Introduction: Video - Real Christians of Genius Mr. Christianese speaking Guy – “from Sermon Spice”
When I was taking my first theology class, I was blown away by the abuse use of language I was reading. I was ducking away in fright like you might do in a scary movie. It was nasty! It was just down right foul! I would have nightmares about it.
In one chapter of my theology book, a chapter called sotierology, if that gives you any indication on what I am about to say, there were words like justification, regeneration, adoption, conversion, Lapsarianism, Arminianism, Calvinism, depravity, ecclesiastical separation, sanctification, in addition, there is positional sanctification, progressive sanctification, prospective sanctification, and so on and so on. All of this in one chapter.
I remember just sitting there and wondering, “What did I just read?” Have you ever experienced anything like that? Where you are reading something that you don’t understand so you have to go to the dictionary? Then you have to go to the dictionary again to look up the words you just read as part of the definition. Now of course I am just kidding about the nightmares part, but you can probably relate to being “in over your head” so to speak.
Or maybe you have been a patient at the doctor’s office, or seen a doctor talking to a patient on TV. It’s almost cliché that they are going to talk in a language above the patients head. Or maybe you are at a social gathering and you get introduced to Mr. Rocket science engineer and the conversation just goes straight over your head. You know the times right? Those times you just nod like you know what is being said. Or you say can you say that in layman’s terms?
We call that kind of talk “jargon” or maybe we call it lingo. It is a language that is
Only familiar to that other person and that other person’s world.
When it is spoken from the Christian standpoint we affectionately call it, “Christanese.” That is what the video was all about.
When we hear these things we are just like speak to me in English. Speak to me in a way that is relevant to me. Your language may be real to you, in your world. But if you are going to share with me at least know that I am not familiar with your language. It is not real to me. It is not relevant to me.
I think this many times is the thoughts of many people inside and “outside” when they view the church or people of faith. They say, “Can you put what your saying in laymen’s terms? Can you say that in English?
This is also seen when we speak in what I call “general speak.” General speak is when we stay spiritually general and vague.
That is what I want to talk about today in a message I call “reality spirituality.”
Reality is defined as “the fact, state or quality of being real or genuine.” So essentially what we are talking about is real spirituality or being relevant. However so often the language we use and the way we speak isn’t always so realistic. Not as it applies to real life anyway.
In fact, I would say that it almost starts to gain a distance from reality. Often times turning us off from the intended message or purpose.
I constantly have to work on the language I use when coming sharing something spiritual with others.
I am not saying that speaking in Christianese or being spiritually lofty is bad. Not at all! However I want what we say and do to be as effective as possible especially when it comes to sharing the good news of our lord. Do we know what we are saying.
So why do people do this? Why do people talk in “Christianese?” Well there are several reasons.
1. To show knowledge or intellect level. We want to impress others with what we know. We want to build ourselves up. I think it has a lot more to do with status or the way people see us. We have a desire to be considered important.
I will share this about myself. People who use big spiritual words don’t impress me. The average Joe striving to walk the journey of faith with the lord impresses me. You would be surprised how often this happens in the pastoral world where there is like a hidden completion to see who knows more about God. What impresses me is the one who shows they understand the big theological concepts by the life they live. That speaks to me more than words.
Prov 17:27 - a man of knowledge uses words with restraint…
1 Cor 8:2 - the man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
Notice it doesn’t say: “the man who thinks he knows something does not yet know what he ought to know.” It says “as.” Like it is implying not a “what” but an action or a way.
2. They are just disconnected from the reality of how others communicate. Sometimes we just assume that the person we talk to has been a Christian for a very long time and that they have learned the terminology, some of which is not even in the bible. In a sense, we have been away from the world such a long time that we become ineffective in reaching people who need to know about Jesus and what Jesus has to offer. Others who speak the same language may understand, like two coworkers in a nuclear science lab. But someone who is lost won’t understand.
3. Hide the heart. When we use big language like chrstianese, it could be so that we don’t really want to share what is on the inside. I can memorize terminology. I can spout out to you the things I have learned in the books I read. I can talk to you about sotierology: which means the study of salvation. Darn it I did! I just had to show you that I knew what sotierology meant. I can tell you about what salvation is with out ever getting personal. Without ever sharing my personal story. People want to know the heart.
When we are able to get beyond the knowledge part, all the Christianese and all the general speak. When we can get down to the heart we can share in the experience what I call: “reality spirituality.” To give you more of an understanding on this I want you to take everything we just said and sit it aside for a second and join me in the reality of what is going on in the world right now.
When I say world I mean what is also going in this very church right now. The reality of life is that life is not easy. Would you agree? Look at the reality of the world and we see people struggling. I want to assure you that the reality of the struggles of the world is not too different from the reality of the struggles of the church. This can be proven statistically. Whether you are in the world or in the church there are marriage struggles. There is pain, sickness, abuse. Addiction, there are single mom’s trying to get their head above the ocean of debt so on and so on. Church people are not exempt from these struggles. Spiritual people are not exempt from these real world struggles. Now, the difference is the hope we have in Christ.
I tell you this for two reasons. First, you and I, are struggling. In fact it is a continuous battle against sin and worldly desires. That is reality. It’s the Adam and eve story. The second thing is that not only are we as a church family struggling, our neighbor is struggling too.
Yet when we go off and start speaking our Christianese and general speak… its almost as if we are in another world. The reason is because we don’t talk like this when we are out in the world when we are around other people. But all of sudden we can adopt the language when we are in a church sitting. It has been my experience that even people at church want to be able to relate to what is being said. This would be especially true to the friends we have in the world that don’t go to church.
To be quite honest… I think sometimes we just want to make our faith more complicated then God intended it to be.
We can get a good lesson on how we are supposed to minister to others by seeing how God ministered to us through Jesus.
Matt 13:10-13 - the disciples came to him and asked, “why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. … 13 this is why I speak to them in parables: “though seeing, they do not see… though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
What Jesus is sharing here is how we need to share the good news in ways that people understand. Christ the greatest communicator understood this the most. Jesus told parables… simple stories that revealed great truth.
In the same way we need to relate the good news of Jesus Christ in ways that are relevant to others even if they are Christian or go to church frequently.
Jesus didn’t simply relay some lofty spiritual concept he told people how to apply the word to their lives. It wasn’t some vague spiritual concept with no explanation. Scholars have found that 72% of the words of Christ were focused on life application.
If we communicate biblical truth without addressing the specific difference it should make in the lives of those who are listening then we are not modeling the ministry of Jesus.
Matt 13:34-35- Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."
Jesus made the word of God relevant to those who would hear.
Don’t keep it hidden from others by the way we speak to them.
Jesus was practical, relational and relevant. Look at the example that Jesus demonstrated at the washing of the feet. Jesus didn’t just tell his disciples to go be servants to the people around them. No, Jesus took off his outer garments, got down and washed their feet as an example of how to be servants. Look at the reactions of the disciples. What Jesus did at the washing of the feet was shocking. They were taken back. But you know what…. I bet they remembered.
Jesus painted pictures for them so that the messages would be relevant. He used fishing analogies, farming analogies… so on and so on. I think if anyone could have been spiritually above in terms of language and spiritual concepts it was Jesus.
Yet Jesus spent three and a half years with his disciples in ministry, when he could have just sat them down and taught them in a classroom.
In the same way we should instruct and share with others following the model of Jesus… wouldn’t you agree?
All of this was recorded in the bible. The bible is another way we can learn about ministering to others.
The bible is so relateable to us. We read about individuals who struggled in the same ways we struggle today. If you struggle with doubt… well your not the first… we can read about the disciple Thomas known as doubting Thomas. Do you want to know what it looks like to go from immaturity in your faith to mature… look at the life of peter. My favorite is about a young pastor that I can personally relate to named timothy.
The bible speaks relevant truths in our lives, yet some how we can take the words of scripture and make it so complicated where simple minded people like me can’t understand it.
For so long the bible to me seemed so difficult to understand. It was a false understanding. It was an assumption I made probably made because of the Christianese of those around me. The way people spoke of spiritual things seemed so complicated and difficult to understand. In the tradition I was raised in, bible reading wasn’t encouraged. I felt as if it had to be interpreted by someone else.
What I discovered was that I could read the bible. I could understand the words that were on the pages. I think sometimes we believe that the bible is a puzzle that only a few can understand. Like God is up in heaven some where going, “hee hee hee, I am going to trick D.J. With this one!” There are some people who will spend their whole lives trying to decipher the bible, like it is some sort of riddle.
Paul says this: 2 Cor. 4:2 - we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
I don’t think God is out to try to trick us. The bible is here for us in plain English ready for you and I to understand. In fact, it his desire that we be in his word. And here is a star point for us if you are like me. Ready??? Focus first on the words on the page.
When I prepare for a message I don’t go reading the bible looking for the deep concepts. And believe me there are deeper concepts… the deeper concepts is not something you find. It is something that is revealed to us by the spirit of God.
So focus first on the words of the page. The very basics of our faith are right there on the page ready for all to understand. That is the great thing about our faith. Its for everyone!
O.K so now you are saying… this is great and all d.j. So now what! Well I could leave it there and I wouldn’t be practicing what I preach. A big part of reality spirituality is application. I mean is it really reality if you can’t apply it to your life?
Reflect on what you read when we are in scriptures.
So here is what we can do. When you share a spiritual concept with someone, share a personal story too. We call this being vulnerable. Tell people how it applied to your life. For example, don’t just tell people how to get to heaven but share how you came to know how to get to heaven. Share with them how you were at one time in their shoes. Be specific. This is a modern day parable. Your personal story is relateable. Trust your experiences.
Trust them as god’s personal gift to you. Trust me, you are not the only one who has experienced what you experienced. This might mean we have to be vulnerable to share. This is called being real!
This is something we ask the youth to do every Wednesday night. Part of our group covenant is to be real. That means lowering our defenses. And letting people actually get to know us.
So often we want others to share with us but they are hesitant because of trust issues. When you let your guard down and share personally with someone else you build trust by putting yourself out there first.
Secondly, When you encounter something you don’t understand, ask questions. This will help you know more about your faith, but it will also keep those with the gift of general speak spiritually honest. If you have been around me, you will hopefully find that I tend to ask questions that help people personally reflect on the issue at hand.
For example, I might ask something like: how did you experience “god’s glory,” this week? Or what did you mean when you said…?
Other times I will just act stupid and say what does that mean? More often than not I really don’t know.
The result of personally sharing spiritually is that you are going to build credibility to your words. Not only are you going to be speaking truth into someone’s life, you are going to show them… hey that actually worked! It will show that you really believe what you are saying.
We are also going to be more effective sharing the good news of Jesus! Not in a deep theological language that only a few can understand, but in a way everyone can understand.
When it comes down to it, it’s all about being effective for Jesus. We have such an important message to share. It should be a joy to serve our father by ministering to others. I look forward for you to have the honor of leading someone to the lord. That is why we need to strive to be effective in our sharing of the gospel. For God to send his son to this earth to personally die for us is personal… it is relevant… and it met our need to be rescued from our sins. That is reality spirituality. Let us embrace reality spirituality in our lives. Make it count!
Jesus is for all of us. That is the reality of our spirituality.
Conclusion: The very fact that God would send down his son in person is an example of how desperately God wants to communicate his love for the world in a way that people understand and can relate to. No longer do people have to rely on relating to the stone tablets of the commandments, but now they can rely on the person of Jesus Christ
Let us pray.
