The ABCs of Sharing Christ's Message

This past Sunday, I delivered a message based on Matthew 10.26-39 where I taught about being the messenger of the Good News Jesus needs you to be. In context, this passage occurs when Jesus is sending out the 12 disciples to take His message of love, hope, and reconciliation public. It might seem a bit ironic, but that message is met with a somewhat unusual metaphor: Jesus as soldier. Jesus himself said he came not to bring peace, but a sword. This gives the image of a military commander preparing his troops for battle, raising his saber, and then yelling, CHARGE!

We are involved in a civil war of sorts. Jesus’ words indicate that we are at war on two fronts: internally and externally. The internal front is the one we have to fight within ourselves against the path of least resistance. Jesus said we have to take up our cross and lose our life so we can find the true meaning of life in Him. This internal struggle — where we feel inclined to serve self instead of Savior — draws us to the wrong side of the battlefield, leaving us a prisoner of war.

The external struggle in our ongoing civil war is the one we must fight against the outside influences that can distract us from living for God. Jesus specifically pointed out relationships that can cause us problems, but there are others, too: vocations, lifestyles, etc. As Jesus stands there with His saber, He wants to use His surgeon-like precision to help us cut away the things in life that keep us away from Him…we just need to go to Him for His help.

Since we are engaged in an ongoing two-front civil war, Jesus wants to enlist us for one of the most important roles in any combat situation: battlefield messenger. The messenger had the complete confidence of the commander to convey His message, which was critical to the success of the campaign.

Jesus Himself was sent on a campaign to win the soul of humanity for heaven, but there is an enemy trying to secure territory for another domain. Christ continues to be engaged in an ongoing campaign to secure humanity from the clutches of evil and despair. Jesus is commissioning His followers to be messengers that will carry His eternally important message of love, hope, and reconciliation. Since we have such an important task, we must learn the ABCs of sharing Christ’s message; be:

• Alert: we need to take the time to hear Christ’s message accurately and incorporate it into our lives so we can share it accordingly
• Bold: we need to be courageous in sharing Jesus’ message, not allowing fear to deter us from explaining the hope we have in the Lord
• Committed: we need to be dedicated to the task of sharing God’s message and not allowing the inevitable ups and downs of life to distract us from the importance of the message.

As Jesus prepared His disciples to engage the world with His message, He reminded them that He had spent time with them, teaching and showing them the heart of God. He was now empowering them to continue that work under His tutelage, because the time was coming when they would be dispatched on their own. This reminds me of a powerful Chinese proverb that explains this brilliantly: Tell me, I will forget; show me I will remember; involve me, I will understand.

This is precisely what Jesus does for us still today. He is speaking to us about the love and grace of God, showing us the signs and wonders of a life lived in God, and involving us in the ministry of reconciliation as He wins souls for heaven. Will you accept your role in sharing this with others? Will you leave behind old and worn out patterns of living? Will you join the winning team? Remember the ABCs of sharing Christ’s message and they will truly help you be alert, bold, and committed to the task of introducing others to the heart of God as shown in Jesus Christ!

The Source of Freedom

Happy Independence Day! I hope you are looking forward to a safe time celebrating freedom with friends and family. For those who are working - and especially those who are working to protect and preserve the freedom we celebrate - THANK YOU!!!

When you think about freedom, and being free from or for something, what comes to mind? We probably have some agreement on the meaning of freedom in general terms, but when it gets down to it, many of us likely view freedom through a very personalized lens. There is nothing wrong with that by any means, but there are definite problems when one’s personal view of liberty does not sync up with another’s. What to do, what to do?

During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln made a brilliant statement about liberty during an address in Baltimore: “The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.” (April 18, 1864) Lincoln was on to something. While our nation was in a great struggle about what it means to be free, different people felt differently about what freedom actually meant. No doubt that our context is different today, but we still live in the struggle.

I went back to the Declaration of Independence and was particularly struck by a tension I felt while reading it. It states clearly that we are created by GOD with certain unalienable Rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Then, the Declaration of Independence mentions that governments are instituted to secure these Rights. Interesting, isn’t it? We acknowledge that GOD creates us equally, and then we turn to government – a vastly imperfect human institution – to secure these Rights. The implication here is that we remain in a state of tension between what we might consider freedom from our personal point of view and what another might consider freedom from his/her point of view, and how these views relate to the view of the masses. Should we abandon the pursuit of freedom? Absolutely not, but we also have to acknowledge the tension that, as President Lincoln said, we do not all mean the same thing when we discuss freedom.

Since our government cannot secure freedom for every single person in the way he/she would like or hope, we have to turn our attention to another source…THE Source. It is critically important to note that even the Declaration of Independence cites GOD as the true source of freedom. In John 8:21-32, as Jesus was teaching about how GOD sent Him to help people believe, the Lord said: “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Jesus later said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If we are looking for God, the source of freedom, then Jesus – the living embodiment of truth – is the Way!

I hope that despite how we feel about things going on in the world we may celebrate our corporate and personal freedom this Independence Day. I also hope that for those who are struggling to fully understand or experience freedom, that we might look to the source of freedom that we truly desire. For as the scripture says, “In Jesus, and through faith in him, we may approach GOD with freedom and confidence.” (Ephesians 3.12)

Have a safe and happy 4^th of July, and as we celebrate our national freedom, may we be reminded that the source of freedom isn’t in a piece of paper (as excellent as the Declaration of Independence is) or a government, but in GOD and the One who shows us the way, Jesus Christ!