Sermon Transcript
I’m the pastor of young adults here. It was a lot of fun. Cindy and I and a couple others got to go up to Katie Gudgel’s— formerly Katie Gudgel’s— wedding yesterday. And Pastor Dave was not only officiating it, but he also walked her down the aisle. So it was one of those deals where, you know, he walked her down and said, okay, you know, like one of those.
Put the tie on or whatever. So that was a lot of fun. It was just, you know, obviously the Gudgel family is just really celebrating right now. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Matthew 16. We’re going to be looking at verses 13 through 17, continuing our Rethinking Church series.
Matthew 16, verses 13 through 17. Let’s pray. Lord, I pray that you just would give us your Spirit now as we focus on your Word. Each your Spirit as we think about your things, and then please give me your Spirit as I speak. May they be your words, I pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Well, do you know anyone in your life who just wants nothing to do with church because of its message? Just wants nothing to do with Christ because of the message that the church conveys? Maybe this is you sitting there in the audience today. I had a friend, or I have a friend that we were in a conversation with, I was in a conversation with not long ago, and he had just had a bunch of bad experiences with evangelical churches. He had gone, he had tried it out, but he just couldn’t stand the message that he was hearing.
It felt like, he said, they were imposing their agenda on him, whether it be political views, a certain lifestyle, a code of morality. And he said, you know, I just want nothing to do with religion. And it made for a really interesting conversation because my response is, man, I wouldn’t want anything to do with that. To which he said, David, you’re a pastor at an evangelical church. What am I missing?
It’s like, everything, right? I mean, that’s not exactly what I said, but essentially that’s what the Bible’s response is to this kind of misconception, or how churches can get it wrong in such a way that people are just repulsed by what they hear. You know, we often— the gospel message, if you read the gospel accounts, Jesus in his life, he was very clear. He was not here to start another religion. As I would define, he was not here implementing a new standard that we need to live by.
In order to gain respect or garner favor or even gain salvation with God. That’s not what he was about. Actually, his message, the gospel message, the good news, flies in the face of all that. But the tragedy is so often friends like my own, probably people that you know, maybe yourself sitting here today, is just turned away by other things that they are hearing that isn’t an accurate portrayal of who Jesus is. Perhaps we need to rethink church.
You know, we’re thinking— we’re doing this series, Rethinking Church, and it’s been our observation as pastors that we often get it wrong. You know, the concepts that we’re using are belong, believe, become, but we see that we often get it wrong. And, you know, first, churches will often do this, and, you know, let’s be real, we’re susceptible to this too. When we get it wrong, it’s as if you have to behave first. You know, first get your act together, then you can become one of us.
Then you can be here and do your thing, but you must behave. Get your act together. And you know what? If you’re going to come through the doors and you’re not going to get your behavior together, at least pretend like it. Okay?
So behave first, then believe. But the belief is in, you know, then accept our norms, our standard, our message. And then finally you can belong. It’s then that you’ve become, you know, you’re one of us. Congratulations.
Pat on the back. You know? And Pastor Steve, I thought, did an excellent job last week saying, no, no, no, we’re getting it all backwards. It starts with belong. You know, Jesus, when he first went out there and he was talking to the disciples, he said, come follow me.
Come follow me. Be about the things that I’m about. Come taste and see what I’m about. And he even extended his hand to Matthew, who was a tax collector. Right?
If you had to, like, peg a sinner of that time, you would think tax collector, right? Jesus said, come follow me. Follow me.
And then today what we’re going to be looking at is the idea from there is into belief. And I thought Pastor Steve said something that sets up today’s message wonderfully. He said, belonging often leads to believing. Or to put it another way, it’s often out of relationship that someone comes to put their faith in Jesus Christ. And so the question is, is there someone here, is there someone in your life who just wants nothing to do with the messages they’ve been hearing that the church conveys?
You know, is there someone in your life? Because this passage today speaks to that. The passage we see today is Jesus helping his 12 disciples move from belonging, relationship, into belief. And so it’s helpful for us. Now, if you’re not a Christ follower, this message is for you too, because hopefully what you’ll hear is what Jesus truly is about who he is.
Christ according to Christ, not Christ according to Christians, if you will. Now I’m up here preaching, so my hope is that I won’t get in the way and we’ll see the text. But hopefully, if you’re not a believer here, if you’re not a Christ follower, this message is for you in that sense. But then for those of us who are Christ followers, even as a body, as a church, this message is showing us— Jesus himself is showing us how we can help people move from belonging to believing. Okay, so if you have your Bibles open, we’re going to be looking at Matthew 16:13.
We’ll read through 15 here first. So, when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do you say the Son of Man is? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? he asked.
Who do you say I am? So in helping someone move from belonging to believing, Jesus first shows us how we need to raise urgency. He’s raising urgency with his disciples in relationship. I think the context here is so important to understand. This text that we’re looking at today is looking at the middle of the 3rd year of Jesus’s life of ministry on earth.
Any of you guys know how long Jesus was in active ministry that we have recorded in the Gospel accounts, from his baptism to his death and resurrection? Anybody know how long that was? It was 3 years. This text is 2 and a half years into those 3 years. Right?
So for 2 and a half years, Jesus had these guys along with him, belonging, being a part of the things that he was doing. If he was out there feeding folks, they were out there seeing that. If he was out there healing people, they were seeing that. But more than just observing, he was equipping them to serve alongside him. You think of the feeding of the 5,000.
The disciples were out there actually handing it out. Not just observing, not just serving, but also sending out. He empowered them and sent them out in pairs to go out and say, the kingdom of God is near.
And it’s only now that we see it all click together for them, that they realize who he truly is. Now, did they have an idea of who he was? Of course. It’s clear from the text, other places in the New Testament, the gospel accounts, that they had an idea. But here’s the place where they ultimately move from belonging into believing Jesus for who he is.
I mean, that’s amazing. And it happens 2 and a half years into Jesus’ ministry. It’s a profound thought. So we need to raise urgency in the context of relationship. And I would just say one more thing before moving into this.
It’s important to note that for Jesus, there must come a time that belonging translates into believing. Right? For Jesus, there must come a point that we eventually put our faith in him. It’s like drawing a line in the sand. You guys ever see Hook?
I couldn’t get this illustration out of my head, but it’s like, okay, there’s a line here. Okay, Goofy over here, Peter Pan over here. Like, which way are you going to go, right? That’s an awesome scene if you guys have seen it. There comes a point where we have to— you know, the line’s drawn and Jesus wants us to step over.
Or, you know, the water, to dive in and just be immersed in who he is. Just to take him in fully and become a follower of his. Be a believer. And Jesus is helping them into this point. By raising urgency in relationship.
And I see this really in 2 ways in the text. If you’re looking at it, he raises urgency, number one, by taking them out of the routine. He took them up to Caesarea Philippi. Do you have the map here? So you’ve got 3 bodies of water here, right?
On the left, of course, is the Mediterranean Sea, and then you have the 2 bodies of water inland. The one in the north is the Sea of Galilee, and the one in the south is the Dead Sea. Jerusalem is just west a little bit north of the Dead Sea. And then the river connecting these 2 inland bodies of water is the River Jordan. Jesus spent almost all of his time, virtually all of his time, in that area doing ministry.
It was where the Jews were. It was where he spent his time healing folks, preaching, doing all of that. There were very few exceptions that he went away. Well, here was one of those. And so we have to ask ourselves the question, Jesus, what’s going on?
Why would you leave this place? And where he goes is up to the very, very north, still inland, to this place which you probably can’t see, Caesarea Philippi. There’s a bunch of tributaries up there. Beautiful, beautiful place. Lots of water, rolling hills.
But mainly, it’s completely out of the routine. It’s just out of what they were normally doing. And Jesus is doing that on purpose. He’s being deliberate and intentional about this. He, in a sense, is taking these disciples on a spiritual retreat, if you will, because he has some things he really wants to focus on.
So he raises urgency by taking them out of routine. The other way he does it is by asking them outright just some pointed questions. What does he ask them? Who do people say I am? What about you?
Who do you say I am? Now, could you imagine if you’re Peter and you’re hanging out with Jesus and he asks you that question point-blank? I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’d be like, oh, goodness gracious, don’t let me get this wrong. I mean, he’s just calling them out. He’s very deliberate, taking them to a place where he can just focus on us and ask this question, who do you say I am?
He’s raising urgency in relationship. We need to too. You know, a couple weeks ago when we did Family Fun Night, I had the opportunity and privilege of helping set up with Jerry Kanoshita, do the lights out there, and we just got into some fun conversation. He was telling me about his son-in-law, Peter, who’s really high up in the San Francisco Giants organization. And so he’s telling me how he just gets to reap the benefits, going to all these really cool events and getting all this cool stuff.
And he’s telling me this particular time Peter had him along at the Giants spring training camp. And Jerry thought, oh, wonderful, here’s a chance that I get to talk to him about spiritual things, talk to him about Jesus. I’ve been wanting to do this, praying, praying for Peter. Here’s an opportunity to do that. And so he was telling me, wait until the last day when they were on a hike and then he said, Peter, you know, you’ve blessed me with so many things.
I mean, you’ve hooked me up. Okay, that’s my words, maybe not Jerry would say that. You’ve hooked me up, right? And just given me all these wonderful opportunities. And, you know, as much as I want to repay you, I don’t know how I can do that.
But, you know, if there’s one thing I can offer you, it’s this. It’s the love that Jesus has for me and he makes available to you. And then Jerry told me he just ended up having a wonderful conversation with Peter, with his son-in-law. And I said, Jerry, man, it sounds like you had really thought this out. He said, are you kidding, David?
I had been thinking about this moment for so, so long. I’ve been praying for this moment so, so long. And I was just so thankful that I got to share with him the news that I just think is the most loving of all, means the most to my life. You know, what a cool example. Jerry, in a sense, was doing what Jesus is doing here with his disciples.
Getting out of the normal, asking questions. We need to get out, we need to raise urgency in relationship when we’re helping people move from belonging to believing. A couple of observations before moving on here in terms of how we can raise urgency. Number one is, asking ourselves, how can we get out of the routine?
The YOPROs were up at City Impact a couple weeks ago serving in the Tenderloin District, right? And one of the things— we were out there just sharing the gospel, and people— one of the things that we were saying in reflection from the trip is, wow, I didn’t realize sharing the gospel even with strangers could be so easy, so natural. And so the follow-up question we were asking ourselves was, of course, Well, how about sharing the gospel with our coworkers or with our neighbors? And you know what almost always happens when we ask ourselves that question? You know, there’s hesitancy, right?
Now, why is that? Why are we hesitant to share the most loving news with the people we love the most, right? I think the reason for that, at least in big part, is because we get into familiar routines. There’s boundaries set up at the workplace, for example, where we just— it’s not proper to talk about spiritual conversations here. Or, you know, someone in our life says, you know what, I don’t talk about religion in this household, you know, right?
So familiarity and routine can often set up obstacles for us when it comes to sharing the gospel, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Now, to be sure, sometimes obstacles need to be torn down, right? But here’s an example where Jesus is showing us Just get out of the routine. Get out of the normal. And that’ll just spur some conversations that could be really fruitful.
You know, like Jerry. Go on a hike. Take a hike. I don’t know. Ask yourselves questions like, how do we think outside of the box?
How can we get out of this office cubicle? I don’t know what that would mean. Going on a car ride? Playing golf. I don’t know.
But this is one of the reasons, incidentally, why I’m so excited about the missional community groups that we’re doing here. I mean, this is what we’re about. We’re trying to— we want to build relationships with folks with the hopes of having spiritual conversations.
I think raising urgency, we also need to ask ourselves, what are some thoughtful questions we can be asking? Like Jesus, I mean, he asked some very thoughtful, pointed questions. What are some thoughtful questions we could be asking? Now, we all know Pastor Dave’s question. Right?
Do you have any spiritual beliefs? What a wonderful question, by the way. I mean, I just love how that just gets people talking about things. Things that they don’t often necessarily articulate to themselves.
And then we also get to hear about their background. What a privilege, right?
Again, to use City Impact as an example, we’re up there sharing the gospel with people. Which, by the way, we’re up there sharing the gospel with people. We were there for a weekend, but there was a built-in relationship. I know some of the high schoolers are going up to City Impact, and some of the parents too, which is awesome. Very excited about this.
There’s built-in relationship when we’re sharing the gospel there. When we’re wearing City Impact volunteer shirts, you know what’s happening? 99% of the people in the Tenderloin know what City Impact is and know what they represent. A Christian organization out there blessing people in the name of Jesus Christ. And so when they saw that, they were making the connection of maybe not knowing who we were personally, but knowing what we were about.
Does that make sense? So relationship can come in a variety of ways. But to go back to the thought of what are some questions we can ask, we were out there asking this question. We’d say, hey, we’re a bunch of Christians. Would you like some prayer?
We’re just out here praying. And then after we prayed for folks, we basically asked this question. Hey, we just prayed in Jesus’ name. What do you make of Jesus? Which I just think is awesome because that’s basically what Jesus is asking, right?
We didn’t necessarily look at this text beforehand, but that’s basically what we were asking. Who do you say Jesus to be?
Questions can just be so powerful and helpful. And then I think the last observation I’ll mention here is, how can we raise urgency while respecting the relationship? I mean, one of the things I love so much about Jesus is he was always asking questions. And just by definition, you’re respecting and loving the person by asking questions. He’s not beating people over the head.
He’s pulling them out and trying to say, where are you How do you see things? I mean, could you imagine if Peter had answered the question? We know what he answers. He says, you’re the Christ. You’re the Son of the living God.
Right? Good answer, Peter. Great job. Good on you. Imagine if Peter had said something like, you know, to the question, who do you say I am?
He was like, ah, Jesus, I think you’re probably like John the Baptist too. Like, what do you think Jesus would have been like? Wrong. Right? Like, give me another 12.
You know? No, of course not. Of course not. He met them where they’re at and continued the process there. Right?
I mean, we know Jesus from the scriptures, right? How can we raise urgency while still respecting the relationship? Meeting people where they’re at. We’re not about pounding them with thoughts, but we’re just presenting it, lifting it up, as Jesus did himself. Just laying things before people and letting them make up their minds, but putting it before them.
Raising urgency is one way in which we can help people move from Belonging to believing. The next one I think we already are starting to see in this text, and that is this: in helping people move from belonging to believing, we need to focus on Jesus. We need to focus on Jesus. Jesus is getting at a very, very specific question. What’s that question?
Who do you say I am? That’s the question he’s asking. In other words, all of Christianity comes to an absolute knife-edge point on what you make of Jesus. Everything comes down to what you make of Jesus. And Jesus is asking that question.
But do you see how he sets it up? What does he ask first? He first says, what do people say I am? What are others talking about? And they say, well, John the Baptist.
Some say Elijah. Some say Jeremiah. Some of the prophets. What’s going on there? Why would Jesus ask that question?
How is this relevant? Well, you know who those people were, the prophets? They were God’s spokesmen.
They were people sharing the way to God. Right? In other words, do these things so that things will go better. Right? Have any of you guys taken a Walk Through the Bible seminar?
Pastor Dave’s taught it a couple times. I’ve taught it. Walk Through the Bible sums up, boils down all of what the prophets say to this one thought: shape up or ship out. You guys remember that? That’s really what— exactly, shape up or ship out, right?
It really boils down to that. In other words, get your act together or there’s going to be some consequences, right? So why is Jesus bringing this to light? Why is he surfacing this thought? And the reason is this: Jesus is saying there’s something absolutely distinct about me.
There’s something absolutely different. Look at Peter’s answer. Peter says, when Jesus asks him, who do you say I am? Peter basically says this, but oh no, that’s not you, Jesus. You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
I think it’s so important to understand the weight of this verse in the Bible. A number of theologians, especially when they’re looking at the book of Mark, but even when they’re looking at the book of Matthew, point to this verse as the absolute pivotal verse. The verse that everything leads up to and falls away from. This verse. Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
Some even go as far as to say, you could say the whole Bible leads up to this moment and falls away from. What’s happening? Why is this message so pivotal? What is Peter for— the first time clearly making sense of all that he’s kind of understood, and now it all brings to a head. It’s this message: Jesus changes everything.
He changes everything. He’s not like the great people, even the great godly people of the Bible. He’s not like other religions. Jesus changes everything. We need to focus on Jesus, not religion.
Now let’s unpack this. How do we see this in the text? Peter says that he is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. That word Messiah— maybe some of your Bibles say Christ— it’s the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah. It really comes from this.
It means the anointed one. Okay? So the anointed one. People in the Old Testament— there’s 3 types— were anointed for specific tasks on behalf of God. And what is happening here is Peter is saying, you’re not just an anointed one.
You are the Anointed One. You are the one in which everything changes. Take, for example, all of these. These are the 3 types of people in the Old Testament who were anointed. Jesus is like a prophet, but he’s not just a prophet pointing the way to God.
Jesus is the great prophet who is the way. To God. And Jesus isn’t just one of the priests performing sacrifices on behalf of the people. Jesus is the Great Priest who was the sacrifice on behalf of the people. And then Jesus was not only a King who came— He wasn’t a King that just came to serve and deliver people, to rule and to deliver people from human oppressors.
Jesus was and is the King of Kings who came not to rule but to serve and to lay down his life. And not to deliver his people from human oppressors but to deliver us from the great spiritual oppressors of sin and death. And that when we receive this by faith, we receive eternal life. That is the message of Jesus Christ. That is the difference between Jesus and other— anything else, all other religions, that is the difference.
That is the distinction. Jesus has come to earn our salvation for us. When we could never earn it on our own, He has come to earn our salvation for us that we receive by faith. All other religions, if you think about it, in a sense, are advice. Do these things so that you will gain favor with God, or you will earn your salvation.
Jesus is saying, oh, no, no, no, no. I have come to earn your salvation for you by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. A moment in history that he completed. That is the difference. In a sense, what Peter has realized is that Jesus didn’t come to impose religion.
He came to save us from religion.
And so we need to focus on that. Because the problem is, I think, as churches, we often will perhaps preach this, but we’ll add other things in there. The message will get convoluted. And what are we doing? Jesus says, look, I love you so much, I’ve come to die for you, and there’s nothing you could ever do to make me love you more.
And yet somehow, I think churches, and I think we’re susceptible to this, we do this rethinking church series. We want to look at this and look in our hearts. But sometimes what we can do is we can say, okay, we have salvation in Jesus, but here are some extra things we can do to make Him love us more. We don’t put it that way, but that’s, in a sense, the way it comes across. We essentially get back to behavior.
We’ve got to do these things. Be more holy. Perform better. Right? And that flies in the face of the gospel message.
It just It flies in the face of the gospel. That is not what Jesus is about. Let me give you the very relevant topic of homosexuality by way of example. You know, I’ve recently been reading this book, Is God Anti-Gay? by Sam Allberry, a Christian guy.
And it’s just a— you know, the way he starts, it’s a very thought-provoking read because he doesn’t start the book by saying— by going to the scripture in the Old Testament saying, here’s what the Bible says about homosexuality, You’d probably expect, right? Actually, he doesn’t get to that section until the 3rd section. Where he starts with, purposefully, is the gospel. And he basically says it somewhat to this effect. He says, look, Jesus did not come down to this earth with different categories of people in mind and different messages for these different categories of people.
Jesus’ message was uniform and for all. I have come that the sick might be healthy, of which everybody is sick. And the only way we’re going to be healthy is if we recognize that need and look to our need that Jesus fulfills in the cross. That’s the message to everybody. And so it’s really interesting.
I love— this is really a helpful thought that he wrote here. When he finally does get to that 3rd section, looking at the scriptures about homosexuality, he says this: What the Bible says about homosexuality does not represent everything God wants to say to homosexual people. It is not the whole message of Christianity. And so the passages below need to be looked at as part of the wider message of the gospel, the announcement of what what God has done for us in Christ and the need for repentance and faith. Christians who want to explain the Christian faith to gay friends need to know that what the Bible says about homosexuality is not the only thing they need to explain, and it is probably not the first thing or even the main thing they need to focus on.
What is he saying? He’s saying, very subtly, It’s his thought that the American church is getting it wrong, right, in its response. We need to focus on Jesus, not religion, not behaviors. You know, as a church, we’re not in the business of correcting behaviors, especially with people outside the church, right? That’s not our business.
Now, I mean, to be clear, you know, when we come to put our faith in Jesus Should there be life transformation? Absolutely. Right? I mean, a message this good, the gospel should have that kind of response in our lives, right? Transformational powers, right?
And by the way, that’s actually next week’s message. Pastor Dave’s going to talk about become. So belong, believe today. Pastor Dave’s going to talk about, okay, now what do we become? But when we’re helping people move from belonging to believing, we need to focus on Jesus, not religion, even as distinct from religion.
Because what happens is people hear another message entirely and miss out on the good news that is of Jesus Christ. You know, to use a little example, it’s like an archer’s target where the goal is to hit the bullseye, but we spend all this time arguing about things in the outer rings. And then, you know, to make this example actually true to form, it’s as if the bullseye The bullseye is the only thing that actually matters. We need to focus on Jesus and not religion.
Because with Jesus, it’s all about personal relationship. It’s all about Jesus is the Messiah, the one who’s anointed, taken our sins upon him, the Son of the living God. That’s the good news, that Jesus in history met the perfect standard for us. Jesus didn’t come down to set another one. And so that’s got to be our message in helping people move from belonging to believing.
We need to focus on Jesus. We need to raise urgency. And then finally, looking here at the last verse, verse 17, we need to trust them to God. Verse 17 says, Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. You know, what is Jesus saying there?
He’s essentially saying, you know, for someone to ultimately put their faith in God, that itself is a divine act. It has to be revealed to them by God. And so, you know, we play a part in that, but ultimately the results aren’t in our hands. The outcome is not in our hands. It’s in the Lord’s.
It’s in God’s. I think for some of us, we hear this and we think, oh, that’s wonderful news. It means the pressure’s off. You know, there’s someone I love, there’s someone I’m praying for, and it’s just so wonderful to know that they’re in God’s hands, not mine, because He loves them more than I even can love them, right? But I think there’s others of us who think— who this thought is actually a little harder to swallow.
And what I mean by that is You know, there’s someone we love, there’s someone we’re praying for, but it’s absolutely heart-wrenching that God’s not intervening and bringing them to faith. Right? Would that be any of you? But what, in a sense, is happening when we do that? What’s happening in there?
And I think what’s happening there is we’re again making salvation about performance. We’re losing sight of the gospel message. We’re saying things like, God, I’m doing my part. Why don’t you do yours? But the problem there is our performance will never save them.
Our performance can’t save us.
And that is actually the reason for the gospel message. That is Jesus coming into this world to make his love available to everybody, that God was sending He sent His Son to die for us. He loves us that much. And so I think the question comes down for those of us in this category, I guess, is can we trust God even with our loved ones? Can we trust Him even with our loved ones?
You know, can we trust His perfect timing, His perfect plan, you know, even if He uses whatever means necessary? Can we trust our loved ones even in God’s hands? I think that’s what the Lord’s calling us to in that point. But in helping someone move from belonging to believing, we need to raise urgency, focus on Jesus, and trust them into God’s hands. There’s a story that’s been going around the internet that I just think brings us all together just so well.
Cindy sent it to me this week. It’s an article written by Kirsten Powers in Christianity Today that talks about— she writes about how she became came to put her faith in Jesus. And it’s a really interesting story. She had, in the ’90s, worked her way up really high in the Clinton administration. And she even self-describes herself as a highly reluctant Jesus follower.
And she talks about her interaction with Christians. Actually, she said it this way, to the extent that I encountered Christians, it was in the news cycle. And inevitably, they were saying something about gay people or feminists. Basically, she was like, I’m hearing what message— I just want nothing to do with that. But lo and behold, she started dating a Christian guy.
And watch out, right? She said that the fact that he went to church on a regular basis was actually something to be overlooked, not a point in his favor. Which incidentally, by the way, as a pastoral thought, I’m not advocating for Christian dating non-Christian. That’s another talk, right?
But their dating got to be very serious, and he was starting to think about marriage. So there was his relationship with the Lord being the most important to him. He thought, okay, I need to talk to her. So he sat her down— she didn’t know this was coming— and asked her point-blank, do you believe in Jesus as your Savior? And she said, oh no, he’s crazy!
He’s one of those people, right? And she said, no. I don’t believe in Jesus as my Savior. He said, well, could you ever? And not wanting to mislead him, she said again, no, I could never believe in Jesus.
And then finally she writes, he asks the question with the magic words for any liberal, well, could you at least keep an open mind? And she’s like, absolutely, I can do that. And so at that point, she starts to go to church with him. She says, you know what? I love this I respect him intellectually in so many different ways.
I’ve got to check this out. If it means that much to him, I’ve got to check this out. So she started going to church, downtown New York, Redeemer. And she just— she got to the service and she said it was just a complete shock because she had been raised Episcopalian. For those of you who know, Episcopalian is very formal for the most part, liturgical.
And these guys were up on the stage like Rob, you know, casual clothes, rock band, right? And she’s sitting there, she’s like, this is just not what I’m used to. This is totally wrong. Not how you do church. And she’s sitting there during the service, during these times, thinking, okay, how am I going to tell my boyfriend I just cannot come back?
Right? That’s what’s going through her head. But then she said Tim Keller gets up there and starts preaching. And she is immediately drawn in. She’s just fascinated by what she hears.
She says it actually— she goes back, she goes back, and it becomes the highlight of her weeks. And then she says this, which I think is really interesting. She says, I thought of it as an interesting lecture, not really church. I just tolerated the rest of it in order to hear him. Any person who’s familiar with Keller’s preaching knows that he usually brings Jesus in at the end of the sermon to tie his points together.
For the first few months, I left feeling frustrated. Why did he have to ruin a perfectly good talk with this Jesus nonsense?
At this point, she started reading her Bible and she actually came to the place where she felt convinced, convicted in her spirit that the weight of evidence was actually on the side of Christianity. But still, she felt no connection to God. Her boyfriend had been praying for her that God would reveal himself to her, but no connection. One day she was on a business— well, one night she was on a business trip in Taiwan. She woke up in the middle, and she was at this place she describes in between dreams and reality.
And she says, and there Jesus encountered me. He came up to me and said, here I am. And I was freaked out. Okay, that might be my choice of words, but she was freaked out. But get this, the next day she goes to call her boyfriend to tell him what had happened.
She doesn’t even get it out. The boyfriend calls her before she can call him. And tells her, I had been praying the night before, and I’ve come to the conclusion that we shouldn’t continue this relationship. End of conversation. End of phone call.
She didn’t get it out. And she writes this. She says, you know, as upset as I was about this relationship coming to an end, I was still more traumatized that Jesus had just visited me. It’s like, I’m just trying to get my head around that. And so she comes back to New York, and she’s just trying to figure things Still curious about Jesus.
She has a Christian contact, asks him what to do. He says, get into a Bible study. She didn’t want to go. She just thought it was going to be awkward sitting around looking at a Bible. Didn’t want to go.
But she went. And she says she doesn’t know what they talked about in that Bible study. But she went out and she was in the alleyway afterwards and she just sat there and she’s like, oh my goodness, it’s true. It is completely true. And she says from that point on, she ends the article with, It’s as if a veil was lifted and I was filled with indescribable joy.
You know, I tell this story because what a powerful example of an individual, in this case Kirsten’s boyfriend, who raised urgency even to the point of it getting incredibly awkward, right? And who focused on Jesus by asking basically the question that Jesus himself asked. Right? Do you believe in Jesus as your Savior? What do you make of Jesus?
And what a powerful example of a church that raises urgency and focuses on Jesus by refusing to quit preaching the gospel week after week after week so that someone like Kiersten not only hears the gospel message, not only processes it, but allows it to sink down into her soul.
And then, of course, finally, What a powerful example of a God who clearly orchestrated it all by relentlessly pursuing her even when she was holding her hands— holding him at arm’s length because he loved her just so much that she might have life in his name. Church, I think that is our calling. You know, it starts with helping people belong. You know, no hoops required, right? Leaving the doors open figuratively, physically.
Come and see. Taste and see. Come as you are.
Not a spirit of judgment. Not a spirit of exclusivity. But come and see Jesus. And then from there, helping people move from belonging to believing by raising urgency. By focusing on Jesus and by ultimately trusting them to the Lord.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Anointed One. You are the Son of God, and we just thank you so much that you loved us so much that you came to be with us, to bring us into your company, to see what you’re about, and then ultimately to lay your life down on our behalf such that you’ve earned our salvation for us, that we can receive this by faith alone in you. And so, Lord, if there’s anybody here today who’s not a Christ follower, who’s not your follower, I pray that you would just work in their spirit now, work in their heart in whatever way, that you would reveal yourself to them. And that if even today is a day that they feel you tugging at their heart, I pray that they would make the step from belonging to believing, putting their faith in you. And Lord, for those of us who are your followers, as individuals and as a church, Lord, we to be about making your message clear.
Forgive us when we get it wrong, because we get it wrong, but help us make your message clear. Help us get out of the way and show Christ.
And Lord, we pray by your grace you would do a good work through us, not because of us, but because of your love for the world, people around us. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. At this time, we’re going to continue in worship by singing, but there’s also tables in the back that if you
