Telling the Story of Jesus

Prayer

Doing As Jesus Did - The Message of Preaching the Gospel

I want us to begin this morning with a quick recap of everything we’ve been talking about in our course on Practicing the Way. Our focus is on learning what it means to be a disciple, an apprentice of Jesus, to learn from him how to live life in the kingdom of God.

It all begins with the first goal of apprenticeship, which is to be with Jesus. This idea that following Jesus begins with taking the time to slow down and abide in Jesus, make our home in him. The second goal is to become like Jesus, spiritual formation. We recognize that Jesus is good and faithful and full of joy, gentle and lowly of heart - and we want those character qualities to define us as well.

Finally, the third goal, the one we started talking about last week, which is to do what Jesus did. Last week we talked about the first of the three main aspects of Jesus’ ministry, which was making space for the gospel through hospitality, love for others. Jesus ate and drank with all sorts of people, his was an open table. Today we’re going to talk about second main aspect of Jesus’ ministry, preaching the gospel - next week will be the third, demonstrating the gospel.

In our last couple of Lunch & Learnings we talked about engaging in Spiritual Conversations, including what the traits are of someone who is willing to engage in spiritual conversations, who is willing to proclaim the gospel. The good news is that we can grow in these traits. We can become more like Jesus in this regard, to tell his story, the story of the kingdom of God. As a refresher, the traits are best remembered through an acronym, EAGER.

First two are where most of us are the strongest. They are E, Embrace the Gospel. Which is simply the idea that you believe the gospel. You embrace that Jesus alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. John Mark Comer describes the gospel beautifully:

The gospel is that Jesus is the ultimate power in the universe and that life with him is now available to all. Through his birth, life, teachings, miracles, death, resurrection, ascension, and gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has saved, is saving, and will save all creation. And through apprenticeship to Jesus, we can enter into this kingdom and into the inner life of God himself. We can receive and give and share in Love Loving. We can be part of a community that Jesus is, ever so slowly, forming into a radiant new society of peace and justice that one day will co-govern all creation with the Creator, in an eternity of ever-unfolding creativity and growth and joy. And anyone can be a part of this story.

That’s a story worth embracing and a story worth telling.

Second one, A, is Apply Spiritual Disciplines. We’ve been focusing on this as a church for the last several years (and even now, in this course, Practicing the Way). This trait is exemplified in us when we organize our lives around the spiritual practices - Worship. Sabbath. Daily Prayer and Reading of Scripture. Confession. List goes on.

Third trait, G, is Grasp the Calling. This is the one we’ve been growing in collectively over the last year. That it’s our calling, every single one of us, to make disciples. We grasp the truth that we are the ones who are called by God to tell the story of Jesus. To willingly engage in spiritual conversations. Not just the pastors or the professional evangelists, or just someone else other than me! Paul makes this point in his letter to the Romans:

Romans 10:14-15, How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are send? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Paul’s point is that we must share this because it’s the only way that news gets spread. People have to hear about Jesus in order to trust in him. Hopefully our motivation to share the good news is not just because we’re supposed to, but because we want to. As John Mark Comer reminds us of, we talk about what we love. (People) talk about what they love most - fashion, music, sports, a new TV series. We love Jesus, so we talk about Jesus.

Helpful to remember it’s always been true that most people come to faith through personal relationships with ordinary Christians, folks like you and me. That was true in the early church - Dr. Michael Green writes that 80% or more of evangelism in the early church was done by ordinary Christians, not pastors or Christian celebrities. And as we’ve talked about here, research shows that even today 9 out of ten people end up in a church as a result of a personal connection.

But it’s the last two traits of an EAGER conversationalist that most of us tend to be weakest, where we need to grow the most. The second E of Eager is Expect Spiritual Conversations and the R is Respond Confidently. The idea here is that we would be people who live with a sense of attentiveness, of readiness, because we actually expect and anticipate spiritual conversations to happen. We believe God is at work in the world - and that God wants to use us in his work. And when the opportunity arises, we’re ready to go, we willing to talk to someone about what faith and life in Jesus looks like.

“Confident” may not be the word we’d use to describe how ready we are to respond. But I hope it’s at least willing. And I hope we want to grow more into people who are seeking where the Holy Spirit is moving, where he might be working in the lives of people around us - indeed, even expecting that. And growing more into people who will say to the Lord, “Here I am, send me.” People who are willing to do what Jesus did - preach the gospel.

Doing as Jesus did - Preaching the Gospel

To that end, I want to lay out three ways that we can do as Jesus did as far as preaching the gospel goes. First one speaks to those last two traits of an EAGER conversationalist, Expect Spiritual Conversations & Respond Confidently. And it is that we cultivate an attentiveness to the Holy Spirit.

If we look at the book of the Acts, the Acts of the Apostles, it’s clear that everything that those first disciple did to preach the gospel was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus promised, Acts 1:8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. In fact, a better name for the book would be the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 8, an angel of the Lord prompts Philip to go south where he encounters an Ethiopian Eunuch who just happens to reading Isaiah 53 and wants to know who the passage is referring to - and, of course, it’s all about Jesus, so Philip shares the good news of Jesus, the Ethiopian believes, asks to be baptized, then the Holy Spirit whisks Philip away.

Again, Acts 10, Cornelius, a Roman centurion, is having a vision, telling him to send for Peter. Meanwhile, Peter is praying on the rooftop of house of his friend when he was a vision that prepares him for the visit from Cornelius’ servants. So Peter goes to Cornelius and his friends and family and shares the good news of Jesus, they believe and are filled with the Holy Spirit.

In both of these examples the disciples weren’t going out evangelizing. They were, however, attentive to the working of the Holy Spirit and responded in obedience as the opportunity arose.

Now, likely it will not be as dramatic for us - but it might! But this is why we should pray with an open and inviting heart to the Spirit to be with us, lead us, empower us. Because he will. Why we are to practice the presence of God - live attentively to the Spirit in and with us. And as we do so, it will transform how we engage in all the ordinary aspects of our day, we become open to how God might be working as we answer an incoming phone call, as we walk around the neighborhood, as we’re driving to meet with someone. We begin to expect spiritual conversations and are ready to respond confidently.

In the Lunch & Learning we did back in March, we talked about shifting our focus on prayer from petitionary prayer (requests) to listening prayer. Using the Lord’s Prayer as a model for prayer, beginning with the first petition, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.” This invites us into a posture of rest, coming into the presence of our heavenly Father, and a posture of reverence (your name above every other name). So we come to God beginning not with requests, but with listening. Father, where are you at work? In me? In our church? In my friend’s life? Pray that. Then stop, and listen.

Next part of the Lord’s Prayer invites us into a posture of surrender and service. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, as earth as it is in heaven.” This as Missionary Prayer. an invitation to ask the Lord, “How can I join in? How can I be a part of where your Spirit is at work.” It’s a posture of self-offering, “I’m ready to be a part of your work bringing your Kingdom into fruition.”

Second way to proclaim the Gospel is by actually bearing witness to Jesus. Telling the story. John Mark Comer remind us that we are not salesperson for Jesus, we are his witnesses. A witness simply tells the truth, what they know, have seen and experienced. We talked last Sunday at our Lunch and Learning about a very helpful way to think about engaging people in conversation called the Spiritual Conversation Curve. I won’t go through the whole thing in detail, but it’s helpful to be reminded of the basics.

Engaging in spiritual conversations begins with discerning the spiritual posture of the person you hope to talk with. Are they unreceptive? In other words, they don’t want to hear about the good news of Jesus, if you try to bring it up, it’s a conversation killer. Or maybe they’re receptive, they’re open to talking about Jesus, to having a spiritual conversation. Maybe they are actively seeking, they’re not only open to it, they want to have the conversation, they’ve got questions. And that matters a great deal because it’s going to change both how we pray and how we engage them in conversation.

What Paul teaches in Colossians 4:2-6: Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Paul asks the church at Colossae to pray in a very specific way - that God would open a door for him and those with him to talk about Jesus. To pray for the opportunity to share the good news. And then he asks that they pray for him, that not only would the opportunity present itself, but that he would proclaim it clearly. So our prayers will differ depending on the spiritual posture of the person we’re hoping to tell the story of Jesus - if they’re unreceptive, we should pray that trust would be built, that we might gain a hearing (a door would open!). If they’re receptive, we’ll want to pray that we proclaim the gospel clearly, and that they would hear the good news, it would touch their hearts. If they’re actively seeking, we’ll want to pray that we might be able to guide them toward faith in Jesus.

Notice, too, that Paul doesn’t just talk to the Colossians about how to pray, but how they should engage in spiritual conversations. He addresses both what they should say (that they would have an answer, the right content), but also how to speak (that we would be wise in how we engage those outside the faith, that we would speak graciously, as Paul writes, “seasoned with salt”).

And one of the ways we can be wise in spiritual conversations is adjusting how we engage them based on their spiritual posture (if they are unreceptive, receptive, or actively seeking).

If they’re closed, unreceptive, then we want simply to chat and relate. Talk about basic things - family, the weather, sports, pets, there’s no shortage of topics to chat about. Then you can begin to take it deeper by relating. To relate means that you connect over joys and struggles. You’re willing to share them, and you listen empathetically when they share something that’s a joy or struggle for them.

If, however, they are open, receptive to talking about Jesus, you don’t want to stay just chatting and relating. Those are great, but you want to make the most of the opportunity! Which means that you should converse in two ways, sharing and connecting. To share means to be willing to talk about how Jesus is at work in your life. Tell a bit of your faith story. This demonstrates how relevant Jesus is, how good Jesus is. From there you can begin to Connect, which is short for connecting Jesus to daily life. In other words, you’re sharing how Jesus acts not only in your life, but for everyone. His forgiveness, his healing, how he gives peace and joy, how faithful he is, his goodness, all the blessings he pours into our lives. That’s not just for a special few, it’s for anyone and everyone!

Finally, for those who are actively seeking, we want to Explore and Clarify. Which simply means that if people have questions about what it means to believe in Jesus, we’re willing to explore those questions with them. And at some point, it’s important we clarify with them exactly what it means to follow Jesus, that they would have a chance to understand the rewards and costs of being a disciple.

Third Way to preach the gospel is, as John Mark Comer describes, to live a beautiful life. What we would call abundant life. To let the truth, goodness and beauty of Jesus be seen in us and how we live. This it’s why it’s so essential that we follow Jesus - be with him, become like him - so that our lives would be beautiful, his humility, gentleness, faith, self-control, would be seen in us. Which honestly may speak more powerfully than anything we actually say.

Paul makes this point over and over again in his letters to the churches, that how we live should match the good news we have come to trust in Jesus. In Philippians 1:27, Paul writes, Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. In Ephesians 4:1-2, As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Paul here gives us a glimpse of what a beautiful life looks like - people who are patient. Bear with each other in love. We are willing and cheerful givers - generous. There’s a peace about us. We bear pain and difficulty with grace, we grieve as those who have a living hope. Rather than tearing each other down (gossip, backbiting, avoidance), we build one another up. Encourage each other.

We live as God created us to live. And when people see it, they long for it, because they know this is how it is supposed to be, how we were meant to live. But that life is only possible in Jesus. And people will only come to know and trust Jesus if they know the story. And they’ll only know the story if we are willing to share the good news of Jesus with them. If we would be people who not only live beautiful lives, but have beautiful feet.

Practicing the Way, Session #6, Healing from Sin: Small groups will meet this week (watch the Session video). Spiritual practice from Session #5: Notice and Name your Emotions. Continue to practice: Sabbath, Daily Prayer and Scripture. Reading (up to page 205), Podcasts in newsletter. Closing Prayer.