Audience of One
Notes
Transcript
Looking Fabulous
Looking Fabulous
Who noticed my nails? I hope they haven’t been distracting to your worship. You knew there had to be a story.
I kind of forget about them, but I have had video conferences all week. And every now and then I see a funny look come across someone’s face, or they carefully ask… or they blurt out: are your nails painted???!
Yup. And it looks fabulous!
I’ll tell you what I told all of them. My daughters opened a private and exclusive salon in our house Saturday night. Arabelle did my nails, Ella and Arabelle did my hair, hair chalk and glitter, and they did my face.
While I sadly had to wash my face, my fingernail polish remains.
Who cares what my work crew thinks. My daughters love it, and that kind of transforms into something awesome… even when other people hate it.
And Karen hates it and has begged me to remove it before church. But I said “NO!” the people have a right to know! You’re welcome.
Who cares what they think. My daughters love it.
What Other People Think
What Other People Think
How often are we driven by what other people think?
If we’re honest, how often do we let that drive us? Drive our decisions, influence our decisions.
If we’re really honest. Of course we do!
“Not me, I’m an independent thinker! I go my own way.” “I don’t even care!”
That’s the words of a defensive teenager, not honest self-reflection. We are humans, we want to live in community, we want people to like us. Of course we do. That’s not even a bad thing, some of that is social skill. It can translate into being kind, into being considerate, considering how our actions will be received and perceived. There can be wisdom in that.
We want other people to like us. And, on the flip side, we don’t want other people to not like us.
How often are we driven by what other people think? Or might think. Or how we imagine they would think or react if we did that thing? All the time. Accurate or inaccurate, there is a little social calculus going on in the back of all our minds, counting the cost or gain of our words and deeds in all our relationships.
What about when I do something stupid and people don’t like it anyway? Only two options. 1) I miscalculated. I didn’t expect that to make you that mad, or I forgot about a factor. I forget my nails are painted and flash them in front of the camera because I talk with my hands, and I didn’t mean to distract you in the middle of a meeting.
Or, option 2, there was something I cared about more that overrode or outweighed the “cost” of your reaction.
I am willing to offend you if I can impress the person I value more than you. My kids get in trouble at school at times because they value making their friends laugh more than they are worried about offending or being disrespectful to the teacher. Welcome to home school.
How often do we let “what they’ll think” stop us from doing the right thing?
Paul - Clueless or Fearless?
Paul - Clueless or Fearless?
My friend Paul, on his 2nd missionary journey, but he did this on his first missionary journey too. This guy is making a career out of getting chased out of, stoned out of, beaten out of, thrown out of cities. One after another. He doesn’t know how to leave a city without a screaming mob at his back.
Doesn’t he care what people think? Shouldn’t he maybe change his strategy for something a little more palatable, a little nicer, maybe a little less abrasive or offensive? The way he is going he is going to get kicked out of every town in Eurasia and then what’ll he do?
This has already happened town after town. Wayne reminded us in our Bible Study on Thursday night, every town in Galatia, Paul was kicked out of. He continues this pattern in three cities in Acts 17.
Thessalonica
Thessalonica
From Philippi, here in Macedonia, modern day northern part of Greece. He is going to go into “Greece” proper, called the province of “Achaia”. Then he will head next door to Berea… and then all the way down the peninsula to the most famous Greek city: Athens.
Fleeing from Philippi having just planted a church there...
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
To the Jew first, then to the Gentile.
explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
He proved it… and some responded.
And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
What happens every time? Three weeks Paul lasted in Thessalonica.
But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.
And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Poor Jason! Sorry, Jason!
Berea
Berea
Now from Thessalonica… over to Berea, 45 miles away.
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
Note that in Philippi, in Thessalonica, and now here in Berea it is notable that women, and women of high standings are noted, called out… and scholars see them as pillars, likely financial pillars, to much of Paul’s ongoing ministries.
But what happens every time?
But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.
Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.
Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
Athens
Athens
Now… all the way down to Athens… 140 miles.
We are going to talk lots next week about what Paul says in Athens. It’s so good. It is an incredible model of what evangelism should look like, of how you and I should do it. Powerful. He preaches on Mars Hill… and we should all be Mars Hill kind of people.
But I’m going to skip all that this week. And just skip to the end. Paul preaches the gospel and guess what happens.
Some believe. and some reject.
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
So Paul went out from their midst.
But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
They didn’t even need Jews stirring them up. Just hearing about “resurrection” was enough for them to mock him out of the town.
But over and over again, we see this same pattern. Why does Paul keep going?
Doesn’t he care what other people think?
Doesn’t that matter to him, that they mock him. That most reject him and his message? Isn’t he embarrassed, at some level?
He is a human being, he surely wants other people to like him and doesn’t like it when other people don’t like him, don’t respect him, don’t listen to him.
This is one of the things I love about Paul. We get glimpses into what he’s thinking… because he writes letters back to these churches. One of his very earliest letters, when Timothy returns to Paul reporting that things are still going strong in Thessalonica… Paul writes this letter to them. His first letter, so we call it 1 Thessalonians. Creative naming scheme.
And he describes his thinking and feeling when he was witnessing to them:
For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain.
But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.
We just read about that conflict. He was run out of town. But here is where Paul’s heart is, here is why he keeps preaching:
For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive,
but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
Not to please man… but to please God.
Not to please man… but to please God.
Not to please man… but to please God.
Paul decides he cares far more about pleasing God in heaven than he does about whether men will be pleased.
That may sound obvious. It isn’t.
Paul chooses, he chooses, to live before an audience of one.
Paul chooses to live before an audience of one.
I don’t think this means he doesn’t feel discouragement. I don’t think this means he doesn’t feel social pressure. I bet he prays every time before he enters a city that more people will hear this time… and that he won’t get stoned this time… he feels all the same things.
But then he has a choice.
Do I care more about what my coworkers think about my nails… or what my daughters think. Trump card, I am going for their sweet smiles.
Do I care more about what these people I just met will think about Jesus’ resurrection… or what God thinks about how I tell His story? I am going for His sweet smile!
Paul chooses to live before an audience of one. Not to please man but to please God.
Not to be confused with not caring about the people, Paul deeply cares about them.
But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
Afectionately desirous. The way a mother cares for her children, we “loved you dearly”.
Not just the gospel, but our own selves.
Out of love for men and women, looking only to please God, ready to share the gospel of God and also our own selves.
I love you… but I’m not seeking to please you. That’s an important distinction.
I am also not only throwing the gospel at you and washing my hands of you… I am authentically, truly sharing myself with you. The gospel is my story, the gospel as my story.
Affectionately desirous. The way a mother cares for her children, we “loved you dearly”. ely so. Run me out of town. That was Paul’s experience everywhere he went. The sad and hard truth is that some will reject the gospel… and you can’t do anything about that. f
But I am not looking for or needing their approval. Though I love them… the only one whose pleasure I am seeking is God’s. The only one. The audience of One.
What Stops Me From Evangelizing?
What Stops Me From Evangelizing?
What stops me from evangelism? What stops me from sharing my story, God’s story? What stops me from sharing my life?
Now there could be lots of reasons. I don’t know how. I’ve never done that before. I don’t know what to say. We can address all those, many of them next week on Mars Hill in Athens.
We aren’t all Paul. I’m not saying we should all go on a first missionary journey, tour random cities, and start preaching on the corner. As we will see next week, even Paul worked hard at connecting to particular places and people, speaking the gospel to a culture in a way that it will best hear.
But we aren’t all evangelists, we aren’t all preachers, or teachers.
True.
We are all called to love our neighbors. We are all commanded to be witnesses in one way or another.
And, as we have said many times before, there may be someone who needs to hear or see the gospel in exactly the way you will share it, you will tell it.
What stops us? Often. All too often, we are afraid of what people will think. Of what people will say.
Do we care more about how a stranger will perceive us… than how our silence speaks to our Audience of One?
Do we care more about what man thinks or what God thinks?
Am I living for the audience of One?
Praying with a Friend
Praying with a Friend
A few months ago a friend called me, and we had been talking regularly for a few months about a situation he was facing. He was venting and seeking advice. He’s a non-Christian and has often told me one of his favorite things about me is that I’m not a “pushy Christian.”
There’s some social pressure right there. Explicit.
At the end of our phone call I feel the call to pray for him, with him, on the phone. And I hesitate… because I think he’s not going to like that!
But I really think God is calling me to pray for him. So I say “Can I pray for you?” And he pauses, awkwardly, and says “what?”
“Can I pray for you? With you right now?” Long awkward pause. “Okay.”
So I do. I pray. I pray God will give him guidance and wisdom. And I say “Amen” and he says a half-hearted thanks.
Now I want to say that he called me in tears about how much that prayer changed his life.
He didn’t. In fact he didn’t call again for months and we had been talking regularly up until then. I think it was exactly as awkward as I had feared and wierded him out. All those things.
But none of that matters. There is an overriding concern. As much as I want him to like me, to not think I’m a “pushy Christian”… even more than that I want to please my heavenly Father. And I know that he loves my friend more than I do, and that move to pray with him was good for him, even as it pleased my heavenly Father for me to do it.
I lived for the audience of one. And oh, by the way, that will be more effective for the good of everyone around you than any tiptoeing or hemming and hawing or silencing yourself you could ever do! Even for those who, if only for a time, reject the gospel and the name of Jesus.
Do we let “what they will think” keep us from speaking the gospel?
Or more generally, do we ever let “what they will think or say or do” keep us from doing what God has called us to do?
May it never be!!!
Let’s live for the audience of One.