Heute sprachen wir uber Jesus . Er sprach im
allestage Gesprachen. Gleichlich konnen Sie mich nicht verstehen, aber ist diese
wie wir zu unchristliche Menschen sprechen. Now that you’re totally confused--except
for those few of you who can make out my feeble attempt at recovering my German
from my college days--let me translate. Today we’re going to talk about Jesus.
He spoke in everyday language. Most likely you can’t understand me, but that
is how we sometimes sound to non-Christians. When we use religious jargon or talk in terms of sin and redemption it’s as though we’re speaking a foreign language. When we worship in our liturgical style it is as though we are in a foreign culture to some people. People of the world haven’t a clue about what goes on in churches except for the mostly negative stereotypes they get from the media.
That is why we need to make the effort to find out the language of the people we hope to reach and learn it. We are missionaries to a foreign culture--the unchurched. We need to learn how to reach them because our enemy has besieged them with lies disguised as truth, and they believe those lies.
This is nothing new. Satan told Eve a lie and she believed it and we have been paying the price for that one ever since. Satan has other agents these days as well, Adolph Hitler among them. He wrote in Mein Kampf , "By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell--and hell, heaven. . . . The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed."
Dr. John White from the Chapel Ministries in Wheaton Illinois asked, "Why is falsehood so prevalent? Perhaps Lucy from Peanuts gives us a clue. On the first day of the new school year, students in her class were told to write an essay about returning to school. Lucy wrote, ‘Vacations are nice, but it’s good to get back to school. There is nothing more satisfying or challenging than education, and I look forward to a year of expanding knowledge.’ After the teacher expressed her delight over the paper, Lucy leaned over and whispered to Charlie Brown, ‘After a while, you learn what sells.’ Not everyone speaks God’s truth."
People look for what sounds good to them. The Pharisees in our Gospel were looking for a sign that Jesus was who he claimed to be; they suggested bread like Moses provided the people in the wilderness. Jesus quickly corrected their idea of who the supplier was and then went on to say there was another need they had that was much more compelling than mere physical food. That need was for him. What he did for us through the cross and resurrection is the most unbelievable thing, and it is all true! It solves our biggest problem and opens the way to everlasting joy.
We have this exciting message, yet too often people have the idea that to be spiritual it needs to be wrapped in religious language or delivered in a certain style and that’s just not true! I could stand up here and state that we are justified through the propitiationary sacrifice of our incarnated deity and have that be very true, but how many of you would understand what I mean let alone relate to it as having heard good news?
Jesus’s manner was not to impress others with his great knowledge--even though his knowledge of Scripture was exceptional, rather he spoke in word pictures that everyone could understand. I love his teaching style; he told stories. Imagine yourself sitting on the hillside listening to Jesus. A bird flies by and Jesus says, "Are not 2 sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows." (Mt. 10:29-33) At a later time, perhaps at the grape harvest, Jesus begins, "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." (Mt. 20:1) You may remember that at the end of the day the workers who had only been there a short time received the same wages as those who had worked all day and those who had worked longer were angry.
Not only did Jesus tell stories, he related them to their everyday lives. How would we convey the same messages in our culture today? Are not 2 sausage biscuits sold for 99c, yet not one of them is eaten without your Father knowing about it. The reign of God is like a broker handing out stocks and inviting people to trade. At the end of the day each was cashed in at the same value--the broker made up the difference. Those who had made successful trades were angry that they didn’t receive more than those who lost money by making unwise trades.
It may take some creative thinking, but it is do-able. We know the power of the media, and we live in a culture with an ever-increasing availability of and dependence on visual and electronic media, which will make it even more important for us to begin to use these methods in getting the Gospel out.
Paul Harvey noted that art has had power over people for many decades. He wrote, "The power of art over argument. Nobody could have persuaded a generation to produce a baby boom--yet Shirley Temple movies made every couple want to have one. Military enlistments were lagging for our Air Force until, almost overnight, a movie called Top Gun had recruits standing in line. The power of art over argument. The elevation of the downtrodden never relies on logic. It is instead facilitated by the persistent persuasion of gifted penmen. British sweatshops for children existed only until Dickens wrote about them. American slaves were slaves only until Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote about them. Oh, yes, Lincoln himself credited her with starting the Civil War. The power of art over argument. Animal rights activists bemoan the difficulty of making most people relate to animals. Yet, once upon a time, a cartoonist named Walt Disney created an animal character called Bambi, and in one year, deer hunting nose-dived from a $5.7 million business to a $1 million business. The power of art over argument. Statutes mandating more humane treatment for draft horses were initiated by a book: Black Beauty. You want to convince the unconvinced? Don’t call them to arms--call to art!" (C.182 50-Day Adventure Implementation manual) Jesus knew these principles long before movies were invented. He told moving earthly stories with heavenly meanings.
He made himself into a parable when he said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." He spoke to their felt need. They were looking for bread--a very important part of a meal in middle-Eastern culture. Jesus told them of another, deeper need they had that was every bit as life-sustaining as bread. He then told them how to find that bread of life.
We also need to be ready to speak to people’s felt needs in our culture. Is it money? Then we need to speak to them about wealth that lasts and is inflation-proof. Is it power and influence? Then we need to tell them about the real CEO who holds all the power in the universe and his Son, the V.P., who gave his life for all of us.
Look for openings in conversations where you can discover where people’s hearts are--what moves them, what concerns them. Then be willing to begin a conversation using contemporary imagery that points them to Jesus. That is why Greg Asimokoupoulos the author of our Adventure Guidebook, Jesus: The Peoples’ Choice, suggests that we watch videos or go to movies or other productions and look for the deeper themes to draw others into a discussion about things that are more than superficial. Pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see and ears to hear their deepest needs and the words to use to invite them to faith. As you do this, follow Jesus’s example: