Proclamation and Demonstration
Tom Shrader teaches two core values of the newly forming Redemption Church: proclamation, rooted in the authority of Scripture and the gospel of Christ's death and resurrection, and demonstration, the call to live out that gospel visibly in everyday relationships. Drawing from Matthew 5, Romans 10, Acts 17, and 2 Timothy 3, he argues that Christians are all in full-time ministry, responsible to be salt and light in their immediate world. He concludes with Paul's example in Athens as a model for meeting people where they are, observing their idols, and pointing them toward the God they do not yet know.
“The gospel is words. If all you do is live it, they're going to conclude that you are just naturally a happy person.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: EVBC - Our Values
Recorded: 2010 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 55 min
Themes: evangelism, salt and light, gospel, mission, everyday witness, proclamation, church planting, ministry, new believer, church member navigating change, feeling unsure about outreach, young adult, layperson in full-time ministry, skeptic seeking answers, new to a church, someone exploring faith
Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16, 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, Romans 10:9-15, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Colossians 4:4-6, John 1:19-29, John 3:30, Acts 17:15-23
Theological Themes: missiology, kerygma, biblical authority, incarnational ministry, the great commission, scripture sufficiency, apologetics, the gospel
Full Transcript
Welcome and Announcements
If you have Bibles, you can open them to Mark Chapter 5. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and the guys will bring you one. When you get a Bible from us, the publisher — and I have to explain this every once in a while — started numbering at Genesis 1:1 as page 1, but when they come to the New Testament, they renumber. That seems confusing, but what you want is to find the New Testament, which is about two-thirds of the way back, and it will be page 3.
It has been an incredible week for us following last week's — I don't want to be overdramatic — but really historic announcement that we are taking East Valley Bible Church, effective January 1, and Praxis Church and merging them into one church. For many of you, maybe even the majority, when you came in last Sunday you had no clue. That is literally drinking from a fire hose — this thing came at you full force, and you were processing information very quickly. Understandably, you have questions, and we attempted to answer most of those in our discussion last week.
We provided a piece of literature for you to take with you that is a real helpful resource. If you didn't get one, or you need more, they are in the lobby as you leave today. Over in the Commons you will see a table that says Redemption Church Information, and we will have staff there — Tyler will be there almost all day, along with other pastoral staff members — to dialogue with you.
If you are serious about understanding this transition, the best thing you can do is go to the website. Right there on the homepage it will say Third Thursday. Click Play and you will get a discussion between Tyler, Neil, Tim, Justin Anderson, and myself. I listened to it again this week — it is one hour, thirty-two minutes, and thirty-five seconds. I know that is a long time to watch a video, but it is a worthwhile and thorough explanation of Redemption Church, and you ought to listen to it.
Reflections on the Church's Strength
I started making this comment about four years ago, and I understand it gets some pushback: East Valley Bible Church is the strongest it has ever been. How do you measure that? Is it by attendance? By income? Ultimately it is measured by souls that are being changed — but how do you look into a soul? How do you measure spiritual growth? Over the last four years, this body, the leadership, and the elders have grown closer to each other and to a common purpose.
Something like last week gives you a demonstration of that strength. When roughly seventy percent of the people have an announcement like this dropped on them, the way they respond gives you a great indicator of spiritual maturity. By far the overwhelming response, after time to process, was: we get it, and we are all in. How do we help? On behalf of the staff and elders at Praxis, here at East Valley, and all of us now at Redemption Church — thank you so much for that.
That does not mean every question is now answered, and we want to address questions as they arise. There are things in the future we simply do not know yet, and as we figure those out we will share them with you. We encourage you not to speculate or guess. If you come to me and ask whether we have talked about a particular possibility, I can guarantee the answer is yes — we have talked about a thousand possibilities. But all we have decided is what we are doing right now.
Looking Ahead
On that note, next Sunday Justin is teaching here. One of the short-term goals for us is to get both congregations on the same page, especially in getting familiar with the leaders. The biggest thing for those of us here is for you to hear Justin. Many of you have already told me you have been online and listening, and I love that — not judgmentalism, but scrutiny. You are going to get a first-person dose of that next week. Justin will be teaching here next Sunday and again in December, and that is what we have set up through the end of the year.
As for what we are doing today — when I came back from vacation I told you we were going to finish the seven churches, and then in January we were going to start the Book of James. I mentioned we had something special planned. What I knew then, but could not yet share, was that we were going to spend three or four weeks on the values that are driving Redemption Church, and then take time getting
Proclamation and Demonstration
When we gave you the brochure last week, you opened it up and saw the phrase we want to keep in front of you: gospel-centered and outward-focused. Two panels were occupied, in large font, with our values. There are seven of them, and they become the grid for Redemption Church.
One of the things that became clear as I stepped back and listened to your questions was that so many of them were rooted in concern: "We love Valley Bible Church, we love these things, and we're afraid this is going to change." Not because there's any reason to conclude it will change — just because that's what people fear when change happens. I did a session over at Praxis, and they've been a church for about six years. By far, their biggest concern was the same: are we going to change? Are we going to lose these core values?
When we came together, what we said last week is exactly true — we could not just bring two churches together for the sake of doing it. We never would do it if the churches didn't fit, and we'd never do it if we were somehow compromising core values. So when we decided to teach these values, I'm not sure we understood how encouraging this should be to you. If you've been around for very long, you're not going to hear anything new today.
That should be very encouraging if you've been wondering whether we're going to lose the things that have been important to us. And though these values are familiar, they should feel refreshing, because they are so important.
The Value of Proclamation
We are going to look at two values today. The first is Proclamation. Here is how we state it: We believe that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Therefore, we value the continual proclamation of the Word of God. We preach the Bible authoritatively and exegetically. We take the words, bring them to life, and train our people to make God and His gospel a part of everyday conversation.
At the core of this value is the Scripture, the change it produces in our lives, and then the responsibility and privilege to take that to a world.
The Sermon on the Mount: Salt and Light
Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5. If your Bible is red-lettered, Matthew 5, 6, and 7 are all red letters — arguably the greatest sermon ever produced, preached by Jesus. It begins with the familiar words of verse 3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Those are the Beatitudes.
There is then a kind of conclusion that begins in verse 13: "You are the salt of the earth." Verse 14: "You are the light of the world. A city sitting on a hill can't be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house." And here are our marching orders: "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
In language that should be familiar to us, the charge is this: make the invisible God visible, and speak the truth boldly. "Let your light shine in such a way that they may see your good works." Apparently, there is a sense in which people should be able to see the result of your Christian faith — God working in your life, producing something different and unique about you.
The Visible Change That Faith Produces
You may look at me as an example and think, "Well, he's not so impressive." But I am a lot better than I was thirty years ago. I spent thirty years consumed with myself — what about me, here's me, I'm the center of the universe, every person, place, and thing exists to satisfy me and serve my good. I treated everyone that way.
The result of that — Scripture tells you, and my own experience verifies it — is a life filled with broken relationships, empty promises, heartache, and disappointment. Then God comes into your life. The Holy Spirit awakens your heart. You are regenerated, born again. Jesus becomes Lord and Savior. And consequently, your life begins to change.
My life was such a mess that when people saw that change, they would say, "There's something — what happened?" In your life, there should be a steady stream of people asking the same question: what is different about you?
Presumably, when you are alongside someone who does not know Christ, who does not care about the things of Christ, who is driven by their own self — your conduct in business, your encounter with that person in the workplace, should look different. The same is true in the classroom, not just as a teacher but as a student. If I am a teacher with twenty kids in my class and one of them knows Christ, loves Christ, and is driven by the Spirit, that student should look different from everybody else.
But it is not enough simply to make the invisible God visible. The text says they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven — and there is no way they will glorify Him
Preaching the Gospel Requires Words
There is that old saying, often attributed to Francis of Assisi: "Preach the gospel, and if you must, use words." I have always found that to be problematic. The gospel is words. If all you do is live it, people are going to conclude that you are just naturally a happy person — a good gal, a great guy. Hard times for you are like water off a duck's back. Nothing gets to you, because that is the way you are wired. You have to say, "No, no, no. Let me tell you how I was. Let me tell you how I am." Even then, if it is a good disposition, it is because I understand this is not about me. It is about Him.
So again, I always cringe at these moments, but I had several people this week say, "I don't know how you can do this in this whole transition thing. Aren't you worried about your —" and then they fill in whatever. The answer, and people have a hard time with this, is: not really. I am not that worried about it. We all say, and you keep wanting to remind me, this is not my church, it is God's, and so it is His deal to worry about.
I watched a lot of interviews with George W. this week, and I tried to watch him with anyone he would go on with. He was on with Matt Lauer, and the rest were mostly Fox people, but Greta was by far the best — she always is in those interviews, because everybody else talks about things I already know. But every one of them got around to the same thing, and if you do not like him, this was like fingers on a chalkboard this week, because he really does not care now. He did not care before, and he really does not care now.
No one has a box for that, but I believe him when he says it — almost all of it — that he does not care, he does not miss it. Why? Because his identity was not in being the president. He understood that the presidency, whatever you think about whether he did it well or poorly, right or wrong — the office was not about him. It is hard to do, but you can get yourself outside of whatever your role is and understand that the company, the position, none of it is really about you.
I keep coming back to this, and I was telling somebody this week: nobody is going to remember. Nobody is going to remember who the lead team was in the founding days of East Valley. Nobody is going to remember you at your business. Your kids will remember you, your grandkids faintly, and your great-grandkids are going to say, "I don't know — he did something in the will." That is it. No one cares. And if you can get used to that — and I am telling you, this is sobering — nobody cares. So you should not either. About that. Do not misunderstand what I am saying.
Life Is an Open Book Test
In this whole process, here is the idea: make a difference in the way you act, and then speak the truth fully. That is proclamation. So here is what we believe. We believe life is an open book test, and this is the book. For all the things we see around us, we understand that man has an answer and that God has an answer. Man's conclusions, as he looks at the world, are often different from God's.
God speaks to us through creation. Somebody the other day was saying — they had been somewhere up on the north coast — that they saw a rainbow and it reminded them of the power of God. I get all of that, but the universe that rainbow is hanging in is way more amazing than the rainbow itself. You drop water, you shoot light through it, you get a rainbow. But Halley's Comet, to me, is much more amazing than a rainbow. So He speaks through His creation, He speaks through Jesus, He speaks through His Word, and now, just as Jesus was the light of the world, He uses you to proclaim this truth. Life is an open book test. This is the book.
When the girls were younger and in school, I would continually try to engage them — especially Sarah, who was just really smart and it came easy, and Halley, who was smart but had to study. This is a great time of year at night to go for a walk, and I remember going over to an old neighborhood, circling around, and ending up at the Piccadilly Cafeteria at Southern and Price for hot chocolate. Different times of year I would have a pipe — the girls loved the smell — or a cigar, and they would say, "This stinks, can we walk ahead of you?" And we would end up at the Piccadilly.
I remember one night after Sarah had gone, I went to Halley and said, "Let's go for a walk." She said, "I can't go for a walk." I said, "Why not?" She said, "I'm studying." I said, "It doesn't matter, come on." She said, "Can you help me?" I said, "No. But I can help you with this." I told her: when I was a kid, in the math book, all the answers were in the back. So go to the back, find the page, get the answer. She said, "Dad, you have to understand why." I said, "Really? Okay, whatever — I'll walk alone."
But here is the point: you fail life's test because you did not open the book and read it. It is an open book test. What we do now is rejoice in our lives being transformed, and we proclaim the whole Word of God — and especially the gospel, the good news — to the world around us.
The Gospel in a Nutshell
So turn to page 138, 1 Corinthians 15. This is the passage that my hero, Larry Wright, would call the gospel in a nutshell. Paul says in verse 1 —
The Gospel of First Importance
For I delivered to you of first importance — and this is at the top of the list. First, meaning you have to get this. If you get all the other stuff without this, all you will do is change behavior without a changed heart or changed motive. So the Christian faith at its core is about belief, not behavior, though behavior comes.
So what do we believe? What makes us biblical Christians? What separates us from the rest of the world? Here it is. First importance: that Christ died for our sin according to the scripture. And then they did with Him what they do with dead people — they buried Him — and He was raised on the third day according to the scripture. Then He appeared to Cephas, Peter, then to the twelve, and then He appeared to more than five hundred. Most of them are still alive; some have died. Then to James, and then to all the apostles, and then to Paul himself.
There is the gospel. There is the good news. Christ died for a reason and for a purpose, not just to be a role model. You will hear that all the time — that Christ was a great role model, that He was a great teacher. He was. But that is not why He came. He did not come just to be a great teacher or role model. He came on a mission to die on the cross to save His people from their sins. That is why He came to this earth. And then He rose from the dead. They did with Him what they do with dead people — they buried Him — but He did something that dead people do not do. He rose.
We are moving into that time of the calendar year heading toward Christmas. The theme at Christmas every year is that He emptied Himself — not of His deity, but of His glory — and He came to earth. He came for a reason, and He told us what it was: not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many, for His people, to save His people from their sin. That is the gospel.
What We Are Called to Believe
Now, what do we do with that gospel? Romans chapter ten, verse nine: "If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." That seems simple. At Easter every year we have this discussion: can someone be a Christian and not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ? Well, read it again. "If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." That is what we are called to believe.
The Three Moves of Popular Culture
Now consider how anti-popular culture that is. Popular culture — and this has probably been true throughout history, but it has been especially intense in our lifetime — has done three things. Number one, they have either killed or neutered God. They say it does not really matter what you believe or who you believe in. It is God as you understand him, she, it, whatever — higher power, whatever you think it is, that is God. If it works for you.
You will hear that all the time. You come to Christ in repentance and faith, you begin to share with your friends, and someone, guaranteed, is going to say to you, "I am glad you found something that works for you." But that is not the issue. Yes, it does work. But that is not the issue. The issue is not even whether it works. The issue is whether it is true.
So once we take God and decide He is dead — and that is a hard sell, because only a small group of people will follow that argument — most people simply create God in their own image. That is step one. Then you introduce something like evolution. What that does is make everything random, a matter of chance, with nobody in control. Step three: you arrive at the idea that man is basically good. All of a sudden, God is whatever you want Him to be, you are here almost by accident, and you are fundamentally good.
You develop an entire mindset and culture that is always a victim and never a villain, even in how it deals with God. So a person comes to God and says, "I am just a victim. If I had had different parents, if I had been born at a different time or place, if I had gotten to attend a great institution..." The problem at the core of humanity, however, is not economic, intellectual, or sociological. It is theological. It is sin.
John Stott writes this: "The authentic task of the church is not primarily to make people healthy, but our essential task is to restore men to right relationship with God. Man's real problem is not simply that he's sick, it's that he's a rebel." That is the message we take to the world.
Equipped by Scripture
And we never arrive at that message without scripture. Left to ourselves, we would never invent a God who says He made the deaf, the mute, the blind. We would constantly be protecting God's reputation and would never want to lay that on Him. We would never invent a God who sends people to hell. By and large, we would give everybody a do-over somehow, because people are basically good, it is not their fault, they could plead their case and we would be sympathetic — primarily because we do not want to be judged ourselves. That would be our default.
So how do we get there? Second Timothy chapter three, verse sixteen: "All scripture is inspired by God, profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate and equipped for every good work." How are we equipped to live in this world? It begins here.
The Shape of Our Times
He begins by saying, in the last days, difficult times will come because people will be lovers of self and lovers of money. He concludes that thought by saying they will love pleasure more than they love God, but in verse 5 he said they will hold to a form of godliness but deny His power — avoid men like this. People love themselves, which is why they create God in their own image. They will even be irreconcilable because they love themselves more than getting things right. It is more important to them to protect their own ego, identity, and pride than to reconcile, so everything becomes polemic.
Listening to George Bush last night, he was asked the question, "You came to change Washington," and he said everybody does. President Obama came, at least in theory, to bring hope and change and a new tone in Washington. It looks to me like it is more polarized than it has ever been, at least reasonably in our time. It was pretty polarized with Reagan — they thought he was stupid, an idiot, falling asleep in cabinet meetings. But him asleep in a cabinet meeting is better than much of what we have had since then.
The reality is, if you really believe in something, Barack Obama is an ideologue — and so was Ronald Reagan. That is why you elected him. You elected him to execute what he thought or said he believed. So all of a sudden we come to this, and we create a God who is just a great old God — a little like Santa, a little like the Easter Bunny, a little like the Tooth Fairy. He never really bothers us. Only good things. Every once in a while a reprimand, but only a probationary, short-time thing.
The Authority of Scripture
All Scripture is inspired by God for teaching, correction, reproof, and training in righteousness. The Bible tells us what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right — not the ethics class at Harvard, not what Jack Welch says. What makes you equipped to live in this world is the Scripture.
Whatever the topic is — how to be the best student, the best person, the best neighbor — the answer is found here. Now, keeping that in mind, let us turn back to Romans chapter 10, where we were.
The Chain of Proclamation
Romans chapter 10, verse 9: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead." Verse 11: "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed." Then Paul begins this incredible chain of logic that leads us to the idea of demonstration.
Verse 13: "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." But then he asks a question — how will they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him if they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? Do not think of somebody up front; think of somebody who is declaring the truth. And how will they preach unless they are sent? "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news of good things."
True Theology Is Lived Theology
True theology is lived theology. We take it, and then we live it. We must be doers of the Word, not just hearers. We are an action-oriented church, and everything we do serves to propel our people into acting more like Christ. We evaluate all our ministries and our staff based on how they are helping people reenact the gospel in everyday life — just live this stuff out.
This commitment moves us to cross boundaries in care for the vulnerable, and gives us the courage to confront idolatry and injustice in our lives. You are going to come into contact with what popular culture says, and you are ultimately delivering a message that is different from that. You are going to experience rejection — but that is not the issue. The issue is that God has ordained that He is going to take the Bible, the Scripture, the meaning, and especially the gospel to the world through us.
Salt and Light in Your World
He did not call you to reach the world — He called you to be salt and light in your world. Maybe your world right now is two and three-year-olds. Maybe you are at the other end of life and you physically cannot get around much, so your world has become a very small world — it is actually the people who are serving you. As they serve you, they see the graciousness you extend and the thanksgiving you show for their service.
He says they cannot be saved if they do not believe, and they cannot believe if they have not heard, and they cannot hear if somebody does not tell them. How sweet are the feet of those who bring the good news.
The Feet That Carry Good News
I took one international flight in my life. I went from here to San Francisco to Hong Kong to Bangkok to Manila to Madras, Calcutta, New Guinea, Singapore, Sydney, and home. I did it because I was curious and genuinely wondered what it would be like. I got there, and here is what I found: not my deal.
We were in New Guinea at a pastor's conference. It was a small room jammed with people — men who had canoed for a week to get there, who had walked through jungles. If you have never seen a jungle, you cannot see from here to the microphone. It is a mess. And I will be honest: my head was down and I wanted to go home.
While I was sitting there feeling that way, the teacher read this passage: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things." I looked up at the feet in that room. The pads of those feet were callous upon callous upon callous. I will never read that verse without thinking of those feet — feet that walked through jungles, that canoed for weeks to get to a conference I did not even want to be at.
Those men were refreshed to go home and bring the good news to a village of eighteen. Let me be clear: I am comfortable not doing that, because I do not think God called me to do it. But He has called us to something. You are the feet that bring the good news to your world. People are never going to hear if you do not make the invisible God visible.
The Responsibility We Carry
You may be the only Bible some people ever read. Some people will never step inside a church and do not care to. But they will see something in you. God is judged by many people by the behavior of His kids — and you know that intuitively.
Think about driving to a friend's house for the first time. You stop the car half a block away and tell your children that if they act up tonight, there will be consequences. Why do you say that? It is not only because you want to see them mature and grow. You know the real reason: those people are going to evaluate you by the way your kids act. In the same way, the world is evaluating your God by the way we act.
That does not excuse the world for how it responds. It simply gives us a sense of the awesome responsibility we carry — as a church and as individuals. This is evangelism: literally, to bring the good news. God has chosen to use ordinary people like you and me to carry it.
John the Baptist: A Role Model for Witness
There is a great role model for us early in the Gospel of John. His name is John — not the John who wrote this book, but John the Baptist. He has been crying out, and in John 1:19 the Jews send people to interview him. They ask, "Who are you?" He confessed and did not deny it. He said, "I am not the Christ." They pressed him: "Are you Elijah?" No. "The Prophet?" No. "Then who are you? We need an answer." Here is what he said: "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord." That is who I am. I am a mouthpiece.
Then look at verse 29. The next day he saw Jesus and declared, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." That is who John was — and that is who you are.
James Boyce writes about this and says, "I suppose the greatest mistake a person could make as he reads about the witness of John the Baptist is to think that he is somehow particular, unique. But that is an error and a serious one. Witnessing is every Christian's job. If we are to witness for Jesus, we must first forget about ourselves and we must first think about others and their need for a Savior."
John is on mission, and you are on mission. We say this over and over again: Gospel-centered, outward focused. We take this Word and the proclamation of it and the transformed life, and we declare it to a lost and dying world.
He Must Increase, I Must Decrease
When Jesus spoke of John the Baptist, He said no greater man has ever lived. That is a significant list — Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, Joseph, Daniel. None of those men are greater than John the Baptist. So what did John the Baptist do to earn that? He understood a basic principle that he communicated over and over again.
It is found in John 3:30. John has just said again that he is not the Christ, and then he says this — and this is the secret to spiritual growth: "He must increase, I must decrease." That is the whole thing. That is what life should be about, every single day.
When Jesus says deny yourself, what is He saying? He is saying He must increase and I must decrease. He needs to get bigger and bigger. He needs to be the center of the agenda, the thing that is driving everything. Not me.
Everyone Is in Full-Time Ministry
Everyone is in full-time ministry. I feel like I have been saying that for 23 years, over and over again, and yet people who hear it don't seem to either believe it or get it. So let me be really clear. I believe that what you do and what I do are equally important. I happen to be here doing this, and for 20 years I genuinely feel God has called me to this place.
I do not believe this calling is any more sacred than when I was called to be a coal banker selling commercial property. That work is just as sacred. I don't understand why people don't receive that when I say it over and over again. I'll assume it's my fault for not communicating it clearly, though the suspicious side of me says you don't want to get it because you don't want the responsibility that comes with it.
Here is how I know it's true — I just listen to language. People will say, "Bob's been a CPA for a long time. He's quitting his job to go into full-time ministry." That sets me off like a rocket. Bob is already in full-time ministry. Beth is in full-time ministry. Everyone who says Jesus is Lord is in full-time ministry.
Everything You Do Matters
The second thought is that everything you do matters. Paul says in Colossians 4:5, "Conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity." People are watching, and it matters what you do.
I did a funeral for an older man, and we held an open-mic time where anyone could share. A young woman stood up and said she had known him well and that he had a huge impact on her life. She worked in a grocery store, and he used to come in. There was something different about him. Let me tell you what the difference was — he was nice. That was it.
He was a little more polite, a little kinder than everyone else. One day she was having a really bad day, and Bob came into the store. He noticed she was discouraged, went out of his way to be kind, and asked if he could help. She said she didn't think so, and he asked if she would like to come to church with him. She came, she heard the gospel, and God saved her.
Do you see where that story ended up? We are all focused on sharing the truth — and I am fully on board with that — but do you see where this evangelism started? He was nice. He said please, thank you, excuse me. After 9/11, they interviewed a woman in New York who said the whole city had changed, and her evidence was that someone had held a door for her. Everything you do matters.
The Burden of Communication Is on Us
Paul continues in Colossians 4:6: "Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." That leads to a third closing thought: the burden for communication is on us.
We need to listen to people, not simply complete some witnessing course and then drive people away from the gospel rather than toward it by answering questions they are not asking. The best possible place to begin is to ask questions. Really? Why do you do that? You are functioning like a counselor — without the hundred and twenty-five dollars an hour — but you are listening. How does that make you feel? Why did you do that?
God is opening doors with the calendar right now. The holidays are here. For some of you the tension is already building — the family events are planned, Thanksgiving is upon us. Every year you think it is going to be a Norman Rockwell and every year it turns into a Far Side. Every year it is chaotic and nothing works, and there is no reason this year will be any different.
So someone shares that frustration with you. They tell you they want to be salt and light for Jesus Christ at the family gathering. I ask what they are doing, and they say they are preaching the gospel. Think about this carefully. The family has been cooking all day. Everyone spent twenty minutes eating a meal that took twenty hours to prepare. They have had a few drinks. Do you think they want to hear Romans 10:9 from you right now? They don't. That does not mean they don't need to hear it — they do — but that is probably not the open door.
The open door sounds more like this. Someone says their life is falling apart. You ask why they think that is. They talk about a job that did not work out. They say they are miserable. You ask what is making them miserable. You keep listening, you keep asking, and slowly a real conversation begins. That is where the gospel finds its entrance — not forced in, but welcomed through a door that genuine care and patient listening helped to open.
Adapting to Your Audience Without Compromise
A lot of people are afraid that if you start to listen to people, interact with them, and show concern for their lives, you will somehow be compromised. You will not be compromised — you will be wise. Acts chapter 17 is your role model for this. So when somebody says you've compromised, you can say, "Really? Here's where I got this idea."
Acts 17:15 reads: "Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left." So Paul is in Athens, waiting. And while he is waiting, his spirit is provoked within him as he — look at the next word — *observes* the city. He is observing a city full of idols.
This is just my read, because the text doesn't say it explicitly, but I know how I think. He saw all those idols and went, "Hmm." He intuitively knew that was a big deal — that it told him a lot about the city — and he filed it away. Then he does his normal thing. He is reasoning in the synagogue, reasoning from the Scripture, engaging with the Jews. With the Greeks it would be different, but for now he is in the synagogue: "This is what it says in Ezekiel, this is what it says in Isaiah, you remember David?" The Jews had a background for that.
He is also going through the city and into the marketplace every day. I love the phrase — it almost sounds haphazard: "with those who happen to be present." In other words, those God had brought. And then he gets a big opportunity. If we only focus on the opportunity, we miss all the preparation that preceded it.
Paul Before the Great Minds of Athens
Paul is invited to speak in verse 22 to the men of Athens — the great minds, the great thinkers of the city. Paul could not have bought a moment like this. God ordained it and brought him in. But notice what he does not do: he does not reason with them the way he reasoned with the Jews. That would have been foolish. If he had opened by saying, "Let's talk about David — remember David?" they would have said no.
Instead, here is what he says: "I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown God.'" Commentators differ on the details, but at least one notes there were as many as 32,000 gods being worshipped at that time. Paul looked at all of them, but one caught his eye: the unknown God. And he filed it away.
Look at how brilliant and simple this move is. He says, "You know what? I saw that altar to the unknown God. What you worship in ignorance, I am here to proclaim to you." You know that God you didn't know anything about? I am here to tell you about Him. And the thing is, that kind of opening is around you all the time.
Every Idol Points to the Same Need
When you run into somebody and their idol — and it doesn't even matter what it is — say their idol is money. Why do you want all that money? "I think I'm going to be happy." Really? What's the empirical data for that? How much money is enough? Or maybe it's pleasure — more sex, more of whatever feels good. Is it satisfying? Not really, because the more of it you get, the more of it you need and it still doesn't deliver. Shooting up, snorting, smoking, drinking — all those things the world is reaching for because people believe that in them they will find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness. But the place you are going to find those things is in a relationship with Christ.
That is pretty cool to me, because what the world is looking for is exactly what the gospel offers. This doesn't mean you don't work, you don't plan, you don't think about the future. It doesn't mean politics aren't important, or that work isn't important — it really is important. But none of those things should be your God.
I'll share something personal. When I married Susan, we were roughly thirty days in, and I came home and told her, "This just isn't working." She said, "Really?" And I said, "Yeah — I married you to make me happy, and I'm not happy." When you break it down, the problem was this: I was asking Susan to be my God. I wanted her to make me happy, and she cannot make me happy. She brings happiness now and then — probably more than I bring to her. But here is the point: anything you are looking to, anything you are trusting to do what only God can do for you, is an idol. And the answer to every idol is the gospel.
Go and Tell It
The world needs to hear this. How are they going to hear it if you don't tell them? So every time you strap on those shoes or flip-flops and look down, remind yourself: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things" — and those feet are going to carry that good news into your world.
Let's pray together. Father, thank You for these amazing, awesome, wonderful truths. Thank You that You love us and care for us. You are the redeeming God who did for us what we could not do for ourselves. You saved us. You did not leave us alone — You left Your Spirit. God, let us proclaim this truth and demonstrate it in the way we live. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.