How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10.14-17
As Grady shared with us Sunday, we are in the midst of a story where the beginning is over and the end has been written. We stand in this place of playing a role where the conclusion is assured. How should we understand our part? Do we have to act if the end is going to happen regardless? This is the brain twist that we exist in: how can we be motivated to evangelize and sacrifice if God is going to make Himself known with or without us?
We need to change the way we think about what God is doing. We often look at the course of life in a straight line. We are trying to get somewhere; we plan and do to get there. With God’s plan, the straight line already exists; we know what He is going to do and that He will do it. What we are not told is how. The how is the part we play. As God invites us into His plan, we become the means by which He accomplishes what He has promised. Our part isn’t about trying to figure out how to get things done, but entering into the story that already exists. Our role is to tell the story. In order to do that we need to:
KNOW THE STORY
You cannot share what you don’t know. The story of God exists in both a grand narrative and as a personal testimony. The grand narrative includes the Biblical account, church history, and world events. The personal testimony is your own personal journey of relationship with God. Each of us has a personal story that parallels the sweeping narrative (Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Reconciliation). We need to continually revisit both of these stories; we need to know them not just as stories, but as OUR story.
LIVE THE STORY
You cannot share without people to share with. The story was not given to us to drop on people and run (think tracts); it was given as a life to share. We should invite people into the story we are now part of. This requires us to open up our lives enough to let others in. It means entering into things that we would otherwise avoid for the sake of sharing the story.
TELL THE STORY
You cannot share without speaking; it is not passed through osmosis. We allow people access to our lives, but once there we must willingly share with them why we are the way we are: with words. The gospel works by changing people through the good news of who Jesus Christ is. In order for this to happen, people must be introduced to Him.
This process allows others access to the story, but it also invites them into it. We bring people into the story, by continually adopting God’s story over our own. We are not writing anything, we are playing roles in a story that was written long before we were ever born. The question is: what role are you playing?