When Their Soul Is At Stake

I was recently asked a really tough question in a lengthy conversation I was having with another person.  As he was challenging me to consider what and how I communicate in my role in the congregation, he asked me this question.  "What is at stake here?"  I will admit that, for a few moments, I had to think through the question in silence. 

We are God's people when we have been washed in the blood of Jesus.  Our life now takes on a very deep meaning, as we become the rescued of God, the children of God, and the ones who receive the promises of God.  For us, that interaction with God had nothing less than our eternal souls at stake.  God would not spare even His own Son because our souls were at stake.  And then, to give us what His Son earned and purchased for us, God makes us of simple, everyday things to give that great gift to us.

As God's people, it seems that we sometimes lose sight of this.  It becomes easy to get tangled up in the things that don't really matter.  We make arguments about styles of worship, about who should teach our studies, about who gets the pastor's attention, and other things like this.  Yes, these are all important, and have their time and place for discussion. 

Yet, this question is one that really should get asked, even in the midst of these conversations.  "What is at stake here?"  Is a form of music really the thing that is most at stake?  Are God's people going to lose their faith if a different style of music is introduced?  If someone other than the pastor leads a bible study, will that make the study "less" because it is led by a layman, and not a trained pastor?

Ultimately, this also comes to impact our whole life together in Christ Jesus.  What is at stake here when we come together?  Well, we come together to be reminded of God's price to make us His own, and of His continued work to purchase and redeem souls of those who do not yet know Him.  We come together to be strengthened by each other, to build each other up, reminding each other that we belong to God through Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead.

That also impacts our daily lives within our communities.  What is at stake when you talk to your neighbor?  What is at stake when you are buying groceries at the store?  Only their eternal soul, one that God valued enough to send His Son to redeem and purchase, and whom God valued enough to send you, His child, into their lives to let them know that.

What is at stake here?  Their souls.  Maybe that's a reminder that we need in our lives quite often.  I know I need it in mine for sure!

What Harvest?

This past Sunday, at our church, we focused on the story of Jesus and the Samaritan town of Sychar, found in John 4.  As I've read this chapter in recent years, one thing has really jumped out at me.  But to bring that out, let me briefly run through this story.

Jesus and His disciples are traveling through Samaria.  The disciples go to a town (which I suppose is Sychar) to get some food.  Jesus rests by Jacob's well.  During the day, a woman comes to the well.  She and Jesus have a conversation on a number of things, and she runs back into the town to tell everyone that she has just met the Messiah.  Meanwhile, the disciples come back, and in their conversation with Jesus, He says that they merely have to open their eyes to see that the fields are white with harvest.  Pretty quickly, it becomes apparent what Jesus means, as the whole town comes out to meet Him, at the word of the woman, and invite Him to stay with them for two days, during which time many people come to believe that He is God's Messiah.

The thing that has jumped out to me is this.  What did the disciples miss here?  A whole town seemingly came to faith in Jesus, and they didn't even see any signs of it.  They went into the town, and what did they see?  A lot of these same people, but it appears that the disciples only saw godless, mixed blood heathens who worshiped wrong and believed in false gods.  But Jesus saw how those same people were white with the harvest of God for eternal life. 

The disciples missed that a whole town was white for harvest in front of them.  And to my eyes, it seems that this is because they simply were not looking at the people of that town as people who would be part of God's harvest.  They merely seem to have seen people from which they could purchase food as they hurried on their way to "God's people".

It really makes one think.  Are we Christians missing God's harvest in the same way?  How often do we see the people in front of us every day as people that God's Spirit is preparing for the harvest?  How often do we just see them as people that we have to put up with?  As people who annoy us?  As people who are godless and god-forsaken?  How often do we go through the grocery store line and think that the young man or woman is someone God's Spirit is preparing for the harvest?  How often do we think of the person waiting on us at the restaurant as someone with connections to a whole slew of people that could come to faith in Christ through their sharing?

For the rest of this week, I'm going to focus on what I will be calling "weaving Gospel threads" into your life, but more importantly, into the lives of those you encounter daily.  We might be tempted to ask, "What harvest", but I'm convinced that, as we begin weaving Gospel threads in our lives, we just may have our eyes opened to see where the Spirit is preparing far more fields for harvest than we could ever imagine.

Using Big Words

As part of my doctoral studies, I have been required to read a lot of books.  During this time, I have come to notice something that I think is pretty vital about someone who wants to teach others.  Using really big words that are tough to understand really doesn't come across as teaching.  It comes across more as though you are trying to show off your education, or to prove how smart you are.  It's almost as though some authors like to prove to you that they are smarter than you, simply by the way they write.

Don't get me wrong.  There is a time and place for big words.  A lot of occupations and fields of study have specialized vocabulary, and that's completely appropriate.  There are even times when you need to use those big words when you are talking to people who may be unfamiliar with your field.  The key seems to be, don't talk to them as though you are trying to prove how smart you are.  Instead, talk to them with a genuine interest in teaching them why such vocabulary is important, and make sure to take the time to teach them what your big words mean.

When it comes to the Christian faith, we also have a lot of big, specialized words.  Words like justification, sanctification, and so forth are very descriptive of elements of the faith.  And yet, there have been many times when I have cringed when I heard those words being used in a conversation.  It's not because I think the words are wrong, but because they seem to be a way of the Christian sounding intelligent.  But what really seemed to happen is that the person who was listening went away from the conversation as though the Christian was simply trying to prove that he or she was more intelligent than them, and actually ended up leaving a bad taste in the mouth of that person.

Again, big words have their place.  I would argue that their place is NOT to make the Christian seem intelligent, nor are they to be used in a way that boosts up our egos while putting down those who may not know what the words mean. 

This brings to mind something that a very wise man once told me.  He said that he had a teacher who once gave them the assignment to take the various concepts and big words of the the faith, and to come up with 100 other ways of saying the same thing.  That exercise helped him to see that there are many ways to describe our big words without coming across as a know-it-all.  It also helped him to see that many parts of the Christian faith may have technical terminology, but can also be described in fairly simple ways.

So, please, be aware of your vocabulary.  Yes, it's okay to use the big words, but make sure you are using them to explain them to the person you are talking to, and not to boost up your own ego. 

Christian Conversion, Morality, and Patience

Over the past week, we've been looking at morality, and how we can or cannot enforce morality upon others.  My hope throughout has been to demonstrate that Christians take a wrong approach when we seek to simply change people's behaviors, as though doing so makes the Christian all of a sudden.  Instead, issues of morality start deep inside a person, and spring forth from their beliefs.  Hence, if Christians would like to see a more Christian morality in those around us, the proper course of action is not to enforce rules of behavior or morality upon them, but to seek to change their hearts and beliefs, a task which God alone can do.

In fact, God's Word of the Bible makes it clear that only God can do this work, and He does it through His Word which we speak.  In Isaiah, we hear that fairly well-known set of verses in which God declares that He sends forth His Word, and it will accomplish the purpose for which He sends it.  I see two matters at work here that we as Christians find difficult.

First is the reliance upon God's Word and Spirit to do the work of changing a person's heart.  That doesn't seem like an effective way to work.  We start to think that we have to answer people's every question perfectly, even if the Bible doesn't have anything specific to say on the subject of their question.  But in the end, it is simply God's Word and Spirit that changes people.  Our most eloquent and persuasive arguments do nothing to change the heart and beliefs of another.  Only God's Spirit and Word do.

The second thing is that the change of heart and beliefs is not a fast and easy thing.  True, there are some things that are more easily changed than others.  But in the end, when God's Word and His Spirit have worked on a person's heart and changed them to belief in God, that's when a slow process begins, which calls for patience on our part.  There will be struggles and questions that the person will have.  There will most likely not be an instantaneous change in everything.  We have to be willing to be patient, to walk with that person through the questions and struggles that arise as their faith is incorporated into their life.

Have you ever walked the long, slow road with a person whose heart and faith has been changed?  What was it like?  You probably have a lot of wisdom for the rest of us, which we would be wise to heed as God's Word continues to do its work through us.

The Heart of Morality

The heart of how people think, act, and behave is in that person's set of beliefs about the world and their life.  For instance, if I believe that I was created by a being that made, not only me, but everything which exists, then my belief about how to act in this world and think about this world will be guided by my belief in that being.  If that being says to do certain things or refrain from certain things, I do so, because my belief in that being guides my thinking and behavior.

This gets to the heart of the difference between Christian morality and the morality of those who do not believe in God, or in Christ Jesus and His action of forgiving sins and rescuing us from a sinful existence.  Christian morality is guided by what God reveals in the Bible as His Word.  For those who do not believe this, having a morality enforced upon them which does not reflect their beliefs not only is wrong, but simply cannot be done in an effective manner.

So as Christians interact with the world around us, we may find that there are things about the morality of our surrounding culture that we believe to be wrong.  However, the answer isn't to attempt to legislate some form of morality, or to impose our beliefs upon others to change their behavior.  So, if that is the case, then what?

This gets back to how God changes people in the first place.  First of all, it is the Holy Spirit's work to change the heart and soul (i.e., beliefs) of a person.  We cannot believe unless God works that change in our mind and our heart.  This, then, brings us into God's realm of existence, and draws us into what He says is good, right, and moral.

So when Christians encounter those who believe differently, we are not to work to change their behavior.  Instead, we are to speak God's good news, His hope, His Word, to them, and let the Spirit do His work.  Should the Spirit's work be evidenced in their lives by a change in their beliefs, then we have the opportunity and joy and struggle to show them what life is like as God's people live together.

In other words, the spread of Christian morality is based, first and foremost, upon the sharing of God's good news in the Gospel.  Only when the Spirit changes another person's heart and soul can we then show them life as it is lived in God's kingdom and under His reign.  And that is why sharing Christian morality is, above all, the sharing of hope, of the forgiveness of sins, and of the cross of Jesus.