Prayer

Sharing Jesus Part Two

Sharing Jesus Part Two

Do we really think about the fact that every person we encounter is potentially going to spend an eternity in hell if they don’t first hear and then believe the Gospel? We also talked about the top 6 reasons most believers are hesitant about sharing their faith in Jesus with others. When it comes to asking people to decide in their own lives regarding faith, it becomes a bigger wall for many people. We can sometimes do okay telling people how God has worked in our own lives but asking them to commit their life to God is an insurmountable task for us. As I said before, not every believer is an evangelist in the sense of Billy Graham or the apostle Paul. However, it is the job, the Great Commission, of every believer to make disciples. Making disciples starts with sharing our faith wherever and whenever we have or create an opportunity. Those opportunities are most effective within our one-on-one relationships with people.

Speaking of one-on-one relationships with people, do you know Jesus and Moses spend a lot of time together now. They are really great friends. One day while walking on the beach, Moses said to Jesus, “You know what really moved me?” “What?” Jesus replied. “It’s when you walked on water. That’s when I came to understand that you were truly the Son of God. Do you remember that?”

Jesus replied, “How could I forget? It was my most famous miracle. It made ALL four Gospels!” Moses asked if he could do it again and Jesus easily obliged.

But after getting a way off from the shoreline, he started sinking. Never needing to learn how to swim, He desperately thrashed about using all his energy to stay afloat and just barely make it to the shore alive. With Jesus gasping for breath, Moses ran up to him and frantically asked, “My Lord! My Lord! What happened?”

Jesus replied, “Last time I didn’t have these holes in the bottom of my feet.”

When it comes to sharing our faith in Jesus and asking others to make a commitment to faith in him themselves, the most important part is what we are asking people to believe. It’s what exactly we are asking them to have faith in.

Paul says,

‘For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.’ 1 Corinthians 15:1-8

To make it very simple, what we must believe is who Jesus was and what Jesus did.

         I told you last week we would be looking at how the biblical writers shared their faith. As we read the Gospels, the historical biographies of Jesus’s life and ministry, we find a common theme. Matthew starts in chapters 1 through three talking about identifying who Jesus is before he begins talking about anything Jesus did or taught. Mark only spends the first 11 verses of his Gospel talking about who Jesus is, but the pattern holds. Luke spends his first three chapters plus part of chapter four building on the idea of who Jesus is. John uses his first 34 verses to identify Jesus, but in his very first verse he makes a very clear point…

John 1:1 “’In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.’

From identifying the Word as fully God, John then builds up to the fact the Jesus is the Word and the Word is God, but John doesn’t actually mention Jesus name for the 1st time until verse 17.

         The point is, with every Gospel writer, who Jesus was is the first point about Jesus every one of them makes. For each of them, building Jesus identity by what he did up to the point of his death, burial, and resurrection is the stamp of authenticity on the Gospel message. Why? Because Paul tells us that without the Resurrection, the final proof that Jesus is truly the Son of God, our faith is useless. It is only the fact that Jesus was himself God the Son that gives his death any meaning at all. There are millions of people who have sacrificed their lives for one cause or another since the beginning of time. There are many who have died for their friends, what Jesus calls the ultimate act of love in John 15:13. Only the Resurrection gives Jesus’s death any meaning, because through Jesus’s Resurrection we are given an eternal relationship with God the Father through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit covered by Jesus’s righteousness and forgiveness before God.

         Answering the questions of faith, It really comes down to two things: who he is and what he did. In their book, “The Path” some dear friends of mine, including one of my mentors Dr. Daniel Goepfrich, phrase the answer of faith this way…

To call Jesus “Lord” or “Christ” is to acknowledge that he is the one sent from God to rescue humanity and that he did that through his death and      resurrection – nothing more, nothing less.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” Colossians 1:19-20

In another conversation, Paul used the word “repent.”

“Although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he

now commands all people everywhere to repent , because

he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in

righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31

To “repent” means to “reconsider and act.” In order to believe the truth, we must honestly consider it…the truth about ourselves and our sin, about Jesus and his death and resurrection. God wants us to change our beliefs based on the truth.    Believing in Jesus alone for salvation means that we have reconsidered our position; we have “repented,” accepting the truth. We accept that only God can rescue us from sin and hell, and we embrace it.

Naturally, the first step in sharing our faith with others is to have that kind of faith ourselves. If we don’t have a firm foundation in the faith that we have, we’ll have a really hard time trying to articulate any of that to someone else.

         However, there are some great benefits to sharing our faith. When we overcome our fear, get over the excuses that we don’t have experience or haven’t practiced, realize that every believer in Jesus as Savior is fully qualified to share the Gospel, rely on God to walk us through it knowing that we can’t screw it up, put sharing our faith at the top of our priority list in our relationships, and develop the ‘want to’ attitude to at least plant the seeds for someone to come to have eternal life the benefits become:

  1. It increases our own faith to share our faith with others
  2. Sharing our faith brings us deeper into the Presence of God
  3. It naturally makes us more aware of Holy Spirit working in our lives
  4. Our love for others will grow tremendously
  5. We are partaking in God’s Great Commission to make disciples
  6. Sharing our faith also protects us and prepares us for battle against the spiritual forces of darkness that rule this world.

Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 6 starting in verse 10,

‘Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak – that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.’

Ephesians 6:10-20

When we are sharing the good news of our salvation through Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the leader of our lives, we are engaging actively in spiritual warfare. Some time, we’ll do an entire series on the Armor of God, but Paul is making a point here that as we live in Christ and share our faith following the Great Commission to make disciples; we will experience the attacks of the enemy.

         We need to pray for one another as Paul asked the believers of his time to pray for him. We pray that we may be given the message when we begin to speak to confidently make the Gospel clear, and that we may be able to speak boldly about the faith that we have.

Sharing Jesus part one

Sharing Jesus part one

There was a red convertible roaring down the highway. The guy driving saw the local pastor standing on the side of the road holding a sign saying “the end is near.” What an idiot the guy thought… Up ahead, he saw the Catholic priest with a sign too. It said, “turn around before it’s too late.” This time the driver honked his horn and flipped the priest the bird. What a prick, he thought… The priest and pastor watched as the car went flying around a bend and then they heard screeching tires, a crash, and a loud splash. The priest walked up to the pastor and asked, “do you think we should change our signs to say the bridge is out?”

How often, when trying to share about our faith with someone, do we find ourselves misunderstood or not being able to really communicate with those we are trying to reach? How often do we struggle to go outside of our comfort zones? How often are we afraid to get asked a question that we don’t know the answer to? Especially in this country, for the longest time, we have been told that it is impolite to discuss religion and politics at the dinner table or in any other type of polite social event. In recent times, discussing spirituality has become more acceptable during and post-COVID, but we are a relativistic post-Christian, post-modern society in the United States, where anything you want to believe goes and saying there is only one way to approach God can be considered hate speech. The loudest voices we hear in our culture and in the media are the ones shouting to drown out or twist the message of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and grace that is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even our own churches end up drowning out the message that God so loved the world by condemning the secular culture and screaming about abortion, homosexuality, addiction, sanctity of marriage, the Ten Commandments, and social justice or injustice depending on your viewpoint.

Romans 1:18-20 says,

‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. ‘

Just looking around at the state our world is in through the will of what mankind has done, the unrighteousness of the world and the pain it causes is evident. What do we do?

Peter says,

But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

1 Peter 3:14-17 NLT

We typically hear verse 15 in this way,

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

Many pastors will use this as a plug to tell you that you need to memorize as much of the Bible as possible. If you could quote chapter and verse from Genesis to Revelation, that would be best. That way you always have an answer, right?

There was a story of a great orator, and he was putting on a show in front of a couple thousand people. Being a conservative crowd, he chose to memorize and dramatize Psalm 23, you know, that passage about the Lord is my shepherd. As he began to speak, the crowd fell silent; as he finished, he received a round of applause. As the crowd was clapping, a little old man, grizzled and frail, walked up to the podium. As he began to speak, the crowd fell silent. He also recited Psalm 23. As finished, there was not a single dry eye in the crowd, some people were crying hard, then the entire crowd rose in a standing ovation. Afterward, a reporter went up to the orator and asked him what had happened. They had both recited the same words, and he was a professional, why had the crowd reacted so differently to the old man’s words. The orator said, “I knew the words of Psalm 23 and spoke them well, he knows the shepherd.”

The people we meet, the ones we try to invite to church, the folks we invite to lunch or talk to passing in the grocery store; don’t need to hear a bunch of memorized lines. They need to hear your personal story of your personal relationship with God and how he has walked with you through thick and thin. Do you know the shepherd, or do you know the words? Will they ask us questions we don’t know the answers to, sure. It’s also just as important they know that we have faith and hope, without knowing all those answers. But we can always try to find those answers, preferably together…

While there are many commands given to believers throughout the New Testament, there is one given that is certainly near the very top of the list,

MAKE DISCIPLES.

The imperative command to make disciples is found in Matthew 28:18-20. It is also the only imperative command in that passage. To not be making disciples is to be directly disobedient to the calling every believer has in our relationship with Jesus.

The passage is this:

‘Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore going and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”’

Matthew 28:18-20

Going, baptizing, and teaching are continuous actions that convey means and method of what it entails to make disciples. However the command is to make disciples. Not just make believers, not just preach the Gospel, not just running around the planet, not just baptizing as many as possible in the lake at one time…to make disciples is a lifelong process that starts with the unbeliever coming to believe in Jesus and then learning to obey EVERYTHING that Christ commanded his early followers and for us EVERYTHING that the New Testament writers through Holy Spirit’s power command to us. The process of discipleship starts each of us sharing our faith and with those who have yet to believe hearing of the Gospel.

Over the next few weeks, I want to dive into the way some of the New Testament writers shared their faith to teach people what a relationship with God through Jesus is like. First, take a look at this youTube short…it’s titled, “The Gospel in a Nutshell.” It’s an example of one of those elevator speeches. If you haven’t heard of those, I’ll explain that in a minute.

Don’t worry, my mom already chastised me for recording that while driving. I did do all the editing after I got home though.

If you search youtube for the words gospel in a nutshell that pops up as the 7th result on the second page of the search. So number 17… It has had six views and two likes. If you search gospel in a nutshell about 259,000 results. I did find pretty good video called “How to share the Gospel in 5 minutes” by John Benzinger. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw0vth8zY5c) In 15 months, his video has had almost 5,200 view and 196 likes. But how effective do you think either of these methods actually are?

I would say, not very effective.

Statistics say that personal evangelism, one-on-one conversations, are the best and most effective way to share your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. If we truly believe that the scriptures are written by God through men, if we truly believe that through faith in Jesus is the only way to get right with God, if we truly believe that the world already stands condemned before God and anyone who chooses not to believe in Jesus as their Savior is going to spend eternity in hell, if we truly believe that a fulfilling, purposeful, contented, joyful, loving life can only be found in a relationship with our heavenly Father the Creator on all things through forgiveness and the righteousness of his Son, Jesus, in the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit; shouldn’t we want every single person on the planet to have that kind of life as well. Do we really think about every person we come in contact with is potentially going to spend an eternity in hell if they don’t first hear and then believe the Gospel?

There are dozens upon dozens of resources that teach people how to share their faith. Hundreds and hundreds of messages have been preached on the subject. If you Google, “what is the gospel?” there are over 233,000,000 million results. So, what excuses do we have for not sharing our faith?

Last Saturday, at the Biblically Bold men’s conference, Pastor Fred from Faith Covenant, shared his top six reasons he thinks people don’t share the Gospel. I agree with these, but I really think it all boils down to the last one.

6.      We just don’t want to…

5.      It is not toward the top of our priority list.

4.      We think somehow we’ll screw it up and blow it.

3.      We think we are not qualified to share the Gospel.

2.      We don’t have any experience and have never practiced.

1.      It all boils down to fear!

There is a resource out on the welcome desk from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on Simply sharing Jesus. But I want you to know, it all starts our own personal experience of growth in our knowledge and love of God. If we are not living out our faith, any testimony we give is ruined by our own hypocrisy. Fortunately, we have the mercy, grace, forgiveness, and righteousness of Jesus covering us and Holy Spirit’s indwelling power helping us. When we live out loud in the love of God and show that love to each and every individual we meet following the three greatest commandments, Love God, Love People, Love One Another. Then our personal relationships with others will give us a one-on-one platform for sharing our faith.

Prayer in Action

Prayer in Action

When I first visited the church that I now pastor, I had told them that there were 10 things that I believed we would need to do in order for us as a congregation to unify ourselves with God’s will for this congregation and our work in this community and the world. You’ll find those in my last message, Guide our Steps.

The very first thing I said that we would need to do was unite ourselves in prayer. That prayer should be our first response, not our last option. Far too often we reach out in faith to God last, instead of submitting to his will first.

In my life, I have struggled with prayer, and maybe you have too. As some of you know, my oldest son is multiply disabled. I have very well-meaning people ask to pray over him and say, he’ll be healed; when he wasn’t it would rock my faith at times. Well, if you were so sure he would be healed, is my faith lacking so he wasn’t? Or, did you take God’s name, his identity, in vain and trying to pray according to a will that was not in line with God’s. If so, why doesn’t God want my son to be healed?

We ask him for all the things we want, instead of being grateful for him meeting our needs. We go to God as if he is a vending machine, we insert our magic coin, make our selections by telling him everything we want, push the AMEN button, and expect everything we asked for to come out. Or we treat God as a genie in a bottle… We rub the magic prayer lamp, tell God what we wish for, a better car, a bigger house, the billion-dollar lotto jackpot, whatever it might be, and expect Poof, there it is.

Or maybe we just get frustrated with God. God, you tell us to pray and you’ll give us whatever we want, right? Mark 11:24 says, “whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Matthew 21:22 says, “And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive.” John 16:23 says, “At that time you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

Outside of the greater context of scripture, we can get really drawn in with these ‘promises,’ it is the idea of believe it and receive it. We can even be really well-meaning with this, I believe I will be healed of this injury, I believe she will be healed of this illness, I believe I will have these resources to start this ministry… And then we ask God in frustration, why didn’t you heal me, or her, or give me this so I can do that, it’s all for your glory and kingdom…why God?

We get into trouble and pray what we call ‘foxhole’ prayers. “God, the bullets are flying over my head, please save me from this distress.” And we bargain, “God, I promise I will give my church 20% instead of 10% for a tithe if you’ll let me win the 20-million-dollar jackpot, think how much ministry we could do.”

Speaking of prayer, I heard something new this week… Dial-a-prayer for atheists! Apparently, when you call, it rings and rings, and no one answers.

Second to our salvation, the most important part of our relationship with God is our prayer life… From the beginning of time, God has been trying to commune with his creation. He takes great join from being able to have a relationship with us. So much so, he sent his one and only Son, Jesus, to die as an atoning sacrifice to cover our multitude of sins with his Son’s righteousness. Added to that, he gives us his indwelling Holy Spirit so that he can be in the closest possible fellowship with us, living within us… Yet, we commonly neglect talking with, fellowshipping with, communing with our Father in heaven.

We do so, even though we have a hotline to heaven, a red phone in the corner that is a direct dial to the throne room, far better than Commissioner Gordon’s batphone…! We have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul tells us,

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

Romans 8:26

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.

Romans 8:27 NET

This issue is so important, in CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, Uncle Screwtape writes this to his nephew, the young tempter, Wormwood…

“Whenever they are attending to the Enemy Himself, we are defeated, but there are ways of preventing them from doing so.  The simplest is to turn their gaze away from Him towards themselves.  Keep them watching their own minds and trying to produce feelings there by their own wills.  When they meant to ask Him for charity, let them instead start trying to manufacture charitable feelings for themselves and not notice that this is what they are doing.  When they meant to pray for courage, let them really be trying to feel brave.  When they say they are praying for forgiveness, let them be trying to feel forgiven.  Teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling…”

Jesus taught on this subject himself in a very famous passage of Scripture. And, yet, we still missed the point… He said,

“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.  When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:5-8 NET

In the following verses, comes what we know as the “Lord’s Prayer”, which is meant to be a template for how to pray that he gave to his disciples, but in our humanity, we turned it into another thing to mindlessly recite… he just finished telling us not to do that, not ‘babbling repetitiously’. He was trying to give us a pattern for how to start a conversation with God.

I will give you two more patterns that you can use to pray that follow Jesus’s example to his disciples…

PRAY – Praise Repent Ask and Yield

ACTS – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication

God wants a relationship with us. He is not a celestial vending machine we plug our prayer quarters into and make our selections of what we want. He is not a genie in a bottle waiting for us to rub the prayer lamp to grant our next wish. He is a heavenly Father with a deep desire for a relationship with his kids. He wants us to pick up the phone and call him frequently. He does want to meet our needs, but what Father only wants a call from their kids only when they want something???

Paul tells us the cure for anxiety is prayer…

Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 NET

James the brother of Jesus, who was know as James the camel kneed, because his knees were so callused from constant prayer tells us,

So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.

James 5:16 NET

Jesus even tells us later in his Sermon on the Mount, after introducing the template for prayer…

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:43-45

Pray for those who persecute us…? Whoa Jesus, you’re going a little too far there, are you? But, I was told a long, long time ago, that if I had a resentment against an individual, I should pray all the blessings I would want for myself for them instead… doing so, my resentments quickly melt away and Scripture says in Romans 12:20,

“Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.”

Don’t get me wrong, that isn’t why I am praying blessings for them, because earlier in the passage it says in verse 18, “if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people.” But, some people are obviously much easier to live peaceably with than others, if we are truly honest… so, by praying for those people, I can deal with those EGR’s, remember those Extra Grace Required people, in a much more patient and loving way, than if I were not…

The point is, if we are to grow spiritually, have a vibrant and fulfilling faith, and have a true relationship with our heavenly Father through his Son, Jesus, we need to be deeply in touch with him in prayer through the Holy Spirit that is right here, in us, all the time! When we pray, we also need to take time to listen, he will answer, through intuition, through other people, through signs, through his Word, through peace that surpasses all understanding, through healing, through all sorts of other ways, if we are praying according to his will. And, as Romans 8:26-27 says, the Spirit will express his will in prayer through us in ways we can not express for ourselves, and he knows all our needs… we just need to pray!

It all begins with our prayer of confession and repentance, turning our lives over to the care of God through the sacrifice of Jesus… that prayer can create or restore our fellowship with our Creator and our Father.

I want to pray Psalm 130 over you, but I am taking liberty to substitute the Church for Israel…

‘From the deep water I cry out to you, O Lord. O Lord listen to me! Pay attention to my plea for mercy! If you, O Lord, were to keep track of sins, O Lord, who could stand before you? But you are willing to forgive, so that you might be honored. I rely on the Lord, I rely on him with my whole being; I wait for his assuring word. I yearn for the Lord, more than watchmen do for the morning, yes, more than watchmen do for the morning. O Church hope in the Lord, for the Lord exhibits loyal love, and is more than willing to deliver. He will deliver the Church from all the consequences of their sins.’

Amen.

Guide our Steps

Guide our Steps IFCOG 7/24/22

I want to share some of my heart with you today.

In my life, I have struggled with discernment when it comes to God’s will. Have you ever felt that way?

I have listened to wise council, followed the open doors, tried to make wise decisions, then ended up nowhere near where I thought the Lord was leading me. Somewhere along the line, I fell out of step and started down a different road. I left the path, and I never realized it. There are other times when I took the more attractive road, the easier road, the road that lead where I wanted to go, instead of the path that was laid out for me. Has any one here ever experienced something like that?

There is a principle Andy Stanley calls the Principle of the Path. Direction determines destination.

We understand it when it comes to driving, but we miss it in other areas of our lives. If we plan a trip to Florida, we pack our bags, we tell all our friends, we hire the neighbor kid to watch the house and take in the mail, we make all our plans and preparations, but when we head out of town with the car fully packed and drive north on 231, we aren’t going to get to Florida. It’s our direction, not our intentions, that determine our destination. In fact, many of our congregations have missed this vital principle.

I am broken-hearted for many of the congregations throughout the United States. Many of us would like to blame COVID for the decline of the church, when in fact, the church started declining before COVID, it’s after COVID that we really noticed the change because many who had wanted to leave for a long time, just didn’t go back. Many of us would like to blame culture for the decline of the church, when in fact, the church failed to respond to the shifts in the culture. People who study societies have determined that under usual circumstances, society shifts every 7 years, but in 2020, in one year, society made an entire shift. Some congregations were able to respond because they had already been preparing, others haven’t reopened. Some congregations are trying to build on the changes they had to make to reach out, while others are gratefully trying to go back to what they were doing. Not even realizing what they were doing had already stopped working, except for them.

What does the Bible say about it all? Does the Bible say anything about church growth? Does the Bible say anything about responding to change? Does the Bible give us direction on what to hold on to, and what to let go?

I am not going to be showing you anything you may not have seen before, but I may tie them together for you in ways you haven’t thought of. God has laid out a direction for his Church. He has given us our marching orders. He has given us examples of what to do and not do.

Let’s start with the most basic… Whose job is it to grow the Church?

In Matthew 16:13-18 it says,

‘When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.’

When Jesus says on this rock I will build my church, some churches will teach that Peter is the rock that the Church is built on. Others will say it is Peter’s confession of faith the Church is built on. The language used would suggest both of those answers are wrong. Petros, Peter, is one kind of rock. Petra is something different. It is also translated as stumbling stone in some other passages.

Earlier in Matthew 7:25, later in 1 Peter 2:8, 1 Corinthians 10:4, Romans 9:33 all refer to this kind of petra, and each time it is associated with Jesus himself is the rock that the Church is built on, and Jesus says he will build his church. Jesus has not stopped building his Church. If our congregations stopped growing, it’s because we fell out of step with him.

Next question, what is the mission of the Church, if Jesus is the one building his Church? Matthew 28:18-20 says,

‘Then Jesus came up and said to them, “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 the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”’

Our job is not to build the church, our job is to make disciples. Wait, what is the difference between building the Church and making disciples?

Building the Church is his Holy Spirit bestowing grace upon people who hear the Word of God to incite them into having faith in the saving work of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection. To make disciples, wherever we are going, as we invest in relationships with people, share the Gospel, but also baptizing them and just as importantly, if not more so, teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded to us. When the disciples went out sharing the Gospel, they also baptized the new believers and immediately began teaching them. The ones that heard the disciples teaching then went out and taught others, who went out and taught others, on and on down to today.

The early church taught everything, and taught obedience. Our churches today teach less and less of everything and leave out much of the obedience even to what we do teach. However, there are always extremes, aren’t there. Some hyper focus on obedience to the point of legalism, others turn the sanctuary into a seminar lecture hall, some turn grace into free license to do and act however they want.

What we do hold tightly to frequently is our traditions. We confuse holding tightly to the Word of God and correct doctrine, with holding on tightly to the order of worship, the Gaither hymns, the position of the altar, a few of the congregations I have been to have special cushions in certain pews where the same person sits week after week. One week someone asked, who moved the cushions? We make ourselves comfortable and make any outsiders totally uncomfortable.

What did Paul say?     

‘For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) to gain those under the law. To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God’s law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law. To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some. I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it.’

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

He was willing to adapt himself to make those around him more comfortable so that he could advance the Gospel among them. He did not sin to make sinners more comfortable, but he did speak to people and interact with people on their level. The same way Christ relinquished the rights of his deity to live as a man among humans.

There are certain things, as the church, we need to be willing to do to advance the Gospel so that we are on the path marked out for us to arrive at the destination God intends for us to.

  1. Pray, it should be obvious, but far too often it becomes our last resort rather than our first response.
  2. Hold tightly to the authority and inspiration of the scriptures by proper interpretation and application.
  3. Trust the Lord of the harvest to lead and guide us
  4. Expect God’s provision to act according to his will
  5. Make disciples wherever we are going, by baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything we have been commanded
  6. Christ did not come to condemn the people of the world; he came to save them. So, we are here to build loving relationships to encourage unbelievers to be convicted by his Holy Spirit.
  7. We must love one another as a demonstration that we are Jesus disciples using scripture to teach, encourage, admonish, correct, and train one another in righteousness.
  8. We must seek unity and reconciliation wherever possible
  9. Be relevant, with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, address the needs within our community and in the world
  10. Every believer should be discipled into maturity and begin discipling someone else. We need to have sages, mentors, accountability partners, and proteges along every stage of the walk of faith

I believe we should be doing these things as the Body of Christ, and if we are doing them, God will honor his promise.

2 Peter 3:9 says,

‘The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.’

While we wait for the Lord to fulfill his promise, we need to do the work he has set before us.

Gospel in a Nutshell

Retirement versus Legacy-building Part Two

When I spoke at Winebrenner Memorial, a couple weeks ago, we talked about Paul’s plight while writing to the church at Philippi. Paul was at the end of his rope, if you remember. Paul said,

‘For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. Now if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer: I feel torn between the two, because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more vital for your sake that I remain in the body. And since I am sure of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for the sake of your progress and joy in the faith, so that what you can be proud of may increase because of me in Christ Jesus, when I come back to you.’ Philippians 1:21-26

Let’s review the Pastor Joe paraphrase.

For me, living is doing what Christ has left me here to do, while dying is getting the heck off this planet and spending the rest of eternity in heaven on my all expense paid retirement plan. If I have to stay here, I need to be productive doing God work, but I’m not sure I want to. Matter of fact, I really want to retire and go hang out with Jesus on the golf course, which is a lot better than being stuck here. But it’s more important for me to stay here with you and since I am sure that’s what God wants, I will stay and continue to build a legacy of faith in all of you, so that you can be proud of me.

Because Paul knows he is still alive and breathing, he knows God has something left for him to do. God’s retirement plan doesn’t kick in until we have breathed our last breath. In the meantime, our job to build a legacy of faith, to build up the big C global and eternal Church, continues on. I gave you homework before I left two weeks ago. Find one person that you can pour your experience, strength, and hope, your knowledge and wisdom of living a life of faith, into. I won’t ask for a show of hands how many have their homework done. Only about 30% of my middle school students get theirs turned in on time, and I usually end up extending due dates, like I did with my most recent assignment…hahaha.

We know how Paul felt now, as he was coming to the end of his earthly ministry. We can estimate that he lived, at most, ten years past this point; probably far less. Now I want to turn to Jesus. Jesus, the night he was betrayed, hours before his trial, torture, and death, just days before his resurrection, and only about 45 days before he ascended into heaven, was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. John recorded his prayer for us in John 17. There are three things Jesus focuses on in his final prayer. Jesus prayed that we understand what eternal life really is. He prayed that his disciples, those he had worked with and taught during his earthly ministry, would be set apart in the truth and remain set apart from the world as they go out into the world to proclaim the Gospel.  Finally, he prayed that all believers, everyone who comes to believe in him through the work of his disciples, would be one with each other, just as he was one with the Father.

While we know from history that his early disciples did remain set apart once he brought them back together again, and preached the Gospel, lighting a fire of faith that has continued to burn until this day. The other two: Jesus has not truly gotten his heart’s desire. We still constantly misunderstand what eternal life is, and the church has never been more divided in its entire history. Not only that, but the divides in the church also started within the lifespan of his disciples. It is my belief that a big part of the divide is caused by our misunderstanding of eternal life as well.

But what can we few, here and now, do about any of that? What can we do about problems that have existed for 2,000 years? We start small. We start with our own understanding of eternal life and then, through prayer, reconciliation, love, and more prayer build our own spiritual legacy while we yet have breath in our bodies.

Jesus said,

Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. John 17:4

1st– We need to live in the knowledge and power of God. We do that through God’s very own Holy Spirit that Jesus asked his Father to send to us as a comforter, teacher, and empowerment for us to perform his work as his Body here on earth.

2nd– We need to pray, pray before we start, pray as we go, and pray some more. When Paul shared the secret of joy and contentment in Philippians chapter 4, he told us:

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’

He continues on to say in verse 13

‘I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.’

If we are going to continue to live building our legacy of faith, we are going to need God’s strength and power. We only find that strength and power through prayer.

3rd– We need to live set apart but in unity and love. Our lives cannot look like the rest of the world lives. But Jesus said he didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save it. Unfortunately, the world frequently sees the church as judgmental, hateful, and standoffish. We try to force those who do not know Christ as Savior to live as if they have a relationship according to the same understanding and commands that we have. It becomes even worse when the outsider world sees those within the Body of Christ fighting amongst ourselves. Living in unity and love is only possible if we reconcile with those whom we have had differences. Within the Body, we need to live according to those things we can hold in common, and love each other enough to follow Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 4:1-6, he says…

‘I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.’  Ephesians 4:1-6

When we can do these three things; live in the strength and power of the eternal life we have right now through God’s Holy Spirit, pray, and live set apart in reconciliation and love; we can build our legacy of faith one friend, acquaintance, neighbor, parent, child, grandchild, great grandchild, and stranger at a time. That is living out the Great Commission, our purpose and the mission Christ left us with.

If you are a follower of Christ, this is a must-read!

I have had some similar experiences with people, but this pastor’s story is phenomenal! A must read, but especially for church leaders.

https://churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/308115-hes-ing-pastor-gary-liederbach.html

Treating others with respect (what can you do, or do differently?)

To help middle school students understand how to treat others with love and respect, I pulled these excerpts from various places and adapted them.

I think we can all learn lessons from these suggestions from some wonderful authors.

The ‘golden rule’ says, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” One author calls the ‘platinum rule’, “Treat others how they want to be treated.”

I have always said two things. “Treat others better than you want to be treated.” and “Treat others with as much grace as you’ve already been shown by God.”

Adapted from “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Adapted from “The Five Love Languages” school appropriate ways of demonstrating love and respect, making people feel appreciated.

  • “words of affirmation.” Verbal compliments, words of appreciation, constant encouragement
  • “quality time.” This means doing something together
  • “receiving gifts.” Some people love surprises, honor this by giving gifts 
  • “acts of service.” Can range from doing little things to larger projects— tasks that require thought, planning, time, effort, and energy

Adapted from “21 Way You Can Earn The Respect of Others”
1. Be relentlessly proactive
2. Keep Your promises
3. Earnestly apologize and make amends (do it right)
4. Don’t waste other people’s time
5. Stop gossiping immediately
6. Stop being too nice (it’s fake), don’t let people use you either
7. Practice humility
8. Have a moral code
9. Be open-minded
10. Add real value
11. Always do your homework
12. Be inspiring
13. Learn to say, ‘No’
14. Respect yourself
15. Believe in your ideas
16. Speak up when you’re mistreated
17. Stand up for someone else
18. Speak your mind (in kindness)
19. Stop talking and listen 
20. Care about others
21. Control your emotions (Curb your instant reactions)

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