Posted on January 31, 2010 - by Tim L

Just walk across the room - Who are you walking with?

Today we start a new series called Just Walk across the room.  It is based on a book by a guy called Bill Hybels who is the leader of a church in the USA called Willow Creek.  Some of may have heard of the church and or Bill Hybels.  We are going to be looking at some simple steps that help point people to faith.  This week is a little bit of an introduction with some stories and some thoughts about taking one simple step across a room,,……

A story
A man was travelling in a plane.  He was travelling with a work colleague and they had travelled together many times before,  They discussed the business they had done and the the trip they had made.  They did all of the small talk stuff, caught up over each others families and the things they enjoyed.  The conversation began to try dry up. One of the men was a Christian, he was friends and a work colleague with this man, he didn’t want to betray the trust they had together.  But he wondered if God might intervene in this plane ride and help the conversation take a steer towards more spiritual issues,….
He prayed….
He then asked the man what it might be like to fly a plane without listening to air traffic control.  The man laughed in return and said that he wished he could off right now if the pilot wasn’t tuned into air traffic control, especially as he knew how busy the skies were.
Then taking his life into his hands and asking for some confidence the man said “if you can believe it, some people fly their entire lives with the radio to heaven turned off.  They receive zero input from God, no guidance or wisdom and no counsel.  A lot of times they fly into bad weather and end up crashed and burned.  You’d be surprised how many people do that”.  As you can imagine it went very quiet, the man prayed in the silence and the man then replied “I guess that would be pretty stupid wouldn’t it?”

He then asked quite simply “how do I turn the radio on?”
(Taken from Just walk across the room by Bill Hybels)

How far can you walk?
I have had the pleasure of walking quite a miles over the past couple of days.  A couple of lovely days in Derbyshire walking with friends and family.  But there are days when I can’t walk very far at all.

I was at a wedding a couple of weeks ago.  At those events I always try to make sure I take some time just to sit and people watch, it is good just to see the smiles on peoples faces and who is talking to who.
As I looked around the room there was a man standing on his own. He had come with a group of people but they were nowhere to be seen. He was quite a tall man but seemed to hang his head, his whole body language was of someone who seemed to be unsure about where he was and what he was doing.  I stood there and knew I should walk across the room to him and engage him in conversation.  I had a whole series of open ended questions to ask him that I hoped that get the conversation going, but…..But I never made it across the room.  No one came and joined him or me I just chickened out.  I talked myself out of it.

How far can I walk?  Some days it is miles there are other days when I can’t even walk across the room.
How far can you walk?

I was involved in a conversation with someone one day and they were talking to me about the problems they had with evangelism.  They said they found it hard to do and found it confrontational too many times.  There were times when they worried about the questions they might get asked and that they would not be able to answer them.
It got me to thinking about the pictures that we often have inside our heads about sharing our faith or pointing others to spiritual matters.
The picture we often have is one of two people standing face to face with each, often they will be discussing or even arguing about the subject matter.  It can be seen as a very confrontational way of speaking to someone.  I was reminded of a number of New Testament stories or pictures where God does not confront people but walks along side them and journeys with them. Not in confrontation with them but to share the journey with them and help them with the steps on their journey of faith.

A Japanese Christian, once wrote a book which I still have on my shelves at home called the 3 mile an hour God.  Why 3 miles an hour?  Simple it is walking pace.  God doesn’t zoom around in a car at 70mph.  He chooses to walk with us.  We know how easy it is to miss things then.  God chooses to walk with us, at walking pace, at 3 miles an hour.

When Claire and I were first married we spent a lot of time in the car travelling to see family and friends up and won the motorways.  They were always times of great discussion, chatting and a time to catch up.  We journeyed with each other - side by side - around the country.
The story we heard earlier of the two men on the plane - side by side - journeying with each other, sharing lives, their stories, their hopes and dreams and one of them shares his faith with the other.  No big deal, it is part of that man being a human - he has a relationship with God that helps him journey through his life and he wanted to share that information with his good friend.

But why should I walk across the room?
Why should I care about the person on the other side of the room?  Why should I risk looking daft or being embarrassed?  Why should I walk across the room on God’s behalf?

Reading - Philippians
5Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! 8Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death-and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
9Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honoured him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, 10so that all created beings in heaven and on earth-even those long ago dead and buried-will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, 11and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honour of God the Father.
Philippians 2; 5-11 (The Message)

Because when we walk across the room we are acting like God.
Our reading is about God making the step across the room, it was just a bit bigger than our lounge or kitchen.  It was step across the whole of the universe - from heaven to earth. Jesus, God in human form, came to journey with us, to walk with us,
There is a posh theological word for it - the incarnation - God coming and living amongst us.

Followers of Jesus who get it more right are the ones who give themselves to people.  They give themselves to pointing people to faith in Christ.  Jesus, who walked across the universe, from heaven to earth, says to his followers “I want you to do it now”  Every day try to point every person you meet to me.  Live as though your work colleagues, family, friends and neighbours would be better off if they knew Jesus’ father in heaven.  Better off because they could receive the wisdom, counsel and guidance to live their lives,…
The single greatest gift you can give someone is an introduction to God who asked his Son to cross the unthinkable distance to redeem them and make them his friends.  You will find then you can walk across the room, stand by someone’s side, you can journey with them, and tell them of the God who journeys every day with you at 3 miles an hour.
How far can you walk?
Dare you walk across the room?
Will you walk across the room?

Who are you walking with?
Talk with your neighbour in 2 and 3’s.  Who has walked with you?  Who are you walking with?
How could you help them make simple steps of faith?