Save me, Lord, from being a snob

This is the journal entry from my quiet time with God this morning. To see how I approach quiet time, go here. 

Look: “Abraham replied, ‘I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’” (Genesis 20:11) 

For the second time since he and his household left Ur to go to the land that God would show him, Abraham lies to a local king about who his wife, Sarah, is. 

While it’s true that Sarah is his half-sister, more significantly, she is his wife.
Here, the king in Gerar is warned in a dream that Sarah, who has been taken into his household to be one of his wives, is actually already married to Abraham. God warns him of dire consequences if he keeps Sarah. (In fact, already, the women of Gerar are unable to conceive children because of this un-consummated adultery.) 

I know nothing about the religious life of Gerar. But it is clear that there were people there who had encountered the God of Israel (as the king’s dream demonstrates) and that they had some recognition of His power. 

So, the king asks Abraham why he had lied about Sarah. This verse is the first part of Abraham’s “explanation.” 

Listen: What strikes me about Abraham’s answer is his belief that no one in Gerar fears the God he knows so well. “There is surely no fear of God in this place…” he tells himself. 

Abraham assumed that only he knew God. And while it is true that Abraham was to be the father of the nation of Israel and the spiritual father of all who come to know Israel’s God through Jesus, he should have known, of all people, that God was never completely unknown in the world. 

Back in Genesis 14, after fighting in a war for the liberation of family members, Abraham met a man who seems to show up from nowhere. He wasn’t a kinsman. He was Melchizedek, who came from Salem (later renamed Jerusalem). Here’s what we’re told:
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.’ Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” (Genesis 14:18-20) 

(The New Testament book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Himself was a priest in the order of Melchizedek.) 

My point is that Abraham underestimated both the power of God’s continuing presence to the people of the world and the fear of Him--awe, respect, and terror of His power--that existed among these “foreigners.” 

He reminds me of the self-pitying Elijah, who told God: "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." (1 Kings 19:14) I can hear the whininess in Elijah’s voice!
But God told him: “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him." (1 Kings 19:18) 

In other words, God was saying, get over your self-pity and your self-righteousness. There are more around you who believe than you know. 

And there are more who are willing to believe than we know, apparently. When Jesus gave the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:14-18; Luke 22:44-49; John 20:19-23; Acts 1:8), commanding the Church to share the good news of new life for all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ, the underlying assumption was that even people who knew nothing about God would want to be reconciled to Him through God-enfleshed, Jesus. Jesus deemed all people worthy of, needy of, and susceptible to salvation by grace through faith in Him. 

The apostle Paul understood the fact that he could find people open to the gospel wherever he went, even among non-Jews, Gentiles. 

Acts 17 contains one of my favorite incidents from Paul’s life and ministry. He goes to Athens. Everywhere he looks there, he sees statues to various deities. This is an abomination to a Jew. To Christians too. For those of monotheistic faith, there’s only one God and to give credence to dumb idols is a violation of the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods.” 

But the evidence of idolatry didn’t cause Paul to be dismissive of the Athenians. He didn’t think, as Abraham had, “there’s no fear of God here” and conclude that trying to fulfill the great commission there was a waste of time. 

Instead, he went to the Areopagus, the center of town where people discussed ideas and issues. It was sort of like Twitter without the 280-character limit. Then this happened:
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: 

“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for 

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 

29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:22-31) 

Paul begins by commending the people for the desire they have for the “unknown God” and he shows them how even one of their own poets had some level of fear in the one true God of all creation. 

Paul would suffer many times for his faith. But, unlike Abraham, he never disdained the possibility of faith in those around him. And he never lied to save his skin.
I confess that I can be an awful lot like Abraham and Elijah, men of faith who often yielded to their fears and self-righteousness. 

Paul had his own faults (I think of him as prickly), but he seems never to have allowed fear of the world to trump his fear of the Lord or his faith in Christ. 

And, following his conversion to Christ, Paul seems to have usually seen the possibilities in others. He never underestimated God’s love for those who didn’t know God fully. And He never underestimated God’s capacity to love them to life with Him through Jesus. 

Respond: Today, Lord, help me to see people, all people, as You see them: As objects of Your love for whom Jesus died and rose; as susceptible, by the power of Your Holy Spirit to the proclamation of Jesus as Lord; as people to whom Your truth is owed. Save me from being a snob. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen 

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Six Lessons on How to Share Your Faith

[This was shared during worship with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, earlier today.]

Acts 17:22-31
At the risk of sending you all for the doors at the outset, I’ll tell you that today we’re going to consider how to witness for Jesus Christ.

I’ve found that most sincere Christians want to share Jesus with others. But things get in our way.

And the biggest of these is fear. We’re afraid of saying “the wrong thing.” We're afraid of offending people the way some Christians do with their high-pressure tactics and their judgmental attitudes.

The result is that we don’t do anything. We don’t witness.

But we need to challenge our fears about sharing Christ.

Penn Jillette, one half of the magician-comedian team of Penn and Teller, is an atheist. Not long ago though, he said this about Christians who allow fear to get in the way of their sharing Christ with others (please consider his words carefully):

“If you believe [he said] that there’s a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell—or not getting eternal life or whatever—and you think that, well, it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward. . . . How much do you have to hate somebody to not [be a witness for Christ]? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

Even a thoughtful atheist understands a responsibility shared by every baptized believer in Jesus Christ. We Christians need to understand that responsibility too.

Pull out one of the pew Bibles and turn to page 703, please. Look at 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 9. It reminds Christians, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, God’s own special people.” Then Peter explains why God has made us these things: “That you may proclaim the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Indifference to the eternal destinies of others is not an option for those of us who follow Jesus Christ!

You and I haven’t been saved from sin and death just so we can sit around at church luncheons and visit with friends with whom we share a common faith…enjoyable as that is.

All baptized believers in Jesus have been made priests. A priest has two jobs: to represent people to God through our praying and to represent God to people through our witnessing for Christ.

Witnessing is the job of every Christian believer.

Disciple making is the job of every Christian believer.

After 35 years as a Christian, I confess that I’m embarrassed by my lackluster performance as a witness for Christ. What about you? And what are both you and I going to do about it? How will we witness for Christ?

Look now, please, at our second lesson, found on the Celebrate insert, Acts 17:22-31. Here’s the scene: It’s about 50AD and Paul, a tentmaker by trade, has set up shop in Athens, Greece, as he had already done in other ancient cities previously, looking for the chance to share Christ with others. Like him, whatever our profession, our real job is to share Christ in word and deed.

After spending parts of his days talking with others about Christ in the marketplace and the synagogue, Paul goes to the place in the city where all the leading thinkers go to talk things out, the Areopagus. It had once been a place where judicial judgments were rendered and had become a place where people talked about and debated ideas.

Here then from Paul's time at the Areopagus, recorded in our first Bible reading, are six lessons to teach you and me how to share Christ with others.

Lesson #1: Be ready, whenever the opportunity presents itself, to witness for Christ. In our second lesson, Peter tells us, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you…”

Paul was ready!

Digging into God’s Word, as we’re doing through Read the Bible in a Year, and helpless dependent prayer to God, are two essential ways God prepares us to tell others about the hope that we have in Christ.

Jesus tells us that we can be bold witnesses even when we confront people with hard hearts who persecute us for our faith. When we need the right words, Jesus says, “the Holy Spirit will teach you…what you ought to say.” Study God’s Word and pray; you’ll be ready to witness for Christ.

#2: Never be hostile. In Athens, Paul experienced a city that held to values and beliefs very different from his own. The Athenians worshiped all sorts of gods and godlets, rather than honoring the one God of the universe revealed over time to Israel and, ultimately, in Jesus.

The Athenians also loved the latest fads and the freshest big ideas. They lacked the steady joy and stability that Paul had through the singular focus of all his allegiance and belief on Jesus Christ.

Paul could have upbraided the Athenians for their faithlessness and flightiness.

But instead, as the Eighth Commandment (You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor), teaches Christians to do, Paul put the most charitable construction on the life and culture of the faithless city. Read his words in verse 22: “Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.’” Paul wasn't hostile. He was charitable toward the unbelieving, spiritually disconnected people he met in Athens. We should be too.

Most unbelieving or spiritually disconnected people you and I know aren’t sinister atheists joined with Satan in a knowing conspiracy. They’re people who haven’t met the real God the Father or the real God the Son, Jesus.

Your unbelieving friends are just like you: sinners in need of a Savior. They would like to know God. They just haven’t been introduced to Him yet.

You can be the one to do the introductions.

Never be hostile!

#3: Meet people where they are. That’s what Paul does in verses 23 to 28. He mentions a statue to an unknown god, no doubt erected there by Athenians fearful of the bevy of gods they worshiped, who, by and large, viewed human beings as play things to be toyed with.

Paul meets the Athenians where they are, saying that this unknown God had been revealed for all to know. He’s the God of all creation, first revealed to the Israelites and now plain for all to see in Jesus. Meet people where they are, so you can help them see all that God is and the life-giving relationship He wants to give to them.

#4: Enter the worlds of your unchurched friends. Paul, we see, had spent time listening to and reading the Athenians’ own poets and philosophers. He was interested in them.

We need to show an interest in our unchurched friends. (And by the way, if you don't have any unchurched friends, do what Paul did: Make them!)

We have to be interested in others. One of the things that impresses me in reading the story of evangelist Billy Graham's life is that when he went to Wheaton College, where he might have been expected to major in Religion or Christian Ministry, he chose to major in Anthropology. He felt called to share the Gospel around the world and to do so, he wanted to understand people from around the world.

Paul was confident that the God revealed in Jesus was (and is) the one true Creator and Savior of the universe. But he was not arrogant. He entered the world of these unbelieving people with an appreciation of their value in the eyes of the God Who had died and risen for them.

God inspired my friend, Pastor Steve Sjogren, to create modern servant evangelism. Through practical outreaches like giving cold water or Coke to people at busy intersections, re-upping nearly expired parking meters, or giving away coupons to be redeemed at filling stations, all in the Name of Jesus, the stereotypes of churches as places of judgment that just want people’s money are undermined.

One of Steve’s outreaches involves cleaning toilets in places of business: bars, restaurants, filling stations, convenience markets. (He trained me in this outreach and later, the youth of my previous congregation used to go with me to do this.)

It’s an eye-opener when a harried clerk is told by two people holding cleaning kits, “We’re here to clean your toilets” and when the clerk asks why, hearing, “We’re trying to share God’s love in a practical way.”

Steve tells about what happened at one business where he and another church members did this outreach. As he cleaned the toilet in the men’s room, the clerk approached him and asked, “Why are you doing this again?” Steve said, “We just think that if Jesus were walking on the earth today, He probably would be cleaning toilets for busy people like you.”

The man said, as tears formed in his eyes, “That’s the kind of thing I think He would do today, too.”

Jesus is God Who entered a sinful world to share His life with people in desperate need of Him. As Jesus’ ambassadors, we need to be willing to enter the worlds of others and love them into relationship with Jesus.

(Later this summer, by the way, we’re going to do some kindness outreaches here in Logan so that we too, can share Jesus in practical ways with our unchurched neighbors.)

#5: When the time is right, make sure you convey the way to reconciliation with God. Look at verse 30. Paul says, in the Daniels paraphrase: “OK. You’ve been ignorant about this unknown God until now. But now, you know. He calls us all to experience oneness with Himself by repenting for our sins and entrusting our lives to Jesus Christ.” Paul also says, you see, that there will be a judgment day. All people will be judged, but those who have been made righteous (that is, made right with God) by believing in Christ will be with God forever.

And, he points out, the guarantee for that has been sealed by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. We need point people to repentance and faith in Jesus as the way to reconciliation with God.

#6: Don’t go on and on. (This is something Ann has been trying to teach me for years!) Paul’s words about Jesus’ resurrection raised controversy. He chose not to argue. Instead, he left, willing to let the Holy Spirit use the short speech he had made to nudge people toward faith in Christ.

This is what social historian and pastor Leonard Sweet calls “nudge evangelism.”  The quickest way to turn people off to God is through long harangues.

It’s best to give people something to think about so that the next time they encounter you or another Christian, they’ll want to know more about Jesus.

People are always nudged to Jesus; they are never dragged to Him.

The Bible tells us that it’s the Holy Spirit Who makes it possible for people to believe in Jesus.

And Jesus says that it is He Who will build His Church, not us.

But, if we will ask God to help us to be faithful witnesses, God can and will use our witness to nudge people to faith in Christ.

So, these are today's six lessons on how we can be faithful witnesses for Jesus Christ to the unchurched and the unbelieving:

• Through Bible study and prayer, be ready.*
• Never be hostile. 
• Meet people where they are. 
• Enter the worlds of the unchurched. 
• When the time is right, make clear the way of reconciliation with God, which is repentance for sin and faith in Jesus Christ alone. 
• And don’t go on and on.

Now, I’ll follow my own advice, refraining from going on and on.

But, by all means, as you leave here today, go determined to share Jesus Christ with unbelieving and unchurched neighbors with boldness, love, and humility. Amen

*Of equal importance is regular worship with fellow believers, active engagement in church life, and regularly receiving Holy Communion. More on these things another time. They're all assumed here as this was a sermon given to a congregation of people who do these three things.

"Never Alone"

That's the title of a sermon based on tomorrow's Gospel lesson, John 14:15-21, which I wrote three years ago, here. I hope you find it helpful.

Tomorrow, I'll be preaching on Acts 17:22-31, a favorite passage of mine.

A Look at This Sunday's Bible Lessons (April 27, 2008)

[Each week, I take at least one "pass" at the appointed Bible lessons for the following Sunday. I do this to help my own preparation for preaching and worship. But I also do it to help the folks of the congregation I serve as pastor, Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, to get ready for Sunday morning. Because I almost always use the lessons of the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) associated with the Church Year, used by most Christians each week, I hope that others will find these passes helpful too.]

The Bible Lessons:
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:8-20
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21

The Prayer of the Day:
Almighty and ever-living God, you hold together all things in heaven and on earth. In your great mercy receive the prayers of all your children, and give to all the world the Spirit of your truth and peace, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Comments:
1. This Sunday will be the Sixth Sunday of Easter, the next to last Sunday of the Easter season. Ascension Day, which remembers the return of thr risen Jesus to heaven, is this coming Thursday. May 11 will bring the Festival of Pentecost, when the promised Holy Spirit came to believers, just as Jesus promised. This Sunday's Gospel lesson records one of the times when Jesus made this promise.

2. I used to wonder why passages from Jesus' Farewell Discourse (see here and here) were appointed for the Easter season. After all, Jesus spoke the words in last week's, this week's, and next week's Gospel lessons just before He was arrested and crucified. Why would we look at these lessons on three of the Sundays in a season especially devoted to recalling Jesus' resurrection?

The answer is simple, I think: Jesus, as He spoke these words, was physically leaving His first followers. His death would bring about their separation from Him. His words, especially those in this Sunday's Gospel lesson, were meant to assure the disciples that He would not leave them "orphaned." He would send His Spirit to those who trust in Him.

Today, as we live without the physical presence of the risen Jesus, we could feel "orphaned." But the words in Sunday's Gospel lesson assure us that we are not alone.

3. The lesson from Acts is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It recounts what happened when the apostle Paul arrived in Athens to share the message of new life for all who believe in Jesus Christ. As a pious Jew who believed in one true God of the universe, the God he believed to be definitively revealed in Jesus, Paul would have been revolted by the way in which the Greeks worshiped many gods.

Instead, he accepted the Athenians where they were spiritually and, commenting on a statue devoted to an "unknown God," told them about this unknown deity.

It's a great example of sensitive Christian witnessing. Without condescension, but with a firm commitment to Jesus Christ, Paul met the Athenians at the intersection of his story, the Athenians' story, and God's story.

4. The psalm is a bold declaration that God refines our faith by taking us through adversity.

Today, we're called to trust an invisible God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In a reflection on Genesis 28:5, when Isaac sent his son Jacob away, Martin Luther discussed the patience this cultivated in the younger man:

Jacob waited many years for the promised blessing...

This is a wonderful example that shows us how God works. He requires us to trust his word and his promises even when the opposite of those promises is happening to us. Jacob had the promised blessing, but he had to hold onto it by faith and not doubt what he couldn't see...[This] example teaches us to live by faith. We should believe God when he promises to love and protect us, take care of us, and listen to us, even though we might not see it happening...

We must learn to depend on the visible Word of our invisible and incredible God...This is difficult for us because we are used to things we can touch, see, or feel. We have to learn to let go of what we can experience only with our senses and live according to what is invisible.

Fortunately, as we take the leap of faith into God's arms, we have the promises of a Savior Who, promises of life forever with God and of God's presence with us always. Jesus seals those promises with His death and resurrection.

5. The passage from First Peter, written to churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), is a reminder that following Jesus is no guarantee that our lives will go smoothly. People may reject us for our faith in Christ. We may even suffer for it. But, Peter reminds us, our hope is for a life with God that not even death will be able to destroy.

I love Peter's words in verses 15b-16:

Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

The Good News we claim in Jesus Christ is authenticated when our witness is loving, devoid of condescension like Paul's witness in Athens.

For more, go here.