Maybe Your Application Isn’t Big Enough…

You’d think, of all people, a pastor shouldn’t be surprised when God moves people in huge ways. But I was caught off guard yesterday.

I always work hard on my sermons and try to think them through. Sometimes I think they’re going to be awesome and they’re just ‘okay.’ Sometimes I think my sermon is just going to be ‘okay’ and it turns out to be awesome (huge thanks to the Holy Spirit, of course!).

Yesterday, I delivered a sermon that, quite honestly, I’d spent a week being frustrated with. I finally had to say, “I’m content with leaving it as is because it gets more frustrating the more I work with it.”

One of the enraging parts was the application – a constant sore spot for me when sermonizing. I usually have a hard time making my applications concrete. But that wasn’t the problem with this one. The problem was, the application was too big in scope…or so I thought.

Here’s what I said,

Go home and look at your house. Start with your closet. Sift through everything you have and ask yourself, “Do I need this? Heck, do I even wear this?” And if the answer is no, then give it away or sell it and give the money away to Anchorage Children’s Home, the Priscilla Home, or the UM Children’s Home.

We live in a world where excess is the norm, especially at Christmas. So I say, church, be different this year. Instead of buying more and more, give away more and more. Prepare for a king who was born in extreme poverty by helping out those who are less fortunate than you. A king who rode a donkey to glory, not the coattails of kings! It’s awfully hard to celebrate a king who came in poverty when we’re drowning in all our new things. Let’s start by giving away our excess in preparation for Christmas.

The thing is, I thought the scope of this was going to be way too much for people. I mean, who would actually do something like this?

But within 2 hours of the sermon, I began receiving phone calls, text messages, Facebook messages, and emails from people – even people that surprised me! – telling me what they’d decided to do.

People were literally going through their houses making piles of clothes and toys.

One person even said his wife was already nearing $1,000 worth of stuff and she hadn’t even hit their bedroom yet.

Another guy and his wife, not only decided to do that with their entire family, but they contacted me today about how to do this on an organized, church-wide level. He said he hasn’t been this excited about something in years, and that God gave he and his wife a clear word about it!

Pastor friends, don’t underestimate people’s willingness to accept the big challenges. Maybe part of the problem with our sermons is that we’re not actually giving people enough credit to challenge them big enough!

Disturbed

Here’s my sermon from our series through the book of Acts: Disturbed from Acts 16.

http://www.mylhumc.net/502652.ihtml

The sermon should be near the top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, “speakers,” click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, “Disturbed.”

Acts 16: Disturbed

Introduction: In college I was a biblical studies major. One of the degree requirements was that I had to take a year of New Testament Greek. My soon-to-be-wife was an English major and she didn’t have that requirement. But our plans after graduation were to be Bible Translators inPapua New Guinea. So my senior year, my grammarian of a wife, joined all the other biblical studies majors and took Greek.

One of two women in the course, they destroyed every man in that room. We’d get quizzes back and Cassie’s grades were 100% here, 99% there. And mine were…well, let’s just say I passed.

Now, in order to be prepared to do Bible translation, our plans were for BOTH OF US, after college to go to the best seminary our denomination offered – a seminary known for its firm theological beliefs and conservative theology. So we went to visit the school. But when the welcome crew came out, they began speaking just with me. And I said, “Well, my wife is planning on getting a degree, too. Not just me.” They got a huge smile on their faces, and finally look at her, they said, “So, you’re planning on doing our unaccredited pastor’s-wife degree. And we were like, “Uh, what’s that?” “Well, it helps you learn how to plan meals when your husband’s bringing a group from the church home without any notice?”

Now, listen, there’s nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home-mom…that’s what my wife does now. But that wasn’t our plan at the time, and I said, “No. My wife is a brilliant grammarian. We want to do missions. She wants a legitimate, academic degree.” For the rest of the day, as we’d meet new people, they’d come up and just talk to me. And then I’d say, “My wife’s getting a degree, too.” And almost every time people said, “Oh, is she getting the non-accredited pastor’s wife degree?” NO!!

Needless to say, we decided against going to that school. It seems, looking back, that the Holy Spirit was in much of what happened that day – that the Spirit was calling our hearts away from our plans and goals because God had something else in mind. The Spirit disturbed our plans and agendas and we ended up going in a direction we never expected or intended.

EXPOSITION: In a similar way, Paul’s got a plan laid out to take the gospel to Asia, but the Holy Spirit inhibits his progress and gives him a different plan. The Spirit breaks in and disturbs Paul’s planning, strategizing, and agenda-making and calls him to do things he never intended or expected to do. Had Paul drawn up this evangelism strategy himself, he would went to Asia, not Greece. But the Spirit had different plans. And the disturbing of Paul’s goals and plans leads to the gospel disturbing and shaking the very foundation of the first city they come to – Philippi.

Application: Many of us have experienced this kind of thing – we thought we were following God’s will to do one thing and the next thing we know, he’s got us going in a direction we never saw coming – or didn’t even want. And often we get frustrated by the supposed setbacks in life instead of taking an opportunity to see where God is at work in a different way than we expected. Often we even push forward in a direction we know God doesn’t want because we’ve put all our eggs in that basket or even made an idol out of what was otherwise a good plan.

But if we will but sit back and listen, we will see that the beauty of God breaking in and disturbing us is that this is God’s way of freeing us from the tyranny of our own supposed omniscience, the tyranny of assumptions of being all-knowing, the tyranny of our own agendas and strategies. And by liberating us, the Spirit frees us to go with the flow of wherever God is leading. And it reveals that the power of the gospel in our lives is never a matter of our strategy or type-A drivenness, but the power of the gospel is in the freedom of the Holy Spirit to change all our plans and give us new goals…God’s goals.

EXPLANATION: So here they is Paul and Silas, having been denied access to Asia, they go toPhilippi. Within the city ofPhilippi, they meet 3 different people and through preaching to them, they disturb the entire city with the gospel.

Lydia: The first thing Paul likes to do when he goes into a new town is find the local Jewish worship gathering, called a synagogue. Now synagogues had certain rules, and one of those rules was, in order for it to be a proper, functioning synagogue, there had to be at least 10 Jewish men present. The rabbis did not trust women not to get carried away with religious fanaticism, so they had this rule that if there were 1 million women, but only 9 men, then you did not have an official synagogue. You had to have no less than 10 men.

So, on the Sabbath, Paul goes into Philippito find a synagogue. And what he finds is a gathering of local women praying – specifically a fairly rich woman named Lydia, who appears to be leader of one of these unofficial synagogues. And Paul sits down and begins to share the gospel with these women as if they’re a legitimate synagogue.

EXPOSITION: Now, you’ve got to understand the radical nature of what is going on here. Not only has Paul approached these women as if they’re an officially recognized synagogue –and thus showing them that while their own religion and husbands don’t give them credit, Paul does – but even more radical than that, in the ancient world, you don’t try to convert a woman to your religion without the permission of her husband or her father. But Paul is obliterating these rules. Paul sees women as rightfully able to make their own spiritual decisions without the direction and permission of a man. And he shows these women by his actions that the gospel elevates their status and gives them an equal position with men before God. The religious leaders and the surrounding culture thought these women were an inferior species, but Paul saw them as equally created in God’s image.

Application: You see, the gospel disturbs every aspect of human culture and religion – including the ways in which men and women relate to each other. We are not called to be each other’s superiors, rulers, or dictators; we are called to die for one another, serve one another, and mutually love one another. We are not called to force submission on one another through wielding Bible verses like swords; we are called to honor the gifts and talents God’s Spirit has given to each of us. Paul radically and unexpectedly validates these women’s worship, even when other men denied them. And God used his actions to open their hearts. But the gospel’s disturbance of Philippian culture and religion is just beginning.

Young Woman: Because when Paul leaves Lydia’s synagogue, he encounters a different young woman. She is not rich like Lydia. She is not a synagogue leader. In fact, she’s a slave who possesses, or rather, is possessed by a unique gift. Her owners basically sell her out to the highest bidder because she has the ability to tell the future using Parseltongue. For those of you who don’t speak Harry Potter, the spirit possessing her, giving her the ability to tell the future, is the spirit of a Python.

Greek mythology provides the background for this Python Spirit: The high god Zeus was married to the goddess Hera. But Zeus wasn’t exactly known for his marital fidelity. At some point, Zeus impregnated a lesser, but very beautiful, goddess named Leto. When Hera his wife found out, she sent out this giant Python to kill Leto for apparently seducing her husband. With this python chasing her, Leto could not settle anywhere long enough to give birth. She searched and searched for a safe place all over the world until, finally, she found a secluded island and for 9 days labored to give birth to twins – The first was Artemis, goddess of the hunt, who after being born, helped her mom give birth to the second child, Apollo, the god of archery. The Greek god Apollo, when he was a whole 4 days old decided to take revenge on this snake that had caused his mother such distress during her pregnancy. So he hunted it down and found it’s cave underneath a mountain at Delphi – a cave believed to be the center of the world. When he confronted the snake, it lunged at him, but Apollo, avoiding its strike, shot an arrow through the snakes head and killed it. After the snake’s death, a temple was constructed on the site of the rotting flesh, a temple that would give priests and priestesses an inside track to the god Apollo. I’m a little unclear as to how the process would work, but apparently the combination of the rotting flesh of the snake, the cave at the center of the world, and the great god Apollo would empower the priests and priestesses to make predictions about the future.

Now, as Paul and his companions are going through Philippithey are disrupted by a young girl with the ability to tell people’s future according to this python spirit. And she’s following Paul and his friends around, shouting, “Hey everyone, pay attention to these men! They are servants of the God above all gods; they can tell you how to be saved!”

And I don’t know if she’s mocking them or if Paul just doesn’t think the gospel needs the publicity of the Greek gods, but Paul turns around and commands the Spirit, in the name of Jesus, to come out of this girl. And it immediately obeys and submits to Jesus’ name. In other words, notice the subtlety here – It is Jesus, not Zeus, who is the God above all Gods; it is Jesus, not Apollos, who has power over the spirit of the python; it is Jesus, not this cave, who is the center of the universe! In everyway imaginable, Paul’s actions demonstrate the superiority of Jesus to the Greek gods and the Greek myths. Paul is deconstructing and disrupting and disturbing their religion and their very national identity. When Jesus’ name is proclaimed to a people, that name disturbs all that people hold dear; Jesus’ name renders their gods and their myths powerless and meaningless before his cross.

And the same thing goes for our own national myths and gods. Let me take something we’re all familiar with: There’s this story we tell our children about when George Washington’s dad told him not to cut down the cherry tree. He did. When asked about it, George said, “I cannot tell a lie, I cut down that cherry tree.” Now, the story is designed to reinforce for children the value of telling the truth. But I wonder how many people were like me when they heard this as a child, and walked away believing that George Washington never told a lie? The story, then, reinforced in my mind the infallibility of George Washington, and in fact, the infallibility of all or our founding fathers. But here’s the thing, 1) not only is the story of the cherry tree not even historically factual, more importantly 2) it is always good for Christians to keep in mind that our founding father’s were not inspired men like the biblical writers, they were not infallible, they were sinful human beings just like you and me. Yes, they had a great idea, and yes, they dreamed big, worth-while dreams. But they were broken and sinful like the rest of us. It was Jesus who could not tell a lie. It was Jesus who honored no falsehood. George Washington is not the icon of honesty for children – Jesus Christ is. George Washington is not our moral standard – Jesus Christ is.

The gospel calls us to take a serious look at all our cultural myths and assumptions. Because just like Paul shows here in Philippi, the very nature of the gospel, itself, is that it radically critiques our lives, our culture, and our nation and shows along the way that only Jesus Christ is the center of the world, only Jesus Christ is the faithful lover of truth, only Jesus Christ is knower of our future, only Jesus Christ should be our American Dream. And it teaches us that neither our founding fathers, nor the next president can hold a candle to the saving power of Jesus Christ. For only Jesus will outlive Democracy, Communism, Socialism, or any other form of government humans could ever invent. That is the message of Paul’s gospel. And it is a disturbing one, both to Greeks and to us.

Now, Paul casts out this spirit, but it’s far from over. This girl was a cash-cow for her owners – she was making them lots of money with her prophetic utterances. So Paul just cost these people some huge cash flow and they’re not going to take it lying down. So they rally the troops and begin making accusations against Paul and Silas. They have them beaten and arrested.

Philippian Jailor: Now, you’d think, upon being arrested, that these guys would be saying, “Seriously, Lord, we were going to go toAsia and preach to thousands, but you disturbed our agenda and led us here. And now we’re sitting in this stink hole of a prison. No one has even invented Rabies shots yet, so we’re just waiting to get bit by some rat, frothing at the mouth. C’mon, Lord, we thought you knew better than this!”

But they don’t say that. Just as nobody expected them to preach to a women’s synagogue, just as no one expected them to so easily defeat the spirit of the python, so too, no one expected to hear these guys singing praise and worship choruses while in prison! They fully believe that God sent them toPhilippiand that God knows what he’s doing…even when things don’t look good.

You see, the gospel even disturbs our normal way of suffering. The gospel calls us to ask the question, “How can God be glorified in my pain? How can God’s gospel be made known to someone else through my suffering? How can my mourning be a testimony to the faithfulness of God” And believe me when I tell you, I completely understand that those are hard questions to ask…especially in the midst of your pain. But even in our mourning and sadness, we must see that the gospel is at it’s most powerful when it is speaking into and through the life of a hurting person. God does not cause our suffering in order to bring about some glorious purpose. But God is always looking to bring glorious purposes out of our suffering.

And so we look at our own lives and we see places where we feel imprisoned – imprisoned in depression, shackled in pain – both physical and emotional, unemployment, bad relationships, debt, or whatever – and the gospel calls us in the midst of it, like Paul and Silas, to sing…to sing praises…to let our hearts overflow with song, even when we don’t feel joyful. Because joy is more than just a feeling, joy is the ability to say, “This doesn’t look good, this doesn’t feel good, I don’t like this, this hurts,” but then in the same breath say, “God I will praise you in this prison, God I will praise you in this pain, God I will praise you whether my well is dry or overflowing.” That is joy. It is more than a feeling. It goes beyond our temporary circumstances. And it cannot help but sing, even when it hurts. It cannot help but sing, even in your prison. In fact, I might say, that singing produces joy – it affects your heart in the midst of your circumstances. That’s why you sing even when you don’t feel like it…because singing will bring you to a place where you DO FEEL LIKE IT.

And what do we have to lose by singing? Is self-pity getting us anywhere? Is secluding ourselves from our family and friends getting us anywhere? Is anger at God getting us anywhere? Is snapping at our kids getting us anywhere? I’m guaranteeing you that those things are not only not helping you, but they’re hurting you because they’re pushing people away from you. So try singing…even when it hurts the worst. Let joy well up within your heart, even when you don’t feel like it. Because God is most present in the heart that hurts but still chooses to sing, Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

So here they are singing and out of nowhere they hear a deep grumble in the distance. At first, Paul thinks Silas ate something funky and his stomach is throwing a fit. But then the earth begins to shake so strongly that it breaks open the stocks of all the prisoners and flings the gates of the prison wide open. Now, any security guard in our world would’ve surely freaked out at this point, pulling out his weapon in an attempt to keep the prisoners from escaping, right?

Not the case in ancientRome. This security guard is held personally liable for any and all of these prisoners, so when this earthquake occurs, he knows that the escaping prisoners are on his head. And the only thing considered “honorable” at this point is for him to kill himself. So he pulls out his sword – he’s ready to take his life, leave his family, leave this world in the name of honor. But Paul disrupts him.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t do that, man. We’re all here. None of us have escaped. No need to take such drastic measures.” Somehow Paul’s influence on the rest of the prisoners was such that when they could have been set free, they hung around. In the presence of such an influential man, in the aftershocks of such profound joy, the Jailor cannot help but ask, “What must I do to be saved?! Your God has disturbed my body, now I want him to save my soul! ”

And Paul simply says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus. Trust him to save you. Trust him who disturbed your nice, easy life to save you from yourself…trust him to turn your world upside down…trust the God who disturbs society, and turns family dynamics on their head, disturbs nations and challenges their myths of greatness and perfection, disturbs our suffering by calling us to sing in the midst of affliction, and disturbs the very earth itself, if that’s what needed to bring one more person into his kingdom. Trust him.

And the man believes Paul and his whole family is saved. All because God disturbed Paul’s plans to go to Asia.

The Holy Spirit disturbed the plans my wife and I had to go to the seminary we originally planned to attend. But if he had not done that, we would’ve never went to Asbury Theological Seminary; and if we had never went to Asbury Seminary we would’ve never ended up in Lynn Haven….disturbing you! When God disturbs your life, don’t see it as a setback, see it as an opportunity…an opportunity to disturb your world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

In Christ for the World: The Conversion of Saul

Here’s my sermon from our series through the book of Acts: In Christ for the World: The Conversion of Saul from Acts 9.

http://www.mylhumc.net/502652.ihtml

The sermon should be near the top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, “speakers,” click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, “Training for dying.”

In Christ for the World: The Conversion of Saul

INTRODUCTION

As a kid one of my favorite, forbidden, television shows was the Simpsons. I remember, in one of those crazy, only in a cartoon, episodes the vile Mr. Burns uses his endless flow of money to build a canopy over the entire city ofSpringfieldin order to block out the sun. Mr. Burns is the owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and thus, he has a vested interest in securing nuclear power as the only legitimate source of energy available to the people ofSpringfield. By means of this sun-eclipsing canopy, he establishes a private, solar monopoly. He took ownership over the sun and was making the citizens pay for something that was rightfully theirs for free. He took something that belonged to everyone, and by privatizing it, he left everyone else in darkness.

I know “the Simpsons” is not considered good childhood television, so I’m not recommending the show. But I will say this. The crazy thing about the Simpsons is that, even though it’s this wildly ridiculous cartoon world, the creators of the show are actually incredibly perceptive about human nature and our tendencies to grasp for power and privatize it. And there is no more dangerous power to privatize than the power of religion – To set up a monopoly on God…even inadvertedly…a monopoly that inhibits other people from seeing God’s light or feeling his love.

This is kind of where we find our main character in our passage today. Saul is not a bad, immoral guy like Mr. Burns. He’s a man of deeply rich religious heritage. But his religion has become one of self-focused pride and advancement and he doesn’t even know it. He cares nothing for God’s love for the rest of the world. He only cares about God’s love for him and his fellow Jews. He has taken something that belongs to everyone, the love of God, and has privatized it, putting a canopy over it, he leaves everyone else in the darkness.

Conversion of Saul

In case you’re not familiar with his story, this Saul fellow will later become the apostle Paul after God changes his name. We were briefly introduced to him last week in 8:1. Saul was serving as the presiding chairman of the Pastor Search Committee that stoned Stephen…apparently they didn’t like Stephen’s trial sermon. But Saul is not interested in only stoning Stephen, he wants to go after all who think and believe like Stephen.

So at this point in Acts 9, Saul has contacted the denominational leaders in an attempt to pass a resolution against the Christians. He reads it at the denomination’s annual meeting. It goes something likes this,

WHEREAS we believe that God is so holy that He could never take on human skin,

WHEREAS these Christians believe that God took on human skin and named himself Jesus,           

WHEREAS we believe Moses prohibited idolatry – the worshipping of animals, plants, carved images, and especially human beings,

WHEREAS these Christians believe that this man Jesus is to be worshipped as God,

WHEREAS we believe that God cannot die,

WHEREAS these Christians believe that this Jesus, whom they worship as God, died at the hands of the Romans

WHEREAS such a belief is idolatrous and blasphemous,

WHEREAS Moses commanded that blasphemers and idolaters be put to death,

THEREFORE it is our religious duty in fulfillment of the law of God to put to death these idol worshippers who dare smear the name of God by their beliefs.

And the resolution passed without a single contrary vote. And Saul is charged to go out and find these idol worshipping Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem. So Saul just starts going house to house to hunting Christians down. Man, you thought the Jehovah’s Witnesses were annoying going house to house…at least they’re not dragging you off to Washington for execution.

So here he is, breathing in the air of anger and bitterness and breathing out threats and murder. The most dangerous man in the world is a man with a vendetta who believes God is on his side. And Saul is a very dangerous man. But God is not afraid of dangerous men.

All at once, as Saul is strolling down the road seeking Christians, Christ snares Saul by surrounding him with stunning, shining light that sears his very soul, shoves him to the ground, and leaves him sightless.

Saul’s first encounter with Jesus is not the tame Jesus of open-minded religion; Saul’s first encounter with Jesus is not a domesticated do-gooder Jesus; Saul’s first encounter with Jesus is not the safe Jesus of sentimental spirituality. No. Saul’s first encounter with Jesus was an earth shattering experience that left him so in shock that for 3 full days he ate nothing, drank nothing, and saw nothing. He could not, for all his religious efforts, block out the Sun. He could not prevent it’s rays from reaching other people. He could not prevent its penetrating gaze from setting fire to his soul.

And did you hear Jesus’ words to Saul out of the blinding light, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Did you catch that? He didn’t say, “Why are you persecuting the church?” He didn’t say, “Why are you persecuting Stephen?” He didn’t say, “Why are you killing Christians?” He says, “Why are you persecuting ME?”

I have a friend who when someone in her life is suffering, she feels their pain so intensely that it seriously becomes her own. Literally, as someone else’s life is falling apart, my friend will feel their pain so strongly that she, herself, will carry their burden just as much as they do. And sooner or later her very body starts to break down. She gets to a place where the stress is so much that she gets flu-like symptoms and will collapse if she tries to walk. Through years of this she’s realized that she has to draw better boundaries so as to be a healthy person, herself. It is unhealthy for her to SO identify with other people’s suffering that she cannot differentiate between theirs and hers.  

But Jesus is different. He doesn’t need to draw the boundaries that you and I have to draw to be healthy. When his church suffers, he carries the weight of it all. He is so united to us in his love for us that when Saul persecutes the church, Jesus says that Saul is literally persecuting him. Jesus tells Saul, “By persecuting my church, by causing my church to suffer, by seeking the harm of my people, you are also persecuting me. They are my body. When they bleed, I bleed. When they suffer, I suffer. Yes, Saul, that’s how close I am to them.”

And Saul has no clue what is even happening. He asks, “Sir, who in the world are you?”

Jesus’ words in the Greek are literally, “I’m Jesus, fool, the one you are persecuting. Now get your rear end up and go into the city, I’ve got a job for you to do.”

Just before Saul arrives inDamascus, God sends a vision to a man named Ananias. He says, “Saul of Tarsus is coming, he’s been blinded by the light of Christ, go lay your hands on him and restore his sight.”

Ananias doesn’t want anything to do with that, man. “God, are you kidding me? I’m assuming because you’re God and you know everything, that you know that this guy has been massacring Christians right and left. I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing that he can’t see anymore.”

And God’s response is to Ananias in vs. 15 is the climactic part, most revealing of this passage, “Get your rear end up and go! This man is my chosen instrument to take my name to the entire world!”

Exposition

Both of these guys, both Saul and Ananias have the same problem, though it looks slightly different for both of them – they both assume they have a monopoly on the God. They both assume God is their private property and that they can withhold access to others as they see fit. Saul has a monopoly on God because He thinks he’s got God figured out and God is on his side. Ananias has a monopoly on God because he thinks some people aren’t worth sharing the gospel with.

But the larger point of this story is that we have received the light of the Christ, but that light doesn’t just belong to us. We don’t get to privatize it. The sun belongs to everyone. God has hopes and plans and dreams that transcend and go beyond me. They are hopes and plans and dreams for the entire world.

• Jesus did not enter into Saul’s heart only for Saul; Saul was in Christ for the world.
• Jesus did not enter into Ananias’s heart just for Ananias, Ananias was in Christ for the world.
• God is not in Tom Fuerst for Tom Fuerst, Tom Fuerst is in Christ for the world.
• Christ is not in you for just you; You are in Christ for the world.

His light cannot be monopolized. Christ cannot be privately harnessed by any individual. That would be as absurd as a doctor that goes to medical school, gets straight A’s, graduates at the top of her class, and then chooses, with all of her talents at her disposal, to only practice medicine on herself, ignoring suffering, sick, and hurting people all around her. We would say, “C’mon, share your knowledge with the world, help someone else, do something for someone other than yourself. God didn’t give you those talents just for you! Stop blocking out the sun! Let others have access, too.”

God tells Ananias, “Christ is not your private property; go to Saul. I will reach the world through Saul. But first, I want to reach Saul through you.”

Application

You see, God was not calling Ananias to Billy Graham. God was calling Ananias to be Billy Graham just to Saul. That’s it. And God may not be calling you to be Billy Graham or a world missionary. But God is calling you to start somewhere. He is calling you to shine the light of the gospel in someone’s life. You may never reach thousands, but you can reach someone. Because the light of the gospel cannot help but overflow from your heart to the people you encounter on an everyday basis.

Just as the Sun spreads warmth and light all over the world each day, just as the sun shines on the wicked and the righteous, just as the Sun defeats the darkness each morning, so too the gospel alive in you cannot help but spread the warmth and light of the love of God on all people, defeating the darkness wherever it’s light shines.

For Ananias this started with one man – Saul. So where does this start for you?

I think it starts with us as we encounter everyday situations. In everyday situations we need to be asking ourselves, “What does Jesus have to say to this? How might Jesus inform how I go about my day?” Let’s take something common to all of us, okay. Let’s take going into a restaurant. How does the Jesus inform the way you, say, tip the server?

Now, you say, “Man, that’s ridiculous, the gospel has nothing to do with tipping.” But that’s not what the waitresses think. I remember working at a restaurant through high school and college and I cannot tell you how often I heard my co-workers complained because of how cheap the Sunday church crowd is. Or, when I waited tables, I would have people leave gospel tracks on my table, but no tip. And as a Christian, I was insulted by the hypocrisy of saying, “I ‘care’ about your eternal destiny, but not the family you’re working hard for.”

I think the gospel calls us to show love to our waitresses through tipping well. Christians ought to be the most generous people in the world because we don’t believe that this money has any eternal value. Is there a better way to show the love of Christ to a waitress than saying, “I care about you and the family you’re supporting, so I’m going to tip you well?” What a testimony! And if you intentionally choose the same waitress each time you go in a restaurant, if you ask for their section, and tip them well over and over, you will get a relationship started that can continually show them the love of Christ. Just imagine the report you’d have with a person! We need to understand that Christ is not in us just for us; we are in Christ for waitresses and servers and their families.

And, I mean, we could park right here in the restaurant world for a while if wanted – the way you treat those workers behind the counter says something about your faith. Do you treat them like your slaves, “Yeah, uh, get me a number 6.” Or do you treat them like people created in God’s image, people worthy of love and respect…worthy of a ‘please’ and a ‘thank you’? They are the reason we are in Christ. We are Christ’s chosen instruments to bear the gospel to fast-food workers.

A few weeks ago I went up toMontgomeryfor the District Annual Conference. On the first morning, before I went to the meeting, I went in this McDonalds. I saw one of the employees come out from behind the counter and she was wiping down the soda machine. And out of nowhere, this random guy comes up and says to her, “Has anyone told you today that Jesus loves you?” I thought to myself, “Well, that’s probably not the tactic I would’ve taken, but to each his own. At least he’s spreading the love of God.”

“Then he marches up to the counter and starts ordering. Says to the lady taking his order, “Has anyone told you today that Jesus loves you?” Now, at this point, I’m just thinking to myself, “Please don’t talk to me, man. I’m not a morning person and I wonder if God loves me in the morning.” The lady behind the counter doesn’t respond to his question, she just turns and walks away. So he turns to me. “Has anyone told you today that Jesus loves you?”

“Uh…ehem….uh…no, sir. I don’t think so. Now, all of the sudden, out of the blue, this guy changes the subject and tells me that he has been coming into this McDonalds everyday for years and years and this girl who just took his order has the worst attitude and never smiles and never acts like she enjoys her job. And he was just ripping on this girl that he just told ‘Jesus loves you.’ And I thought to myself, ‘First, she can probably hear you gossiping about her. Second, don’t tell someone Jesus loves them in one breath and in the next breath put them down in front of a complete stranger. You’re building a canopy over the sun and only letting it shine on people who are just like you.

Shining the light of the gospel in this dark world takes more than just going up to people and saying, “Hey, has anyone told you today that Jesus loves you? It means patiently loving people who are “beneath” you, who don’t smile at you, don’t get your order right, or don’t, maybe, even like you at all. You are in Christ for them.

You don’t have to start by taking the gospel to thousands of Souls like Billy Graham. But you have a responsibility to let your line shine before other people in such a way that they glorify God, not wonder if he’s cheap, that they glorify God, not wonder if he’s a gossip. You are in Christ for world. And that might cost you some pocket change.

Rob Holifield

I think a really good example of this is one of my wife’s old bosses, Rob Holifield. Rob was the manager of the bookstore on Asbury’s campus and Rob saw his job, not merely as selling of books to students, but as a pastor to seminary students. And since his staff was full of seminary students, he wanted to be the hands and feet of Jesus to them, even in little ways. As their boss, he could’ve just treated them like little minions and go-fers. He could’ve talked down to them…or worse, talked ‘at’ them.

But, man, Rob never did that. He always treated all his employees with the respect that they deserve. He saw his job as being in Christ for those employees. And so he’d do little things for them – he knew that seminary students are often too poor to buy little pleasures in life like sodas and candy bars. And so a couple times a week he’d purchase the entire staff sodas and candy bars. Because when you’re in Christ for someone else, when you’re trying to shine the light of the gospel in the lives of others, the little things matter. Tips. Thank you’s, Dr. Peppers. They matter…if not to you…to the people you’re serving.

And only when we can see that we are in Christ for our neighbors, only when we can see that we are in Christ for our waitresses, and only when we can see that we are in Christ for our employees, only then can we see that we are in Christ for the entire world. You don’t have to start out being Billy Graham for the world. But you can start out being Billy Graham to the people in your everyday life. Christ is not in me just for me. We are in Christ for the world. And sometimes that starts with just one person.

How Now Shall We Live?

Here’s my sermon from on the Wounded World series: In light of all that we’ve said about evil and suffering in this world, I’m trying to answer the question, How now shall we live?

http://www.mylhumc.net/502652.ihtml

The sermon should be near the top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, “speakers,” click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, “How Now Shall We Live?”

God is Not Strong Enough

Here’s my sermon from on the Problem of Evil: Is God strong enough to eradicate evil?

http://www.mylhumc.net/502652.ihtml

The sermon should be near the top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, “speakers,” click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, “God is Not Strong Enough.”

God is a Giver

Here’s my sermon on John 4 and the Woman at the Well: God is a Giver

The sermon should be near the top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, “speakers,” click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, “God is a Giver.”

The Bright Sadness

Here’s my sermon from Sunday about the season of Lent: The Bright Sadness.

The sermon should be near the top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, ‘speakers,’ click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, “The Bright Sadness.”

Remember

Here’s my sermon from Ecclesiastes 12:1-7.

The sermon should be near the top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, ‘speakers,’ click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, “Remember.”

I Give You My Word

Here’s my sermon from the day after Christmas from  John 1.

The sermon should be near the top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, ‘speakers,’ click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, I Give You My Word.

http://mylhumc.net/502652.ihtml

Like Us, Like Him: Christmas Eve Sermon

Here’s my Christmas Eve sermon from Matthew 1:18-25. 
http://www.mylhumc.net/502652.ihtml

The sermon should be on top of the player’s list, but if not, click on the tab that says, ‘speakers,’ click on my name (Tom Fuerst) and it’s the sermon titled, Like Us, Like Him.