Today, we are in our second week in a series we creatively called five. And we are talking about five things that we as pastors at Sun Valley want not from you, but for you. Five things that if they were true of your life, would take your experience of God, your perspective on life and I believe, your satisfaction in life to a whole new level.
Last week Chad said that what we wish for you is that you would experience a "free fall" with God. A time when God asks you to step out of your comfort zone, a time when you have to trust God so much, that if he doesn’t come through it is going to fail. And the reason we want that so much for you is that it is that a freefall is the only time that we experience our faith colliding with God’s faithfulness and it takes us to a whole new level of trust in our God.
This week our wish for you is actually a verse straight from scripture. It’s probably not one that you have ever read, or if you did you probably just skimmed right over it. But it’s there and I think that it is very revealing. And it is something that I want for you. It is Philemon 6 (Philemon only has one chapter, it’s a very small book) Philemon is a letter written by Paul to his friend named....Philemon. Oh you’re good. So this is friend to friend and Paul’s wish for Philemon is our wish for you. Let’s read it aloud together:
What we wish for you:
I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Philemon 6
What Paul is saying here is that there is a level of the Christian life that can only happen when we are actively engaging others in the spiritual side of our lives. He says that there is something that happens in the life of a Christian, when we share our faith, that doesn’t result from any other activity in the Christian life.
Now some of you know this because you are active in sharing your faith. Now, I am so thankful that you are a people who have a heart to share your faith! Last month you wrote down the names of thousands of people you are praying for to know God. Many of you are constantly inviting friends to come to church. A lot of you have seen friends and family make a decision to put God at the center of their life. A lot of you pick up CDs after the service and say I’m going to take this to a friend who should have been here...really needed to hear this. So I know a lot of you have sharing your faith on your mind and a lot of you are already experiencing this.
You come in on a weekend and you’ve brought a friend and you introduce them to me and you ask "who’s speaking?" and when you find out it is me you say, this is my friend’s first time here...which is code for "Scott, don’t blow it!" And I understand. Because every week you come in here and when it’s just you, you do your best to pull out the principles for yourself. But when you have a friend with you, the stakes seem so much higher! So you look at things differently. Are there greeters? Does the building look clean? Is the music the right kind? What’s the pastor wearing? All these things become important to you. And you think differently when you have a friend. Nothing feels better than when the speaker is on his game and you’re thinking "that’s exactly what my friend needed to hear."
And being involved, being active in sharing your faith has resulted in a qualitative difference in your life. That’s why we talk about Invest and Invite so much hear at Sun Valley. It’s not for us, it is for you. Today I want you to hear from one of your own. Someone who’s life was changed by someone else’s active faith and now he is on his own journey. And our Outreach Pastor Matt Swartz is going to talk with him.
Steve Fox/Matt Swartz (6:00)
Can you imagine the level of joy there is in Steve’s wife and family that after all this time and effort of investing and inviting has paid off? How exciting must it be for them and how differently they must look at God! And now Steve is on his own journey.
Steve is just one of the hundreds of you who are active in sharing your faith and are experiencing life at a higher level because of it.
Paul tells his friend Philemon I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. The most interesting part about this is where Paul is writing from. He’s writing from prison! And when we realize that, we recognize that Paul’s view of being active in sharing his faith was to bloom where he was planted. He believed that God placed him wherever he was on purpose and God would use him if he simply became intentional.
In Acts 16 we find Paul in prison (it’s not the same time he writes Philemon, but it is an example of how he lived his life) And it is important to note why Paul was thrown in prison. This is not in your notes but let me read it to you from Acts 16
16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.
19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
So in essence Paul is thrown into prison for sharing his faith! What would you do?
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, "Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!"
29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Acts 16:25-30
And Paul said "I’m not going to tell you. It was sharing my faith that got me into this mess! One kind deed to a slave girl and it starts a riot and next thing I know I get beat to a pulp and thrown in prison. Thanks but no thanks...you’re going to have to find out from somebody else!" Is that what it says? No! Because Paul knew that God had perfectly positioned him to make a difference in this jailers life!
31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he and his whole family. Acts 16:31-34
As a result of Paul being ready and willing to share his faith, a whole family was changed. And you see how it describes the jailer in the last verse? He was "filled with joy". And so was Paul, I promise you!
Years ago I was the youth pastor here at Sun Valley. And I had an exceptional group of junior high kids, many of whom are still here at this church who were intentional and active in sharing their faith and God was doing amazing things as a result. We were at Summer Camp, and one of the kids named Steve approached me at lunch and said "Scott, I think I’ve got a plan to help Taylor come to Christ. You’ve got to know Taylor....and you’ve got to know Steve...Evening session....bonfire, escorting girls back to the cabin...Steve on a bench ’he did it!’ Taylor "I did it!" Crew piled on... didn’t see Lynn...fallen down sobbing. Trip back to dorm mobbed again.
Letter from Taylor’s mom hadn’t heard from her in 8 years.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 4
My commitment:
Being active means I will:
1. Open my eyes to see
Godhas perfectly positioned you to make a difference in
2. Open my heart to feel
God loves them and so we should too
3. Open my mouth to speak
Invest and invite, like you have been. Bloom where God has planted you. He has perfectly positioned you to impact the people around you.
Take a look at this...angie lake (2:30)
Chair - every weekend our seats are filled with people. Some are regulars. They are here every weekend. Others grew up in church but walked away. Many are experiencing church and God for the first time. And most are invited by a friend. Every chair represents a life. Every chair represents someone whom God loves and Christ died for. Every chair represents someone who will live for ever somewhere. And each weekend as these chairs are filled, I pray they will be filled with people you are investing in, people you are inviting. I pray that you would be active in sharing your faith...but not just for them, but for you because it is only then the you can have a full understanding of every good things there is in Christ Jesus.
That is my wish for you.
