Sunday Sermons
Reaching Your Neighbor
Reaching Your Neighbor
When Paul wrote the Corinthian letter he made it clear that he had become a slave to all men, so that he could win the more the Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19). This included accommodating himself where he biblically could to the surrounding culture, saying,“To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews”; “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some” (9:20,22). If such sacrifice and service was needed to reach people in the first century, it is obviously still needed today. Part of becoming all things to all men includes understanding the audience that we are trying to reach. Haddon Robinson wrote, “Let’s face it. We don’t teach the Bible. We teach people the Bible. As vital as it is to know content, it’s not enough. We must know our audiences. Christian communicators who want to know their audience must be aware of the culture that shapes them, motivates them, and often lures them away from God”(Preaching to a Postmodern World, Graham Johnston, p. 7). In this lesson I want look inside the hearts of our neighbors in the 21st century and we what are the challenges in reaching them with the gospel. Yes, we will be dealing with the same types of temptation from Satan (1 John 2:15-17), but at times the mindset of the culture shifts. Helmut Thielicke puts it, “The Gospel must be constantly forwarded to a new address because the recipient is repeatedly changing places of (mental) residence” (p. 9). It is important that we understand the assumptions, beliefs, and what our neighbor presently values, if we are going to have an intelligent conversation. Most people would concede that before a Christian goes oversees and seeks to spread the gospel in a foreign place that they understand both the language and customs of the culture. What we need to realize, is that even though we are American citizens, we are actually strangers in a culture that is foreign to God’s truth. We may have not changed, but the culture around us is constantly, and at times drastically, changing.
They are accustomed to being lied to
Not only are many people convinced that no absolute truth exists (The Barna Report says two-thirds of Americans), they are also very skeptical. One reason for this is “the information age of postmodernity is also the advertisement age, a time in which people have become accustomed to being lied to and deceived” (p. 69). Now there have always been liars (Revelation 21:8), but what may now be a little different is that people expect and accept the fact that lying is simply a part of business or getting things done. So when we approach someone with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ and eternal life, we need to remember that they have already heard many extravagant claims from many other people before we ever arrived. Thus, our listeners will be looking for our personal agenda or angle. This is one reason why it is so important to be working on your character before you evangelize, because many of our listeners will have already encountered many religious fakes and frauds. Remember, they have already heard from a number of other people who also claimed to have found “the truth” (Romans 16:18; 2 Corinthians 4:2). In addition, people today are very distrustful, not merely of preachers, but of any authority figure.
They trust their own judgment
“As adults grow, they learn to trust their own judgment and experience more and more, and they test what they hear from others against their own sampling of reality. If what the teacher says is not validated by their experience, they will not take the teacher’s message seriously” (p. 74). What this means is that many people have placed their own experiences on a level of inspired status, where experience is the final authority. Our goal is to move the listener from that framework of self-reliance (Proverbs 28:23), to a Scripturally based foundation where the Bible is viewed as the final authority (John 17:17). We face the above challenge often when we teach people that they need to be baptized to be saved (Mark 16:16), and this truth collides with an experience they have in which they knew a really nice person who seemed to be very spiritual, yet was not baptized. We will be encountering people who place more value in some “story” or “anecdote” that they have experienced or were passed down to them than in what God has said. The real issue here is humility. We need to remind our listeners that while God is omniscient, they are not. It certainly does not make sense to take their very limited sampling of reality and make is an eternal standard. This has always been a challenge in teaching others (Proverbs 14:15; Jeremiah 10:23). We also need to remind them that there is a perspective that they have not seen in many of their “stories” or “experiences” (Isaiah 55:8-9). “People are not blank slates on which we write our messages. People are a pulsating bundle of attitudes, values, prejudices, experience, feelings, thoughts, sensations and aspirations. They are active, not passive, even when they are listening. Our message is not a drug injected into the listener to somehow overpower him or her. In Mark 4 Jesus likened the gospel to seed spread over a wide area---whether it grew or not depended on the receptiveness of the soil or the human heart” (p. 64).
The sin shift
We will probably be encountering more and more people who feel that sin and guilt are simply not an issue. “So a message might begin with the assumption that people want release from their guilt. However, the problem has moved, now becoming ‘How can I feel good about myself?’ which is not to be confused with any condition of forgiveness. This shift from sin to self-image reflects a move, not just in society but in the church” (p. 71). Thus if I have a lesson on “The answer to guilt” some of my listeners might response, “What is the question?” Yes, there are still people who feel guilty, but more and more we might run into people who do not feel guilty at all. The modern advice is, “Guilt problem?” Just ignore it. Yet as Johnston observes, guilt is a sensor, like a warning light on an automobile that something is wrong. Guilt is a built in divine warning sign from the heavenly manufacturer something needs to be fixed. Simply ignoring it is not going to solve any problems and you will not feel any better(Psalm 32:1ff).
Personal and not intellectual reasons
“As a parting word for apologetic preaching (giving evidence that the Bible is the Word of God), we must realize that people will often reject God’s message for personal rather than intellectual reasons” (p. 83). Paul Vitz a former atheist noted, “In the list of superficial, but nevertheless, strong irrational pressures to become an atheist, I must like simple personal convenience. The fact is that it is quite inconvenient to be a serious believer in today’s secular and neo-pagan world. I would have had to give up many pleasures and a good deal of time” (p. 84). John Stott once said to a young man who have given up going to church, “’If I were to answer your problems to your complete intellectual satisfaction, would you be willing to alter your manner of life?’ He smiled slightly and blushed. His real problem was not intellectual but moral” (p. 84). We see the same in the rich young ruler, who did not have any intellectual problems with following Jesus, but rather had a definite moral problem (Matthew 19:22). What this means is that we need to recognize that Christianity demands a definite personal commitment, and while the gospel is for all, all people are not prepared to pay the cost (John 6:60,66). Yet this should not surprise us, even in the earthly realm many people are not prepared to pay the price of planning for their retirement, saving, getting an education, and investing in a marriage. “George Hunter III reminds us: ‘Some church leaders have a university professor friend who ‘lost his faith’, and these leaders now imagine that all secular people are philosophically sophisticated geniuses who have read Christian literature from Augustine to Zwingli and rejected the Christian case in toto on rational grounds. But the vast majority of secular people are not sophisticated; most are naïve, superficial, gullible people who may fall for anything” (p. 90).
They think they know
Even though our culture is saturated by unbelief, it is also filled with fragments of Christian teachings. The problem is that some people think that they know all about the Bible or what Jesus actually taught because they saw a movie once. People are tempted to tune us out and say, “Yea, yea, I’ve heard it all before”. Yet the cross has become a fashion accessory that people wear for purely decorative purposes, “Western civilization wallows in fragments of Christian clichés and paraphernalia” (p. 19). This is why it is so essential to have listeners pick up the Bible and begin reading it for themselves.
The power of the media
“Film and video can now render the wildest fantasies and make them seem realistic. Real events, by the same token, are fictionalized. It’s little wonder that the TV generation has a hard time distinguishing between truth and fiction. The problem is that there is no distinction between advertising and everything else. Everything’s blurred. When you see everything is marketed and designed and positioned, then you begin to wonder, what is reality?” (p. 49). This is another reason why it is so essential to get your listener to start reading the Bible. Reading demands sequential thinking, active mental engagement, and a sustained attention span. It also encourages self-examination, for one tends to read alone and in private. Remember, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). Our times might think that Bible reading is old fashioned or boring; yet it is the only remedy to shatter the illusions that the devil has created.
Learning the truth requires effort
“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). Knowing the truth involves a struggle, because one cannot accept the truth without also rejecting one’s own previous prejudices and cherished but false concepts, and it also demands that one face up to the fact that one has violated God’s truth. Study also involves patient discipline. We can help our listeners by allowing them to see the process of thinking by which we arrived at the conclusion that the Bible is true, God exists, and Jesus is the Son of God (1 Peter 3:15).
Remaining uncommitted isn’t all its cracked up to be
Some will prefer to remain in a so-called neutral position in regard to Jesus, because being uncommitted gives one the illusion of comfort because it removes the personal responsibility of the person having to choose. In addition, it means that one does not have to defend anything and that they can remain the perpetual critic. “Yet endless openness produces stagnation” (p. 99). This last comment needs to be presented to the person who wants to remain on the fence (1 Kings 18:21). After all how effective would a preacher be who ended every sermon with, “But then again, what do I know?” Thus as George Buttrick once said, “People are driven from the Church not so much by stern truth that makes them uneasy, as by weak nothings that make them contemptuous” (p. 62). Let us remember that our level of commitment as Christians can be a powerful draw to good and honest hearts (Acts 5:13).
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
