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As missionaries, we are people sent on a mission. We are sent to everyone everywhere. We are to take Him to every street where God sends us.
“Main Street” (or Jerusalem) is a great place to start, and probably a place where we will always have work to do. These will typically be the people that are most like us—people with whom we will have the most in common.
There are others that need to hear the Good news of forgiveness that Jesus has made available. As our circle of witness widens, we may have less in common with those with whom we are interacting. This may take us out of our comfort zone, but since the Holy Spirit is in us we will never be out of our empowerment zone!
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea… (Acts 1:8).
We need to ask two questions:
- What did it mean then? Judea was still compromised of Jewish people, but it was the area slightly outside the neighborhood of Jerusalem.
- What does it mean now? These are people very similar to people on Main Street, but we are starting to see more differences. These differences often become the source of controversies.
I’m going to describe some people in our Judea as cultural Christians but not biblical Christians. In the time of Jesus we could think of the Pharisees: People who would call themselves godly because they have set their own standards.
Lombard Street in San Francisco is a short, curvy street. This is a one-way street and motorists are only supposed to drive 5 mph, and still there are frequent controversies on the right-of-way between homeowners, motorists, work crews, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Everyone thinks their way is the right way.
How do we take the message of Jesus to those on our “Lombard Street”?
(1) Distinguish the biblical from the non-biblical.
Both the Pharisees that interacted with Jesus and today’s cultural Christians seem to quote more from their own traditions than they do from the Scripture, so we need to distinguish that the source of our beliefs is from God’s inspired Word. (I share more about the concept of biblical, unbiblical, and non-biblical in this post.)
A great example for us is how Jesus answered two questions from an expert in the Mosaic law: How do I earn eternal life? Who is my neighbor? See Luke 10:25-37.
(2) Stick to Scripture and your personal story.
Remember that the person with an experience is never at the mercy of the person with an argument. When the Sanhedrin questioned the legitimacy of the healing of a lame man, Luke wrote, “But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them [Peter and John], there was nothing they could say” (Acts 4:14)!
Love the personal story of the healed blind man in John 9!
Judea can be translated “he shall be praised.” We glorify Jesus not by arguing with those on Lombard Street, but by simply proclaiming biblical truth and our personal testimony.
Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. (1 Chronicles 16:23-24)
As we stick with the Scripture and our personal testimony, the Holy Spirit will use our witness to open minds to the Good News of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18-4:5).
Follow along with all of the streets we are looking at in our series Takin’ Him to the streets by clicking here.
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Craig T. Owens 