BE CONTAGIOUS: WEEK 2
Scott Bayles, pastor
Adapted from “If Jesus Lived in My House,” by Lee Strobel
As we begin week two of our “Becoming a Contagious Christian” series, let me share a story from Lee Strobel—one of the authors of the Contagious Christian training materials. It’s not actually Lee’s story; rather it was a Christian friend of his named John, who had taken a routine business trip to Atlanta.
Everything was going according to schedule and he decided to stop into this little sunglass shop at the airport to pick up some sunglasses for his trip. So he went into the shop, picked out a pair of sunglasses, paid for them, and started to walk out of the store.
And just as he was walking out the door, he got one of those “nudgings” from God. He said, “I just knew I had to turn around, go back into the store, and talk to the cashier about Jesus. I just knew I had to do it. But,” he said, “How could I?” On what basis could he get into a spiritual conversation with this stranger? He already made the purchase. He was on his way out the door. But he didn’t dismiss that nudging; instead, he used what he himself called “the worst transition into a spiritual conversation in the history of evangelism.”
He goes back into the store and starts browsing through the sunglasses again to buy himself some time, then finally he looks over at the cashier and says, “Sunglasses, huh?”
The cashier, who was reading a newspaper behind the register, looked up and said with a bit of sarcasm, “Yeah.”
So John puts the sunglasses on and says, “Isn’t it great that, uh, these sunglasses can, like, um, protect our eyes from the brightness of the flames of the sun?”
“Uh huh,” the guy respond.
Then John blurted out: “Well, wouldn’t it be great if we had something that could protect us from the flames of hell?” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he admitted later, “I couldn’t believe I said that!”
But, the guy sat down his newspaper, looked him right in the eyes, and said, “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately.”
At first, John was so shocked all he could say was, “Really!?” But then he started talking to him about Jesus. He talked about forgiveness and grace and eternal life, and tears started flowing down this cashier’s face. Then in a prayer of repentance and faith, right there at the counter of the Sunglass Hut, that man received Jesus Christ as the forgiver of his sins and the leader of his life.
Later John runs up to Lee at church to tell him this story, and he said, “It was unbelievable! The day started out so routine, so normal, so average. Who would have known that it would end up in such an adventure?”
That’s what the Christian life is like when you develop a contagious heart—that is, when you yearn to let God use you to reach others, and you make yourself available to talk about Jesus when opportunities arise, and you learn to listen to those little nudging from the Holy Spirit.
This is the antidote for a dry Christian life. When you’re living on the evangelistic edge, that’s when your prayer life is at its most fervent, because you’re praying to God for help; it’s when your Bible study becomes its most intense, because you’re not just looking for abstract theological truths, but for wisdom that can help lead someone to Jesus; it’s when your dependence on God is at its greatest, because you know that apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, there’s no way you can bring about the salvation of anybody.
This is the real adventure of the Christian life. But in order to life that adventure, you have to be prepared. And that’s what I want to talk to you about. You know the Boy Scout motto is “Always be prepared,” right? Well Contagious Christians have a similar motto—it’s found in 1 Peter 3:15-16: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (NIV).
In other words, Peter is saying that any time, any opportunity you have to talk to someone about Jesus (who, by the way, is the “reason for the hope you have”), you should be prepared to do it. Always be prepared! But there is a lot more that goes into that preparation than, just having a pat answer memorized in case someone asks.
It’s about preparing your heart, as Peter says. What I want to do this morning is share with you three prerequisites—three requirements—that need to be present in your own heart before you can really experience what it means to be a Contagious Christian and live on the evangelistic edge!
• A SEEKING HEART
First, in order to have a contagious heart you need to have a seeking heart. In other words you need to continually seek God’s guidance, direction and presence in your heart and life through prayer. Put another way—before you talk to your neighbors about your heavenly Father, you need to talk to your heavenly Father about your neighbors.
Peter doesn’t specifically mention prayer in this verse, but just a couple of verses earlier he said, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12 NIV). Paul told the Christians in Philippi, “pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6 NLT). And to the Christians in Thessalonica, he said, “Never stop praying!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT). That’s how Jesus lived his life! He prayed about everything and he never stopped praying. He kept praying for spiritually lost people right up until his final breaths on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NLT). By the way, the imperfect tense of the Greek wording indicates that Jesus didn’t say it just once, but he kept repeating it over and over again, all through the torture of the crucifixion: “Father, forgive them, forgive them, forgive them, forgive them…”
If you want to be a Contagious Christian you have to have a seeking heart like Christ’s.
Let me share another Lee Strobel story. One day, Lee was about to baptize a woman during church at Willow Creek. He asked her, “Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior?” She smiled and said, “Oh yes, I have!” Then Lee did something strange. He turned to her husband, who was with her, and asked, “Have you received Jesus?” He looked at Lee for moment, and then suddenly burst into tears. He said, “No, I haven’t, but I want to right now!” So right there, in front of thousands of people, that man repented of his sins, confessed Christ, and Lee baptized the two of them together!
After church a woman came running up to Lee, threw her arms around him and just kept saying, “Nine years! Nine years! Nine years!” Lee said, “Who are you and what do you mean ‘nine years?’” She replied, “That’s my brother that you just baptized, and I’ve praying for that man for nine long years without a hint of spiritual interest. But look at what God did today!”
Folks, there is a woman who’s glad she didn’t stop praying after eight years! I’ll admit that I don’t know everything about how prayer works, but I’m just naïve enough to believe James when he says that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. Mother Teresa put it this way: “When I pray, coincidences happen; when I stop, they don’t.”
Let me encourage you to make a list of the people in your life who don’t know Jesus, who don’t have eternal life, start praying for them. Pray often. Pray hard. And don’t give up. While you’re at it, pray that God will use you to be a light to those people that can lead them to Jesus. That brings me to the second requirement for being contagious.
• A SHINNING HEART
If you want to have a contagious heart, you first need a shinning heart—that is, you need to live your life in such a way that people see Jesus in you! Jesus put it this way, “No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. Instead, everyone who lights a lamp puts it on a lamp stand. Then its light shines on everyone in the house. In the same way let your light shine in front of people. Then they will see the good that you do and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16 GWT).
In other words, you can’t just share your faith; you have to show your faith. Jesus didn’t just say he loved the world; he showed his love. He showed love to the blind by restoring their sight. He showed love to lepers by restoring their health. He showed his love for mankind by sacrificing his life to pay for the sins of the world.
Jesus is our model for everything and that includes outreach. Remember, Peter put it this way: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord” (1 Peter 3:15 NIV). Another translation says, “But, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life” (NLT). When the Bible talks about Jesus being “Lord of your life,” it means that Jesus is the Leader, you and I are followers. Do you remember playing “follow the leader” when you were a kid? I know some of you just played video games, but when I was a kid I remember playing follower the leader. The leader would do something, then everybody else would do it—it’s easy. But so many Christians have lost sight of what it means to follow the Leader! We talk about Jesus. We sing songs about Jesus. But we’re not doing what Jesus did!
Talk is cheap! But when we serve others the way Jesus did, and sacrifice for people the way Jesus would, and put our love into action in real tangible ways like Jesus modeled, this opens otherwise impervious hearts to God’s message of grace and forgiveness and eternal life!
Having a shinning heart is about letting Christ’s light shine through you. It means showing Jesus to people by doing “good deeds” that make people want to praise God!
One of my favorite old hymns is a song titled Let the Lower Lights be Burning. It’s a story with a song behind it. Dwight L. Moody was preaching and he told the story of a violent storm on Lake Erie. On a dark stormy night, Moody recalled, when the waves rolled like mountains and not a star could be seen, a boat neared the Cleveland harbor, rocking and plunging in the waves. The Captain and the pilot were able to see the light from the light house, but the lower lights along the shore had all gone out. They didn’t really have any other options though, so with a strong hand and a brave heart, the old pilot guided the boat, but in the darkness he missed the channel and crashed into the rocks. The boat was slivered and the entire crew lost their lives that night.
Sitting one of the pews that night, was a composer named Phillip Bliss. Inspired by that true story, Phillip wrote the enduring hymn, Let the Lower Lights be Burning. The opening stanza proclaims, “Brightly beams our Father’s mercy from his lighthouse evermore, but to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.” Jesus may be the everlasting light, but we are no less the light of the world—the lower lights, guiding people to him.
• A SINCERE HEART
Finally, the third prerequisite for becoming a Contagious Christian is having a sincere heart—that is, being genuine and authentic in the way we relate to people. In order to reach people effectively for Jesus, there needs to be consistency between our beliefs and our behavior. Peter said it like this, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord… keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV). Or as Paul said, live your life in such a way “so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:8).
Jesus had a word for religious people whose character wasn’t consistent with their creed. Over and over throughout the gospels, He called them hypocrites because that’s what they were. If you are a Christian, you ought to know that your neighbors and co-workers have their “hypocrisy-radar” scanning your lives 24/7. What are they looking for? False piety. A holier-than-thou attitude. Saying one thing, but doing another. What are they picking up on their radar screens? When they are scanning your life, what do they see? Because the truth is—few things can repel a person from God as efficiently as an insincere Christian or inauthentic church.
Many of you already know that my wife and I are geeks. We take the kids every year to the Superman Celebration in Metropolis and to other Comic-Con whenever we get the chance. Going to events and conventions like that, we’ve met dozens of people who we never otherwise would have met and many of whom are unchurched or unsaved or both. It’s given us the chance to rub shoulders with irreligious people. For instance, this past June we shared an extra-long table at Pizza Hut in Metropolis with about a dozen or so other Superman enthusiasts, talking, laughing, and getting to know one and other. When the kids started getting restless we left. But on our way back to the hotel we got a text message from the person who’d been sitting across from me, a young lady named Kayce. It said, “I just wanted to tell you that you two are some of the most genuine people I’ve met.”
I’m so thankful that that’s the first impression she had of us, because you know what that means? That means she was watching us—she was listening to what we said, watching how treated each other, our kids, and other people. She was observing us and I’m just glad that we passed the test, so to speak. In essence, she was saying, “You say you love God and act like you love people and, you know what… I believe you.”
And don’t miss understand—being sincere, being real and genuine isn’t about being perfect; in fact, it’s just the opposite. It’s about admitting our faults, letting people see who we really are, and owning up to our mistakes. That goes a lot further with people, than pretending we’re something we’re not. The word hypocrite actually comes from the Greek theatre. Hypocrite was the Greek word for actors who wore masks and pretended to be someone else. When you take off the mask, let people see you for who you are… when they know you sincerely care about them—it softens their hearts and they think, “Maybe Christians aren’t so bad after all.”
Conclusion:
Next week we’re going to continue this conversation. While having a seeking, shinning, and sincere heart prepares us for the adventure of the Christian life, the real adventure begins when we start—like I said—rubbing shoulders with irreligious people. After all, what’s the point in being a Contagious Christian if you always hang out already-infect folks? For now, though, just focus on that Boy Scout motto which reiterates the words of Peter: “Always be prepared!”
For all of our members, I want to you remind you and encourage you to head to foyer after church and sing-up for the Becoming a Contagious Christian seminar. There is information in your bulletin and on the sing-up sheet about the dates and times. There will be child-care during the seminar, and if you can’t make it to the whole thing, but you still want to go ahead show up for one or two sessions, that’s okay too.
And if you’re visiting with us today and you’ve been turned off to church because of hypocritical Christians, all I can do is say I’m sorry. Please don’t judge Jesus by the failures of those who claim to follow him. I believe that most Christians are trying their best and there are probably some who have been for you for a long time.
Invitation: (go to first slide of invitation song)
If you are spiritually seeking and you have questions, please feel free to pull me aside after church and we’ll talk. In the meantime, let’s all stand up and sing together.
