Scripture: Romans 10:14-20

Sometimes Christians do the strangest things. Evangelist John Holme was fined nearly $2,000 in Salisbury, England. Holme went up in a motorized paraglider so he could preach from above the rooftops to “sinners” on the ground. This was his rational, “I thought that maybe if they heard this voice booming out from the sky, they would think that it was God.” But he had some steering problems and came down too close to some houses. While no one was injured, he was fined for creating a dangerous condition. Sometimes Christians do the strangest things…

Clear communication is vital when it comes to sharing the gospel.  Sometimes we – Christ-followers—are barriers to the gospel. Some Christians are just strange. Do you have to be weirdo to be a witness?

Without being odd, if we follow Jesus, we’ll come off as being a bit off to a lost world. Today what “normal” person fights against sexual lust? What normal person gives away a significant portion of their income? What normal person forgives their enemies and then does good to them? What normal person stakes everything on a dead and resurrected Jew?

For pagans, the gospel is offensive. It’s a stumbling block to Jews, insanity to Muslims, stupid to atheists and wacko to pagans. Because following Jesus is “weird” to them, we must be careful not to add stumbling blocks to the gospel. We must take great pains to ensure that the only thing unbelievers stumble over is the gospel, that the only offense is the offense of Christ Himself and His call to commitment.

Tim Keller planted a church in New York City. He understands communicating the gospel in a godless culture. If some aspect of a new culture does not compromise the gospel itself and makes you more accessible to others, there is no reason not to adapt to that element out of courtesy and love – even if it is not your preference. Otherwise, the gospel may, because of you, appear ‘unnecessarily alien.’ We must avoid turning off listeners because we are culturally offensive rather than the gospel.

So, what’s he saying? Christ-followers must work to make sure we never turn the gospel into “Jesus + my preferences.” For example, is homeschooling a viable option? Sure, but it’s not the gospel. Is it smart to think through vaccination options? Yes, but vaccinations aren’t the gospel. Is organic living a healthy lifestyle option? Yes, but it’s not the gospel.

You and I must be careful to differentiate between our preferences and the gospel. We don’t want to turn someone off to the good news that Jesus died for their sin, they can be forgiven and have new life in Christ because of our preferences. One of the most common ones for many believers is politics. The lost will stumble over Jesus and the gospel. We must not add the additional barriers of our own preferences.  

Today we want to talk about how to share our faith in Christ in a culture that’s changed and changing. Jesus was incarnational. He came to earth and took on human flesh to reach us. He sacrificed for us. To win our world we must sacrifice ourselves, our preferences and culture.

Why must we do this? Because all of us have friends or loved ones who are going to die and meet Jesus someday. When that happens, we don’t want to wish we’d been bolder in sharing the gospel with them. Today we want to talk about how to share our faith without coming off like a kook.  

Essentially, I want to do two things. First, I want to share some observations about how our culture has changed and then conclude with five principles about how to share our faith in Christ in today’s world.

1. How has the cultural context changed? 

Many Christians fail to have an impact because they don’t understand that our culture has radically changed. Contemporary thinkers know we’re living through a transition from modernism to postmodernism.

Pre-modernism was that time from when the New Testament was written until the 1500s. Most people were illiterate. Truth was based on relationships of authority. In pre-modernism you didn’t question authority. Those in authority knew more than you and were more educated than you. Pre-modernism was a time of kings and bishops. It was all about power.

Modernism grew out of the 1500s. It concluded that reason was the answer to everything. The events leading to the birth of modernism were the invention of the printing press, the rise of science, the Reformation and Renaissance. Modernism believed human evils would be solved through reason and technology. Literacy rates began rising. The primary way to communicate was the written page.

The rise of Postmodernism is harder to date. Most think it started in the 1980s. Postmodernism is no longer confident that reason and technology will solve our problems. Technology has created as many problems as it’s solved. Postmodernism is suspicious that everyone has a hidden agenda, that no one is entirely neutral.

Today digital technology is the primary mode of communication. Characteristics of postmodernism are cultural pluralism, an emphasis on tolerance, a belief that there’s no such thing as absolute truth, and a focus on individual freedom and liberty.

Our culture has transitioned to postmodernism. Most people embrace postmodern assumptions, particularly Millennials. It has enormous implications for how we share Christ. Not understanding these changes is what makes us look like kooks when we talk about Jesus.

These are not on your sermon notes. It’s up to you if you want to jot them down. 

A. In modernism outreach was about conquest but in postmodernism it’s about service. 

In modernism, outreach was having a Bible in one hand and a sword in the other. It was believed that ultimately Christians would “Christianize” the world. Columbus was a typical modern Christian. He came believing he was on a mission from God to spread Christianity. Yet he also freely used violence to spread his message. In modernism it was hard to separate the message of Jesus from western culture. The two became so mixed. Christians talk about “taking their cities for God” or “winning souls.” It was the language of war and conquest.

A conquest approach terrifies non-Christians. And Christianity has had a terrible track record in this area, whether it’s the Crusades or the Salem witch trials. Let me share a letter to the editor from a major newspaper: These [Christians] scare…me. I believe firmly…they represent the most dangerous threat to my liberty that exists today…I very much fear that, given the power, these people would take away my right to disagree. When we use conquest terminology, we contribute to that type of thinking.

Outreach today must be service oriented. Service mentality was modeled by Mother Teresa. As she spoke at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast a few years ago, Mother Teresa spoke about abortion. She said, “If you don’t want your baby, don’t abort it. Give it to me. I’ll raise it.” No one questioned whether she was serious. She’d devoted her life to service. Her life of service gave her credibility to say that.

B. In modernism outreach was program based, today it’s relationship based. 

Most of what the Church has done in outreach goes back to a preacher named Charles Finney who lived in the mid-1800s. He was a lawyer who became a Christian. For Finney effective outreach was just finding the right methodology. He popularized the altar call, the idea of calling people forward in church to receive Christ. He believed if you had an outreach event and no one came to Christ; it was because you didn’t use the right methods. He was a pragmatist. It’s where we got a lot of our ideas about evangelism.

A programmatic approach worked well when most were nominal Christians. They knew about Jesus, knew the Bible, believed in God and so forth, but hadn’t committed their lives to Christ. Today if we use outreach as a program or some method, we’re seen as pushy salespeople.

Today effective outreach is relationship based rather than program based. Many are suspicious of programs and rightfully so if we’re using the same techniques in evangelism that work for selling Amway. Postmoderns have a “hidden agenda” detector. They’ve been over-marketed for so long that an evangelism program can sound like just another commercial to them.

C. In modernism outreach was an event, today it’s much more of a process. 

Outreach used to be about reaching nominal Christians, those who understood the Bible, believed in God, accepted the Ten Commandments, etc. Churches were reaching those who were already religious but hadn’t yet trusted in Christ. It’s why Billy Graham was so successful.

There’s nothing wrong with outreach events, but unchurched people are coming in our churches wanting to see what the Christian faith is all about. They don’t want to see a show. They want to see what a genuine Christian community looks like. Today’s unchurched person is so secularized that reaching them is different from reaching religious people a generation ago.

Before today’s secularized person decides to become a follower of Jesus, there’s a lot of ground to cover, lots of issues and questions to address. Most of the people who come to know Jesus here at Grace don’t make a commitment to Jesus until a year or two after they start attending. They often begin attending as a seeker and often move from seeker to surrender to Jesus. They will belong before they believe. Viewing outreach as a process is very different than what many of us were taught.  

D. In modernism outreach tried to prove that the message was true but in postmodernism we have to demonstrate that the message is relevant. 

Modernism so exalted reason that Christians had to demonstrate that believing in Jesus was rational. Christians become focused on things like evidence, facts, and apologetics. And Christianity is a reasonable faith, not some blind leap in the dark.

But postmoderns aren’t asking whether Christianity is true. In fact, they’re suspicious of those who think they have all the facts. They know theories change and sometimes those with “facts” have a hidden agenda. Postmoderns ask whether the Christian faith works, not whether it’s true.

Generally, they don’t want to know truth about God, they want to know God. If we share our sixteen reasons why the resurrection of Jesus happened, postmoderns say, “So what, what does that mean to me and my life today?” We’ve got to show that the message of Jesus is lifechanging. We show that it’s relevant because it’s true. Often it’s not the Christian message that’s offensive, it’s our approach. Chuck Smith (picture) says, Christians need to find new ways to present the Gospel.

2. How Can We Share Our Faith? 

What can we learn on how to share our faith without being obnoxious? This morning let’s let Paul mentor us in evangelism. Paul was no stranger to changing cultures yet was able to effectively share the message of Jesus in the midst of change and transition.

Principle 1: Care about people. 

Romans 9:1-3, I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Notice how much Paul cares about his lost countrymen here. He loves them and is torn up about their condition. He’d be willing to somehow sacrifice his own salvation to see them come to faith in Christ.

Unsaved people are not the enemy, yet many professing Christians don’t like non-Christians. We let their behaviors or worldview repel us. It’s impossible to effectively share a loving Savior with someone you don’t like. Jesus loved those whose lifestyles were repugnant. We’re to do the same. God loves them just as He loved us before we came to Christ.  

Think of the message of Jesus as being like a song. Our caring is the music. The lyrics are the good news about Jesus. They’ve got to hear the music before they can understand the words. It isn’t caring about a person conditionally, using some manipulation technique to get someone to believe in Jesus.

Love must be genuine, without hypocrisy or a hidden agenda. My unchurched friends know that I’d love nothing more than for them to come into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ, but they also know my friendship is not conditional on that. I love them because I love them. Jesus loves them and I love them too.

Our love for them must be without strings. That they swear, get drunk, sleep around or believe in abortion or gay rights is not their core problem. Their core problem is they don’t know Jesus. You can be a girl scout and go to Hell. Jesus modeled how to love the sinner though hating the sin.

Principle 2: Pray for lost friends and family.

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved (Romans 10:1). Paul prayed for fellow Jews who rejected Jesus. He wasn’t just praying for them as a nameless mass, he prayed for actual people, family members, friends, colleagues and others who didn’t know His Savior.  

If you’re having trouble caring for a person, pray for that person until you start caring. Ask God to bless that person, to fill his or her life with God’s presence and greatness. Pray for God’s will to be done, for that person to be enriched with friends and family.

Some Christians find it helpful to do prayer walks in their neighborhood. Take a casual walk around the block but as you walk silently pray for people you see, for that nosy neighbor across the street, for the family with the out-of-control teenager two houses down and so forth. It’s hard to share the love of Christ with people we haven’t prayed for.

Principle 3: Affirm what’s positive in their lives. 

Isn’t that what Paul’s doing in Romans 10:2? For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. He could have said, “My Jewish countrymen are totally wrong. They’re so focused on do’s and don’ts, they’re blind to God’s grace.” Instead, he affirms something in their lives they’re doing right, their zeal for God. It’s a zeal not based on knowledge, but it’s still real zeal.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Scott, you don’t know my unchurched friends!” Paul was talking about religious people. Of course he could find something to affirm in their lives, but I can’t find anything positive to affirm in my unchurched friends.” Yet Paul did the same thing when he spoke to the idol worshipping Athenians in Acts 17. He says he can see that they’re very religious and observes they’ve built an altar to an unknown god. He doesn’t say, “You idiots, how can you worship idols made of wood and clay.” Instead, he says, “What you worship as something unknown, that’s what I’m proclaiming to you when I tell you about Jesus Christ.”

Too often Christians are reluctant to affirm positive things in a lost person’s life. They’re afraid it will be misunderstood as an endorsement of their lifestyle. For example, if I affirm my non-Christian friend’s honesty at work, it might make him think I approve of the fact he’s a drug addict. Paul didn’t have that hang-up. He freely affirmed what he saw positive in their lives. If Paul could find things to affirm in the lives of idol worshippers, you and I can find things to affirm in the lives of our lost friends.

Principle 4: Share your faith by speaking the message.

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ (Romans 10:14-15).

There are two important words in these verses. The first is preaching. We tend to think of preaching as negative. The word in the original means announcing something publicly. Here it’s publicly speaking a message.

The other word is sent. It’s the same word that gives us the word “apostle.” It means sending a person as an official representative, like an ambassador sent to represent his country in a foreign nation.

Not just anyone can preach this message, it must be someone sent by the Lord Jesus. That someone is us, every Christ-follower. Jesus said to us, As the Father sent Me, so now I send you (John 20:21). We’re the ones who are sent, given the responsibility of sharing the message. The message is what the Bible calls the gospel. It centers on God sending Jesus to this world, His perfect life, sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. The message centers on the fact that Jesus died for us so we can be made right with God and come into God’s kingdom. That’s the gospel. When we speak of Jesus though…  

We must tell it accurately. Sent tells us that it’s not our message, it’s Jesus’ message. We can’t water it down or leave out parts people might find difficult to accept. We must accurately share the good news.

We must tell it positively. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! is a quotation from Isaiah 52:7 about a messenger’s feet being beautiful. In that day news was communicated by messengers.

These messengers would come to a community with news. You could tell just by looking at the messenger whether it was good or bad news. A messenger with a smile on his face was bringing good news. “Beautiful feet” is a way of saying that a messenger with good news is encouraging.

How many unchurched people look at their Christian friends as a source of encouragement. Or do they dodge us because we have a reputation for being negative, critical or even obnoxious? When that happens, they’re not offended by Jesus, they’re offended by us.

Principle 5: We share our faith by trusting in the power of the message.

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). Faith isn’t generated by techniques. It’s generated by the power of the message, the gospel. Romans 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.

The good news of Jesus Christ is the power of God in action to bring about salvation for anyone who believes. Many Christians don’t really believe the message is powerful. We think we must prop it up with special programs or slick techniques. We focus so much on methodology, we neglect what truly transforms lives. If we accurately communicate the good news, that itself will generate faith.

Conclusion

We’re ministering in a very different culture today. If we want to reach our world, we must follow Paul’s example of caring, praying, affirming, speaking, and trusting. Let me close with this true story.

Amy Tracy was raised in a dysfunctional home that focused on performance. She bloomed in high school as a cross-country runner. Her dad was a typical sports obsessed father, who constantly prodded her to perform. When she stopped winning races, her family grew disappointed with her and she grew depressed. In college Amy got into drugs and alcohol. In her junior year she developed a kinship with several professors who she knew were gay. She was drawn to their sense of community and ultimately Amy concluded that she was gay.

Soon afterward, Amy committed her life to women’s rights and became actively involved in the pro-abortion movement. Yet there were times when she was filled with a profound sense of emptiness and sadness, and a longing for peace and joy that she didn’t find in the way that she was living her life. But as she looked at the Christians who marched against her in abortion demonstrations, all she saw was anger, vitriol and hatred.

In Amy’s words, “Christians lived down to my low expectations.” Yet Amy started feeling like she was falling apart and she concluded that her emptiness was a hunger for God himself. By now Amy had become the press secretary for NOW, the National Organization for Women. One night in Washington, D.C., Amy ran into a pro-life activist that she’d seen at several abortion demonstrations. She made a sarcastic remark, expecting him to respond the same way. But instead, he said, Amy, all I pray for is the chance to see you standing in church, praising and loving Jesus. Forget the abortion debate. That’s all I really want.

Amy’s hunger for God grew desperate. Finally, she looked in the yellow pages for a church. One Sunday she showed up, her pick-up truck covered with rainbow flags and pro-abortion stickers. Amy wondered if she’d be thrown out, yet as the pastor spoke and the church worshiped, she sensed God loving her and calling to her. It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually Amy committed her life to Jesus Christ.

And today Amy Tracy is a writer for Focus on the Family in the area of public policy. And this is what she says: My prayer is that Christians will be able to see others with compassion, not as enemies; as broken and in need of restoration by the only healing of our souls, Jesus Christ.

God has called us to reach this community. It means that you and I must share the gospel with our families, neighbors and co-workers. We must be Jesus to our world. They must see God’s love in us.

It means speaking their language, caring for them, loving them, praying for them and sharing the message of hope our world needs – the gospel.

Let’s reach our world for Jesus! Are you in? Do you to obey Jesus? Do you really care about those who don’t know Jesus…yet?

If you’re willing to be part of reaching our world and community for Christ, let me challenge you to make two commitments this morning.

1. Begin praying regularly for a lost person that you know to come to Christ. 
2. Invite a lost friend or family member to one of our Easter Services next Sunday.