Have you met _______, yet?
Sometimes, when you introduce one acquaintance to another you’ll do so with the question “Have you met _____?” I have a couple of friends whose names would fit nicely into the title sentence, above. That is, with the addition of the word “yet” before the question mark.
I think that describes these friends with greater accuracy because it suggests that these extroverts have probably already introduced themselves! They eagerly walk up to people they’ve never met because they would like to meet them. They’re not running for office, simply enlarging their circles of acquaintances and potential friends.
We had such a man in our midst at Redeemer this weekend. His name is Gary Thies and he serves as a Mission Development Counselor for the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. He works through a marvelous organization known as Mission Central, where he is the director. Throughout our services and the Bible class this affable brother in Christ Jesus came back, time and again, to a variation of the title of this blog. His question, which he would encourage everyone to adopt, was not “Have you met Jesus, yet?” but “Do you know Jesus?”
The more I think about it, that’s a wonderful way to describe part of our task as Christians, called by the Lord Jesus to be His witnesses in the world (Acts 1:8). It is more than a question about where one might attend worship or to which denomination a person might belong. It cuts right to the heart of the matter. “Do you know Jesus?”
It helps to consider where the conversation could go from there. The follow up to that question’s answer can be (a) a wonderfully encouraging talk between brothers and sisters in Christ, (b) an invitation to come to worship, or (c) an opportunity to clarify a misconception someone might be harboring regarding the message of the Bible or the work of the church.
Our message needs to be one that centers on the Person, the words, and the work of Christ Jesus. He is the One whose suffering, death, and resurrection brings forgiveness, meaning, and everlasting life to all who put their trust in Him.
Passing the truth along
With Fathers’ Day just passed I’m sharing some words from Dr. Dale Meyer, president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
“One generation shall commend your works to another” (Psalm 145:4). The third century church father Origen wrote, “However much obedience we offer (to our parents), we have not yet repaid the recompense of thanks for being born, for being carried, for drawing light, for being nurtured and perhaps educated and trained in honest skills. And perhaps by the same originators (parents), we came to know God and came to the Church of God and heard the word of the divine law.” (“The Fathers of the Church,” 216).
I’m ever so thankful for the way in which my father – and my mother! – passed along to me what they knew of God and brought me to the services of His house. Yesterday we celebrated the mystery of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in the midst of families passing that truth through the generations (one great-great-grandfather in the mix), as did our children in Omaha who will soon be passing it on to yet another generation. Today, on this campus, we’ll be taking part in that in yet another way - Vacation Bible School!
God bless you and your family as you share, one with another, that one thing needful! (Luke 10:42)
D Day Remembered
Did your eyes get a little moist, your throat a little tight as you watched some of the commemorations surrounding last week’s 75th anniversary of D Day? Yeah, mine too.
The remarks of Presidents Trump and Macron were memorable. The preceding day’s observations from Portsmouth, England, were stirring. The Higgins boats’ fatality figures during the storming of the beaches at Normandy were almost incomprehensible.
What fortitude. What bravery. What sacrifice.
Never underestimate what God could work through you, were you to live in a different time frame. He has His purposes to work through you in this day and age (Ephesians 2:10), so such musings are really beside the point.
Still, I’m thankful for what the countries of the Free World were willing and able to do to stop the Axis powers in those fateful years of the Second World War. Thank you, Lord, for the freedom we enjoy at such a costly price. Grant us the strength and the opportunities to utilize it to share the freedom we know in the Gospel, which came at an even higher cost.