"But what about weird or stupid people?"

"I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish: so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also ...." Roman 1:13-14 RSV
OUCH! Imagine it, "I have to share Jesus with stupid people, so I hope to come to a town near you!" (I am curious whether you thought of yourself as the subject or object of the title.)

Several days ago I was speaking to a very nice Christian person (let's call him BOB) who simply could not imagine having "those" kind of people (weird, stupid) in his house. Not long into the conversation he mentioned those people in his church who thought they were too good for my friend. Notice a trend? If I am smarter (or whatever term you want to use) than you, then you are beneath me. If you are smarter (or whatever) than me, then you are snooty. Hmmm.

This reminds me of the man who went to the doctor with pain all over his body. Everywhere he touced himself with his finger he hurt. The doctor informed him that his finger was broken.

I said in the last post that my vision for Macon, GA is God's vision (for everyone to love Jesus) applied to a particular place, working itself outward in a concentric fashion. Here I want to talk about my vision for God's church (partially).

First, normal people usually meet Jesus through relationships with normal people. This could be through family, co-workers, teachers, friends, etc.

Second, this does not mean that we all get together one Saturday a month and do Evangelism in the streets or parking lots.

Third, this means that people who love Jesus have more leverage in the culture for God's kingdom than is usually assumed by either pastors or congregants.

Two objections need to be answered. First, "Is evangelism for normal people? Isn't that why we hire pastors?" Second, "How in the world can I do what I expect my pastor to do when I don't have any spare time?"

In order to answer the first question we need to look closely at Ephesians 4. "But grace was given to each one us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it is said, 'When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.' ... And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the sainst, for the work of ministry ... until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God," (Ephesians 4:7-13 RSV).

Usually, we think of these gifts as being relegated to ordained leadership, but the text seems to indicate that God gives everyone something of these gifts for doing ministry (no doubt governing and teaching authority is a separate issue, see 1 Timothy 2). Paul speaks of this totality in verses 15-16: "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love." So Paul wants every believer (every) to "speak the truth in love" whether through evangelism or teaching etc; whether this is within the believing or unbelieving community. Each part has a part. (If you are thinking that Paul was talking about the inner relationships of the church body alone, then what place has Evangelism in verse 11 or the coming to a knowledge of Jesus in verse 13?) Want to grow you community of faith? Then everyone must do their part.

Second, there is simply not enough time. We barely have any time for our families, much less for our unbelieving communities. I admit, this is a real issue, but that is because we have bifurcated our normal lives from our church lives. I want to suggest rearranging how we think about normal life. Let give you an illustration and several questions to ask yourself along with one principle.

What this chart reveals is our concentric spheres of influence. In each sphere I am presented with a web of interactive relationships which we might call Kingdom Opportunities. Some of these relationships are more frequent than others. In some you have a voice of authority (family) or influence (employer). In some less frequent (market) you have contact but not authority. In others you have voice but not authority (hobby). These are the normal webs of relationship in every day life.

So how do we leverage the relationships we already have? Here let me insert the principle of intentionality. Where you are not intentional for sharing Jesus then you will not share Jesus. I suggest sitting down and filling in this chart in the following way.

1) List who your family is, what your job is, what your hobbies are, and where you shop. Now transfer the what and where to who. Who is in your family, who are you co-workers, who are you hobby mates, and who works at where you shop.

2) In each of these categories ask yourself four questions: where do I have authority, where do I have voice, where do I have influence, and where do I have contact. How I evangelize in my family will be different than how I evangelize shopping. The one may mean changing the nature of the events I do with my family (rather than adding more) while the other may be changing how I speak to my cashier (rather than chasing her into the bathroom with a tract).

3) Now ask yourself how you can be more intentional in each of these categories to share Jesus. For example: don't be in such a hurry when you shop; instead of asking someone to accept Jesus all the time, just ask them if you can be praying for them; see inconveniences as opportunities (when they involve people); use the same cashier over time (begin to ask questions and form a history); shop in the same places;

4) Finally, learn what the Gospel is and how to speak it into people's lives. You don't have to be a genius: "Jesus loves you and so do I, can I be praying for you?"

What have stupid people to do with this? Well, we tend to "avoid" people who we think are either better or worse than us, which is ....umm...everyone. Erase your prejudices, look at your young pregnant, teenage cashier at Hobby Lobby as a person that Jesus loves. Look at that idiot with his pants around his ankles at the mall as someone Jesus loves. See that snooty rich person on the side of the road who can't change his own tire as someone that Jesus loves. Your brat of a child? You have voice and authority; add intentionality to your relationships and share Jesus (however little of it you have).