From Customers To Waiters Series

Let me ask you this: when you think about your Christian life, do you think primarily of celebration? Joy? Adventure? When we were out of church from March until June, and you missed being here, was it because we had so much fun here? Have you ever had someone say, “man—that Wade family—they know how to have fun! They seem to be the most joyful, fun-loving, party people. They must be Christian!

If not, have you ever considered the possibility that maybe you’re doing it wrong?

Now, I’m not saying that we turn a blind eye toward all the problems and suffering in the world. We still live in a fallen world, and we don’t make it better by putting on a happy face and ignoring it. And if you are hurting and need a shoulder to cry on, I’m not saying you’ve got to just bottle that up and leave it at the door when you come to church. This is, and always will be a place where its okay to not be okay.

But y’all—the war is over. Sin has been defeated! Jesus is Lord! Our salvation is secure! We have a place in heaven! We get to call the creator of the Universe

“daddy.” We have much to celebrate!

Now, maybe the reason we don’t is because there’s one thing these lepers did that we do very well. Look again at the verse:

8 And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.

Remember our analogy about what we do when we find a great restaurant? You know, there really are people that want to keep it to themselves. They like that their favorite restaurant is “the best kept secret in town.”

My fear is that way too many Christians do the same thing with their faith. We want to keep it to ourselves. And that’s why, what the lepers did next is so important. Look at verse 9:

9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household.”

Notice that phrase in verse 9: “This is a day of good news.” We’ve talked lots of times over the past few months about the Greek word for “Good News.” Do you remember what it is? That’s right. It’s euangellion. It’s where we get our word for evangelism. And, yes, the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, not Greek, but I went back and checked the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and sure enough—there’s the word:

“This is a day of evangelism.”

So with the gospel, we can’t stay stuck in “celebration.” We have to move from celebration to obligation. “Come; let us go and tell the king’s household.”

What we have in here is too good to keep to ourselves. And what we have here will not be diminished if we share it with the world. In fact, it will multiply! This morning we celebrated Savannah coming to faith because Mrs. Jeannie shared Jesus with her. Now, Mrs. Jeannie—do you have more or less joy because you shared it with Savannah? Of course you have more.