Scripture: Acts 8:1-8
Gospel Culture trumps Gospel Doctrine
For us to be effective in reaching others with the gospel – Gospel Culture trumps Gospel Doctrine. Jesus said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples” (John 13:35). In Acts 8, the first group outside of Israel and the Jews, which was reached with the gospel were the despised Samaritans.
The Jews hated them. When Jesus reached out to a Samaritan woman John 4:9 records:“The Samaritan woman said to [Jesus], “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)” Jesus’ last words to His followers were: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Samaria…ends of the earth. It was the mission, but they didn’t go until God cranked up the heat of persecution as we see in Acts 8 with the stoning of Stephen.
Our theme for 2024 is: “We are Christians because somebody cared. Now it’s our turn” accompanied by “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (1 Corinthians 10:24).
Caring for our neighbors starts here, with our fellow believers…with the those who walk through our doors. If we don’t know how to share Christ’s love here, we won’t share it out there.
Last week I was listening to Bryan Lorrits (picture). He shared how he was the guest preacher at a church. He wasn’t paying attention as he was driving and drifted over and accidentally pulled into someone else’s lane and almost hit them. He was deeply apologetic, but they were really upset.
They pulled up next to him, honked at him and spoke to him in sign language. They then pulled in front of him. They turned right. He turned right. They turned left. He turned left. Then they pulled into the church parking lot and Bryan pulled into the church parking lot where he was speaking. He was feeling a bit snarky, so he pulled in and parked right beside them. Then, he said, “How are you? Good to see you, brother!” That night he got up on the stage and preached. After sharing this story Lorrits commented, “If I was just there to visit, I wouldn’t go to that church.
Why is loving others so important? Because when it comes to Gospel witness, Gospel Culture trumps Gospel Doctrine. People won’t hear our message until they first feel our love. Eric Swanson and Rick Russaw in their book, The Externally Focused Quest (picture) observe:
- Across the street: This is your Jerusalem—reaching people who are like you and live, work and play within your geographical proximity.
- Across the country: This is your Judaea—reaching people who are culturally similar to you but geographically distant.
- Across the tracks: This is your Samaria—reaching people who are geographically close but culturally different.
- Across the seas: This is your “ends of the earth” ministry—reaching people who are both culturally different and geographically distant.
Jews hated Samaritans, yet that’s where Philip went first and shared the gospel and Samaritans turned to Christ. The first people group that comes to Christ are Samaritans. The hated became brothers and sisters. So, let me ask, do you have a Samaritan? Who’s Your Samaritan?
If you have a “Samaritan” you despise, your heart is evil, and you need to repent. You don’t understand God’s heart. When we read the New Testament, we can’t escape the fact that God commands us to take the good news of the gospel and share it with those who don’t know the Lord.
C.S. Lewis (picture), “The church exists for nothing else but to draw men to Christ, to make them into little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.” If God loved the world, how can we have Samaritans we despise? If you’re taking notes…
1. Times of crises are an opportune time to share the gospel.
You have to love what happens in Acts 8. Stephen’s body is barely cold, and Saul instigates a persecution against the church in Jerusalem which resulted in the scattering of its members. Instead of stopping the spread of the gospel, persecution helped spread it, scattering the gospel into new areas.
God often uses trials to expand the gospel. Those who’d been scattered by persecution went around sharing the word. It’s amazing! They’d just seen what happens if you share the gospel. You’d think they’d have run to the best hiding places they could find! Instead, they’re energized and scattered the seed of the gospel, sharing it wherever they went.
Would we know who Corrie ten Boom (picture) was if she hadn’t been sent to a Nazi Concentration Camp? How about Joni Eareckson Tada (picture)? Apart from that tragic diving accident when she was seventeen, no one would have heard of her. A number of years ago Paul Billheimer wrote a book entitled, Don’t Waste Your Sorrows (picture).
If we believe God is sovereign, we know that there are no accidents in the life of His children. Use your pain, use your disappointments to build bridges for the gospel. Remember the movie, The Bucket List (picture)? Would those two men have met each other if they hadn’t been in a cancer ward? If you’re in a valley of trials, ask the Lord for opportunities to use your circumstances to tell others about the Savior.
The gospel is for everyone, even those who we humanly despise. Long before Jane Austen wrote her classic, Pride and Prejudice in 1813, these two sins have plagued the human race. These sins are deadly because they’re invisible. You can hide pride and prejudice in your heart unseen until it manifests itself in ugly ways. G. K. Chesterton (picture) was right, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.” There was a centuries-long hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. It’s like the Serbs and Croatians or the North and South Koreans.
God wants to reach all people, even those we don’t like. We must eradicate prejudice that can poison our hearts and see every person from every race and culture as a candidate for the gospel. People you may not like need Christ. Those with sexual issues need Christ. People of every political party need Christ. Jesus can rescue anyone. There will be some from every people group and culture before His throne.
While we need to be sensitive to different worldviews and cultures, we must not alter the message to fit into a culture. It’s the same gospel for all because all have sinned. All of us need a Savior. Jesus Christ is the only Savior for all who call upon Him. That’s the gospel!
Philip shared Christ with Samaritans. His message is summed up as “good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (8:12). The kingdom of God is the realm where God is King. It refers to the rightful lordship of Jesus over all creation, especially over the hearts of people. “The name of Jesus Christ” refers to all that He is.
As we share the gospel, we must stay focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Tell people who He is, God in human flesh. Tell them why He came to earth, in love to offer Himself as the sacrifice that God’s justice requires as the penalty for our sins. Show people from Scripture that we can’t add our morality of good works to what Christ accomplished on the cross. We can only receive His salvation from our sins by faith in Christ.
God uses anyone willing to share the gospel, not just professionals. One of the biggest hurdles to reaching our world is that many have bought into Satan’s lie that sharing the gospel is the work of professionals. As a result, the mission is impeded. Check out Scripture and you’ll see God loves to use ordinary people. From cover to cover the Bible has ordinary men and women perceived as flawed, failures, weak and lowly. But they were able to meet the needs of others, were instruments of His peace, and shared His Good News. God uses ordinary people in the most extraordinary ways!
Sometimes it’s almost like God looks for those with the messiest lives to use. Moses was a murderer, an outlaw who had to run for his life. David was an adulterer who arranged the murder of his lover’s husband. Peter didn’t have any boundaries. He was outspoken and impulsive. When he had the chance to defend Jesus, he vehemently denied Him three times.
Who was Philip? He’s a layman. He hadn’t gone to seminary. He didn’t have special training in the Bible. He wasn’t a public speaker. He was a “man of the pew” who’d faithfully served in the church waiting on tables. He wasn’t a professional. But when the Lord needed someone to go to Samaria and share the gospel, Philip said, “Here am I, Lord. Send me.”
Philip was a friend of Stephen. In the list of “deacons” (Acts 6) Stephen is listed first, Philip second. Philip may have watched as his friend was stoned to death for preaching the gospel. If the authorities thought they could intimidate the church by such a brutal murder, they were wrong. Stephen’s death transformed Philip from a table waiter into a flaming evangelist. Is God moving in your life to get you to share His good news?
Only the gospel can change a neighborhood, a community or a country. Will politics change a country? That’s what Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority (picture) were hoping to accomplish. It failed. Education is supposed to be the panacea. The executives of Enron (picture) were highly educated and great crooks. Does Science have the answer? Science gave us the nuclear bomb (picture). Money is the answer? Bill Gates (picture) is worth $128 billion but all his dough couldn’t save his marriage. Religion isn’t the answer. No group is more religious than the Taliban (picture).
When the gospel came into this Samaritan city, “there was much rejoicing” (8:8). When sinners learn they can receive God’s forgiveness for all their sins by His grace alone, apart from any human merit, they rejoice.
When people looking for answers to their personal problems learn that Jesus can deliver them both from sin’s penalty and its power, they rejoice. When people who’ve tried all of the world’s solutions, gimmicks and cures learn that Christ is the risen Lord and Savior, and they can have a personal relationship with Him, they rejoice. If we want there to be great rejoicing in our community, we must share the gospel wherever we can!
2. Our greatest opportunities often come when an inevitable crisis hits.
Everyone who is honest is aware of the fact that “things aren’t the way that they’re supposed to be.”—Something is broken.
N.T. Wright (picture) in his book, Simply Christian, refers to this awareness as “echoes of the voice of God that remind every person that something is broken and flawed, that things are not the way God created them to be. The four echoes are the longing for justice, the quest for spirituality, the hunger for relationships, and the delight in beauty.”
Everyone you meet lives somewhere between passion and pain. They just got their dream job or a new house, were married and had a baby. Or, conversely, they just lost their job, received some bad health news, or are experiencing deep hurt with a family member or friend.
Sharing Jesus is as simple as connecting with others around their passion or pain. You don’t have to be a superstar Christian to find the intersection points with those around you. Let me suggest 5 D’s where there can be a great opportunity to touch a lost person’s life. The 5 Ds are: Divorce, Death, Displacement, Disaster, or Development. While all five play some part in the lives of those around us, one or two may be especially apparent.
Divorce. Look for ways to minister to those who’ve been through a divorce and find the healing they need in Christ. Perhaps speak into someone’s life to help prevent a divorce.
When someone is struggling in their marriage, lost friends will advise them to bail on the marriage. While there are appropriate times for divorce, someone wisely said that “there are two processes that should never be started prematurely – embalming and divorce.” Going through a divorce has been compared to a living death. You and I have an opportunity to offer the hope and healing only found in Jesus Christ.
Death. During the Pandemic one glaring reality came to the forefront: we live in a culture that doesn’t know how to deal with death. Generations ago, people spoke about death and accepted it.
In a humanistic culture that’s unchurched and even godless, the fear of death is at an all-time high. People grieving need someone to just be there. You and I can be that person. When facing the reality of death, even the greatest skeptic has existential questions. God called us to “mourn with those who mourn.” When Lazarus died, Jesus wept. Likewise, Christians must step into these moments to offer love, comfort and hope.
Displacement. Displacement is about people moving. Our housing market is off the chart. What does that tell us? People are moving into our area. When people move, they usually leave friendships and community behind.
At Grace, we’re committed to having the Welcome Mat out for those new to our community and helping them make new friends. Many of you have new folk moving into your neighborhood. You may live in a prime spot for hosting a block party or some community gathering. Have a neighborhood picnic or coffee clutch. People are longing for connection. Christians must be great facilitators of community.
Disaster. Disaster can carry a lot of connotations, and they all apply. Certainly, if our community experiences a disaster like a tornado or flood, we have an opportunity to stand in the gap and reach people. It could be the loss of a home in your neighborhood through a fire.
Then there are slow-rolling disasters–the ones that don’t make the news. Addiction is destroying our community. We have an opportunity to care for addicts and their families. Other similar disasters are happening all around us: high school dropouts, single parents, victims of abuse, and more. People in your neighborhood need your help. You can make a powerful difference for the cause of Christ by graciously reaching out to them.
Development. While the previous four Ds are more like challenges, development is more opportunity focused. For example, after-school programs or teen ministries can bridge the gap for stressed, overwhelmed parents. I’d love to see us have after-school programs to assist young people post-pandemic with reading or math.
Even in affluent, white-collar communities, the development aspect is critical. Unseen challenges like mental health, special needs children, care for aging parents are as vital as food pantries or homeless shelters. If the pain is real to the person, it should be real to us. Look for specific pain points of those God has put in your circle of influence.
3. I want to reach my world but…
The hurdle for most of us is that we don’t know where to start. Let’s try to answer some of common questions that Christians ask when it comes to building gospel bridges.
How do I start? Begin with what you have. Simply start with what and whom you know. Do an inventory of your own skills and knowledge. What may be basic to you could be an unknown to someone else.
For example, maybe you like to cook. You’d be surprised how many of your neighbors don’t know basic cooking skills. Why do you think when the pandemic hit there was a run-on frozen pizza? Maybe you know basics about home or car repairs, gardening, sewing, basic carpentry skills, etc. God blessed us with a big yard, so we’ll watch people’s dogs. Two of our neighbors recently used our big fenced in back yard to let their dogs run.
I enjoy driving so over the years I’ve dropped people off or picked them up at the airport or even given them a ride to a garage.
I’m embarrassed. I’ve lived here for years and don’t know my neighbors. What’s Nike say – Just Do It! The small pain of embarrassment is a tiny price to pay for making a new friend and building a gospel bridge.
Become a front yard missionary. Sit out on a lawn chair and read or play with your phone. You’ll connect with neighbors walking by. If you have a garden, share some of the extra produce. Every Christmas Jane and I take homemade baked bread to each of our neighbors.
How do I reach out to neighbors whose lifestyles I disagree with? Just be Jesus. Did Jesus agree with the lifestyle of the prostitutes, tax collectors, adulterers and others with whom He’d have meals or hang out with throughout the Gospels? Jesus had more connection with the thief on the cross than with the religious crowd that crucified Him. We’ve made sexual sin the big boogie man. Sin is sin. And aren’t materialism, consumerism, workaholism sinful lifestyles too? Jesus said that He was sent to those in need of a doctor, not to the healthy.
I’m too busy now. How do I fit this stuff into my schedule? We must purposefully build margin into our lives. Have you seen a house with junk cars and parts filling the yard? It’s ugly. Neighbors complain. It’s a mess.
But American culture values overfilled lives. Margin is the space between our load and our limits, between vitality and fatigue. It’s the opposite of overload. God designed us for relationships, yet relationships can’t be crammed in. They happen in the margins. Without margin we’re incapable of relational spontaneity in our neighborhood or at the workplace.
Without margin, we’re uninterested in opportunities to serve those in our circle of influence. Without margin, we’re unable to even think of planning time to spend with others. Margin gives us room to breathe and enables us to cultivate relationships. It gives us room to be spontaneous with relational opportunities that spring up.
This is alignment not addition. It’s not about adding more activities. Instead look for ways where you can align the rhythms of your life with the rhythms of life of those around you. You’re going to eat, so go for a meal together. If you like walking, walk together. Do you love dogs, go to a dog park together. But be prepared to prune some activity branches. To create margin, there are times when something needs to be cut off.
How do I reach out to a neighbor that I’ve clashed with? Nearly everyone has experienced this to some degree. It may be a noisy neighbor or one with a yapping dog. First, unless someone is in danger, don’t call the cops.
A few years ago, we were the bad neighbor. The family behind us decided to raise chickens but they got loose. Our big lab brought Jane a present, a dead chicken…then we noticed our neighbors looking for their chickens. We couldn’t apologize enough, and they were pretty cool with it.
A few months later around midnight, a spotlight caught the siding of their house on fire. I looked out the window and saw it. I’m calling 911 as I’m driving to their house in a torrential rainstorm and banging on the door but couldn’t wake anyone up. A few minutes later when the fire department got there, I left. They found out that it was me and the next day, Kathy is at our door with a $75 coupon from Chewy.com for our dog, thanking us for saving her life, her son and grandson’s lives. That was God. I don’t think it would have happened if we hadn’t take responsibility for our dog.
For Christians, seeking the welfare of their neighbors and who are trying to love their neighbors, conflict can be daunting. When this happens, we need to take another look at our identity in Christ. We’re to be peacemakers, to bless those who curse us, to pray for them. If the kingdom of heaven is going to be tangible, we must start taking Jesus literally. So, do what you can to make peace. Begin praying for them and asking God to open doors. If you were wrong, own it. Look for ways to rebuild bridges.
Conclusion
Do you want to change your world? It’s simple – Be Jesus in your world. Let those around you see Jesus in you. We need modern-day Philips who will say, “Lord, I’m ready, willing and able. Here am I, send me.” When we pray that way, we’ll spread the Good News. When that happens, there will be great joy in our neighborhoods and our community.
Do you remember the Tiananmen Square protests in China (pictures)? Kim was one of the protesters in Tiananmen Square. But for Kim, it was the beginning of a spiritual quest that led him to Christ. It began with a simple act of kindness and service by an elderly Christian woman.
On May 29, 1989, Kim and a friend were in the square to protest the Communist regime. They’d sliced their hands to write in blood their message on white headbands, which they wore.
Kim wrote the word Freedom on his. His friend wrote Democracy on his. They were harassing the soldiers and blocking military vehicles from entering the square. It was summer and very hot. After 24 hours of duty, the soldiers were hungry and thirsty. They’d had nothing to eat or drink.
Then Kim saw an elderly woman, a professor from the university, making the rounds of the soldiers, serving them bread and water! Kim was stunned. Later, he asked her why she did this. She replied, “The soldiers did not know what they were doing—and I was there to protect the students.”
Kim later shared, “This was my first direct experience with Christianity. She was the first Christian I’d ever met. Until then I had thought Christianity to be ridiculous, a religion of foreigners. But now I thought, “This is a good, kind religion. The Christian God must be a kind God.”
Three years later Kim was studying for a master’s degree. He met a Christian who invited him to study John’s gospel together with other students. He was impressed with this circle of friends and with the Jesus he saw in the Bible. His first impression was, Jesus is kind, and He’s smart.”
That elderly professor simply sharing bread and water with her enemies had no idea what her act of service set in motion. She wasn’t thinking about the possible effects. For her, it was simply a matter of obeying the Great Commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
“You are a Christian because somebody cared. Now it’s your turn.” Reaching our Samaritan is not about being happy and comfortable. It’s about allowing God to push us out of our comfort zones, to knock off some of our prejudices and judgementalism.
You may be thinking, “Sure you’re a pastor. It’s easy for you.” No, it isn’t. But I will tell you a regular part of my prayer life is praying for people who don’t like me and would consider me an “enemy.” I don’t always succeed but by God’s grace, I work at being Jesus to them.
Christian fulfillment comes by obeying the Great Commission. It comes from putting yourself in the place that God wants you, even if it’s in the heart of Samaria. So go, maybe go across the street, maybe go to the next office cubicle. It’s being Jesus even to those who hate you. It’s time for us, it’s time for the Church to let Jesus shine though us!
As we tie this up, let me share some practical steps that we’re taking here at Grace. We have new badges (picture) that are a bit bigger. We’re doing this because our neighbors are coming in our doors. We have newcomers nearly every week here at Grace. We want them to know that we care. That’s why they have the name along with “How can we serve you?”
One of our outreaches that we do here at Grace is a Biscuit Brunch (picture) in the spring. It’s biscuits, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc.
At Grace we are committed to being bridge-builders. We want to let area teachers know that we appreciate them, particularly public-school teachers. In April we’re going to invite school board members, administrators, staff and teachers to come as our special guests to our Biscuit Brunch. And we’re asking you to invite teachers that you know who may have had an impact on your life or teach your children to come as your special guest.
Then, when warm weather hits in May, we’re going to do something wild and crazy…and we’ll even give you the supplies for it. We want you to personally take a plate of brownies or cookies (picture) to two different neighbors. We don’t want you to invite them to church. We just want you to tell them that our church wants to share with our community that we care, that’s why we want to share these treats with them.
Finally, you know that we have a housing development coming in. We will be putting up a sign on the back of our property that says: “Welcome to the Neighborhood” (Picture).
We don’t have all the ideas. You may have some great ideas. Please share them. We’re wide open! We want to make a difference. Please help. Let’s do this together. Let’s turn this community upside down for Jesus. ‘
“You are a Christian because somebody cared. Now it’s your turn!”