Twisted: the Contortion of Christian Converting
Twisted
The Contortion of Christian Converting
Jeff Jones, Senior Pastor
September 21/23, 2007
Matthew 5:14-16
Today in our Twisted Series we are going to do something a lot different than normal, because today we are talking about evangelism. Isn’t that a great word, evangelism? Today we aren’t just going to talk about it, though. We are actually going to do it. I know this will freak some of you out, but you will thank me later. What we are going to do is send you out in groups to knock on people’s doors in the neighborhood and ask them if they want to talk about God. We are going to evangelize. It will be great. We’ll come back here in about 30 minutes to debrief what happened. You can do this. We have little brochure-type things called tracts that let you know what to say, so you don’t have to worry about having just the right words. This might be a terrible idea, but it might now. Let’s see what God does. I’m going to do this by sending people out in sections, so we don’t all go to the same place. I’m going to ask this section right here down front to stand up, and start going with _________, one of our pastors, who will host your group in the neighborhood…
Okay, I’m not really going to do this to you. After my introduction last week and this week, nobody is ever going to believe anything I say any more. What just went through your heart and mind though as you thought about being sent out to evangelize? Fear? Dread? A few of you maybe excitement, but most of us no way. Even the word “evangelize” is a terrible word, kind of like other words like “colonoscopy,” “root canal,” or “vasectomy.” Who wants to do any of those things?
For many “evangelism” is a scary word, mostly for those who do have a relationship with God and feel guilty about not doing whatever evangelism means. You think about these over-confident salesman types who tell these stories about being on airplanes and sharing about Jesus with the person next to them, and they give their lives to Christ, and then others who are listening do to, and the whole plane starts singing Kumbaya, and you think, “wow, I could never do that.”
To others, especially those of you who are searchers, figuring this whole Christianity thing out, “evangelism” is a bad word. If I asked you, “Would you like to be evangelized?” you’d say no thanks. You might think of some arrogant, pushy, know-it-all who is giving you the hard sell…like a time-share salesman when you are on vacation. If you met someone and asked what they did, and they said, “Evangelist,” you’d start running for cover.
We definitely have a twisted view of evangelism, because the word that has become a bad word or a scary word is actually a really great word and concept. People have ruined the concept, but the basic word and concept are good. The word is from a Greek New Testament word that means “sharing good news.” That’s all it means…to share with someone else something that would be of huge benefit to them. And when we think about Christianity and the opportunity to have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, that is not bad news, is it? We aren’t spreading cancer. If you and I really believed in the transforming power of connection to God, then we would understand that the greatest gift we could ever give anybody is the opportunity to know how to establish that connection, how to begin a relationship with God. I’m sure most of us in this room, even those here who are still kicking around the whole Jesus and church thing, would love to help other people begin a life-changing relationship with God. So, why do we dread it? Why do we fear it? Why do we feel so guilty about not doing it, or feel that we would be arrogant if we tried? Because of the twist. We’ve allowed ourselves to get twisted, so today we are going to see God’s twist—how he wants to use you and me to connect people to himself. And what could be cooler than looking back one day and realizing that we helped a lot of people in their spiritual journey, that we were part of the process in lots of people’s lives that eventuated their life-changing encounter with God.
And that’s what God wants. That’s his only strategy to reach this world, is through people like you and me. Even if you are in process of coming to God yourself, you can help others in their process to. So, today we are going to see how we can really do this and live this way. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, ch 5. Last week we looked at what it means to be the salt of the earth in 5:13. Today we are looking at the next few verses, what it means to be the light of the world. Read along with me,
Slide: _____________) Matthew 5:14-16
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 men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
This message comes down to one sentence: here it is,
Slide: _____________) You are the light of the world, strategically placed to point people to God.
That sentence is full of implications, which we will look at, but that is our bottom-line message today from this verse.
First,
Slide: _____________) You are the light of the world.
Jesus said to a group of ordinary people, people considered nobodies in that culture, and Jesus says, “You guys are it. You are the light of the world.” I mentioned last week how in the Roman world, the top two things of value in the universe were salt and the sun, salt and light. Jesus is saying, “That’s what you are. You are salt and you are light. Without you, this world will be totally dark.” In a dark world, where people are searching for God, for meaning, for real life, you are the ones who will light the way, who will point people to him. Notice that he doesn’t say, “you have the light,” or “you know about the light,” but “you are the light.” You are the light, your life is what God has put on this planet to let people know that God is real and that he wants to connect with them.
A friend of mine who is not yet a Christ-follower has often said to me, “I’d love to believe in God and have that connection, so why doesn’t he just let everybody know himself. Why doesn’t he put this big neon sign in the sky that says, ‘I’m God, and I’m here. Here is how you can know me.’ Or he could send angels or do something big, so everybody would know without a doubt.” God’s answer is that he has sent someone. He came himself, Jesus, and then Jesus looked at his followers, today at you and me, and said, “Ok, now you are it. You are the light of the world. You are the way others will know I am real and how they can have connection with me. So, go be light.”
It’s a little like those bug zappers. I had an extended family member that was a great guy but not all that bright, and when the bug zappers came out, he loved sitting by them at family reunions at night when the bugs were out. Great entertainment for him. He’d yell out, “Ooh, did you hear that. That was a big one! We got him!” He could stay out there for hours doing that. What else are you going to do in Alabama, right? But we are the bug zappers. The bugs come toward the light, and are curious, and then zap! In our case, the idea is to be surprised by the reality of God, just like most of us in this room were. God used someone in each of our lives to get us as far as we in our relationship with God…someone sparked the interest and got us started. That’s how God wants to use you. You are the light. Not someone else. Not just pastors or missionaries. You. And we will now see why you are so important in God’s work in the world right now = the next part of the sentence:
Slide: _____________) . . . having been strategically placed.
Let’s look again at the verses. He says,
Slide: _____________) Matthew 5:14b
A city on a hill cannot be hidden. That’s from the NIV, which actually leaves out a word that is in the original Greek text, a little word that means “placed.” Literally, the verse reads,
Slide: _____________) A city which has been placed on a hill cannot be hidden.
In the ancient world, they would typically look for prominent hills to place cities on for a variety of reasons. They scoped out the land and found the best place to put a city. Remember also in those days before electricity light was a rare thing at night. Travelers at night outside of a city were in total darkness, no light at all. So, when you turned a corner and saw a city on a hill, that was a great thing to see. Even in the daytimes, cities back then were made of limestone primarily, so they reflected in the sun. Because of the way they placed cities, there was no way for them to be missed. Jesus gives another example, too. He says,
Slide: _____________) Matthew 5:15
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. See the word again, “put” or “placed.” Most people in Jesus’ day were poor, and they had these oil lamps. Typically, they’d light just one to light their house, so they would find the best place in the house to provide the maximum light to give the most light to the whole house. We just turn on the switch, and the whole room is lit up with all these lights, but it wasn’t like that for them. They had to actually think about the best place to put their one lamp, where it would have the greatest impact.
What Jesus is saying is that you and I are lights who have been strategically placed by God to light wherever God has placed us. The idea is God placing us strategically to give the maximum amount of light to the greatest effect possible. God has placed you where you are, in your job, in your neighborhood, in your school, in your family, or on your team for a purpose, to be light there.
I know what some of you are thinking. You are thinking, “No, where I am is not strategic. My job is the most non-strategic place you can imagine. My job is random, not strategic. I wanted a strategic job. I sent out my resume, am still looking, but right now I am stuck in this situation of a dead end job or a job where the environment is just awful, and I’m stuck here.” Maybe you lost your job and took some lower-paying one until you can find the one you want, and you feel like it is such a waste right now. This isn’t God putting me here. It’s a mess. It is random.” Or, you may think the same way about your school. You just feel stuck in school, in this random existence, wishing you could just graduate or do anything else but be in school. Maybe you are in college, and you wanted to be in some fraternity or sorority but you got your last choice or didn’t get in and are in a dorm, and you are thinking, “How random. I’m stuck here.” You may feel like your neighborhood is random, maybe you wonder why you are in that neighborhood because you don’t really feel like you fit. Maybe you are in an apartment right now, and just want to be in a home and wonder why God hasn’t opened up that opportunity—but certainly it doesn’t feel strategic to still be in an apartment. Whatever your situation, here is the reality. God has placed you there on purpose. It is not random. You have been placed there, because God wants you to be the light of your school, your work environment, your neighborhood, your team, your dorm, your apartment. Without you there, it would be a dark place. But God wants people to know how they can connect to him. God wants people to live in the light. So, he sent you there…for however long you are there, you have been placed there on purpose.
If that is true, and it is, then we have to ask another question, “God, if you have placed me here, then what do I do? What does it mean to be light here? Why do you have me here.” And I’m glad you asked! That brings me to the next part of our big idea today:
Slide: _____________) You are the light of the world, strategically placed to point people to God.
You are there to point people to God, to fulfill your purpose in such a way that lets others know that God is real and wants connection with them. And Jesus is going to tell us how to do that, because there is something we must do. He says that we are the light of the world, which means it is our responsibility to SHINE. So, how do we shine? Listen to what he says once again in our passage,
Slide: _____________) Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. It is our responsibility to shine, to do something, and he tells us what to do and the intended result of that activity. So, let’s look at both the activity and the intended result, the activity first. To shine means that we live in such a way that people “see our good deeds.” Note the word, “see,” because we are talking about something we are to do. You see light, you don’t hear light. He is wanting us to point people to God by something that we do that others can see. What we are to do is “good works.” The word “good” is a great word in the Greek language, the original language Jesus spoke this in. The word is kalos and it means attractive or beautiful, often used to describe a beautiful girl for example. So, if you are here with a girl that you like or are married to or both, then look at here right now and say, You are a kalos girl.
He is talking about things we do for other people that are attractive works, beautiful works, works that grab people’s attention because they are extraordinary…acts of service for example that we do for a friend or for those in need in our community that causes others to look at that and say, “Wow, that’s great. I wonder why they are doing that.” I’m thankful, but I wonder what is motivating them to be that way, to sacrifice like that.
It has really been fun over these last few years as our church has begun to be much more involved in our community to talk to some of the organizations we have built bridges to and to people in our community who see what is happening. They are trying to figure us out, and I love it. A few weeks ago, a couple of our life groups did a really beautiful work. We have adopted several at risk schools in our geographic areas, one of those being Mendenhall Elementary in east Plano. It is a low income school with very little parental involvement, and we have come alongside that school in multiple ways to encourage and support them. What these folks did a few weeks ago was to help kick off the school year by providing food for the back to school orientation. Typically, they have very, very few parents and kids who come and the principal asked if we could provide free food and perhaps change that. So, these groups did. They took a big outside grill and fed about 800 people that night. Such things are beautiful, and they make people ask why? Why are you doing this?
A couple of months before that, Jack Warren, our Ex Pastor, got a call from someone who went to our church many years ago who is an administrator in the PISD. She said, “I don’t know what you guys are doing over there now, but please keep doing it. We are having a meeting of administrators and principals, and the big topic of conversation is Chase Oaks Church, how they might find more groups like that who can provide help and encouragement. You are the big development of the year, and it is making a big impact. Please keep it up!
I could keep going with lots of stories from our various bridges of compassion that we are building in this area, stories of beautiful works that get people’s attention. That’s true 1:1 as well. In a culture where people are so busy and so over-committed, it means most people just don’t make time to serve or be helpful to someone else. When someone does so, even something fairly simple, like helping someone move or making a meal for someone at work after they’ve had an operation, it is a big deal. Again, such service makes people ask the question, “Why are you doing this?” which brings me to the next part of this talk…the intended result.
The activity is good works, but hear what Jesus said about the intended result, that we are to do good works
Slide: _____________) Matthew 5:16b
that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. What Jesus is saying is that we are to do good works in a way where people praise God as a result, meaning that they can connect the dots knowing that our lives and our service has everything to do with the God who made them and loves them. We are not just to be do-gooders, people who are nice and cause people to say, “What a nice person! Wow, thanks!” But beyond that, for them to be able to connect the dots between our changed lives and good works with the work of God in our lives, so that they look ultimately to him.
We are living this way and doing these things to point people to God, not just so people think we are nice. That’s why
Slide: _____________) 1 Peter 3:15
tells us, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect… We are to always be prepared to give the answer to the why question. Why are you doing this? Why do you live this way? Our job as light is to shine and do so in a way that points to God. So, it is more than just being nice people, it is also letting others know how they can connect to their creator, how they can have a relationship with God.
Are you prepared to do that? Because that can be scary, but I want to take a few minutes and get us all ready. For those of you who are considering Christianity, this will be great because I’m going to share what the Bible says about how we can have a relationship with God. And for those of us who are Christians, let’s get ourselves ready to share with others. I’m going to suggest three ways to do so, and any of us can do this. First, be prepared to
Slide: _____________) Share the story.
and here I am talking about the story about what Jesus Christ did on the cross to make it possible for all who believe to connect to God. Sometimes we get tongue-tied and fearful, afraid that we will say the wrong thing. But here’s the reality. The good news about Jesus, sometimes called “the gospel” in the Bible is very simple, so simple that I have helped 5 year old children understand it and accept it. I’ve seen people with severe mental handicaps understand and embrace what God has done. So, let me share the story the way I normally do, and I’ll do it quickly…because it is not complicated.
[Use flip chart]. Here is us, and over here on this side of the chasm is God. The chasm separates the two, and in that chasm is our sin. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the mark, the mark of our perfection. We are here, and God is there, and what most people try to do is be good enough to please God, be good enough to earn heaven. And yet, even the best, people like Billy Graham, can only get so far. They still fall short of God’s mark, which is perfection. God knew that, so he decided to come get us, to come and make a way for us to have relationship with him. (draw bridge). That’s why Jesus died on the cross. The Bible says that Jesus died for our sins, to take our punishment so that our sins could be forgiven, wiped clean. And the Bible says that we don’t have to work for this, we can’t. It says that
Slide: _____________) Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Entrance to the bridge is not something we have to pay for. It is free. We just have to choose to walk across, to accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers. Are you ready to stop trying to do this yourself and take up the offer that God is holding out—a forever relationship with him? And once you do, he also promises to begin to remake you, to change you, to transform you. That’s the Christian life. God has a whole new future for you, and it really is up to you whether you want to walk across the bridge or not.
That’s the story, and it isn’t complex. It does take humility to stop trying to be good enough to get to heaven and realize that we can’t. It does demand that we believe and walk across that bridge, and we’ll give everyone here the opportunity to do that at the end of this service.
In addition to knowing how to share the story, maybe the most effective way to help people connect the dots and begin a relationship with God is for you to
Slide: _____________) Share your story.
Your story is a powerful thing, because people can’t argue with it. It is your story. They can argue against the Bible or against some point of theology, but you are the expert of your story. Your story is simply what your life was like before you met God, how you came to make that decision, and what your life is like now. Story is a powerful thing.
I once went to this training course about how to share your faith, put on by this guy who had helped a lot of people walk across that bridge. They would do these big open air meetings where a lot of people would want to have these conversations, so they had Christians ready to go to share their faith. Occasionally, they would find someone who knew a good bit about the Bible or about religion or philosophy and would argue with the Christian talking to them. He said, whenever I saw that happening, I would redirect the person who had been a Christian a long time, arguing with this man or woman, and instead ask someone who had been a Christian a very short time and knew almost nothing about the Bible or religion or philosophy. That was always more effective, because the non-believer would tie the new Christian up in knots. After a while, she or he would say, “Look, I don’t even know what you are talking about. All I know is that I met God. Here’s what my life was like then, and here is what God is doing in my life now.” He said more often than not, that is what ended up causing the other person to break down and realize their need for God.
You don’t have to have a theology degree to help someone begin a relationship with God. All of you have to know is your own story, and you do. You are the expert of your story. I do think it is worth working on your story so that you can share it effectively, so that it is not too long or confusing or full of Christian jargon like “saved” or “washed in the blood” or “sanctified.” When you leave today, the ushers will have these sheets of paper on which you can write out your story in 100 words or less. It will guide you how to do that, just so you know how to share your story honestly, but in a way that is also helpful.
Even if you are not yet a believer, if you are in process, you too have a story to tell that can be a huge encouragement to others. One of my friends who doesn’t yet know God is a person I would describe as a seeker or searcher, because he really is seeking God. He comes occasionally to this church, reads anything I give him to read, and is very open in his searching. He has brought several others along to this church in his searching and because of his story, and the cool thing about that is, that those that he has brought have come to know Christ here. He is still working through some questions and hang-ups, but they were able to believe more quickly. I now see their lives being transformed, and it is because of a story of a seeker. Wherever you are in your journey, you can bring others along.
The third thing is very easy to do. We’ve talked about helping people connect the dots by sharing the story and sharing your story, but you can also help people connect the dots by doing what my friend I just mentioned has done—
Slide: _____________) Invite people to the journey with you.
That includes inviting people to this environment. This worship service is designed as an environment where people can connect to God, whether they have been a Christian forever or are not yet a believer. We do work really hard to make it that way, a place that is relevant and engaging for any of us, wherever we are at in our journey. I hope you are constantly thinking about who you can reach out to and invite to this environment, because it is a great opportunity to connect with God.
So, this evangelism thing…still a weird word, “evangelism,” but the concept itself not so bad. All we are talking about is how God wants to use you and me to be light in the places where he has strategically put us. Please understand that you are the light of the world and that you have been strategically placed. No place where you now work or play or live is an accident. God has you there because he wants you to be light there. So, it’s not so much about going out of here and knocking on doors. It is about being light where God has placed us.
How do we do that? Living out our faith by doing good works and then helping people connect the dots to a God who loves them and wants a forever relationship with them.
Folks, that is why we are here. We are here to be lights, and if we refuse to shine, if we just let it go, then the world stays a very dark place. But God has strategically placed you where he has so that you can be light and point people to him.
Imagine what would happen if all of us did that, if 100% of us did this. Imagine what would happen if just for one week, this next week, we started our day asking God to show us how we can be light where we work, live, go to school, or shop or play. What if we decided this week to focus on this, and to look for ways to good works that would cause others to wonder why, maybe even ask why, and then we could be ready to share. Let’s try it. This week, let’s do this as a church. If you are married or have a family, start your day by praying together how you can shine your light through good works and ask God to show you that day how you can. Be on the lookout for opportunity. Then do it. If you are single, find another Christian and call him or her before you leave for work or school. Pray for each other through the day, and then share what God does. With hundreds and hundreds of people doing this, just think of what God could do!
And ultimately of course this is a lifestyle that God calls us to, a lifestyle of being light. As you know, right now as a church we are in replant mode. We are replanting our church in this community…not just getting a new building, but we are taking a huge step so that we can be missionaries in this community. It means that we must think like missionaries and not like consumers. As we take this step, recommit yourself to a lifestyle of light bearing, to a life of bridge-building as we often say around here. Imagine being able to look back and see a number of people that we helped cross that bridge to beign a relationship with God.
Let’s pray.