Bubble Busters
Pt. 3 - Tell and Show
I. Introduction
Can you remember the excitement? The anticipation? Days of planning. Preparing. It was a grade school phenomenon that we all probably experienced and loved. It as "Show and Tell" Day. That special day when it was our turn to bring the stuffed animal, special coin, special toy, valued treasure that no-one else possibly had or owned to show off to our classmates. I want to propose to you this morning that in order for us to be bubble busters we must simply revert back to this grade school practice. The only difference is the secret to busting bubbles is merely reversing the order we learned in grade school. We must tell and show.
Text: John 1:35-51 (TPT)
The next day, Jesus walked right past where John and two of his disciples were standing. John, gazing upon Jesus, pointed to him and prophesied, “Look! There’s God’s sacrificial Lamb!” And as soon as John’s two disciples heard this, they immediately left John and began to follow a short distance behind Jesus. Jesus turned around and saw they were following him and asked, “What do you want?” They responded, “Rabbi (which means, Master Teacher), where are you staying?” Jesus answered, “Come and discover for yourselves.” So they went with him and saw where he was staying, and since it was late in the afternoon, they spent the rest of the day with Jesus. One of the two disciples who heard John’s words and began to follow Jesus was a man named Andrew. He first found his brother, Simon Peter, and told him, “We have found the Anointed One!” (Which is translated, the Christ.) Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. When he gazed upon Andrew’s brother, he prophesied to him, “You are Simon and your father’s name is John. But from now on, everyone will call you Cephas” (which means, Peter the Rock). The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee, where he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Come and follow me.” (Now Philip, Andrew, and Peter had all grown up together in the village of Bethsaida.) Philip went to look for his friend, Nathanael, and told him, “We’ve found him! We’ve found the One we’ve been waiting for! It’s Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth! He’s the One whom Moses and the prophets prophesied would come!” Nathanael sneered, “Nazareth! What good thing could ever come from Nazareth?” Philip answered, “Come and let’s find out!”
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said, “Here comes a true son of Israel—an honest man with no hidden motive!” Nathanael was stunned and said, “But you’ve never met me—how do you know anything about me?” Jesus answered, “Nathanael, right before Philip came to you, I saw you sitting under the shade of a fig tree.” Nathanael blurted out, “Teacher, you are truly the Son of God and the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe simply because I told you I saw you sitting under a fig tree? You will experience even more impressive things than that! I prophesy to you eternal truth: From now on, you all will see an open heaven and gaze upon the Son of Man like a stairway reaching into the sky with the messengers of God climbing up and down upon him!”
I want to just mention this in passing but just because I don't camp here doesn't mean that it isn't important. Notice that the tell and show method worked with family and friends. I think that is important because I think we often believe we have to master all these special approaches to bust bubbles and win people to Jesus. The truth is if we will simply practice this one approach it effectively bust bubbles and break down barriers.
Bubbles are busted when we break our silence.
To bust bubbles we must tell!
In the passage I read to you, Andrew meets Jesus and instantly tells his brother Peter about the anointed One. The same process is repeated when meets Jesus and goes and tells his friend Nathaniel about the Christ.
In order to break bubbles, we must tell! Good news is not good news unless it is told. I told you in week one that 75% of believers today feel no responsibility to share their faith with anyone else. But did you know that it is also true that when surveyed 86% say they start attending church due to personal invitation as opposed to 2% who do so due to advertisements. In other words, what Andrew and Philip modeled for us is still the most effective way to get people to get to Jesus. We must tell. In fact, in one of His last commands to His disciples, Jesus informs them and us that we will receive the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can become witnesses in every part of the world. Witness requires words! Witness means to bear testimony. Is there anyone in the room that can testify that Jesus has changed your life? And yet, we have flipped the script and we will testify to people who already know Him and then we seem to hesitate when we are given the opportunity to witness to those who don't know Him. You don't have to convince us we already know. It is those who don't know that need to be told. I wonder if we have quit busting bubbles simply because we have quit telling about Jesus. I know we are talking when we leave this place. The question is what are you talking about? Do you ever bring the conversation around to the Good News about Jesus? Unless you tell you can't bust bubbles.
In a very real sense our silence is their sentence!
If we are unwilling to tell, then the people we have the opportunity to tell are sentenced not to life, but rather to death. WE MUST TELL! We must use words. We have the hope of the world, and we must once again share that by opening our mouth and telling someone!
Stop for just a second and be honest with yourself. When was the last time you talked to someone who doesn't know Jesus about Jesus? I didn't ask when you talked to someone who believes in Jesus about Jesus.
Stop and ask yourself this question - let's deal with tiny bubbles before we go out and bust big bubbles - what family member or friend do you have who needs to hear about Jesus. Follow Andrew's example. Follow Philip's example.
Bubbles are busted when our see matches our say!
In this passage, both Andrew and Philip backed up what they said by showing their family member or their friend Jesus. I want you to understand that the process of breaking bubbles is a two-step process. Most of us certainly need to say something. We desperately need to tell people about Jesus. However, I also want you to know that talk is cheap! We must also show people Jesus. Our actions must line up with what comes out of our mouths. If what we do doesn't line up with what we say, then we send mixed messages. If we talk about hope, and then act like we have none. If we talk about peace, then always freak out. If we talk about love, then show them hate. If we talk about freedom and then operate in bondage. If we talk about healing and then continue in sickness. If we talk about righteousness but continue to sin. If we talk about Jesus, then act like, believe like those who don't know Jesus then our see doesn't match our say and we build bubbles instead of busting them.
Gandhi famously said . . . ""I like your Christ, but not your Christianity." I believe in the teachings of Christ, but you on the other side of the world do not, I read the Bible faithfully and see little in Christendom that those who profess faith pretend to see. The Christians above all others are seeking after wealth. Their aim is to be rich at the expense of their neighbors. They come among aliens to exploit them for their own good and cheat them to do so. Their prosperity is far more essential to them than the life, liberty, and happiness of others. The Christians are the most warlike people. I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
That is because we tell but we don't show!
Most of us are in one of two camps . . .
Some of us tell but we never show.
Our life testifies of something totally opposite of what we are saying. And the result is that we don't bust bubbles we reinforce them.
Some of us show but we never tell.
We show them we go to Passion by the sticker on our car. We show them we go to church by leaving the house on a Sunday while they are still sitting on the porch. However, if we just show, but never tell it leaves them guessing and with no solution. It is like the person who shows us their success but never tells us how we can be successful too. I recognize there is truth in the idea that actions speak louder than words, but without words the actions leave them hanging.
The two-step process of busting bubbles is tell and show. Talk to them about Jesus and then lead them to Him by how you re-present Him with your show!
So, the question is will you tell? Will you show? If the answer is no on either one of those accounts, bubbles will not and cannot be busted!
