How to Share Truth

Jesse Tink

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Series Introduction: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We are a week away from Christmas (!). Let that sink in.

Here’s my guess:

My guess is that you’re probably all over the place. I’ve talked with folks who just can’t get enough of the holiday season and feel and are already sad that it’s going to come to an end; and I’ve talked with folks who can’t wait for it to be over and for life to slow back down a little bit.

So, listen—we say this every weekend:

No matter…

Concluding our series… here’s where we’ve been:

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Week 1: How to Wonder

Week 2: How to Help

Week 3: How to be a Presence

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Weekend Introduction

Here’s where we’re going this weekend as we conclude our series and look ahead to Christmas Eve:

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How to Share (the) Truth

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We think that’s a pretty big part of having a Merry Christmas - sharing the Truth. How do we share the Truth - the truth about Jesus, what we believe, our faith… how do we do that with the people in our “Little Iowas” who maybe haven’t stepped across the faith line yet and need to hear?

Let’s make this say the same thing a little bit differently, putting it into the form of a question:

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How do I share my faith?

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We’re going to explore this question in a few different ways this weekend, but before we do, let’s do a little self-check… a little exercise in self-awareness.

As you look at that question there on the screen, let me ask you:

What does that question make you feel? What are you feeling right now as you ponder that question? Can you name it?

My guess is that you probably feel maybe more than one thing:

SHOW WORD CLOUD PICTURE

Some of us are a mix of…

But there’s probably one dominant emotion that you feel. See if you can name it.

Decision, But Not An Option

However you’re feeling about it, there’s one thing those of us who have stepped across the faith line and are following Jesus know to be true:

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If you got it, you gotta share it.

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Pretty familiar passage, but very appropriate for a weekend with this as our topic—Matthew 28:

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Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

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That’s often referred to as the “Great Commission”—and it’s called that because that’s exactly what it is: Jesus commissioning his then 11 disciples to go and make other disciples “of all nations.” That’s the mission he gave them.

He’s saying, what I’ve done with you guys for the last 3 years I want you to go and do with others. Don’t stay in this little holy huddle. Or to quote our Senior Pastor, don’t be a “fat, dumb, happy Christian.”

Get out there. Share your faith. Tell people who don’t know about me… about me. Teach them what I taught you.

Pretty clear picture there—but let’s just make sure we fill it out. Because here’s what we said:

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If you got it, you gotta share it.

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And so now, here’s what we gotta add to that:

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If you got it, you gotta share it.

It’s a decision, but it’s not an option.

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And I know, I know… that doesn’t make logical sense, really. How can it be a decision if we don’t really have the option?

I hope you get what I’m saying there: it’s an act of will, for sure. You gotta decide that you’re gonna do it. It doesn’t just happen automatically.

But if you’re a follower of Jesus, it’s not an option. Being a follower of Jesus means sharing your faith. One thing means the other.

One final phrase that might be helpful here to complete our picture:

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If you got it, you gotta share it.

It’s a decision, but it’s not an option.

We’re not following if we’re not sharing.

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So… now how are you feeling? Any differently?

I mean, it’s simple, right? Jesus said it. I believe it. Let’s go do it. Enough said.

Except… that it’s not that simple, is it?

Barna Stats: Reviving Evangelism

I think Jesus’ words are clear there. But I don’t think it’s a simple thing that he’s telling us to do.

I don’t think sharing your faith is always simple—or even easy.

And I’ve got some data that I want to share with you to back that up.

I know I’ve shared some data from this organization before, but Barna Research did a project back in 2019 that they called “Reviving Evangelism.” Reviving Evangelism. And if that word “evangelism” isn’t familiar to you, it basically means the practice of sharing your faith—

Or more literally: proclaiming the good news about Jesus.

And there’s some crazy, crazy stats that I want to share with you from this survey that they did about how some of us feel about all of this and about the lay of the land when it comes to sharing your faith.

Buckle up. First one is this:

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Nearly half of Millennial practicing Christians say it is wrong to evangelize (47%).

The Barna Group, “Reviving Evangelism,” 2019.

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So, couple of terms there we need to define:

“Millennials” are those born 1984-1998 (24-38 years old).

“Practicing Christians” are defined as those who identify as Christian, say that faith is very important in their lives, and have attended church at least once in the past month.

So, nearly half of Millennial practicing Christians say that it’s wrong to evangelize.

Which means what?

It means that half of the people in your room ages 24-38 disagreed with what I said earlier. Almost half would disagree that we should evangelize at all.

Why?

The study doesn’t say exactly, but there is an increasing desire even on the part of Christians who believe and are following Jesus to… not force my belief on someone else… be respectful of other religions… not be a jerk in the name of Jesus…

And hey, catch this: “Millennials” aren’t kids. If “Millennial” and “child” are kinda the same in your mind, I got bad news for you: you’re older than you realize. ;) Some Millennials are approaching middle age.

And for a lot of Millennial practicing Christians, the idea of evangelizing almost feels unloving.

Now, you may want me to “set the record straight on that”—but just keep going with me here for a little bit.

Here’s another stat:

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65% of Millennial practicing Christians believe that being a witness about Jesus is a part of their faith.

The Barna Group, “Reviving Evangelism,” 2019.

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Um…

What?

How does… so if you don’t… but then you…

Yes. I’m confused by that, too.

But it probably reveals what a lot of us probably are feeling when it comes to sharing our faith:

Conflicted.

Yeah, I want my friends who don’t know Jesus to know him… but I don’t want to share my faith in a way that turns them off… but… aarrgggh.

Here’s another:

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Almost 2 in 5 practicing Christians say that they have no non-Christian friends or family members (38%).

The Barna Group, “Reviving Evangelism,” 2019.

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Holy huddles are a problem for a good chunk of us, regardless of our age.

And not only that:

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More than half of practicing Christians report having two or fewer conversations about faith with a non-Christian during the past year (56%).

The Barna Group, “Reviving Evangelism,” 2019.

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Some of us are stuck in holy huddles; most of us aren’t sharing our faith very much at all. Doesn’t matter if you’re Millennial or not; most of us aren’t doing it (in case you were tempted to feel a little self-righteous).

And if you’re not depressed yet, let me just push you over the edge. Because there’s some stats from the other side of the fence that we need to be confronted with as well.

When it comes to the people that we’re trying to reach, our little Iowas, those folks who haven’t stepped across the faith line, those “nations” that Jesus was sending his disciples out into…

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Seven in 10 say they are not “on a quest for spiritual truth” (71%).

The Barna Group, “Reviving Evangelism,” 2019.

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Which means what? You could gear yourself up for all of this, face your fear, pray, read a bunch of stuff on how to share your faith, maybe even set up a conversation with someone…

Only for you to find out that, *shrug*, “Eh. I’m fine with you believing that. I’m sure that’s great for you. But... not interested.”

But let’s talk about how bad the Broncos are this season. Lots of interest around that one.

70 percent! Not really interested. Not wanting to know more. Not on some sort of quest.

And how about this one:

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Thirty-eight percent report they “don’t have any questions about faith.”

The Barna Group, “Reviving Evangelism,” 2019.

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I’m not on a quest, and I don’t have any questions.

Illustration: Gimli Clip from LOTR

Ooohhhh-kay.

Let me just get this straight:

1. Some of us think it’s wrong to share our faith.

2. Most of us aren’t doing it.

And:

3. Most of the people we should be doing it with aren’t interested?

Perfect.

Reminds me of one of my absolute favorite clips from Lord of the Rings. You might remember this one. Take a look.

PLAY LOTR CLIP OF GIMLI: “SMALL CHANCE OF SUCCESS”

Transition

Oh man. I love Gimli so much.

So here’s how we’re going to spend the rest of our time this weekend:

In light of all of this… where we’re at and where the rest of the world is at when it comes to sharing our faith…

Why would we still do it? And how? Why and how?

Sharing Your Faith: Why?

In his book, “Start with Why,” here’s what author and consultant Simon Sinek says:

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“People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.”

Simon Sinek, “Start With Why”

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So when it comes to sharing your faith, we’ve actually already talked about our first “why:” Because Jesus told us to do it.

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We saw that from the Great Commission in Matthew 28.

But let’s go a little deeper. Yeah, Jesus said that we oughta do it. True. And that might be good enough for some of us.

But if Simon Sinek is on to anything (and I think he is), there’s probably a deeper “why” that we need to connect with.

And that is this:

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SHOW “WHY 2” IMAGE

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Because I haven’t forgot what Jesus did for me.

I’ve found this to be true in my life; maybe you’ve found it to be true in yours: whenever I know I ought to do something but I’m having a really hard time actually doing it, it’s probably because I’ve stayed too much on the surface level of that thing. There’s probably something deeper going on.

And when it comes to sharing our faith—especially for those of us who know we ought to be doing it, but aren’t—that “something deeper” that might be going on is this:

Maybe we’ve forgotten who we were when Jesus found us.

Take a look at this verse from Romans 5:8:

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Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

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So let’s just make sure we understand what this is saying to us here:

While we were still sinners.

While we were still sinning.

Jesus died for us. Died for that sin. Took our sin upon himself, and took the separation from God that came along with it.

And he did that—he did that—before we ever expressed openness, or interest, or conviction.

He did that before we asked for his forgiveness, before we confessed, before we believed.

Before I repented and took a step across that faith line, Jesus died my death for me.

But I think for a lot of us, this is so easy to forget. I think the further away from that moment we get—that moment where we, for the first time, understood that Jesus took my place, that I don’t deserve what he did for me, but that it was for me and I grabbed onto it—

The further away from that moment we get, the easier it is to forget what it was like to be a sinner simply found by Jesus.

This is why Jesus tells parables like the one about the two debtors in Luke 7 where one guy was forgiven a huge debt that he could never repay but then turns around and demands payment from one of his debtors on a tiny debt and even threatens prison if he doesn’t pay up.

Or there’s the one in Matthew 13 where the guy discovers a treasure hidden in a field and mortgages everything he owns to acquire that field.

Do we remember what a treasure it is to be loved and forgiven by Jesus? Do we remember who we were when he loved us?

Or have we so quickly forgotten the mountain of debt that he’s paid that we don’t even care to share his offer with anyone else?

(Story of friend asking for forgiveness)

Alright, let’s go one level deeper. Why should we share our faith?

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SHOW “WHY 3” IMAGE

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Because God loved me first.

I think in this conversation it’s so easy to think that “I should share my faith… for God.” Like, I’m doing something for him. Doing him a favor. I don’t want really want to, but if it’ll make him happy… fine.

And we fall into that trap in a lot of areas when it comes to our relationship with God, I think. Religion kinda seeps in and replaces what is really a relationship.

We don’t share our faith because we have to. We don’t share our faith because it’ll make God happier with us. “Everytime we share our faith an angel gets his wings.”

(Angels don’t have wings, by the way.)

We do it because of love.

Because of God’s love.

Because God loved us...

First.

Take a look at 1 John 4 with me:

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1 John 4:10-11; 19 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another... We love because he first loved us.”

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This, I think, is what we need to be experiencing at our deepest level as we go to share our faith.

This is love. This is love:

Not that we loved God. Love doesn’t start with what we ought to do. No.

This is love:

What God has already done in Jesus.

Since God so loved us.

(Explain atoning sacrifice…)

That’s how God loved us. And when we’ve got that in our heart, and that story is big and real and deep, it’ll just feel way more natural to share.

Sharing Your Faith: How?

Okay. Start with “why.” There’s the “why.”

As we finish now, let’s talk about “how.”

In that same Barna study that I referred to earlier, they also asked people outside of the faith this question: