Redeem halloween
And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." Luke 15:2
This weekend, we will turn our porch lights on, set out a sign, and hand out king sized candy bars to hundreds of kids, moms, dads, and teens. Some will grumble that we receive sinners. But they said this of Jesus too.
LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Many Christians believe that handing out candy on Halloween is not a good idea. They assume, "if I hand out candy, I am advocating all this day stands for and will therefore compromise my witness as a Christian." Yes, Halloween can stand for some really wicked things. Yes, it is a day that people worship Satan, demons, and spiritual darkness. Yes, it is an excuse for unrepentant sinning. But we are the light of the world! Light is intended for darkness. "Does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket?"
The darker the day, the more the light stands out. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Who needs to see the light of Christ? Saints? Or sinners?
And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many taxc ollectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?"And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:15-17
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for sinners. And how did Jesus, the physician, engage those who were sick? He hung out with them, engaged with them, ate with them. If our Master, Jesus, spent time with sinners in this way, how can we think ourselves too "holy" to do the same? It was the Pharisees who saw themselves as too holy to engage with sinners on the ground level. Let us be like Jesus, not like those spiritually arrogant pharisees.
MISSIONAL HALLOWEEN
For a moment, let's imagine Jimmy and I are missionaries in a foreign country. We have just moved in and are still getting a feel for the culture and daily life of this country's inhabitants. Very few know about Jesus, and ancestral worship is the most common religious practice. We have been praying about a way to get to know more people and have some opportunities to share about Jesus. Then, we hear about a large ancestral worship festival in which all of the city will be out. If you will only turn on your porch light, they will come to your door singing songs of praise to their ancestors.
As missionaries, we'd thank God for such a great opportunity! Instead of spending days looking for a single moment to get to know someone and talk about faith, we now have many who will come to our door with their mind already on spiritual things! I can't imagine a more perfect opportunity to get to know these foreigners and talk about my faith!
This is exactly what Halloween can be for the Jesus-followers in this country! We should be missional in our neighborhoods already, seeking to reach our neighbors with the good news of Jesus. So what a perfect day to get to know the families that live around us! On top of that, there is already an air of spirituality on this day. Yes it has an evil spiritual feel, but it's a perfect springboard to bring up the topic of life, death, hell, heaven, and a Great God who has defeated Satan on the cross through the unbelievable grace of sacrificing His Son on the behalf of sinners like us!
Jesus received sinners, so likewise, let us receive sinners today.
TURN IT FOR GOOD
There is a way to engage people on Halloween, without actually celebrating the day itself. We are very careful to not have any traditionally Halloween decorations, like ghosts, spiderwebs, monsters, etc. Instead, we are trying to brand ourselves as the "crazy-generous" house on our street, to make a statement about the gracious nature of our God through sending His Son!
There is a song we love to sing at our church called "Sovereign Over Us" by Aaron Keyes that says, "Even what the enemy means for evil, you turn it for our good, you turn it for our good and Your glory." Halloween is a day that Satan has intended for evil, but God in us is leveraging it for the good of others through sharing the Gospel and the glory of God by pointing to His grace.
You see, Halloween is kind of a big deal on our street. Every year, we have 100s of people come to our door. Last year that number was 1300! This year we purchased 1500 king sized bars and have about 25 volunteers helping at our prayer table, handing out candy, welcoming people at the bottom of our stairs, and looking for opportunities to talk about Jesus. After being loved, welcomed, and blessed with king-sized bars, each person will be pointed to Jesus through signs on the way out proclaiming Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
We have a prayer table on our front lawn where prayer requests can be submitted and will be brought to our guest room where people are praying throughout the evening for every request that comes in. We now serve coffee and hot chocolate in the front of our house too and that causes people to linger longer so we have more opportunities to talk to people and bring up the good news of Jesus.
We’ve seen people saved on our front lawn. We’ve heard of people coming to faith in Jesus through our prayers for them. People come back year after year telling us how God has answered their prayers! It’s a joy to see God move through these annual outreaches we do!
WE ARE SINNERS TOO
Let us not forget, that the only reason we are saved is because Jesus condescended into the filth of our life, met us where we were at, and extended grace and love to us there. We are no less sinners than those we seek to reach. We are simply great sinners with a greater Savior! Let us not fall into the trap of the Pharisees, thinking in our religious arrogance that we are better than those who don't know Him. For Jesus Himself said, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you [religious leaders]." Matt 21:31
"It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all." 1 Tim 1:15
Let's remember our Lord's charge to us on nights like tonight, not to run from darkness but charge toward it with the loving light of the gospel. "And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." Mark 16:15
Let us not forget, that the only reason we are saved is because Jesus condescended into the filth of our life, met us where we were at, and extended grace and love to us there. We are no less sinners than those we seek to reach. We are simply great sinners with a greater Savior! Let us not fall into the trap of the Pharisees, thinking in our religious arrogance that we are better than those who don't know Him. For Jesus Himself said, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you [religious leaders]." Matt 21:31
"It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all." 1 Tim 1:15
Let's remember our Lord's charge to us on nights like tonight, not to run from darkness but charge toward it with the loving light of the gospel. "And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." Mark 16:15
October 30, 2017
A Light in the Darkness
Since we first moved in to our house on Sleepy Hollow 6 years ago we've been dreaming up ways to showcase the Gospel in our neighborhood. One way we do this is by handing out hundreds of king-sized candy bars on Halloween.
It was no surprise to learn that our street was a popular trick-or-treating spot, given the name, lack of street lights, and eerie over-hanging trees. But we had no idea how popular.
The first year, we bought 100 bars and ran out. The second year it was 350. We ran out. The third year it was over 600. We ran out again. Eventually, we figured out that 1200 bars were usually enough.
Jimmy and I have both written about why we do this, and I hope you'll take the time to read our explanation. In short, we're hoping to brand ourselves as "the generous house" each year in hopes to point people to God's abundant generosity in giving us Jesus. With the help of our college home group, we have a welcome team down front, a candy team at the door, and a prayer team in the prayer room. It's an amazing night every year!
This year, I wanted to share some of the fruit we've seen over the years.
SALVATION
Since we have so many stairs to our front door, there are often people hanging out around our driveway waiting for kids to make it to the top and back. Our welcome team is tasked with greeting people, making conversation, answering the inevitable "why do you do this?" with the Gospel. Last year, Jimmy and some of our college students got into a conversation with a high school student about the Gospel. He said to them, "This is the first time I've heard this," and chose to trust Jesus and repent of his sins! The Gospel really is good news! And good news is so fun to share! We're hoping this is the first of many salvations we get to see happen in our front yard.
A GOOD REPUTATION
One hope Jimmy and I have is that our generosity on Halloween will cause our neighbors to reach out to us through out the year. And this year, that happened!
It was summertime when she came to the door. "We live just around the corner and come to your house every Halloween. Can we go to church with you?" While they haven't been able to come very often due to work schedules, we've stayed in touch with this family. We've been able to help them in a few ways too. Our church was able to locate a used fridge for them when their's broke and they were unable to afford a new one. Our college guys (some of the same ones who were present at Halloween) helped move it in.
We hope our house will be an embassy for the Kingdom of God all year round, a picture of what His grace is like and how abundant His kindness is. Halloween just happens to be the day when all of our neighbors are out and about. So for us, it's the best day of the year to be an ambassador for Christ!
GOSPEL CONVERSATIONS
We always look a little crazy in the grocery store when we buy our candy. Usually we've got 2 carts stacked full of all the oversized candy we can find. Every year we get to share the Gospel with people at the store: the cashiers, the managers, those who help us bring the candy to the car, fellow shoppers who stop and say, "I've just gotta ask, what are you doing?" It's so much fun to answer with: "We love being generous on Halloween because our God has been generous to us. He sent His beloved son, Jesus, to be the payment for our sins, offering us salvation for free! He is soooo good to us that we love to imitate His goodness to others. This is just one small way." I'm hopeful that all those Gospel seeds over the years will bear fruit one day, whether we know about it or not.
RENDER DEATH POWERLESS
"...that through death [Jesus] might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." Hebrews 2:14-15
These verses have got to be my favorite for Halloween. A reminder that Jesus took Satan's greatest weapon and used it against him! It reminds me of what we do on Halloween. On this day, when many celebrate death and wickedness, we will offer something truly worth celebrating: "the free gift of God which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
But we also know that "no one can come to Jesus unless the Father who sent him draws them." (John 6:44) So as we do each year, we will turn our guest room into a prayer room. Will you pray for us this year as well? That God would save people? That He would free people who have been subject to slavery all their lives? Pray that His Kingdom would come on October 31.
And ask yourselves, how might you reach your neighborhood and community this year on Halloween? They will be out, will you be? In the words of my husband, "One night a year in our neighborhoods the mission field actually knocks on our door." Christians, let's #redeemhalloween2017! We'll be sharing our experience on social media. Follow along and share your #redeemhalloween2017 stories too.
October 30, 2017