Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City
Sermon Philippians
3:1-11 Engage, Sharing Your Story[1]
June 28, 2015
I am continuing
today with my third in a series of sermons on evangelism. Two weeks ago we heard that the world is
changing and so the church must change how it approaches evangelism. Last week I tried to give you ways of
growing as disciples of Jesus through daily prayer and meditation on scripture
in addition to worship on Sundays.
Through this you develop a relationship with Jesus and a story you can
share with others. Today we will talk
about sharing your story. We will get to
this, but first let's pray.
May the
words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight
O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
For many
many years evangelists would introduce Jesus to people who did not believe in
him through a discussion of heaven and hell.
All we had to do was ask someone where they wanted to go when they
die. Do you want to go to heaven or
hell? Since just about everyone prefered
heaven we would then tell them that believing in Jesus Christ was the ticket to
heaven. We would say the eternal truth,
“believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved from the agony of hell and go to
heaven.” Talking about salvation was the
method of bringing people to faith.
But today
this method is less effective. The
problem is that people who don't believe in Jesus Christ tend not to believe in
hell either. In fact some Christians
question the existence of hell too.
Here is the problem. Ask someone
if they have been saved. That person
will reply, “Saved from what?” And you
respond “from hell”. And they say, “I
don't believe in hell.” Then, what do
you do? Do you just walk away from this
lost sheep? Or do you try to find some
other way of bringing this person to faith?
The Apostle
Paul was a Christian evangelist in the later part of the first century. He knew that in order to evangelize different
groups he needed different techniques.
For people who already believed in God he would go into synagogues and
argue that the Hebrew Scriptures had been fulfilled. Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, they had
been waiting for. This message brought
some Jews, not all, to faith in Jesus.
But when Paul talked with people outside of the synagogues his message
changed. For gentles he argued that
Jesus was the son of the creator of the world who wants a relationship with us
and promises us eternal life. And,
according to Paul, Jesus proved he was the son of God by rising from the
dead. So, Paul had two messages, one for
the people who were familiar with the Hebrew Bible, and one for those who were
not.
For us, the
message of God's salvation in Jesus Christ only works as an evangelism tool
with people who already fear going to hell and need Jesus' salvation. People who don't believe in hell need to be
approached in a different way.
Increasingly in North America and Europe, people do not believe in
hell. And thus we need a different
message for those who do not fear it. I will give you what I think may be an
effective message today, but first let's listen to Paul.
Philippians 3:1-11 1 Further, my brothers and
sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things
to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch
out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the
circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ
Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for
such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh,
I have more: 5 circumcised on
the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for
righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But
whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.8 What is
more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that
comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of
his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in
his death, 11 and so,
somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
What Paul
has done in his letter to the church at Philippi is to share his story. He talked about growing up as a Jew, being
circumcised and learning the law of God from the Hebrew Bible. He talked about his studies as a Pharisee
student, and his desire to keep God's commands as best he could. But he also talked about how all of this was
twisted. How his desire to please God
led him to do the opposite and persecute the members of the church. He was present at the stoning of a Christian,
Stephen. He arrested Christians for
putting their faith in Jesus, calling him the Christ. And he chased down Christians trying to flee
to Damascus. Today this Paul would
probably be an ISIS terrorist.
But then
Paul met Jesus and developed a relationship with him. And everything in his life changed. Paul began to realize that there was nothing for
him to fear. He had feared his own
death. But with the promise and hope of
the resurrection he knew that death would not stop him. He would go on. So with no fear of death, Paul boldly shared
his faith in a God who expresses his love for us through his son Jesus
Christ.
The story
Paul shared was about how his life changed after developing a relationship with
Jesus. His relationship with Jesus made
him a more loving and caring person. And
he had a strong to desire to share his story with others so that they too would
experience God's love and transformation of life.
I have
certainly experienced this. I went
through life struggling with my job and business. I had a hard time forming relationships. I became a loner. But then I developed a relationship with
Jesus. My fears subsided. I became active in church. I made
friends. Eventually I found a wonderful
wife and made an important career change to become a pastor. Though my relationship with Jesus, I
experienced God's love for me, and his transformation of my life.
As you
develop your relationship with Jesus you too will experience God's love and
transformation of life. If you pray and
read the Bible every day, if you worship with your church every Sunday, then
you will develop a relationship with Jesus, and your life will change. The story of how your life changed after
coming closer to Jesus is the story you need to share with people who need to
hear it. This is evangelism. It is the sharing of the good news of what
God has done for you. And it is the
invitation to others to experience God's love for themselves.
We all have
stories about what life was like before we developed a relationship with
Jesus. This may have happened a long
time ago or more recently. It may have
been a sudden experience or maybe it happened over a lengthy period of
time. Maybe it happened so long ago it
is hard to remember what it was like before you accepted Jesus. Or maybe it hasn’t happened for you yet. But if you are in the Bible and prayer every
day and worship every Sunday then your relationship with Jesus will deepen and
your life will change. Your story is
about that change. How has being a
growing disciple of Jesus Christ changed your life for the better? Your answer to this question is what people
around you who haven’t experienced what you have desperately need today.
Last Wednesday
a young man came to our church. He was
expecting breakfast for international students but was a week early. There were tables with other students who
made the same mistake. He volunteered to
help us with breakfast then he sat alone.
I sat across from him and started a conversation. He came from Turkey earlier this week. Already he has experienced problems with his
job and housing, but all this is now straightened out. He was surprised that a church would give
away free food. In Turkey his mosque
would never do such a thing. If a
student wanted to eat he had to pay for it.
I told him that in the church if a hungry person comes to our doors we
offer him food. The young man was very
impressed and promised to return next Wednesday for breakfast. Who would like to share their story of a
relationship with Jesus with a young Muslim who is already curious about why we
do what we do? Let me know and I’ll
introduce you.
Think about
other people you know who would benefit from hearing your story. Maybe you know of people who are suffering
from mental or physical illnesses. Maybe
you know people who have recently lost a loved one. Maybe you know people who suffer from
addictions. Ask yourselves, “Would
sharing your story about what Jesus has done for you, help them in any
way?” If so, help them by sharing your
story.
As we
gather in small groups today I want you to share your stories with each other. Talk about what your life was like before you
met Christ. And talk about how your life
has changed as a result of your relationship with Jesus. Talk about how you have experienced God’s
love in your lives. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus
we thank you for your ministry to us bringing us closer and closer to you. Help us to develop a story of how our lives
changed after we met you. Calm our fears
as we approach others with the good news of what you have done for us. Use us to bring others into relationship with
you. This we pray in your glorious
name. Amen.
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