Preaching to the Choir

I have spent most of my adult life living and working among Muslim peoples. Few of my friends there had even a rudimentary understanding of Christianity or Christ.

As a follower of Jesus, who has tasted and seen that life with Christ is truly the best kind of life, I was eager to share with them. I was often the first, if not the only Christian they had ever met. As I, and my family, lived among them, they watched our lives and our interactions closely. Although few were eager to embrace Jesus, many were interested in hearing more. They wanted to learn more about what I believed and why we lived the way we did.

I now find myself living the the United Kingdom, in Wales specifically. I live among a people who would generally consider themselves Christians. We have public, government sanctioned, ceremonies where prayers are recited and hymns are sung. The head of the government, Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of the Church of England. My being a Christian is nothing interesting or worthy of notice.

Since moving here I have struggled with how to effectively reach a people for whom the Gospel is no longer new, or of interest. How do you share the good news, when it is not received as either news or good?

Recently, I have been drawn back to the Old Testament prophets. These men lived among the people of God. The Israelites were steeped in the knowledge of God through their law, festivals, and culture from their birth. These were, by definition, the chosen people of God.

The prophets of Israel to Israel were preaching to the choir. With the exception of Jonah, the prophets were called by God not to take the good news to those who had never heard, but to remind the people of what they should have already known and been practicing. But the people didn't want to know. They repeatedly rejected the prophets messages and often treated the prophets badly, even killing a number of them.

I now find myself in a similar position. I am encouraged to know that others have gone before me, and to learn from them. On the other hand, I'm not wild about the track record of the prophets and do not hope to emulate their dangerous and frustrating experience. In the end, I don't need to worry about any of that. I just need to answer the call and step out of the boat to follow my Master across the waves wherever He leads.

A Cup

What a privilege it is to be used by God. We are rarely aware of the way that God is using us, and that is probably a good thing...at least for me. I think that it would serve to puff up my already considerable ego. I am sure that even when I am being used by God, there is some of me mixed in and I cannot always tell the difference. I can't always sort out, which bit is divine and which is an expression of my mixed bag of emotions.

This weekend I believe I was used by God. I say this with some trepidation, but I believe it to be true, not because I feel a particular way, but because of the reactions of others. I was given the opportunity to preach on Sunday at a church. The pastor was traveling and they invited me to fill the pulpit. To be honest, I'm in the middle of a bunch of stuff right now, and I didn't really want to do it, but they asked and I felt compelled to say "yes". So, over the last few weeks I have been praying, studying, and preparing. Then, on Sunday I got to preach.

After the service and even into this week people have been contacting me to let me know how God spoke to them particularly through the sermon. It is not uncommon to get the occasional, "Good sermon pastor!" kind of comments from people, but these are different. One man called me and told me how his heart was touched and his life will forever be different in some very practical ways because of decisions he made in response the sermon. I have been preaching for a long time and rarely, if ever, have I seen this kind of response.

I don't think it is because I was better prepared, had a snappier outline, or better alliterations. I don't think it had to do with me much at all. As I have been reflecting on this, I think my role is like a cup. When you are drinking something, you rarely think about the cup. The size, shape, color, or design of the cup make little if any difference. The cup is not the point, the beverage is the point. The cup is not insignificant, it is useful and necessary to the process, but it is a means and not the end. Imagine going to a fine restaurant and ordering a really nice glass of wine. As you enjoy the wine, you won't really be thinking about the glass. The wine is what you enjoy, the cup is merely the utensil to get the wine into your mouth.

For whatever reason, God chose to use this vessel, this cup, to get the wine of communion into the mouths of His people on Sunday. What a an awesome privilege and tremendous joy to be a cup in God's hand and for His purposes. I am humbled and thrilled that He would use me. When I preach I feel His pleasure. It was also so sweet and kind of Him to allow me to see some of the fruit. I feel like that was a personal touch, a little side gift, to me in this. He is so good.