John 17:18-26 "The Church's Mission"

Click here for audio

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to sit and look at an intimate prayer between Jesus Christ the Son and God the Father.  We’ve been looking at Jesus’ prayer for his followers, for his church, and for himself, known as the High Priestly Prayer.  Today, as we turn our attention to the closing section of this prayer, I think back to a class that I had in seminary.  I think that it was a class on worship but I’m not quite sure (they all run together).  What sticks out to me isn’t the class but the assignment.  My professor, Dr. Derek Thomas, would have us write out prayers using certain models or for certain aspects of the Christian life.  For example, there was an ACTS model prayer, a pastoral prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving, etc.  Now, that wasn’t a big deal for a seminary student; we were used to praying.  The challenging part of it was that each prayer had to be one-page (a full one-page), single-spaced, size 10 Times New Roman font, and we couldn’t adjust the borders to make it look longer.  Now, to some of you that means nothing, but let me just tell you that if I were to pray a prayer of that length during the worship service, y’all might mistake it for the sermon.  The thing that I learned during constructing such prayers was that in order for the prayer to make any sense, there had to be a sense of direction and intentionality about it.  You don’t realize how often in prayer you repeat yourself and end up circling back a few times to the same point until you sit down and write out a prayer.  You never want to go into a prayer without knowing the things that you want to say and knowing the ultimate place where you are wanting to go.  I’m not saying to not let the Holy Spirit guide us.  What I’m saying is that when we pray for something or someone, we need to be intentional and specific.

So, as we’ve seen Jesus move through this prayer from worship and glorifying God to discipleship and growing in our knowledge and understanding of God, we come to the place of putting all of that into practice.  We come to the point in Jesus’ prayer that he’s been building to, what the Church is to do now that Christ’s time on earth is under 24 hours.  Remember, all of this is happening at night, and Jesus isn’t going to see another sunset in his life.  Scripture tells us that his death was around 3:00 pm the next day.  In those waning moments of Jesus’ time upon this earth, he prays for the mission of the Church, specifically in our taking the message that Jesus Christ is Lord (what Christ has been teaching his followers) out into the world.

One of the reasons why I backed our text up and started it with the last few verses from last Sunday is that the language here really drives home an important aspect of the mission or ministry of the Church.  In verse 18, in the middle of the call for his disciples to remain different from the world, Jesus speaks to the Father and says, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”  As we read those words and hear those words, I want to remind you of the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples after his resurrection as they are recorded later on in this same gospel account.  John 20:21 records these words, “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.  As the Father sent me, even so I am sending you.’”  There is a central theme, obviously, of being sent as it pertains to the Christian faith.  The purpose, the mission of the Christian church isn’t simply to gather together in what are commonly called “holy huddles”, but to go out into the world.  We’re not supposed to be as Martin Luther called it “ivory tower Christians” who are completely closed off from the world around us.  We are to be active and vocal and engaged with the world around us.  We fail miserably at our mission if we hear this good news, rejoice in it, grow in it, but never share it with anyone outside of our own little Christian community, outside of what I like to call our comfort zone.

Now, I’m sure that some of you are sitting and wondering whether it’s more important that we gather together to worship God and for times of discipleship or to go out into the world.  In essence, which of these three aspects of the church that we’ve looked at during this Lenten series is the most important?  The answer is, quite simply, that it’s all important.  There isn’t one aspect of the Christian life that is more important than any other aside from faith in Christ.  Also, remember that worship isn’t just the time that we spend together on Sunday mornings, nor is discipleship confined to Sunday School or formal Bible studies.  All of these aspects of the Christian life are to be present and prevalent in the life of the church as a whole and in the lives of those Christians that make up her body.  Worship ought to drive us to discipleship and going out, just as our going out ought to instill in us a desire to praise God and grow in our knowledge and understanding of Him.  As we grow in our knowledge of God, we ought to want to engage in acts of worship and evangelism.  All of these aspects of the Christian life and the life of the Church ought to spur us on to greater commitment to each of the other aspects.  You could almost say that it’s this never-ending motion that we find ourselves in the middle of as Christians.  The force that is the gospel propels us forward, and the only thing that can cause us to falter is ourselves and our striving for something else instead of moving forward, after God.  When we strive for something else instead of God, it’s no wonder that we might fall.

You know, one of the ways in which we go out is through the example of how we relate to one another.  I know that that sounds a bit odd, but follow me for just a moment.  Throughout the closing verses of this prayer, Jesus repeatedly calls for unity within the body of believers.  Jesus prays “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.”    Later on, “the glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me.”  Jesus prays for a sense of unity, togetherness, and oneness amongst his followers.  And we see that played out in the life of the church don’t we?  If there is a church in any particular community that is constantly plagued with infighting and bickering, then it’s known about all throughout the community.  You don’t even have to have a connection to that particular church to know the stories about how they fight.  On the flip side of that, the opposite is true as well.  If a church is a place of unity and togetherness and everyone is striving for the same thing, then that’s known.  Someone may not be a part of your church, but when they hear the name of that church, they will comment that they have heard of the unity that exists there.  We see Paul comment to various churches about how their unity and love is known around the world.  We bear witness for the sake of the gospel by the way in which we relate to one another and worship and fellowship in unity with one another as a church.

The same is true on the macro level as well as the micro.  How we relate to other Christians is a testimony for the gospel.  However, the sad fact of the matter is that we read these words, and upon applying them to the Church (universal) as it exists today, many questions arise from both within and outside of the Church?  If there’s a call for unity, then why do we have so many different denominations?  Why isn’t there just one Church instead of Presbyterians, Baptists, Catholics, Methodists, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, and all the other groups that I’m overlooking this morning?  Well, the truth of the matter is that the different denominations exist not out of a sense of disunity, but for theological reasons.  For example, the protestant churches differ from Catholic churches greatly because of the differences of theological interpretations of the infallibility of man.  Now this is just one example, but whereas the Catholic church views the Pope to be infallible in his official teaching (ex cathedra), protestants view him to be just as fallen and fallible as anyone else.  As such, anything that he says, even during his time in his chair, isn’t holy simply because he says it.  Yes, it may be true in some cases and we know that he is a Godly and knowledgeable man, but he’s sinful too.  He’s fallen just like anyone else.  And each of the protestant denominations have various points at which there are serious theological issues that have caused divisions.  The truth of the matter is that the only time that there won’t be denominations is when we are united in heaven.  Under God, there are no divisions, but there is amongst man.  Now it should be and needs to be noted that most protestant denominations will consent that the differences that exists between them are not matters of salvation, but more matters of the application of biblical teachings.  So, there is still a sense of unity that does exist amongst protestant churches, even if it isn’t the most perfect of unions.  What matters most isn’t the denomination, but the faithfulness with which the gospel is proclaimed.  I’m of the mindset that all Christians, regardless of denomination, are to relate to one another using the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:  “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

So, all that being said, I can read some minds in here as you think , “Ok, even if there is a good reason for all the different denominations, why are churches filled with such infighting?”  The answer, honestly, is that churches are comprised completely of sinful, fallen, and imperfect people.  It’s no secret that most of the fighting that takes place within churches is because of things like the air being too hot or too cold, the carpet being a color that someone doesn’t like, or someone going with one contracting service over another.  I’ve even seen one member leave the church over the type of food that was served at a Wednesday night dinner.  We also hear of people leaving because of things like the worship service, the sermons, or the music.  Now, it’s not that there is anything wrong with them, but that people argue over how they are preached, the type of music there is, the volume of the music, or the time of the worship service.  I’ve seen someone leave because the pastor kept running over the “allotted” one hour for a worship service.  I’m telling you, I grew up in a pretty harsh church where I saw fighting, members leave, and pastors fired over all of these issues.  And the only explanation that I have been able to come up with after all of the study and theological training that I’ve received is that it’s because we’re fallen.  We’re a bunch of imperfect people seeking to worship a perfect God and live holy lives.  We see folks every day jumping around, searching for the perfect church.  I love what Charles Spurgeon had to say about the perfect church, “If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it.  Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us.”

Friends, the unity of the Church, both individually as a congregation and universally with all other Christians is the testimony, the witness, of the Church.  It is an expression of the gospel itself.  Jesus is praying for us to be united.  He’s praying for the Church to be the “one body with many parts” that Paul talks about in Ephesians 4.  Jesus prays to the Father saying, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”  We see that Jesus is not only speaking of what he has done, but what will continue to be done through the power, the work of the Holy Spirit.  I absolutely love what R.C. Sproul says of this verse.  “We are called to participate in the death of Christ, in the afflictions of Christ, in the humiliation of Christ, for if we do no, we will never share in His glory. But in order to be faithful disciples in this world, to fulfill the mission that He has given to His church, we need to be encouraged by the knowledge of His love that He has shed abroad in our hearts.  The knowledge of His everlasting love for us gives us the strength we need to fulfill the mission that He has given to us.”  Does the knowledge that God loves you so much that He sent His Son into the world to die for you give you the strength that you need to fulfill your mission?  Does the understanding that Jesus resisted all temptation in this life and endured complete humiliation all for your sake give you courage?  Does the knowledge that you have the Holy Spirit working in you and through you give you strength?  Does the sacrament that we are about to observe this morning, the elements on the table representing the shed blood and the sacrificed body of Jesus, give you the strength to proclaim the name of Christ with boldness and in unity?  Because if they don’t, then what will?  Jesus is all we need.  He is the only way in which we are included in this love that exists between the Father and the Son.  It is in Christ alone where we find the love of God the Father.  It is our mission to strive for that destination and to guide others along the same path.  It’s not always going to be easy.  As Jesus said during his Sermon on the Mount, “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”  It’s not easy, but it’s our mission.  May we boldly and faithfully accept the task that is before us.

What I Learned Through the Delta State Shooting

                We’ve all heard the story of the high school valedictorian who gets us on stage and thanks someone in the crowd who spoke a kind word to them years ago.  The short of it is that the valedictorian, years earlier, was on his way home to commit suicide when someone spoke a kind word to him and unknowingly gave him a the courage to continue onward.  It’s a wonderful story about not knowing the impact that you can have on someone around you.  It may be true, or it may be completely made up, I don’t really know.  However, until yesterday it was just a story for me, until it became somewhat of a reality.

                As news broke yesterday about an active shooter on the campus on Delta State University in Cleveland, MS my mind immediately jumped to the events of only a few weeks ago at my alma mater Mississippi State.  My first thought was that I hoped that the events at Delta State would turn out like those at MSU…no fatalities.  I prayed.  A little bit of time went by and then came news that there had been one fatality.  I prayed.  A few minutes later, I saw where it was a faculty member who was shot and killed.  I prayed for his family.  As the “urgency” of the situation began to fade away and as the new information stopped coming in as quickly, the day seemingly got back to normal.  I really didn’t hear much more other than people supporting the university during this horrific ordeal.  Things seemed to be pretty much over except for merely apprehending the suspect.  Then, that’s when things got extremely real for me.  I was scrolling through Facebook and saw where they had released the identity of the suspect and given a picture of him…my heart fell into my stomach.

                I stared at my computer screen in my office for what felt like hours in disbelief.  I was reading that a man named Shannon Lamb was wanted and that the picture was a recent one taken of him.  Most of you don’t know (or at least didn’t know until yesterday) who Shannon Lamb is.  However, I know him, and have for roughly 10 years.  Back in 2005 I became a high school science teacher at Murrah High School in Jackson, MS.  Shannon was a math teacher at that same school who taught in the classroom next to mine.  We would talk almost every day during breaks between classes, lunch, and before the school day started.  We taught a lot of the same kids, so we usually talked to each other about who was struggling and who was doing well…teacher stuff.  However, there were moments where we talked on a much deeper level as well.

                Shannon was kind of a quirky guy.  He was very quiet, very nondescript, and wore a suit to work every day (actually it was either a blue suit or a gray suit that he alternated each day).  He was very serious about his job and honestly one of the smartest people that I have ever known.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that he seemed almost the opposite of what you would think of as someone who would ever commit these actions taken yesterday.  He shared with me stories of how he was brought up with a troubled past.  He came from a broken home where drugs and alcohol weren’t just present, but encouraged at an early age.  He shared with me how in his past he had had his own issues with addiction and how they had wrecked his first marriage (a marriage that he said came about because he and his first wife were either drunk or high for almost their entire relationship).  He had shared with me how up until a few years prior, the only things that he had ever done of any account in his life were his education and his children.  He was a good father who tried his best to remain active in the lives of his children.  Despite his past mistakes, he wanted to provide something for his kids that he never had…guidance.  He had seemingly turned his life around and was only worried about providing for his kids and making sure that they succeeded in life.

                After that one year teaching together Shannon accepted a position with Delta State because of a research grant that he had gotten.  It was a position that was going to put him working between Cleveland, MS and Gautier, MS, and give him more time with his kids.  He had even started dating his ex-wife once again (after she had cleaned herself up as well) and they seemed to be on a possible road to reconciliation.  When I last spoke to him in May 2006, he seemed to have his life headed in the right direction.  Yet, as I write this entry 9½ years later, Shannon’s life crumbled and he’s taken three lives, with the last one being his own late yesterday evening.  I have no idea what happened during those 9+ years, but over the last 24 hours I have asked myself one question over and over again…“Could I have done something about this?”  Now, let me state very clearly that the events of yesterday aren’t about me.  I have little-to-no relationship with DSU.  That’s not what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about my interaction with Shannon.  Did I do everything I could have to help this man out who I knew had a troubled past?  The answer, quite simply, is no; no I didn’t. 

                As I think back upon our conversations, I realize that nowhere in there is the gospel present.  It would be easy for me to defend/excuse myself and say that this was prior to my feeling called to gospel ministry, but the truth of the matter is that I was a Christian at that point in my life.  It’s not just pastors or devout Christians that are to witness to others about Christ, but it’s the task given to all Christians.  It’s a task that I failed at miserably in the case of Shannon Lamb.  Would my speaking to him about Jesus have made any difference…who knows?  Would my speaking to him about my faith or his faith have prevented the events of yesterday…maybe not?  However, we’ll never know because I never spoke up.

               As I said, the events of yesterday in Gautier, MS (where it is believed he killed his girlfriend before driving to Cleveland, MS to kill the DSU professor) and at Delta State aren’t about me.  I’ve only stepped on that campus a couple of times and don’t have any emotional connection to it at all.  The focus, as it rightly should be, is to be on helping a campus, a town, and a student body heal and recover from a horrific tragedy.  However, I can’t help but think about the lasting impact that this will have upon me in my ministry and my life moving forward.  Are there times that I should speak up that I will remain silent…probably.  However, I can tell you that they will be few now moving forward.  I no longer have to hear the story of the valedictorian to know the power of speaking up because I have the heartbreak of knowing what it feels like when you say nothing.

               

Please pray for the families of Amy Prentiss and Ethan Schmidt, Delta State University, the Cleveland, MS community, and the teenage children of Shannon Lamb.  May Shannon’s kids no be crushed by the weight of their father’s sin, but driven to Christ instead.  Also, please pray for a seminary classmate of mine, Seth Still.  Seth is the RUF minister at Delta State and will be tasked with proclaiming the gospel to this group of young adults who are looking to make sense of the events that have taken place.  May God speak through Seth and all other campus ministry persons to bring about his glory through disaster.

Philippians 4:8-9 "The Doubtful Things"

The concepts of culture and Christianity and how they relate to one another tend to fascinate many people. I know that their relationship has always fascinated me. Why, there are even Christian schools and seminaries out there today that have taken this topic and run with it. I know of several men who train future pastors in the classroom, but actually make their living studying the relationship between Christianity and culture. Because you see, for as many different people as we ask this question to, we will get as many different answers. What is the relationship between Christianity and culture? There are some who are of the mindset that anything that has cultural significance is bad in terms of the Christian faith. There are also those that will take the complete opposite approach and completely separate their “church-life” from their “everyday-life”. Most Christians, however, will fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

Being a pastor brings with it a great deal of blessings and things that make this calling special. Getting to help others grow in their faith, baptizing believers and their children, helping celebrate Christian servants who have been called home to be with their Father, officiating a service in which a man and a woman pledge their lives to one another and to God, and so many other things that I can’t begin (and won’t try) to list them all. But there are those things about being a pastor that aren’t as much of blessing. You see there are constantly questions that people want answered. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it’s always bad when people have questions, but it just depends on the type of question. You see, there is nothing wrong with the question that is geared at gaining a deeper and clearer understanding of God’s Word. There is nothing wrong with the question that seeks to aide in the growth of one’s Christian faith. The not-so-fun questions, however, are those asked by those who just want to know how far they can take something before it becomes a problem. In other words, they just want you to tell them that what they’re doing is okay. They want you to reassure them that they aren’t doing anything antithetical to the Christian faith.

Now, sometimes these questions can be quite funny. I had a lady ask me one time if it was okay that she told a local charity organization that she couldn’t help out with an event that she usually assisted with. She had a vacation planned for that time before she knew about the event and she just simply felt awful about not being able to help. I quickly assured her that it was quite alright that she didn’t help and that she should indeed enjoy her vacation without hesitation. No, this isn’t the type of question that I’m talking about. I’m talking about the types of questions where the person asking almost knows the answer before they even ask the question. When someone comes into my office and wants to know if flirtation with another woman is actually a violation of their wedding vows, or when someone wants to hear that an unethical business deal is okay because it’s only business and their church and work lives are separate. These are the types of moments that feel pretty lonely for a pastor. Because as much as we may love our congregation; our fellow Christians, we don’t love having to correct them. We don’t love the damage that sin can have on their lives.

All throughout our study of Philippians; a study that has lasted us almost four months; we have seen Paul deal numerous times with the Christian life. Many of the sermons have concluded with some type of charge that the way a Christian lives is of great importance and is in many cases a strong witness either for or against the Gospel. So, as we near the end of this letter, Paul is putting the finishing touches and the closing remarks on this discourse with his most favorite of congregations. Paul gives us here a list of characteristics: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Now, I want to do something a little bit different here and if you will follow me for a second I will try and get us all on the same page.

In Galatians 5, Paul gives us the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fruits of the Spirit are those things, those characteristics, that sum up the visible attributes of the Christian. If you will notice, the list in Galatians 5 and the list in our text today in Philippians 4 have no common traits. There are no words found on the list in Galatians 5 that appear on the list that we now find in Philippians 4:8. Well, I’m the kind of guy that likes to see if there is any understanding to be gained from not just what Scripture says, but what it leaves unsaid as well. With that in mind, we must ask ourselves, where does this list in our text come from and what does it mean.

Well, this list that we have in our text is actually a list of pagan virtues. Yeah, took me by surprise too when I discovered this. This list of characteristics in Philippians 4 (true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise) is taken from Greek ethics and philosophy of the day. So, as we look at this list, knowing that it is derived from pagans (i.e. non-Christians), what do we make of it? Our first thought may be to say that it is a list of evil, but could we really say that? I mean, I don’t think that things that are truthful, honorable, just, or commendable are evil. As a matter of fact, I would hope that those who know me might use words like this to describe me. So what does it all mean? Well, Paul is trying to tell us that there are good things in this world that come from many different areas.

Think about it this way; is there anything wrong with music? Is there anything wrong with appreciating beautiful architecture or fine craftsmanship? Well, I don’t think so. And if I am understanding the Apostle Paul correctly then I don’t think that he does either. We couldn’t say that there is anything inherently non-Christian about these things, but they don’t exactly flow out of these fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5 either. Think back to those questions that I mentioned earlier that I get asked on a regular basis as a result of my calling. You see, part of the problem is that we want everything written out plain as day for us to understand without any effort. We want Scripture to tell us plain and simple what is and isn’t allowed. Well, the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t. Scripture doesn’t specifically list out whether one job is more “Christian” than another. It doesn’t answer the question as to exactly which behaviors are allowed and which ones aren’t. It does in some cases, but not all. If you have ever had a discussion with any Baptist friends, you will quickly find that the mode of baptism is never explicitly laid out for us. Whether to sprinkle the head or immerse the believer isn’t defined. In terms of specifically spelled out for us, whether a person is to be baptized as an infant or after professing their faith is never said.

So you see, there are a lot of things that aren’t spelled out for us clearly in Scripture. Do you know why they aren’t clear? It’s because we don’t have the ability to decipher everything as clearly as we would like. Our sin has caused a great barrier to form between our minds and the meaning of the Word. You see, Scripture contains within it all that we need as our rule and guide for daily life. The problem comes when we aren’t led by Scripture but instead we are led by things of this world. Take the issue of money. There is nothing inherently wrong with money, but there is something wrong with the love of money and money being a driving force in a person’s life. Or perhaps you might think of love. There is nothing wrong with the relationship between a man and a woman. In fact, it is a blessing given to us by God; an ordinance commanded shortly after creation. The problem comes in when it becomes corrupted by sin and love becomes lust and this lust destroys the beauty of the covenant of marriage.

There’s a phrase that says that we need to “let Scripture interpret Scripture.” So, let’s do just that. There are two verses that were also from Paul that I think help to give us some clarity on these verses in Philippians 4. The first, Romans 6:14 says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” You see, we don’t earn our own salvation. Our salvation was gained by the saving death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So many people act in a manner that if they aren’t doing something that is explicitly commanded in Scripture, then they are doing something evil. Well, the second verse I want to look at helps to clarify that thought. 1 Corinthians 6:12 states, “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be enslaved by anything.” There are a number of things in this world that are not necessarily Christian. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t think that music or architecture are inherently Christian. We could add to that list sports, fishing, hunting, gardening, social clubs and organization, and numerous other activities. We could say that all of these things are non-Christian in their origin since they are all things that aren’t specifically commanded in Scripture, but I don’t think that any of us would call any of these things evil. Sure, when we turn football stadiums into houses of worship then there is great danger there. When I can tell you more about the starting lineup for my Mississippi State Bulldogs football team than I can about my prayer life, then there is a problem. But if football is simply something that I enjoy in its proper place within my priorities then I see nothing wrong with that.

And I think it is this sentiment that the Apostle Paul is trying to convey to us. In fact, he is telling us that there are great works that can be done for the sake of the gospel through these other things. I can’t begin to tell you how many people that I know who have begun their Christian walk by being encouraged by others while taking part in activities outside of the church. Why, I have seen people come to know Christ through softball teams, community plays, fishing trips, hunting trips, camping trips, construction projects, cooking events, and other things along the same lines.

As we were talking about these verses Wednesday morning at our men’s Bible study, I shared with everyone some things that Amy and I had to deal with when we told all of our friends that I was going to attend seminary and enter into pastoral ministry. Most of our friends asked us the question, “So, how does this change things?” What do you mean “change things?” I was a Christian before going to seminary and I will be a Christian after seminary. Many of our friends felt like they had to be guarded around us because of my calling. I had to be extra careful and go out of my way to show them that I was the same person now as I was prior to my calling to ministry. I used a lot of the same activities that I used to do with my friends to show them that things hadn’t changed. I still went fishing with my friends, I still went hunting with my friends, I still played golf with my friends, I still went out and got together with all of my friends. I wasn’t condemning. I wasn’t standing over all of them telling them what they needed to do. In other words, I was being the same person that I had always been, but with a new calling on my life.

Over time, my friends began to understand that I was still an average person. I was still the guy that they had known for years. That same guy who had gotten into trouble with them years earlier was still there, but he had a different calling on his life. And do you know what this eventually led to? This eventually led to opportunities for me to discuss my faith with them. More importantly, it led to opportunities for us to discuss their faith. It presented me with great opportunities to witness to them and to share the Gospel with them. It’s not as if any of them went through any miraculous conversions, but it did plant a seed within many of them that would bloom at a later date. Over the last 5 years, it has been amazing for Amy and I to watch as many of our friends who were not involved in churches to not only join churches, but become active in the life of those congregations.

You see, this list that we have in our text, although a list of non-Christian virtues, are good things. There are things in this world that are technically non-Christian, but are very good. They are good for energizing us and they are good opportunities for us to share the Gospel. I want to challenge everyone in this room today. This isn’t a challenge that consists of making drastic lifestyle changes. This isn’t a challenge to really change anything at all. This is a challenge to continue to live the same life that you have always lived. The only thing that is changing in any way is what you are to do in those moments when you find yourself in the company of others. Look for opportunities to share your faith with those around you. Pray that when you are presented with a chance to help someone out in their Christian walk, that God will use you to present the Gospel to them. We have no idea whose heart is open and ready to hear the good news of the Gospel. I cannot stress to you enough how powerful the Lord can work during these moments to change the hearts and minds of those who He calls to be His own. Our lives are great blessings. God wants us to enjoy what He has given to us. Let’s enjoy all that we have been given, while taking every opportunity we get to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.