12-9-13<\/p>\n
If you had a child playing at the edge of an ever-widening sinkhole \u2013 and sinkholes lately have been in the news, including ones that swallowed people as well as houses \u2013 you would call that child to move back. If your friend were eating something poisonous without realizing the dangers, you would advise that friend of the fact. We do the same, some of us, with people, even strangers, who smoke. \u201cIntervention\u201d today increasingly is employed on behalf of people with drinking problems.<\/p>\n
Followers of Christ, who subscribe to the beliefs that all of us make mistakes and are sinful at heart; that therefore a wide gulf separates us from a Holy God; that this God nevertheless desires eternal fellowship with us and offers forgiveness and salvation; and that \u201caccepting\u201d Jesus \u2013 believing in our hearts and confessing with our words \u2013 these Christians cannot do anything else than have the same regard for other people\u2019s souls as we do their health and comfort.<\/p>\n
How often do contemporary Christians fit that last puzzle-piece in place?<\/p>\n
Failing this, we condemn ourselves; and we are implicit in sending others to the cold darkness of eternity, separation from God. How often do we avoid sharing even the smallest portion of Jesus with someone because we might \u201coffend them\u201d? Hurt their feelings? \u201cHey buddy, don\u2019t smoke in your apartment, but I don\u2019t care if you go to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not always comfortable, but neither was that splintery cross. Living in a multimedia culture makes it easy to assume everyone thinks like we do, or has access to the same facts that we process. Not so. When the Apostle Paul arrived in Ephesus, word-of-mouth about the Savior had already led to the establishment of several Christian communities. But not every word had been shared by every mouth:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.\u00a0\u2018Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?\u2019 he asked them. \u2018No,\u2019 they replied, \u2018we haven\u2019t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.\u2019 \u2018Then what baptism did you experience?\u2019 he asked. And they replied, \u2018The baptism of John.\u2019 Paul said, \u2018John\u2019s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.\u2019 As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied\u201d (Acts 19:1-6, NLT).<\/p>\n
Paul wrote letters to local churches and church leaders, sharing the good news, and answering questions. These letters comprise the majority of the New Testament. We shared last week how papyrus letters from a generation or two after Paul are extant. Before Christ\u2019s time, spiritual news and God\u2019s words were shared by Torah scrolls, inscriptions, sacred texts. After him we have the successive march of letters, manuscripts, tapestries and stained-glass picture stories, parchment books, printed books, mass-production, tracts, evangelistic crusades, recordings, radio, short-wave, television, and the internet.<\/p>\n
The SHARING of the good news is central to the good news itself. \u201cGo into all the world\u2026\u201d Jesus said, commissioning His disciples. Romans 10:14-15 argues: \u201cHow can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? \u00a0And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, \u2018How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!\u2019 (NLT) Like much of the Book of Romans, this is like an advocate summarizing his case. How can they hear about Jesus unless someone tells them?<\/p>\n
Right about in the middle of humankind\u2019s list of ways to share the good news \u2013 not in a timeline, but in the numbers of methods and technologies \u2013 is the radio. After its invention it was available to almost every community on the earth. And much of its message, especially today on short-wave broadcasts, is Christian. I went to Sunday school as a child, but it was preachers on my AM transistor radio from whom I really heard the first hard (and sweet) truths of the Gospel; and came face-to-face with decisions to make, or avoid, regarding Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Albert E. Brumley was an American gospel songwriter of the past century. He wrote more than 800 sermons-in-song, many of which are favorites today in churches, hymnbooks, and recordings. Among them are “I’ll Fly Away,” “If We Never Meet Again (This Side of Heaven),” “I’ll Meet You In The Morning,” “Jesus, Hold My Hand,” “I’d Rather Be An Old Time Christian,” and “Rank Strangers to Me.” <\/p>\n
He told a story about another of his classics\u2026 and the role of radio in spreading the gospel: <\/p>\n
“I wrote \u2018Turn Your Radio On\u2019 in 1937, and it was published in 1938. At this time radio was relatively new to the rural people, especially gospel music programs. I had become alert to the necessity of creating song titles, themes, and plots, and frequently people would call me and say, \u2018Turn your radio on, Albert, they’re singing one of your songs on such-and-such a station.\u2019 It finally dawned on me to use\u2026 \u2018Turn your radio on\u2019 as a theme for a religious\u2026 song.\u201d <\/p>\n
Like the poor, radio we will always have with us. In the words of the song, \u201cturn your radio on and listen to the music in the air; Turn your radio on and heaven’s glory share\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Are you tuned in… to what God is saying to you? Don\u2019t touch that dial! You can broadcast (as it were) a brief public-service announcement, or a personal message, every once in a while yourself.<\/p>\n
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Many folks\u2019 favorite version of Brumley\u2019s classic song is by the great Ray Stevens. Fun, upbeat, infectious\u2026 meaningful. Here he sings at the piano, surrounded by friends who sing along, as you might, yourself.<\/p>\n