How School Teachers Can Live Intentionally for the Gospel of Christ

I recently shared notes on how to live intentionally to share the gospel of Jesus with those we are around.  I was asked recently to share some practical ways a teacher could live intentionally.

I jumped on this because I taught in a school for a year between ministry positions and I have seen some very effective ways that teachers can live out their faith around their peers and students.  It’s a tough environment for a teacher to live out her faith, but the difficulty should not scare Christian teachers into being silent.

Here are some practical suggestions for teachers to live intentionally:

1. Organize a weekly prayer group for other school staff.  Invite other teachers, custodians, principles, aides, etc., to come out once a week at a consistent time just to pray for each other, your students, and your school’s families.  I found this to be a way to encourage other Christian workers, and to share my faith with others by asking them how we can pray for them.  Most teachers will welcome prayer!  And some will be very curious over time if you continue to pray for them.

How To Live Intentionally (lots of practical tools)

For most Christians, maybe the greatest sin of omission is our failure to make disciples, teaching people to obey everything that Jesus commanded.

2 Cor. 5:17-20 reminds us that we represent Christ and are supposed to be sharing with people how they can be reconciled to God.  That’s what it means to live intentionally. The simple question is:  are we doing that?

I believe there is no better consistent way to see people come to Christ than through the personal investment we make in others—that everyday decision to share Christ with the people we have some type of relationship with.

How can I say that? Because I look at Jesus’ life. You might ask- what about those large group settings where Jesus preached to crowds?  Or what about those large revivals in our history?  Those are examples of an immediate large response from people to obedience in Christ. And you would be right—they were. Those large group responses have their place, and will continue to happen as the Lord wills.

Dr. Moore: “Seven Reasons Halloween Judgment Houses Often Miss the Mark”

I read this post from Dr. Russell Moore at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and find myself agreeing very much.  I grew up in an area where many students would go to the Liberty University “Scaremare,” and there are other similar events where the attempt is made to scare people into making a decision for Christ.  Maybe they can be effective, but I still think that there’s nothing better than consistent, personal relationships with non-believers to show and tell Christ to them.  Anyway, since it’s Halloween time, read Dr. Moore’s words:

1. They’re not scary enough. To speak of hell, Jesus used the imagery of a garbage dump overun with worms, a place where babies were once sacrified to demons (Mark 9:43-48). Teenagers in plastic red devil masks and styrofoam pitchforks usually don’t convey what it means to “fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31). The answer isn’t better technology, though, since nothing we could conjure up can convey the anguish of the damned walled off from relationship with God.

2. They assume people’s problem is that they don’t know about judgment. But the Bible says they do. All of us have embedded within us a conscience that points us to the Day of Judgment (Rom 2:15-16). We have a “fearful expectation of judgment” (Heb 10:27). The problem is we block it out of our minds, diverting ourselves with other things. The problem isn’t that lost people don’t hate hell enough. It’s that they don’t love Christ. Hell is the Abyss they run into in their flight from him.

3. They abstract judgment from the love of God. I know most “Judgment Houses” present the gospel at the end. But in the Bible the good news doesn’t come at the end. The prodigal son leaves the father’s house, but the father is eager to receive him back (Luke 16:11-31). The awful news of God’s judgment is always intertwined in Scripture with the message of the gospel of a loving, merciful God. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

4. They abstract judgment from the glory of God. The prophet Isaiah doesn’t see that he’s “undone” first by the horror of judgment. He sees it in light of the glory of God’s presence (Isa 6:1-6). The Apostle John tells us the glory Isaiah saw was Jesus of Nazareth (12:47). When we preach Jesus, the glory of God breaks through (2 Cor 4:6). Some people recoil at that light; some people run to it (John 3:19-21).

5. It’s hard to cry at a Judgment House. But Jesus does when thinking about judgment (Matt 23:37). And so does the Apostle Paul, pleading with sinners to be saved (2 Cor 5:20). These evangelistic tools though are meant to take on the feel of a “haunted house,” a place of thrill-seeking and festivity. It’s hard to convey the gravity of the moment in such a way.

6. The Holy Spirit doesn’t usually like to work that way. Pop quiz: How many people do you know who came to know Christ through the witness of a friend? How many do you know who came to know Christ through faithful parents? How many are in Christ due to the week-to-week preaching of Christ in a local church? Probably a lot, right?

Okay, now answer this: How many people do you know who came to know Christ through a Halloween “Judgment House” or “Hell House”? If you know one, you’re outpacing me, and everyone I’ve ever talked to about this. The Holy Spirit tends to work through the preaching of Christ (Rom 10:17). That’s how he points the world to sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).

7. They’re easier to pull off than talking to people. Can people be saved through Judgment Houses? Sure. I have a colleague who was saved at a Stryper heavy metal concert in the 1980s.  Are the intentions behind them good? Absolutely. If you have a Judgment House and it’s enabling you to share Christ, have at it with blessings on you.

But the fact remains that most lost people in your neighborhood are going to be saved the same way people have always been saved, by Christian people loving them enough to build relationships, invite them to church, share the gospel, and witness to Christ. The problem is that for many Christian’s that’s scarier than a haunted house.

 

Monday Morning Rewind: Engaging Our Culture with Truth (Acts 17:16-31)

What are Monday Morning Rewinds?  Click here to see my original post explaining them.

Yesterday’s sermon was the fifth sermon for our 2010 focus for the church: Live Intentionally.  This sermon dealt with the scripture text of Acts 17:16-31.  You can listen to this sermon here.

In yesterday’s sermon, I sought to answer this question:  how can we stand firmly on God’s Word in the midst of the ungodliness around us? With that, the question stands: How can we engage our culture with truth?

I gave some definitions of these words because when you start using these words, people wonder what you’re really talking about.  Engage means to occupy the efforts or attention; Culture is a very broad word that means the ways and makeup of a community- its people, customs, beliefs, possessions, activities, etc. Truth can be easily defined as Jesus did in John 14:6 by saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Truth is found in the person and teachings of Jesus Christ.

So, in other words, this message was about how to occupy the attention of people in our community with Jesus Christ.

We started by looking at 2 Corinthians 5:20, a supporting text to our Live Intentionally focus:  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.