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Wisdom and Salt

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  1. Welcome to Church of the Advent. If you are new here, we're so glad to have you.

  2. I'm the assistant pastor here, Dan Bielman. Our senior pastor, Tommy Henson, is away on sabbatical.

  3. He has one week left, and I haven't heard anything about how a sabbatical is going until yesterday.

  4. I ran into him at the Maryland Renfest, and all I'm going to say is that his report was it's the best thing he and his family have ever done.

  5. So, for all of you who have taken on extra responsibility because our pastor has been gone this summer, thank you so much.

  6. It was so worth it. So worth it.

  7. So, yeah. So, we've had a chance to hear from a number of different pastors this summer.

  8. I've had a few opportunities to preach, and with my opportunities, we've been preaching through, thank you, Luke,

  9. through Luke chapter 4, no, excuse me, Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 to 6.

    Luke 4 chapter mention Colossians 4:2–6

  10. And the reason why we're in Colossians is because a while back we started Colossians, never quite finished.

  11. So, our goal this summer was to finally finish it. So, finally, yes.

  12. So, there are other verses in Colossians chapter 4 that we're not going to be discussing tonight,

    Colossians 4 chapter mention

  13. and that's because they're frankly hard to preach.

  14. There are a lot of greetings from Paul to different people in the Church of Colossa,

  15. and there's actually great stuff in there.

  16. So, if you'd like to, you can study, grab a commentary, and check it out on your own.

  17. As for preaching, we've actually taken parts of those greetings and worked it into previous sermons.

  18. So, we're not going to preach that part of the chapter.

  19. Now, in June, we looked at verse 4, actually verse 2,

  20. and we explored what praying continually might look for us.

  21. And I suggested that continuous prayer is akin to making ourselves present to God,

  22. making ourselves present to Him.

  23. In July, we noted how prayer comes from, leads into mission.

  24. Paul asks for prayer as he preaches the gospel.

  25. So, we pause to define and explore the meaning of the word gospel.

  26. What is the gospel?

  27. Well, concisely put, the gospel is the life-transforming message of salvation from sin

  28. and all its consequences through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

  29. The gospel is both a declaration and a summons,

  30. announcing what has been done for us in Christ,

  31. and calling us to repentance, faith, and submission to His Lordship.

  32. And tonight, we're going to look at verses 5 and 6.

  33. We're going to see that Paul extends the mission of proclaiming the gospel

  34. to the Colossians, the people in the church in this town of Colossa.

  35. And by extending it to Him, the spreading of the gospel, He extends it to us as well.

  36. After unpacking the verses for a bit, we're going to talk about how to share the gospel

  37. by looking at Jesus' interaction with Samaritan woman in John chapter 4,

    John 4 chapter mention

  38. which we heard Amy read for us tonight.

  39. And by looking at that interaction, we're going to see the roles that

  40. vulnerability, listening, and testimony have when we share the gospel.

  41. Vulnerability, listening, and testimony, or story.

  42. But before we begin, I'd like to say first that because we're talking about sharing the gospel,

  43. I'm speaking primarily to those here who are Christians.

  44. But that doesn't describe all of us, I understand.

  45. Some of us in this room are skeptical of the claims made by Christianity.

  46. And you're here because you're either visiting, or because a friend invited you,

  47. or because you've been attending for a while, because you find this to be your community,

  48. and yet you still have yet to fully accept the claims made by Christianity,

  49. all the things that this community believes.

  50. If that describes you, then there's a chance that you'll be offended by some of the things

  51. I have to say tonight.

  52. So I would ask you just to withhold judgments until the very end.

  53. Let me come around at the end and address some things that I think will ease your discomfort.

  54. In the meantime, we're glad you're here.

  55. Father, we wouldn't be Advent without you.

  56. And we're grateful that you can be a part of this family discussion.

  57. So let's pray.

  58. Father, would you open our ears and our minds and our hearts to hear and receive your word?

  59. Lord, and open up your word tonight to our ears and our eyes, our minds and hearts,

  60. that we might fully trust and believe in you and find you to be more beautiful

  61. at the end of this evening than at the beginning.

  62. Thank you for teaching to us through your word.

  63. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

  64. Let's look at some of Paul's exhortations to the Colossians.

  65. Remember first that the book of Colossians is a letter.

  66. It's a letter written to a church.

  67. This church is in the little town of Colossa.

  68. It's a little town in what's now the Turkish Peninsula, what was once called Asia Minor.

  69. And the issue that the church in Colossa had was they believed the gospel.

  70. And over time, they were being tempted by outsiders, outside teachers,

  71. to begin to accept other things as true.

  72. Stuff from folk religion, stuff from Judaism.

  73. They started to mix it all in, and they were surrendering the riches of the gospel.

  74. Now, though Paul warns against influence from the outside,

  75. at the same time, he calls the Colossians to be a witness to those outside the church.

  76. He tells them, in verse 5, to walk in wisdom towards outsiders.

  77. In the first three chapters, we see Paul explaining how our minds are renewed.

  78. And wisdom is the middle space between thoughts and actions.

  79. Wisdom enables us to determine just how our new way of thinking should be put into effect.

  80. Don't adopt the worldview of outsiders, yet at the same time,

  81. stay engaged with your fellow citizens to win them to Christ.

  82. And be aware of how your actions color your testimony.

  83. Next, he says, in verse 5, make the best use of the time.

  84. Make the best use of this moment.

  85. Well, what moment is this?

  86. What's the time in between?

  87. The already, but not yet.

  88. The time after Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God and his rule

  89. through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

  90. And that time when it will be fully consummated when he comes again.

  91. So we're in this in-between time, and it's not going to last forever.

  92. Wise living is using the short time God has given us to his best effect.

  93. Next, he says, let your speech always be gracious.

  94. Or let your words, logos, be full of grace, charis, seasoned with salt,

  95. so that you may know how to answer each other.

  96. So that you may know how to answer each person.

  97. In other words, let your speech be winsome, not flat or insipid.

  98. You could say, let your speech be seasoned for each specific occasion.

  99. Or as the apostle Peter writes elsewhere,

  100. always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason

  101. for the hope that is in you.

  102. Yet do it with gentleness and respect.

  103. So to summarize, Paul is giving the Colossians instructions

  104. on how to have a public faith.

  105. Their faith wasn't meant to be private,

  106. constrained to an individual's own personal existence,

  107. not to be shared with anybody else,

  108. nor was it meant to be shared by this community.

  109. The church is not to be a fortress,

  110. bracing itself against the forces of culture in that city.

  111. Rather, the church was to be an outpost of the kingdom of God,

  112. proclaiming the hope and liberation found in Christ.

  113. And as the Colossians share the gospel,

  114. they must act wisely with urgency,

  115. wisely with urgency and with winsome, gracious speech.

  116. Well, what does this mean for us?

  117. How can we put into practice being winsome

  118. and gracious in our speech, seasoned with salt?

  119. Well, we're going to look at John chapter 4.

    John 4 chapter mention

  120. We're going to look at how Jesus shares himself

  121. with the Samaritan woman.

  122. And we're also going to look at her response

  123. and how she shared her story.

  124. So our gospel lesson was the beginning of John chapter 4,

    John 4 chapter mention

  125. but we're going to look at the whole chapter.

  126. It begins with Jesus traveling through Samaria.

  127. Now, Jews didn't travel through Samaria.

  128. It's just not something they did.

  129. And they didn't interact with Samaritans.

  130. There was a deep hatred for Samaritans.

  131. A rabbi from the first century wrote,

  132. he who eats the bread of the Samaritans

  133. is like one who eats the flesh of swine.

  134. What the rabbi is saying is that by nature of their race,

  135. a Samaritan can make you unclean.

  136. And yet Jesus passed through Samaria

  137. to seek out this one Samaritan woman.

  138. His visitation is like a reverse hospitality.

  139. He invites her into a conversation and relationship,

  140. breaking through the divisions of race,

  141. religion, gender, and lifestyle.

  142. And then he does something pretty great.

  143. He exposes his vulnerability.

  144. He's tired and he's thirsty,

  145. which is interesting, right?

  146. He's the creator of the world.

  147. He created water.

  148. He could probably create some more.

  149. It took a lot of energy to create the world.

  150. I'm sure he could come up with more energy.

  151. And yet to the Samaritan woman,

  152. he presents himself as tired and thirsty and needy

  153. for her sake.

  154. And this is our first lesson.

  155. Speaking with grace means making ourselves vulnerable.

  156. Imagine, if you would,

  157. a woman moves to the far side of the world

  158. to start a business in a country.

  159. It's a small nation state on an island,

  160. fairly well developed.

  161. There's a majority culture and a minority culture.

  162. The two cultures get along just fine,

  163. although the majority culture looks down

  164. on the minority culture.

  165. The majority culture,

  166. they have this interesting way of dressing.

  167. And the woman decides,

  168. well, I'm going to start a business here.

  169. I'm going to present myself to this culture

  170. as the culture presents itself,

  171. which I'm going to dress like them,

  172. which means they wrap themselves,

  173. not unlike a mummy.

  174. But they don't look like mummies.

  175. The wrappings are beautiful.

  176. Many colors.

  177. They're scented wraps.

  178. They're gemmed.

  179. I mean, they go all out with these wraps.

  180. And it's from toe to head,

  181. or head to toe, right?

  182. You know, she doesn't think anything of it.

  183. She just does it.

  184. And she also observes the minority culture,

  185. which actually kind of look like us.

  186. They kind of dress like us.

  187. They don't wrap themselves.

  188. And then there's nothing to it.

  189. Now, over time,

  190. the woman starts to develop these nasty wounds

  191. all over her body.

  192. And she's not quite sure why.

  193. But she knows that the minority culture doesn't.

  194. They don't wrap their bodies.

  195. And they don't have these wounds.

  196. And so she starts to do some research

  197. into the history of this culture.

  198. Now, she learns that this minority culture,

  199. they're kind of given this nickname called the hairlings.

  200. And it used to be that everybody was like the hairlings.

  201. They didn't wrap themselves like this.

  202. And there was a time when everybody ate this particular fruit

  203. called hair fruit.

  204. And that's where the hairlings get their name.

  205. This is not a true story.

  206. You probably figured that out.

  207. The hair fruit looks disgusting.

  208. It looks like hairy brown fruit.

  209. There's nothing in its appearance that you would desire it.

  210. There's no beauty to it or smell.

  211. It just smells bad, looks bad.

  212. You wouldn't want to touch it.

  213. Although the hairlings have kept eating it.

  214. And there's something in the fruit

  215. that prevents these wounds from forming.

  216. At some time in this island's history,

  217. a large group of people decided,

  218. we don't want to eat any more of this fruit.

  219. These wounds developed.

  220. And it's because there's something in the soil

  221. that's causing these wounds.

  222. But they say, well, we'd rather just wrap ourselves.

  223. And cover the wounds.

  224. Then eat this fruit.

  225. And then they began to make the wrappings more elaborate.

  226. And so you have these two different cultures.

  227. Well, she thinks, like, why don't I just eat the fruit?

  228. And she does.

  229. And it actually tastes great.

  230. Even though it looks horrific.

  231. And so she goes around and realized

  232. everyone else has these wounds.

  233. And she's wondering, why don't you eat the fruit?

  234. Well, we're not going to eat the fruit

  235. because we're not hairlings.

  236. Like, why would we want to do that?

  237. Like, well, you should actually eat the fruit.

  238. Well, you don't eat the fruit.

  239. Like, yes, I do.

  240. How do we know?

  241. Like, well, just trust me.

  242. Eat the fruit and the wounds will go away.

  243. Like, how do you know?

  244. So how does she show, like, the whole culture

  245. that you should eat the fruit?

  246. Well, she unwinds the bandages

  247. and reveals the scars that were once there

  248. because of the wounds.

  249. She makes herself vulnerable

  250. so that she can tell everybody,

  251. taste and see that this fruit is good.

  252. It has healing power.

  253. Let me tell you a true story.

  254. It's about three men.

  255. One of them is a good friend of mine.

  256. He's a pastor of a church.

  257. And my friend is all about excellence.

  258. His preaching is excellent.

  259. He wants the music in his church to be excellent.

  260. The children's ministry to be excellent.

  261. The architecture to be excellent.

  262. Everything needs to be excellent.

  263. And so one day he decided

  264. we should have a missions conference

  265. and that needs to be excellent.

  266. You realize he wants to be excellent

  267. because of his own ego, right?

  268. Yes.

  269. Because he wants to be viewed as excellent.

  270. But the church's motto is

  271. our church is about excellence

  272. because it attracts people to the beauty of Christ

  273. and inspires them.

  274. So they're going to have

  275. an excellent missions conference

  276. and they hire an excellent missions speaker,

  277. or at least I assume he is.

  278. And he's fairly well known

  279. in the, I guess, missions conference world.

  280. At the time.

  281. And he's very excited.

  282. And at the last minute,

  283. the speaker has to bail out

  284. because he's really old.

  285. So he can't come.

  286. So the missions agency says,

  287. don't worry.

  288. We have somebody else who can come.

  289. He's going to do all the speaking.

  290. And my friend is like freaking out.

  291. Like, it's not going to be good.

  292. This thing is not going to be excellent.

  293. It's going to be miserable.

  294. And people are going to look

  295. and think bad of me, right?

  296. So the guest speaker comes

  297. and he's a missionary to Africa.

  298. And you know what he does?

  299. He spends a half hour

  300. talking about how difficult it is

  301. to live in this part of the world.

  302. How hard it is to live in a mud hut

  303. with the poisonous snakes

  304. and how much of a chore it is.

  305. Just to get water.

  306. Just to get clean water

  307. and to cook food.

  308. I mean, they don't have any time

  309. for actual like missionary stuff.

  310. And it's just a chore.

  311. And they have experienced disillusionment

  312. and wonder why we're even there.

  313. And then he sits down.

  314. He sits down.

  315. And my friend is like,

  316. that is the worst missions conference,

  317. the most uninspiring missions conference speech

  318. I've ever heard.

  319. We're supposed to hear about

  320. thousands of souls being rescued.

  321. Let me tell you about the third man.

  322. There's a man who was sitting on the front row

  323. and he'd been sitting on the front row

  324. Sunday after Sunday,

  325. listening to my friend's sermons.

  326. But his heart wasn't changing.

  327. He was an agnostic, committed agnostic.

  328. You can't know if there really is a God.

  329. But he did admit,

  330. I will admit there might be a God.

  331. If I can meet one person

  332. who actually believes this stuff.

  333. And you know what happened

  334. at the end of that missions conference?

  335. This man put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

  336. for the first time.

  337. Because he heard how hard it was

  338. for this person to live out his calling

  339. as a Christian,

  340. as a missionary.

  341. And he put his faith in Christ.

  342. It's not our excellence that inspires people

  343. and attracts them to the beauty of Christ.

  344. Listen to Henry Nouwen.

  345. He wrote in his book,

  346. The Wounded Healer,

  347. it is not the task of the Christian leader,

  348. and I'm just going to change it to Christian.

  349. It is not the task of the Christian

  350. to go around nervously trying to redeem people,

  351. to save them at the last minute,

  352. to put them on the right track.

  353. The Christian is to make visible in daily events

  354. the fact that behind the dirty curtain

  355. of our painful symptoms,

  356. there is something great to be seen.

  357. The face of him in whose image we are shaped.

  358. It's not our excellence that attracts people

  359. to the beauty of Christ.

  360. It's our brokenness.

  361. And through that,

  362. people see the beautiful, healing,

  363. saving power of our Lord Jesus.

  364. So the first thing was vulnerability.

  365. The second thing that is to inform our sharing the gospel

  366. is the second thing we learn is listening.

  367. Gracious speaking begins with listening.

  368. Listening shapes what we say.

  369. Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman

  370. continues in verse 9.

  371. It reads like this.

  372. The Samaritan woman said to him,

  373. How is it that you, a Jew,

  374. ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?

  375. It's a good question.

  376. From here, in verse 9 through verse 24,

  377. you can see Jesus doesn't seem to feel the need

  378. to share the whole gospel with Herod,

  379. to share the whole story of Israel,

  380. how God created everything

  381. and then from everything chose a family,

  382. a people, Israel,

  383. to fill and spread the blessings of God

  384. throughout the entire world.

  385. No.

  386. He only says those parts

  387. which address the issues

  388. that this particular woman is facing.

  389. And that makes sense, right?

  390. Because he's interested in this person.

  391. He's interested in this person

  392. with very specific and very real concerns,

  393. those that arrive from her own day-to-day experiences

  394. in a particular time and place and culture.

  395. And her questions stem from the tensions

  396. between her ethnicity and Jesus'

  397. her culture and his,

  398. her religion and his,

  399. specific things that she hopes for

  400. or feels deep shame about.

  401. If our speech is to be seasoned with salt,

  402. we can expect to be the same way.

  403. Otherwise, we won't hear the other person

  404. and they become less than a person

  405. and more of a project.

  406. And they'll pick that up right away, won't they?

  407. A friend of mine learned this lesson

  408. in the most difficult of ways.

  409. He was training to be a hospital chaplain,

  410. which I've heard about hard jobs.

  411. This is one of the hardest I've ever heard of.

  412. And he went in to visit a young man that was dying.

  413. He was around 19 or 20 years old.

  414. And there's no question he was going to die.

  415. And so he thought it was his job

  416. to bring hope to this young man.

  417. So he shares him the whole gospel,

  418. how God created,

  419. and this is a great story.

  420. And it's a true story.

  421. And it inspires me.

  422. And I think it inspires you too,

  423. how God created the world good and perfect.

  424. And he made man to flourish and to fill the earth.

  425. And how man rebelled

  426. and rebelled against the lordship and kingship of God,

  427. which brought all kinds of trouble,

  428. which brought sin into the world and death

  429. and broke everything, the environment,

  430. our relationships with each other,

  431. our relationships with ourselves

  432. and our relationship with the Lord.

  433. But God sent his own son to restore

  434. and renew and to redeem and to fix.

  435. If we put our hope and trust

  436. and faith in Jesus Christ,

  437. we'll be unified to him.

  438. And then in one day, like after we die,

  439. we'll get resurrection bodies

  440. and live eternally with God.

  441. And that's what he shared with him.

  442. And it's all true.

  443. But you know what this man's reaction was?

  444. Get out.

  445. And he raised his voice much more than that.

  446. And his family joined him.

  447. Get out of this room.

  448. I don't want a resurrection body.

  449. I want this body.

  450. I don't want to die.

  451. My friend was so locked into a method

  452. that he missed a very real issue

  453. that this person right in front of him was dealing with.

  454. He was afraid to die.

  455. Listening frees us from a script,

  456. from our own agendas,

  457. from a project,

  458. and it helps us address the real fears

  459. that people have,

  460. real concerns, doubts, protests.

  461. Now, if you ask anyone who has come to faith

  462. as an adult,

  463. who didn't grow up in the church,

  464. the majority of time,

  465. they'll tell you,

  466. I came to faith because I had a friendship

  467. or relationship with a Christian.

  468. That's how it works.

  469. People come to faith through relationships.

  470. And relationships are established through trust.

  471. And trust is built through listening.

  472. So we share the gospel through being vulnerable,

  473. by leading with our brokenness,

  474. not with our excellence.

  475. We share the gospel by listening first

  476. and not feeling the need to share the whole gospel right away.

  477. The third way to have our speech be gracious

  478. is to have it be our story.

  479. We learn this from the woman's reaction.

  480. I'll read starting in verse 28 of chapter 4.

  481. So the woman left her water jar

  482. and went away into town

  483. and said to the people,

  484. come see a man who told me all that I ever did.

  485. Can this be the Christ?

  486. They went out of the town and were coming to him.

  487. We learn from the Samaritan woman

  488. that our testimony

  489. isn't primarily a list of doctrines and propositions

  490. that we need to subscribe to.

  491. It's a story about our encounter with a living person.

  492. In verse 39,

  493. many Samaritans from that town believed in him

  494. because of the woman's testimony.

  495. He told me all that I ever did.

  496. So when the Samaritans came to him,

  497. they asked him to stay with them

  498. and he stayed there two days.

  499. And many more believed because of his word.

  500. They said to the woman,

  501. it is no longer because of what you said that we believe,

  502. for we have heard for ourselves.

  503. And we know that this is indeed the savior of the world.

  504. Now a comforting thing about sharing our faith

  505. is that we're just making an introduction.

  506. And that we don't necessarily have to convince someone

  507. with our intellect or wit or rhetorical flourish.

  508. Jesus does that for us.

  509. We're introducing a person to a person.

  510. Verse 42,

  511. they said to the woman,

  512. it is no longer because of what you said that we believe,

  513. for we have heard for ourselves from him.

  514. And we know that this is indeed the savior of the world.

  515. Now I understand how difficult

  516. it is for many of us in Washington, D.C.

  517. to bear witness in our workplaces in particular.

  518. How do I know if I should bear witness?

  519. Will it cost me my job or reputation?

  520. How do I know what to say?

  521. How do I know when to say it?

  522. Well, the first thing to remember

  523. is that your work itself bears witness.

  524. The way you conduct yourself in your job,

  525. doing good work, being honest,

  526. showing kindness in a harsh landscape,

  527. doing good work,

  528. not giving into gossip or backbiting,

  529. doing good work.

  530. All of these things,

  531. especially doing good work,

  532. go a long way in bearing witness

  533. that there is something different about you.

  534. I mean, even Paul says,

  535. like even by not doing two things,

  536. do you stand out like stars in the universe?

  537. Don't complain and don't argue.

  538. Do everything without complaining and disputing

  539. and you will shine like stars in the universe.

  540. Okay, so after I do good work,

  541. I still have to say something, right?

  542. Like probably.

  543. And that is how people come to faith.

  544. It's through the word.

  545. It's through word.

  546. So how will you know what to say?

  547. How will you know what to say

  548. and when to say it?

  549. Well, just ask him.

  550. Just ask him.

  551. You feel nervous, right?

  552. Well, what do you do when you get nervous?

  553. I'll tell you what I do when I get nervous.

  554. As a musician,

  555. as a musician,

  556. if I'm nervous on the stage,

  557. well, I just rely on my training,

  558. rely on what I've learned and practiced,

  559. rely on some instinct,

  560. put my head down and just get the job done, right?

  561. Well, I'm behaving like I don't have a father.

  562. I'm behaving like I don't have a father

  563. who's willing to hear and give

  564. anything I should ask for.

  565. He is always there.

  566. I just have to make myself present to him.

  567. You know, maybe what God is primarily interested in

  568. when we share the gospel

  569. is that his children are completely dependent on him.

  570. And so we end where we began

  571. in chapter 4, verse 2 of Colossians.

  572. Continue steadfastly in prayer,

  573. being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

  574. Okay, a couple postscripts.

  575. The first is this.

  576. Some of you enjoy sharing the gospel.

  577. You're just like naturally gifted at it.

  578. For some of you, it's very difficult.

  579. But I think most of us understand

  580. it is all of our responsibility

  581. to share the gospel.

  582. Now, what if I told you

  583. that there's a demographic

  584. when they hear the gospel taught to them,

  585. 99 times out of 100,

  586. they'll believe what you say.

  587. And they'll be joyful to hear it

  588. and accept it and believe it.

  589. What if there's a demographic

  590. that was like that?

  591. Would you share the gospel with them?

  592. Well, do you know who I'm talking about?

  593. Children.

  594. Our children.

  595. Our children.

  596. Now listen,

  597. the scriptures are entirely clear

  598. on this matter

  599. that if a family has children,

  600. this is like from the beginning

  601. in the Old Testament

  602. all the way to the end of the New,

  603. it is the responsibility

  604. of the family

  605. to impart the faith

  606. to the children.

  607. Well, this is a family.

  608. This is a family.

  609. It's everyone's responsibility

  610. to proclaim the gospel

  611. to our children.

  612. But here's the great thing.

  613. They're going to believe you.

  614. They're going to believe you

  615. and they're going to accept it.

  616. So listen,

  617. Jane has had a really hard time

  618. finding people to teach our children

  619. at this hour,

  620. this coming fall.

  621. A number of our longtime teachers

  622. have had to step down

  623. for various reasons.

  624. Now, perhaps you've been waiting

  625. on the sidelines

  626. and been wondering,

  627. what can I do

  628. to be a part of this church?

  629. How can I fit in?

  630. How can I help?

  631. Maybe you've been

  632. a member a long time

  633. and have been standing

  634. on the sidelines.

  635. Maybe you've been coming

  636. for a long time.

  637. I would encourage you

  638. to talk to Jane.

  639. I'd implore you

  640. to talk to Jane

  641. because you're going to

  642. you're going to

  643. have success

  644. as a teacher

  645. of the gospel.

  646. And yeah,

  647. please talk to Jane.

  648. So the second postscript

  649. is the thing

  650. I said at the beginning.

  651. There's some of us here

  652. that don't believe

  653. in the gospel.

  654. And perhaps some of this

  655. sharing of the gospel

  656. sounds kind of insidious.

  657. Wait, you're just like

  658. kind of forcing

  659. your beliefs on people?

  660. Shouldn't they be free

  661. to choose and decide

  662. for themselves?

  663. That sounds like aggrandizement

  664. at the best.

  665. Well, let me tell you

  666. if that's the way you feel

  667. or inclined to feel,

  668. why that doesn't quite work.

  669. And I'm indebted

  670. to Pastor Tim Keller

  671. for this.

  672. It doesn't work

  673. for a number of reasons.

  674. The first,

  675. it doesn't work emotionally.

  676. It doesn't work emotionally

  677. for this reason.

  678. If you had

  679. a really nasty form

  680. of cancer

  681. and there was

  682. a rare cure

  683. that you discovered,

  684. would you not

  685. share it

  686. with as many people

  687. as you could?

  688. Like, of course.

  689. Yes, emotionally

  690. you are,

  691. you have to.

  692. And you know what?

  693. There are atheists

  694. that agree

  695. with this very point.

  696. You know Pendulet?

  697. He's a comedian.

  698. There was a video

  699. that a lot of Christians

  700. saw back in 2009.

  701. It's a video of himself.

  702. I think he was like

  703. in his home.

  704. And he said this

  705. after encountering

  706. somebody on the street

  707. who was trying

  708. to evangelize him,

  709. he said,

  710. I've always said

  711. that I don't respect

  712. people who don't proselytize.

  713. I don't respect that at all.

  714. If you believe

  715. that there's a heaven

  716. and a hell

  717. and people could be

  718. going to hell

  719. or not getting eternal life

  720. and you think

  721. that it's not really

  722. worth telling them this

  723. because it would make

  724. it socially awkward

  725. and atheists

  726. who think people

  727. shouldn't proselytize

  728. and who say

  729. just leave me alone

  730. and keep your religion

  731. to yourself,

  732. how much do you

  733. have to hate somebody

  734. to not proselytize?

  735. How much do you

  736. have to hate somebody

  737. to believe

  738. everlasting life

  739. is possible

  740. and not tell them that?

  741. So emotionally

  742. we're required

  743. to share the gospel.

  744. That makes sense, right?

  745. Now let me tell you

  746. why it doesn't work

  747. intellectually.

  748. It's because of this.

  749. Like we all have

  750. our own views

  751. of the world,

  752. of truth,

  753. of reality,

  754. of life,

  755. of God,

  756. of faith.

  757. And the view

  758. that says

  759. you shouldn't

  760. share your view

  761. of faith

  762. with another person

  763. is itself

  764. a view.

  765. So we're not

  766. talking about

  767. one person

  768. kind of dominating

  769. everybody

  770. with their viewpoint

  771. and trying to evangelize.

  772. We're talking about

  773. two competing

  774. worldviews.

  775. And in saying

  776. like a Christian

  777. shouldn't share

  778. the gospel,

  779. well really what is being said

  780. like my worldview

  781. should prevail.

  782. Okay?

  783. So that's why

  784. intellectually it doesn't work.

  785. Let me give you

  786. a third reason

  787. to pause

  788. in judgment,

  789. to pause

  790. in being offended

  791. when people share

  792. the gospel with you.

  793. It's this.

  794. It's probably

  795. because they love you.

  796. It's probably

  797. because they love you.

  798. Now some share

  799. the gospel

  800. not out of love.

  801. Some share

  802. out of greed

  803. or for some

  804. other reasons.

  805. But nine times

  806. out of ten

  807. I'm going to guess

  808. they share it

  809. because they love you.

  810. And I learned

  811. this lesson

  812. personally

  813. from a Muslim.

  814. I learned it

  815. from a Muslim.

  816. When I lived

  817. in Vienna,

  818. Austria

  819. I was

  820. a part

  821. of a church

  822. who had

  823. an English

  824. conversation

  825. class

  826. or English

  827. conversation

  828. cafe

  829. and I got

  830. to befriend

  831. two guys.

  832. One

  833. his name

  834. was Mohammed

  835. he was from Iran

  836. and the other

  837. his name

  838. was Wade

  839. he was from China.

  840. He really liked

  841. Dwayne Wade

  842. so he calls

  843. himself Wade.

  844. And the three

  845. of us

  846. had a really

  847. great friendship

  848. going

  849. for a while.

  850. And I could tell

  851. that Mohammed

  852. was trying

  853. to convert

  854. me

  855. to Islam

  856. and I wasn't

  857. quite sure

  858. what to think.

  859. I guess

  860. flattered?

  861. I don't know.

  862. But you know

  863. Mohammed

  864. really loved

  865. Wade.

  866. And now

  867. you should know

  868. this about Wade

  869. he had like

  870. a deep

  871. ennui

  872. a sadness

  873. a depression

  874. he just looked

  875. at the world

  876. and felt hopelessness

  877. and Mohammed

  878. his heart

  879. broke

  880. for Wade

  881. and so

  882. he tells me

  883. Daniel

  884. well I'll just

  885. do it in

  886. American accent

  887. sorry

  888. Daniel

  889. I really love

  890. Wade

  891. I'm concerned

  892. for him

  893. and I want

  894. to do

  895. something for

  896. him

  897. but I

  898. think

  899. it's just

  900. too far

  901. to go

  902. from

  903. his

  904. worldview

  905. to Islam

  906. what if

  907. I could

  908. convert

  909. him

  910. to

  911. Christianity

  912. instead?

  913. I think

  914. that'd be

  915. a much

  916. easier

  917. root

  918. to peace

  919. and happiness

  920. and so

  921. the three

  922. of us

  923. were together

  924. and

  925. Mohammed

  926. was just

  927. really hitting

  928. Wade hard

  929. like

  930. Wade

  931. I know

  932. you're set

  933. maybe you

  934. should start

  935. listening to

  936. Dan

  937. and maybe

  938. you should

  939. start listening

  940. to his

  941. pastor

  942. and believe

  943. the things

  944. they say

  945. about the

  946. Lord

  947. Jesus

  948. Christ

  949. thank you

  950. I have

  951. raised a lot

  952. of money

  953. and flown

  954. my family

  955. thousands

  956. of miles

  957. for you

  958. to do

  959. my job

  960. for me

  961. thank you

  962. Mohammed

  963. yeah

  964. but you know

  965. Mohammed

  966. was doing

  967. that out

  968. of love

  969. for me

  970. to be

  971. able

  972. to see

  973. that

  974. from

  975. a

  976. third

  977. person

  978. perspective

  979. yeah

  980. so

  981. again

  982. if someone

  983. tries to

  984. share the

  985. gospel

  986. with you

  987. it's probably

  988. because they

  989. love you

  990. and you know

  991. what

  992. they love

  993. you

  994. because

  995. they know

  996. that they

  997. are

  998. dearly

  999. loved

  1000. loved

  1001. by

  1002. God

  1003. and it's

  1004. demonstrated

  1005. in this

  1006. that Jesus

  1007. gave his

  1008. life

  1009. for them

  1010. that when

  1011. we put

  1012. our faith

  1013. and trust

  1014. in the

  1015. Lord

  1016. Jesus

  1017. Christ

  1018. we are

  1019. reconciled

  1020. with the

  1021. Father

  1022. he makes

  1023. us

  1024. one

  1025. with

  1026. Jesus

  1027. he adopts

  1028. us

  1029. as his

  1030. sons

  1031. and daughters

  1032. he gives

  1033. us a

  1034. seat

  1035. at his

  1036. table

  1037. and we

  1038. were promised

  1039. life forevermore

  1040. isn't that great

  1041. that's the message

  1042. that we

  1043. share with the

  1044. world

  1045. let's pray

  1046. for that

  1047. please

  1048. Lord

  1049. you