Sermons

“Bold Assurance”

Psalm 135:1-3, 13-18; Acts 17:16-34 – Rev. Rebecca Littlejohn

Vista La Mesa Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), La Mesa, California – September 16, 2018

The “Peter, Paul and What’s-Her-Name” Sermon Series

Holy God, bless the speaking and the hearing of these words that the eyes of our hearts might be opened to the power of your presence and our witness made bold. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Today is the last Sunday of our “Peter, Paul, and What’s-Her-Name” sermon series, so let’s begin with a little review. This series is designed to help us reflect on what it takes to become people who share the good news of what’s going on here, naturally and enthusiastically. We are in the beginning stages of a transformation into a congregation that lives with a constant awareness of God’s call to growth, in ministry, members and sustainability. A central part of that transformation is learning to talk effectively and authentically about our faith, our relationship with Christ, and what is happening here at VLM, with others outside this church.

We began looking at the story of Peter healing a man lame from birth by offering him not silver or gold (something he didn’t have), but the power of the name of Jesus (something he was very clear that he did have). We talked about letting go of disappointment about what we don’t have so that we can pull together what we do have and offer it to others with confidently and graciously. Sometimes what we have to offer turns out to be better than what people thought they were looking for.

Last Sunday, we looked at the story of Wafa, the Samaritan woman at the well, whose life-changing experience of Jesus prompted her to enthusiastically evangelize her whole town. We talked about how vital it is to have a clear sense of the difference Jesus has made in your life, so that you can articulate that impact with passion and conviction when you’re in conversation with other people. All of these lessons require some time spent in reflection and prayer in order to apply them in our own lives. We need to know what it is we have to offer and why someone might need it. We need to be able to articulate how the presence of Christ in our lives has changed us. If we’re not clear on these basic truths, our first step is to figure them out.

You may be getting the impression by now that I believe that effective evangelism is a very personal endeavor. And you would be right. But isn’t that slow? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to focus on promotion and advertising? To leverage special events and social media and other vehicles to get the word out? Well, yes, and… Those things are important, and we will be investing in those tools as well. But research over time shows that, by far, the most effective way for churches to grow is for the people who are already in them to be personally sharing their experiences effectively with people who are not there yet. Advertising works for people who are already looking for a church. But the vast majority of folks in our culture these days don’t know why they might want to check out our church. In fact, there is plenty of bad news out there emanating from people claiming the name of Jesus that they may even be actively turned off from considering participation in a congregation. Your story is what can change their minds. When people receive an invitation from someone they know and trust (that’s you), when they see how your participation at VLM affects your life, and they hear from you what Jesus has done in your heart, that’s when they begin to pay attention and wonder if there might be something here for them too. This is why it matters so much that we all learn how to do this effectively. People need to know about the joy that lives here and trust that it is available to them.

So let’s get into the last story we’re going to look at in this series, the story of Paul in Athens. The three lessons we’re going to pull out of Paul’s story are more subtle than the others, but they’re important. Our first task is to compare Paul’s situation to our own. He was traveling around, visiting various different cities and villages, meeting all sorts of people. In Athens, he faced both native Athenians and all the folks from other places that had been attracted to this center of learning and philosophy. So he was talking with a lot of people very different from himself.

My guess is that this doesn’t feel much like your life. Most of us are not traveling around, meeting new people on a regular basis. We go to the same job or school every day; we usually shop in the same places; we frequent just a handful of places for eating and entertainment. So right there, you may feel like you’re at a disadvantage. And maybe you are. If we don’t have opportunities to talk to people outside the church, it’s hard to offer anyone an invitation to come here. But I think part of this problem is in our heads, specifically in our eyes and in the eyes of our hearts. The truth is that most of us guard our emotional energy fairly closely, because we’re aware of how easily it can be depleted. And so as we go through our lives, working, shopping, dining, running errands, taking care of business, exercising, we don’t fully connect with most of the folks surrounding us in this situations. We don’t recognize them as fellow children of God, much less as people who might need an invitation to church. This may seem counter-intuitive, but I’m convinced that one way to get better at striking up conversations with people we don’t know well is to cultivate an attitude of prayerfulness.

The world is full of people that God loves. How would our interactions with them change if we developed a habit of trying to see everyone we interact with through God’s eyes? What if we cultivated a practice of silently blessing those around us whenever we’re out and about? I believe the first thing that would happen is that we would begin to notice how many people we actually do interact with on a regular basis. And we would start to realize that many of them – from the cashier at the grocery store to the receptionist at the doctor’s office to the neighbor whose trash cans are always out longer than they need to be – are people we see repeatedly, whose names we can learn, and whose lives we could enter into if we just showed a little more gracious curiosity. People are hungry to have their humanity recognized and nurtured. Seeing people with God’s eyes opens up the possibility of an authentic encounter about things that matter, which can turn into an opportunity to share what matters to you.

The second lesson we can learn from Paul’s story is also about getting better at noticing. Paul did a very clever thing in Athens. He was mostly a little appalled at how many gods the Athenians were worshipping in various temples and shrines. But he kept looking till he found an opening. The statue dedicated to “an unknown god” provided what he was looking for. The lesson here is about cultural relevance. We must always be looking for connections between our faith and what people outside the church are doing. Is there an issue out there that the gospel speaks to? (Hint: there are tons!) Is there a movie or TV show that echoes gospel themes? Did your friend have an experience of unexpected grace, or deep grief, or sacrifice, or joy that feels like a “God thing” from your perspective?

The point is not to define people’s lives for them, to explain to them what their experiences mean, as if you’re some kind of expert on their heart or mind. The point is to gently reflect how you would find meaning in such an experience, and how your faith helps you sustain that perspective in ways you find life-giving. If we walk around with the assumption that everyone outside church has got their life figured out and has no need for any pontificating from us, we will miss these opportunities. We will also be wrong. Very few of us, inside the church or out, have our lives figured out to the point that we can’t benefit from someone else’s help in finding meaning in what’s going on with us. Again, we will only be able to do this well if we have a clear understanding of how Jesus can change hearts and lives. But if we have that, and if we can cultivate eyes that see the people around us as fellow children of God, we will begin to see openings all over for conversations about the things that really matter.

Finally, a note of caution and encouragement: our final lesson from Paul is a hard teaching. The story begins by telling us that Paul was “deeply distressed” by how many idols he saw up and around in Athens. But did you hear what he said about that? For Paul, he was remarkably subtle, and yet, he didn’t just leave it be. God, he told them, isn’t kept in a shrine made by human hands. God doesn’t need anything, because God is the source of all things. God isn’t an image made of gold or silver, limited by human imagination or artistic capacity. Ever so subtly, he encouraged them to open their hearts to something bigger.

There’s a movement out there, in certain circles I dabble in on the internet, to shift from a habit of “calling out” to a practice of “calling in”. The idea is that if we’re aiming to build community, it is less helpful if, when someone says something ignorant or rude or offensive, we shame and humiliate them into silence. Instead, to call someone in, we are encouraged to speak the truth in love, to educate them about the harm their words have caused, with the assumption that they do not want to cause harm and will choose differently if they are more aware of their impact. Now obviously, there are situations in which that assumption has already been proven faulty, and a different response is warranted, but in general, the concept of “calling in” rather than “calling out” is a good one. And I think it’s a helpful one as we consider how Paul’s distress with the Athenian idols might translate into our own context.

The wisdom from Psalm 135 can also be useful here. After noting that the “idols of the nations” are merely the work of human hands, the psalmist gives a litany of how they have mouths and eyes and ears , but do not speak or see or hear or even breathe. And then there is the most telling observation: “Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.” People in our day put a lot of time and energy and money and devotion into things that do not lead to abundant life. We don’t usually use the word “idols” to describe these empty pursuits, but sometimes it would apply. People are seeking comfort, assurance, and meaning from things that cannot ultimately satisfy them. They are living in the shallows and becoming shallower themselves the longer they’re there. What would it look like to invite them, instead, to go deeper and seek meaning in something more substantial? What kind of eyes would our hearts require to recognize these sorts of moments? How could we call them in, without making them feel called out? How can we find the courage to talk about a God that is deeper and more solid and more mysterious and more life-giving than most of what we deal with in a normal day? How can we do it in a way that connects someone’s life to the life of faith? How can we do it in a way that reveals our connection to them as fellow children of God?

The main reason evangelism is hard is not because it makes us get over shyness or because we’re worried about coming off as pushy or judgmental. The main reason it’s hard is because it requires us to grow in our own faith much more deeply. As we do that, the other difficulties fade away. As we develop the capacity to see with God’s eyes, our hearts are made bold to share good news wherever we see an opening, positive or negative. As we clarify our own understanding of what Jesus is doing in our lives, we become more passionate about helping other people access that abundance. When we know who and whose we are, what we have to offer, and why it matters, just being ourselves in honest, courageous relationship with others becomes a witness. The journey of blessing is just beginning. Let us move forward together with joy. Alleluia and Amen!