Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church

Oxymorons of the Faith: Boring Believers

by Sheri Blackmon

Colossians 4: 2-6

4-18-99

I.) The Challenge

Did you know:

Our world is in the midst of a great spiritual awakening; for the first time the church is not leading it.

Much of American Christianity is nominal in nature. (Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators, p.4) The influence of the Christian church has become minimal. Most American Christians - who have confessed their sins and asked Christ to be their Savior and Lord - behave no differently than anyone else.

Although interest in religion remains high and most Americans (85%) consider themselves to be Christians, levels of participation in the Christian faith are stagnant (Barna 99). Fewer people are members of a church, synagogue or religious center than used to be the case. (Barna, Index, p. 45)

The year 1998 showed no change in the percentage of adults who are born again Christians (40%-the same for the whole decade). In the last year a majority of people who have made a decision for Christ were no longer to be found in a church context within eight weeks.

Church attendance rose from the mid-1980's to mid 1991 but dropped off after that (especially for Boomers). Attendance at church services was fixed over the decade, except for a gradual decline in women and Baby Busters (the generation after Boomers). One of the reasons Busters give for non-attendance is their perception that church (and by extension Christians) are boring.

Increasingly, faith commitment is viewed as a hobby rather than a necessity for personal wholeness. (p.6)

A very recent Barna study shows that the number of unchurched adults (no church attendance in last 6 months other than a special event or holiday) is on the rise (1 out of 3). Of the unchurched, 62% call themselves Christians; 1/3 have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. (Not feel-good statistics, but we must be alert.)

SO ...

It is a new day for the church and for followers of Jesus Christ. And we face new challenges we must address.

We must reach out to our hurting world with the unchanging truths of Scripture in fresh and inviting ways that address the needs of people.

There may be many reasons people don't attend church or are bored which have more to do with them than us: need to be entertained, spiritual apathy, sin that obstructs a love of God. But we must not stop there and allow ourselves to take a defensive posture, because that will only further erode our influence as the church of Jesus Christ.

We must intentionally live in and engage our rapidly changing world.

God calls us to remember our identity as a church: we are salt and light.

We must learn to articulate our faith in Jesus Christ with wisdom and winsomeness.

The challenges are great, but we need not be discouraged or look to a new source for what to do because the Bible gives us instructions on how to meet them. (Read Colossians 4: 2-6)

II.) Pray for Opportunities to Share God's Word

Paul's primary passion and purpose was to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever he was. God calls us to claim or reclaim this passion for ourselves at this time of optimum spiritual opportunity. The future of the church and of our culture depends on it. The church of Jesus Christ is the only real hope of turning this world around, and if the church continues to lose its influence, our culture will slide into greater moral anarchy.

This passion depends to some degree on your confidence to articulate your faith in Jesus Christ. Do you know how to answer the question: "What has God done in my life?" or better "What is God doing?" If your neighbor were to turn to you and ask you this right now, how would you answer it? Would you stammer and grope for words; would you give a heartfelt response or impersonal information filled with abstractions and theories? 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). It takes practice, but you have to start somewhere.

Paul, of course, has had a lot of practice sharing his faith at this point in his life. He is in jail in Rome not as social or political prisoner, but for preaching the Christian message. He requests the Colossians' prayers on his behalf that doors of service, now closed by his imprisonment, might be opened so he might tell about the mystery of Christ: the message of God's saving purposes in Christ, proclaiming the 'joining of Jews and Gentiles in one body under the headship of Christ.'

Opportunities for Paul were great, but he needed special wisdom as he was looking forward to his appearance before the imperial tribunal to give an account of this missionary activity. Pray that I might proclaim it clearly shows his desire to be free from the temptation to sound sophisticated and water down the gospel. Out of his personal situation comes this advice to the Colossians to be devoted to prayer and while praying to include a request for opportunities to share God's Word. Paul wants to emphasize that while he has a special opportunity to witness at the heart of the empire, every Christian has opportunities and should use them to the full while they last.

III.) Be wise when you find an opportunity

There are two extremes to avoid in dealing with the gospel of Jesus Christ. One is complacency and the other is being overly zealous. Many of us are rather complacent; Presbyterians are known for their restraint (the "frozen chosen"). We may see how hard it is to change people's viewpoints, lives and relationships and are unwilling to invest a huge amount of time to presenting the good news. Or we may simply be too busy. Others have a passion for winning souls for Christ, but forget that it is not up to them but God who works to prepare a heart to receive the gospel.

In either case we forget the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Ro.1:16). Among early Christians, as among those today, were persons of fanatical behavior who prejudiced outsiders against them. Paul wanted people to be attracted to the gospel, not repelled by it. That is why he urges them to be wise when using the opportunities God provides.

Wisdom and winsomeness make a powerful impression to attract others to the gospel.

At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year they have what is called "Baptist Day." It is a day when all the Baptists in the area are invited to the school because they want the Baptist dollars to keep coming in. On this day everyone is to bring a sack lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every "Baptist Day" the school would invite the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center.

One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr. Tillich spoke for two and one-half hours proving that the resurrection story was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because of a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were questions.

After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, wooly white hair stood at the back of the auditorium.

"Docta Tillich, I got one question," he said as all eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and took an apple and began eating it. "Docta Tillich . . . " CRUNCH, MUNCH . . ."My question is a simple question," CRUNCH, CRUNCH . . . "Now I ain't never read them books you read . . " CRUNCH, MUNCH . . . "and I can't recite the Scripture in original Greek . . . : CRUNCH, MUNCH. . ."I don't know nothin' about Niebuhr and Heidegger . . . " CRUNCH. He finished the apple. "All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate -- was it bitter or sweet?"

Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: "I cannot possibly answer that as I haven't tasted your apple."

The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich calmly, "Neither have you tasted my Jesus."

The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left the platform. (Source unknown.)

Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good? If you have then the following three pointers Paul gives can change you into a winsome believer.

A.) Snap up opportunities

Two implications:

1. Interpersonal: "be alive to every opportunity to witness in the chance encounter, the unexpected turn of conversation, the opening that comes in the expression of a need or the asking of a question, the signal given by what may appear casual, but reflects something deeper." (Dunnam p. 399)

2.) Inner-personal: Barris Mills described the critical moment this way: Halfway through shaving it came. I should have scribbled it on the mirror with a soapy finger or shouted it to my wife in the kitchen, or muttered it to myself until it ran in my head like a tune. But now it's gone, with the whiskers down the drain. Gone forever, like the friends I never knew, the places I never visited, the lost life I never lived.

There are intersections upon which we sometimes come abruptly. We have to choose, and destiny is in the choice. There are flashes of insight that break in upon us, guidance, intuition, discernment, which, if we do not receive, record, and act upon, we lose.

The person who is aware of and up to these opportunities will never be a boring believer, but will use leisure time to learn, study, and improve oneself. Too many Christians live as if learning and growth happens when you are in school. Their ideas become fixed in stone and their conversation becomes boring and predictable. We cannot afford to be boring believers; we cannot afford to let the world tune us out. People's eternal destinies are at stake!

We must never forget it is God who does the saving, not we. It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13).

B.) Season your words

Speech is to be seasoned with grace and salt. Here's a guide for personal evangelism and for the ministry of speaking with people every day. This may refer to being an interesting conversationalist, but it is more than that. We should use our words to bless and heal, encourage and give hope. But words should not be sentimental and without truth or honesty. Be wise in your behavior towards non-Christians, and make the best possible use of your time. Speak pleasantly to them, but never sentimentally, and learn how to give the proper answer to every questioner. (Phillips translation) Words stir and sustain; they create and heal.

Sodium provides an apt illustration here. It is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride - common table salt - the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor. Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel. When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church, however, then we have what Jesus called the salt of the earth, and we're able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith. (David H. Johnson)

We are called to speak the truth in love and to season our words with flavor

C.) Show sensitivity to individual needs

Much of our "evangelistic witnessing" disregards the feelings and sensitivities of those we seek to win. Our witness is not ours; it is our witness to Jesus Christ who always focused on the needs of the one to whom he was speaking. Paul instructs us to season our words so that you may know how you should respond to each person. One certain way to stop being a boring believer is to ask questions of others. Who doesn't enjoy talking about one's own life to an interested and insightful listener? That's how you'll earn the right to be heard when it comes time to offer Jesus' words of life.

Seek to bring out the specialness of the person as salt brings out the special flavor of food. Give the person your full attention. Her or his agenda is more important than yours -- if you really want to love that person with the love of Christ.

Snap up opportunities

Season your words

Show sensitivity to individual needs

Memorize and take this into your daily encounters with people. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you and I have a high calling: we are Christ's ambassadors bringing the message of reconciliation between God and humanity through Jesus Christ. This message has the power to change lives. It is the only real hope for preventing a slide into a moral abyss.

IV.) Have you tasted Jesus?

None of this means anything if you have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good. If your knowledge of God is only in your head, but your life does not reflect what you know, if you've never made the decision to follow Christ, if you're examining the Christian faith from the sidelines as a skeptic or critic, you must first make the decision to open the door of your heart to let Jesus into your life, admit your sin, and follow him as a disciple. If you have previously made that decision but are not walking with Christ, resolve to make a change today. If you have become and "undercover Christian," one of the "frozen chosen," it is time to come out of the closet, to thaw out and light your light shine. The world does not need any more nominal or hypocritical Christians. People are looking for models of real people who show the work of the transcendent and holy God in their lives.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. (Ps. 34:8)