Sermon

Sharing faith in the 21st Century

Intro
Gene Edward Veith Jr., author, states,
Whether Christianity will once again exert its influence on the culture, or
whether Christianity will become further marginalized in the twenty-first
century, Christians must pay close attention to the signs of the times...
Christians dare not be blind to change of this magnitude.

Veith was writing at the turn of the 21st century about challenges for the Church
when communicating its good news today.

What changes might he have been referring to that would challenge the Churchs
place in society? Watch the following video clip for some clues about our current
setting: http://youtu.be/XNJ_Y9PSqqU

Communication & Change

Back in my early uni days I enjoyed reading the works of Francis Schaeffer, who
once said,

Each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of
communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the
language and thought-forms of that setting.

Of course, since those heady campus debates of the 70s have passed, worldview,
language, belief, values, ethics and religion have all undergone serious
renovations in the Western world.

Leith Anderson, author of A church for the Twenty-first Century says,
We are experiencing enormous structural change in our country and in
our world...changes that promises to be greater than the invention of the
printing press, greater than the Industrial revolution.

Princeton Theologian, Diogenes Allen, says, This change is perhaps as great as
that which marked off the modern world from the Middle Ages.

Helmut Thielicke, once commented, The Gospel must be constantly forwarded
to a new address, because the recipient is repeatedly changing place of
residence.

When communicating our good news in the world today, a significant shift in
worldview and common belief about the human condition has taken place.

There has been a revolutionary shift in the worldview and language of the
average man, woman and child that can be traced alongside the technological
revolution and the globalization of our economies.

Revd Steve Webster, St. Michaels North Carlton, April 2013 1



The dominant mindset of Westerners in the 20th Centuries was characterized by

words like: Reason Rationalism Morality Reality Control Determinacy Hierarchy
Authority Text/Lecture Presence Actual.

In the 21st Century, the following words have replaced them: Emotion
Subjectivism Relativism Social-construct Chaos Uncertainty Egality Anarchy
Image/Story Absence Virtual.

In concert with such a change in mindset, the common view of human condition
has shifted radically from early 20th Century views to those held today. We could
summarize one aspect in this way:

SIN + WRONG + DONT DO IT = Pre Modern and Modern
SIN + WRONG + DO IT ANYWAY = Modern era to Postmodern era
SIN REDEFINED + NO WRONG + DO IT WITH PLEASURE + COVER OVER
CONSEQUENCES = 21st Century

Alongside these factors, there has been a shift in allegiance with regard to
religious thought and involvement that sets the 21st Century well apart from the
previous one. Ethan Longhenry speaks about three spectrums upon which we
must pause to plot a persons religious status today:

At any given point in time, says Longhenry, the person you are speaking with
today could be at a different point on each spectrum to the last person you spoke
with. Even more challenging, the one person might shift in each line at different
times of conversation, such is the malleable nature of religious belief and
practice today compared to the fixed convictions of most in the mid 20th Century
Western world.

A pig and a chicken were walking by a church where a gala charity event
was taking place. Getting caught up in the spirit, the pig suggested to the
chicken that they each make a contribution. "Great idea!" the chicken
cried. "Let's offer them ham and eggs?" "Not so fast," said the pig. "For
you, that's a contribution. For me, it's a total commitment."

Most people are like the pig in the story today, not willing to commit
wholeheartedly to any belief or practice in religion.

Revd Steve Webster, St. Michaels North Carlton, April 2013 2



Depending on where you plot your neighbours particular status in regard to
these three spectrums above, it will impact on you choice of methodology best
suited to sharing your message of hope.

On top of this, of course, the church is slow to adapt and somehow often
resembles the most stubborn among the human family where methods of
communication are concerned. Given what we saw in the video about Yousseff
and Andrea, there is much to be done if we are to understand how to
communicate our good news to new generations. We cannot easily sit back and
keep on with way weve always done things because we believe it has been good
enough in the past.

I found a poem called: Life before the computer

An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And a floppy disk was something
Terribly wrong in your back.

Compress was something you did to garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for awhile!

Log on was adding wood to a fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode!

Cut - you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu!

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead!

If the world has changed so much, we must address our language, our methods
and our understanding of our neighbours.

Revd Steve Webster, St. Michaels North Carlton, April 2013 3



Sharing the Gospel in Jerusalem in the 1st Century

It is a good exercise for us then to look at both the methods and the message of
the first followers of Jesus in the New Testament and see what we can learn from
them. We have just one brief example to explore today, but it warrants a much
bigger study for every church community.

In the early days of the church, Acts 5 records a time when the apostles of Christ
were brought before an assembly to answer for their preaching in public:

And when they had brought (the apostles), they set them before the
council (of Jewish elders). And the high priest questioned them, saying,
We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled
Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this mans blood
upon us. (Acts 5:27-28)

In the preceding verses, all the apostles of Jesus were still in Jerusalem. They
were spreading the news of Jesus as risen Messiah and many were coming to
faith, even some leaders of society. The apostles were arrested because of their
preaching and put in jail. Luke reports that an Angel busted them out of their
prison at night. On the next day when they were found preaching in the Temple
courts again, soldiers brought them before the assembly of Jewish elders.

Twenty to twenty-three men in total made up a Sanhedrin (or assembly) in each
Jewish city. There was none more important than Jerusalem. Those elders who
were Sadducees would have ordered the arrest, as they were guardians of the
Temple and aristocrats, fearful of their power and reputation being undermined.
Others in the assembly were Pharisees - scribes and teachers of Law of middle
class status connection to the average man in the street.

Given their context and their audience, what was the message Peter gave in
defense of the apostles?

30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him
on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to
give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses
to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who
obey him. (Acts 5:30-32)

Effectively, Peter begins his message, as always, with God. He speaks of the God
who sent Jesus, his Son. Then he says to them:
You killed him, God raised him
You rejected him, God vindicated him
You humiliated him, God exalted Him and made Prince and Savior

When faced with those who had been party to Jesus arrest, trial, torture and
crucifixion and were now seeking to obstruct their freedom to speak of him,
Peter confronted his accusers and challenged them about facts and truth. He
rightly defended Gods sovereignty and the integrity of his gospel,

Revd Steve Webster, St. Michaels North Carlton, April 2013 4



But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than
men. (Acts 5:29)

Note that Peters core message is similar to other occasions of preaching the
Gospel described in the Book of Acts. However, his context demanded a different
approach of proclaiming the news of Jesus; a different method in making it
known.

In other settings, the apostles maintained many common elements of their
message, but employed different methods to communicate their truth. For
example, Luke reports that when the angel of the Lord released the apostles from
jail they were told,

Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words
of this Life. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at
daybreak and taught. (Acts 5:20-21)

Interestingly, the Syriac words for life (vs. 20) and salvation are
interchangeable. When in the Temple precincts, where many pilgrims
assembled each day, familiar with Old Testament prophecy, there was great
opportunity to preach a message about life about Jesus who is the fulfillment of
Gods promises of old. There was not much need for contextualization or
apologetics.

The methodology used by the apostles in the Temple courts was quite different
to that used when faced with the accusations of the Sanhedrin, yet the Gospel
message was still basically the same in content, yet often expanded upon when
given open opportunity.

In circumstances quite different to the Temple courts or the halls of religious
scrutiny, such as when the apostles scattered far from Jerusalem into Gentile
territories as Jesus had commanded, the methodology of Gospel proclamation
changed, but the message remained in tact. For example, the Book of Acts cites
examples of apostles sharing faith with Gentiles in homes, halls, on the side of the
roadway, in prisons, and in marketplaces. In each setting, facing a variety of
different sub-cultural hurdles to communicating news, the apostles sometimes
quoted Gentile writers and poets, or cited events relevant to the culture they
spoke into when explaining the meaning of Jesus teaching and his death and
resurrection.

These points below could summarize the essential elements of the message of
the Gospel, as often spelled out in the Book of Acts:
God Holy & Loving
Humanity sinners
Christ died for sins
Christ Risen our hope
Christ is Saviour & Lord
Repentance & faith
Gods Spirit our help

Revd Steve Webster, St. Michaels North Carlton, April 2013 5



New life & Church

Eternity our future

In each case we find a Gospel presentation in the Book of Acts by a follower of
Jesus we will find explicit or implicit references to these facts. Without
suggesting that the Gospel is exhaustively represented here, there is a sense in
which we must seek to align our message today with the apostolic legacy as best
we can, since they were the original witnesses of Jesus and his ministry. Our
message should remain in tact, but our methods of sharing, as with the apostles
of old, may need to vary.

Readiness to reduce the message today

That great 20th Century evangelist, The Revd Billy Graham, tells of a time early in
his career when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a
letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy told him,
Rev. Graham thanked him and said, "If you'll come to the Baptist church this
evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven." "I don't think
I'll be there," the boy said. "You don't even know your way to the post office."

The Church does sometimes appear to have lost its message and lost it way,
being unable to direct anyone to anything of substance (not so Mr. Graham!).

Sometimes this has occurred because, in order to address the great challenges to
communicating to a new generation in a new climate, Christians have reduced
the message of the Gospel to something more palatable or sellable in the new
society. The Church must resist the temptation to reduce its message to suit its
audience.

Sadly, we often hear people sincerely express their message in a dumbed down
state. For example, we might summarize such a message as:

You have needs
God loves you
Christ came to meet your needs
Put faith in Jesus, then
You can live a satisfying life

The message sounds familiar, but in fact, reduces the Gospel message to be
something impotent and quite removed from the hope proclaimed by the
apostles of Christ.

Instead of reducing the content of our message of hope, we need to renovate our
means of sharing it to suit the settings and to be best received by our different
audiences.

Innovate the Method, not the Message

Perhaps the following principles will help the Church to innovate its
communication methods:

Revd Steve Webster, St. Michaels North Carlton, April 2013 6



Think digital
The vast majority of people are wired to the web or mobile phones. It is
part of their lives. Any form of evangelism or discipleship which does not
acknowledge, use or integrate digital into ministry is missing out.

Think social
Digital culture is increasingly social, discussion and relationship based.
(And post-Christian/postmodern.) Stop thinking one-way proclamational
preaching and start thinking two-way dialogue. And their preferred
discussion topics are often their felt needs , popular culture or other
interests.

Think global and mobile
The mobile revolution means that people are connected 24/7, not just
when they sit in front of a computer. For many in the Majority World, a
mobile is the only electronic equipment they will own or aspire to. The
mobile is unlocking opportunities for the good news that would have
been impossible until recently.

Think storytelling
The digital age is a storytelling age. Evangelism that does not get story is
not going to connect well in the 21st century, if ever it did.

Opportunities may abound

Tim Keller of Redeemer Church in NYC writes:
We are entering a globalized, urbanized, and post-secular world. This
means that we are going to be more like the Roman Empire than anything
seen in centuries. First, it is a globalized world again. Second, it is
therefore an urbanized world again. Third, it is a fragmented, pluralistic
world again.

Firstly, in one sense then, New Testament examples have common links today.
As the apostles did, we too must be prepared to adjust our methods and our
language to meet the needs of the recipients of the message we wish to share.
The Apostle Paul wrote
Though I am free and belong to no one, I make myself a slave to
everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to
win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though
I am not free from Gods law but am under Christs law), so as to win
those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I
have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might
save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its
blessings. (1 Cor. 9:19-23)

Secondly, the nature of the Gospel remains unchanged, so in one sense, nothing
has changed in regard to communicating this news. George Wood reminds us:

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Gregory the Great once wrote, Scripture is like a river again, broad and
deep, shallow enough here for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough
there for the elephant to swim. What Gregory said of Scripture generally
can be said of a verse such as John 3:16. Few verses in Scripture state the
gospel message with such simplicity and profundity: For God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. A 3-year-old can understand its
meaning. Doing so does not require a graduate degree in theology, let
alone a high school education, let alone literacy. It only requires the
ability to understand that God loves you and saves you from this broken
world and your own brokenness through Christ.

Yet these words are profound speak deeply of the gospels ground, object, means,
and end, connecting us to many and varied doctrines of truth expounded in
Scripture. Lets retain great confidence in Gods Word and the power of the Holy
Spirit on the one hand, and be diligent and creative in our manner of sharing the
Gospel with all the help God is willing to give.

Thirdly, we must never underestimate the impact of compassionate service and
radical discipleship in any era. Loving service so readily aligns with the nature
and character of our Saviour that when Christians follow in his footsteps in his
power the message of Gods grace cuts through.

A recent article by Latin American theologian, Samuel Escobar, describes how
global migration is surely a factor in how God is carrying out his mission in the
contemporary world. "Mission Fields on the Move" demonstrates that the
extension of God's kingdom has always been carried out in a context where
people have been on the move, whether it be due to economic realities or
outright persecution.

In the Hebrew Scriptures God makes extensive provision for the alien and
stranger. For example, in Deuteronomy 10:18-19 God's love for the alien is
spelled out and he commands the Israelites to love the foreigner, for they, too,
were aliens in Egypt. Recent rhetoric that borders on xenophobia is not at all
what the Lord God has in mind for his people. Escobar makes three significant
points in his article, after outlining how migration played an important part in
the expansion of the gospel during the time of the early church.
1. First, he calls for Christian compassion and sensitivity.
2. Second, he recommends that churches should take a prophetic stance
against the injustices and abuse that migrants often suffer.
3. Thirdly, he suggests that the church can see the global migrant
movements today as opportunities for outreach. Whatever the state
may feel compelled to institute in the interests of its own self-
preservation, we are called to love even our enemies. If Lutheran pastors
ministered to Nazi prisoners of war in concentration camps in North
Dakota during WWII, today the Church should find within itself the will to
care for those who, for whatever reason, find themselves among us at this
time in history. Who can know how God can use us in such
circumstances.

Revd Steve Webster, St. Michaels North Carlton, April 2013 8