Live Out Loud 1
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Living life out loud. What exactly does that mean? Do we live in a away so other people see we are Christians in hope they will come to know Jesus? Do we base everything we do on what other people will see? Are our lives supposed to be like a puppet show were other people see us?
Paul talks a lot about our pattern of life in Ephesians. How we shoul live. How we should wear the armor of God. In he teaches how we need to recognize that there are brothers and sisters who are not as strong as others and we need to be considerate of them. Jesus tells us not cause people to stumble in their faith. And the Paul teaches us that we need to be careful and understand Grace and not get caught up in the law.
So when you look around at what churches do, some just seem like social clubs, some seem incredibally legalistic, some are amazingly liberal in all they do. What does it mean for us to live our faith out loud?
Turn with me toa Acts Chapter two again. We are in the same place we were last week.
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
Last week we talked about listening to the teaching of the disciples. Learning about their faith. Knowing what they believed. This week I want to talk about living what you believe. Living out loud. Let’s start with what it is not.
First of all Living out loud is not about living so others will see you. We need to look at our motives. Jesus did say that we are to love one another and by loving one another all will know we are his disciples. The key there is love one another as I have loved you. This is intensely personal. It isn’t about doing something so someone might see you. It isn’t about manipulating people.
Years ago I had a friend who was one of my heroes. His name was Craig. I loved Craig. He was always helping someone. He would talk to folks all the time. He would go visit people all the time. He was always asking people for favors. He would ask someone to do something for him. It may be as simple as asking a girl to sew a patch. But why he did that was manipulative. He did it because then he owed them something. Because he owed them then he had an opportunity to meet with them again. I always thought man- that is cool. But realistically it is manipulative. You owe me.
We do not help people, love people for what we can get out of it. Our motive matters. Even if our motive is to share the gospel it matters. We love people because we care about them. Not so much because we want them in our midst. A preacher at seminary shared with us that he was praying for revival. When he finished his prayer he remembered believing God was asking him- about this revival -do you really want it- or do you want it at your church? If I send it somewhere else will you still be grateful?
What is our motive? It isn’t to live outloud so others will see and decide this is where I want to go to church. We want to live our faith out loud because we have no choice. Let’s use my dog for just a moment.
Abby is a chiweenie. Chihuahua and Dachshund. No matter how hard I train her to meow, she isn’t going to. She is a dog. No matter how much I yell at her, put a shock collar on her- she is going to bark. She has no choice. It is because of who she is.
When we become followers of Christ, we are born again into new creatures. Beings like never existed before. There are things in our nature that we have no choice about, when we listen. We are not dogs – but like it isn’t in a dogs nature to do tricks it can be taught to. You can teach it to sit. Not to jump on people. And then they become second nature to the dog. Sure it wants to please it’s master. But shouldn’t we? It is about our motive.
So what should motivate us as Christians? The love of Christ. Paul tells us that the Love of Christ Compels him. Look at our text really quickly. Look at verse 42. They devoted themselves to the teaching of the disciples, to fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.
Devoted themselves. Devoted means they gave themselves away. They immersed themselves. They tell us that the best way to learn a foreign language is to immerse yourself in it. If you want to learn Spanish- spend sometime in Spain where there is no other language. You have no choice.
They were devoted not just to the apostles teaching, but to fellowship. Koinonia. It means to have all things in common. It is deeper than just a welcome lunch. It means that we let guards down. We share who we really are. One of my favorite books is Encouragement by Larry Crabb. It talks about getting past the simple surface relationships. It talks about getting to know a person. Deep below the surface. It means that Don and I share on a level that I do not share with anyone else. We tend to hide from people because we are afraid of them not liking us. Years agao there was a book called Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am. The premise of the book was I am afraid to tell you because you may not like me and that is all I have. Fellowship- Koinonia is the relationship that loves us anyway. Ya know that old saying my friends know all about me and love me anyway?
They broke bread together. Breaking bread is more than a meal. Look at this: “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.”
Breaking bread isn’t just about a meal. It is about taking that common fellowship one step further. We are one in the spirit we are one in the lord. And together when we break the bread, when we drink the cup- we are acknowledging Christ’s presence until he returns. When we do this we are saying this is who I am. This is how I live. I live my faith out loud not to show others I believe, but to celebrate that Jesus Christ Died for me to pay for my sins and I will live for him as He died for me. This is who I am. Because this is who I am- if you are curious I will tell you all about it!