The Single Greatest Gift
Week One of Walk Across the Room adapted from the sermon by Bill Hybels
Philippians 2:5-8, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”
On the Idea and Opinion page of yesterday’s Cape Cod Times, there was a quote in reference to the new show “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,” hosted by popular astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, which premiered last Sunday on Fox and National Geographic. The writer said, “Most of us go through our lives and don’t really think about the deeper meaning. This show gest us thinking about why we are here and what is our purpose.” The writer was younger than I am so I will cut him some slack, but I think about the deeper meaning of life, why we’re here and what our purpose is all the time. In fact, I would say the single greatest gift we can give to the people is an introduction to the God who created them, who loves them, and who has a purpose for their life. That is one of the coolest things we can be a part of in life. God asks us to constantly be watching for ways to give this single greatest gift to someone else. When we’re open to being used by God, guess what happens? God will use us to connect with others.
March 16, 2014
Philippians 2:5-8, The Single Greatest Gift
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
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Today we begin the Walk Across the Room series which encourages us to be willing to step out of our Circles of Comfort and stretch out a hand to a person who needs the hope we can offer. In his book, Walk Across the Room, Pastor Bill Hybels shares the story of an African-American man with a Muslim sounding name who met Bill at a gathering at a hotel and told Bill how much he liked his books and then shared in detail the story of how he came to be a Christian thanks to the caring and listening of a Christian who took the time to walk across a room in a social setting and engage him in conversation. Their friendship grew over time as they met regularly for breakfast and conversation as the Christian listened, asked questions about his life, family, and faith. Eventually the Muslim asked the follower of Jesus to share about Christianity and ended up coming to faith as did his family totally changing their lives and their futures.
Think about this for a moment. One Christ-follower in a social setting was standing in a conversational “Circle of Comfort.” He was in a circle where it was easy to relate, where it was easy to converse, where nothing “unsafe” could happen. He had every reason in the world to continue talking in that little circle he was in. It was a Circle of Comfort, a place we’ve all been. Yet he looked across the room and he saw someone—really saw someone—who was standing alone and perhaps needed a little encouragement or an ounce of friendship. Not only did he look and see, but he felt something and then heard something from the Holy Spirit—something like, “Why don’t you go over and extend a hand of friendship to the guy on the other side of the room.” So he saw the situation. He felt something. He heard a prompting—from the Holy Spirit. And then he actually said to the people who were standing with him in the Circle of Comfort, “Excuse me for a minute.”
He has no idea what’s going to happen once he crosses the room and sticks out his hand to this stranger. He doesn’t know what the conversation is going to be like. He doesn’t know what the reaction of the individual will be. But he left the Circle of Comfort and walks … probably praying every step of the way. He walks across the room and enters the “Zone of the Unknown.” Have you ever been there—in the Zone of the Unknown? It’s in the Zone of the Unknown where God often does the best work. It’s in the Zone of the Unknown where the guy in our story said, “Hi, I’m so and so … what’s your name?” And he struck up a conversation that quite literally changed the African-American gentleman’s eternity, as well as the eternities of his wife and his children.
Can you believe how simple and straightforward this image is? Just a few steps to cross the room. But how much kingdom-building impact did that one faithful Christ-follower have just because he was willing to take them? I believe it was a huge impact. Here’s the question I want us all to ponder: what would happen if we were to take a few steps across a room? Is it possible that we could actually impact someone’s eternal destiny—perhaps even that of their family?
In the section of Just Walk Across the Room that we’re asked to read this week, there’s this quote: “The day Christ-followers like you and me stop taking walks across rooms in this manner, the day we stay glued to our Circles of Comfort, refuse to make the walk, refuse to enter the Zone of the Unknown … the day Christ-followers like you and me stop doing that sort of stuff, it is lights out for the kingdom of God here on earth. It is the beginning of the end of redemptive history. It’s the slow defeat of the church—the bride of Christ. It’s the end of the dream of Christ that people on earth would come to know him.”
Throughout this four-week experience, I want us to remember that one of the top priorities of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives is to turn every one of us into a walk-across-the-room kind of person. Everyone. Regardless of your age, regardless of your gender. Regardless of your color, your personality type, your spiritual gift mix, your experience in kingdom-building initiatives to this point. If you’re a living, breathing follower of Jesus, then the Spirit is asking us to walk. He’s asking us to make a difference in the lives of the people we see each and every day. At work. At school. In social settings. At the gym. At our kid’s basketball game. In the midst of our insane schedules. Wherever. Whenever.
If you’ve submitted your life to Christ but wonder why you’re not just rocketing ahead in your spiritual development or your spiritual maturity, could it be that, for too long now, you’ve clung to your Circles of Comfort, refusing even to glance toward that Zone of the Unknown, let alone take a walk into it? There are people who have experienced the merciful forgiveness and love of God in their lives and then somehow contract a case of “spiritual amnesia”—at that point, they simply forget how personal the cross of Christ is to them. They get wrapped up in their Circles of Comfort—warming themselves day after day from the glow of Christian community, focusing all of their energies and attention on the people standing inside the circle … never turning around to acknowledge the isolated people standing across the room who desperately need a little injection of hope.
If you’ve made the choice to follow Christ—if you have found him to be truth, if you have found what the Bible says to be truth—then why would you—why would any of us—think that other people wouldn’t be interested in knowing about what we have discovered to be the most life-changing, heart-stimulating, eternity-altering relationship in our lives? If you have been bowled over by God’s gift of new life, as so many of us thankfully have—and if you want to live your life as an expression of love for the great God you know, then let’s crank up our boldness-meters and introduce as many people as possible to the God who wants desperately to enfold them with grace!
In order to bestow this single greatest gift on someone living far from God, we first must be willing to enter the Zone of the Unknown. But there’s more. In order for us to be effective in the Zone of the Unknown, we must be led by the Spirit. We must listen for the Spirit’s promptings every step of the way. The key is this: being walk-across-the-room people means that we walk when the Spirit tells us to walk and we don’t walk when the Spirit says not to walk. That’s what makes this dynamic and mystical. It’s what keeps the edge and the adventure present in the Christian life. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said this about his followers: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” So, as the verse says, you’ve got to have saltiness. You’ve got to have spiritual potency. But what else does salt need if it’s going to affect anything? It needs proximity. You’ve got to get salt on the fried clams or French fries if it’s going to affect it. We can be the strongest, most savory form of salt the world has ever seen. We can be the saltiest salt known to humankind … but we won’t make a difference unless we get up close to some people who need to be affected.
I understand there is hesitation that has to be overcome to operate in the environment we’re talking about. There is anxiety about how everything will unfold once you enter the Zone of the Unknown. There can be anxiety when a normal conversation suddenly shifts gears and migrates into spiritual territory. But here’s the underlying reality I want to remind you of: when we are relating right with Jesus Christ—when there is vitality and openness in our spirits to the promptings of his Spirit—here’s what happens: You’ll find yourself standing in a Circle of Comfort as usual. But by the Spirit’s power, as you’re listening to the conversation at hand, you’ll be able to have one eye open and roving around the room to see if there is someone the Holy Spirit really wants you to see. You’ll be able to hear the Spirit’s whispers—Are you trying to tell me something about what’s going on in this place? Is there someone you want me to go talk to? Not all the time, but some of the time, by God’s grace, if you …
• Commit yourself to being “salty” in your world; get some proximity to people who need grace; listen for the Spirit’s promptings. Then you can make that turn each and every time … and with confidence tell him, “All right, I’ll walk. I want to know where this prompting will lead, God, and so I’ll go.” As Christ-followers take walks across rooms … as they explore the Zone of the Unknown … as they have initial conversations with people whose eternities are hanging in the balance and have zero clue how it is all going to turn out … as they strain to hear the murmurs of the Holy Spirit … as they try to figure out what it all means …That’s living your spiritual life at about the highest level you can live it.
Those of you who identify with this, you’re thinking, I know exactly what you are talking about, and I live for it. This kind of thing is a high priority in my life. Others of you may be able to think of maybe one or two times when you have experienced something like this. And the rest of you are going, “You know what? This is totally foreign to me. If I were honest, this is something I’ve never given much thought to.” What I hope you’ll discover in the next few weeks is that this experience is really about helping all of us become more aware of how the heart of God beats through us when we are operating in harmony with God. There is something a lot like Jesus that is going on in you and in me when we leave a Circle of Comfort and take a faith-walk across the room and reach out a hand. This is something we can all do. This is something that every single person in this congregation can decide to do and can learn to do. You can be trained for this. You can be equipped for this. You can receive the pointers that will make you more effective. What’s the reason we want to get better about all of this stuff?
There’s a passage in Romans 5:8 that says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (TNIV). And how was it that Jesus demonstrated the love of the Father? What was the radical move he made to prove to you and to me that he really does feel redemptive, grace-filled, unconditional love for each one of us? He took a walk. The verses I read earlier from Philippians 2:6-8 say that at a specific point in history—Jesus walked all the way across the cosmos and reached out his redemptive hand to people like you and me. And because of that one walk, humankind was able to be saved and secured in the family of God forever.
Think for a moment about the implications of that walk: Philippians tells us that Jesus, under direction from his Father, left the ultimate Circle of Comfort—heaven itself and the worship and adoration of the angels. Jesus left the supreme Circle of Comfort and he took the longest walk a person could ever take, to stretch out a hand to people just like you and just like me. He did it to reach people, many of whom were in the middle of wrecking their lives. We’re all in the same boat here – every person who has ever lived has been (or is still) in dire need of being rescued. So Jesus leaves that ultimate Circle of Comfort, walks across the cosmos, and reaches out his redemptive hand to people like you and me. And we get saved and secured in his family forever as a result. Isn’t that incredible? But it doesn’t end there.
In addition to taking a walk across the cosmos so that you and I could be redeemed, he also took a walk across the cosmos so that you and I could see how it’s done. Jesus says to us, “What I did, leaving that circle, making that trip and reaching out to you, what I did … is precisely what I want you to do. I want this to be characteristic of my followers, that they would be walk-across-the-room kinds of people. Following my lead, doing exactly what I did … whenever I give you opportunity to do so.” And what I hope you will hear in Christ’s exhortation is this: “If you will stay open, with an eye focused on people and an ear tuned to my still, small whisper, you will be amazed by what unfolds!” God says to us all today, “I am going to ask you to walk across the street; I am going to ask you to walk across a restaurant; I am going to ask you to walk across an office complex; I am going to ask you to walk across a cafeteria or locker room. I am going to ask you to take that walk, leave whatever Circle of Comfort you are in and take the walk, enter the unknown—and something really exciting is going to happen. That is what I want you to do.”
And that’s our third point: Just walk! Why? Because Jesus “just walked” for you. For me. For us. And for every, single person inhabiting the planet today. Do you believe that? We’re devoting an entire month of our ministry calendar to these ideas so that we can all get better about hearing the Spirit’s promptings, yes. But also so that we will start taking action with immediacy and a newfound sense of confidence … and in the process, that we will become more like Jesus! This is what our four-week experience is about.
One of the most dramatic occurrences of Christ taking action in this way is found in John chapter 4. Jesus and his disciples had been traveling and had come to a well and there is a woman there by herself. The disciples head into town for lunch and Jesus walks over to talk to the woman. Because of the customs in that region, she’s not expecting him to have anything to do with her. In their society, Jesus wasn’t just walking across a typical “room”—he was walking across gender, racial, cultural, and even man-made religious restrictions. She was a Samaritan—a sort of Jewish half-breed who didn’t worship in Jerusalem, the place where all Jews worshiped. Most people—Jews included—wouldn’t have even walked through this part of town because they believed they would have become “unclean.” Despite all of the protocol violations, Jesus took the walk anyway. He left the Circle of Comfort and he started the conversation with the woman he wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with. He let the conversation evolve from the topic of drawing a cup of water from the well to something much deeper what he calls… “living water,”—a term that leads the woman eventually to come to faith. She leaves the well, runs into town, and drags half of her friends and neighbors out, telling them that they just have to come meet this guy who knew all about her past but who accepted her and showed her something called … grace. And for the next two days all of these wide-eyed folks hang around, just listening to Jesus teach. Many people from the town crossed the line of faith and joined God’s family during those days. All because one man took a walk to reach out to someone living far from God.
Like the disciples, we can all be tempted into staying in our safe little circles. Just like them, we can make a habit of rushing off to our lunch appointments or business meetings or family gatherings instead of caring about the people standing right in front of us. But hopefully, the longer we hang around the person of Christ, the more our eyes will be open to seeing the things that he sees. To seeing the people around us who need care, love, friendship, community … and hope. The single greatest gift you and I can give to another human being is an introduction to the God who declared that his mission was to find every person who was lost … and to bring them home
In the time in small groups, we’ll learn how to take that first step, how to pray between the Circle of Comfort and the person who is standing in the Zone of the Unknown. We’re going to learn how to talk normally with people who need a normal Christian to talk to them in a normal way. Without sounding “churchy.” Without having a superiority complex. Without droning on and on about things they don’t yet appreciate. And as we learn together how to do it, We’ll all grow in our relationships with Christ. We’ll grow in our relationships with each other—this is why we’re encouraging every single one of you to dive into the small-group curriculum with a few other people for four weeks’ time, whether you’ve been in a small group before or not. We’ll get better at pointing people to faith. Finally, we’ll have fun doing it!
Let’s pray… Heavenly Father, thank you for the model Jesus Christ set for us when he left his Circle of Comfort in heaven. He trudged across the cosmos, took on human flesh, and dwelled among us. If Christ hadn’t made his walk, it is almost unimaginable what our lives would be like. But because he did, it is now our turn to learn how to take walks across rooms. It is our turn.
God, I pray that you will anoint these four weeks in a supernatural way. I pray that you will turn every timid heart into a bold heart for you … that you will take every pair of shaky legs—legs that are often too comfortable in their existing circle—and that you will help point them toward people outside the circle who need a touch from you.
God, I pray that as our church moves into this exciting new era that every single person in this fellowship will be open to becoming a walk-across-the-room kind of person, to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. It’s in his name that we pray, Amen.