First Presbyterian Church                                     Rev. Dr. Michael J. Imperiale

Salt Lake City, Utah                                                    February 25, 2007

JUST WALK ACROSS THE ROOM

“The Single Greatest Gift”

Luke 7:1-10

Introduction

It happens all the time. At work, at a party, in school, or at church. Someone new shows up and they stand or sit alone. Most everyone else already has friends or connections. They all tend to circle up and interact as usual. The new person is still left standing or sitting alone. Here at First Pres, you’ll see it often: someone visiting, checking out church for the first time standing alone reading stuff on the bulletin board or in a corner engaged in conversation with a cup of coffee.

Once in a while but not often enough, someone leaves the comfort zone of friends or family and “walks across the room” to say hello, to welcome, to connect with that someone new. Pamela Atkinson loves to invite us, “Greet a stranger and make a friend!”

I think of it as the “two minute drill.” When the worship service is over, spend the next two minutes looking for someone you don’t know and strike up a conversation. Your friends will still be here five or ten minutes later. But the new person may not be.

Certainly at church, but also at work, at school, at various business or social gatherings, just walking across the room can make a world of difference in another person’s life, especially when it comes to a life of faith and hope in Christ.

The question to ask yourself when it comes to sharing your faith with others is this: “Do I trust in the Lord? Do I really believe that what he says and what he does is real? Do I believe that the most important thing in life, the greatest gift is God’s grace in Jesus Christ?”

I. Trust in Jesus

In our Bible passage this morning we read about a Roman centurion who had heard about Jesus. He sent some elders of the Jews to Jesus asking him to come and heal his highly valued servant who was very sick and about to die. “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Jesus was amazed at him and said to the crowd, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”

Capernaum was the nearest village to the Jordan River on the northwest shores of the Sea of Galilee. It was a Jewish community near a political border so that a customs post and military detachment were necessary under Roman rule. This centurion was in charge of 100 soldiers as the title suggests. Though a gentile, he was impressed by the Jewish religion in their devotion to their one god. He had befriended and was befriended by the Jewish people and it says that he even helped them build their synagogue.

Now that he is in a crisis of sorts with his much loved servant so ill, he turns to those who know God and sends some of the elders to Jesus, the rabbi with an increasing reputation for offering the healing graces of God. Now just imagine the joy and grateful hearts when those who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. Imagine the centurion and the servant, imagine the Jewish elders, imagine the townspeople coming to faith in and trusting Jesus as Messiah, Savior and Lord!

Now let’s compare this trust in Christ with our own. As a believer in God, who have you befriended or been befriended by so that when that person has a problem or crisis in life of some kind large or small; who would come to you knowing that you have a relationship with Jesus and can be of some help?

In his book Just Walk Across the Room, Pastor Bill Hybels tells of his son’s soccer coach Brian. After a game, as Bill is in his comfort zone of talking with other friends, he notices Brian alone picking up the orange cones and collecting the soccer balls. The Holy Spirit nudges him. “Just walk across the field, introduce yourself and give him a hand.” Bill does it. Over the course of time, a cordial friendship develops. But Brian makes it clear that God and church are out of bounds for conversation.

Soccer season ends. Bill doesn’t see Brain for a few years. Then he gets a call. Brian is having some personal problems and comes to Bill for a listening ear and some understanding. Brian sneaks into a worship service at Bill’s church; hears the message; is moved by God’s Spirit and presence to accept Christ. Today Brian is a gifted, committed Christian man with a whole new life. Brian told Bill that it all started that day when Bill just walked across the field.

II. Who Gave It To You?

For me it was a “big kid” on a sledding hill when I was 7 or 8. Never saw him again. Later it was a high school friend (Nancy Ogden, then an Episcopal priest (Reuel Kaign), then it was college friends (Ron Matthews and Martin Bass). Finally, it was singing in my college choir the hymn tune arrangement of “When I survey the wondrous cross.” With these people who befriended me, with the prayer and sharing they did for me, with these and I suppose many other influences, God did his thing. He brought me to a life saving, lifelong faith in Jesus.

Who was it for you? Who was it through you? And who will be next? As followers of Christ, we are called, each one of us, to do as Jesus did. He was always on the lookout for those in need. Just read the gospels. Story after story shows how God cares for people: high and low, rich and poor. Just read the New Testament letters. God wants his people to reach out with the Good News of salvation in Christ to everyone: Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female.

Isn’t this essentially what all of us would want to do? To touch the lives of people you know, the people you love, with the goodness, kindness, help and healing of God? If we would all do just the small thing that we can do, so many people would look to us and then to Christ.

Be willing to step outside your circle of comfort. And when the Spirit of God nudges you, when God prompts you, just walk across the room. Talk about your mutual profession; talk about your families, business, sports, all sorts of things. But eventually, and especially in Utah culture, the issue of faith will come up. Listen to what the other person has to say. Ask questions. Try to understand. But then remember that the greatest single gift you can give to people around you is an introduction to the God who created them, who loves them, and who has important purposes for their lives.

Conclusion

I want us to do two things in response to God’s word this morning. First, I hope you will take the postcard in the program and write a note of gratitude to one who walked for you. Or if you are no longer in contact with them, think of someone who you know you can encourage in their faith.

Secondly, be praying during this season of Lent (for the next few weeks) for a person you would like to befriend or continue to befriend. Get together, share, enjoy life with them. And then if it feels right, you’ll have an opportunity to invite them to come to Easter services with you.

By doing these things, God guarantees that we will grow in our relationship with Christ, grow in our friendships with each other here at First Pres, get better at pointing people to faith, and we’ll have an absolute ball doing it.

Let us pray together. “Our gracious God and Father in heaven, thank you for the way that our Savior left the circle of comfort in heaven to walk across the universe for our sake. Lord Jesus, you took on human flesh and lived among us. Just as you reached out to so many people with your healing touch, so you offer life, and health, goodness and grace to us today. Because you walked everywhere to connect people to God, we pray that we will take our turn to just walk across a room for the sake of another. We pray that your Spirit will anoint these next few weeks in a supernatural way, turning every timid heart into a bold heart for you. As our congregation moves into this Lenten season of personal outreach that every single person in this fellowship will be open to becoming a walk-across-the-room kind of person, to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. We trust you, Lord, to make all the difference. Amen.”