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SERMON
Today we continue to look at the basics of Christianity. One of the
core values of Westminster Presbyterian Church is to have a "pervasive
desire to introduce others to Christ." We print it in our bulletin every
Sunday. Last year we preached through our core values and the idea about
how to introduce others to Christ was presented by Pastor Alan. In fact
the date was November 9, 2003. A year has passed and how much growth
have we seen in this area?
Before we can evaluate how effective we have been with this core value
we need to talk about why we should even value it in the first place.
What makes Christians so sure that they have the truth that they must
share the good news of Christ with others? Isn't that a very arrogant
stance for us to take in the world in which we live? Aren't tolerance
and acceptance the things that we are to be striving for? Besides
haven't we gotten beyond the concept that any person can know and hold
onto truth? In a postmodern world where the philosophers tell us that
there is no longer a greater story, a meta-narrative which binds us all
together, how can the church be so presumptuous as to tell others that
they need Jesus and without him there is no hope in the life to come? We
are obligated to because we are Christians. That's why! When Jesus says
that we Christians are salt and light he is not saying, "Hey men and
women, boys and girls, if you kinda feel like it, could you maybe bring
me to others." It's like a line in the movie The Green Mile. Tom Hanks
is explaining the story of how come he has gotten so old and aged so
slowly. After hearing this, his friend replies that he was "infected with
life" and so he must go on living. Those of us who call ourselves
Christians have been infected with the life of Jesus. There is nothing
we should be able to do but share. Just like salt and light make their
presence known, so should we.
Let me explain this in another way. There once was a man who heard about
this great café called "The World Café." There were things on this menu
which were unique to this place. It offered everything the world had to
offer. This man started his meal with the jealousy salad with hate and murder
dressing. He washed it down with adultery ale. All of this was very good
at first but began to lose its taste after a while. Next he ordered the
anger soup but proceeded to get so upset he just skipped the rest of the
meal and went right for dessert. Rather than just a piece of lustful pie
he yelled at the waiter to bring him the whole thing, which he quickly
ate. This caused him to try and get the number of every woman in the
café and that got him in trouble with the waiting staff and the café
manager. "OK, OK" shouted the man. "Just bring me my bill." So they did.
Much to his surprise the total was a bit higher than he had expected.
You see, at The World Café, they don't print prices on the menu. It's
not one of those kind of places. The grand total for this man's
indulgences was his life. At first he thinks it is a joke but, he is
reminded of the jealousy salad, the adultery ale, anger soup, and the
whole lustful pie he ate all by himself. The man begged and pleaded with
the waiter for a way out. He didn't want to pay such a high price. The
waiter tells him that there is one person in the café who can help. The
waiter tells the man that if he just signs his bill over to this man
then he will pay for it with his own life. He then tells the man that he
has been invited to another banquet, one where the food is much better
than he has already eaten and that once you've eaten at that banquet
table, everything else is kind of bland. The man accepts the offer,
signs his bill over to Jesus, goes to the table and lives a happy and
fulfilled life.
Why do we need to introduce others to Christ? Because scripture tells us
that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." It also says,
"the wages of sin is death." Just like the man at The World Café we all
have to pay the bill someday. The truly remarkable thing is that we have
someone who willingly pays it for us. All we have to do is ask and sign
over the bill. Jesus said, "the Father and I are one. No one comes to
the Father except through me." If he was really God incarnate, then we'd
better take Jesus at his word and make sure that others follow him as
well.
That's the "why?" But how about the "how?" How are we to share who Jesus
is? How can we introduce him to others when we live in a post-Christian
society? We live in a day and age where we are happy when people are
merely apathetic about our beliefs. More often than not, people are
downright hostile towards Christians and Christianity.
I was at a conference once where a pastor in Santa Cruz had gone to the
mall and asked a bunch of people what they thought of Christians. Their
answers were amazing. They said things like: "judgmental, hypocritical,
hateful, spiteful, and mean. One person even suggested rounding up all
Christians and bludgeoning them to death." The truly remarkable thing
was when he asked the same people what they thought about followers of
Jesus they said: "kind, patient, loving, peaceful, kind to their
neighbor", and even, "the kind of person I wish I could be." This was
affirmed last year when my son Josh and I went to an alternative school
in Ashland to talk about Christianity. They had been studying world
religions and wanted an insider's view of Christianity. Josh and I
represented mainline Christianity and there were two high school
students from Ashland Christian Fellowship who represented
fundamentalist Christianity to the group. One of the students in the
class made a statement that was burned into my memory. She said, "If
Christians would only act like the Bible says they should act and do
what the Bible says they should do, then the world would be a much
better place." She was right. And that gets us into the "how" to tell
others.
How do you tell others? First, show up. How many of you have been here
when we have baptized an infant or child? You may remember that it's a
three way promise between the parents, the church and God to raise this
child to turn that check over to Jesus. You promised God and the parents
of those children to be a part of their faith development. I bet most of
you don't know that we don't currently have a fifth grade Sunday school
teacher. Judith is having to fill that position herself. It seems to me
that with 500 people in church every Sunday we should be able to find a
teacher. You might also like to know that there is a proposal to hire
someone from outside our church to watch our 3 year olds from 10:00 –
11:30 since we are having a hard time staffing that class. Heather is in
need of adult helpers in the Nursery and not just relying on Jr. & Sr.
High paid helpers. How should we tell others? Let's begin by modeling it
here so we might be better equipped to go out and do it.
When I first arrived at Westminster, a little over five years ago, I
inherited the group of adults who were working with our youth. I had one
of these volunteers who was kind of quiet in big group settings and when
the high school group started to average 50 – 80 students each week she
would interact with a smaller percentage of the group. She loved these
students and they loved her in return. She had a way of referring back
to her favorite quote often and at the time it would go right by me. In
the years that have passed I have begun to understand why it was so
important to her and why it is something that we all should pay closer
attention to. She would quote St. Francis of Assisi and say, "preach the
Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." What great words
those were and still are.
How should we tell others about Jesus? We should use our life first and
our mouth only when necessary. I have known too many preachers who have
used themselves as the example to strive for. They seem to set
themselves up above all others. That is the last thing that I want to do
so I rarely use my own life as a positive example. But, this summer, I
got it right, not on my own but, with a group of others and I want to
share how we told others about Jesus. Those of you who read my article
in our monthly newsletter, The Chimes, already know this. My friend
Moses informed me that after we left Kenya and headed home, he met the
person who runs the church near the lodge we stayed at while doing our
work with the farmers group in Kimana. The person asked Moses how we got
the lodge to give us room to do evangelism. Moses told him that we had
not done anything of the sort while at the lodge. In fact, we used the
lodge as a base while doing our work in town. Astonished that we had not
had a revival meeting, the preacher explained that quite a few hotel
staff had begun attending his church after we left. While staying at the
lodge we made friends with the staff and explained what we were doing,
but I can't remember anyone explicitly sharing the Gospel or giving
someone a copy of the four spiritual laws. No one prayed the sinner's
prayer with a staff member or even gave away a Bible. Somehow, just by
living our faith in this community, we communicated the good news of the
Gospel.
Saint Francis also said, "Start by doing what's necessary; then do
what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." This also
bore itself out in Kenya this summer. Many of you know that I regularly
wear a kilt. In fact, I have all but given up on wearing pants, except
on Sunday when I put on my suit. When I went to Kenya, I wore my kilts
and these intrigued the people. I told them that my ancestors are from
Ireland and that's the way my tribe traditionally dresses. I also told
them that kilts were way more comfortable than pants and questioned a
few of them as to why they were now wearing pants when they could have
been wearing a Shuka (the Maasai native attire which is a pretty close
cousin to a kilt). Some responded that they were told that Christians
should not wear this kind of clothes and they also went on to tell me
that they were told that Christian men should wear a coat and tie to
church. I was amazed at how our Western culture had seeped into their
world. Sunday rolled around and we were going to attend a Maasai church
and Moses presented me with my own Shuka. He said "if you are going to
worship in a Maasai church then you should dress like a Maasai, Bruce."
So I did. Moses and I, along with a couple of warriors wore our Shukas
to church and that's what I preached in and Moses interpreted in. On
Monday, Moses was asked to meet with some church leaders. They wanted to
know why he, and I, along with the other Maasai men had worn native
attire to church. Moses asked them to show him where it said in the
Bible that men should wear a coat and tie to church and neglect their
heritage. Without much of an answer Moses came back to the worksite just
a little bit angry. If the story ended there then you could say all that
was accomplished was we upset the church leaders who were already there.
The amazing thing, the impossible thing that was accomplished, is that
last month when Moses talked with his brother Tyson about our building
project he was informed that it was not as far along as it should have
been. You see, Tyson had to take a break from the business center that
we were building in order to get lumber, cement and siding for that
little Maasai church in the middle of nowhere. After we left, a bunch of Maasai elders and warriors heard about what we had done and decided that
they could be a Maasai and a Christian at the same time and had started
attending that church. It had grown so big that they needed to add on to
it so they sold a bunch of goats and some cattle in order to add on to
their church. We started with the necessary, did what was possible, and
God moved through people to create the impossible.
As we share in this meal today, my prayer is that that God's Spirit
might move in the hearts of those of us who claim to be Christians. May
we be reminded that in Christ's death we understand "why" we should tell
others. May we be shown ways in which we can figure out how to share
Jesus with others. May Westminster be a place where there is a pervasive
desire to introduce others to Christ.
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