Philippians 1:12-27                                         Evangelism Sunday

  Who can relate to the apostle Paul? A Jewish man, persecutor of Christians, blinded by the light, thrown off his horse, he met the Living Christ and spent the rest of his life traveling from place to place preaching about Jesus, writing letters to the little churches he helped start. This letter he wrote from prison. He’s in prison for what we would call free speech. And he writes joyful letters from prison. I don’t know anyone who does that. I have corresponded regularly with three prisoners – one was a man my family supported when I was a girl. His name was William and for several years, he spent every Christmas with us. He was a nice young man, who had made some bad choices in his late teens. The other two prisoners are sons of friends of mine, who have landed in prison for death of someone while they were under the influence of alchohol or drugs. Both these young men have faith, and are struggling to hang on to it in prison. They write pleasant letters, but nothing like Paul.

 Paul was unjustly imprisoned, not struggling with guilt. Paul is hooked, he is consumed, he is fixed on the love of Christ. He is sold out, totally committed, devoted to the service of Christ. As you will see in the passage we are reading today, he wants nothing except to have the name of Christ proclaimed. He cannot decide whether living or dying is better. All he wants is to live for Christ and live in Christ forever.

 Hear now the Word of the Lord from Philippians 1. Hear how Paul sees even his imprisonment as a blessing because it spreads the good news of Jesus Christ.

 Reflect with me for a moment on your life. Have you ever felt like Paul – even for a moment? That to live is Christ, to die is gain. That there is nothing more important to you than proclaiming the love of Christ. Have you ever felt so grateful for God’s love that you knew it was the most important thing in your life? I remember distinctly several occasions in my teen years and adulthood when I thought, “Yes, my goal in life, no matter what, is to serve Christ.” Maybe your commitment has been one of ever increasing service to the Lord, and you cannot remember a day or moment.

 But what I what you to get in touch with is why you believe. Why do you get up every Sunday and come here? Why do you give your time and your money? Why do you serve as you do, which requires a lot of time and energy? I hope it is because you believe that living for Christ is the most important choice in life. You see in Paul’s day, choosing to follow Christ was dangerous, and in our day choosing to follow Christ is sometimes seen as foolish or narrow-minded or too time-consuming. While in the mid 20th century church-going was a tame and respectable thing to do– it was too easy. In 2008, it is a more difficult choice. So think about it, think about why Paul was willing to make that choice and why you are. Plus think about why you might be bold enough to invite someone else into that lifestyle. Sometimes it is our lack of personal reflection that makes it hard to boldly proclaim the good news. We’ve been hooked by the love of God, but we’re not sure how to tell someone else. The first step is to get in touch with what makes Christian faith good news to you. Then you can share your faith.

 How do we relate to Paul’s dire situation of imprisonment? The only current analogy I can make (and it’s not a perfect one) is in our country’s current financial crisis. Many people are feeling imprisoned by mortgages they cannot afford and by bankruptcies they could not avoid. Many capable people are losing jobs in this harsh economy. Jo Allison shared a powerful testimony with the choir this week about how her journey with joblessness over these last several months has been hard but good. She shared how she has learned lessons in patience and trusting God with her future. “Those lessons in putting life in God’s hands are not learned apart from adversity,” Jo Allison says.

 Likewise Richard and I struggled with his joblessness 2 years ago. Yet what came as a crushing disappointment initially turned into a providential gift from God. He was given time to spend with his family in Asheville, while his mother was dying of cancer, and then through that experience got interested in Hospice. This was not a path we would have chosen for ourselves, any more than Paul wanted to sit in a prison cell, but it advanced the good news of Jesus Christ because Richard is involved with families in crisis and can use his ministerial and medical background to be helpful.

 Paul challenges us to see that it doesn’t matter how Christ gets proclaimed – just that the good news spreads. We Presbyterians sometimes get nervous about sharing good news. We don’t want to do it like some people do, because we’re afraid they are distorting the message. And we don’t want to sound like them. And yet the message gets out. Can you learn to be more relaxed about how you share your faith, such that you are simply sharing what is valuable and meaningful to you? You don’t have to have all the right words, just talk about how you see God at work in your life. Share your struggles and how God sustained you in them, how God worked through the good and hard times to lead you and guide you.

 Practice right now. Think of something in your life that has been difficult and try to write down how God is using that to bless others, to transform you into the person you need to be, to spread the good news. If God can take Paul’s imprisonment and make it good news, then God can use the difficult situation in your life.

 One our worst limitations in our human condition is the failure to have perspective on life. Richard regularly reminds me how short this life is, as he is routinely caring for dying patients in their 40's, 50's, and 60's, as well as 70's, 80's, and 90's. I can’t see how short my life really is, and how dying will be gain. All I can see is the here and now. Most of us think of dying as loss, not gain. We think of how much we want to accomplish before we die. We think of missing people. We don’t have perspective of the other side, any more than the parents of a newborn can really anticipate having a teenager or a married child with kids. Yet some of us are near the other side.

 On this Evangelism Sunday, a day that most Presbyterians are probably ignoring, but not us, the bottom line is this: When this life is over and you’re looking back, what will have been important? Earning money, entertaining ourselves, living in the big house – or living our life in a manner worthy of the Gospel? The answer is obvious.

 One day we will be face-to-face with the Living God, the One who came to us in

Jesus Christ and said, “You belong to me in life and death. Repent, believe the good news. Come, follow me.” One day we will be completely and utterly consumed by God’s Spirit of Love and we will say, “Wow I wished I had understood just how important my Christian faith was. I wish I had been more like Paul – totally committed, sold out, devoted willing to tell anybody what I believe because it is so real and true and good.

 Good news is good even when mixed up with some of the wrong stuff. Paul was willing to hear good news from anyone – even those who preach with false motives, even those who are selfish or envious, even those who were wishing to harm him. Remember that the next time you react to a televangelist or another Christian with whom you differ. Remember it the next you think about talking about how the Lord is at work in your life. Talking about God’s work in your life is good, even if your words and motives are not perfect.

 Living is Christ. Living is not your work or your family or your recreational activities. Living is Christ. We might not realize that until we are behind bars or jobless or alone or dying of a terminal disease. To live is to love and be loved by Christ, who holds life together into eternity for us. To live is be so focused on what Christ is doing, that we are free to be bold in proclaiming the good news as we see it – free despite suffering, free despite inhibitions, free despite bars of limitation, free to talk about what really matters, especially when other people don’t see it.