Just Walk Across the Room
The Power of Story
(Week 3)
John 9:1-15

Please Note:  This sermon was adapted and used with permission from the “Just Walk Across the Room Four-Week Experience” by Bill Hybels, produced by Willow Creek and Zondervan Publishing who maintain all copyrights   The actual wording of this sermon is original, except where noted, and draws on the points and ideas from Hybels’ transcript.

Introduction
We are on week three of a four-week sermon and Sunday School series learning together how to “just walk across rooms.”  This metaphor captures Christ’s invitation to step out of our comfort zones to walk across rooms, yards, offices, school hallways, wherever God strategically places us, in order to connect with new people to be used of God to plant one small seed of the gospel.

Before we jump into today’s discussion, let’s do a quick review of last two week’s main points.  
 First, we must all the Holy Spirit to empower us to:
1.    Be willing to enter the Zone of the Unknown
2.    Listen for the Spirit’s promptings
3.    Just walk

Then, once we make a new connection, we
1.    Develop friendships
2.    Discover stories
3.    Discern next steps

In some of these new redemptive relationships you develop, there will come the appropriate time that you discern that the next step is either to tell them a small piece of your testimony, or you story, or to tell them a simple form of how one becomes a Christian, or God’s story.  Today’s sermon teaches us one very practical, effective way to tell God’s story and your story.  

Let us pray…            Scripture reading…

“All I know,” said the once-blind man “is that once I was blind, and now I see, and this Jesus is the one who healed me!”  The man was being asked to give an account of his faith, and he simply gave his personal testimony, he told his story.  And in the model of evangelism that we are learning in this series that is all you are being asked to do.

There have been many models of evangelism through the ages.  Each one was effective during its time.  There was the apologetic era when a primary way to share the gospel was through intellectual arguments defending the reliability of Scripture.  There was the tract era when tracts addressing every possible age and question were produced, and evangelism required discerning which best tract to hand out.  There was the bus ministry era when all across the country churches brought old buses and bussed in teens and children.  There was the direct confrontation era when models such as “Evangelism Explosion” were used.   
While there is still a place for some aspects of each of these models, the most effective model in our current culture is telling the gospel and your testimony as story in the context of developing relationships.  This model is often called “lifestyle,” or “relational” evangelism.  Telling the gospel as story is powerful for many reasons, but I’ll mention just three main reasons now.

First of all, stories are powerful; which is our first point and the first blank of your insert.

Point 1: Stories Are Powerful!

Nothing engages our attention or impacts our imagination better than a good story.  So it is with sharing the good news, the gospel with others.  If we want to engage their attention and captivate their imagination in a way that invites them to new life, learning how to tell God’s and our story well is essential.

Secondly, evangelism through developing relationships and telling God’s and our own story is the most effective model because we live in what is called a “post-modern,” “post-Christian” culture.  

This simply means that we can no longer just appeal to the Bible as the final authority when engaging people in our culture and expect them to be persuaded as they do not give the Bible that kind of credibility.  Also, many in our society no longer embrace the notion that there is just one version of the truth, but rather truth and morality are situational and personal.  

Thirdly, evangelism through relationships and story telling is the most effective because that is the model that our triune God has been using all along.  When Father God wanted to rescue rebellious humanity, what did He do?  He took a walk, developed a close relationship with people like Abraham and Moses, and through them with the nation of Israel, and then he told His story of salvation to them and through them.  When it was Christ’s turn to take a redemptive walk on planet earth what did He do?  He developed close relationships and told stories.  

God could have chosen any number of formats to reveal Himself and His redemptive plans.  But He didn’t choose to give us an instruction manual, a systematic theology, or a text book.  He gave us story.  The Bible is 2/3rds story telling.  So our second point is this:

Point 2: God Has a Story.  Learn to Tell It Well!

So in this four-week study we are going through, we are learning some very practical and simple ways to engage in evangelism.  I hope, pray, challenge, encourage, admonish you to begin or continue to practice what you are learning.  Please be a doer of the Word not just a deceived and fruitless and therefore joyless hearer only!  

So here’s the process: you obeyed the gentle nudge or small voice of the Holy Spirit and you’ve stepped out of your comfort zone and made a connection with someone.  The relationship continues to develop and you are being curious about that person and hearing his or her story.  You’re discerning next steps and showing genuine compassion toward them.  

After a period of time, which may be weeks, months, even perhaps years, you discern an opening to share either something from your story or God’s story.  How do you do it well?  (The following explanation of the “Bridge” is a direct quote from Pastor Hybels’ transcript and all direct quotes are italicized)

“There’s a tried-and-true way of explaining God’s story that you might consider committing to memory, if you haven’t done so already.  It’s called “The Bridge”—many of you may be familiar with it.  The Bridge is quite simple, really, but it is a powerful way to illustrate precisely what God—and his Son, Jesus Christ—did for humankind.

The next time you find yourself in a delicate conversation where the person you’re talking to really does want to understand who God is and what he has done, grab a piece of scratch paper, a cocktail napkin or whatever, and ask their permission to sketch out this bridge. It’s an image they won’t soon forget, I assure you.  Here’s how it goes.

All right, for starters, we have to establish the reality of two beings: people and God.] Between people and God is a great chasm—a division that exists because of people’s propensity to rebel against God’s way and go their own way instead.  The Bible calls this sin.”
 


“The dilemma people face is that we want to get to God but know we can’t just leap over the chasm.  So we try exerting human effort, hoping we can get the bridge built.  In the end, we realize that all the human effort in the world will never be enough to get us to the other side.”
 

“But thankfully, God sympathized with our dilemma.  And because he loved us so much, he intervened so that we would have a means of getting close to him.  His solution was to choose his Son, Jesus, to serve as the bridge.”

 

 


John 5:24 text:
“If you remember nothing else about the bridge illustration, remember this: Christ came to earth to be our bridge, and whoever makes the decision to cross the bridge will live with God forever. The apostle John put it this way in John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (NIV).

*****
Then, after you tell God’s salvation story, if you discern it is the appropriate time to ask the person directly where he or she is as to where they are at in accepting Christ, you can ask: “As you look at this illustration, would you say that you are way over here to the left, meaning you’re still firmly planted on this side of the cross and are still wrestling with the idea of trusting God with your life?

 Or would you say that you’re just on the edge, you know, you’re almost ready to start walking across the bridge that Christ’s work on the cross built?  In other words, if you were to stick an ‘X’ on this picture representing how close you are to walking across the bridge, where would you put it?”

*****
“Well, to wrap up this idea, keep in mind that you may choose to commit a different illustration to mind, but please land on one, clear explanation of who God is and what he has done, so that when the time comes that someone sitting across from you poses the question, you’re 100 percent ready to give a thoughtful answer.

Whatever illustration you use, keep in mind the types of words we looked at earlier. Humble words.  Healing words.  Wise words.  Gentle words.  Grace-filled words.  Let your speech be well-seasoned with these things, friends.  You are not responsible for transforming a human heart … that is the role of the Holy Spirit.  

Your role, when prompted to do so, is to open your mouth and give a tender, thoughtful, clear, and passionate understanding of who God is, of what he’s done for each person who ever has or ever will walk the planet. That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less.”


Point 3: You Have a Story.  Learn to Tell It Well!

So there you have it, one easy, engaging, and powerful way to tell God’s story.  But suppose you discern that the next step is not to tell God’s story so directly yet, but rather to tell a snapshot of your story.  How can we do this is a manner that is engaging and impacting?  

You don’t need to have some dramatic conversion story in order to be engaging.  If you are an adopted child of God, every one of you has a story to tell of being forgiven, changed, comforted, or empowered by Christ.  Every one of you has a story to tell, so let’s learn how to tell it well.  Which is our third point.

In our Bible passage for today, we have an example of the kind of storytelling evangelism we are being equipped to use.  “Look,” said the once-blind man, “I don’t know about all your theological questions.  All I know is that once I was blind, and now I see, and this Jesus is the one who healed me!”  

The Pharisees tried to sidetrack the conversation away from the central, convicting reality that Jesus had healed and saved the man.  They threw up all manner of smokescreens using seemingly important theological questions to evade the real question of what were they going to do with Jesus’ call to accept Him.  

Often when we are given the opportunity to share the gospel, people will engage in the same evasionary tactics.  It is easy to become intimidated by such questions.  Indeed, it is the fear of not knowing how to answer every possible question that might come up in talking about the Bible, Christ, or gospel that keeps many from even trying to share the gospel.  

But how did the once-blind man respond?  He said, “I really cannot answer all your questions.  They’re good questions.  And most of them probably do have good answers.  But all I can tell you right now is my story, my personal experience with Christ.  I once was blind, now I see.  I was lived in shame, an outcast from society, unwelcome in the temple to worship, and now I am free!”  

It is just this kind of “before and after” model that we can use in telling our story.

This before and after pattern can either be what your life was like before you came to Christ in the first place and how your life was changed by Christ.  Or if you’ve always been a Christian, I am sure there have been times of struggle in you life, and so you can build your story around how Christ made the major difference in you getting through that struggle.  


Let’s look at some examples:
“I was striving … but now I’m at peace.”
“I was self-destructive … but now I’m healthy.”
“Guilty, but now liberated.”
“Fear-stricken, but now confident.”
“Despairing, but now hopeful!”

“Your own before-and-after doesn’t have to be more complicated than this, friends.  It just has to be simple, humble, succinct … and true.”
*****

Sharing our testimony can come in many different formats.  Sometimes we get to share a long version.  Sometimes we simply connect with another because the story God is writing with our life connects with the story of somebody else.  

But often, we only get to share a very short, but still very powerful, snapshot of our story.  To do this well, requires preparation.  So I am inviting and challenging every one of you to write out a concise version of your story in a hundred words or less.   

Here’s one version of my story in 99 words:
 “I grew up Catholic, but never knew I could have a close relationship with a loving God.  Through my young adult years, I tried to find truth, power, pleasure, and purpose through partying, studying religions, philosophy, and even the occult.  Shame, addictions, guilt, confusion, and hopelessness consumed me.  Then Christ got a hold of me!  In Christ, I’ve discovered truth, a heavenly Father who loves me unconditionally, a power to be free from addictions, a purpose for living doing things that really matter for eternity, and an inner peace and joy that sustains me through all sorrow and struggles.”  

Now if you want feedback on your story, go ahead and let me take a look at it.

Now, there are effective ways to tell our story, and down right obnoxious ways!  So let’s look at four really bad ways to tell your story so you can avoid them. (The following italicized section is a direct quote from Hybels’ transcript)
“First, faith stories derail when a Christ-follower just won’t shut up.  He oversupplies and just slaughters the demand.  He goes on and on and on … and even after the listener sends all sorts of warning signals that disinterest and disdain have taken root, the storyteller obliviously keeps chatting away.

Second, faith stories derail when a Christ-follower is fuzzy about the story’s core theme.  She gets all tangled up in a dozen story lines and leaves her listener frustrated, exhausted, and baffled.

Third, faith stories derail when a Christ-follower lays out a string of four-syllable Christian-insider words that no one outside the family of faith can understand.  Well, here, have a listen for yourself …”

“Fourth—and finally—faith stories derail when … please hear me on this … your faith story will derail, blow up, and leave a trail of smoke a mile long if you play the superiority card. If you act like you have your act perfectly together and the listener is somehow inferior to you, you’re headed for the ditch … and fast, my friend.”

Closing
So let’s continue to take walks that touch lives for eternity by telling our story and God’s story well.