May 15, 2016
Hoosier Neighbor? | Speaking Their Language
- Acts 2:1-41
- Rev. Scott Shelton
Good morning, so glad to be with you. Before I begin on the message, I want to share a little personally. As many of you know, today starts my sabbatical – which is a time away from church work for rest, reflection and renewal. It feels a little bit like opening a Christmas and today is the day I get to open the gift. You have truly given me a gift of time. While we received a grant to do some things that cost money, I think the time just to connect with God and with my family is the greatest gift.
As far as the grant is concerned, ZPC and I received a grant from the Lilly Endowment and CTS. Grant money for the church can provide a little bit of office help or pastoral help while I’m away, plus will help to underwrite some of the costs of the all church retreat in august.
Many of you have asked what I’ll be doing on the time away – so I’ve put that in the bulletin today – middle page – you can see dates and prayer requests there.
The grant allows my family and I to travel to Israel in June – we’re so excited to walk where Jesus walked!
And in July, we’ll take a big trip to explore some Lewis and Clark sites and then National Parks – Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton!
I’ll be back home more in August and September for some rest, reading and reflection, and to help get the kids to school.
I will write up a report after each of those 2 big trips and then in the fall, after I return, I will have a Sunday morning class to share what I’ve learned. You’re all invited to that.
In the meantime, the easiest thing to do if you have a question for me is to call the church office and they can direct your call to the right person. We have great staff and lay leaders who are taking on my responsibilities while I’m out. So thanks again – and say hello if you see me at Marsh, Target or El Rodeo – please say hello – otherwise I’ll see you in September.
So today…
We have a special Sunday – we thought it would be great on this Sunday after Mother’s Day to celebrate our covenant children and youth on Pentecost Sunday – this is really the day of the Holy Spirit coming. And it’s a real kickoff to the new church in Acts chapter 2. So it’s a good day to celebrate our covenant children and have brunch together.
Pentecost means 50 – it’s 50 days after Easter and Passover – so just 7 weeks after the resurrection. It was a Jewish festival called the “feast of weeks” – so there was an international audience in Jerusalem to witness this miracle – that day.
Our scripture for the day is from Mark 12:28-31 and then excerpts from Acts 2. From Mark:
“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” That was the gospel of Mark.
Now for 2nd chapter of Acts:
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!
This is funny! The people say these men are drunk – and Peter says, no, no, “It’s only nine in the morning!”
Peter shares for some of the prophets from the OT looking forward to Jesus. Then Peter says:
22“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
Peter shares some more scripture and then says:
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
This is the word of the Lord – thanks be to God!
Let’s pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing to you O Lord, our rock and our redeemer, Amen.
We are still talking about neighbors today – loving our neighbors. And we’re talking about speaking their language. So we picked this passage today with Peter and the disciples speaking many languages to people from many different regions – people could understand about Jesus in their own language.
So we need to be able to talk to people about our faith – what we think – what we believe. But do it in a way that they understand and doesn’t scare them off – or freak them out. So here are some tips for you:
So here are some words and phrases we’d like you NOT to use in talking to your neighbors:
SLIDES:
God has called me to convert nonbelievers, so I’d like to invite you to church.
Come to the Great Banquet – I just can’t tell you anything about it – it’s a secret. It’s not a cult, but it is totally secret. (Tell people about the Banquet – It’s ok to tell them about the 15 talks, discuss the talks given by regular people, eat really well, have some fun, and yes, learn about God, say it so they may say yes to come).
Come to church. This week we’re studying predestination and its relation to different theories of atonement, (It’s ok to talk theology, just don’t use that to get people to church).
Next week we’re studying pre-trib or post-trib rapture and the Abomination that leads to Desolation. Come with me!
Ok, so don’t use any of those phrases! Today we’re talking about speak the language of your neighbors.
But we do want to understand this passage – which is a powerful passage but it teaches us about speaking the language others can hear. And we can focus on 2 things:
God and us. God with us. It’s God the Holy Spirit – working in us and through us.
The Holy Spirit – misunderstood third person of the trinity – of who God is. The Holy Spirit is God’s spirit. Jesus says he would send his Spirit (in John 14) when he left. He did.
God’s spirit empowers the disciples, and allows God to speak and work through them – speaking the language of the people.
God’s Spirit disrupted the lives of the disciples gathered in Jerusalem. The Spirit really disrupted them – and changed everything. AND they were available to be ready to hear God and to follow him.
A friend of mine used to say we, as Jesus disciples today needed to be Faithful, Available and Teachable. We need to be FAT.
I didn’t like the FAT acronym that much – so I thought we might use - Available, Teachable, Faithful – ATF – but that means alcohol, tobacco and firearms. So we don’t really need those in the church building.
Ok that’s not really what we want in our disciples – so let’s use the 3 words, faithful, available and teachable.
The disciples were faithful –they stayed in Jerusalem even after the death and resurrection – they hung in there 7 weeks, waiting for Jesus to send the Spirit – or instructions on what to do.
They were available. They were all together apparently waiting with expectation for what God would do. I think this is one of the hardest things we have to do. We are so busy. Can we create some time in our schedules to have those conversations that people want to have with us – for God to show up – for God to disrupt us. Do we make time for that? if not, we need to re-examine again our time – and how we make space for God – to disrupt us – to meet us – to show himself to us – I hope to learn that again during this sabbatical time myself.
We need to be teachable. The disciples were – they listened to Jesus teaching and then followed his instructions to go and make disciples. On that day Peter spoke, and that’s much of Acts 2 – some of which we read – Peter is faithful and teachable and available – telling Jesus story – in his own words – in the language of the day.
We can’t really do anything on our own – but through God. But we still use our own voice. God does not call all of us Peter – we are not all called to speak to thousands for God. But we are called to speak. Maybe to one neighbor. Speaking their language.
This could mean many things – find things you have in common with your neighbor.
Sports, kids, using kids or teen language, where you’re from, what you do, your likes, dislikes – speak the language.
Listen to others – ask questions – then as you learn what makes someone else tick – you can relate to them in the things they are passionate about.
You see Jerry up here on Sundays when he likes to talk right? Jerry’s good at talking!
But Jerry shows something else in one on ones – he likes to listen. Jerry asks a lot of questions – he asks you about you – he takes time to do that – and it does take time because people like to talk about themselves, but he takes to ask, listen, and learn. Then he can relate that to you.
This is something I learned in youth ministry. I would ask teens what they were involved in – because I cared about them – whether it was soccer, choir, band or basketball. But I tried to remember what they liked and then ask them again the next week how they were doing – how was your game? How’d your concert go? Then you got to know them better – and cared for them for things that interested them. We can do the same with neighbors.
And then after speaking their language - think story.
Everyone likes stories. Think this way:
Their story – your story – God’s story. Their story – your story – God’s story.
Hear their story, their story – and given the chance – share your story – include church and your faith in there in your own way – in your language. If you’re excited about your faith – and maybe where you’ve served, or what’s happening in your home group – or something God has done recently in your life – share that in normal everyday language – be yourself in the words you use – and relate it to the experience you know of your neighbor.
And many of you might say – I will always be too intimidated to give my testimony – to share my faith. I still think you can – but here’s a simpler way.
Invite and include. Not just invite – but invite and include. But if you do, include them in something you’re interested in – part of your story – we’ve invited friends to go to Mexico – because we love it – we want them to experience the people there too! And bring them with you – when you come to an event.
Invite people to church and let the testimony of the church family speak to them. Just in the near future – you can invite them to these:
SLIDES:
Summer’s Here Celebration – Thursday afternoon, June 2nd – NA, food pantry, and the church family and anyone else you invite. Or come and meet new neighbors from NA or food pantry.
VBS – in July. Mops for young moms.
Youth trips – Great Escape and Caravan to Mexico – our youth have already invited their friends.
All church retreat – sign up today and invite someone to come – in August.
Or to Second half Adventurers; or to a ZPC Men’s event.
Or to Great Banquet, or to your Home Group, or to Serve – people like to serve. Serve at HFH, or IHN or another place we have to serve in the community.
Or just to church on a Sunday – and bring – meet them here inside the front door or carpool to church so they feel comfortable coming in.
It’s very important that we share our faith with our covenant children and youth. As parents and grandparents, Sunday school teachers, you can do that. And if you do, thank you.
We have also called people like Jon and Calvin to reach our youth – they can speak the language of youth, and design programs to share their faith with our youth.
And Amy and Kristin are experts with our children. They are both really creative – and fun. That’s part of speaking the language.
But they also equip them to reach others – and so with our 3rd graders – they are receiving Bibles from their parents – a symbolic passing down of faith – to be disciples and make disciples in their own language of kids. So Amy Crispin will come up and say more.
3rd grade bible gifts – Amy Crispin.
We also want to train our youth to do this. To be disciples first, and as they are learning, to make disciples – so one of the ways we do that is youth inquirers. I’d like to invite up Calvin Bryant AND ALL THE YOUTH INQUIRERS to say more about that now.
Calvin talks – then Scott and Jerry ask membership questions.
Jerry to the Congregation -
The minister addresses the congregation:
Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ, promise to guide and nurture N. and N. by word and deed,with love and prayer, encouraging them to know and follow Christ and to be faithful members of his church?
The people respond:
We do.
Benediction:
What are you passionate about that relates to your faith? What do you know about your neighbors? See if you can connect the 2.
For homework: Invite and include. Talk this week with someone – how you will invite or include someone in something here at ZPC or something you are doing – to share your faith in natural language with your neighbor.
Now go…with the…
Love of God the Father, the mercy and grace of Jesus the Son, and the courage and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.