Jesus and Hot Dogs Sermon

Sermon preached by Scott Frame, Feb. 14, 2010

Text: 1st Corinthians 9:20-23

The title of this message will need some level of explanation due to the fact that hot dogs appear nowhere in the Bible. But it is located in the book of famous misquoted Bible verses right beside “cleanliness is next to Godliness.” (Just kidding.)
We took a survey from our youth group to see what they like or dislike about Wednesday night youth group. Don’t think you got off Scott free cuz we took a survey about Sunday morning too! But any way one of our youth anonymously wrote that what they like about Wednesday night was , “Jesus and hot dogs”. Barbara, Amanda and I just got such a kick out of that we just had to laugh. “Jesus and hotdogs” - that’s great! Some of the other youth mentioned that their favorite is Linda’s and Barbara’s homemade Mac-and cheese. We are so grateful for all those involved with the youth, from those who pray to those providing meals .

We are all so different from one another in what we like from food, to music, worship style, to what we like to do for fun. All of us don’t like hot dogs with relish and mustard, but some do. When I went to Haiti, they knew Americans liked hot dogs, and we had hot dogs for breakfast - kinda strange, but what the heck? Jesus made fish for breakfast.
And when it comes to church and our personal differences and traditions that we adhere to they are just that, personal differences and traditions. Traditions are great. For instance, our worship style here at 1st Christian is traditional. A traditional worship style may not be for everyone, but it’s what this body needs to connect with God. But not everyone is like us. When I was in Haiti I went to a church service on a mountain top. I didn’t understand a word they were saying and the service was unlike anything I’d ever seen. But they were worshiping the same God we do, just in their own way. And that story is played out in churches all over the world from Haiti to Africa to Asia , to Russia. We are all so different but what we all have in common is our need for God!

And we, as Christ’s witnesses representing the gospel, must realize that not everyone is like us and may not understand what we’re talking about until they grow in Christ. What it was that attracted you to Christ? Take a moment to reflect on that. Some of us have a little more reflecting to do than others to get back there. But I mean think about it. Some of us might have come to Christ for the wrong reasons. I remember going to church as a teen looking for chicks. Or some people go because their spouse makes them, or just because they always have gone to church. Or some come to Christ because their lives were a mess, and it needed fixing right now!
That was me! My life was a wreck my finances were nonexistent. I was spiritually bankrupt , alcoholic for 13 years. If there was a God, he needed to fix my problems right now!!! As if he was a fast food restaurant with a instant magical spiritual hot dog fix that would make all my problems go away. Well my motives were far from pure. I might not have come to Jesus under the right motives, but he took what little faith I had and built on it.

I remember as a teen going to church in Stillwater Oklahoma high looking for chicks. The pastor could see that I and my friends weren’t quite right, so he called Tommy and me to come forward to pray for us. Well he prayed and we began to laugh at him, so he got angry and kicked us out.. But you know what? After all these years, I can still remember what he preached about. Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God’s word will not return void. The words we speak, the songs we sing, the acts of loving-kindness we perform, will do their work to bring about God’s will.
Witnessing will take us at times being in places that are uncomfortable to us. It means being around people that make us uncomfortable. But we must cast aside our fears, doubts, and prejudices to save a few. If we had a friend or a loved in a burning building, we would not hesitate to do all we could to save that life. We would call 911 or kick in the door, run into the burning house, and risk our own lives to save them. Let me ask a legitimate question. Do we believe in the gospel message enough to react in the same way by presenting the gift of salvation to others? For their eternal souls?

And when it comes to witnessing for Christ we have to recognize what Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 9:20-23 :
19For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 20And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 21To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 22To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
“All things to all men” - that’s everybody . To be in ministry is a privilege and we all are called to that most excellent task. Paul is not asking us to compromise the gospel message, and Paul is not asking us to be hypocritical. But he’s asking us not to be so narrow- minded, that all we can see is our way or no way. My point of view! My style! My tradition! My comfort zone! Sometimes serving Christ is not about what we can get but what we can give. We tend to never make the attempt to understand each other from the mind and the heart. There seems to be a division between the churched and the un-churched, kind of like in the days of Christ: Jews vs. Gentiles, except its Christians vs.non- Christians.

The feud between Jew and gentile has a history like cats and dogs. Gentiles meant any people who were not part of God’s chosen family at birth. The Jews considered them to be pagans or heathens. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the Gentiles are good for nothing other than to fuel the fires of hell. But then we see in Solomon’s prayer of dedication in 1st kings 8:41-43: (I gotta read this it’s so good!!!)
“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm) when he comes and prays toward this house. Hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you. In order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people Israel and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.”
God made it clear that the doors were never closed to foreigners who wished to serve the lord. Israel’s job was to bring justice (Isaiah 45:22-24) and to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6). Then Jesus came, to fulfill the prophecy, “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light ,and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
I’m glad today that God in Christ broke thru all the boundaries. Acts 9:15 tells us that Paul was sent to preach to the Gentiles, enduring much hardship for doing so, as well as catching a lot of heat from the Jews for bringing the gospel to the outsiders. Paul says in Galatians that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free.

Now I want to touch on this for a bit. I like how Martin Luther king Jr put it . He quoted Matthew 23 :11, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Dr. King then said, “What I like about the scripture is that everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” “Serve” is a verb, an action word. We can take all the spiritual gift surveys under the sun, study the 9 ways, have meetings upon meetings. But if we don’t put faith into action to serve Christ, then what’s it all for? It would be like going to collage for 8 years to get a engineering degree and then never putting in an application in for a job!

God didn’t ask our opinion, or how we feel about reaching all people. He just said to bring Jesus to all people. We need to be fearless with a radical trust in God. So what’s stopping us? Is it going off on first impressions? This type of thinking can cause us to be judgmental and sometimes condemning . This type of thinking will never allow us to be an effective witness for Christ. But maybe that’s not the trouble at all. Just maybe the real trouble is we really never really try! Maybe it’s because we are afraid to fail that we never even get started. Or maybe we tried and failed and don’t want to feel that rejection again. Maybe we don’t want to look like a fool for standing up for Jesus. Maybe because people are so different in so many ways we can’t get passes our way of doing things and are afraid (I might have to change.) It’s been said that the seven last words of a dying church are “we’ve never done it that way before!” Church, if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we will keep getting what we’ve always gotten.

Some of us may have been raised in church from birth. I not only applaud you, but also your parents for being faithful. But you are the exception to the rule. We don’t have to look too far and see that most of the world wasn’t raised in church. I wasn’t! Most of my childhood memories were with my parents were in a bar. At the local Bangaleer (that was the name of the bar) I remember the cigarette smoke being so thick that tears poured from my irritated eyes. My dad would give me a roll of dimes for the pin ball machine to keep me occupied. And when I got tired I just found a empty seat and crashed.

God didn’t want my life to go the direction it did, but he did l turn it in for good . Romans 8-28 says, “All things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose.” He wants you and me to use all that we are to serve and outreach to the lost.
We all remember the great commission. Matthew 28:16-20 . I found I neat paraphrased version. When Jesus ascended to heaven after his mission on earth, the angels asked him. “Did you accomplish your task?” “Yes, all is finished,” the Lord replied. ”We have a couple more questions to ask,” said the angels. “Has the whole world heard of you?” Jesus replied, “No.” The angels next asked, “What is your plan?” Jesus said, “ I have left 12 men and some other followers to carry the message to the whole world.” The angels looked at him and asked what is your Plan B?”
Friends, there is no plan B!!!!!!!!
Jesus wants to reach the whole world through people like you and me! We are the ones to live the message. We are the ones to pass the torch. We are the ones empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses for his glory.

I think it’s important to realize Christ used so many different things to attract people to him. He used not hotdogs, but loaves and fishes with the five thousand. Many followed him just because of the free lunch, but he still fed them and told them about the promise to Shepherd his people again. With the leper he used his hand of compassion, and the hope of healing. He crossed the line of tradition and gender with the Samaritan woman at the well. He offered the gift of second chances to Peter and Andrew when he said, “Follow, me.” He offered protection to a people whose sacrifice wasn’t considered good enough when he chased the money changers out of the temple. He offered salvation to draw the whole world when offered his own body to be the sacrifice on our behalf.

We have a group of servants in this body that goes to the food bank and reaches out to the financially oppressed in our area. What a wonderful work it is! I have known the joy of working the food bank at Wild Flowers Christian Chapel for a couple of years. It was so much more than just providing a basic need for survival. It was the opportunity to show the real love of god through serving. It created open doors to talk about the gospel. And sometimes it was challenging. There were several times I would assist people or families with carrying out their food to their cars, only to discover that they had a better vehicle than I did. Or, they would open up the trunk, and it would be full of cases of beer. My first instinct was to say, “You don’t really look like you need any help! If you have enough money to buy beer and pay for that car, this food could help someone out who really needed it!” Then about that time, the Holy Spirit slapped me up the side of the head and said, “ Scott can you not remember what I called you out of? Can you not see that this man is in the same prison you were in? Do you not remember that?” How quickly we allow our minds to forget where we have been.

But you know I’m glad we serve a God that, as Miss Judy says, doesn’t waste anything, not even our junk. And when it came to beer I was an expert! Instead of condemning this individual to a fiery death, I could reach out with love understanding and compassion. Com –passion with suffering. I knew what he was going through. Chemical dependency is just one of the many prisons we put ourselves in, not so much different than gossip or greed or self righteousness or jealousy. I knew that this guy needed to be set free. He was drinking all his food money, and was broke. He had to get assistance. Sin can have such a hold on people, and we have to remember what bondage Christ brought us out of. Sometimes we look at how far we have come and forget all the time and hard work it took for us to get there.

If our new Mission Vision is going to be successful in winning souls for Christ, we cannot be exclusive. We must reach out to all people and ages and backgrounds and cultures. We must meet them where they are, to understand with real compassion. We must attract spiritually starved people in need of God any way we can without compromising the gospel - before it’s too late. Mission is all about Jesus and hot dogs!