"In my own self-appraisal, I believe
that Evalyn and I have been good pastors to you, and have served
the church and the denomination well. We've had good times of
worship and fellowship with you, and we've taught you what we
knew about God, the Bible, and living the Christian life. We obviously
didn't know everything to start with, and we've been learning
even as we've been teaching. This past two months, I feel we've
grown tremendously, and what I want to do today is let you know
just what it is that we've found out. I can summarize it this
way: there is much, much more to Christianity than I ever believed
there was, even though I came to you as a presumably well-trained
minister. What more is there? First, there is much that God has
given us - rights and gifts - that we have never accepted. Second,
there is much He's given us to do - grave responsibilities - that
we have neither accepted nor discharged.
"Why haven't we taken what is rightfully
ours, and why haven't we discharged our Christian responsibilities?
I think the answer to both questions is the same: first, we aren't
aware of what the rights and responsibilities are; and second,
even once we know what they are, we are sometimes willfully choosing
not to accept either the gifts or the jobs.
"Let's talk about 'knowing': whose
fault is it that we don't know? Well, folks, it's yours, and it's
mine. It's yours because God has been quite clear about much of
what we ought to have and ought to do, and He's given a Bible
full of good advice plus His own Holy Spirit to interpret it.
He's made it clear that, with the Holy Spirit's help, each one
of us can know and can do. We don't require any other interpreter
or direction giver. So, clearly, it is your fault.
"But you don't have to take all the
blame, because it's my fault, too - me, meaning me as your pastor
and as a representative of all organized religion. We've confused
the issue so much that, one, you think you need us to tell you
what to do, and two, we've done a really bad job of doing it.
But, then again, it's your fault for abdicating your responsibility
to us, and letting us do such a bad job!
"Let me be more specific about the
church shortfall. I see it as a combination of making Christianity
both too hard and too easy. We make it too hard by seldom presenting
it all. For instance, you hear church people talk about the 'full
Gospel', but do you know what that means? Chances are you don't,
not if you've learned your Christianity from a denominational
church, because few of us preach that 'full Gospel' to you. We
give you those parts that we are most comfortable with - the parts
that we think we understand - and conveniently forget the rest.
That's how denominations come into being: some of us church people
aren't comfortable with the part of the Gospel that others are
preaching, or we see some new 'truth' that we don't think others
are seeing. Either way, we decide to accentuate the differences,
and dwell on our own little piece of the puzzle. The only way
you can get the other pieces is to go to other churches - which,
of course, we frown on. You're 'ours', and we don't want you tainted
or confused in those other places!
"How do we make Christianity too
easy, then? We do that by not letting you know in no uncertain
terms that if you are a Christian, you have some tough responsibilities
that must be taken care of. We do it by not letting you know that,
to a certain extent at least, your Christianity depends on fulfilling
these responsibilities. We seem to give out the message from the
pulpit that if you come to church regularly and are at least a
minor pillar of the community, you're doing okay. That's not true,
folks. If I've given you that impression over the years, wipe
it out of your minds right now. It's a dangerous misconception!"
"What are these gifts, rights, and
responsibilities that I've been alluding to? Let's take the 'get'
side of the equation first. The biggest, best gift, of course,
is the gift of salvation. We all know what that means, don't we?
John 3:16: for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
everlasting life."
"I hear you saying 'Amen.' You should
be. What a gift! Do you have it?" Do you? I hope you're not
saying 'amen' just because you think the pastor expects it. I
hope you're thinking about what you're saying 'amen' to. Stop
a minute; I want you to really think about it."
"Now that you're thinking, and now
that I've made such a point of it, I'll let it go for now. But
I'll come back to it in a few minutes. Right now, let's talk about
the other gifts."
"The second best gift, which you
get after you accept the first, is the privilege of full-time
access to God's Holy Spirit, from now until Jesus comes again,
and beyond. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as the Comforter,
and He says - in chapters 14, 15 and 16 of the Gospel of John
- that we won't need to worry or be lonely when He's gone because
He's sending this new Comforter, who will teach us all things
and bring to our remembrance all things that Jesus said, and who
will guide us into all truth. Jesus Himself encouraged His disciples
with the assurance of the Holy Spirit's arrival and presence.
For example, in Matthew 10, He warned them that they would get
into trouble with the authorities for being involved with Him,
but that they had nothing to worry about. They didn't need to
worry because - verses 19 and 20 - the Holy Spirit would speak
through them and say what needed to be said. Later Christian writers
were tuned in to that promise, also. Remember that 'James' advises
us to call on the Holy Spirit if we lack wisdom.
"Well,we have salvation, and we have
all the comfort and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. What other gifts
did Jesus make available to us? What about the ability to cast
demons and unclean spirits out of people, and the ability to heal
people of all kinds of diseases? You say that you don't believe
in casting things out of people? Well, Jesus did, and He gave
that power to His followers - see Matthew 10:1, for an example.
You say that we have doctors to heal people? True, but they had
doctors then, so I wonder why Jesus thought his disciples should
have that gift - see Matthew 10:1, again. He also apparently gave
individual gifts of teaching ability, prophesy, discernment, and
such. I don't find where Jesus specifically mentions these, but
others like Paul and James seem clear that He did, and those gifts
were certainly being used. All were the result of the Holy Spirit,
of course, working through individuals, and it's clear from Jesus'
words that He meant them to empower His people to carry on the
work He had started. Empower, folks. He had no illusions about
how tough the battle would be, and in order to prevail Christians
had to have power to match Satan's power.
"This is a little digression, but
some churches teach that all these supernatural-type gifts were
just for those first disciples, and were taken away once the Bible
was complete. I have trouble with that, for two reasons. First,
tell me why they would be taken away? Jesus hasn't returned, Satan
is still as strong as ever, and the battle is still raging. Why
would He expect us to operate with less power than the original
Christians had? If we believe that Jesus' return is imminent -
who knows whether that means hours, days, years, or centuries
from now; we know it's getting closer! - then wouldn't we expect
Satan to be playing even rougher with us than he did with the
early disciples? I have to believe we need all the power we can
get!
"As for the second reason I don't
believe the gifts are gone, it's a practical one. I've seen them
in action. Not all of them yet, but what I see and what I hear
makes me completely confident that God's gifts are being used
for God's glory today, and we all need to be aware of that. Then,
most importantly, we need to take advantage of their availablility."
"Salvation. Comfort. Wisdom. Assurance.
Direct power from God. They're all here, folks. You can have them.
You need them. If you don't have them, you can't do - I repeat,
can't do - what God wants, needs, and expects you to do. And that
leads me to the second topic: what does He expect?
"I think He expects three things
from us: that we spread the Gospel, that we love one another,
and that we become a functioning member of the Body of Christ.
The last may be a combination of the first two, or maybe the logical
outgrowth of doing the first two. In any event, I'll sum it all
up under those three headings.
"First, spread the Gospel. We're
told to go forth into all the world and preach the Gospel - the
good news - to everyone. That good news is that we have salvation
through Jesus' death for our sins and His resurrection for our
lives. I quoted John 3:16 a while ago; that's it, that's the good
news.
"If we really believe Jesus, then
preaching the Gospel isn't a mere intellectual exercise that we
can choose to do or not do. Because the 'good news' also has some
bad news built into it. The 'up' side is, believe in Jesus and
you will be saved; the 'down' side is, don't believe and you won't
be saved. There is no other way. In other words, accepting Jesus
as our personal savior is absolutely a matter of life or death.
Do you want people to die alienated from God? Then get out there
and preach the Gospel!
"Here's where I get back to my earlier
provocative question about whether or not you are a Christian.
If you are, then you believe what I just said - that there is
no way to reconciliation with God except through Jesus. Is that
hard for you? Do you immediately think: but what about Bill? He's
always been a good person. Surely, God wouldn't... Yes, God would!
Your Bible clearly chronicles all the opportunities God has given
mankind to straighten out. This is the last chance. He doesn't
lie. Consequently, 'being good' doesn't do the job.
"Maybe you say, but what about all
those Buddhists, or what about the lost tribes of the Amazon who
have never been exposed to Christianity? Well, you can wonder
about how God did or will get the message to those folks, but
you may never find out. If God is God, then we have to trust Him
when He says that everyone - everyone - will have the opportunity
to either accept Him or reject Him. No, there's no way around
it, people. If you are a Christian, you can only believe one thing
about salvation - that it comes through acceptance of the free
gift that God gave us through Jesus Christ. And if you believe
that, then you must spread the word!"
"So, what does 'spread the Gospel'
mean? Am I exhorting you to knock on doors and deliver religious
tracts, or to enlist as a missionary to some remote jungle kingdom?
No, I'm really not. There are times and places for those activities
- God spreads His message in many different ways - but the important
thing to remember is that you are the message! Some people trust
and believe what they've been told without questions, but most
people believe what they see. You really have no other message
but your life; you are the Gospel, incarnate, if you are living
it. You can't convince most people how wonderful organized religion
is, because most people can give you two bad - and possibly true
- stories about religion for every one good one you can come up
with. You can't talk about how wonderful Christians are, because
there are too many Christians around who are anything but wonderful.
You can't tell them Christians lead happy, fulfilled, contented
lives because they know of too many incidents of crime, adultery,
suicide, unhappy marriages, and other social ills that involve
professing Christians. So, what do you have to use to convince
them that Jesus is the way for them? You have only this: your
life, coupled with His words. It's not a perfect life, but it's
a life that reflects those attributes and attitudes that the reasonable
and prudent man or woman (to use a legal test) would expect a
follower of Jesus to exhibit. We've been talking about those traits
for several weeks now, things like a loving and non-judgmental
nature, a quiet spirit, stability, honesty, integrity, and concern
for others. Think about it this way: what would you expect from
a person who was trying to convince you of the goodness of Jesus
Christ? Remember Matthew 5:16: let your light so shine before
men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father
in Heaven. They see you, but they glorify God! And what about
the song we sing: they will know we are Christians by our love.
"I say it again: you are the message.
Maybe you'll use a written tract to reinforce or explain what
they see, but it's you. God may call you to Africa, but whether
your mission is to people in Africa or to your own family, it's
you. Billy Graham may have ten thousand people stand up for Jesus
at one of his crusades, but if the crusade conversions last out
the month it will be because of you. God doesn't work without
you, the individual, letting your light shine before other individuals.
You are the message!
"All right, the first thing He expects
from us is that we spread the Gospel. The second is that we love
one another. Do you love one another? What does it mean to love
one another? Depending on the circumstances, love is probably
the most misused, overused, and underused word in human speech.
It's misused to describe a lot of drives and emotions that are
very human, but may be only marginally associated with love. It's
overused when it is said without any evidence of feeling or meaning
behind it, and when it is used as a key word to get something
we want. It's underused when people really need to hear it - and
feel it - from us, and we don't express it. But the uses aside,
what is it?
"I came up with a definition for
love that I think is pretty good and pretty accurate: active
caring. In that definition are two thoughts. The first is
that we really care about people. We're concerned about what happens
to them. We're interested in who they are, what they want and
need, and what they aspire to. They aren't just entities that
we use to get what we need, but real people who count for something.
The second thought involves action: real concern, leading to action.
It is sometimes proactive, when we anticipate the needs of those
we love; other times, it is reactive, when we see a need and respond
to signals sent us by another person. Love is active right now,
but it also anticipates the future.
"First Corinthians 13 is often referred
to as the 'love chapter', because the apostle Paul gives us a
lot of good terms to describe love. Starting with verse 4, we
find that love is patient and kind, and isn't jealous or envious.
Love isn't conceited or self-centered, but seeks to build up the
ones loved. Love isn't easily upset or provoked, and it looks
for the good and not the bad in every situation - it 'accentuates
the positive', to quote an old song. Love thrives on truth, and
hates falsehood. It may be stressed, but it hangs on. It never
fails, but endures forever.
"You shouldn't be surprised that
the attributes of love are pretty much the same as the attributes
of Jesus and of Christians that I recited earlier. Jesus is the
manifestation of God's love, just as we - with the help of the
Holy Spirit - are meant to be the living evidence of God's love
until Jesus returns.
"I mentioned that love is both short-term
and long-term. The short-term aspects deal with our interactions
with people today and tomorrow - being there for them, and truly
sharing ourselves with them. But love also looks to the future.
The need for salvation is an obvious ultimate need that can't
be overlooked, but I'm also thinking about how love might manifest
itself in the earthly long-term, as well. One topic that came
to my mind is conservation. We know that we're eventually going
to go out of this world, and I think that knowledge sometimes
makes Christians a little cavalier about pollution control, recycling,
energy conservation, and such. We all know that God will protect
us from the ultimate effects of those earthly ills. But have you
stopped to think how deep the garbage might get, or how cold and
hungry we could be, if Jesus' return turns out to be five hundred
years from now, rather than the day after tomorrow? It's grim
for a lot of the world's population right now - someone is clearly
not showing much love for them! - but it could get a whole lot
grimmer for everyone who's left in later years. Is it loving to
leave that kind of heritage to our children and grandchildren?
My point is that love, like all of life in Christ, is not a set
of behaviors engineered to turn people on to Jesus. It's a way
of life that automatically seeks the best for people, be it their
spiritual best or their physical best, their short-term individual
best or their long-term collective best. It can't be faked or
finessed; it has to be real; it has to be you.
"If I could hear your thoughts right
now, I bet I'd hear more than a few of you protesting that, Christian
or not, you just can't love that way. You've never been an outgoing
person, and you're wary of close relationships. Or you just aren't
interested in people, that way. Or you've never been personally,
vulnerably close to other people, and you wouldn't know how to
start. Never fear; remember that we're not learning a bunch of
personality tricks. We're inviting the Holy Spirit to take more
and more of our life under His control, so that He may make us
the loving people that He wants us to be.
"Just a few more thoughts on love,
to tie back to spreading the Gospel. You can't convince people
of the love of Jesus Christ without that love being apparent in
you. The Holy Spirit may convict a person of their need for God
through a Christian crusade or some other impersonal encounter,
but at some time that first spark has to be turned into a fire
through real, caring relationships with loving Christians. Otherwise,
it will die. Do you remember the resentment and rebellion expressed
in one of the songs from the musical 'Natural High' [composed
by Ralph Carmichael and Kurt Kaiser - Lexicon Music], sung
by a young man who sensed the mechanical nature of some 'soul
saving' efforts? 'I don't want to be a feather in some do-gooder's
cap, just another notch upon your pearly gun.' People know whether
you care about them, or whether you're just working your way into
Heaven. You're not supposed to be winning souls and influencing
people, to misquote a book title; you're supposed to be loving
people into the Kingdom of God!
"It follows, then, that love endures
after conversion; we don't turn it off once the fish is caught,
to save what we have for the next prospect. But something that
may not be so clear is that it endures even if you don't close
the deal! People still need your love and concern, whether or
not they accept your message. One of the best proofs of your love
- your active caring - is that it lasts even after the Gospel
message has apparently been rejected. Remember the old adage about
loving the sinner, but hating the sin? In any event, talking about
the love of Jesus is never wasted. Your words may be the seeds,
and the continuing love felt from you and other Christians may
yet act as the water and the nutrition needed to make the seed
grow."
"Okay, my last point: just as God
wants each of us to spread the Gospel and to love one another,
He also expects each of us to be an active, functioning part of
the Body of Christ. Most of you are familiar with the scriptures
that portray all Christians together as the embodiment of Jesus
on earth during this interim time period. Until Jesus returns,
all that the world will know about God is what they read in the
Bible, and see and feel in us and in His Holy Spirit. I won't
take the time to explore this theme in depth, but I urge you all
to read and study Paul's description of the 'body' in First Corinthians
12. Paul sets forth some of the functions of the Christian Body,
and then compares that Body with the human body. He notes that
both organisms need all their parts. In the Body of Christ, we
are the parts: we Christians, past and present and future. To
be fully functional, this Body needs all its parts working properly,
with no disabilities. That means each of us must be working properly
as a Christian. And finally, this Christian Body needs all the
parts doing the jobs they were designed for. This last requirement
isn't usually a problem in the human body - a lung can't do the
job of a finger - but in the Christian Body right now, there are
lots of 'lungs' doing the work of 'toes', and lot of 'toes' doing
'finger' work. The Body isn't working right as long as this is
happening.
"I think the message is clear from
this: we must do our jobs as evangelists, and we must do our jobs
as lovers before the Body of Christ can function properly. I have
a hypothesis about that - one that can't be proven until Jesus
returns, but I think a pretty good one to think about. This is
it: God is ready for Jesus to come back at any time. He's just
waiting for us to get ready. When He feels it's as good as it's
going to get - when the Gospel is spread, when all souls are saved
who are going to be saved, and when all other earthly chores that
He's assigned have been completed - He'll be here faster than
you can say 'Hallelujah'. If I'm right in my hypothesis, then
it's all up to us. We can spin our wheels; we can choose not to
take advantage of the Holy Spirit's help; we can divide ourselves
into denominations and keep ourselves disabled and retarded; and
we can refuse to relate to the rest of the world in love. Conversely,
we can embrace the Holy Spirit, quit the fighting and quibbling
amongst ourselves, and get on with the business at hand. Personally,
I'm ready for Jesus to come back. I think you are, too.
"To return briefly to the question I asked earlier: are you a Christian? Nobody can answer that but you and God. I just want you to think about one thing: when Jesus returns, there are going to be some to whom He says 'I never knew you'. The implication in that scripture is that these people are expecting to be with Jesus; in effect, they are professing Christians. Why would He refuse them? The only answer that I can come up with is that their profession will not agree with reality, that they aren't truly Christians, after all. How can that be? Honestly, I don't know, but it seems to me that truly confessing and professing Him must mean that the professing manifests itself in some tangible evidence. Are you really a new creation in Christ? Are you keeping His commandments? Do you love one another? I'm not trying to scare you; God doesn't expect us to be perfect yet, and I know He'll stand for a few spots and blemishes, sins of commission, and sins of omission. I'm only asking you to examine yourself and your profession of faith. If you understand the meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection, and if your life generally shows the fruits of the Spirit - even with a few wrinkles and dark places - than I think you're okay. If you don't feel you're okay, God is still ready to make things right. If you are okay, then get to work. I plan to."
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NOTE: This sermon by Pastor Josh Felton is from Chapter 51 of "If God is God," by Sandy Wilbur. Read more of Josh's sermons, or get the whole book.