Latest / Finding God at Work / 16: Telling Parables

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16: Telling Parables · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Our current series is Gentle Witnesses, sharing the
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good news at work in a way that
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actually makes sense.
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I want to start this episode by having
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you remember stories you lived inside of as
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a child.
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I remember one of the very first birthday
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parties I went to was my friend Mark
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who loved Star Wars.
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I did not know about Star Wars, but
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we watched what later became called episode four.
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It was probably already called episode four by
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that point, but you know, the first one
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that really came out and I saw Darth
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Vader and I saw Princess Leia.
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I saw Luke Skywalker and it's like, wow,
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outer space, X-wings, explosions, lightsabers, the force.
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And I have lived inside of the Star
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Wars universe ever since that day.
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And you know, I still go and see
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Star Wars movies in the theaters, even when
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they're not that great.
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I think I've already mentioned in an earlier
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episode that I went and saw episode one,
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the Phantom Menace, because they had a rerelease
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in theaters.
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I just live inside of the Star Wars
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universe, right?
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I think about life in terms of the
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things that I've learned from that story, how
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there's masters and apprentices, how there's unseen realities
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that permeate our life, how there's sometimes really
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bad haircuts.
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Okay.
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So when we think about our friends who
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are at that stage of seeking Jesus, that's
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kind of the stage we're in here as
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we've been talking about the five thresholds of
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faith that people often go through on their
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way toward becoming disciples of Jesus.
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When they're at that exciting stage of really
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trying to get to a point of resolution,
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really seeking answers, this is the stage at
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which it is most helpful to share the
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good news.
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We've emphasized listening and the importance of not
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pushing, not pressuring, not forcing anything, and that's
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still true during this stage.
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At the same time, this is the most
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appropriate stage for you to say some stuff,
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for you to share some things.
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And one of the best ways to share
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is to share stories.
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If you know the teaching of Jesus in
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the Gospels, you know, this is one of
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Jesus's primary ways of teaching.
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It's not his only way of teaching, right?
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Jesus also, like in the Sermon on the
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Mount, he had discourses where he would just
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say, you know, prepositional things, no, but not
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prepositional things, prepositional things, you know, statements like
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it's more blessed to give than to receive,
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right?
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Or do unto others as you would have
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them do unto you, things that didn't necessarily
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have a story to convey them.
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At the same time, more often than not,
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he would convey what the kingdom of God
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was like by using a story.
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He most often did this using a certain
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type of story called a parable.
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And I want you, before we talk about
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parables, to think back to the stories you
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lived in as a child.
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Maybe for you it was also Star Wars,
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maybe it was the Chronicles of Narnia, maybe
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it was Harry Potter.
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Think about what comes to your mind when
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you imagine those stories.
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For me, it's the characters and the places
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and the events.
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It's not like I remember propositional statements from
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Harry Potter or from Star Wars.
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Like, it is good to be courageous, although
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it is true that it is good to
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be courageous.
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That's not what I remember.
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What I remember is Luke in the trench
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trusting the force and firing and the death
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star exploding.
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Like, that's what I remember.
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I remember this setting.
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It's something that where I can put myself
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there in the cockpit with Luke and think
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in my life, when I'm facing difficult things,
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can I trust in the power of goodness
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that I know that's not just impersonal, but
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is actually Trinitarian personal goodness, that like, you
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know, things are going to be okay and
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the death star is going to be exploded.
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Like, yes.
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Okay.
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What this means with the parables of Jesus
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is sometimes we misunderstand these things.
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Sometimes we think that the parables are just
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like illustrations.
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They're just like packaging for a propositional truth
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statement.
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But they're actually more like those stories that
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we lived inside of as kids.
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They're more like something that we keep coming
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back to and exploring and putting ourselves inside
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of and looking at the world through the
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texture and the structure of this world that
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Jesus builds through the story.
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And I'm drawing here on the work of
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a New Testament scholar who spent years in
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the Middle East and was kind of a
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student of Middle Eastern culture.
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And because he was a student of Middle
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Eastern culture, brought that to the way he
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did his New Testament scholarship.
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So his name is Kenneth Bailey.
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I just want to read a little bit
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about what he says about the parables of
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Jesus from his book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern
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Eyes.
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So Ken Bailey writes, theologians often use illustrations
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to infuse energy and clarification into their abstract
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reflections.
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A metaphor, however, is not an illustration of
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an idea.
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It is a mode of theological discourse.
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The metaphor does more than explain meaning.
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It creates meaning.
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A parable is an extended metaphor.
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And as such, it is not a delivery
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system for an idea, but a house in
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which the reader slash listener is invited to
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take up residence.
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So this is what Jesus thought was a
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good idea when he was teaching other people
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about the kingdom of God, when he was
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sharing the good news, was how can I
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give people not just an idea, not just
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something abstract, but a house in which to
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take up residence.
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And we can do the same thing.
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So I want to talk a couple ways
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about how we can share the good news
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in this way, the way that Jesus did.
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One is to use the parables of Jesus
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himself.
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And then the other is to find parables.
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So let me talk about using the parables
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of Jesus himself.
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And for this, I think it'd be helpful
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to use an actual example.
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So let's just use one of Jesus's simplest
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parables.
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This is the one about the mustard seed
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might ring a bell.
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If you're not familiar with it, it's really
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short.
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Mark chapter four, starting in verse 30.
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Again, Jesus said, what shall we say the
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kingdom of God is like, or what parable
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shall we use to describe it?
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It is like a mustard seed, which is
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the smallest of all seeds on earth.
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Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the
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largest of all garden plants with such big
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branches that the birds can perch in its
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shade.
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Okay, that's a really simple metaphor for the
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kingdom of God.
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But you see what Jesus did.
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He introduced it.
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He's like, I'm talking about the kingdom of
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God.
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What is it like?
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What can we use to describe it?
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And then he's like, it's like a mustard
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seed.
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He gives this image that people would be
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familiar with in their context.
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So how could you use this parable in
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a conversation with a friend who's at that
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stage of seeking?
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Well, I find it can actually be really
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natural to kind of weave one of Jesus's
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parables into a regular conversation.
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So obviously we always start with listening.
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So we're listening to the other person, but
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they might say something that makes you think
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of one of the parables of Jesus.
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So for example, maybe your friend says something
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like, man, we've been talking about these things
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and I like the idea of change and
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making a change in my life, but I
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just feel like any kind of change would
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just take so long.
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And I don't even know if it would
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really be possible.
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Like can people really change?
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Okay, good reflective listening.
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You might reflect back to them what they
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just said, like, wow, it sounds like you're
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saying the idea of a change, even though
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it's not unattractive, it doesn't seem plausible or
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possible because the change would be so huge.
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Then you pivot to a parable.
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So again, not something you can necessarily plan
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in advance before the conversation, but just in
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the moment you're remembering this connects to a
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parable of Jesus.
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So you pivot to the parable.
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You say, you know, Jesus in one of
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his teachings, he actually told a story that
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I think connects to that question.
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Then retell the parable in your own words.
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You don't have to have it memorized.
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Just say, you know, one time Jesus said
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that there are these really tiny seeds, mustard
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seeds, but if you plant one in the
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ground, it grows up to this huge plant,
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almost like a tree, and it's so big
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that birds make nests of it.
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Then you interpret the parable and connect it
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back to what your friend is saying.
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So I feel like what Jesus is saying
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is sometimes the kingdom of God, this dynamic
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of change that we've been talking about, it
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starts in a way that looks unimpressive, small,
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fragile, but that doesn't mean the change isn't
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real.
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Over time, the change is so dramatic that
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it affects not just that plant, not just
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the mustard seed plant, but other creatures too,
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like the birds that are common affected like
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it.
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And I think that could be true of
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you.
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I hear you saying that change maybe seems
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impossible, but change can start small and that
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doesn't mean it isn't real.
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And I think God could do something in
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your life where you become a person who
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blesses other people's lives all around you.
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Okay, now in that final moment, I kind
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of switched to prophetically speaking into my person's
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life, right?
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And that's part of the spiritual gift of
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prophecy, which again, different people have kind of
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different levels of that, but all of us,
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I think, have some capacity to discern what
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God is doing in someone else's life and
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then speak into their life.
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Again, in a context of trust as appropriate,
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not forcing anything.
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But this is a great example of that,
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where somebody's shared something vulnerably with you, you
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connect it back to something that Jesus taught,
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and then you prophetically interpret the parable in
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terms of what it could mean for their
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life.
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That's actually an incredibly powerful thing to do
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for a friend, is you do it respectfully,
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you do it clearly.
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It's not some pat thing you prepped in
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advance, you're doing it in the moment because
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you're actually listening to what they're really saying.
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I found that when people hear Jesus's teachings
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like that, like as though the teaching is
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for them, that that really helps in the
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seeking stage.
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That helps them begin to ponder what would
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it be like to say yes to this
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Jesus, this Jesus who invites me into this
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process of change.
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It's a great reminder that it's always helpful,
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again, not just for your sake, but for
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the sake of other people you're having conversations
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with, to just know the teachings of Jesus
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really well, to know the stories of Jesus,
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to read them and ponder them and meditate
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on them, and just live inside of them
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for yourself.
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And then also, so that in a given
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moment, when somebody says something and that kind
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of light bulb goes off, you can just
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easily paraphrase one of Jesus's parables without having
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to get out your Bible or interrupting the
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flow of conversation.
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You can just sort of like weave it
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in there and then speak into your friend's
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life.
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So this is a kind of scriptural, prophetic
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evangelism rooted in the parables of Jesus.
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You can do this in a very quiet,
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gentle way.
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You don't have to have some impressive personality
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to make this work.
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You just have to be ready and sensitive
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to how the Holy Spirit's leading in those
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conversations.
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Okay, so that's one way that we can
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use the parables of Jesus himself to be
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like Jesus in the way we teach.
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But we can also be like Jesus even
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more by doing what he did, which is
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finding things and then telling parables based on
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the things we find, finding parables in our
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surroundings, in the kind of shared experience that
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we and our friends have.
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So, for example, Jesus likely had in the
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back of his mind this passage in the
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prophet Ezekiel that talks about a plant growing
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up and the birds of the air coming
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in and nesting in the branches of that
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plant, right?
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So Jesus knows this passage.
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His listeners maybe also know this passage.
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It's part of their shared repertoire.
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But then he's looking around and he's like,
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oh, you know what would be really interesting
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would be to emphasize how unimpressive the beginning
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of that plant is.
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So he's like, what's the smallest seed around?
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He's like, mustard seed.
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That's small.
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And we all know what mustard seeds are.
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So he's like, okay, so look at the
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mustard seed and how tiny it is.
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That's the seed that grows into the great
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plant.
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So he's got something that he's working with,
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the scriptures that he knew, but then he's
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using something in shared experience with his listeners.
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So if we really want to imitate Jesus
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in the way we share the good news,
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we can do that.
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It's like we're working on the scriptures that
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we know, the Hebrew scriptures and the New
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Testament, especially the stories and teachings of Jesus.
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But we're also looking for something in our
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shared experience with our friends that we can
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connect to and kind of make a metaphor
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with.
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Shared books, shared movies, even current events, video
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games, anything where you and your friend have
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like a shared point of connection, you can
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kind of draw that metaphor out naturally.
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So let me give just a couple of
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examples.
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An old one and a more recent one.
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So the old one, Pixar movie, Finding Nemo.
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Pixar movies are like laid in with metaphors
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that are helpful to use for describing the
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spiritual life.
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Partly that's because there are some actually like
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fantastic disciples of Jesus who are some of
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the screenwriters at Pixar, if you didn't know.
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Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, shout out to you
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guys.
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But it's also true just of any good
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literature.
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Like it doesn't have to be intended by
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the writers to resonate because any good story
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is going to have little moments that illustrate
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something true about the human experience and we
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can connect with those moments.
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So Finding Nemo, right?
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This came out a long time ago, but
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people are still watching it.
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Thanks, Disney Plus.
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And what is the story of Finding Nemo?
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It's a son who is lost and a
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father who sacrifices everything to go find his
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son.
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Okay, so if your friend has ever seen
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Finding Nemo, you can be like, what is
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the kingdom of God like?
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Oh, it's kind of like in Finding Nemo.
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You know how like Nemo is lost and
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in Marlin like rearranges his entire life to
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go chasing across the world to find his
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son so that they can be together again.
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I think that's a little bit like you
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know how God the Father seeks us out
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and wants to be close to us even
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though we're often far away from him.
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Now it's not like Finding Nemo was created
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to be an allegory of the gospel.
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That's not what I'm saying.
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What I'm saying is there's a metaphor.
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There's something in your shared experience where you
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can say the kingdom of God is like
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this.
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And hopefully that's a fresh thing.
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Like I imagine there's a lot of people
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who've seen Finding Nemo and have never even
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thought about how, whoa, that's kind of like
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the love of God.
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And if you're right now having that experience
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where you're like, wow, I'm a Christian and
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I've never even thought about Finding Nemo that
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way.
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That's okay.
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That's totally okay.
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But this is something you can start doing
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like with Pixar especially, but with any good
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literature, any good story, have your antenna up
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for like, is there a metaphor here?
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Is there an image here that could connect
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to what the kingdom of God is like?
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Okay.
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More recent example, current events.
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If you saw the Summer Olympics in 2024,
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Sunisa Lee, Suni Lee, she had this amazing
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experience in Tokyo Olympics where, you know, not
14:12
Jordan Chiles.
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I'm failing here.
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Simone Biles, where Simone Biles had to pull
14:16
out for her own mental health.
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She was dealing with the twisties.
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You know, she didn't feel safe competing and
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Suni had the opportunity to medal, to get
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the gold medal that year.
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Amazing.
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But then she was diagnosed with like these
14:30
two rare kidney diseases and she couldn't compete
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at all for a while.
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And we didn't know what her future was
14:35
going to hold.
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But then she got treatment for those kidney
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diseases and she was able to go back
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to the Paris Olympics and medal and get
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another gold and a couple bronzes and like,
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like, amazing, amazing.
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Okay.
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So if your friend likes the Olympics or
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saw the Olympics or like, you know, whatever,
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knows the story of Suni Lee, you can
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be like, that's kind of like, I think
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what we go through spiritually, like all of
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us.
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It's like we have this incredible potential, but
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we also have this disease and it may
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not be a kidney disease.
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It's more like a, like a spiritual disease.
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Like there's this darkness inside of our souls
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and we need medication for that.
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And if we get the medication for that,
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then we can be healed and whole and
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can go on and do amazing things.
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And, and I think that's what Jesus offers
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us is like this spiritual medication for our
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souls.
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Okay.
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So you see how you're using something in
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the shared experience to then make an analogy
15:25
in the person's life.
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And you don't have to be like me.
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You don't have to be all, you know,
15:30
dramatic and deep voiced and, and preacherly as
15:34
in the way you say these, you can
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just say it conversationally in your own personality,
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however makes sense for you.
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And if you are a dramatic person, then
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do say dramatically because that's you.
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That's, that's genuine.
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So these are two different ways that can
15:44
be really powerful to share the good news
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the same way that Jesus himself shared it.
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So we're learning from Jesus, not just in
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terms of his content, but also in his
15:52
method, which is using his own stories and
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then also finding parables in our shared experience
15:57
to help people see what the kingdom of
15:59
God is like.
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And then by God's grace, those become images
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that people can live inside of.
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They become houses that they take up residence
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in and they look around and as they're
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in that seeking stage, they begin to look
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through the windows of that house and see
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the world in a new way.
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Lord Jesus, we want to live inside the
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house that you are building.
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We want to live inside the images that
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you've given us to see what the kingdom
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of God is like, to see the world
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and ourselves and you in a new way
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in the beauty of your good news.
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Show us how to do that for ourselves.
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Show us how to come alongside our friends
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and bring them, welcome them into seeing the
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house that way too.
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Do your work in us as we do
16:41
our work with you.
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Thanks for listening.
16:49
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