Greg Laurie - First Century Principles for Reaching the 21st Century (12/10/2017)
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Pastor Greg Laurie shares "First Century Principles for Reaching the 21st Century," drawing from Paul's Mars Hill sermon in Acts 17 to show timeless ways to communicate the gospel effectively today. He stresses starting with a God-given burden, cultural relevance without compromise, arousing interest, prioritizing biblical preaching centered on Christ crucified and risen, calling for repentance, and trusting God with the results—urging preachers to stay faithful amid a changing culture.
My Love for Preaching – And What I Can't Stand
The title of my message is "First Century Principles for Reaching the 21st Century". You know, I don't know about you, but I love to listen to preaching. Now it is not just because I am a preacher and I want to learn how to do it better, but I really like hearing preachers. And I have all these Bible teaching programs loaded on my iPod. And when I am out exercising in the morning I am catching up on them. And I just like to listen to teaching of the Word throughout the day when I have spare time.
And then I have to admit even at night when I have the remote control I start looking at all the Christian TV shows. And there are some real weird people out there. I don't know what the deal is with TV, but a lot of them are out there. But I am just fascinated. I listen. I watch. I am always observing. And you know, I have to say that if there is one thing I can't stand it is bad preaching. It is probably like a musician listening to bad music. Or a chef eating bad food. Because you know what it can be and when it isn't good you know it. And there is some bad preaching out there.
And the other thing that I dislike is long preaching. And when I say long I mean when it goes too long. Have you ever heard of... Now I have to really watch the clock after saying that. But you know, have you ever been listening to a message and you are saying, well this is a really good message. And it goes a little bit longer. This is a great message. It goes a little bit further on. This may be the greatest message I have ever heard. And a little bit longer he continues. And you think, this, this, my life is being changed right now by these truths I am hearing. Man that is great. And he keeps going. That would be the perfect place to stop. And he is still going. And a little long but still good. Keeps going. It is getting long now. I am getting kind of hungry. A little bit longer. When is he going to shut up?
We have all heard guys go too long. People go too long. I heard a story about a guy that was, a preacher that was asked to say a few words at a civic event. And of course that is asking a lot for a preacher to say a few words. And he was supposed to speak for 10 minutes. And he went past his time. He was at 15 minutes. And the moderator cleared his throat so the preacher would get the hints and stop. Still this minister continued to speak. The moderator finally pounded down his gavel at 22 minutes hoping the preacher would finally bring this to a close. Still the good reverend continued to preach. And finally the moderator pounded his gavel down trying to stop the preacher. This guy wouldn't stop. So the moderator in frustration threw the gavel at the preacher. Barely missed him. He hit an elderly man who had fallen asleep in the front row. The old guy woke up, looked up, saw the preacher who was still speaking and said to the moderator, "Hit me again. I can still hear him."
You ever felt that way? It is amazing to me that a person can take the power packed life changing message of the gospel and deliver it in a dull and boring manner. But some people seem to have this ability. Even the way they read the Word of God, it is like they pull the life out of it. You know, listening to them preach is like watching paint dry. God help us to be better communicators. May He help us to learn that there are principles that we can find in Scripture that can better enable us bring this message in a way that will cause people to listen. But it is something we must work at. And we want to be current. We are called to bring the gospel in the 21st century. We need to be relevant. I will talk about that in a moment.
The Doctor's Advice – And the Wife's Response
I heard about a woman who had a husband who was feeling very ill. She wasn't quite sure what was wrong with him. So she took him to see the doctor. And after a thorough checkup, the doctor called the wife in and said, "Ma'am, I need to talk to you." And so she sat down. And he said, "Your husband is very ill. In fact, his illness is so serious he may die unless some radical steps are taken. First of all, his illness is actually compounded by stress. So you need to create a stress-free environment for him. And by that I mean you can't bother him with any problems. Don't ever criticize him. Don't ask him to do any chores. Relieve him of all responsibilities. Make him his favorite meal for breakfast. A gourmet meal for lunch. Same thing at dinner. Affirm him constantly. And smother him with affection. Let him know that you love him morning, afternoon, and night. And if you will do this for six months to a year, your husband will make a full recovery."
So the wife said, "Thank you doctor." And left his office. And she got in the car with her husband. And they are driving home. And the husband said, "Dear, what did the doctor say?" She said, "You are going to die." Some of us would rather see the patient die than change our methods. Okay? So I am challenging you to think in the next few days. And to be open to learning how you can be a more effective communicator.
Back to the Original Template – Paul's Mars Hill Sermon
And so we are going way back to the original template. We are going back to the church that Jesus started. The church that turned their world upside down. And thus we are going to find some first century principles that will help us in preaching in the 21st century. Of course, as many of you already know, Acts 17 is the story of Paul preaching in Athens at Mars Hill. He was speaking largely to a pagan culture. This is in direct contrast to Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost with a largely religious audience that would be familiar with Old Testament Scripture. Paul is speaking to a pagan culture. And for the most part, that is what we are preaching to today as well. A pagan culture. A people that are biblically illiterate.
Of course, Athens, Greece was a city that was well known for their great philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. And for their temples that were erected to the many gods that the Greeks would worship. Having visited Greece not that long ago, we went up to the Parthenon and looked around at these images that had been unearthed from days gone by. And these Greeks were passionate about their worship of gods. In fact, it was said in that time it was easier to find a god in Athens than it was a man. There were so many idols all around the city.
So the Apostle Paul takes time to check out the culture. To find out what the people are thinking. And then he brings the message of God's Word to this. Let's read about it now. Acts 17 starting in verse 16. "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all of the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to debate with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and spoke daily in the public square of all that happened to be there. And he had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and His resurrection, they said, 'This babbler has picked up some strange ideas.' Others said, 'He is pushing some kind of foreign religion.' And they took him to the Council of Philosophers and said, 'Come and tell us more about your new religion,' they said. 'You are saying some startling things and we want to know what it is all about.'"
It should be explained that the Athenians, as well as the foreigners in Athens, seemed to spend all their time in discussing the latest ideas. So Paul, verse 22, standing before the Council, addressed them as follows, "Men of Athens, I notice you are very religious. For as I was walking among you I saw your many altars. And one of them had this inscription on it, 'To the unknown God.' You have been worshipping Him without knowing who He is. And now I wish to tell you about Him." We will stop there.
Understanding the Audience – Epicureans and Stoics
Now there were two primary groups that Paul was addressing here in Athens. And verse 18 tells us there were Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Two dominant schools of thought. The Epicureans derived their world view from Epicureus. Epicureus taught that the world came about by chance. A random concourse of atoms. And there would be no afterlife or future judgment. According to their founder Epicureus he said, "The chief purpose of life was to attain the maximum amount of pleasure with a minimum amount of pain." Their basic philosophy was if it feels good do it. You go around life once so enjoy the moment. You might say the Epicureans were the party animals of the first century. And certainly we live in a pleasure mad culture today. In fact the Scripture tells us one of the signs of the last days is men would be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
In contrast to the Epicureans there were the Stoics founded by their philosopher who went by the name of Zeno. In contrast to the Epicureans the Stoics were more disciplined shunning the pursuit of pleasure. The Stoics believed in self-mastery that the goal of life was to reach a place of indifference to pleasure or pain. And we were to sort of remove ourselves from it all. It was almost like the precursor to New Age philosophy. One of the Stoic philosophers known as the Eggman said, "I am he as you are me and we are we." Now that was actually John Lennon and the Beatles. But it is similar. Remember the rest of it? I am the Eggman. I am the Walrus. Cuckoo Kajoo. Okay I guess not.
Cultural Parallels – Then and Now
But another thing that was happening at this time culturally that was important was Greek had become a common language. Now the Romans bludgeoned the world in submission. They conquered Greece. But Greek culture in many ways had a dramatic influence on Rome. But with a Roman road system that had pulled cultures together like never before and now a common language of Greece it was the perfect time for the Gospel to come to the world.
We look at our own culture today. How we can have instant communication. With a tap of the cursor you can access and give out information through the web. You can have immediate communication on demand wherever you want it. We are the I generation if you will. And so we see a lot of parallels between their time and our time. Another thing I find interesting was they spent their time in looking for the latest, newest idea. Verse 21. "The Athenians and foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but to hear some new thing." Another translation says, "Downtown Athens was a great place for gossip. They were always hanging around, natives and tourists alike, waiting for the latest tidbit on just about anything."
We are a gossip culture that is obsessed with gossip. We want to follow the celebrities around and see the latest thing. What are they saying? What are they doing? And then we will go out on the blogosphere and enter our thoughts on that topic. And we are always looking for the new thing to believe in. That is the way the people of Athens were. And as we look at our country today, and we look at a culture that is turned upside down. Where we are having to pass a law here in California saying that we believe marriage is between a man and a woman. And that seems out of step with many Californians. I apologize for our confused state to those of you that are visitors. But we are living in a time where right is wrong and wrong is right. The very time that Isaiah wrote of when he said, "Woe to those that call evil good and good evil. Who put darkness for light and light for darkness."
The very foundations of our country are crumbling beneath our feet because we have lost our way. And here is the problem I also see. As I see this permeating the church. Instead of the church turning the world upside down, far too often it seems to me that the world is turning the church upside down. A secular philosophy is coming in. And we find compromises happening. And we find the minimizing of the Word of God. Of the exposition of Scripture. Paul says, or rather in 2 Timothy 4 we read that a time is coming when people no longer will listen to right teaching. And they will follow their own desires and look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear. Friends, that time is here. And that is why you are here. Because we need to change that. We need to come back with the Word of God.
Principle 1: Effective Communication Starts with a Burden
So let's find some first century principles for impacting the 21st century. Principle number one. Effective communication must begin with a burden. Effective communication must begin with a burden. I could talk all day about technique and how to outline a sermon, an introduction, a conclusion, the use of humor, illustration, etc, etc. But that is all meaningless if you don't have a God-given burden to reach people. Verse 16, "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see the city was full of idols." Another translation would say his soul was exasperated or roused to anger.
You know there is a place for anger. The Bible says be angry and sin not. But there is righteous indignation. And I ask you the question tonight. Do you ever just get ticked off by what you see happening in the culture? Where you just say this isn't right. Something has to be done. But instead of cursing the darkness, is there a way to turn on the light and penetrate and infiltrate culture? See far too often the church is isolating when we ought to be infiltrating and influencing without compromising I might add.
So Paul's message began when the Spirit was stirred. The problem is sometimes we are living in a Christian subculture. You know we get inside of our little Christian bubble and we never leave it. In fact our goal of the day is to have as little contact with non-believers as possible. You know? And so we have this little world that we live in and we don't really want to reach people. You know? And one thing I have said to those that are pastors or evangelists or communicators in general, is I will say one of the reasons you don't see response is because you don't care.
I had one pastor once write me and he took offense to me daring to say that a pastor didn't care about lost people. But then he says, I began to pray about it and realized I didn't care about lost people at all. I mean do you care about people that don't know the Lord? You say, well of course I do. I get up on my pulpit on Sunday morning and preach the gospel. Or I go and hold these meetings here and meetings there. That is fine. That is what you do in a professional way. But I am asking you personally, when is the last time you shared the gospel with someone when no one was watching? No one to impress. Just you and a person having a conversation about Jesus.
You might be surprised to find that I actually find it easier to stand behind a pulpit and preach to a large group of people than I do to engage a stranger in a conversation about Christ. So that is why I now have a pulpit on wheels I take with me everywhere. Even in the market I just push my pulpit along in wheels and grab the bread and the milk and then it is easier to start a conversation when you have a pulpit. I made that up actually. But the idea is it has to start with a burden. You have to care.
C.H. Spurgeon made this statement about reaching people that don't know the Lord. And I quote, "The Holy Spirit will move them by first moving you. If you can rest without their being saved, they will rest too. But if you are filled with an agony for them, if you cannot bear they should be lost, and soon find yourself in a state where you dream about them perishing for lack of Christ, and start to cry to God, God give me converts or I will die." Then Spurgeon concludes you will have converts. So Lord, tonight we pray for a burden for our culture. We pray that you will give us compassion and help us see people as you see them. As sheep without Shepherd. Not as the enemy, but as the people we are called to reach.
Principle 2: Be Culturally Relevant – Without Compromising Truth
Number two. We need to be culturally relevant. I might add that this is never to be done at the expense of biblical accuracy. More on that in a moment. But we do need to be culturally relevant. Paul quotes a secular philosopher to build a bridge with his audience. Look at verse 28 of Acts 17. He says to the Athenians gathered there at Mars Hill, "For in Him we live and move and exist. And as one of your own poets says, we are His offspring."
This is interesting. He is trying to engage them. See a lot of times people can't even scale the language barrier. You know we try to share God's word with someone or teach people. They don't know what we are talking about. We say to them, "Friend, are you washed in the blood? Are you sanctified, set apart? Are you part of the body but yet not living in the flesh?" They think you are nuts. Part of a body? Not having the flesh and washed in blood? What are you talking about?
I am not suggesting we not use biblical terminology. I am simply suggesting that you not assume that your hearer knows what you are talking about. Therefore you need to translate as you speak. And when you use one of those big biblical words, define it for them just in case they don't know. I have seen it happen so many times. Someone will speak and they are feeling very good about what they just said. They are theologically correct and they have dotted their I's and they have crossed their T's. And a lot of the people had no clue as to what they were saying.
One of the reasons that the multitudes gathered around Jesus is because the common people heard Him gladly. He was understandable. It was, I believe, G. Campbell Morgan that said the goal of a preacher is to get the hay out of the loft where the animals can get to it. Or another preacher put it this way, put the cookies on the lower shelf so the children can get to them. And no one is impressed by all of your eloquence. If it doesn't make sense it is pointless. I am not suggesting we not be accurate theologically. That is the most important thing of all. But if they don't understand what I am saying what good is it?
Paul built a bridge to his audience. And he sought to have them understand what he was saying. And this is a principle we must not lose sight of.
Principle 3: Arouse Interest and Build Bridges
Number three. He aroused the interest of his listener. He aroused the interest of his listeners. Verse 22, 23. Standing before the council. "Men of Athens I know you are very religious. Whereas I was walking along I saw your many altars. And one of them had this inscription to the unknown God. You have been worshipping Him without even knowing who He is. And now I wish to tell you about Him."
Now that was a diplomatic way to start a message. You could have just as easily gotten them and said, "Men of Athens I perceive that you are so pagan. Worshipping all these false gods. Don't you know you are going to go to hell for doing that?" Would that have been true? Yes. Would that have been a good way to start a conversation? No. And far too often we are busy burning bridges and we ought to be building them. Finding common ground with our listener.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, "I become a servant of everyone so I can bring them to Christ. I try to find common ground with everyone so I might bring them to Christ." Too often non-believers know us for what we are against instead of what we are for. We have to speak biblically. We have to communicate a scriptural world view. But can we be nice about it sometimes? Can we do it in a winsome loving way? Oh I know there are certain truths that when you lay them out there is just no way that people are going to like what you are saying. But a lot of times we burn bridges when we don't need to. And we alienate people that would otherwise come and listen to what we have to say.
I mean the classic example of this is the master communicator, Jesus Christ, who engaged the woman at the well. Here is a woman. She is immoral. She has been married five times. She is living with a guy. The reason she is at the well in the middle of the afternoon is because she was ostracized from her culture. He said that was in a time when they did not celebrate that sort of thing. And there she was in the heat of the day and Jesus is waiting for her. She comes to draw water. And what does He say? "Hey you immoral woman you are going to hell." What do you think about that? No. And if anyone was entitled to say whatever he wanted to it was Jesus. But our Lord gives us a pattern of communication. He says, "Would you give me a drink of water?"
She looks at him. "Well you are a Jew. Why would you a Jew ask for a drink of water from me a Samaritan? Don't you know that Jews don't have dealings with Samaritans?" "Hey," Jesus says, "if you knew who it was that was speaking with you, you would ask Him. And He would give you water that is alive." "What are you talking about?" He engages her. Of course He ultimately pointed out that sin in her life. But He ultimately won a convert on that hot day because He engaged her. And that is a very important thing to remember. That we want to engage the people that we are listening to.
Principle 4: Preach the Word – It's God's Primary Method
Number four. And this is a big one. Paul preached to the people. He preached to the people. And this by the way is the heartbeat of this conference. It is based on 2 Timothy 4:2-3. "Preach the word. Be persistent whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching." Again as I quoted, "For a time will come when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires and look for teachers that will teach them whatever they want to hear."
This is so important because so many churches are getting away from biblical preaching today. We have our drama and our skits and our videos and our music and even our dance. In some churches, preaching is seen as something that is outdated. They have even gotten rid of the pulpit. You know? And I don't want to make a big deal about a pulpit. But I kind of like a pulpit. You know? Now you want to preach from a music stand, go ahead. It is kind of wimpy looking to me. The music stand. I want a pulpit. I want a box to stand behind. Because I have some place to put my water. No, no. To me it is symbolic. You know I want to be culturally connected. I want it to make sense. But the reason I like this is because you walk in here and you know this place is about preaching. Okay? And it is not about me. I am not the main event. But it is about God's Word. And it is about drawing people to Christ.
And so we honor the place of preaching. And I think the very way we present it is important. That everything is building to that. The worship. The music. Everything is adapted. You don't want to like have so many activities that the preacher has to rush it at the end. No. Give him time. This is what we have come to hear. The Word of God. And Paul preached to the people. That is so vital.
Jesus was a preacher of the Word. When He began His ministry we read, "From that time Jesus began to preach. And to say, 'Repent. For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Then Jesus sent His disciples out. To do what? To preach. He said, "Go and preach saying the kingdom is at hand." Listen. Preaching is God's primary way of reaching people. How will they hear, the Bible asks, without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they be sent? 1 Corinthians 1:21 says, "Since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." The message preached. This is the way that God primarily wants to reach people. Preach the Word.
Now where was Paul? He was in Greece. Why didn't he have a little play? Drama originated in Greece. It could have been a three act play about the gospel. Not that there would be anything wrong with that. Well Paul preached to them. Because he knew that was God's primary way of reaching the people. There is a place for the arts. Coming from a design background. Myself. Before I began preaching. I love design. I love music. I love to have all those things work in a way that can complement and draw attention to what really matters. But they are in a secondary place. It was Martin Luther that said that music was the handmaiden of theology. It is there to serve. It is there to support. The Word of God.
Principle 5: Preaching Must Be Thoroughly Biblical
Number five. Our preaching must be biblical. Our preaching must be biblical. Paul's was. He opened with a cultural connection. But he took them to the Word of God. Why is this important? Because God says in Isaiah 55, "So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth that will not return to me void. It will accomplish what I please. And to prosper in the place where I send it." Greg's word will return void. Your word will return void. God's word never will.
You know one of the trends in churches today is to not even take a Bible into the pulpit. And the preacher will have his outline. And the Scriptures will be up on the screen. And we can all read along on the screen. And then you all have... You know if you do that please don't misunderstand me. I am not... Well maybe I am a little bit critiquing it. Let me say why. Just let me give you my reason. You can disagree with me. Alright. I don't do that for this reason. Now when I am speaking I will give my outline to our people who will put up the verse references. But when I am reading verses I don't put them on the screen. Because I don't want people looking at the screen. I want them looking in their Bibles. I want them to read along. See that is important. I want them to be familiar with the Bible. I want them to be able to open it up and know where books are. And turn to those books. And even if the translations vary. To read along. And as I speak I will use the Bible. I will hold the Bible. I will refer to the Bible. Because I want them to know I am not the authority. Glory God is. And this is the book He has given us. That is important to me. Maybe it is merely symbolic but I think it is more than that.
Our preaching must be biblical. I have heard far too many sermons that use a text as a point of departure. They will read a verse and they don't exegete it. First of all they won't even explain it in context. They will spiritualize it and cause it to say something it isn't saying at all. Or just refer to it and then tell stories for the rest of their message. Tell me what that verse meant in its original context. Now you might bring something culturally that will help me understand it. You might bring me something from the original language that will enhance the meaning of it for me. There might be words I don't understand that you can define for me. And having done that now tell me what it means to me. You see. It was Spurgeon that said the sermon begins when the application begins. Really the bottom line is it is great to do all the things I just mentioned but don't stop there. Apply. That is what people are looking for. Application. How does this work? I am a housewife. I am struggling. How do I apply this? I am a businessman. I just found out I have cancer. I have this problem. How does it apply? You have got to apply it in the lives of people. But you have to do your text work first. And it must be biblical. And God will honor that when we do so.
And I suppose it just comes down to how much we believe about this book. And do we really believe it is authoritative? Again Paul wrote in 2 Timothy, "you have been taught the Scriptures from childhood. They have given you the wisdom to receive salvation because all Scripture is inspired by God. And as it is profitable to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do." Scripture is sufficient. It is authoritative. It is breathed by God. Do you believe that? The way some people preach it is almost as though they are apologizing for the Bible. Some people say, well I will make the Bible relevant. Friend, you do not need to make the Bible relevant. The Bible is relevant. Do you believe that? I don't know that some do. I think they are, well I don't know if this really is relevant. No. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Your job is to just let the lion out of the cage. Just let God do His work. And go into the pulpit or to your music stand or whatever you preach from. I really don't care. And believe in the authority of the Word of God.
Principle 6: Center on Christ Crucified and Risen
Number six. And I am now sort of applying this to what we might call evangelistic preaching. And by the way I am a firm believer in teaching and preaching at the same time. I think you can feed the saints and also appeal to lost people. So let's say you are doing a Bible study at work and you know you have got five Christian people there and one person is a non-believer. So what I try to do when I am speaking is I speak to that believer and I teach him what the Word is saying. But I will be aware of the non-believer. And I will throw in little things for them here and there. Maybe you don't totally understand what we are talking about here today. But this all comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ. In a few moments I will tell you what that means. And I will be aware of that person because there is always people listening in and eavesdropping on our conversations.
And so we need to be aware of that. And our message must focus on Jesus Christ crucified and risen. That is point number six. I will repeat it. Our message must focus on Jesus Christ crucified and risen. Verse 31 Paul says, "Because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this by raising Him from the dead."
Here is what really bugs me as an evangelist. I have heard entire evangelistic messages that never mention the cross. And as far as I am concerned if the cross isn't in your message you haven't preached an authentic evangelistic message. Sometimes in our attempt to cross over we don't bring the cross over. We are trying too hard to be cool. And we don't understand that the power of an evangelistic message is in the cross. There is a place for your personal testimony. There is a place for illustration. There is a place for commenting on what is going on in the culture. There is a place for all of those things. But the bottom line is you have got to get them to the cross. Why? Because Paul said that God had called him to preach the gospel not with the wisdom of man's words lest the cross of Christ be made of no effect. He said, "I don't want to know anything else among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
All I know is this. When I talk about the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus it resonates with people. I have watched it happen over and over again. There is power in that message. And we have to proclaim it and understand the dynamic of it. A number of years ago I had the privilege of being at Billy Graham's house for lunch. This is when his dear wife Ruth was still alive. She is now in heaven. And so I was just getting to know Billy and I was very nervous around him. Ruth was very easy to talk to. And Billy, you know, he is Billy Graham. And though he is very down to earth and very friendly I was intimidated.
And so we are sitting at the table and Ruth made us a nice little lunch and they had one of those lazy Susans in the middle of the table. And as I recall there were some potatoes and some meat of some kind. And Billy turned to me and said, "Would you like a Coke?" And I had never heard the word Coke said like that. You know, just the way Billy said it, it sounded authoritative, you know. "Would you like a Coke?" I didn't even really like to drink Coke. And I said, yes. So I am drinking my Coke. And I am trying to think of what I could say to Billy or ask him. And I didn't understand it but I always would think, man, if I ever get some time to talk with him I will ask him this, this, and this. And my mind drew a blank. I was thinking of nothing. What do I say to Billy?
Finally I came up with a question. I said, "Billy I had a question for you." And he looked at me with those piercing blue eyes. And I said, "Billy if you knew as a younger Billy Graham what you know today after all these years of preaching the gospel, what would you emphasize more that you find yourself emphasizing now?" And with those eyes and that voice he said, "I would preach more on the cross and the blood of Christ because that is where the power is." I took a note. I will remember that. More on the cross and the blood of Christ. When is the last time you heard the blood of Christ mentioned? Now we have to explain it. But there is power in this message. And that is what Paul preached to these people. He understood that.
Principle 7: Preach the Whole Gospel – Including Repentance
Number seven. Paul preached the whole gospel. He preached the whole gospel. He used a word we rarely hear these days. The word repent. Acts 17 verse 30, 31. "Truly these times of ignorance God has overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He is appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained."
See, Paul, he builds a bridge. He makes a cultural connection. He gets this conversation going. He is making sense. He is telling them about Jesus. He is telling them what they must do to receive Jesus. Repent. Oh one of the criticisms we have heard of preachers over the years is, "I am tired of all these hellfire and brimstone preachers." Really? Would you show me where one is? I don't know where they have all gone to. Now I am not suggesting we need preachers that speak about hell all the time. But I can't really remember the last time I have heard someone actually speak on hell. When is the last time you spoke on hell?
Jesus spoke more about hell than all the other preachers of the Bible put together. Listen. I cannot fully appreciate the gospel, i.e. the good news, until I first understand the bad news. And if I offer Jesus as a mere additive to one's life that will make their life a little bit better and their teeth a little bit whiter, I am not preaching the gospel. That is some watered down bogus gospel. Or worse yet another gospel that Paul warned of that some are preaching. No. For the gospel to be the gospel it has to have the cross and it has to tell a person they need to turn from their sin.
On the day of Pentecost when Peter was preaching the Bible says they were cut to the heart. And the word "cut" there is interesting. It means a sudden stabbing in the heart. They were under conviction. He said what must we do? What did he say? "Repent." Repent and be converted in times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord. We need to tell people that today. Because I fear there is a lot of people running around who have never really repented of their sin. Quite frankly I question if most people in America have heard the real gospel today. And my fear is that they have responded to a watered down gospel with a watered down commitment. And they say well I am a Christian because I you know prayed this little prayer. But there has been no change in their life and they are still living in overt sin. And you are saying what is going on here? What is going on here is they may have never heard the gospel and understood they need to repent of their sin.
Principle 8: Leave the Results with God – But Preach for Decisions
Number eight. We are coming to a close now. We must leave the results in the hands of God. Now look. On the day of Pentecost Peter preached and three thousand people believed. And there are some people that are critical of numbers. Oh you should never you know mention numbers. Really? Why? Well numbers. Don't talk about numbers. Well someone took the time to do the math on the day of Pentecost and noted that three thousand people believed. It was a very specific number. Now we shouldn't boast in numbers. We want to give the glory to God. But I think it is honoring to the Lord to keep track of people that profess faith in Christ. I am not suggesting that everyone that comes forward in an invitation that we might extend in a crusade or in a church service is becoming a Christian. That is why I say you know X amount of people professed faith. Or they made a profession of faith. Time will determine if they are really Christians.
But Peter preached and three thousand people believed. But I love the fact that Acts 17 tells us that not many people believed this day. Verse 32 to 34. "When they heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked. While others said we will hear you again in this matter. Paul departed from among them. And some men joined him and believed." I am so glad that is in the Bible. Because if it was all these big numbers we would say well then I am a failure. But when it is something like this we say wow that sounds like my life. Because sometimes you will preach and a lot of people will respond or you will invite someone to Christ and they will say yes. And other times you will share it for days, weeks, even months. And not a single person will respond and you will say what is wrong. Well you just, your job if you will is to proclaim the gospel and leave the results up to God. You don't convert people nor do I.
I watched a video of Billy Graham on one of his crusades some years ago and he was on a plane traveling across the country. And there was this inebriated man creating quite a scene. He was using profanity and being obnoxious and loud. And the flight attendant could not get him to sit down. And finally someone said to this drunken man, "Do you know who is sitting right there in that seat?" And the man said no. He said the evangelist Billy Graham. And that man looked at Billy Graham and reached out to shake his hand. So Billy graciously stood up and shook his hand. And then the man said, "Billy Graham you don't know how much your preaching has helped me." It is like I was preaching one Sunday and a guy came up to me afterwards and said that was a hell of a message pastor. Okay. Sometimes people don't quite get it. I don't have any converts. I don't want any converts. My job is to proclaim the message and leave the results in the hands of God.
But let me just say this. I believe one of the reasons people don't respond to our invitations to come to Christ is they don't understand what we are asking them to do. When you are trying to share a message with someone that is evangelistic in nature, you need to start giving the invitation from the beginning of the message. And you need to preach for a decision. Here is what I mean. You believe that life and death are at stake here. You believe, as Richard Baxter said, you are a dying man speaking to dying men. And there is an urgency in your message. And your message is laced with statements like, "and I am going to give you an opportunity to come to Christ." And maybe you don't know Him and I will tell you how in a few moments. And then you have got to break it down and it has got to be simple. And I find a lot of times people don't understand what we are asking them to do. And that is why I carefully explain it and I will even re-explain it. And then I will leave the results in God's hands.
Because I don't believe in hyping people to come forward so I will look like whatever. Like I was successful that day. I saw a preacher watching television. He will remain unnamed. But he was wrapping up a sermon. And he said, you know, if you would like to come to Christ, get up and walk forward now. And it was on TV and the camera went for the long shot. You could see the whole congregation. And he is standing there at his pulpit. And the choir got up to sing Just As I Am. It wasn't Billy Graham preaching by the way. But they were singing Just As I Am. And no one was coming forward. And I was thinking, why would they put this on television? You know? I think they would edit this out. You know?
So I said, no one is coming forward. And you just come to Christ. You want to come to Christ? Come now. One person makes their way down. And then he says, maybe you would like to rededicate your life to God. You come. And I think one other person went down. Then he says, I am not making this up now. Maybe you would like to just be closer to God. Just come. Well who doesn't want to be closer to God? Then he said, this is true. If you want to join the choir, come now. Join the choir? But when he said, if you want to examine the veneer on the front of the pulpit, come. Just don't leave me here. You know. He didn't say that. But the rest is all true. Just leave it in God's hands. But make it clear. And give people an opportunity to come to Christ.
You know, there is a debate in the church. I am not going to get into this. But you know, some will say, well you know, God determines who will be saved. And it is predestined. And you have to be careful because you might end up giving false assurance to someone that is not one of the elect. Give me a break. I like the words of D.L. Moody. He says, "Lord save the elect and then elect some more." You know. How do I know who the elect are? All I know is God has called me to preach the gospel. And I will leave the results in the hands of God.
D.L. Moody was preaching once. And he decided that he would tell all the people to come back the next night and make a decision. He decided he would give them the night to think about what they were going to do with Jesus. And that night, it was October 1871, the Chicago fire took place. To his dying day Moody regretted. He had told the people to wait. And he said, and I quote, "I have never dared to give an audience a week to think of their salvation since. If they were lost they would rise up in judgment against me. I want to tell you one lesson I learned that night that I have never forgotten. And that is when I preach to press Christ upon the people. Then and there I try to bring them to a decision on the spot. I would rather have my right hand cut off than to give an audience a week now to decide what to do with Jesus."
Hey, would you like to believe in Jesus? You can do it right now. And you give people that opportunity. I feel an urgency about this because I don't know how long my life is going to last. You know we all think we are going to live to be old. I was just back at Virginia for Billy Graham's 90th birthday party. And you know the funny thing is Billy always thought he was going to die young. And he has outlived so many people. 90. What is even more amazing is his long time worship leader George Beverly Shea is 99. And he just got his driver's license renewed. It is true. They gave him a bifocal windshield. You know. No he really did get his driver's license renewed. I think that is great. See old Bev out there in his cane get up and sing and see Billy share a few words with us. He invited us all back for his 95th birthday party. You know. I don't know if I will live to be 95. So as I quoted earlier I am a dying man preaching to dying men. You see I want to take as many people to heaven with me as I can.
Personal Pain and Faithful Preaching
And of course something that has brought this home to me like never before is the recent death of my son Christopher. 33 years old. He died July 24th of this year. All the graphics you see here for Preach the Word were designed by my son. We worked on it together. I told you I had a background in graphics but I was never more than just an advanced doodler. He was a real artist and we loved to collaborate on projects and he was very excited about this conference. This is the last project we worked on together. He was on his way to work at 9 o'clock in the morning. Worked here at the church where he was the head of the graphic design department. He was killed in an automobile accident. And I will be honest with you it was the worst day of my life. And still to this moment I grieve deeply and cry daily over the loss of my son.
But you know I think about what he would want me to do. And as it turned out our crusade was only three weeks after his death. And people were asking, well is Greg going to even preach? He even did an article in a newspaper about it. He probably won't preach. I thought well they don't know me very well. They don't know my son very well. Because the last thing I would do is not preach. I mean how could I not preach? I mean this is what it is all about. It is all about the fact that life comes and goes. It is a vapor of smoke that appears for a moment and vanishes away. And our job on earth is to glorify God. Not to try to be successful. And that final day Jesus will not say, "well done, good and successful servant." By the way, how many people went to your church? How many converts did you have? No, no, "well done, good and faithful servant." We have to be faithful. And we have to glorify God.
I don't understand why this has happened. But I am praying that God will be glorified through my human weakness and that of my family. Knowing that I will see my son again is a great comfort. I am going to talk in my last session about preaching with pain. And some lessons I have learned in the last few months in the aftermath of my son's early departure to heaven that I never had learned before. Lessons I didn't necessarily want to learn but I think they have been valuable. And I want to share them with you. Not only how I preach through pain but how you can preach to others in pain. It has been said if you preach to hurting people you will never lack for an audience. And you need to know there are a lot of hurting people out there. And I want to share with you some things that I think will really help you in communicating with them. I am saying this because as a hurting person I know things that have been said to me that have been very helpful. And things that have been said to me that have not helped at all. So I would like to share some of those thoughts.
But my son Christopher, he was a really fast runner when he was in school. He was a cross country runner. And when I was in school I happened to be a runner too but I was a short distance runner. So even as I got older I liked to challenge Christopher to a race every now and then. And you know what? I always beat him. And I kind of was proud of that. Because I thought I still have it. There was like this little turbo button that I could push. You know, just when I would be running I would go and I would hit it and I would leave everyone in the dust. And people would be amazed at how fast I could be. Not for long. We are talking 8 feet. But you know. That was fast for those 8 feet.
So one day I was with my son on the beach and I said, "Hey Christopher, you want a race?" He said, "Sure dad." And I picked a spot not too far that would favor me in the race. And I said, okay well let's run to that spot on your mark get set. Going off we went. And we are right next to him thinking, okay this isn't good. Time to hit the turbo button. I hit the button and he kept going and I slowed down. Whoa! What is going on? What was going on was I am getting older and he is full of strength. And he beat me. I was crestfallen. I didn't like being beaten. But I was proud too. I said, "Way to go son." He is faster than me now.
Paul said, "I fought the good fight. I finished the course. I kept the faith." I always thought I would beat my son to heaven. And that I would hand the baton off to him and say, "Here it is. Boy you take it now. And you serve the Lord." But instead he has handed it on to me. It is not the way I would have done it. But I want to hand it on to others. Especially you who are younger. And I want to say there is a template you can find to be an expositor of God's Word. To be a proclaimer of the gospel. Because again, how will they hear without a preacher? It is all about faithfulness.
So let us pray in this conference and our time together that we will learn more about how to fight this good fight. How to teach and preach the Word. And be responsible to the calling God has placed on our life. We don't know how much time we have. We don't want to squander any of it. We want to invest it wisely so we can hear Him say in that final day, "Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord."