More Ready Than You Realize
07/31/2005 - Reaching Christians for Christ
This morning we continue our series called More Ready Than You Realize with a teaching I've called "Reaching Christians for Christ." I've titled it that because I hope to show you how spiritual friendships transform Christ followers just as much as they transform those who are seeking. Often we're the ones who need some radical transformation in our thinking and in our attitudes.
Our series is based on the book More Ready Than You Realize written by pastor and author Brian McLaren. And McLaren's book is based on a spiritual friendship that he developed with a woman named Alice. In fact, the book is really a journal of their email correspondence over a number months that God used to bring Alice to faith in Jesus Christ.
And in one of her emails Alice writes this, "Hi Brian. I went to the church my boyfriend goes to this morning, the sermon (or 'message', as it was called) made me so angry. It was all about how we should remember to take time out from our busy days (as related to the Sabbath) which is fine, but somehow, the pastor managed to say that Christians shouldn't date or marry non-Christians and its Christians responsibility to tell sinners and non-Christians what they are doing wrong and to lead them to Jesus. He was saying that the 'sinners' would be thankful they were told what they were doing wrong."
"I was like, man, who are you kidding? It's like that Nietzsche quote in your book that says, 'It would be easier to believe in Christ if it weren't for the Christians. ...' or whatever the exact quote was. It's confusing for me because I've seen a lot of evidence supporting the fact that this church is pretty open-minded, it's definitely very diverse and has seemed really accepting. But that just makes me so much more scared about jumping in and believing, like all the good things I think about Christianity are just an illusion I'm creating or being shown and then after I believe and put my heart into it I won't have a choice but to conform to everything that constitutes being a Christian in reality. Does that make sense?"
"Why is it so easy for some people to swallow all of this? The pastor at this church today was saying how when people want to believe in God, 'he' makes it easy for them and they're welcomed with open arms. Why doesn't it feel like that for me? I feel like there's a huge wall I can't get through. I'm so frustrated. I really want to be a Christian and feel good about it. Why is it so difficult? (sorry, I don't expect you to answer these questions, I'm just kind of letting my mind wander.) ugh ... its been a rough semester. Take care, Alice"
You gotta' love Alice's honesty. She's so real. And she's able to be real honest with McLaren because he's a safe person to talk to. And as we said two weeks ago safety is the very first dynamic of a spiritual friendship. We need to provide a safe place for people like Alice to process their doubts and their disappointments, their fears and their frustrations, even their anger as she does in this email.
Notice, she's not really looking to McLaren to answer her questions. In fact, she says, "I don't expect you to answer these questions, I'm just kind of letting my mind wander." She's not looking for an answer man. Instead, she's looking for somebody to keep her company through the ups and downs of her spiritual journey.
McLaren says, "Sometimes it is more important to keep the conversation going than to resolve every issue that arises. I suppose we faith-sharers need faith - faith that God is working in the person's life from many directions, faith that it is not all up to me and that it does not all depend on this one friendship, faith that God will not give up on the person, faith that God's Spirit is so pervasive that even after desire recedes, it will resurge again." Spiritual friendships will stretch our faith and demand patience, which is another dynamic we talked about. And that's a good thing.
Shortly after, Alice writes another email revealing her struggle to believe. In it she says, "I've been thinking a lot since I received your last email. In a way I think just thinking about it is pushing me farther into having faith. In fact, I feel right now that I believe in Jesus, and God in general. Problem is, I can't tell if it's just a phase ... so its probably not "real" faith, that's my biggest issue, I think ... the constant surging and receding. It often recedes into nothing. This is very frustrating for me. I think a lot of my issues are with pride, like if I start to believe and depend on God then I'm not as self-sufficient. Probably a lot of that stems from how God is always referred to as 'he' - including by me. I know that's pretty shallow, but it's still something I have to work against in my mind. I don't know, thanks for taking the time to write to me. Talk to you later, Alice."
In this email Alice reveals two struggles. One is that God is always referred to as "he" and not "she." And that's a valid struggle for her and many like her in our postmodern matrix. And spiritual friends recognize that struggle and affirm it. But the truth is that God is not a man, like I'm a man. God is Spirit. And as Spirit he possesses both male and female characteristics. It's the male and female together, Genesis 1 says, who are created in the image of God. And there are places in Scripture where God loves to describe himself in female imagery like a mother caring for her children. He has both a masculine and a feminine side.
Her second struggle is that she finds her faith like a wave, surging and then receding. She thinks she believes in Jesus, but doesn't think her faith can be "real" because it comes and goes. Spiritual friends share that struggle too and need to be honest about it. There are days when my faith feels rock solid. Sundays are often one of those days. But there are also days when my faith feels extremely fragile. And then there are seasons in life when we can experience faith crises. Seekers like Alice need to hear us say that.
That's why one of my favorite encounters with Jesus is that story in the gospel of Mark where the disciples are having a tough time driving an evil spirit out of a boy who is foaming at the mouth and rolling around on the ground. A crowd had gathered and people were yelling and arguing. It was quite a scene. Then Jesus arrives. And the boy's father is thinking, "Man, these disciples are worthless, maybe Jesus can help me." So he runs up to Jesus and Jesus asks him a few questions about the boy's condition and then the father says, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
Jesus stops him right there and says, "If you can? Don't you know that everything is possible for those who believe." And immediately the boy's father exclaimed in Mark 9:24, "I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!"
Like Alice, this man is honest. He's real. He's candid about his faith struggle. "I do believe, Jesus, but help me believe even more." There's room for struggle and room for doubt in our faith. God doesn't expect us to be perfect, even in our belief. He knows it will be flawed. He knows the dark closets of doubt that occupy our hearts. But it's those dark closets that keep us humble and help us relate to others who struggle. We don't have all the answers. And so we ask for help with our faith. "Lord I believe, help me believe even more."
Becoming a believer in Jesus Christ doesn't make us super human. We're still flawed men and women who have a lot to learn and a long way to go to become like Jesus. We're in process, just like Alice is in process. And so we look for ways to identify with her struggle. That's one of the great benefits of entering into spiritual friendships. They keep us real and are a vital part of our transformation process.
There's a great example of that found in the New Testament book of Acts. If you have a Bible turn to with me to Acts 10:1 (p. 778). Show blank slide. At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!" 4Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea." 7When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
Cornelius was a lot like Alice. He was a seeker. He wasn't a Christian nor was he a Jew. He was outside of organized religion. Instead, he was just a God fearing person who prayed a lot and helped the poor. And one afternoon God showed up in a dramatic way. Cornelius had this vision of an angel. And the angel told him that God had noticed his prayers and his good deeds. But instead of giving Cornelius the message of Jesus directly, the angel refers Cornelius to a person who will become his spiritual friend. Interesting, isn't it? The gospel was always meant to be communicated person to person, not by angels, but by real, flawed human beings like you and me. And the person God chose in this story is Peter, one of Jesus' flawed disciples.
And to get him ready God gives Peter a vision. Look at verse 9, About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." 14"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." 15The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." 16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
Peter's vision prepares him for a dramatic change in his whole mindset, a conversion if you will. It is such an unthinkable vision that it causes Peter to gasp and say, "No way! Lord, how can you tempt me to sin?" You see all his life Peter has kept a kosher diet and only eaten foods permitted by his Jewish faith. He has never entered the house of a Gentile or sat down and had a meal with anyone who was not a Jew. But now God tells him to kill and eat all those animals that for more than a thousand years have been kept off the menu for God's chosen people. This is revolutionary!
What's going on here? God is preparing Peter to rethink his categories just in time for an invitation to visit a Gentile named Cornelius.
Look at verse 17, While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. 18They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. 19While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you. 20So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them." 21Peter went down and said to the men, "I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?" 22The men replied, "We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say." 23Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. 24The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself."
"I'm only a man, a human being myself." When it comes to this part of the story McLaren says, "That is good mental health, and a good posture of spiritual friendship. So many of us feel unqualified to be active spiritual friends because we don't feel 'spiritual.' We feel so 'human.' But Peter shows us here that being human is what it is all about."
"We have to remember that when God decided to go far beyond sending us verbal messages through the prophets, when God in some mysterious way 'showed up' himself 'in person' through Christ, God's presence was marvelously human as well as miraculous. Jesus slept, ate, sweat, hurt, cried, and suffered like us all. God communicated his message, not in spite of Jesus' humanity, but through it, because of it. So Peter's words, 'I am only a man myself' teach us apprentices something profound about spiritual friendship. Never be ashamed of your humanity!"
Revealing our doubts and our struggles helps people in their spiritual journey. It shows others that we're human and can relate to them. Even though we know Christ we all still have a long way to go.
Awhile back someone at Valley View came up to me after a worship gathering and said, "Bruce, I loved what you said today." I said, "Thanks, what did I say?" He said, "You said, 'I don't know.' And that made me feel so good, because I don't know a lot of things either. But I never heard a pastor say, 'I don't know.'" I don't know what to make of that. In fact, I don't know a lot of things!
So Peter acknowledges that he's human. And then he talks with Cornelius. He doesn't talk at him or even to him, he talks with him. Look at verse 27, Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.
We have to stop right here because this is all part of Peter's conversion, his transformation. First, he talks with a person that up until now in his lifetime he would never have talked with. And then he does the unthinkable and steps across the threshold of this man's house. As a good Jew, Peter has never in his life been in the home of a Gentile.
Look at verse 28, He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
Do you see how powerful this experience is for Peter? This is why God uses spiritual friendships because they reach Christians for Christ. In obedience to God, Peter is showing profound respect for someone of the "wrong" religion, someone of the "wrong" ethnic group. And instead of showing them how much they have to learn from him, he is expressing how much he is learning from them. He's showing them that he is a "safe" person because he's a humble learner right along with them.
About this McLaren makes another observation, "When we become spiritual friends as Peter did with Cornelius, we similarly become sensitive to issues of language. We become uncomfortable labeling people. Whether it's 'impure or unclean' or more contemporary labels like 'saved,' 'non-Christian,' 'lost,' or 'pagan,' we become increasingly sensitive to the way that such in-grouping or out-grouping can itself be sub-Christian behavior. On the one hand, by using such language we can unintentionally elevate ourselves to a superior category. On the other hand, such language can degrade others - in our minds or to their ears or both. Either way, careless language sabotages spiritual friendship."
Now look at verse 29, So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?"
Stop right there. In effect Peter's saying, "You gotta know I'm way outside my comfort zone here. I'm taking a real risk entering your house, just to be your friend. Being here violates every one of my long held religious standards ... so I'm learning right along with you. And then, before he proclaims anything to them, he pays them the upmost respect by listening to them. "Why did you send for me?" he asks.
Cornelius then tells him the story of the vision and all of a sudden the light goes on in Peter's mind. Look at verse 34,Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts those from every nation who fear him and do what is right.
Peter is learning through this spiritual friendship right along with Cornelius. And then when he finally does begin to teach he shows respect by saying "you know," "you know," throughout his synopsis of Jesus' life and ministry.
Look at verse 36, You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached-38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. 39"We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen-by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
And Peter can't get any further. That's all that Cornelius and his friends needed to hear. They believe and God's Spirit fills them.
Look at verse 44, While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, 47"Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." 48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Immediately they were baptized. Which was another risk Peter took. These were the first baptized Gentile believers. And Peter stayed a few extra days and had some more ham and cheese sandwiches and other Gentile goodies to eat.
And the story has a happy ending, right? Wrong ... at least not yet! When word gets back to the mother church in Jerusalem, Peter is the target of criticism. Look at Acts 11:1-3, The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised (or Jewish) believers criticized him 3and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."
In response, Peter tells the story of his spiritual friendship with Cornelius and company concluding with this powerful statement and question in Acts 11:15-17, "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"
And, verse 18 says, When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."
That's the power of spiritual friendships. Peter learns. Cornelius learns. And the believers back in Jerusalem learn some very powerful lessons and everyone is transformed.
McLaren closes this section of his book by saying, "I wonder if there are lessons that we can only learn as we, like Peter, leave our comfort zones, as our old categories are stretched beyond the breaking point, as we engage in spiritual friendship with the Corneliuses around us, as we become learners as we teach, as we refuse to place ourselves on a higher plane than anyone else, and as we show respect to those to whom we have been sent."
"And I wonder if it conversely might be true that if we are not engaged in spiritual friendships in this radical way, there are things we can never learn as disciples - no matter how many Bible studies we join, classes and courses we complete, sermons we take notes on, verses we memorize, doctrines we affirm. Might spiritual friendship be an essential dimension of our own training as disciples, an experience we need as much as others do?"
"And further, might it be fair to say that we cannot really call ourselves disciples if we are not following Jesus' and Peter's example of being 'friends of sinners' - spiritual friends who love, accept, learn with, and teach those who are missed by God, precious to God? That is why I say that when spiritual friendship happens, when real evangelism happens, it is Christians who are converted first. This is how it has been with Alice and me. She is not the only one growing through our friendship. I am learning and growing too. My conversion is ongoing, as is hers." Is yours?