"Snatch them from the fire" series Sermon 4: "All things to all men" October 9, 2011 Okay, if you have your lphone or your lpad ready, open up your Bible App to 1 Corinthians 9. We're going to dig in there in a few minutes... This has been a pretty tough series. We've been dealing with some hard truths. Here's the good news: this is the last week for this little series. Here's the bad news: I've still got one more week of some rather serious meddling. Three weeks ago we opened up with a video clip about 17 people who picked up a burning car to rescue a guy trapped underneath. They put themselves in harm s way to rescue someone from a terrible death. And we used that as a picture of the church. We're here to rescue people from the fire literally. Two weeks ago we talked about hell. That was hard. But we focused on this idea: friends don't let friends go to hell. Last week we watched a rather haunting video. We watched a pagan challenge us with this question: If we really believe in heaven and hell, and if we really believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life the key to heaven and the way out of hell -- how much would we have to hate someone not to share Jesus with them? And we closed up last week by following Jesus' instructions to pray that God would light a fire under our rear ends; and a lot of us felt convicted because we knew God was challenging us to step it up. Well, we're not quite done. There's one more piece. And this morning I want to get to where the rubber hits the road for us as a church family, and for each one of us as individual Christians. This morning... we meddle. Let me start off by telling you a story about someone you've heard of, but I'll bet you don't know the rest of the story. What do you know about St. Patrick? Well, we know that on St. Patrick's day we wear green, and little kids color shamrocks in school, and some folks drink green beer, and some throw parties with an Irish theme And maybe a few of you know that St. Patrick's Day is supposed to commemorate his bringing Christianity into Ireland. Well let me fill in some of the gaps.
Did you know that Patrick was not Irish, he was English? He was captured by some Irish Celtic pirates when he was about 16 years old and sold into slavery to a wealthy druid tribal chief who made him a shepherd. While he was a slave in Ireland, Patrick was transformed. In England he wasn't much of a Christian. But in Ireland he learned to take his faith seriously. And he learned the language, and the customs, and the beliefs of the Irish. About 7 years later he escaped and returned to England. Well, when he got back to England he went to seminary and became a priest. He served as a priest in England until he was 48. Now in the fifth century that was old, way older than most that was retirement. But one night he had a vision. An angel appeared to him, he believed, and told him to go back to Ireland and share Jesus with them, the ones who had enslaved him. And so, as an old man, with a handful of priests, he set out for Ireland to lead them to Jesus. Ironically, it was his time in slavery that made him effective. He knew their language, their customs, their beliefs. And he would use that bad time in his life for good... That's an important tidbit: He would use the bad time in his life to bring good to others. Now Patrick didn't do evangelism like a lot of us like to. He didn't expect the Irish to come to him. He went to them, and he lived with them, and as much as he could, he lived like them. He would talk with them, and serve them, and pray for them, and love on them. And it worked which is why we wear green on the 17th of March. There are a couple of lessons we could learn from St. Patrick. The first lesson is this: Sharing Jesus isn't about hiding in churches and waiting for them to come to us. There has to be a going out, there has to be a going to. One guy I read compares sharing Jesus with fishing. Some people like building a dock, taking a seat, and waiting for the fish to come to them. A lot of churches are like immovable docks where the fish stopped biting years ago, but we still sit there, pretending we're fishing. Other fishermen get in a boat and go to where the fish are biting. Which kind of fishermen do you think God wants us to be? The kind that sit on some comfortable dock and wait for the fish to come to us; or the one who buys the fastest, baddest boat he can and goes after the fish? That's probably a bad illustration. God doesn't like fishing, and fishermen. But the Bible is crystal clear: God tells us to go to them, out there.
The second lesson is this: The way we go to them is as important as the going. To be perfectly honest, I get embarrassed when some Christians share Jesus. Some Christians are judgmental and mean; some Christians are annoying nags; some Christians are self-righteous and smug; some Christians are disputatious and argumentative. Guys, the way we go to them is as important as the going. If we can't share Jesus with the character of Jesus, it might be better for the Kingdom if we kept our mouths shut. Patrick lived with the Irish; he loved them, he served them, he embodied Jesus to them. He shared the message of Jesus with the character of Jesus. And it worked. Did it ever. Let me change directions for a bit: there's someone else who got it -- a guy named Paul. Do you have your Bibles ready at 1 Corinthians 9? 1 Corinthians 9.19. Now I like the way Paul starts out. He says, "I am a free man, nobody's slave." (1 Corinthians 9.19) And as a Christian, he's right. We belong to no one, except God. We are slaves to no one, except God. It's kind of weird: you guys hired me, you pay my salary, and you can fire me (I hate saying that too loudly, because we do have a congregational meeting coming up). But I don't do this job to serve you, I do it to serve him. Are you good with that? And it's no different for you guys. You belong to no one, except God. But as a slave of God, there are expectations he has for us. Here's where it starts getting hard. Paul says, I am a free man, nobody's slave; but... I make myself everybody's slave in order to win as many people as possible." (1 Corinthians 9.19) 1 make myself a slave to people; I serve people, in order to win as many to Jesus as possible. You see, it's not about what I want, it's about what God wants. It's not about what I like, it's about what works to bring people face to face with Jesus. It's not about me. You've heard those words before. They are the first words in The Purpose Driven Life. Paul says, "It's not about me, my life is not about me, it's about bringing people face to face with Jesus." Do you buy that? Can we get agreement on that, that this is for us too? Are you willing to relinquish your rights to do what is right for Him? You see, we all have a comfort zone. We want our homes to be comfortable, we want our job to be comfortable, we want our church to be comfortable, sometimes even if that makes it less effective. But as Christians... if our comfort gets in the way of our mission, there's sin going on. So we step out of our comfort zone...
Paul says, "I make myself everybody's slave... in order to win as many people as possible." (1 Corinthians 9.19) That's the purpose, that's the goal: "In order to win as many people as possible." That goal is so important to him that h repeats it over and over again in these verses. Verse 20: To bring the Jews to Christ; verse 21: To bring the Gentiles to Christ; verse 22: to bring the weak to Christ; verse 22 again: I'll do anything I can... to save some; verse 23: 1 do everything... to spread the good news. He's obsessed with bring people to Jesus. Guys, with all our emphasis on being missional around here, we're not trying to push you out of your comfort zone just to annoy you. We're trying to be more effective at bringing people face to face with Jesus. We're not just trying to shake things up, we're trying to find what works best in bringing people face to face with Jesus and building them into Christ-Driven 24-7 Christians. That's our mission from God, and it's more important that what we want, or what we like. Do you buy that? In fact, just a few months ago we reaffirmed our commitment to our fundamental purposes. Do you remember that? We signed those big boards hanging out in the foyer. Our first purpose is to worship God with everything we've got. Our second purpose is to bring people face to face with Jesus. Here at Capital City everything else pales by comparison to these two. Now Paul starts unpacking what he means in verse 19. Here's how he makes himself everybody's slave in order to win as many people as 9 possible. He says, "While working with the Jews, I live like a Jew in order to win them; and even though I myself am not subject to the Law of Moses, I live as though I were when working with those who are, in order to win them. In the same way, when working with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, outside the Jewish Law, in order to win Gentiles. This does not mean that I don't obey God's law; I am really under Christ's law. Among the weak in faith I become weak like one of them, in order to win them." 0 Corinthians 9.19-22) Bottom line, he says, "When I'm with Jews, I do Jew I eat kosher like they eat, I dress funny like they dress, I talk like they talk if that's what it takes to draw them to Jesus. When I am with Gentiles, I do Gentile I eat BLTs like they eat, I dress wild like they dress, I talk like they talk if that's what it takes to draw them to Jesus. When I'm
with the weak..: well you get the idea. He says, I'll identify with the folks I'm trying to reach as much as I can, as long as it dishonor Jesus. Because it's not about me. It's not about my rights, it's not about what I like, what I want. It's not about my comfort. Now I'm going to stretch these verses a little. I'm going to apply these three groups to three kinds of people we're trying to reach right here at Capital City. Three kinds of people we're trying to snatch from the fire. Group 1: Paul calls them the "Jews." For us these are the people we talked about a few weeks ago. For us these are people in this room who believe in God, who come to church, but whose lives are not wrapped around Jesus. I showed you the stats: 40% of the people sitting in a typical church are not "born again." Some of you have not made a personal commitment to Jesus as your savior that drives your life today. You are not seriously trying to do life with God, for God, God's way. Bottom line: You are on a path that can take them to hell. We don't have to do a lot of bending and accommodating to reach these people, we just have to be loving enough to care, and bold enough to challenge them to step it up. Group 2: Paul calls them the "Gentiles." For us the Gentiles are the people outside these walls who are not doing life with God, for God, God's way. Some of them don't believe in God at all. Some of them believe in God, but don't care. Some of them claim to be good with God, but they blow off God's church. Our job is to bring them face to face with Jesus. And we'll do whatever it takes to do that, to bring them face to face with Jesus. We won't just sit in here and hope they come to us. As a missional church, as a missional people, we will figure out ways to take Jesus to them. Group 3: Paul calls "the weak." The weak were people in the church who were particularly fragile. We haven't talked about this group yet in this little series. But this is huge, to me. I hope it's huge, to you. For us the weak are our kids our kids. And I'm going to slow down here for a few minutes, because if we don't get this next piece, this church will die. If we don't get this next piece, this church should die. Are you ready? Hang on. I read a book not too long ago that rattled me. Here's what they say: More than 2/3 of our kids, 70% of our kids who come to church, are dropping out of church between the ages of
16 and 21. Some of you old guys are thinking kids have always pushed the church away for a while when they leave their parents' homes; they'll be back. Here's the deal: they are not coming back, like they used to. We're losing our kids. Now if that doesn't take your breath away, if that doesn't put a knot in the pit of your stomach, then you don't get it, and you don't get Him! The church in America has been losing ground for a long time. Our 11opopulation keeps going up, our church population doesn't. Between 1990 and 2004 our population increased by 18%; our churches declined by 3%. Conversions are declining in nearly every denomination. One of the strongest and best, the Southern Baptists did you know that they are baptizing no more people today than they did in 1950! Unless we turn this thing around, the American church will follow the path of the European church, where fewer than 5% of the population steps foot in a church except for funerals. And we know where it's happening. Most age groups are doing okay. We either hold ground or we gain ground with most age groups except for our kids. The flashpoint is at age 16. Between the ages of 16 and 21 we lose 70% of our kids. 70%! We fret over losing our nation to the ways of the world; guys, we're losing our own kids! We've got to turn this one around. We've got to turn this one around right here, at Capital City. Because if we don't this church will die; if we don't, this church should die. How do we do it? How do we turn it around? We can't keep doing the same old. Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." One pretty sharp guy (Craig Groeschel) says, "In order to reach people no one is reaching, you have to do the things no one is doing." He talks about planned abandonment. You have to abandon, intentionally, some of the things the church has done for years, because they're not working anymore. I'll get back to this one in a couple minutes. Paul wraps up this these verses like this: "So I become all things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever means are possible. (And) All this I do for the gospel's sake, in order to share in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9.22-23) That's powerful to me. That's what I want to be; that's what I want to do. That's what I want to try to build in
this church. We do whatever it takes to bring people face to face with Jesus as long as it doesn't dishonor our God. We do it for their sake because friends don't let friends go to hell. We do it for God's sake because it's not about us, what we want, what we like; it's about serving him. And we do it for our sake because we really believe that doing life God's way is the best way to life... Now it's time to get to where the rubber hits the road. So what? What difference does this stuff make? What do we need to do? What do we need to change? The guys in this book talked about the sins of dying churches. Here are some things we need to watch out for. These will keep us from bringing people to Jesus. Eventually these will kill a church. Sin 1: Doctrinal dilution. Some churches are watering down the gospel. They try to make it less offensive, less controversial. But watering down the gospel will steal its power, and its allure. Do you buy that? We must never equivocate on God's truth. Sin 2: The loss of evangelistic passion. Dying churches grow inwardly focused, they grow comfortable taking care of themselves. Dying churches lose sight of their mission from God. We're trying to turn that around here at Capital City. We want to infuse a missional purpose into just about everything we do. Sin 3: A failure to be relevant. Guys, the gospel is always relevant. When we do life God's way, it works a whole lot better than our way. But so many church present the gospel in ways that are irrelevant, out of date, and ineffective. Churches that don't find ways to stay relevant will eventually falter. Churches that keep their culture unchanged while the culture around them morphs, will typically die as the old ways die. Guys, that's why we don't do church the way we did 10 years ago. And as culture keeps changing, we'll keep looking for new ways to be effective. Sin 4: Few outwardly focused ministries. Dying churches are all over Bible Studies and Fellowship events. We're great about taking care of ourselves. In fact, the anthem of a dying church is the idea, "It's all about me." Guys, here at Capital City, it's all about him, what honors him, what serves him.
Sin 5: Fights over personal preferences. Fighting over stuff that doesn't matter kills churches. So many churches fight over what's in a bulletin, or how the chairs are arranged, or where the drums are on the stage, or the order of worship. When a church gets absorbed with trivialities, the gospel gets marginalized. Let's keep putting first things first here at Capital City. Sin 6: "The priority of comfort." Too many churches do ministry in ways that are comfortable, rather than in ways that are effective. Dying churches say, "We've never done it that way before." Great churches say, "We've never done it that way before, but if it work we'll give it a shot" Let me drive this stuff a little deeper. What does this stuff mean for us here, at Capital City? It means, as a church, we have to be culturally relevant to the kids to the teenagers and the twenty-somethings. We cannot be a church that dies because it is stuck in a culture that is passing away. We have to use forms that are compelling to those who will drive this church in 20 years. And they'll do the same for their kids. The gospel stays the same, how we present it will continue to change. It means, as a church, we have to keep reaching out to people who are not like us. We'll know we're getting it right when we have more blacks and whites and Hispanics sitting side by side in worship. We'll know we're getting it right when we spot a few Jack Daniels T-Shirts and Budweiser ball caps. We'll know we're getting it right when grandmas and grandkids, suits and ties and tats and piercings are loving on each other, in this room. And it means, as a church, that this missional stuff gets into our bones. We're not about sitting inside these walls hoping they come to us; we figure out ways to take Jesus to them. Every Life Group, our Men's Ministry, our Women's Ministry, our Youth and Children's Ministries, are looking for ways to take Jesus outside these walls. But these verses aren't just directed to churches. They are directed to Christians, to me and to you. How do we live these verses personally? Let me suggest three ways you can make it real. You can think of others.
Rule 1: Inside church, when you are inside these walls, look for people who are on the margins, and reach out to them. Maybe it's someone new. A church is a lonely place for people who are new. Maybe it's someone who has been here a while, but just always seems alone. Guys, this is supposed to be a family, a place where people belong, where others care. Let's make it so. Some churches try to make a rule that before you go greet your friends, get to know someone who is not part of your circle. It's not a bad idea. Rule 2: Outside church, find at least one place where you can rub shoulders with people who aren't doing life with God, God's way. Sometimes we wrap ourselves in a Christian cocoon, even outside these walls. We do dinner with Christians, we sit with Christians at the game, we go out to dinner with Christians, we invite Christians into our home, we hang with Christians at work if we can. And then we wonder why the church isn't baptizing more people. Guys, we're not winning enough people to Christ because we're not spending enough quality time with people who need him. One of the guys we were talking to about becoming an elder is doing something pretty cool. He realized he was in a Christian cocoon, so he started going to the gym to work out. He could have worked out at home, but at the gym he would make some friends with people who need Jesus. That's really good stuff. Where are you seriously rubbing shoulders with those who need Jesus. Maybe you can coach, or volunteer at school, or join a civic group, or start befriending a neighbor, or... you can figure it out. The real question is this: where can you rub shoulders on their turf so that when God opens a door, and he will, you can bring them face to face with Jesus? Rule 3: Look for some way to connect with a kid. Maybe your gift is in working with kids directly. Some of you sit up here week after week when God has given you the gifts to be working downstairs with our little ones, or across the hall with our teenagers. Or maybe you need to be there to support one of our big events. Or maybe you need to reach out to families with kids in your neighborhood, or volunteer to help with some community program that touches kids. I know for some of you guys it might be tough, or even impossible. But most of us can find a way to connect with some kid, for their sake, and for His sake. Chris was telling me that if a kid has no serious
connection with an adult at church, they walk. If they have just one serious connection, they still walk a lot. If they have two or three serious connections with adults at church, our chance of hanging on to them through that critical period of 16-21 skyrockets. This can't be done just by the staff, or even with the help of a few volunteers. It will take all of us pitching in. Guys, I never quite know how to finish a sermon. This stuff is hard. I know it is. It's not hard for me to share Jesus up here, but I know how hard it is sometimes out there. But guys, friends don't let friends go to hell. This stuff is bigger than my discomfort. Some of you guys are thinking, Sharing Jesus isn't my gift. I'm not any good at it. And, you may be right. We are not all gifted the same. But some people aren't naturally gifted with gentleness does that mean they don't have to try? Some people are gifted givers. But does that mean that they don't have to give back to God? Some people are not gifted with patience. Does that mean God doesn't expect us to try? A lot of us are not gifted at sharing Jesus. But God calls every one of us to do it and he'll give you the opportunity, and he'll give you the courage, and the words, if you let him. Still have that smoky rag? What are you doing about it? Have you found a place where you can rub shoulders with people who need Jesus? What are you going to do about it? Do you need Jesus? What are you going to do about it?