Between Two Worlds
Matthew 13:34; 7:28-29
View “Huh!”
Does that hit close to home? This little clip gives us a vivid portrayal of one of the greatest fears of many Christians. However, it also gives us a vivid portrayal of one of the greatest fears of many non-Christians.
Everybody but Sam had signed up for a new company pension plan that called for a small employee contribution. The company was paying all the rest. Unfortunately, 100% employee participation was needed; otherwise, the plan was off. Sam’s boss and his fellow workers pleaded and cajoled, but to no avail. Sam said the plan would never pay off.
Finally, the company president called Sam into his office. "Sam," he said, "here’s a copy of the new pension plan, and here’s a pen. I want you to sign the papers. I’m sorry, but if you don’t sign, you’re fired. As of right now." Sam signed the papers immediately. "Now," said the president, "would you mind telling me why you couldn’t have signed earlier?" "Well, sir," replied Sam, "nobody explained it to me quite so clearly before!"
"Given enough time any simple thing will be explained in a complex way."
For example, the following notice was sent home with some high school students: "Our school’s cross-graded, multi-ethnic, individualized learning program is designed to enhance the concept of an open-ended learning program on the continuum of multi-ethnic, academically enriched learning, using the identified intellectually gifted child as the agent of his own learning." One parent sent back a note which read, "I have a college degree, speak two foreign languages, and four Indian dialects … but I haven’t the faintest idea what you are talking about."
1) Jesus spoke in a language which people could understand (Matt 13:34).
In one Wizard of Id comic strip, the king came down to check with the royal technicians at work on the space project. The king says, "How’s the Royal Space Project progressing?" And the technician replies, "We’ve run into a problem. There’s been a major malfunction of the primary propulsion system in the first stage vehicle." The king asks, "What does that mean?" And the technician responds, "It means the rubber band broke!"
Sometimes we use theological jargon that sounds impressive and makes us look intelligent but has absolutely no meaning to those we are talking to.
In a 1995 survey by Barna Research Group, it was discovered that non-Christians have no clue what Christians mean when some they use some of the phrases Christians often take for granted. 63% of non-Christians don’t know what Christians mean when they talk about the Gospel. 75% of non-Christians don’t know what John 3:16 is. Add to the phrases like "a broken heart", "I’ve been convicted", and "get into the Word, which non-Christians would hear quite differently. The problem for unbelievers is they hear the unspoken message from Christians, "If you don’t understand the holy lingo, you don’t belong to the holy huddle." However, 40% of Christians don’t know what the Gospel means, and 53% don’t know John 3:16.
During the 1950’s, Adlai Stevenson, the esteemed and intellectual senator from Illinois, failed twice in his bid for the White House against Dwight Eisenhower. During his second run for the presidency, Stevenson sought the advise of former President Harry Truman. The story goes that the straight-talking, "The buck stops here" president walked over to the window of the hotel room where they were meeting. Pointing to a man waiting for a bus on the street corner, Truman reportedly said, "See that man over there? Talk so that he can understand you."
Matthew 13:34 says, "Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables." What that verse tells us is this, “Jesus spoke in a language which people could understand.”
If I say, "rotten watermelon," what comes to mind? Most likely, whatever you are thinking isn’t pleasant, because rotten watermelons have a horrible odor! Elsewhere, Jesus spoke in a language which people could understand by contrasting good fruit with rotten fruit. False teachers are bad and putrid fruit; true teachers are good fruit. Could he have made it any clearer that false teachers originate from that which is bad or rotten?
2) Jesus spoke in a language with which people could relate (Matt 13:34).
Marriage and family therapists suggest a significant problem for marriages is the different approaches to communication between men and women. Men generally approach conversation from a mindset of transmitting information and ideas. Women generally approach conversation from a mindset of transmitting passions and feelings. Men are geared toward thinking. Women are geared toward experiencing. Men want to download data. Women want to network. But, I would guess that those dynamics have never left you thinking, "Huh" when talking with their spouse or another member of the opposite sex. And I’m equally sure no one here has ever said, “I don’t care what I said. You know what I meant!”
Again, with Matthew 13:34 in mind, we could ask, "what are the kinds of stories and illustration he used?" They were stories that related to everyday experiences the people around him would have had. It was stories about planting a garden, pulling weeds, planting a tree and baking bread. The stories spoke in terms of family, and weddings, and common terms of employment. To the common man he spoke of common concerns. To the religious leader, he spoke in religious terms.
You see, what that means to us is that if Jesus were here in the year 2000, he would be speaking to people today in a language with which they could relate. He would speak in terms of computers and television sets. He would carry on conversations with people about current blockbuster movies, and music that is topping the charts. He would connect with the people who spend time on the internet. He would, also, address issues like the disintegration of the family and the problem of teenage crime. He would tell stories that would catch the interest of the stock market investor and the single mother trying to raise her children.
Dr. Ellin Greene, of the University of Chicago, has said, "We get so quickly sidetracked from the simple story nature of our faith. We begin to think that theology saves us, that truth is somehow embodied in our theology of the Atonement, or our mastery of eschatological charts. But when Jesus wanted to communicate the truth of God’s kingdom, he left out the polysyllables and told a story about a woman who lost a coin or a man who dug for treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like this … he said. Dare we ask for more scholarly explanation from the Son of God?”
3) Jesus spoke in a language that bridged God’s Word to everyday life (Matt 7:28-29).
But lastly, as Christians, we can, also, run into trouble when we present a picture of being a Christian that detaches what we believe from how we live. It’s the compartmentalized Christianity that says, “My biblical faith goes in this pocket, and my day-timer or appointment book go over here in this pocket.:
Think of this, as Christians, we have one foot firmly planted in the Biblical world, the world of the first century Jesus, the world of the Bible. But our other foot is firmly planted in the 21st century, where we live and breath, eat and drink, work and play. We become a bridge for God’s Word and everyday life.
Trouble comes when we lean to far to one side or the other. When we speak in a way that leans to heavily toward the world of the Bible, the would hears a message that is irrelevant and outdated. When we speak in a way that leans to heavily toward the 21st Century, we become just one more of a chorus of screaming voices. When we speak in a way that bridges God’s Word and everyday life, we provide our world with a real world option for trusting God.
That is what Jesus did. Check out the closing verses of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7.
In Matthew 7, Jesus told this story, "Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against the house, it won’t collapse, because it is build on rock. But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will fall with a mighty crash.
The Sermon on the Mount is now over. But Matthew continued by penning one more sentence. Verses 28-29 read, "After Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught as one who had real authority - quite unlike the teachers of religious law."
What that story and those two verses teach us is this: "Jesus spoke in a language that bridged God’s Word and everyday life." Jesus made it clear that he wasn’t speaking of some spiritual illusion. He brought people face to face with life issues, and let them know that God had something to say about them.
In the Sermon on the Mount, he tells people, "God is concerned about people who are abused by others. God cares about people who are taken advantage of. God is able to supply our every need. God wants more from us spiritually than religious busyness." Jesus speaks to issues like divorce, adultery, materialism, anger, revenge, love and worry.
In a very real sense, Jesus taught people that faith in God is not some internal spiritual journey. Faith in God involves real-life issues for real-life people living in a real-life world facing real-life crises giving them a sense of real-life hope at experiencing real-life victory.
Conclusion:
In Streams of Living Water, Richard Foster told of Billy Graham preaching at Cambridge in 1955. For three nights he tried to make his preaching academic and enlightened, but with no effect. Graham finally realized that presenting the intellectual side of faith was not his gift and began preaching the simple message of Jesus rescuing us from our problem with sin. Foster wrote, "The results were astonishing: hundreds of sophisticated students responded to this clear presentation of the gospel. It was a lesson in clarity and simplicity that he never forgot."
Action Step #5, "Screen Your Message" - At least once during the Adventure, talk with an unbeliever about a deeper Christian meaning in a film or television show you’ve both seen
Let me close with this example from Amistad. It is both a poignant example of both a movie that gives us something to jump off of in "screening our message, and a lesson in the clarity and simplicity of the message of Christ. The stage is set as these men await a trial verdict that will set the free or bind them in slavery.
