Advertising Your Faith: Actions Speak Louder

 

Summary

In today's message, we explored the profound question: if your life is a commercial, what are you advertising? This question challenges us to reflect on the essence of our lives and what we project to the world. As we continue our series, "Investigating Jesus: How We Know and Why We Follow," we delve into the core of the Christian faith, which hinges on the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. The authenticity of Christianity is not about the existence of God or the truth of the entire Bible, but rather whether the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John—are reliable accounts of actual events. If even one of these is true, it validates Jesus' claims and actions, urging us to pay attention.

We focused on the Gospel of Luke, where Luke meticulously documents the life of Jesus, not as religious literature or as part of the Bible, but as a historical account. Luke's narrative introduces us to John the Baptist, a pivotal figure who prepared the way for Jesus. John the Baptist's message was revolutionary, calling people to repentance and a life that reflects their beliefs. He challenged the religious norms of his time, urging people to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, emphasizing action over mere belief.

John's teachings remind us that our faith should not be a comfortable, internalized experience but an active, outward expression of God's love and justice. He called for a life that advertises the kingdom of God through our actions, challenging us to ask, "What should we do?" This question is not about deep theological understanding but about deep, transformative actions that align us with God's work in the world.

Key Takeaways:

- The essence of our lives is reflected in what we advertise to the world. Our faith should be an active expression of God's love and justice, not just a personal, internalized belief. [00:16]

- The authenticity of Christianity hinges on the reliability of the Gospels. If even one Gospel is a true account, it validates Jesus' claims and actions, urging us to pay attention and follow. [02:33]

- John the Baptist's message was revolutionary, calling for repentance and a life that reflects our beliefs. He emphasized action over mere belief, challenging the religious norms of his time. [17:55]

- Our faith should not be a comfortable, internalized experience but an active, outward expression of God's love and justice. We are called to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. [21:09]

- Asking "What should we do?" is not about deep theological understanding but about deep, transformative actions that align us with God's work in the world. Doing is deep, and it changes lives. [35:30]

Youtube Chapters:

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:16] - Life as a Commercial
[01:15] - Investigating Jesus
[02:33] - The Core Question of Faith
[03:31] - Exploring the Gospel of Luke
[04:42] - Luke's Historical Account
[06:17] - Luke's Intentions
[08:26] - John the Baptist's Introduction
[09:16] - Fact-Checking History
[10:32] - John the Baptist's Message
[12:46] - Historical Context of John
[14:55] - John's Call to Repentance
[17:55] - Producing Fruit in Faith
[21:09] - The Challenge of Action
[35:30] - The Depth of Doing
[40:48] - Closing and Next Steps

Study Guide

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. Luke 3:1-14 - This passage introduces John the Baptist and his message of repentance, emphasizing the need for actions that reflect one's beliefs.

#### Observation Questions
1. What specific historical details does Luke provide to establish the time and context of John the Baptist's ministry? [09:16]
2. How does John the Baptist challenge the religious norms of his time according to the sermon? [17:55]
3. What was the reaction of the crowd to John the Baptist's message, and what question did they ask him? [25:19]
4. How does the sermon describe the role of John the Baptist in preparing the way for Jesus? [08:41]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why does the sermon emphasize the reliability of the Gospels, particularly Luke, as historical accounts rather than religious literature? [06:17]
2. How does John the Baptist's call to "produce fruit in keeping with repentance" challenge the audience's understanding of faith? [17:55]
3. What does the sermon suggest about the relationship between belief and action in the Christian faith? [21:09]
4. How does the sermon interpret the question "What should we do?" in the context of living out one's faith? [35:30]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on the question, "If your life is a commercial, what are you advertising?" What specific aspects of your life might need to change to better reflect your faith? [00:16]
2. John the Baptist emphasized action over mere belief. What is one specific action you can take this week to demonstrate your faith in a tangible way? [17:55]
3. The sermon challenges us to ask, "What should we do?" How can you incorporate this question into your daily routine to align your actions with God's work in the world? [35:30]
4. Consider the idea that doing is deep. What is one area in your life where you feel God is calling you to step out of your comfort zone and take action? [36:08]
5. The sermon mentions the danger of a comfortable, internalized faith. How can you ensure that your faith remains active and outward-focused? [21:09]
6. John the Baptist's message was revolutionary for his time. What revolutionary change can you make in your life to better reflect the kingdom of God? [16:07]
7. How can you use your unique gifts and resources to meet the needs of others in your community, as John the Baptist instructed? [26:10]

Devotional

Day 1: Life as a Reflection of Faith
Our lives are a reflection of what we truly value and believe. The question, "if your life is a commercial, what are you advertising?" invites us to examine the essence of our lives and what we project to the world. It challenges us to consider whether our faith is an active expression of God's love and justice or merely a personal, internalized belief. Our actions, words, and attitudes should consistently reflect the kingdom of God, demonstrating love, compassion, and justice in our daily interactions. This reflection is not just about self-awareness but about aligning our lives with the transformative power of the Gospel. [00:16]

"For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?" (2 Corinthians 2:15-16, ESV)

Reflection: What specific actions can you take today to ensure your life advertises God's love and justice to those around you?


Day 2: The Core of Christian Authenticity
The authenticity of Christianity is deeply rooted in the reliability of the Gospels. The sermon emphasizes that the truth of Christianity does not rest solely on the existence of God or the entire Bible but on whether the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John—are reliable accounts of actual events. If even one Gospel is true, it validates Jesus' claims and actions, urging us to pay attention and follow. This understanding calls us to a deeper exploration of the Gospels, encouraging us to engage with the life and teachings of Jesus with an open heart and mind. [02:33]

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31, ESV)

Reflection: How can you incorporate a deeper study of the Gospels into your daily routine to strengthen your understanding and faith in Jesus' teachings?


Day 3: Revolutionary Call to Action
John the Baptist's message was revolutionary, calling people to repentance and a life that reflects their beliefs. He challenged the religious norms of his time, emphasizing action over mere belief. His call to "produce fruit in keeping with repentance" reminds us that faith should not be a comfortable, internalized experience but an active, outward expression of God's love and justice. This revolutionary call to action invites us to examine our lives and consider how our actions align with our professed beliefs. [17:55]

"Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham." (Luke 3:8, ESV)

Reflection: What specific area of your life needs to change to better reflect your faith in action, and what steps can you take to initiate this change today?


Day 4: The Challenge of Active Faith
Our faith should not be a comfortable, internalized experience but an active, outward expression of God's love and justice. We are called to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, which means living a life that consistently reflects our beliefs. This challenge of active faith requires us to move beyond mere belief and engage in actions that demonstrate God's love and justice in the world. It is a call to live authentically, allowing our faith to shape our decisions, relationships, and interactions with others. [21:09]

"So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." (James 2:17-18, ESV)

Reflection: Identify one way you can actively express your faith in your community this week. How can you ensure this action is a genuine reflection of God's love and justice?


Day 5: The Depth of Doing
Asking "What should we do?" is not about deep theological understanding but about deep, transformative actions that align us with God's work in the world. The depth of doing lies in the transformative power of our actions, which can change lives and reflect God's kingdom on earth. This call to action encourages us to move beyond intellectual understanding and engage in practical, meaningful actions that demonstrate our commitment to God's work. It is a reminder that doing is deep, and it is through our actions that we truly embody our faith. [35:30]

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18, ESV)

Reflection: What is one specific action you can take today to align yourself more closely with God's work in the world, and how can you make this a regular practice in your life?

Quotes


If my life is a commercial or if your life is a commercial, and I mean, you've got your temperament, your personality, and your gifts and your job and you've got a lot of stuff going on, but when you come to mind or when I come to mind, when people kind of do the one sentence thing, I know Frank, he's you know, I know Trisha, Trish, she's, if your life is a commercial, and I guess and say all of our lives are commercials about something, I wonder what are you advertising? [00:27:49]

The Christian faith, not all faith systems and not even theism, but Christianity specifically rises and falls on the identity of a single individual, Jesus of Nazareth. So when it comes to the veracity of Christianity, specifically the question to wrestle to the ground, the question that you have to wrestle with, especially if you're considering faith or maybe you're losing faith or you grew up with faith and now you're not so sure because your childhood faith is not doing so well with the trauma that comes and the pressures that come along with being an adult and your kind of things are up in the air, the question to wrestle with when it comes to is there anything to the Christian faith is not the question, is there a God, although it's fun to talk about is there a God and there's lots of books written about is there a God, that's kind of fun to talk about, but that's not the main question when it comes to Christianity. [01:30:73]

If any one of these much less all four of these are reliable accounts of actual events, then it means that what Jesus said about Himself is true and what Jesus did are things that really happen. And if what these Gospels or these ancient documents say about Jesus is true regardless of your background and regardless of what you've thought before, you should sit up straight and pay attention. We should all sit up straight and pay attention regardless of what you think about religion, the existence of God or even the Bible, if any one of these is a reliable account of actual events, game on. [02:55:89]

Luke is not writing religious literature, he's not writing religious literature. And as we discussed last time, if you missed last time, you gotta go back and catch up, he's also not writing the Bible. Luke doesn't have any idea there will ever be a the Bible, the Bible which is the title given to the collection of the Hebrew Scriptures along with the Gospels and the writings of Paul's and letters, that happened in the early fourth century. Luke has no idea there's ever gonna be a the Bible. So he's not writing religious literature, he's certainly not writing the Bible. You know what he's doing? He's documenting someone's life, he's telling someone's story, a story that took place in his lifetime. [06:11:51]

John the Baptist is not a Bible character, John the Baptist is a historical character that shows up in this Gospel, and in fact, in the other Gospels as well, because he had a specific role to play when it came to Jesus. But John the Baptist is known of outside of biblical literature. The Roman historian that I, excuse me, the Jewish historian that I quote sometimes, Josephus, every once in a while you hear somebody talk about Josephus, Josephus wrote three big pieces of literature, "The Jewish War" which is a fabulous piece of literature, you can get all this stuff on Amazon, is almost free, it's so old. But he also wrote a document, I've read all of these, "The Antiquities or The History of the Jews" where he goes all the way back to Adam and tells the whole history of the Jews. [11:03:65]

And John went into all the country around the Jordan River specifically preaching, and this was his message, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now, one of the reasons John the Baptist caused such a stir, this is a problem, because the Jewish people had an entire system built around how to get forgiven of your sin. And it happened in Jerusalem at the temple. And lo and behold, this crazy man comes out of the desert saying, you don't need to go there, the whole thing is corrupt, you need to come to me and I'm gonna baptize you and I'm gonna call you to repentance of your sin so you can begin to live out what you're supposed to live out. [15:10:64]

If you wanna be right with God, if you wanna be prepared for what God is about to do, you have to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. That is you gotta change your evil ways and you gotta walk your talk, you gotta put some wheels on it, you gotta be doers of the Torah, not just believers and teachers of the Torah, because the day of reducing religion to tradition are over, the days of a personalized, internalized only religion, they're over. And if you don't repent of that kind of approach, and if you don't repent of your lack of compassion, your lack of generosity, your lack of others first, if you don't repent, when the new that God does shows up, you're gonna miss it because you won't see it because you won't be living in sync with it. [17:41:74]

Produce fruit, he said, fruit, not belief, fruit, not you got it all worked out theologically, fruit in keeping with repentance. Here's our version, Produce fruit in keeping with what you say you believe and who you claim to believe in. Again, if this is disturbing, it's like, but what about, then you get it, you get the emotion he's trying to stir in all of us. Because at times, we get so settled into our way of thinking and our way of believing and our way of behaving that we think, well, we're fine, aren't we? And maybe you are fine, but maybe some of us aren't. [21:15:74]

What should we do to prepare for what God is about to do among us? What should we do so that when it happens, we recognize it? What should we do that when we see it, we understand this is God's work in the world. We don't wanna miss it. If God's about to do something new, how can we best prepare ourselves? And they were of course waiting for some religious answer. If you're gonna prepare, if you're gonna get ready for what God's about to do, you gotta do something difficult, you gotta do something unusual, you gotta do something religious. And John's answer surprised them and it will surprise us as well. [25:21:45]

If you see a need you can meet, meet it, when you see a need you can meet and it cost you, meet it, when you have more of what you have, you have more of what somebody else has has and they need it, then you step in, whether they're Judean, Galilean, Samaritan, it doesn't matter. When you see a need, you step in and you mean it because the thing that God is about to do is exactly that, He is about to meet the need of the entire world, a need they can't meet on their own. And if you're not living that out, you're gonna miss it when it comes. [27:05:57]

Doing is deep. You know why doing is deep, because when you follow Jesus, when you begin to ask the question, this is a challenging question, when you begin to say to your heavenly Father, what do you want me to do, He is going to draw you out into a place where you can't touch the bottom, that's the definition of deep. By the way, there's the shallow end, I can touch the bottom, I'm safe, there's the deep end, I can't touch the bottom, I'm having to exert energy and I'm a little bit afraid and I'm over my head. And that's where your heavenly Father is going to invite you because that's where His son went and that's how the world is changed. [35:51:08]

Believers didn't change the world, doers changed the world, followers changed the world. The men and women, the men and women whose lives advertise the kingdom of God, the men and women whose lives advertise thy kingdom come, thy will be done right here right now in my world. So will you ask it, Heavenly Father, what should I do? If you do, your eyes and your heart will be open to what God has next for you and what God has now for your world. [40:15:37]

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Transcript
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