When You Don't Have The Real Thing, You Have To Fake It!

This past weekend I traveled over 2,500 miles in just over 74 hours to and from Milwaukee, WI. But it was a true joy to perform the marriage ceremony of one of our alumnus from Hamilton Heights Christian Academy. It was great being with Doug and Chelsey and their families.

However, since I was gone this past Sunday, I did not preach. And since these posts are composed of snippets from the previous Sunday's sermon, I don't have a sermon to snip! So I thought I would use a sermon that I shared during our summer Sunday evening "Heart of Worship" campaign.

The mere mention of Solomon’s name brings incredible pictures to our mind. He was wise, rich, honored, the builder of the temple. 1 Kings 10:14-15 tells us that “The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents (23 metric tons, 2.2 billion dollars at today's market price) , not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land. King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred bekas of gold went into each shield.”

Solomon's gold weighted 666 talents, the equivalent of 23 metric tons of gold. And that didn’t include even include revenue from Arabian merchants, traders, kings, & governors.

Verse 15 tells us that King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, using 600 shekels of gold on each large shield.  This would mean that each shield would have been made with about 7 1/2 pounds of gold. At today’s price, that would be almost $180,000 per shield.  These shields represented splendor, blessings, and a heart turned toward God (or as David is described in another passage...a man after God's own heart).

But only five years after the death of Solomon, another King, Rehoboam, took over. Only four chapters after the description of Solomon's gold and his golden shields, we read in 1 Kings 14:25-27:  “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.”

Rehoboam was described as an evil king, one who did not follow the commands of the Lord and one who led the people of Israel into idolatry. In the fifth year of his reign, the king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and robbed the beautiful Temple of God of its treasures and riches. Included in the plunder were the 200 golden shields that Solomon had made. 

So what do you do when you don't have the real thing, but you don't want anyone to know you don't have the real thing? You fake it! 

Rehoboam made shields of brass (copper/bronze) to replace the gold ones, & gave them to his commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance of the royal palace. You see, the thing about brass is, if you work at it long enough, if you polish it hard enought, you can make it look like gold. You can pretend it is the real thing.

Shields of brass for shields of gold. This was the last recorded event in the pitiful reign of Rehoboam. At today’s prices, those shield would cost about $33.00 each. 

From $180,000.00 to $33.00. 

From gold to brass. 

From magnificent to ordinary.

From splendid to mundane.

From extraordinary to routine.

From glorious to boring.

What happened? When you don't have the real thing, you have to fake it! But the deal is, brass will never be the same as gold.

And our rituals, routines, and traditions will never take the place of a heart of worship. Could it be that the reason why so many worship services are...to put it bluntly, boring, is because we have become busy polishing the brass instead of taking care of the gold? We have exchanged the splendor of worship for the mundaneness of ritual. We have reduced the magnificent to the ordinary. My prayer each day recently has been, "God help me not to fake it. Help me to not go through the motions. Help me to have a heart of true worship."

Tell Your Story

While speaking in London, evangelist D. L. Moody was approached by a British companion who wanted to know the secret of Moody’s success in leading people to Christ. Moody directed the man to his hotel window and asked, "What do you see?" The man looked down on the square and reported a view of crowded streets. Moody suggested he look again. This time the man mentioned seeing people - men, women, and children. Moody then directed him to look a third time, and the man became frustrated that he was not seeing what Moody wanted him to see. The great evangelist came to the window with watery eyes and said, "I see people going to hell without Jesus. Until you see people like that, you will not lead them to Christ."

For those who experienced the first wave of Pentecost, the experience placed within them a burning zeal to share what God had done in their lives. After all, that is what Jesus said the baptism of the Spirit would do (Acts 1:8).  When they were chastised by the Jewish ruling body and told to quit telling others about this Christ, they said in Acts 4:20, “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." 


Here's the deal...when you have seen, heard, and been touched by the Spirit of God, you can't help but tell it! I know for myself, when it has been a long time since I have experienced His powerful presence in my life, I have very little to tell. When I have become stale in my relationship, there is no compelling passion to tell others about what He has done. But when I am fresh, and have experienced the grace of God abundantly in my life, I am a living example of an old Southern Gospel hymn, "Well, I said I wouldn't tell it to a living soul, How He brought salvation and He made me whole; But I find I couldn't hide such love as Jesus did impart. 'Cause it makes me laugh and it makes me cry, sets my happy soul on fire; When God dipped His love in my heart."

John said, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.... We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us." (1 John 1:1, 3)


Cliff Schimmels once spoke at our church. He challenged us to share our faith. Over and over, he kept saying to us, "Tell your story". After all, isn't that what evangelism is all about...telling your story? Which is really His story!

What If We Took Personal Responsibility?

Personal responsibility...it can be applied to many arenas of our culture and, in my opinion, could vastly improve the quality of our culture. Just think how our world would change if everyone took personal responsibility for their finances, their choices, their actions, and their success. Do you think it would make  a difference?

Now let's talk about personal responsibility when it comes to evangelism. Do you think it would make a difference in the kingdom of God if each of us took personal responsibility to reach our world? Not our world in general (everyone on the planet), but our world in particular (the particular place we find ourselves at any particular moment).

Sure, there are certain believers who are endowed with the gift of evangelism. And you and I may not have that particular gift. But that does not exempt each of us from taking personal responsibility for those around us. God has given us the tremendous opportunity to reach those around us with the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, 20:  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 


Going doesn't necessarily mean a planned, organized, thought-out system of outreach (though it certainly can include it). But it absolutely means that as you are going through your daily life, on your job, at your school, in your neighborhood...make disciples. Acts 5:42 demonstrates the way the early church shared their faith, “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they [the apostles] never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” As we live our lives day to day, we have opportunities every day to proclaim the good news that Jesus is the Christ! I find myself praying every morning, "God, help me, as I go through my day, to proclaim Your good news to someone...with my choices, with my actions, with my attitudes, and with my witness."


In the filming of Ben Hur,  Charleston Heston was having difficulty learning how to drive the chariot for what would become one of the most famous scenes in the movie, the chariot race. It is reported that after an intense time of practice and hard work, Heston went to the director of the play, Cecil B. DeMille, and said, “I think I can drive the chariot, but I’m not sure I can win the race.” DeMille reportedly replied, “You just stay in the race, I’ll make sure you win.”

When it comes to evangelism, that is all that God asks of us...stay in the race. Trust Him for the results.

The Right Message

A survey by the Barna Research Group in 2009 revealed that nearly one-half of the self-defined Christians in the United States believe that “the Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same spiritual truths” (Barna Group, April 10, 2009). In a pluralistic, syncretic society, in can seem narrow-minded to say the path to a restored relationship with God can only be obtained through Jesus Christ.

While it may be considered narrow-minded, the Bible is very clear about this truth. Acts 4:12 states, when referring to Jesus: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  Jesus Himself said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 


While we are focusing on our responsibility to share the Good News of God's amazing grace, the message we must always share is this “...if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).   The jailor asked Paul and Silas in Acts 30:31, 32: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 


So, before we look at the means and the motivation of our evangelistic efforts, let's be certain that we have the message right...Jesus is the way. In the old days, we used to sing it this way...“Jesus is the answer for the world today, Jesus is the way!” 

The way to redemption is not in my opinions or beliefs...it is in Jesus Christ! It is not in my particular church's dogmas or traditions...it is in Jesus Christ! It is not by my good works or goodness...it is in Jesus Christ! Thank God for Jesus!!!

Drowned...Surrounded by Lifeguards

Jesus Christ went to the cross to pay for our sins...that's good news! He was placed in the grave, but on the third day, He arose...that's good news! He is, at this very moment, praying for you and me and the experiences of our lives...that's good news!

And like Paul Harvey used to say, "You know the news...in a minute you're going to hear the rest of the story!" The news is really good, but here's the question everyone one of us must answer, "What are you going to do with the good news." Rick Warren, in his book, The Purpose Drive Church, says this, "The starting point for every church should be the question, 'Why do we exist?'"Answering that question helps us answer the other question.

The August 2, 1985, edition of the New York Times, carried an article that described a celebration that took place in the city of New Orleans. The party took place at one of their municipal pools. The party was to celebrate that, for the first summer in memory, there had not been any drownings that year in their municipal pools. In honor of the occasion, about 100 lifeguards and their guests celebrated the great accomplishment. As the party began to break up, the four lifeguards on duty began to clear the pool. They noticed a fully dressed body in the deep end. Thirty-one year-old, Jerome Moody, drowned that day...surrounded by lifeguards.

What a tragedy. But how many people, who desperately need to experience the love of God in their lives, are surrounded by believers. What are we going to do with the good news? Share it!

The book of Acts is referred to as the "Acts of the Apostles" or the "Acts of the Holy Spirt". But a careful reading of the book of Acts will verify that it is actually the "Acts of Witnessing". Throughout the 28 chapters, over and over again, the early followers of Jesus consistently shared the love of Jesus as they went throughout their daily lives "in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth "(Acts 1:8). May we model their lives as we go through our lives as well.