Distictively Christians Romans 12:9-21 4-29-07

Tours of bld
Missionary here
Mozambique
sudanSermon 4-29-07 Romans 12:9-21 Distinctively Christian

We had a difficult thing happen on ….Monday april 16th
What was it?.................. Killing of 32
We grow callous to horror. Our life must go on
what is our response to those who hate us, to those who kill us?

We look for answers……why did this person…..maybe he wasn’t raised right, maybe he was treated poorly
What cho did is his responsibility. His choice
He made a series of bad choices…….first one……was to choose to hate

Conversely……jewish professor Liviu Librescu survives the holocost…..leans on door to block cho…..others live because of him

Distinctively Christian
People of ten ask, how is the wcc church different from other churches?
I sort of have an answer for that
What are the distinctive marks of the Christian faith?
We all build buildings, we all worship
The teaching of Jesus is centered on love.
God so loved the world that he gave

This is the distinctive sign of the Christian faith
It is the mark of Christ
They will know we are Christians by our love [song]

I am not saying today that evil people should not be punished
I am not suggesting that we all just lay down and let crazy people kill our children. We must do everything In our power to protect those in our care.
I believe that we do have a responsibility on the world stage
Most of us have little or no contact with national or global justice
We do have contact with our own world, our own daily justice……
In this realm where we do have power and control,
we must remember that God is love

God is love.
God is not the picture in the stained glass.
He is bigger than the idea that you get from the preacher
Bigger than the church, and what the church teaches about him.
When we think about him, he is beyond our comprehension
Isaiah 55:8-98 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

He takes in every corner of who I am……
God is love….
1 john 4:16-17 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment

if you want to have confidence at the pearly gates you need to know the god who is embodied in love

Shortest sermon in the world………..”love” and sat down

WWJD
Lets put this love into practice
Think of someone you like……..how do you feel about them
Think of someone you don’t like……….how do you feel about them
How do you feel about mr. cho

Imagine Jesus is standing by your side……looking at that person…..what will he see?

Jesus looked into peter and saw the good….upon this rock I will build my church
God looked at saul the murderer and saw paul the apostle

Love is no respecter of persons
Are you a person of love…r you a person of God r you a person of love
A loving person is like a rose………the fragrance goes out to all
A loving person is like a light on a hill…..the light goes out to all
It guides all, good and evil to a place of safety


We are all actors on the stage of life
those who choose evil have chosen their part, their role
each day that we live, we have the opportunity to chose our roles
at the end of the play, who is celebrated? The villains or those who love?

Love is an incredibly powerful force.

John 10: "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

Pictures of Love……


Today I proclaim to you an inconvenient truth
Frederick Buechner, The love for equals is a human thing ... of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing ... the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing ... to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, the love of the common man for those who consider themselves the upper crust. The world is bewildered by its saints.And then there is the love for the enemy ... love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured's love for the torturer.This is God's love. It conquers the World.
………………………………………………………
Ghandi…..the british must leave as friends

Abraham and the annoying beggar……..i have suffered him for many years, could not you put up with him for one meal?

The man wanted the monks horse…..the beggar on the side of the road………don’t tell anyone how you got my horse…..

abbot, monk and book
Abbot Anastasius had a book of very fine parchment which was worth 20 pence. It contained both the Old and the New Testaments in full. Once a certain monk came to visit Anastasius and, seeing the book, made off with it, so that when Anastasius went to read the scripture that day, he found that the book had gone and knew at once that the monk had taken it. But he did not send after him for fear that the monk might add the sin of perjury to that of theft. Now that monk entered the city to sell the book. He wanted 18 pence for it. The buyer said, “Give me the book so that I may find out if it is worth that much money.” With that he took the book to the holy Anastasius and said, “Father, take a look at this and tell me if you think it’s worth as much as 18 pence.” Anastasius said, “Yes, it is a fine parchment and at 18 pence it is a bargain.” So the buyer went back to the monk and said, “Here is your money. I showed the book to Father Anastasius and he said it was worth 18 pence.” The monk was stunned. “Was that all he said? Did he say nothing else?” “No he did not say a word more than that.” “Well,” said the monk, “I’ve changed my mind and don’t want to sell the book after all.” And then he went back to Anastasias and begged him with many tears to take the book back. But Anastasias said gently, “No, brother, keep it. It is my present to you.”

Are You Catching Anything? Luke 5:1-11 7-23-06

scripture………are you catching anything? Luke 5:1-11 7-23-06

Vacation…..fishing…..---are you catching anything?
I got to thinking about fishing……..are you ever on vacation from your faith?

If you are broken, shelve this, relax. If you are not broken, then all soldiers in Jesus army are called to act on these marching orders

We are called not simply to attend, not simply to sit or even to just give. Everyone is called to become one who fishes for men and women

1Peter 3:15……….Be ready to give answer of the hope that lives within you.

The blindness of our culture
In Mt and Mark, the story is bare bones….follow me, they do
Interesting part of this story….not a simple follow me…not magic
But jesus makes a huge impact on peter

Peter walked away from a boat load of fish
would you forfeit a fortune in fish to follow jesus—many wouldn’t, many dont
what is the condition of Christianity in our culture?

· Mark Twain 1835-1910 said, "If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be -- a Christian."

· Gandhi was once asked by a close friend, “If you admire Christ so much, why don’t you become a Christian?” Gandhi reportedly replied, “When I meet a Christian who is a follower of Christ, I may consider it.”

· results and examples such as this are probably not what Christ had in mind when he said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Is our Christianity authentic or just a weakend down version that fits well with our American lives….talk with Brian….2 missionaries from Belarus

Mine Mules: A visitor to a town, out for a stroll on a Sunday afternoon, was passing a mine in Pennsylvania years ago, and asked a child why the fields were so full of mules.The child explained that these were mine mules. They worked in the mines during the week and were brought up on Sundays to keep from going blind.
We live here, we work here, but every now and then we have got to step back from our culture and look to see what is really important

How do we share our faith effectively
The challenge of this is illustrated in the video

This is a challenge for everyone………we are nervous about this
Sharing my faith with shop keepers Sharing my faith on the airplane

Be yourself-authentic, genuine
Let them see your warts…………
When the disciples left their boats and followed Jesus, they did not go into detox

Go as you are….you don’t have to be the perfect Christian to share People wont respond to that anyway
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.You are beautiful God loves you because you are you Not because you are perfect

Jesus didn’t pretend
People don’t respond to pretend

Pretending has the opposite results than what we seek
I did it for a long time I kept lists I delivered guilt I could not live up to my own pressure But I could sure put it on others
What draws people to Jesus is an authentic life and an authentic invitation

Do you like kris bartman Cause he is perfect Cause of the odd little things that are endearing about him
Good heart, good man,
People will be won by you, not the pretend you
The church has taught us to pretend
Jesus did not pretend

Section conclusion
Which is a better invitation……
· look at me, I am good. Come be like me…they will see thru you
· Or, yes I am not perfect, you know, you live next door, but let me tell you about Jesus

Witness out of your brokenness,
Paul: when I am weak, then I am strong
People want to know who you are People are starving for something that is real
Religion has not served them well Jesus can

You don’t have to close the sale
Be positive, be gracious, be kind—share the love
Such behavior will open the door for a discussion at some point
Nervous? Inviting them to church may be enough for now

Conclusion
Is this worth doing?
Peter saw the boat load of fish and realized that there is so much more.

There is no better, more joyful use of your time than to be used by God to make a positive impact on the life of another human being

A Pastor of a large church was asked if a church can get too big.
He answered this way: if there is one more person in your community who has not yet found Christ, then your church is still too small. If there's one more person in your city who needs to experience the love of God in Jesus Christ, then this church is not yet big enough.












Prayer timetwo Weeks ago I mentioned Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I received an email reminding me that Bonhoeffer prayed for his enemies
They killed him.
The email asked if Jesus asked us to love our enemies and pray for those whopersecute us, why don’t we do this in church

If we believe that Christ meant what hesaid, it seems we have an obligation, both individually and as a body, tolift up those who need him most, even (especially?) when they oppose us.
Osama ben laden
Terrorists
Those who hate