listening compassionately and prayerfully. 

In both cases, listening was the key.  This will be a central teaching in this series on evangelism.  We might even call it “listening evangelism.”  Of course it cannot be only listening.  We aren’t therapists.  We are disciples of Jesus Christ and we want to help our unchurched, unbelieving friends to become not only saved, but passionately devoted followers of Jesus.  We most certainly need to speak the Gospel.  But not first.  Speaking cannot be where we start because our friends won’t hear a thing we say if we aren’t safe and trustworthy. 

The unbelieving world expects the church to be self-righteous and judgmental.  We have to shock the world with our love.   Paul says in 2^nd Timothy 4:2, “be persistent … with utmost patience in teaching.”  This is not soft evangelism.  This is evangelism that I think will actually gain a hearing.  We don’t just want to tell people that Jesus saves.  We want them to listen when we say Jesus saves.  I have too many stories of my own failure to wait for the other to be listening before I began talking. 

I invite you on a journey into the world of listening evangelism.  We’ll look into scripture – the stories of Jesus and the first evangelists in the early church.  We’ll hear from each other.  And together, we will go into the world with the good news that before God Satan is powerless, death is defeated, and sin is covered.  It’s all because of Jesus.  We will share that message and we will do it slowly, patiently, listening, so that when we share our friends will hear. 

 

AMEN