this week's sermon

An Unknown God

I sometimes have the opportunity to teach college students and have two classes that I especially love. One is called Spiritual Wellness and the other is Comparative Religions. I love teaching these classes because I love watching God at work in the lives of my students. It is inspiring to watch students come in to these courses searching to grow in their spiritual and religious lives and then to see how God will meet them in their journey. I, once had a student once who was a devout Christian in a Pentecostal church. This student was bothered by the fact that there was only one way to beleive and I was not making that clear. She questioned me and asked how I could allow students to be exposed to all kinds of spiritual beliefs when as a Christian pastor, I knew there was only one way. I do not know if I made any sense to the student when I explained that I have complete confidence in God’s grace and that I knew that God would reach these open and searching students right where they were.

I think that Paul must have known that too. As we hear the scripture this morning, we hear him speaking eloquently to folks who had very different beliefs than he did and yet he was able to speak in their language in his efforts to share Jesus Christ with them. We hear Paul, a devout Jew turned Christian, speak to a Greek audience and it is something to behold. Listen to Paul as he begins his treatise. “I see how religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of worship , I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an Unknown God”. I love this beginning. Paul was a brilliant man. He was being grilled by a tribune of angry folks who want to string him up for his outlandish religious beliefs and he began by complimenting them and showing them that he is well aware of their culture and their beliefs. He continued to share the commonalities that they had with his belief system and he spoke to them in the manner that they spoke to each other. He even used references to Greek poets in preparing his argument. He shocked them by sharing just how intellectual he was and much to their surprise, many of them decided to become converts.

Paul was a successful evangelist for many reasons but one of them was that he knew how to place himself in other cultural settings. He did not belittle his audiences. Instead, he used what they knew to help build a bridge to a greater understanding. This is a trait that I belief we all should emulate today. So let’s look to Paul for some needed advise in this effort.

Firstly, Paul knew that his mission in life was to make disciples of Jesus Christ. In everything he thought or did, he looked through this filter. When he met new folks, he planned how to share the good news with them. When he spoke to the folks who were already believers, he thought about how to lift them up so that they could be better disciples. He was beaten and tortured for his faith and yet he did his best to treat folks with love and care so that his actions as well as his words would witness to Christ.

How about you? Do you look at life through the correct lens? Those of you who wear glasses know that if you have the wrong lenses, you can’t see very well. Your vision is fuzzy, distorted or blocked altogether. We all need to check our lenses frequently to ensure that we are on the right path. Where is your lens pointed today? When we meet new folks we need to think about how to act so that our witness as Christ’s followers will be a positive one. We want to be able to fit into their worlds enough so that we can share our commonalities and yet we want to be different enough so that folks know who we belong to. As Christians we do not follow after the gods of this world. We do not follow after material goods, power, prestige or any of the other gods that the world seems to espouse. We follow Christ and that should influence every thing else. How we spend our money, how we treat people, the habits that we enjoy should all show our Christian discipleship. You can’t sport a bumper sticker promoting Christ and cut folks off while you drive. You can’t gossip about your neighbors and then invite them to a church activity.

It is not always easy to follow Christ in this way. We all want to have a good witness. We want to follow Christ and to show the world that we are doing the right things and yet we are human. It is hard to allow folks to say things that hurt us and not to strike back. It is hard to watch folks take moral corners and not correct them and yet that is what we need to do as Christ’s followers. When new Christians enter the fold, they often have an abundance of bad habits. They are used to living one way and they bring that way with them. These new Christians need to be nurtured and taught lovingly about how disciples are supposed to act. It is up to the mature Christians to model for them how to be a follower. It is often a real challenge and yet with the correct lens, we are able to focus on the task at hand.

So, Paul had a one track focus; to make disciples of Jesus Christ and that influenced all that he did. He truly wanted others to come to know Christ’s saving grace and that allowed him to reach out to others who were not believers. When he went into a new city, his first thought was as to how to share Christ with these folks. He knew that he could not use one approach with every one that he met. What resonated with Jews did not with the Greeks. What worked with the Romans would not with some of the other folks that he met. He did his best to share the message of Christ in a manner that worked for the people that he was spending time with. Do we do that ? Are we good bridge builders?

Like Paul, we too need to vary our approach so that others who may not be like us, will feel that they have found a home with us. We are looking to share Christ with folks who may never have developed a relationship with him. We are also trying to share Christ with folks who are already Christians but are looking for a church home. We are trying to make disciples of young people who are hearing the gospel for the first time. And lastly we are trying to share Christ with one another. Truly, this can be a monumental task because what works for one group, does not work for the others. Luckily, Paul taught us that we are all gifted differently so that together we make up the body- And Lord, knows that we need this variety of gifts.

There are some among us who have their pulse on youth. They know what the youth think, how they have fun and what attracts them. Youth will need to have a sense of fun in worship. They want to know that they are listened to and that the worship activities reflect issues that are relevant to them. They liked fast paced activities and they like music that reflects their style. When we try to attract youth, we are looking at a variety of approaches. We want to make sure that they have a special program just for them but we also want them to see how relevant our regular worship is for them as well. When we have young adults who go through confirmation, we want to show them that their input in decision making is important as well.

Sharing the gospel with folks who have never had a relationship with Christ is similar. We need to get out into their territory and show them how we are relevant to their situation. That is why we are involved in our Neighbor Helping Neighbor committee. That is why we have the food pantry and the Vestry. In an effort to speak their language, we need to show them that their needs and concerns are our needs and concerns. When we are sharing food or inexpensive goods or services for the community, we are also sharing Christ both non-verbally and eventually verbally as well.
It is easier in some ways to share Christ with folks who are looking for a church home. They are coming to us after all. And yet, it is up to us to show them that this is a good place to come home to, spiritually speaking. We need to of course make them feel welcome while they are here. We are working on our welcome bags but coffee hours, and outreach is the next step. And then we need to take a futher step by inviting folks into our lives. Dropping a card, bringing over a plate of cookies, and inviting new folks to get to know you is the next step. I remember staying at a church that I visited because I was courted! I was invited to a dinner by one family and to a church activity by another. I felt wanted so I stayed. I also remember being at a church for a long time and watching “the group” leave church each week to go to breakfast together. My kids and I never got invited and I never really felt like I belonged. We need to be very aware of how folks who are not used to our culture might feel. And finally, a harder step is in allowing ourselves to change and grow because the new folks have new ideas and new ways of doing things. We accept new folks and then marry them. We take our single ways and their single ways and learn how to come up with a new way. It is not easy. So often I hear folks say, why do we have to change? If they want to join us they have to accept that this is who we are!
Unfortunately, that is not Christ’s way and it is not our mandate either. We are to go and make disciples not try to stick with the status quo.

And that brings us to our last group. Ourselves. How do we share Christ with each other? I guess I have to come back to Rev. Chase’s favorite Bible verse, “ Love kindness, do justice and walk humbly with your God“. We need to remember to be kind with each other. We need to remember to forgive each other when the other falls and we need to keep God at the center of all of our relationships. Mostly, we need to remember it is not about us. Jesus never left us the message that we should make choices that were pleasing to us. He never said that we should be comfortable or wealthy or at ease. He certainly insisted that the church of his day, learn to value love not the status quo. He turned the tables, literally, on the way that things were done and he did it so that new folks would come to know God.

This is our mandate today. We are to make disciples in Jesus name. It is an awesome responsibility and it will take all that we have and all that we are. Like Paul, we will need to act in new ways so that others will be comfortable enough to hear the message. Paul was not likely impressed with cultures that belittled his God and adored idols and yet he was able to reach out to these lost people with love and compassion and intelligence. We can not afford to do less.

God has blessed us with lovely facilities and wonderful church members. And as God’s stewards, it is up to us to see how to minister to each other and to our community so that a hundred years from now our great grandchildren will be making disciples. Or perhaps our efforts will be so good that Jesus will decide to come again and usher us into the new millennium. Either way, when we meet Jesus he will say to us, Well done good and faithful servant! Amen..

United Church of Monmouth welcomes you!

United Church of Monmouth
welcomes you!