Pastor Mark Nieting
1 Thess. 2:1-13
Having AFRIZO here on Wednesday was an incredible blessing, and having two of the men, Emmanuel and Michael, in our home was wonderful, even though it wasn’t near long enough. It was very obvious that these fellow Christians have a passion for their Lord Jesus……their faith is certainly contagious! I got a real boost from listening to them sing and from their personal stories.
We learned that 80% of Kenyans are Christians! 10% are Muslims and other pagan religions. The Gospel of Jesus is making a difference in the lives of millions of people the way in Kenya. The difference is that while the church is GROWING in Kenya…..and many other parts of Africa, it is not growing here.
Are you surprised to know that there are more Lutherans in East Africa than there are in the United States? Are you surprised to know the Christian faith is also growing by leaps and bounds in India and in China? It’s SO exciting to know that the Church of Jesus Christ is alive and growing around the world, despite persecution and poverty. And there is plenty of persecution against the church. It started in Egypt, where dozens of Coptic Christians, one of the oldest branches of the Christian church in the world, were murdered by radical Muslims.
I watched a You-Tube video by a missionary named Francis Chan. He was telling stories about Christians he encountered traveling in Asia. One woman, nine months pregnant, was run out of her village when people found out she was a Christian. She had her baby in the jungle and couldn’t go home.
Another man showed Pastor Chan the scars on his back from the beatings he got when his neighbors found out he was a Christian. They tried to beat him to death after they killed his entire family. Another man, and this is a frequent event in India, had his house burned down. Still others lose their jobs.
Pastor Chan was incredulous. After all, stuff like this doesn’t happen to Christians in America, does it? Yet time after time these Christians would simply shrug and say, “It says in the Bible that this is going to happen to us!”
We may not have these specific problems in our country, at least right now, but I do think we have another that’s as bad or even worse. At the risk of sounding somewhat judgmental, I believe there are literally millions of people in our country who SAY they are Christians, but it’s far from obvious in their everyday lives. They may spend a lot of time being AROUND the things of God, they may have a Bible on the coffee table at home, they may check the box “Christian” on religious surveys, but there doesn’t appear to be any evidence OF their faith!
It’s what St. Paul warns about in 2 Timothy; about people who have a form of “godliness” but it has no impact on their daily lives. It doesn’t seem to have any impact on the way they live! St. Paul might call them “Christian atheists!”
What is a Christian atheist, you might ask? It’s someone who says they believe in God but for all practical purposes they live as if God doesn’t exist, period!
I cannot remember all the times I have been told by people that their faith is a very private thing; a very personal thing, something that they can’t talk about. I’ve been told that by people who have cars decorated with all sorts of political bumper stickers. I’ve been told that by people who have team flags flying on their front lawns, and pins in their lapels. At a glance I can tell that they are Democrats, Giants fans, love America, belong to the Rotary Club, root for Kyle Petty, want to save the whales, adore Elvis and drink Pepsi……but as for their faith in Jesus, there’s not a clue in sight.
Why is this? The faith into which we have been baptized and which we confess weekly in worship says that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Name under heaven, given among men, through which there is salvation, and yet far too many of us move around in life as if we expect to be beheaded if share anything about Him other than when we hit our thumbs with hammers! WHY is it so hard for so many of us to talk about our faith, even to our own families and friends?
-Perhaps we are simply so comfortable in our faith that we take it for granted, like the air we breathe and the water we drink; that Jesus has been, and always will be a part of our lives…..that He’s no “big deal?”
-Perhaps it’s because we don’t want to appear to be “soft” or “dependent” on someone other than ourselves?
-Maybe it’s because someone has convinced us that Christianity isn’t “cool?”
-Could it be that we’ve engaged the message our culture loves: that all religions are equal and we’re all going to end up in the same place, no matter what?
Have you ever been rescued, say, from drowning, from a burning building, a sinking ship, quicksand in the jungle, rescued in the nick-of-time and saved??? IF that has happened to you, what’s the result? Easy: you share the story, over and over again! You live thankfully and joyfully! It becomes your STORY!
Once we understand, not just in our heads but in our hearts, the magnitude of what Jesus has done for us becomes a very real JOY that fills us and overflows out of our lives and our lips, as it did from the young people of Arizo Wednesday evening! It becomes our story, a story worth retelling.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ IS a personal thing…..because WE are persons created by God and redeemed by Jesus Christ! The story of Jesus is a personal story witnessed by thousands of people who told thousands of others and through their written testimony shared it with billions more. The Written Word of God has it’s own power but it’s magnified even more when one person shares it with another person…..when it becomes OUR story.
That’s why Jesus tells EACH of us to “make disciples of all nations.” It wasn’t a command to pastors or evangelism committees. It’s to each of us, and it comes best and is received best when it flows out of our lives into those around us as a result of the joy of our own salvation!
It’s you and me…..whenever God opens a door…..sharing “Moments of Hope” with the people around us……..and changing lives forever. Amen.
