So good morning and welcome to this place we call DCC. So pumped that you are here. We want to give a special shout out to all of our friends watching online, and to all of our new friends who are here for the very first time today. If you’re new we want you to know that we have all made mistakes, hurt people, been hurt by people, have parts of our stories we wish we could delete and do-over, we don’t have all the answers, and we have lots of questions. If any of that sound like you me too. You have landed in a safe place full of people just like you who are here chasing after a better way to live who happen to believe that Jesus offers that and we are glad that you are here to check that out or chase that with us.
So we are only in week 2 of this series and I can’t believe all of the chatter on social media. It has been blowing up which is awesome. I don’t spend much time there but I have read some of it. Some of you are posting stuff and saying this is just like my Pastor Greg said. The truth is that it’s nowhere close, I never really said that at all. But controversy sells, so I am good with it. So keep it up but let’s make sure this is clear, this series is cumulative. While every week is necessary and all true, there is so much to this volatile and explosive topic. It will take us all 6 weeks to discuss it fully, understand God’s position on it and understand how we can really begin to separate these two words church and hate. So, stay with us in this. We are a long way from the finish line. We have a lot more to talk about.
ILLUST> In his book Deep and Wide Andy Stanley tells of a time when he was 28 years old and the Student Pastor of the church his dad led, First Baptist Church Atlanta. It was 1987 and the organizers of the Gay Pride Day march in Atlanta, which always took place on Sunday, decided to adjust their schedule so the parade would be passing right in front of their church around noon, the time that church would be letting out. When the church leaders got wind of this they went on the defensive. They decided to let church out early and send everybody out the back so that by the time the parade hit all of the good church people would be on their way home. Some did leave but others, like Andy, lined the streets to watch the parade. You know the drill. The best way to get people to look at something is to tell them not to look. So there they were gawking at the show as it made its way down Peachtree Street. You know what they saw? They saw the people of St. Mark United Methodist Church directly across the street out there too. But rather than secretly gawking the people of St. Marks handed out cups of cold water and held up posters that read “Everybody Welcomed! Come Worship with Us! God is love! Andy said the contrast could not have been more pronounced, it was embarrassing. Ultimately, it would lead Andy to start and lead Northpoint Community Church, a church that is designed to be a place that unchurched people love to come to and it is today.
Now don’t miss what Andy said. The contrast could not have been more pronounced. One church was focused on all of the obstacles, the other on the opportunity. I think we need to talk about that. If you weren’t here last week we talked about this commandment that Jesus gave that went like this. By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you…not preach, teach, convert, pray, memorize, read, believe, or behave…if you love one another. The question we left here with was so…based on that commandment…are we majoring on minors in the church? Is the absence of love creating the perception of hate? So let’s take the next step into this today with this question. So, if that is true how to we begin to change that”? Great question, let’s jump back into this and chase after that…here we go…Acts 17.
If you have a Bible you can turn there. If you want or need a Bible, we have Bibles on the back tables that you can grab right now if you would like if you close or on your way out. Or you can hit read off your program, hit our app, and then hit You Version, and it will all be right there in front of you. Everything I read is also going to be on the screens. So before we get to Acts 17, I want to read two verses from Acts 9 to get us started with a little context here. Flip back there if you want…verse 1…
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
So even if you don’t really know much about this guy Saul, he sounds like a dangerous man. Here is the part that is not really clear from what we just read, in fact, it sounds like it wouldn’t be true at all, get this now…he is also a very religious man. He is a radically religious person breathing out murderous threats against those who believe differently, and trying his best to protect God’s name and how he believed that God was meant to be worshipped. His motivation is holy. He thinks he is doing what is right and what God wants him to do. His posture…disagree with me and I will either kill you or lock you up. An encounter with me will not go well for you if you disagree with me. Pause. Doesn’t a lot of the world see church people today the exact same way? Then if you keep reading the story Saul becomes a devout follower of Jesus. Okay, so now we have context, same guy, different moment, and so much for us to learn. Watch this, his name is not the only thing that is going to change. Here we go Acts chapter 17 beginning with verse 16...
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
So as Paul waits for his buddies Silas and Timothy he goes into the Jewish Synagogue and out on to the streets and begins to reason with anyone who would listen to him. He reasoned with them. Ready to get sophisticated. For some of you this will be your favorite part. Finally DCC feels like a real church. The Greek word here for reasoned is Diaglegomai (DEE A LEG O MY). That’s Greek with a Kentucky twist. It means to converse from which we get the word conversation. Paul begins a conversation. Get this now. So here he is walking around in a culture, philosophy, and theology much different than his own. It’s obvious that he and the people around him are different and disagree on things. Paul simply starts a conversation with them. So question for you and me…are we like Paul?
ARE WE MOVING TOWARD OR AWAY FROM THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH US? Remember the two churches we started with? The contrast could not have been more pronounced. One ran away the other saw the opportunities not the obstacles. Ephesians 6 tells us that our battle and struggle is not against flesh and blood. I like the way that Greg Boyd, atheist turned apologist says it. He says “if something has either flesh or blood in it, it is not our enemy”. If we could just begin to get this…it changes everything.
When we do move toward people who disagree with us I think most of us are really more like Saul than Paul. Saul moved toward people who disagreed with him too, but converse is not exactly the word I would use for Saul’s old approach. Other words come to mind that better describe that, words like combative, condemnation, contention, confrontation, conversion, coercive. Let’s be honest converse didn’t even make the list. It doesn’t make a lot of ours either. Are we willing to move toward and invest relationally in those who are different than us, believe differently, act differently, and disagree with us? My church experience has been we typically try to create as much distance as possible and in doing that keep ourselves from putting distance between two words…church and hate. If you think I am slamming you, I’m not, that has been my MO for most of my life too.
ILLUST> So 3 or 4 years ago I was sitting on a plane in Louisville, Ky waiting to return home to Colorado after a few days of ministry stuff there. Two words to describe me in that moment. Tired and grouchy. So they are getting ready to close the door of the plane and I am really happy because the seat next to me is like the only empty seat on the plane. Then I look up and here she comes. She looks about the age of my oldest daughter, she is 4 feet something and carrying a carry on that probably weighs more than she does. Sure enough she sits down next to me. I’m thinking finally time to go to sleep. So after a few minutes of faking like I was asleep she says you going home? I’m thinking oh no here we go. Not wanting to be a total tool I say yep, how about you. She says no…Kentucky is home…I am on my way to San Francisco for a job interview. I’m like wow. That’s a big move why San Francisco. She tells me that she is really liberal politically, has friends that are gay, and she thinks it would be a great opportunity. Obviously, I’m thinking chance are we probably don’t see some things the same way. So I asked her what she did for a living and she said she was a student at and a huge fan of the University of Kentucky. Conversation over. I had no desire to move toward her. I wanted to go to sleep, read a book, go to the bathroom, would have maybe even changed seats if the plane wasn’t full. Look, I realize that I have been and will continue to be asking some really tough questions in this series. You need to realize, I try, but if I am honest I often don’t have the best answers to these questions either. My default position is to move away from people who disagree with me. I tend to see obstacles and miss a lot of opportunities.
So, back to the story. Paul eventually starts a conversation with two different groups of philosophers in that culture…the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans were the partiers…their philosophy was eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die. The Stoics were more that…stoic…more monk-like…monastic. They believed that the highest pleasure was achieved by learning to want or crave nothing. So here they are, Paul and these two groups that not only disagree with Paul but also with each other. We are not told how Paul starts this conversation but we are told that while they disagree with him they want to know more. Let’s pause there. Did the people who used to disagree with this guy want to know more after bumping into him? No, they simply hoped to live through the experience. Obviously, more has changed here than just Paul’s name, he has also changed his approach. So pause again. As people experience us, Christians, the church today do they want to know more? What do the numbers and statistics say? Here is what I think we need to think about. Is our biggest challenge our theology, beliefs, or traditions…or could it be our approach?
So, because they want to know more they invite Paul into the Areopagus. Suddenly Paul finds himself inside this philosophical, social, theological, political smorgasbord inside a city full of idols, full of people looking to everything possible for life except God. Disagreement is everywhere. Time for another conversation except this time we do get to see how Paul starts it. Check this out verse 22…
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
I see that you are very religious…me too. In fact I can really relate to this one altar here…an unknown God…I get that because not too long ago he was very unknown to me...me too. Before he ever begins to discuss the truth of God or Jesus what does he do…he looks for and establishes common ground. Let’s dial this in a little bit. So, here we are in the middle of a world that is a smorgasbord of thought on almost every issue…social, political, theological, sexual, relational, and moral. Disagreement is everywhere around us just like Paul…and here’s the question…
ARE WE LOOKING FOR COMMON GROUND? When we encounter people who disagree with us is our initial focus on how we are different or on what we have in common? Wait a minute I’m republican you’re democrat, I’m white collar You’re blue collar, I’m churched you’re not, I believe in Jesus you don’t, I’m black you are white, I’m straight you are gay, or lesbian, or bi, or transgender, lots of obstacles in the way here. That’s one approach. Here’s the other. You love the Broncos me too, you are worried about the economy…me too, you have concerns about your kids me too, your marriage is hard, your husband is a knuckle head…me too, you feel hopeless me too. Is our focus on how we are different or what we have in common?
What did Jesus do? He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He was called a friend of sinners. He hung out with them and went to their homes and they wanted him there. Jesus always found a way to find common ground. When you break that down that’s amazing. I mean we are told that he was tempted in every way just like we are but he never sinned. That kind of limits his me too options. We can say been there done that. All Jesus could really say was I thought about it once. You know what that means… it is much easier for you and me to find common ground with people than Jesus. In fact, me too, our stories really equip us better to do it, better equipped but more reluctant. Maybe we need to stop trying to immediately resolve our differences and start with finding common ground. That is what Paul does…if you keep reading as he explains God he uses “us” and “we” not you. What is the message that comes through all of that we us we us…obviously we have differences but maybe we are not so different after all. If we are having trouble finding common ground maybe this will help…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
ILLUST> Let’s go back to the airplane and Yvette. So just as I thought we were done she tells me that she is actually a law student. So I told her how I had practiced law for about 10 years in Louisville. So we talked briefly about that she asked if I still practiced I said no and then came the dreaded question. So, what do you do now? I want to say counselor, coach, trainer, life coach, stress advisor, lion tamer anything but pastor but I told her. She said that’s interesting…wow. Again, I thought we were done. We weren’t. She asked about my family I told her that I had four daughters. Guess what? She was one of 4 girls too. We went on to talk for the entire 3 hour flight. I learned that she had a rough life growing up and that although she is not much on church that she and God are really cool, she thinks that there are lots of good things to be taken from a lot of religions, she tries to live as a good person and you she is really not sure at all kinda doubtbul about the whole Jesus thing. She talked about how the guy she dated was a mystery to her because he was good looking…so hot she said…and wow…he is saving himself for marriage. Bottom line…she talked a lot…she had lots of questions, it was obvious that we disagreed on a lot of things, but we had a great conversation. The conversation really took off after we established common ground. Let’s finish this…verse 31…
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed.
Paul finally get’s to it…here’s the truth as I have experienced it…there is a need for repentance. In the end some sneered, some balked, some wanted to hear more, and some, a few became followers of Paul, more importantly, followers of Jesus. Even someone that was part of the council believed. Here’s my last question for today…
SHOULD WE BE THINKING CONVERSE INSTEAD OF CONVERSION? I don’t know about you but I have lived most of my church guy Christian life under the pressure of conversion. It is all about converting people, leading people to a conversion experience where they give their life to Jesus. I’m not saying that it’s not important. I am saying this that is on Jesus. We are responsible for helping everyone that we can bump into and experience Jesus. The best way to start is to stop running away from people who are different or disagree, to move toward them and have conversations, and establish common ground. Telling people that they are wrong never works like pointing them to something better.
ILLUST> So I failed the pastor test. I didn’t convert Yvette. I know. I should have converted her, prayed the prayer, and dumped a cup of water over her head then and there. We simply had a conversation. After that conversation she didn’t sneer she wanted to know more. When I got home I mailed her copies of Beautiful Outlaw and Captivating. She may have walked away from our conversation still uncertain about her beliefs but she was not uncertain about this…there was a complete stranger who despite our differences and disagreements cared about me. I didn’t hear from her for a year and then she emailed me to tell me that she had been going to a church during her summer back home. That past Sunday during an altar call she walked forward and gave her life to Jesus. She wanted me to know that, she said to me, my life will never be the same because of you. I didn’t convince her or convert her, all I did was have a conversation with someone that I disagreed with and God did the rest. This has just been my experience…telling people they are wrong never works like loving them and guiding them to something that is better. Listen to what Paul later writes in Colossians 4…v 5.
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Are we making the most out of every opportunity? Are our conversations so full of grace that there is hardly room for anything else? But what about truth, what about law, what about sin, what about taking America back, what about this and what about that? I didn’t write this God did…full of grace seasoned with truth. Somehow, someway somewhere along the way we reversed that. Am I willing to stop staring at the obstacles so that I can see the opportunities, opportunities to move toward people that act and think differently and disagree with me, to begin to look for what we have in common instead of how we are different, to think conversation instead of conversion. What would happen if we all simply started to do that? Answer. We would close the gap between ourselves and all of the people around us and widen the gap between two words…church and hate. Lot’s more to talk about. Hope to see ou again next week. Let’s pray.
