Sermon Cloud

We speak in stories.  Stories are the way people share what they really think and express who they are. It is through these stories that we interact and communicate.   They are the currency to exchange ideas and as such are more important than 'facts'.  In an age of informational overload, Daniel Pink writes in A Whole New Mind:

"When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context..."

It is through stories that we interact and beliefs are challenged. God reveals Himself primarily in story and Jesus often teaches through story.  Christians need to understand the importance of this, including a greater understanding of their own story.

Today, we are going to examine three aspects of story that every Christian ought to know:

The Worldview story: The worldview story is the driving story of a person's life. It is the story that shapes their interpretation of all things. This may be the humanist story or a postmodern story but nonetheless it interprets all other stories and life experiences.

Christians need to see the whole Bible as a coherent worldview.  Many of us have read the Bible as just a collection of stories, moral tidbits and religious stuff.  The danger of this approach is if the Bible becomes a fragmented message to us, we will end up fitting it into whatever other story we buy into.  This is part of what causes hypocrisy, legalism and a 'religious' but empty person.

We must see a world where the Grand Story is what God is doing.  Why do we love?  Why would we go crazy if left on an island alone?  Why should we care about the environment?  God creates, initiates, redeems and entrusts us in His story.  When we see this grand story, our whole worldview changes.  A Christian should be able to recall when they became a Christian because their whole life changed. Their story changed.

Testimonies: AJ & Amelia

Our Person Story: Let's assume you are a Christian and your worldview has radically changed.  Now what?  Our personal values begin a continual process of change.  As Christians we see that we are now in relationship with the God Creator.  We have an ongoing testimony of this relationship.

Sadly, Christians often assume their 'testimony' is simply a resume-like collection of facts about their 'conversion'.  Christians seem to prize the sinfulness prior to the conversion.  Many of you have experienced this if you've hung out with Christians for long.  You go to some church event and people start sharing their testimony.  Sometimes it feels like a competition.  Who was the worst sinner prior to Jesus?

Why do we wrongly view our testimony like this?  This is because many Christians have a wrong view of the Gospel.  If we see the Gospel simply as the entry into the Christian faith, our testimony is reduced to this.  But as we grow as Christians, our personal story includes the continual grace (not works) renewal that the Gospel brings. It is the idols (what we really worship) that, by grace, lose their grip on our lives. It is the suffering that softens our hearts to love others. It is God using circumstances to sanctify us. It is our identity being changed and conformed to the image of Christ. This is the story we speak to others daily in both word & deed.

Testimonies: Chelsea & Jacquie

Mission & Story: When a person's worldview changes and their values and identity change, how they live will change.  Loving others and sharing your story will be a natural result of your understanding of the Gospel story.  Anything less than this is a rejection of the biblical story.  This is because in your worldview, you will see God as a missionary god and you as a missionary, too.  Christians ought to be great listeners and story tellers. We must re-think evangelism to be the sharing of our story, God's story and listening to others' stories.

The Bible's call to Testimony

Acts 1:8: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Acts 4:20: "For we cannot but speak of the things we have seen and heard."

Acts 4:33: "And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all."

If you read Acts 26:1-29 and Acts 22:1-21, you also see two examples of how the apostle Paul gave his testimony. Paul talked about his life before meeting Christ and how Christ revealed Himself to him and his response.  Acts 26 talks about his life after his conversion.  He is giving his story to share the Gospel.  We also see in Acts 7 Stephen entering the religious leader's worldview and speaking Jesus into it.  God uses our testimony to tell people what Jesus has done.

Revelation 12:11: "And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."

 Testimonies: Marc & Brooke