"The Ultimate Walk"

John 8:1-11

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Series on Bill Hybels Book: “Just Walk Across the Room”

Introduction: It is said that we walk about 10,000 steps each day. That is a lot of steps. Even though we aren’t aware of it, we walk a great deal each day. (Hold up pedometer). This is a pedometer. If you wear it, it will count how many steps you actually take. These have become quite popular because people want to track the exercise they get through walking.

Since we walk a lot each day, a good question for us is: Are you using your steps wisely? Your steps have purpose. You walk to your car, or from your car to you home. You walk up the stairs to get something you forgot. You walk all around a store looking for things you need to buy. Your steps have purpose. They are meant to get you where you need or want to go!

Over the next three weeks we are going to talk about how our steps can have even more purpose. We are going to talk about how we can ‘walk with the Spirit,’ and by doing this change the lives of others.

I. Entering the Zone- (Romans 5:8; John 8:1-11)

a. Leaving our comfort zone- I believe that God wants us to make

our steps all the more purposeful. I believe that God wants us, at times, to walk over to someone who is in need and reach out to them, and share the love of Christ with them. I believe that God wants us to invest some of our energy into understanding that if we only make ourselves aware, we can see others who are in need, and whose lives we can impact!

To do this, however, we must leave our comfort zone, especially if the person involved is someone we don’t know. We have to walk over to someone we don’t know, introduce ourselves, and then let God lead us in the conversation.

This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. The Holy Spirit will place on our hearts the compassion for others, and will whisper into our minds: “Why don’t you go over and extend a hand of friendship to that person. Why don’t you go offer that person some encouragement.”

Example: I had a situation like this happen back in May of this year. I was flying from LA to San Antonio to go to a conference. I had already sat down in my seat by the window. There was another person in the aisle seat, when this woman stopped and asked me if the middle seat was taken. I said ‘no’ and she sat down.

Now I had brought my sermon, and a book, and so I had plenty to do over the next 3 hours, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to reach out to her. So I started to talk with her about very general things. But somehow the Holy Spirit turned the conversation into a spiritual discussion. Over the next 3 hours we talked much about some of what she was struggling with spiritually in her life. She had come out of a Catholic background, and was living her life through guilt. Also, as a mom, she was concerned about everyone else except herself, and was feeling a little over-whelmed by life. By the end of our time together, she had expressed an interest in receiving my Daily Bible Readings, and I was able to pray for her. Since, then, I have had many e-mails from her about how the conversation and the Daily Bible Readings have impacted her life, and helped her to live more the life God has for her!!

You too can be used by God in this way. You too can ‘evangelize’ someone else by walking across the room or opening yourself up to a conversation. You too can share the good news of God’s freeing love with others.

b. The Son of God left His comfort zone- In a sense, God has done

the same for us. Stay with me here, as we imagine that God’s coming to this earth (the incarnation of Christ, as we’ve talked about the last 3 weeks), is really God walking to us because of our great need. God left the comfort zone of heaven to come to this earth.

Romans 5:8 talks about this: “For God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” It was when we were in the helplessness of our sin that God chose to do something for us. It took initiative from God to make this happen. In walking up to us He offered us acceptance, and love, and forgiveness!

STORY: The story in John 8:1-11 displays this beautifully. It is a well known story, but let me highlight it for you. A woman is caught in the act of adultery. She is brought to Jesus by her accusers. The Pharisees argue that adultery is a serious offense. Jesus is put in a bind, because if He lets the woman off the hook, he’ll be denying the validity of the law. But if He allows her to be stoned, He might be accused of being unmerciful. Jesus knowing that they were going to stone her no matter what He said, responded to them with great compassion and wisdom in verse 7, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” You know the story, one by one their rocks dropped to the ground. Jesus helps her realize that there is no one left but Him to condemn her, and then He says in verse 11: “…‘Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.’”

Jesus was offering her the love and freedom of God. And that is what Jesus wants us to do: to love people, and to serve people, and point people toward a saving faith in Jesus so that their broken lives can be healed!

II. Tuning Into Heaven-

a. Zone of the unknown- There is a story of a man who was learning

how to fly a plane. The man and his teacher would get to cruising altitude, and then for a while switch to autopilot. They would then talk about flight patterns, weather conditions, and altitude assessments. These would be prompted by air traffic controllers on the ground who would feed them updates. One time he asked his teacher if he would ever make a flight without listening to the air traffic controllers. His teacher referred to this as the ‘zone of the unknown,’ and the teacher immediately said: “Id be crazy to do this. I need all the information I can get my hands on, especially if the weather is not good!”

Wouldn’t this be a good discussion starter? To ask people if they would ever drive or fly into bad weather without the proper information to guide them. And then help people to see that so many venture forward in their lives, into areas unknown, with zero input from God! They get no guidance, no wisdom, and no counsel. Because of this is it any wonder that people end up crashing and burning?

You might just find that people will want to know how to get that information from God as a pilot would get information from the air traffic control tower. What a wonderful opportunity that could open up for you in having this discussion with someone who is lost in life or struggling with important issues.

b. The God you know- What this really is about is believing in the

saving message of Jesus Christ. I don’t mean just for yourself. I mean believe it in a way that leads you to know that every person on this earth would have a much better life if God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s redemption were a part of their lives.

Do you believe this? Do you believe people’s lives would be better off if they would just give themselves over to Christ? OR, are you like the man who once told his minister: “I never share my faith with anyone because I would never want to inflict the burden of God on anyone.” Do you believe Christ makes your life better, or puts a burden on your life to have to live a different standard?

The God I know has invaded my life with love, acceptance, grace, second chances, forgiveness, wisdom, power, and on and on the list could go. I know that my life is far better off because I have Jesus in my life, than what my life would be like had I never accepted Him as my Lord and Savior.

When you talk about God, do you know Him as someone full of grace, mercy, and compassion? Is the God you know mysterious, surprising, and captivating? Is He forever unchanging and yet always brand new? Does He inspire you with His big ideas about how your life can really count? Is He always faithful?

If God is these things and more to you, then you will be compelled to ‘walk across the room’ to share this God with others! If you believe that God is worth knowing, then you will want everyone you know to know Him too. If you are in love with God, then you will want others to be in love with God.

Rewind for a moment in your faith journey. Think about those days before you were a Christian, or if you can’t remember a day like that, then remember the days before you were really living for God. Remember that time when you would wake up and there would be no words from heaven and nothing supernatural invading your world. The day when you didn’t have the grace of God covering your sin. As I speak of this, hopefully you are feeling relieved to know God now, and will begin to desire for others to know this God!

III. The Greatest Gift-

a. Questions that arise- Now this doesn’t mean that we won’t

struggle in our faith from time to time. This doesn’t mean that we won’t have questions that arise. It is not uncommon for our life to not go the way we want it to, or feel we have unanswered prayer, and then question God’s existence or goodness.

But think about this: all people give their lives over to something. It could be pleasures; possessions; trying to be successful; the acquisition of power. People give their lives over to something, and that something becomes their god.

You need to ask yourself: What am I giving my life to? What is the one great something I am living my life for? Am I just interested in myself, or in the lives of others as well?

So often people want that perfect life. They want to have the great marriage with 1 ½ kids, a good home, a successful job, and lots of friends. If their life doesn’t end up looking like this they begin to place blame, usually on God first. They begin to question God why their life isn’t the all-American dream!

The real dream of a wonderful life actually comes when we give ourselves over to God, and let God lead our life. The dream begins to be fulfilled when we stop focusing on ourselves and start caring about others. As someone once said: “True followers of Christ who really get it right give themselves to people for the sake of Jesus. More importantly, they give themselves to pointing people to faith in Christ. That is the highest and best use of a human life—to have it serve as a signpost that points people toward God.”

If we are to really believe in the redeeming and transforming power of God’s presence in a person’s life, then the single greatest gift we can give to someone is an explanation of how to be rightly connected with God.

b. Following the example of Jesus- We have to think of Jesus saying

to us: “What I did as I walked across the cosmos all those years ago, I now want you to do.” Isn’t that why Jesus left us the great commandment? “Go and make disciples of all nations…” We need to live as if we actually believe in who Jesus is and what Jesus did. We need to live as if Jesus’ life, and death, and resurrection are really life transforming. We need to take this to others.

When you choose to live by faith and not by sight, then you begin to realize that living this life is more than just about yourself. You are not the only one who exists in this world. We live in a world with many people, who have been created to co-exist with each other and to be in relationship with each other. We will find that this will happen better if we are all followers of Christ. That is really what Christ died for, to bring all people into a saving relationship with Him!

I already said this, but let me say it again, the greatest gift you can give someone is an introduction to the God who sent His Son to redeem them. When you allow your purpose to be ‘other people,’ you will find that when Christ asks you to walk across the street, or up a flight a stairs, or across the room, you will be ready to do it. Too many people are not willing and ready to leave their circle of comfort and follow Christ’s lead.

Christ wants to say today to all of His followers all over the planet: “Reflect my love, and repeat my action.”

IV. Take the Walk- (1 Corinthians 3:6)

a. Being prompted- Story: Bill Hybels tells of a time when his son

was in soccer, and he was prompted to go and help his son’s soccer coach, Brian, pick up cones after the game. As they were talking Brian shared that he knew that Hybels was the pastor of a large church called Willow Creek, and told Hybels he was not interested in talking about religion. Hybels left the subject alone. Each week, after the game, he would help pick up cones and just chat with Brian. At the end of the year Hybels son was no longer on the team, and so he didn’t get to see Brian anymore. One day Hybels got a call from Brian. It seems that his job and family situation had become difficult and he wanted to talk with Hybels. They met several times after that, but nothing changed about Brian wanting the Lord in his life. Months later Brian showed up to a baptism meeting greatly surprising Hybels. It seems Brian had slipped in to one of the services, heard the message about Jesus, and accepted Christ as His Savior and Lord, and now he wanted to be baptized!

Brian is now at Willow Creek, serving the Lord there, and he and his wife are teaching other couples how to experience the joy of a Christ-centered marriage.

b. Walk with me- Some of you are sitting there overwhelmed by this

message. You just want to live your life in a simple way each day. You don’t want to have to have the pressure of talking to others for Jesus. That is a frightening concept for you. So let me encourage you in a few ways.

First, don’t go away today thinking that you have to search out opportu-nities. Believe me, God will provide the opportunities in natural ways. God will prompt your heart and your mind to go and talk with someone. Just let the conversation progress naturally. At some point, if they talk about God, or religion, then use that as an opening. Second, you don’t have to save anyone. God is the one in the business of saving. All you have to do is build relationships with people and talk with people! Third, you might be like me, where your gift is more in helping people grow stronger in their faith than leading people to faith. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” I tend to be the one who waters more than plants. That seems to be how God uses me, and maybe how He might use you as well. Fourth, the most important aspect of this all is to have a willing heart; a willing heart that comes from the desire to want to see everyone know Jesus and have their lives changed by Jesus. Fifth, often times this whole transformation for a person comes gradually. As you develop a relationship with people, they will just walk with you and see how Jesus affects your life. By watching you they will see the change and want what you have.

Conclusion: Bill Hybels talks about a day where he and his son were walking to his office. At this time his son was all grown up. They turned the corner and ran right into a muscular man. They took a step back from each other, and then Hybels and his son realized it was Brian. Hybels’ son Todd hadn’t seen Brian in fifteen years, but as Christ-followers they immediately shared God’s love with each other with a big bear hug. As Brian was walking down the stairs he yelled up: “Bill, I just want to thank you for all those times you walked across the soccer field and opened yourself up.” And with that he left.

There are many times we walk over to talk with people not knowing how it will impact their lives. I had no idea that my talking with Leah on the plane would allow me to impact her life. The key is to be faithful to God when He leads us. So, take a walk this week, and see what God might do. Amen.