The Single Greatest Gift - Sept. 14th, 2008

Date: September 14th, 2008

Speaker: Kevin Snyder

Title: The Single Greatest Gift

Series: Just Walk Across the Room

Introduction

Becky Pippert wrote a book several years ago entitled “Out of the Salt Shaker”

Her book begins identifying how many of us feel

“Christians and non-christians have something in common: We’re both uptight about evangelism. Our fear as Christians seems to be, “How many people did I offend this week?” we think we must be a little obnoxious in order to be good evangelists. A tension builds inside: Should I be sensitive to people and forget about evangelism, or should I blast them with the gospel and forget about their dignity as human beings? Many people choose to be aware of the person but then feel defensive and guilty for not evangelizing.”

I can relate to that.

I remember as a young teen asking my mother after a sermon at church on evangelism: “Mom, can a Christian still go to heaven even if they don’t evangelise?” I was deathly afraid of doing that at school. I could relate to the guy in the boat….underneath everything I was simply afraid of evangelism. I thought my friends would peg me as crazy, weird and want nothing more to do with me.

One of the reasons for my fear was the pictures of evangelism I had.

It was knocking on doors and asking, ”If you were to die tonight do you know for certain that you would go to heaven?”
It was inviting them to “evangelistic meetings” where they would be told they were going to hell unless they repented right now.
It was pulling out a booklet like the 4 spiritual laws and reading it to people.
It was standing on the corner with a bullhorn and telling uninterested people about Jesus.

And all of those methods made me break out in a cold sweat. If I could get to heaven without doing those things I was all for it.

Since those days I’ve learned some things. Becky Pippert really helped. I learned like she says later in the book.

“The first work of God is to take the natural man and make him spiritual. The second work of God is to take the spiritual man and make him natural.”

I learned that God wanted me to be natural.

And that is what this series is all about.

No formulas
No scripts.
No manipulative methods
No cold calling and offensive questions.

This series is about helping each of us discover that perhaps we can make an eternal difference in someone by something as simple as just walking across a room.

Let me give you a personal example that happened to me this past week.

I received a phone call from a man in the city putting on a conference here in November on men’s issues. It isn’t a Christian conference per say. He invited me to come as one of 4 speakers at this conference and wanted me to come and talk about “Men & Faith.” One of the reasons he gave for asking me to do this great opportunity was because when I heard him speak about men’s issues and his organization I was the only one who afterward went and invited him to meet with me and to talk to him more about men’s issues. A simple walk across the room.

Another example: from the book “Just Walk Across the Room.”

Story of Muslim man

Bill Hybels had been invited to a luncheon in the Deep South. As he and the other guests entered the hotel ballroom where the event was to take place and found their seats, they were asked to introduce themselves to the other folks around the table. Bill didn’t know the other members of his table group but immediately noticed how diverse they all were … just in terms of ethnicity, age, and so on.

Seated directly across from him, there was a tall, African-American gentleman ... kind of looked like a linebacker. When he said his name, it was distinctly Muslim. Then the next person went, and the next person, and they started their meal. At one point in the meal, the African-American Muslim made eye contact with Bill and mouthed the words, “I love your books!”

Here’s how Hybels writes it:

I looked over my shoulder to see if there was some famous author standing behind me. There wasn’t, so I said, “Me?”

He said, “Yeah, you! We’ll talk later …” He had this huge grin on his face, but I still thought that he had me confused with someone else. So after lunch he pulls me off to the side and says, “I now understand this is probably a little confusing because you assume I am a Muslim … let me tell you a quick story.

“I have been a Muslim my whole adult life. Being an African-American Muslim in a southern city—and being in the profession that I am in—it’s not always been easy. As you might imagine, I have some struggles in social settings.”

He said, “In the profession I’m in, we have a lot of cocktail parties, and a lot of evening events; and the natural course for me at these parties is that I’m served a drink, I get some hors d’oeuvres, and I try to make business contacts in the room. Inevitably, I wind up standing alone at most parties until enough time has elapsed and I feel like I can gracefully make an exit … and then I subtly leave. This whole dynamic is just something I’ve learned to live with.”

The Muslim man went on to tell Bill that one night, when he was at such a party, he found himself with a drink in one hand, a plate of food in the other, standing all by himself as usual. Sure, there were groups of people gathered throughout the entire room—talking, laughing, engaging in conversation about this or that—but he was there with no one to talk to and nothing to do. Except just stand there looking out of place.

At some point during the party, the Muslim man noticed a guy standing on the other side of the room who was in the middle of a conversation with people of his own color and his own “kind.” The guy looked away from his group and saw our Muslim friend standing all alone just ten feet away. He was perplexed that this guy would even care to notice him, but what happened next would utterly shock him.

The guy actually excused himself from his conversation, turned away from the group, walked all the way across the room, stuck out his hand to the Muslim man, introduced himself and then asked for the Muslim gentleman’s name.

From there, the conversation unfolded so smoothly … so naturally. They talked about their mutual profession. They talked about their families. They talked about business in general and sports and all sorts of things. Eventually—in this same conversation—the issue of faith came up.

Our African-American friend told Bill that at that point in the conversation, he became a little reticent … he just assumed that there would be an unfavorable reaction when the other guy learned he was Muslim. But he took the risk, and to his surprise, the guy said, “Well, I’m a Christ-follower, but, truth be told, I know almost nothing about Islam. Hey, I wonder if you would do me the courtesy sometime—maybe over breakfast one day—of giving me the Cliff’s Notes version of your faith system … you know, why you committed yourself to Islam. Hearing your story would be pretty interesting to me.”

The Muslim man almost fainted! Can you imagine his surprise when he saw a Christ-follower in a social setting like that operating with such openness and grace?

Well, the two men agreed to meet for breakfast the following week, and the conversation that ensued was incredible. The Christian man felt free to ask questions about Islam, and the Muslim man felt free to answer them.

That meeting led to another meeting the following week. And another one after that. And another. For weeks on end, these two men got together over cups of coffee so that one Christ-follower could take an interest in a man living far from God.

At some point in this series of breakfasts, an interesting thing happened. The Muslim man realized that this Christian guy had been a good listener all this time … week after week after week. He hadn’t judged the Muslim man’s life choices. He hadn’t wedged his own agenda into their conversations. He just kept showing up with a listening ear and a genuine interest in the Muslim man’s life.

I’ll let the Muslim man give you the rest of the story, as he told it to Bill at the luncheon that day:

I really didn’t remember that much about the Christian faith. I’d been a Christian at some point in my childhood, but the racism in our community had infiltrated my family’s church. Eventually, we just left the faith altogether. Doesn’t take a genius to know when you’re not wanted. But for some reason I was prompted during one of our breakfast meetings to say, “You’ve been such a good listener all this time … would you be willing to refresh my memory on the Christian faith?”

From there, it all happened so easily and respectfully and sensitively. And to make a long story short, many months later, after determining that Christianity was the superior faith system, I committed myself to Jesus Christ! And it has made an unbelievable change in my life, Bill. I am part of a local church now, and that is where I came across some of the books that you’ve written. I can’t tell you the difference this whole thing has made in my life … and in the lives of all of my family members.

Friends, the single greatest gift Christ-followers can give to people is an introduction to the God who created them, who loves them, and who has a purpose for their lives. Nothing beats the joy of that – no accolades, no monetary gains, no job opportunities.

And what this Christ-follower did was something we all can do – just walk across the room, and hope that God can use you to be a gift-bearer to someone living far from God.

Key Question:

What will it take for us to be gift-bearers? To give the single greatest gift to people?

1. Be willing to enter the zone of the Unknown

Graphic: big square with smaller dot to one side

Picture it:

Each of us has a “Circle of Comfort”.

It’s a circle where socially we feel comfortable.
We feel we can relate.
It’s easy to converse. It’s safe.
We don’t see anything “unsafe” happening.

And for each of us these circles vary in size.

And it’s a place we tend to gravitate to and like to stay.

Yet when this man in our story looked across the room he saw someone standing alone.

You’ve been there right? We all have been. It happens every Sunday after worship. It happens at every social gathering.

And when this man saw this man he didn’t just see, he felt something. And he 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….why don’t you go and greet him and say ‘hello’”

You know the feeling: You see. You feel. You hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

It is at this moment that we make a critical decision. I don’t want to over-dramatise it, but we make a decision which could change the eternal destiny of a person. We decide either to say:

“Excuse me” and we go over and greet them.

We decide someone else should do it. The pastor should do it if it’s at church. The host should do it.

We begin to rationalize all the reasons we can’t do it.

We have no idea what is going to happen when we cross that room.

We feel anxiety. What will they think? How will this go?

That walk takes us into “Zone of the Unknown.”

And it is often in that zone of the unknown where God often does his best work. It changed that African American’s life.

As Bill Hybels says in his book.

We walk an average of 10,000 steps a day. Over a lifetime that adds up to 115,000 miles or more than 4x around the globe.

An average room is about 5 meters. 10 steps.

What if 10 steps – just 1/1000th of your daily average could impact eternity?

Friends, I want to boil this “evangelism” thing down for you into a piece every Christ-follower can do – just a walk across the room.

A stepping from the circle of comfort into the zone of the unknown can make a difference for eternity.

Do you need biblical proof?

Do you remember story of Simon Peter, one of Jesus disciples?

John 1:40 - 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

There was Phillip & Nathaniel

43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him,

Matthew, the tax collector.

Luke 5: 27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

Zaccheus -

Luke 19:1 - 6 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly

The woman at the well. …John 4.

Jesus approaches her and asks for water….conversation ensues where she asks him for the living water which would quench the thirst of her soul. Jesus walked across the room, to a person of another nationality, to someone outside the Jewish comfort zone, someone outside the religious comfort zone because she had had 4 husbands and was now living with the 5th….Jesus walked across the room.

The lives of these people were forever changed because Jesus walked across the room to them.

And when you think of it on a grand scale. That’s what the incarnation of Jesus really is. Jesus didn’t just walk across a room, but he walked across the cosmos for you and for me. He left heaven and entered this world for you and for me.

A walk across a room can make a difference in someone’s life for eternity.

It did for these folks in Scripture.

It did for you & me in Jesus’ case.

And today, I want you to think for a moment.

Neighbour Nudge:

Is there someone who walked across a room in your life?

A Christian who befriended you. Who left his comfort zone and ventured into the zone of the unknown?

Pray: Thank God for them

Let them know the difference they made in your life.

Friends: Here’s a quote that hit me:

“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 is 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.”

If we are going to make a difference we need to leave our comfort circles and just walk across the room into the Zone of the Unknown.

2. Listen for the Holy Spirit’s promptings

Do you remember as we talked about that African- American man that the Christ-follower saw him and heard something. The gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit to walk across the room.

Have you felt that nudging….heard that still small whisper?

I have.

Sometimes I haven’t listened. Pushed it down. Rationalized it away.

One time felt prompting to go visit person in hospital…put it off. “Busy. Didn’t know him really well. Long ways. What am I going to say. Doesn’t expect me anyways.”

A few days later that person unexpectedly died. I often wonder what might have been if I had just taken that walk to that hospital.

Often I have responded and saw no visible results. Nothing big happened. No spiritual conversation. No lasting contact.

That’s okay.

As they say in the Stephen ministry Training “Christians are responsible for care, God is responsible for cure.”

I need to just obey.

But sometimes it has made a difference

Another time….down & out guy was a friend of one of the ladies whose kids came to our church. Got called in once when there was a big dispute in family other than that didn’t really know him….He was far from God and didn’t seem to care much for me either.

Ended up with cancer in hospital. This time listened to prompting and went to see him.

I can’t remember what exactly I asked him I think it was something along the line of “Is there anything you want me to pray with you about?”

Guy just unloaded. Talked about what a mess his life was and now no time to repair it. Sat there with mouth open. Told him about grace & thief on the cross. And asked if he would like to pray and accept Christ’s forgiveness. And he said “yes” and we prayed together. I went out of that room in total awe. Just thanked God for stirring me to go.

You see, one never knows. But the key thing is just obey when you sense that prompting.

If we are going to gift-givers, bring the greatest single gift we can to people and that is the life we have found in Jesus Christ it will take us walking across the room – from the circle of comfort to the Zone of the Unknown, under the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

Think about how you ended up in God’s kingdom. Think about how some of your friends ended up in the kingdom.

Almost every Christ-follower can think back on somebody – who walked across the room for them.

Thank God for them.

If they are here I want you to walk across room and tell them “thank you”.

Practise Exercise: “2 min rule”

If not greeted, most guests of a church service will be out the door in 2 mins. And so we have a 2 min window to express that this is an welcoming & friendly place. 2 min to connect.

Ask everyone to stand.

Now around you may be some people that you have seen, maybe even greeted before. Maybe someone never seen before. Maybe here for first time.
Now if you are in a cluster of friends who sit together I want you to just “walk across the room” to the zone of the unknown.

Exercise:

I want you to go over to someone outside your typical “comfort zone” in the “zone of the unknown”….might mean a little walk across the room. Now are you feeling the anxiety….good!

Go over reach out hand and say

“Hi, I’m ____________”

I’m glad you’re here.

What is your name____________.”

Hi (use their name)….

From there you are on your own….You can say

“I hate doing this ….how about you? Let’s go do coffee and whine about how we hate it when the preacher tells us to do these things!”

That simple gesture could probably cause our church to grow by 25%.

You know, the most common response I hear from people who visit and stay at a church….”They were so friendly. They made me feel like I belonged. They talked to me.”

Every Sunday we have usually 10 visitors….could it be something as simple as that 2 min rule and walking across the room could make an eternal difference in someone’s life.

Let me finish with this true story.

Her name was Tena. She was in my congregation in Winnipeg. She was in her 80’s then. She since has passed on.

A lady from the neighbourhood came in the front doors as Tena happened to becoming up from the basement past the front doors. She greeted her. Introduced herself and invited her to come and sit with her. When she got to her seat she introduced her to 2 or 3 of her friends that she sat with.

Anne came back the next week. This time with her daughter. Tena greeted her again. The next week Anne came with her daughter & son-in-law. In a few months her daughter’s daughter, husband and kids came.

In the next 6 months to a year – 3 of those came to know Christ.

Later Anne told me that she had attended a church years before for 30 years and met more people and felt more welcome in one Sunday than she did in 30 years at that other place. Anne went on to get involved in the care ministry in hospitality. She wanted to be a part of making the church a friendly welcoming place.

All that happened because one little, older lady, with 2 hearing aids, and a cane walked across the room.

Friends, could it be that God could use us to make an eternal difference in a person’s life by just simply “walking across the room”

Jesus walked across the cosmos for you.
Someone walked across the room for you at some point .
Let me challenge you to look across the room, listen to the Spirit’s prompting, and just follow Jesus example….just walk across the room.

Blessing

May God give you eyes to see,

Ears to hear

And Courage to move

And minds to remember to “just walk across the room.”

Prayer

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. As we were reminded today, he walked across dusty well areas to reach out a hand to a sin-scarred woman … and to reach out a hand to a sin-scarred (man/woman) like me … as well as so many people standing in front of me now—men and women from a variety of generations and all sorts of backgrounds.

If Christ hadn’t made his walk, it is almost unimaginable what our lives would be like. But because he did walk, 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 of personal evangelism, 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.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Jn 1:40-42

The Holy Bible: New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Lk 5:27-28

The Holy Bible: New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Lk 19:1-6

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