Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
March 25, 2007 - W0712

Did you know that the earth travels over six thousand miles an hour? That’s how fast the earth is spinning around the sun. It’s incredible! Just imagine we’re spinning faster than the spin cycle of a washing machine! With a few more spins, we’ll be in eternity. Now that’s fast.

So with the earth spinning so fast and time going by quickly, are we as a church doing what we were created to do? This reminds me of a time I purchased a piece of equipment that didn’t work as it was designed to. Sometime ago I wanted a weed-wacker. So I went over to Sears. There were a lot of gas powered ones which were pretty expensive. So I asked the salesperson if they had anything under three hundred dollars. Exuberantly, he announced a sale of an electric weed-wacker for eighty-nine ninety-five.

He added that it was friendly to the ecology. In addition, it had a contemporary style and had a hard shell case. And on top of this, it had a warranty! After hearing this, I purchased one and took it home. I then plugged it in to cut some grass. But get this, although it buzzed quietly which was nice, it didn’t cut anything! All it seemed to do was lick the grass. Frustrated with this, I took it back to the store.

I told the salesperson that the week-wacker didn’t cut grass! He then asked if I plugged it in. Of course I did! He re-iterated that it had a hard case, no emission and a wonderful warranty. Being already frustrated, it didn’t matter to me. Again he reminded me it was only eighty-nine ninety-five. Bewildered, I then asked if I was on candid camera because this thing couldn’t cut grass!

To make matters worse, he suggested I use the week-wacker when the grass was wet. I thought, oh good night! All this thing did was beat the grass to death.

I ended up taking this thing back home and left it in the garage. Then about two years later we had a garage sale. I sold it for fifty-five ninety-five. The guy who bought it asked if it was good. I replied, it had the best warranty and with a hard shell case!.

This is a good example of things that don’t do what they’re created to do. I wonder if God feels this way with us as a church. Truth is when someone comes to Christ, receiving Him as the Lord and savior He gives the gift of eternity. This free gift was purchased through the blood of Christ on the cross. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”(Jn. 3:16). However, some people believe that life on earth is all there is.

So what is eternity? Eternity is sort of like this, a cable stretched out at each end far into the horizon without end. Now, a person’s life on this cable is a tiny vertical scratch on the cable. With this illustration, we can see that our life span on earth is not much compared to eternity.

And so for those that believe that life on earth is all there is, they live scratched lives. They have scratched hopes and dreams. They live and love their lives on this scratch. But this is how far it goes. So how will others’ know there’s more to life?

The reason God saved you and me and left us on the earth is to tell people they have hope beyond this life on earth. This was His design for us. Bringing us into eternity wasn’t the only reason why He saved us. If it was, he would have taken us right after we received Him.

Likewise, our lives are short compared to eternity, And, there isn’t much time. The Bible tells us that we are the salt of the earth. “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” (Mat. 5:13). So don’t allow the salt to loose it’s savor.  The Bible tells us that we are a vapor…our life is like a sigh 

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works,     

                      and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16).

Listen, your good works will lead others to the Father and all His glory. We are ambassadors for Christ to a darken world. Astronomers say it this way, in the darkest of space there’s still light. But you can’t see it because there are no reflectors to reflect the light.

We as reflectors of God’s light need to stand in position of the source of His light and in such a way that will reflect to those you want to see the light. And this is our assignment. The greatest command of all is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. And to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

He is the source of light and we are His reflectors. So how do we go about reflecting His light to others in order for them to see God? Here are three simple steps that remind us of who we are. The first of three points is,  

1. CLOSE THE GAP BETWEEN WHAT WE BELIEVE AND HOW WE LIVE.

“I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God, saving everyone who believes.” (Rom. 1:16).

It is an honor to be identified with God. And so do not be ashamed of the gospel. This is the power of God that will save people. Catch this, it would not be a nuclear bomb that would destroy mankind. Nor will it be global warming. But in fact, will be by unresolved sin.

It is important to live by what you believe in because others need to see this. This is one way of reflecting His light. You don’t have to be a theologian or a bible college graduate. But instead shine the light on people. One simple way is…

• Start by being kind.

This may not sound spiritual, but some Christians are not very nice. In fact, some Christians can be narly with a bad attitude. “…do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of “God leads you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4).

The first step for people coming to a point of repentance is by our kindness. A smile can do wonders and so does learning to listen to others. Kindness you give towards others mean a lot to them. You can be kind to those in your work place and in your family relationships. Remember that…

• GOOD deeds leads to GOOD will, which opens a heart to the GOOD NEWS!

Jesus’ good works caused good will to take place. “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Luk. 2:52).

“…’Some people have faith; others have good deeds. ‘But I say, ‘I can’t see your faith if you don’t have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds.’” (Jam. 2:18 NLT).

Our spirit of Aloha is about outreaching in our community. This is where we go and help clean-schools and neighborhoods. This is one area of serving and doing good deeds, which leads to good will and opens a heart to the good news.

Therefore, one way of reflecting His light is to close the gap between what we believe and how we live. Another way to reflect His light unto others is…

2. START WITH A GENUINE TOUCH.

By having a genuine love for people you can offer a good word. For instance, you could offer to buy a cup of coffee or something. By doing so you’re showing that you care by giving a little bit of your time. It could be that someone may just need someone to talk to. “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad” (Prov. 12:25).

You don’t need to give a good sermon, a message or good preaching. It’s not about getting peoples’ scalps or getting them to fall to their knees. Instead, just offer encouraging words or be an inspiration unto others. Remember that we live in a darken world that needs to see the light of Jesus. And there are those who’s hearts have harden and needs to see hope beyond this life on earth. With each genuine touch, a heart becomes closer to Jesus. Furthermore, don’t worry about taking them through the whole nine yards.  

And we need to know the difference. Using parlons of football, here is an example.

• KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TOUCH AND A TOUCHDOWN.

We need to understand about building goodwill. As for me, before coming go Christ, I was in a rock-n-roll band doing drugs. Our band had planned of doing this for the rest of our lives. At that time, I was far from the cross. On a scale of one to minus ten, I was a minus ten. I did not like Christians and thought they were weird. And so I stayed from away from Christians as I could. And the reason is that all they did was condemn me for what I was doing.

So what brought me to being a Pastor now?  It was a whole bunch of people each one with a touch. I remember one person that listened to me when I was going through some problems. From this I moved to minus eight. Although still far away from God, this person warmed my heart a little bit. Then someone else invited me to a Christian concert. This touched my heart and I moved to a minus six.

Afterwards, a Christian man helped me with my car. It warmed my heart to a minus five. Later, a friend of mine who played guitar asked me to play guitar with him for a children’s camp. He said it was for free, but didn’t tell me it was a Christian camp with Christian songs. It was by singing Christian songs that warmed my heart a little bit more. Eventually, I was invited to a campus crusade with a bible study. By then I was a minus one.

Eventually, someone asked me if I’ve heard about the four spiritual laws. Such as how God loves me and his plan for my life. And about the law of sin, law of forgiveness and eternity. So I sat with that person and was so close to the cross.

In the beginning, my heart was like a rock. Now, if you took a sledge hammer and tried to break a hard rock, it would take many hits before it would break. And so there are hearts out there that are hardened because of bad situation, dysfunctional background, hurts or past mistakes. These are those who need a lot of kind touches. We as a church can do this together. Remember, good deeds leads to good will, which opens a heart to the good news.

“…A man was going down to Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So  too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have. “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers hands?’ And he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same’” (Luk. 10:36-37).

God helps the church to do good deeds. From there it builds good will in order that people’s hearts become open to hearing the good news. Many of us have already built wonderful relationships with people And good will has been established. Now there’s just one final step.  

3. KNOW THE POWER OF A SIMPLE INVITATION.

Ever wondered how the disciples came to walking with Christ? “One of the two who heard John…was Andres, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’” (Jn. 1:40-41).

“Jesus found Philip. And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ Philip found Nathaniel and he said, ‘You are the “Son of God; You are the King of Israel’” (Jn. 1:43, 45, 49).

This tells us that all the disciples came through an invitation. I’m so glad people had offered me an invitation. For many, there’s two times in a year that people come to church. It is at Christmas and Easter. Therefore, now is the time to invite people to Easter services. Invite them and ask them to join you. They might find that there’s hope beyond the scratch. And find that Jesus is the light of the world!

In recapping, live by what you believe. And start by being kind with little good deeds. For good deeds leads to good will, which opens a heart to the good news. Simply love others with a genuine touch by understanding the difference between a touch and a touchdown. Hence, offering an invitation to others. This is what we were designed to do which glorifies our Father in heaven!

Q1) What hinders you from closing the gap between what you believe and how you live? What practical things can you do to change this?

Q2) What hinders you from reaching out to others? Pray and ask for God to help you with this.

Q3) In what practical ways can you show kindness to those at work, school or at home?

Q4) What impacted you most and how will you become a better person because of it?