There is a story about two young Mormon
missionaries who were going door to door. They knocked on one woman’s
door who was not at all happy to see them. The woman told them in no
uncertain terms that she did not want to hear their message and slammed
the door in their faces. To her surprise, however, the door did not
close and, in fact, almost magically bounced back open. She tried again,
really putting her back into it and slammed the door again with the same
amazing result--the door bounced back open. Convinced that one of the
young religious zealots was sticking his foot in the door, she reared
back to give it a third slam. She felt this would really teach them a
lesson. But before she could act, one of them stopped her and politely
said, "Ma'am, before you do that again, you really should move your
cat."
We don’t see many door-to-door salesmen anymore. Why not? First of all,
nobody's home anymore. At least, not in the day time. And at night, with
so much to do, and after husband and wife have worked all day, most
people don't want to be bothered with strangers knocking at the door. We
live in a different world than the one in which Jesus appointed seventy
emissaries and told them to go out two-by-two into the towns and
villages from house to house to heal the sick and to tell everyone who
would listen that the Kingdom of God is near. We could do that today,
but the results would be disappointing. We now have doctors and
hospitals to heal people's bodies, and most people today would not be
too happy to have us tapping on their door. Door-to-door salesmen have
been replaced with telemarketers, e-mail spam, and Trin-i-tron
Billboards. With Caller I.D. we can avoid the telemarketers. With
unwanted e-mail we simply hit the “delete” key. And there are so many
Billboards that we are
oblivious to half their messages anyway.
So if Jesus were here today, how would he get his message out? First of
all - people would have to be convinced that they needed what Jesus had
to offer. That was the problem a certain Second Lieutenant had during
World War II. He graduated from Harvard University and went into the
military. Having been in the R.O.T.C. program, he was very proud of his
alma mater and proud of his new position as a second lieutenant. His
first assignment was to take a group of raw recruits from the hills of
Oklahoma and convince them that they should buy G.I. Life Insurance, a
policy that was offered by the U.S. Government that would pay their
families $10,000 if they died while on duty.
He marched in with his freshly pressed uniform and shining brass,
wanting to do well in his first assignment as a second lieutenant in the
U.S. Army. With great eloquence and rhetorical ability he appealed to
these men’s responsibility, their love of family, and loyalty to
country. He came to the end of his presentation and asked for a
response. “How many of you will buy G.I. Life Insurance before you go
overseas?” Nobody responded.
Well, he was facing failure, but he was determined and not one to give
up easily. So he redoubled his efforts and with even greater brilliance
rose to the occasion and gave a straightforward, clear, convincing
presentation as to why they should buy G.I. Life Insurance before they
went overseas. And again he came to the close and got no response. At
this point, he lost it and began to share a part of his mind he couldn’t
afford to lose. The situation was deteriorating rapidly when a wise old
master sergeant walked up, put his arm around the second lieutenant’s
shoulder and said, “Sir, let me speak to the men. I don’t think you
convinced them they have a need.”
He turned to the men and said, “Gentlemen, it’s like this. You go
overseas and you don’t buy G.I. Life Insurance and you get a bullet in
the head, the government doesn’t have to come up with anything. On the
other hand, you go overseas and you buy G.I. Life Insurance and you get
a bullet in the head, the government has to come up with 10,000 big
ones. Let’s go over this again. You go overseas, you don’t buy G.I.
Insurance, you get a bullet in the head, the government doesn’t have to
come up with anything. On the other hand, you go overseas, you have G.I.
Insurance, you get a bullet in the head, the government has to come up
with 10,000 big ones. Now tell me, gentlemen, who do you think the
government will send to the front lines first?” Well, he sold some life
insurance.
As this story demonstrates, you can’t sell anything to people, unless
you can convince them that they need it. In the same way, you won’t be
successful sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with your friends,
unless you are able to understand their needs and help them to see that
Jesus can meet their needs. And sometimes we still need to convince
ourselves of
the importance of our faith in Jesus Christ. How is your life better
knowing of God’s saving Grace through Jesus Christ? Do you feel a little
lighter after worship knowing that your sins are forgiven? Can you have
patience in stressful situations knowing God is there to support us in
times of need? Do you realize the strength you have when facing the
death of a loved one
because of the promise of Eternal Life? You know these things, but there
are many out there who don’t. When are we going to tell them?
There was an interesting story in Readers Digest sometime back by Elise
Miller Davis titled, "When Someone Is Drowning, It's No Time To Teach
Him How to Swim." Ms. Davis tells of sitting near a swimming pool one
day and hearing a commotion. A head was bobbing in and out of the
deepest water. Ms. Davis saw a man rush to the edge of the pool and
heard him yell, "Hold your breath! Hold your breath!" Then a young lady
joined him, screaming, "Turn on your back and float!" Their voices
caught the attention of the lifeguard. Like a flash, he ran the length
of the pool, jumped in, and pulled the man in trouble to safety.
Later, the lifeguard said to Ms. Davis, "Why in the name of heaven
didn't somebody holler that one word--Help? When someone's drowning,
it's no time to teach him how to swim."
There are people in our community who are barely staying afloat?
Families are disintegrating, young people are becoming chemically
addicted, middle-aged people are facing life-crises. Just because the
strategy of going out two-by-two door-to-door is outmoded doesn't mean
the need has disappeared. And people need to hear of God’s love before
it’s too late and they are in crisis.
Roger Shelton, was a pastor from Nashville, Tennessee, who was in Pusan,
Korea, on an evangelistic mission. With an interpreter, Shelton visited
a man who had creeping paralysis. Both of his legs were paralyzed and
the disease threatened his life if no cure could be found. Entering a
dimly lighted room, Shelton found the man crouched on the floor.
Speaking through the interpreter, he told the stricken man he had come
to talk with him about Jesus Christ. The Korean replied, "I know. I have
been waiting for you a long time."
The interpreter responded by saying they had arrived at the appointed
time. The Korean explained. "That's not what I meant. My people are
Buddhist, and I have been a Buddhist. But Buddha gives me no comfort."
Then he pointed to a Korean Bible. He noted that he had read through it
twice. "It tells of a great one. I have waited for someone to come and
tell me more about him." He said that he had believed that if the Bible
was true, God would send someone to tell him. Shelton told the man about
Jesus. He believed. As they were leaving, the man thanked them for
coming. Shelton said, however, that the man's final words shook his
emotional being. The man said, "You almost waited too long."
Those words haunted Roger Shelton. They ought to haunt us. "You almost
waited too long." There are people in our community who are in desperate
straits. And Christ has called us to minister to them before it is too
late. Jesus still calls us to reach out to the world. Our Mission
Statement is in keeping with this. We are here to share the life, love
and joy of Jesus Christ with others. We do not exist for ourselves.
One of my fears with our Building Program is that we are beginning to
pay more attention to our needs in having a nice room for Coffee Hour
and a new reliable Air Conditioning system, that we will begin
neglecting our Mission. We are here because, like with those 70 chosen,
we have been appointed to go ahead of him and tell the message he would
have told.
We aren’t called to go out and beat people over the head with this
message. We do not restrain them and brainwash them into believing. We
are to respond as Paul told the Galatians to respond. Paul said: “My
friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received
the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Bear one
another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
In this morning's Scripture lesson, Jesus selects 70 men to go out in
teams of two
to begin the work of reaping the harvest of God's fields. He gives them
specific instructions about how they should respond to the people they
meet, what they should take, where they should go. He does not give them
options. They get specific instructions; he even dictates what they
should say and do. They will receive what is their due, but they are not
to seek anything special. They are to carry nothing but the basics. They
are to be single-minded in their thinking and their doing. They even
know when they are to shake the dust off their feet when they have been
rejected. In a sense, it sounds like a training session for door-to-door
vacuum cleaner salesmen. With this "by the book" marketing technique,
they start off to
prepare the way of the Lord. They are told as they leave Jesus' side,
"Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me.
And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." It can’t get any
simpler than that.
Luke records the return of the 70 by saying that they came back to Jesus
in great joy. "Lord," they said, "even the demons obeyed us when we gave
them a command in your name."
Jesus knew that they had followed his directions. “You have authority to
overcome the power of the enemy. Nothing will hurt you. Don't get
excited because evil spirits obey you. Instead, rejoice that your names
have been recorded in heaven."
The 70 who Jesus sent out were very similar to us. They came back
surprised that what Jesus told them really worked!!! The difference
between them and us is that they went out and did it!
We have been given the challenge. We have been given the gifts of the
spirit. We have been given the assurance of success. The question is,
will we go out and share the life, love and joy of Jesus Christ with
others? Amen.