Creekside Church Sermon of September 7, 2003 "Spit It Out!" Mark 7:24-37	Rev. David Bibbee
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While doing some "random thinking" about my message, my mind went off on a tangent about cartoon sound effects. In newspaper cartoons sounds must be expressed in words. In the comic strip, "Peanuts," Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown to kick, promising once more she will not pull it away at the last second. Of course, she always did, sending Charlie air-borne, screaming, "ARRRRRRGH!" Occasionally, Linus Van Pelt used his security blanket as a weapon, twisting and snapping it "THWACK!" Playing baseball, Charlie Brown pitched and Lucy Van Pelt played outfield. She never tried to catch balls hit to her. They always fell at her feet, "PLOP!"

When Batman and Robin battled their arch enemies, the dialogue balloons read, "BANG! POW! CRUNCH!" I was amused by the word used when lightening struck one of the characters in the comic strip, "B.C."-- "ZOT!" In animated cartoons, the sound effects are audible. I think the best ones were in the "Roadrunner Show." "BEEP! BEEP!" precedes a cloud of dust and a blur of the speedy Roadrunner. And of course, in every episode Wile E. Coyote flies off a cliff to a tapering whistle (do effect), followed by a muted "POOF!" and a little plume of dust on the canyon floor.

What makes the sound, "SHHHHHH!" Not a deflating tire. Not a mother trying to silence her fidgeting son in church-- that is a clipped sound, "SHH!" SHHHHHH is the sound you hear in the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus tried to keep his identity a secret.

Has there been a time when you didn't want people to know who you were? Years ago I was just beginning a long-awaited Wisconsin fishing trip. I was in the boat house getting my gear ready, reveling in the break from "pastor work." I was making small talk with a guy in the next boat when he said, "You're a minister, aren't you? I saw you a couple of months ago in South Bend visiting someone in Intensive Care at Memorial Hospital." Great. Five hundred miles from home, my vacation just beginning, and my cover was already blown!

After our "Its a small world" talk, I mentioned how much I needed to get away to fish and forget. "I understand," he said. Pointing to the cabin down the shore he said, "See that guy getting his rods ready? He's my priest. He doesn't want anyone to know who he is either!"

Jesus was in Galilee, at a place called Tyre. He didn't want anyone to know he was there, so he discreetly entered a house where he thought he could hide. It would be a short vacation. No sooner had he entered than a Gentile woman fell in a heap at his feet, begging him to help her possessed daughter. "God's chosen children get fed first. The dogs get the leftovers," he said. So much for a kind, considerate Jesus. "Yes," she said, "but the dogs get the leftovers just the same." Her tenacity impressed him. "Go on home. You daughter is healed," he said. No house call was necessary.

Jesus left Tyre, and when he returned to Galilee, a man was brought to him who couldn't hear or speak. Not wanting people to see what he was about to do, Jesus took him aside, stuck his fingers in his ears, spit on his tongue, and cried, "Ephphatha!" Open up!" The man could now hear and speak. But while he commanded the man to "open up," Jesus commanded those who witnessed the miracle, "Keep your lips zipped. Not a word about this to anyone!"

But the more he said to keep still, the more they talked. He could open the mouths of people who couldn't speak, but couldn't silence the mouths of those who could! Mark says they told what they witnessed with zeal and excitement.

Christians are people of the Word. What Jesus says, we do. We enjoy singing that old gospel hymn, "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, and to take him at his word......" We sing it like following his word is our pleasure. Sure, we could do better. That "loving our enemies thing" and praying for those out to get us... it doesn't come naturally. There must be a way to serve God AND money. Being peacemakers, forgiving seventy times seven, counting others better than ourselves. Its not exactly our forte.

But there is something we do very well. We know what "SHHHH!" means. "Don't tell what you have seen and heard." Jesus said. We promised we wouldn't say anything. Mum is the word.

I heard there is a new law in Canada governing driver's license pictures. Smiling or frowning is not permitted. If you are happy or honked, you cannot show the camera. The licensee's face must be "neutral." Canadians cannot differentiate themselves from each other by expressing what is inside.

Something similar happened as Christianity spread through the Roman Empire. The church was ordered to keep its business to itself.

The trouble was, the Christians couldn't keep their mouths shut. They had a compelling story to tell. Jesus' love was creating new life and they were telling everyone. "Did you say we must keep Jesus to ourselves? No disrespect intended to the civil authorities, good sirs, but we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."

But our obedience comes at a price. There is strong evidence of our continued obedience. People still gather on Sunday for worship, but in fewer numbers. There is more than one reason, but there is a "primary reason." It is not because God no longer speaks or acts. It is not because the power of the Holy Spirit is available to just a handful of churches. The church is not growing because its people are not telling. We have a good word in our mouths, but its locked behind our lips. I know some of you may be hearing this and thinking, "That's a pretty simplistic generalization." I used to think the same thing.

In seminary, the members of the senior class preached at the Friday chapel services. A guy from California named Bob Belcher preached. In the sermon he asked, "How many people have you led to a relationship with Jesus?" He asked for a show of hands. How many here have introduced ten people to Jesus? Eight people? Six? Three? Has anyone led just one person to Jesus?"

Afterward I said to a classmate. "That was certainly a cheap, manipulative, guilt-mongering message we got today." My enlightened observation came from a perspective which took into account the plethora of contextual variances that either enhance of hinder a person's receptivity to Christian proclamation, and that our existential task is to present theological postulates in a Christological framework so that transcendant verities can be embraced as an expression of their ultimate concern. My friend said, "You are absolutely right, David. I couldn't agree with you more. And, by the way, how many people have you introduced to Jesus?"

On Wednesday night I was at Concord High School watching marching band practice. I noticed a boy sitting on the pavement looking up at one of the bright lights. A woman standing near him looked up to see what he was looking at. There were moths and other insects hovering beneath the light, then something big flew under the beam. It was a large praying mantis. Soon, everyone near the light joined the boy looking at the entomological extravaganza.

The theologian Karl Barth said that evangelism is like a person pointing to something in the sky. People gather to look with him. Others come along and the people in the crowd say, "Look! Up there!" Christians point to what they have seen and heard.

The difference between churches that grow and do not grow is the difference between Christians that share their faith and those who do not. Its not the peace position, its not our view of the Bible or which version of the Lord's Prayer we pray. Two families have lived next door to each other for years. The men are talking over the fence. "Why don't you come over and we'll watch Monday Night football?" "I'd like to, but I have a meeting at the church." "I didn't know you went to church." "Yes, we've belonged to First Church for twenty years." "Really? Its been twenty-five years since I've gone to church." "Why not?" "Well, I guess its because no one asked me."

It sounds so simple, but there are many people who are only an invitation away from coming to worship; an invitation away from becoming a follower of Jesus. Jesus invited ordinary people to follow him and be a part of God's kingdom. Along the way we have acquired faulty thinking which says, "Religion is a private matter. No butting into people's religious business.

But let me ask a question-- what if Jesus thought this way? What if the disciples decided that all ways of living were equally valid, and that Jesus was just one path among many paths-- different strokes for different folks? The church would have suffered crib death. History would have been decidedly different. For all we know, humanity could have killed itself off by now. Christianity is very public.

When evangelism comes up, someone is bound to say, "I don't share my faith with words. I express it through my actions." Our beliefs need hands and feet to get around. The book of James says that faith without deeds is dead. We are supposed to live our lives in a way that is different from the ways others live. But ask yourselves this -- what is there about your actions that would cause someone to conclude, "Aha! John must be a Christian."?

Lots of people do good things. A person's actions "might" show they are a Christian, but they could also be a Rotarian, a vegetarian, or a Unitarian! How are people to know why we live as we do if we don't say so? You're probably going to get sick of hearing me say this, but I'm going to keep saying it till we start changing our culture from internal to external.

WE starts with ME. Given a choice between standing in a pulpit sharing Christ with you, or outside with people I don't know, its easier to stick with you. I can spit it out in here. Outside it is easier to keep God's love to myself. Its easy to justify keeping our lips sealed. We have lots of things to tend to like buying land, taking care of each other, and keeping all the committees meeting. There are lots of excuses for not inviting and not sharing. But excuses, regardless how convincing, will not GROW the church.

Since we starts with me, let me tell you what I did three weeks ago. John and I were at a restaurant one Sunday evening. Our waitress was very attentive, and after handing me the check she said, "Thank you for being so nice to me. I'm really nervous. This is my first night here and you're my first customers." She's a single mom working two jobs to support herself and her son. I told her, "If you think we're nice, you should visit our church. Its FULL of even 'nicer' people." She replied, "I haven't been to church in a while, I just might show up." She's a slender woman with blonde hair. Her name is Rhonda. Be nice to her.

So much for me-- what about thee? You don't need a seminary degree to ask someone to church. Just be yourself. Think about your faith-- what Jesus means to you, what the church means to you, and why you would commend it to others. Jesus said to the man who could not hear or speak, "Ephphatha! Open up!" He's STILL shouting it, "Open your mouths! Speak from your heart. Spit it out!"

A freshman at Duke University, an eager, enthusiastic Christian signed up for Tony Campolo's inner-city ministry program in Philadelphia. Along with a hundred other students, he went to Phily where they gathered at a Baptist church for singing, worship, and a sermon from Campolo. Everyone was fired up. He said, "OK gang, are you read to go out there and tell 'em abut Jesus?" They shouted, "Let's go!" They jumped on a bus, clapping and singing, but as they rode further into the city, the singing trailed off as they took in the urban blight. They stopped in front of the city's worst housing project. Campolo got on the bus and said, "Alright gang, get out there and tell 'em about Jesus! I'll meet you here at five o'clock."

The freshman walked down the sidewalk and stopped in front of a tenement house. He gulped, said a prayer, and went in. The odor was awful. No lights in the hall. He stopped at a door where he heard a baby crying. He knocked. "Who is it?" said a voice from inside. The door opened a crack, and there stood a woman holding a naked baby. In an angry voice she said, "What you want?" "I want to tell you about Jesus," he said.

The woman swung open the door and started cursing him. She cursed him down the hall, down the steps, and on to the street. It was horrible. He thought to himself, "Some Christian I am. What made me think I could tell anyone abut Jesus?" He sat down on the curb and cried. Looking up he noticed a store across the street with bars over the windows. He went in and walked around, and it occurred to him that the baby had no diaper and the mother smoked. He bought a box of diapers and a pack of cigarettes, walked back to her door, said another prayer, gulped and knocked.

"Who is it?" The door opened, and he slid in the diapers and cigarettes. She looked at them and said, "Come on in." He stepped in. "Sit down," she ordered. He sat and played with the baby. He put on a diaper, though he had never done it before. She offered him a cigarette, and even though he didn't smoke, he smoked. He stayed all afternoon playing with the baby, talking and listening to the mother. She looked at him and said, "What's a nice college boy like you doing in a place like this?" He told her about Jesus. After five minutes he said all he knew. Then she asked, "Pray for me and my baby that we can make it out of here alive." And he did.

Back at the bus Tony Campolo asked, "Well gang, did any of you get to tell 'em abut Jesus?" The freshman spoke up, "I not only got to tell 'em about Jesus, I met Jesus. I went up there to save somebody and ended up getting saved. I became a disciple."

You don't have to knock on doors, shove religious tracts in people's faces, intrude upon their private space, recite a canned presentation, deliver a sermon, force a confession, or threaten people with hell. You tell your story.

Be hearers, doers, and speakers of the Word. Do what you know how to do-- be hospitable, care, listen, drop the lame excuses that shrink the church, and INVITE, INVITE, INVITE. We've listened to Jesus long enough. I know he said not to tell anyone what we have seen and heard, but now is time to break our silence. Open your mouths and spit it out.

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