Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my forty third episode. In this episode I want to present you with a sermon that I gave live at my church. Please enjoy.
So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to approach the new year. Many of you who have been around me for the past few months have received a clear broadcast of a cultural trend that is somewhat pessimistic. In this world, spiritual well being is getting worse. It is absolutely crucial that we do not confine the bad things to the dark places. Places where they are out of sight and out of mind. An arrangement where we can remain blissfully blind and where evil is free to grow and spread like infection. It is for this reason that I will always do my best to square with the reality of our generation, and to deliver that report in as straightforward a manner as I am able to. But with all of that, I’ve always believed that pessimism by itself is an inaccurate view of reality. The truth is that good will outlast evil. Good has always been stronger than evil. Good will always be stronger than evil. And right now, for us, good is stronger than evil. That’s because God, our Father, can take any darkness – any evil – and give rise to a light that casts it out forever. Even with the crucifixion. Even with the undeserved torture and death of Jesus Christ, God was able to turn that darkest of moments into the best news this world has ever heard. And so I’ve been moved to do my best to articulate a way forward. To try to understand how we might be the people who God chooses to bring something very special into our community – and by extension into the world.
So you might ask: What is this special thing that God can bring into our communities through us? I think the answer is meaning. You see, meaning is what adds value to all of the sacrifices that you make. The promise God has made to us through His Word colors our world with meaning. He promises that your suffering means something. That your work means something. That your love means something. That your life means something. It is the meaning that you get from your relationship with God through Jesus Christ that brings joy, hope, and peace to your life. We know this because King Solomon, who tried nearly everything to create his own meaning, came to the same conclusion. Ecclesiastes 12:9-14:
9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
Just think about that for a second. Never allow your desire for surface level happiness to undermine your willingness to tell the truth.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
I just have one thing to say here. We are being told to be extraordinarily careful with the things we learn outside of this text. But we are not being forbidden from learning. I think that most new ideas are stupid and dangerous. Many traditions have stood the test of time for a reason. However, I am leery of turning a blind eye to exploration. It’s possible that although most new ideas are stupid and dangerous, there is one out there that is so absolutely vital that our institutions will shake themselves to pieces without it. And when you uncover a piece of information like that, it’s usually not a new idea, it’s an ancient one that has been lost to the generations and needs rediscovering.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.[a] 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with[b] every secret thing, whether good or evil.
I believe that if you view the world through the lens that is built by the principles in this book, you will enjoy a sense of meaning that is eternal – a sense of meaning that brings joy, hope, and peace to your life. I believe that is what well being really is. It’s not health, wealth, and prosperity. More on that in a minute. In order to feel meaning, joy, hope, and peace you don’t need anything else but Jesus – and the fastest ways of strengthening your relationship with Jesus are prayer, fellowship, worship, study of the Scriptures, and obedience. But all of that, everything in this Bible, depends on faith. On belief that Christ is who He says He is. And that’s where we run into problems when it comes to growing a church. And these aren’t new problems either. These problems have sullied this world since the moment Adam and Eve fell. Doubt and unbelief are not problems that we are going to eradicate in our lifetimes. But there are tools that we can use to help us in this fight. Like the problems, the tools aren’t new either. Perhaps they’ve just been buried in the ash heap that is the work of church leaders whose motives were self-interest. To find one of these tools, I want to walk slowly with you through three scenes in the book of Acts. Let us open the book of Acts to chapter 6 beginning in verse 1:
6 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists[a] arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers,[b] pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
So here we see Stephen approaching people who have a different belief system from his own. These are Jews and others who are very upset because they believe Stephen’s worldview is incompatible with theirs. So they immediately straw man his argument by accusing him of speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God. Then, they find a bunch of other people to be false witnesses and tell lies about him. For those of you who have tried sharing the Gospel in a godless environment I know you’ve experienced that treatment. So how does Stephen respond to all of this? Let’s pick up in chapter 7 beginning with verse 1:
And the high priest said, Are these things so? 2 And Stephen said:
Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God, and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place. 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.
35 This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? – this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.
44 Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[a] 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?
51 You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.
Stephen is entering their worldview and showing them that he understands it. Stephen is giving them the opposite treatment that they gave him. I think one of the most effective starting points for sharing the Gospel is to acknowledge the beliefs of the other person and take them seriously. Dale Carnegie said, “Remember that a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” If you approach a secular person, a Muslim, or a Jew and offhandedly dismiss their ideas without even knowing what they believe – then you will sound like a salesman when you share the Gospel. It’s possible to seek to understand other worldviews without adhering to them. Surely you’ve met Christians who understand the Bible well and do not adhere to it. By contrast, imagine approaching someone and making the best case you can for their beliefs and then explaining to them why Christ remains true in areas where their gods fall short. Maybe you’ll get stoned like Stephen. It’s true that if you approach someone in love with sound reasoning and give them the Good News, the only way they will not hear it is if they refuse to listen to what you’re saying. We see this happen to Stephen in verses 54-57:
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together[a] at him.
These people literally had to drown him out with their own shouting and refusal to listen. Just like a mob. To this day, that’s exactly what people do when they know they are on the wrong side of truth. But what Stephen experienced is far less common when you are working with individuals. If you approach individuals in this way, the person you’re speaking with will admire you for trying to understand them before being understood yourself. Maybe they will connect with you as a person and the love they feel will give them a reason to take a serious look at your beliefs. One thing is for sure, you will not look like a salesman. You’ll look like someone who loves the lost. And that will make you look like Jesus, because He loves the lost.
It is true that you will meet some people who are just ready to hear the Gospel. Usually these people have recently endured a crisis that made them second guess their own worldview. These people are seekers. This was me when I first came to the Chapel of Hope. In these situations, Philip the Evangelist shows us what to do, chapter 8, beginning in verse 26:
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise and go toward the south[a] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, Go over and join this chariot. 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you understand what you are reading? 31 And he said, How can I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else? 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?[b] 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Compared to Stephen, Philip’s job with the Ethiopian eunuch might seem easy. And it’s also a good illustration of how people tend to be more reasonable one-on-one than when they are part of a mob. But there’s two important ideas we need to take from Philip. First, he was prepared to explain the Word of God to the eunuch. We must have a good grasp on our worldview if we ever expect to share it effectively. Second, when the Holy Spirit urged him to make an approach, Philip obeyed. It’s no easy thing to put your neck out like that, but you never know when your words are the words a person needs to hear for their salvation. In keeping with this idea of understanding others, I want to show you an even more pronounced example through Paul in chapter 13, beginning with verse 13:
13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it. 16 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:
Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 And for about forty years he put up with[a] them in the wilderness. 19 And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will. 23 Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.
26 Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28 And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
You are my Son, today I have begotten you.
34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. 35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, You will not let your Holy One see corruption.
36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, 37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed[b] from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. 40 Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
41 Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.
42 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. 43 And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews[c] saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Just look at the response that Paul is getting. They are begging him to come back and share the Gospel with them again. God was providing such an increase that the Jews had to try to sabotage Paul. They couldn’t honestly contend with what he said because he explained to them how his position was the truth. And he did it in the context of their own Jewish worldview. He does it again with Barnabas in chapter 14, starting with verse 1:
Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.[a] 3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. 5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, 7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.
I told you at the beginning of this message that we have an opportunity to bring meaning into the lives of those in our community by sharing the Gospel. We looked at Solomon’s example and saw that we should turn to Christ and not to worldly things for this sense of meaning. Throughout this sermon I’ve tried to make the case that we have a better shot at winning people for Christ by taking their worldview seriously – by studying it so that we can understand it – and then showing them why we believe Jesus is the truth. Before we close in prayer there’s just one more thing that I want to share with you. It’s the story of Rat Park.
Rat Park was a series of studies on drug addiction that were conducted in the late 1970s by the Canadian psychologist Dr. Bruce Alexander. They put a rat into a pen and gave it access to 2 different bottles of water. One was pure water, the other was water laced with heroin (this was also done with cocaine). After sampling each bottle, the rat would choose to drink from the drug laced bottle until it died. This happened again and again with all of the rats they tried. Then, Dr. Alexander suggested that the reason the rats were getting addicted to the drugged water was because they were all alone in an empty pen with nothing to do. It was a miserable existence for them. So he built a structure that he called Rat Park. Rat Park contained everything that could possibly make a rat’s life meaningful: lots of cheese and food to eat, places to explore, and other rats to play and mate with. He put the two bottles of water into Rat Park. Every rat in Rat Park sampled both the pure water and the drug laced water, but all of them chose to stick with the pure water instead of the drugged water. None of them became addicted to the drugs. When the rat’s well being was provided for, it was a 100% difference in outcome.
You can take that study however you want to. But I think the sense of meaning which is had through a relationship with our Creator is the solution to many of the issues plaguing our neighborhoods today. I hope I have the privilege of spending the rest of my days reaching out and bringing as many people home to Christ as I can. Today, we looked at just one aspect of effective growth. There are many additional ways to do this and I hope to speak with you about more of them in the future.
If you enjoy this podcast, please rate it on Apple Podcasts. You can find the link on my website. You can follow The MHB Podcast on Facebook or Twitter @mhbpodcast. Tell your friends about it and share it on social media. With your help we can bring this work to those who need it and God-willing we will change the course their lives. If you’d like to support my work directly, you can do so at www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me, and I will see you in the next episode.
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