Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

This is the last installment in our “Re:series.” In this series, we are learning about the power and relevance of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead by studying 1 Corinthians 15.

The central verse behind this series is 1 Corinthians 15:17, which says, “Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins.” (CEV)

In this series, we’ve seen that Jesus’ death and resurrection reveals how far God is willing to go for us. The resurrection has the power to give us a second chance by resetting our lives. It has the power to restore our lives regardless of what kind of mess they may be. The resurrection can revive our lives. And Jesus’ resurrection can relieve us of a mundane, shortsighted life.

Today our theme is Relay as we finish up our focus on Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. We’ve been challenged in a variety of different ways by the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. As we finish the series today, God reminds us that it is not a story that we’re supposed to keep to ourselves.

Near the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, NIV)

Paul received the good news about Jesus. And then he turned right around and passed it on. He relayed it to the people who lived in the city of Corinth.

Not only did he relay it to them, but he did it with a sense of urgency. He relayed the message to them, “as of first importance.” The message was too important to take it lightly. It was too important to keep it quiet.

Did you ever have some news that was so good you just couldn’t keep it to yourself? When we found out that Nicki was pregnant with Ryan, we told our parents fairly early on. But we also wanted to be the ones to tell the rest of our family and friends, so we asked both sets of parents not to tell anyone. That was not at all easy for either one of our moms. They had a grandbaby on the way and they wanted to shout it from the rooftops! They wanted to tell complete strangers about it. The news was just too good to keep.

You’ve had news like that. Maybe it was a pregnancy. Or a promotion. An award. A college acceptance letter. Whatever it was, it was just too good to keep.

That’s exactly how Paul felt about the story of Jesus. Earlier in the series, we saw how the resurrection of Jesus had restored Paul’s life. In his previous way of life, he was a murderer. He killed Christians just because they were Christians. But now, the good news of Jesus had made such an amazing impact on his life that it was just too good to keep. He had to relay the story to others.

If you are a Christ-follower, then you have experienced the same life-changing power of God that Paul experienced. But it seems like, at times, we’re quite content to keep the message quiet. Relaying the story doesn’t seem to be as much of a priority to us as it was to Paul. God’s message for us today is that nothing has changed. The story is the same. The power in the story is the same. And the story still needs to be relayed.

In Matthew 28, we can read about the actual account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. A couple of ladies had gone to Jesus’ tomb. There was a huge earthquake as an angel descended from heaven and rolled away the huge stone at the entrance to the tomb. The angel was an extraordinary sight. He was as bright as lightning and his clothes were as white as snow. This angel told the women that Jesus had risen from the dead. After this encounter, the women were hurrying back to the province of Galilee.

The Bible says, “Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:9-10, NIV)

Let’s key in on what Jesus said here. These women were the first ones to experience the resurrected Christ. And there is great significance to Jesus’ first instructions after his resurrection.

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell…” (Matthew 28:10, NIV)

We’re going to unpack his words a little bit this morning. There are three principles that we can take away from Jesus’ words.

The first obvious principle to pull out of Jesus’ instructions is that the Jesus story is meant to be told.

I had a visit from a Jehovah’s Witness last week. This gentleman came to my door and introduced himself. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but then I saw that he had brought a Watchtower magazine. I cut our conversation short because I knew where it was heading. I told him of my faith, I thanked him for stopping, but I wasn’t interested. So he thanked me and went on his way. As he was leaving, I started looking up and down my street. There were Jehovah’s Witness believers canvassing my neighborhood.

I don’t know how much you may know about Jehovah’s Witness beliefs and theology. They have some very aberrant and wrong views of Jesus, among other important Biblical teachings. I will never, ever agree with their belief system. But I do see their passion to tell their story. I don’t even agree with how they go about telling their story. Knocking on doors in our culture is probably the least effective form of evangelism there is. But you can still see the passion for their message.

Isn’t a shame that a cult is more passionate about sharing their story than we often are about sharing the true story of Jesus? Jesus’ instructions were to tell the story. The simple, and yet often overlooked, truth is that the Jesus story is meant to be told.

Now, let’s dig a little deeper into Jesus’ words. He said, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell…” (Matthew 28:10, NIV)

He didn’t just say, “Tell the story.” He said, “Go and tell the story.”

The second principle to pull out of Jesus’ words is that the Jesus story is meant to be told out there. It is meant to be told where people are. On their home turf.

We are often satisfied with our efforts to tell the story in here. We concentrate our efforts in getting people to come to us. Come to our church family. Come into our church building. Within these walls is where the vast majority of our evangelistic energy is spent. I’m not saying that making an effort to draw people in here is a problem. It’s a very good idea. But we can’t stop there. We can’t stop with, “Come in.” We’ve also got to “go out.”

National Community Church in Washington, DC has a coffeehouse ministry called Ebenezers. AOL CityGuide recently ranked Ebenezers as the #2 coffeehouse in the entire city of DC. Not too bad for a coffeehouse operated by a church family, not a business conglomerate.

This coffeehouse was not started as a fund-raising avenue for the church. It was started in response to Jesus’ command to “go and tell.”

Pastor Mark Batterson wrote in his blog:

In a sense, we have no business being in the coffeehouse business. We're not qualified. We had zero experience before jumping in. But we had a dream that was conceived and sustained by prayer! And it's amazing the way eight years of prayer can compensate for our inability or inexperience!

The driving motivation behind the coffeehouse has always been to create a third place--a place where the church and community could cross paths. Too many churches end up quarantined behind the four walls of the sanctuary.

Seems to me like Jesus hung out at wells. Wells weren't just places to draw water. They were natural gathering places in ancient culture. Coffeehouses are postmodern wells.

quoted from evotional.com

There is something special about meeting people in their culture instead of just bringing them into our culture. For most people, the church is not their culture. If you’ve been part of the church for a long time, it’s easy to forget that, but it’s true. For the majority of people in our community, church is not part of the culture of their life. So when we invite them to “come in,” we are inviting them into a culture that they are not comfortable or familiar with.

However, flip that coin over. What if we took the message to where they are? A place where they’re comfortable. What if we went to their culture? Wouldn’t it stand to reason that their receptivity would shoot way up?

When I was a youth minister, every once in a while I would pop in at my students’ schools at lunchtime. It was always a surprise for them to see me there. But for some students, they talked more easily with me at their lunch table than they did at church. I was on their turf. I was willing to get out of my comfort zone in order to go to theirs.

Early in the book of Acts, the apostles of God had been arrested by the Jewish religious leaders. But during the night, an angel of God came and opened the doors to the jail. And then the angel gave the apostles instructions.

“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.” (Acts 5:20, NIV)

The temple court was the marketplace of the day. It was the social and economic center of the society.

And the apostles were instructed to take the message to the marketplace. That’s where the church in its infancy would intersect with the community.

A couple of thousand years have passed, but God’s plan and purpose for his church haven’t changed. He’s still telling us to “go and tell.” Not to imprison the message within the walls of this building, but to set it loose in the marketplace. Everyday you cross paths with people who don’t have the church as part of their life culture. Everyday you see them on their turf. What are you doing about that?

We as individuals and we as a church family have to commit to taking the message to the marketplace. We’ve discussed some exciting possibilities about ways that our church can “go and tell” this year. Most churches do not have a plan or a vision for taking the message to the marketplace. We cannot allow the Amelia Church of Christ to be most churches. The Jesus story is meant to be told out there.

And that leads us to one more principle to pull out of Jesus’ words in Matthew 28. The Jesus story is meant to be told by me.

There are a lot of different me’s in this room right now. Some of the me’s don’t feel like it’s possible for them to share their faith. And if you’re one of those me’s, then listen to Jesus’ words again.

“Do not be afraid. Go and tell…” (Matthew 28:10, NIV)

Do not be afraid. The number one reason that people don’t share their faith in Christ is because they are scared. What if they reject me? What if I can’t find the right words to say? What if, what if, what if? And those “what ifs” feed right into fear. And fear paralyzes us, stopping us from telling the story that is meant to be told.

But Jesus reassuringly says, “Don’t be afraid. You’re not alone. I’m with you in this. Don’t worry. Don’t fret. Don’t be afraid.”

There are several myths that feed our fear. These myths are some of the biggest reasons why we keep our faith to ourselves.

Myth #1 – I don’t know enough. I don’t know enough Bible. I’m no theologian. They may ask me a question I can’t answer. I just don’t know enough.

The “I don’t know enough” myth doesn’t fly because, in fact, you do know enough. You know what Jesus has done in your life and that’s enough.

People in our post-modern culture are looking for openness and authenticity and community. They’re not necessarily looking for theology.

You can open up the conversation. You can share your faith story. You can share the difference that God has made in your family. You can do that.

As the conversation progresses, they may eventually pose some tough questions. And you may have to say, “You know, I’m not sure about that. But I’ll go in search of some answers.” Then you go the Bible, go to one of our leaders, you do some digging to answer the question.

But the point is that you do know enough to open a dialogue.

Myth #2 – I’m not good with words. I’m not a good speaker. I don’t do well at presentations.

We’re not talking about standing and preaching on a street corner. We’re talking about sharing your faith with people that you already have a relationship with. You don’t have to be a flashy, eloquent speaker. We’re talking about a conversation, not a presentation. It can happen over a latté at Starbucks. On a couch in their living room. Around a table while you’re playing cards. You’re just looking for an opening to bring God into the conversation.

Myth #3 – I’m not a good enough Christian. I’ve made far too many mistakes. I haven’t led a squeaky clean life.

This myth is the biggest lie yet. In our current culture, you’re willingness to admit your mistakes and shortcomings will make your faith all the more attractive to seekers. Post-modern people can spot a fake or a sham a mile away. So when you tell them that your life is messy and imperfect, when you are real with them, it resonates. Your mistakes could actually be the open door you need with somebody.

Now, we do need to note one caveat here. If your life is one of blatant hypocrisy, then people will notice that as well. If they see that your talk rarely, if ever, matches your walk, then you’re done. A hypocrite is a fake, and fake is one of the worst things you can be in our culture today.

Myth #4 – I can’t make a difference. What can I do? There’s one of me and there are so many lost people.

A man was walking along a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. He was enjoying the lapping of the waves, the beautiful, undisturbed scenery. As he walked, he noticed another man in the distance. As he came closer, he noticed that this local native kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.

The tourist approached until he was close enough to see that the native man was picking up starfish that had been washed up onto the beach and, one by one, he was throwing them back into the water.

The tourist was curious, so he approached and asked the man what he was doing.

“I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it’s low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up on shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die from lack of oxygen.”

“I understand,” said the tourist, “but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can’t possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don’t you realize that this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast? Can you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?”

The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish and threw it back into the sea. Then he looked at the tourist and said, “Made a difference to that one.”

God operates in much the same way. We’re called to share with individuals. Every relationship you have has the potential to make an eternal difference.

What excuses have you come up with? Have you let fear stop you from sharing your faith story with a friend, a family member, a co-worker, a classmate? If so, then think about this. What if the person who shared their faith with you had decided that it was too scary? What if they thought that it wasn’t worth the risk? Where would you be today?

One Sunday at First Christian Church in Canton, Ohio, a man who attended the service responded to the invitation and was baptized into Christ. Afterward, the man shared this with the preaching minister: “You people have the greatest message in the world, but you are also the stingiest with it!”

The message that Jesus died for our sins and then rose from the grave to give us a second chance is the greatest news in the history of humanity. It is too good to keep. It is designed to be relayed to others. The Jesus story is meant to be told. It’s meant to be told out in the marketplace. It’s meant to be told by me and by you.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: relieve, 1 Corinthians 15, evangelism, fear, Matthew 28, resurrection