Today, we look at the second tool and skill as we witness to the Resurrection. Last week, we saw the Proclamation skill weave the story of Jesus in with our story and the story those around us are telling and become essential for drawing people to Christ.

Today, we are going to look at two joined stories where people are invited to “Come and See.”

John 1:35-50

Where are you staying? (For More Information…)

The first invitation we see is when John points Jesus out to two of his disciples. John points and says “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” John’s disciples are intrigued, and start checking Jesus out.

John, who is already respected by these men, points out someone he wants them to meet. And they go, and find out more about him. Jesus responds and invites them to “come and see.” They evidently think going and seeing where he is staying, listening to him, and sharing the day with him is worth going and checking out.

It’s not as though they have a clear understanding of what Jesus is up to. They certainly have some wrong assumptions about him going on – as the Gospels profess on every page. They begin, in this first encounter, to find out more.

When we begin to invite people, this is a good first step: we invite people to spend time with us and with Jesus and find out more about him in a setting that encourages them to have dialogue with him and us. It is most likely to start in relationships where we are respected and invite others to check Jesus out – and those people will check him out just because we suggested it.

This means that whether it’s an event, or a website, or book, or just getting together around the neighborhood, the first invitation is an invitation to discovery.

So the first invitation we see is to spend time with Jesus and his followers and find out more about him.

We have Found the Messiah! (Was he lost?)

The second invitation is to invite those we care about to see that our hopes and dreams are being fulfilled – even if they may be skeptical at first.

We see examples of that both with Andrew’s invitation of Peter and Philip’s invitation of Nathaniel. Philip, likely, knew Andrew and Peter, so he was easily added to the group that way. Nathaniel was a little more skeptical. Nevertheless, he was open to discovering more.

Andrew and Philip both invite the others by indicating that something they have been looking forward to and hoping for and expecting is happening. This is key to our use of invitation as a means of witnessing to the Resurrection: we bring their expectations and hopes to meet up with what God is actually doing in our community. When we hear someone hoping for something, we have a way of joining what they are hoping for into the message of Jesus Christ.

This means that we have to look at our faith as something that doesn’t only and solely pay benefits upon death: but that has potency for today and here and now, too. Let’s consider how people’s hopes and dreams can be fulfilled by God’s work in that way.

Come and See what we have found!

So for us: what will make the invitation method of evangelism work? There are several things.

Consistency

First is consistency: invitation works best if we are invested in the person or event to which (or to whom) we are inviting someone. Most people who get invited to something want to make sure they get there on time, and so they’ll arrive a few minutes early. Let’s make sure we’re here to greet people!

Along with that, if we are inviting people to a regular event, such as worship, it is important that we maintain a high percentage of attendance ourselves – trying to schedule with someone who likely has a tight schedule when we ourselves are not necessarily present regularly would make things a bit awkward – or give us the possibility of having people show up to be with us when we aren’t there ourselves. So consistency is first and foremost.

Personal Hospitality

Second is Personal Hospitality: invitation works well only if once someone arrives, they can essentially be “attached” to one or more people, and not stuck off by themselves. When someone arrives, let’s make sure we personally introduce them to three or four people other than ourselves, and invite them to sit with us – so they know they are really being made welcome. This will take a few minutes before the service, so let’s make ourselves available for that for about the last 15 minutes before the service starts.

Excitement

The third way we can put the invitation method to work is to maintain a healthy sense of excitement. Many times, we describe our Christian activities as “shoulds” for other people. “You should go with us to church. It will help you.” “You should get up on Sunday morning. It won’t kill you.” In these approaches, there is an air of judgment.

Instead, whether it is a get-together at our home, a worship service, a special event, trip, project or moment, our own excitement is key. Do we find the event we are inviting someone to exciting? Do we have high expectations of its benefits for that day? People will get excited about the things that make us excited. If our Christian activities are obligatory, people will treat them as obligations, and do the minimum or avoid them. If they are exciting, then they will do absolutely ridiculous things, sometimes, to get there and enjoy themselves.

The same people who gripe about how the seats are uncomfortable and the time too early for a worship service and how it’s just too hard to get there will get up at the crack of dawn to go get the best parking spot at the tailgate, arrayed in requisite team colors, jerseys, hats, jackets (or perhaps shirtless with body paint), and then go sit on an aluminum bench for three hours in subzero weather just to be there when their favorite running back swan-dives over the scrum of defenders into the end zone to win the game.

Worship need not be football, but we don’t necessarily describe it in the most glowing terms, either. How can we describe it in exciting terms?

Invitation-worthy events

And that leads to the fourth thing: the fourth way we can make the invitation method work for us is to make sure we have invitation-worthy events. Is what we are inviting people to a “can’t miss” kind of event? Is what we are inviting people to something that we would do socially with our group of friends? Do we have events where people could come as a group and enjoy themselves – like people do with restaurants and the like?

With respect to worship, is this Sunday morning event something we feel is invitation-worthy? If so, how so? If not, why not? If we aren’t comfortable with how things look, how things go, the way things are, we won’t be likely to consider it invitation-worthy. Are we afraid of how we come across? What can we do to make ourselves more invitation-worthy on Sundays?

Clarity of Object

The last two points are related: the fifth way we can make invitation work for us is clarity of object. Who or what are we inviting people to? Are we inviting people to an encounter with the Living God, the Messiah of Israel? Are we inviting people to spend time with us? Are we inviting people to meet up with Pastor Matt or Leon or John? How do we measure whether we were successful getting someone to relate to him/them/us?

Clarity of Purpose

Along with this goes the sixth and last point: clarity of purpose. Why are we inviting people? What reason do we have for inviting people? Is it because this will help them realize their hopes and dreams? Will it entertain someone? Will it create more “customers” for our “business”? Do we want people to come to Jesus or do we just want them to come to church with us?

When our purpose is clear, then we can discover how to structure ourselves to achieve our purpose. When who we’re inviting people to see, and why are both in place, we will discover our events are more invitation-worthy.

We are called to invite people to encounter the Living God and experience his grace and love as he rescues them from sin, death and the Devil, and brings them into the fullness of life. With that in mind, let’s look at the following three questions:

How can we invite the people we are praying for to spend some time with Jesus and his followers and find out more about him?

How can we share our excitement with others?

How can we invite others to see that what we are really hoping for is happening?

Today, we are going to begin a five-week break from our series on Christian identity to address directly our need for tools for bringing people to Jesus. Today, and in the four weeks following, we will look at five Biblical examples of how the disciples of Jesus and their followers drew others to Jesus through their message of his resurrection. Throughout the book of Acts, the disciples repeatedly reference the Resurrection as the core event to which they are witnesses. This event draws people into the Kingdom and new life. So to start with, let’s look at one of Paul and Barnabas’ early attempts at evangelism.

Acts 13:13 – 43

Why the History Lesson?

On several occasions in the book of Acts, we hear one speaker or another giving a history lesson, so to speak, similar to the one we see here in Acts 13. Peter does something similar in Acts 2:17 – 36, Stephen gives an extensive speech on Israel’s history in Acts 7, and there are briefer sections elsewhere.

While I am a student of history, I know that history isn’t everyone’s thing. And it can be argued that those who give such history lessons in Acts and elsewhere are not necessarily all that successful with their audience. Nevertheless, this approach is used over and over again.

There are three threads that come together in these stories, making them effective to draw people to salvation in Jesus the Messiah: the audience’s story, the speaker’s story and the Jesus story. These three threads are woven together in various patterns – sometimes emphasizing one over the others, or two more than the third – to communicate the Good News of Jesus effectively and draw people in to God’s life.

These threads are called people’s Core Narratives – the stories they tell that define how they see the world, what their expectations are, what they see as wrong with the world, where they see things going, what they believe about right, wrong and pragmatism, and so on. Public speakers use our core narratives effectively all the time – and when speakers get them wrong, they look foolish. This is the contrast between, for instance, Lincoln’s “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” which drew a nation together, and Marie Antoinette’s response to a starving Paris telling those without bread to eat cake, which lost her her head.

In this passage, Paul takes Israel’s core narrative (since he is speaking to Jews), and uses that as the launch point for his message about Jesus. He draws the story of Jesus up out of it, and in his second session, he adds his own story and purpose when some begin to reject him.

So why the history lesson? Paul uses it to connect the story of Jesus to their core narrative – how the world works, and where it’s headed – to draw them to salvation in Christ. He weaves the story of Jesus through their story until the inevitable conclusion is that Christ is the fulfillment of their story. This is the first and main approach to bringing people to Jesus.

Discovering People’s Core Narratives

Today, we live in a society with multiple core stories running together all at once. Sometimes you even get multiple stories in the same person. You certainly can see different stories in different generations. Different stories are present in different communities, too. These stories are seen as the “default setting” when people become stressed, anxious, angry, or otherwise out of sorts.

In order to discover which of the several narratives may be operating, we must train ourselves to listen beyond the words being spoken to hear the mindsets and attitudes and overall storyline of someone’s life. Once we have a sense of the storyline that people are in, we have the opportunity to weave in our story (as transformed by Jesus) and the Jesus story itself – or whatever part of the Jesus story is accessible to someone operating in that particular story.

This means that proclamation, as a means of sharing the Good News of Jesus, is more than just standing on a street corner with a bullhorn. It is more than just making a speech. It is even more than just giving a history lesson, despite all appearances. It is a careful telling of the Jesus story in a way that it grows out of, or contrasts to, a person’s existing story that they tell about themselves and about the world.

Listening for key words and phrases can help discover these stories: “You know how it is,” is a phrase that indicates a core story is being told. Statements that repeat throughout a conversation are part of a core belief system. “It’s always” or “it’s never” are usually indications of a story – even if the “always” and the “never” can easily be countered by other evidence.

So the first phase of a proclamation approach to speaking the Good News of Jesus is an active discovery form of listening – not assuming we know what people’s mindsets are.

Accessing Narratives

From that point, we can bring the story of Jesus to bear into their story. Sometimes, like Paul, we are able to grow the Jesus story out of their story. Other times, the Jesus story contrasts with their own narrative. Proclamation comes about when we assemble the pieces together into a cohesive whole that makes sense to the people with whom we are speaking.

Proclamation, then, can be to an individual, a family or other smaller group, or a whole large group of people: the important thing is to know and build upon the audience’s core narratives, their basic stories to draw people to Christ.

We do this because we believe that Jesus has come to bring all things under God the Father’s just rule and reign, so that the whole creation may be freed from decay and the power of sin and death may be broken forever. We believe this is good news for everyone, and that putting it in terms that they can understand will significantly help them access the true transforming power of God to free them from death and decay and join them to the fullness of God’s life.

Witnessing to the Reality of the Resurrection

We are called, then, to be witnesses to the reality of the Resurrection in our own lives. Understanding and discovering others’ stories, and weaving them in with the story of Jesus doesn’t help if our mindsets are still stuck in non-Jesus attitudes and perspectives. We are compelled, therefore, to examine our own mindsets – behaviors being only an expression thereof – and discover the new life we can have ourselves. When the transformation in our own lives is current and ongoing, we will have live examples for those with whom we speak.

We are, first and foremost, witnesses to the Resurrection to draw people to God. While we want people to come to church, this is a secondary aspect to the Good News itself. People need to gather with the Body of believers to discover the true depth and breadth of God’s love and grace, but it is unlikely that they will do that from the outset. The proclamation will come first and their conversion may not take place right away. Proclamation takes persistence. Done right, it will lead to growth in the other person, ourselves and in the church. But let us not get confused: we are not converting people to church; we are converting them to God, to follow Jesus. Church attendance will be, and should be, a byproduct of that proclamation, not an end in itself.

So today, I invite you to take six post-it notes. Write down three names on them, one name on each note. Write each name twice. We will post one copy to the wall in here of people we are praying for to come to Jesus. The other copy, place where you will see it and remember to pray for them.

Start by listening to their story – and discover your own, and how Jesus has redeemed them. When you have listened, and really understand them, and really love them, then tell them the story! See what even can happen this week. Amen!

John 21:1-14

Empty Nets

As you may recall, the disciples started off their careers as commercial fishermen. When Jesus calls them, they are in a boat, fishing. One needed never go hungry with them around near any significant body of water. They were professionals – going out day after day to haul in as many fish as they could get for sale. This is the picture of the docks at Gloucester, Massachusetts, rather than the couple of retired men in chest-waders standing in a stream. Fishing was their livelihood, rather than their hobby. So it is stunning that we hear that Peter the professional fisherman, assisted by an experienced crew, can’t catch any fish. They are doing it right – fishing at night, from the boat.

But what is striking is that they are, in fact, fishing: fishing on the Sea of Tiberias (a.k.a., the Sea of Galilee). They have gone right back to where they started.

You see, Peter’s last recorded conversation was him denying Jesus. The Kingdom hadn’t come in the way that he or the other disciples (least of all, Judas) expected. Instead of becoming King, Jesus had been executed as one who had attempted to become King.

Peter and the others had seen the empty tomb, and he had likely been present when Jesus appeared to the disciples – both with and without Thomas. Nevertheless, Jesus had not met his expectations as Messiah. Moreover, he has disappointed Jesus with his disloyal behavior. Peter, therefore, decides to go back to professional fishing. Several others join him.

Peter and the other disciples knew the facts of the Resurrection, and had even seen Jesus, but Jesus’ Resurrection had no significant impact on their life’s direction. If there was not going to be any messianic kingdom established in Jerusalem, they would just quietly go back to their old careers and bemoan the time they wasted following Jesus around thinking he was going to change the world.

Nevertheless, we see that something has changed: their old career isn’t working for them like it did before. It’s unclear why, but the fish aren’t where they thought they would be. So they have a night of frustrated nothing.

Fish from the Other Side

In the morning, Jesus stands at the shore of the lake. He says, “Boys, kids, kiddos, you don’t have any fish, do you?” And they say that they have nothing. He tells them to fish from a different place – the right side of the boat. And wouldn’t you know? They take in a huge haul. And that reveals that it is Jesus who invited them to fish from the new place. Then he eats with them, and gives them bread and fish by the shore of the lake – just the seven of them, plus Jesus – like he did when there were five thousand not long before. And like all the rest of the stories, they all know it is Jesus, but there is something weird about him. Now, for the first time, the Resurrection is demonstrating its power in their lives.

Fishers of Men

Like Peter, we typically revert to our old behavior and outlook when things don’t go as we want them. When Jesus doesn’t give us what we want, we, in our frustration, often go back to our old ways. We may not necessarily drop out of worship attendance (although that is the typical first sign of reversion), but our attitudes and behaviors from before we met Jesus begin to surface. All the excuses as to why we can’t do things the Jesus way start to come up: we can’t go to worship because someone has made us angry, or the pews are too hard (you would be shocked as to how many times people have told me they can’t come because of the seating), or they aren’t feeling well. Many times, those things were present before, all along, but when something goes wrong, people fall into a funk and all the negatives that once were minor issues to them become the roadblocks to worship of God and service alongside the Body of Christ. While oftentimes the offense or difficulty that precipitates the funk is real (the disciples themselves argued at the Last Supper as to who was the greatest, for heaven’s sake), it becomes an excuse to return to the perceived comfort of a pre-Jesus lifestyle.

And then there is the guilt of denial. Like Peter, we have days and times where what is going on with Jesus seems to put our hopes and dreams – and even our very lives or lifestyles – at stake. In those moments, driven by fear of what bad things might happen, we act as though we never knew him in the first place. “But what if it doesn’t turn out like I want it? But what if this puts me in an awkward position with these other people?” As fear of the negative future begins to drive us, we begin to deny Jesus all over the place. We protect ourselves and shove faithfulness aside. This guilt either initiates or reinforces the funk that makes us just want to revert to where we were and withdraw from worship, study, service, prayer with others, and time with the members of the Body.

So we go back to fishing. But then even that doesn’t work for us. We catch nothing. And if we aren’t careful, our lack of satisfaction with our lack of success going back to where things were will reinforce our funk about where we are with Jesus – feeling on the outside, fearful, disappointed, and angry.

Sometimes Jesus lets us fish all night, sometimes, it’s a week or two, sometimes it’s longer than that. Perhaps he has decided to let us get all of our miserable fishing done and out of our system. More likely, though, is that we are so deep into our funk that we can’t see Jesus, standing by the shore of the lake, inviting us to resurrection life, willing to show us where the haul is, and ready for us with a baked fish breakfast.

You see, Jesus didn’t call us to be commercial fishermen. Nor did he intend our discipleship to end with a bump when the strains and cracks of the relationships between us and him and us and those who follow him with us start to show. He does not intend our discipleship to end when we see the cross coming and duck out of the way. He faithfully goes before us, with the cross, seeking, as always to bring us new life. The only reason he allows any return to fishing is to remind us how miserable and unfulfilled (albeit somewhat more comfortable) that we were then.

This is why the cross is not the last word: any pain and sorrow and funk we are in is to be swallowed up in Resurrection. If not now, it will be at the last day. Because of the Resurrection, the pain, sorrow and funk is the cross to us: which means that even in the midst of that, there is Resurrection.

We are a Resurrection people because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Death no longer has the last word. Neither does our own anger that separates us from one another and from God have the power to keep us from one another and God. That separation, that isolation, that hatred (mild or strong): that is a taste of Hell. As a Resurrection people, we see that for what it is, and discover that if we are willing, we can be free from that power of Hell.

As a Resurrection people, we discover that just going back to our old habits are unfruitful, because we have been crucified with Christ and those ways are dead to us. They don’t produce anything. Instead, we are propelled by our new-found lack of success in our old ways to move into new things.

As a Resurrection people, we realize that Jesus forgives what we have done against him – and forgives things that have harmed his Body. The cross was awful – no doubt about it! But in the Resurrection, though the scars remain, that past behavior has no power over him: so he can release us from our past, too.

As a Resurrection people, our old fishing place doesn’t work anymore. The Resurrection has altered the world such that going back to the old ways doesn’t work like it did. The Resurrection forces our dependence on Jesus for success in whatever we do – even if it is something we were trained to do and based our career on.

As a Resurrection people, we have been called to be commercial fishermen – but fishing for people, not fish. Perhaps we’ve been fishing in the same place for a while, and nothing is happening. We need to fish in a new place, and perhaps we will see a huge haul of people. But to do that, we need to look up, and see where Jesus is pointing.

We are a Resurrection people because Christ has been raised from the dead: what we were is now dead to us; what we are now is dependent on his guidance. All of our pain, discomfort, errors, sins, anger and general funk are now able to be nailed to the cross with Jesus so that we may discover Resurrection life as those things are put to death. We are called to this Resurrection life. Will you follow him there?

Before we hear my second conclusion, and in order to understand it, let’s enter in to a story from the Gospels which the book of Matthew places at the end of the day on Palm Sunday (apt, wouldn’t you say, for tonight) – but which Mark places first thing on Monday morning the following day.

Let’s look at Mark 11:12 – 24.

[Mark 11:12-24]

Fig Trees and Mountains

Jesus’ curse of the fig tree and his actions in the temple are parts of the story of Holy Week, I, for one, have rarely heard preached. The central thread between the three parts of the story comes through in verse 23: “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.” This is Jesus’ response to Peter’s exclamation about the fig tree, as they are on their way up to Jerusalem and back into the Temple.

There was strong connection in the Jewish mind between the word “mountain” – often referenced in “mountain of the Lord” – and the Temple. So when Jesus references “this mountain” – which, while on the road into Jerusalem from Bethany, would be the largest and most obvious landform around – it is highly probable that he was saying something about the Temple. And this is the clue to the whole passage. The fig tree is a symbol for what Jesus did in the temple when he drove all the people out of the outer court. Jesus’ actions weren’t just to “clean house,” so to speak: he went into the temple, looking for the fruit of the renewed covenant, that “this house would be a house of prayer for all nations,” and instead, found it a safe house for insurgents.

Like the fig tree, Jesus saw plenty of “leaves” in the Temple: all the activity of sacrifices and offerings, the festivals, all the buying and selling. All of this activity fit with the prophetic declaration that the temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar would be rebuilt and be restored to its former glory, and even more. But it was what Jesus did not see that angered him and caused him to enact destruction upon the Temple. Those same prophecies that speak of that restored house also declare that

“the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” (Isaiah 56:6-8)

Instead, the Temple-leadership of Israel, along with many of the Pharisees and others, wanted to drive the foreigners out, so they could have the Temple all to themselves, and restore things “to the way they were before the exile,” when Israel had sole relationship with God. They were going to do so by starting a revolution – whether they knew it consciously yet or not – to try to drive out the Romans.

Jesus saw the leaves of the tree in the restored Temple, but he did not see the fruit of the restored covenant in the actions of the people. Instead, he saw that the Temple had become a safe haven for brigands – not merely petty thieves or robbers. The word is “lestes”, which in Greek is much more a term for “insurgent” or “revolutionary” than it is “armed robber.”

So Jesus entered the Temple and drives out those who were buying and those who were selling, and kept the normal day-to-day activities from going on. He overturned tables and drove people out. This was more than just purification or cleansing of the Temple: this was a lived-out parable of the Temple’s destruction.

That is why the Fig Tree is so central to the story: Jesus curses the Temple – declaring it a safe house for insurgents, the central command for the revolution against Rome – a revolution doomed to failure. He cursed the fig tree, and it withered. Now, he says, that by the power of the Kingdom that withered the fig tree, so also the Temple – “this mountain” – having been cursed through Jesus’ words and actions, would be uprooted and thrown into the sea.

Jesus is well grounded in the scriptures with this: he is enacting Jeremiah 7 and 8. In that passage, Jeremiah declares that the people are trusting in the Temple’s existence to save them, not the Lord. He tells them that “this house, which is called by [the Lord’s] name, [has] become a den of robbers [insurgents, revolutionaries]” in the eyes of the people.  (7:11) He then gives them the example of what happened to “his house at Shiloh,” which was destroyed by the Assyrians. After continued expansion upon this basic theme, he says in Jeremiah 8:13, “When I wanted to gather them, says the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.” Jesus longs to gather the people as a hen gathers her chicks, but they would not. And now the fig tree is withered. The mountain will be uprooted and thrown into the sea, and not one of those beautiful stones shall be left upon another.

This fits well with Jesus’ self-perception that he has come to become the new Temple in the Lord, replacing the old Temple. It also shakes up those at the center of the power structure of the Temple and those who want to revolt against Rome. So they pursue him, arrest him, and kill him.

The Second Conclusion

So now for us: as Jesus comes along the road into the city, will he find fruit on us, or just leaves? Will he find well-maintained, or decently-maintained buildings with beautiful stones and windows, with a beehive of activity going on, services going on week after week? Will he find a desire to restore our congregations to their former glory? (We all know that just about all our churches had more people and more activities in them 50 years ago than they do now.)

If he does, then he will certainly find leaves on the tree. But will he find figs?

Will he find our motives self-preservation or self-sustenance, or will he find our motives driven by the kingdom principles of self-denial and self-sacrifice for the sake of those who are being invited by God to join him at his table? If it is the former, he will just find leaves. If it is the latter, he may find fruit.

In my day-to-day work these days, I work with a variety of different churches and church organizations through Design Group International, a consulting firm with a purpose of helping churches and other organizations  “untie their knots” – in other words, to help them design healthy structures and processes to discover and live out purpose and values with integrity. Many churches, not just ours in this Association, are struggling with sustainability and purpose. In that sense, the axe is already at the root of the tree for many church entities. And any tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

If the fruit we have borne is to always have just enough new people coming in to sustain the structures we have without having to change very much about how we operate or who’s really in power, then our fruit is not much more than leaves.

You see, after seven years here, my second conclusion is this: that in most cases, churches in this area – and far beyond this area, not just Baptist, but of many stripes – have succumbed to being a part of the structure of society that actually maintains the equilibrium of societal dysfunction rather than being an element that truly transforms it. Our structures are designed very well to operate in, and perpetuate this equilibrium. We have engaged in a social contract that gives the church its role – even to the extent that the church does the feed the poor, combat poverty, do job training, provide clothing, etc., sorts of tasks.

Nevertheless, the notion of really making a significant impact that would break the power cycles of poverty, politics, and personal conflict overwhelms us. Churches are used to always being behind the curve, and huffing and puffing to catch up with societal changes that have passed us by to which we then must react. This keeps the Church always on the defensive, always catching up, always surprised by the next thing. That is true whether the subject is a shift in moral or ethical mindsets, technological change, economic ups and downs or the care of the creation in general. We bemoan how society has gotten away from us. We are frustrated that no one seems to want what we have to offer anymore. “People used to just walk in our doors when they moved to town,” we cry. All the while, we are doing ministry – good ministry – that impacts the lives of individuals and families with the Gospel but does little to challenge the overall social contract that keeps the church almost entirely powerless.

We have agreed to abide by the overall societal contract that keeps the church in the business of small, incremental changes, while what is needed is a substantial, systematic transformation.

So my two conclusions, after seven years, are linked: our churches – and not just ours, but churches all over the place – are stuck in a reactive stance within a societal contract that we all, to one extent or another, have accepted, while what the Mahoning Valley needs is a people, filled with the Spirit of God, filled to the brim with divine energy and holy creativity, forged in the furnace of difficulty into tenacious disciples of Jesus Christ who persevere in bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to every person through every aspect of life. When that happens, we will be operating from the place of power that says “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

Finally

So what do we do? How do we break out of the position we are in? Are we doomed, like the fig tree, to wither? Are we condemned, like the Temple, to be uprooted and thrown into the sea?

In Luke 13:6-9 we hear about another fig tree – one that a man planted and after three years was not producing any fruit. He told his gardener to cut it down, and his gardener replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”

In seven years, I have encountered the self-preservation mindset at every turn. Defeating this mindset is key to changing from defensive, powerless and reactive to proactive, empowered and engaged. Here are a few ways to go about defeating that mindset:

1. Quit expecting to like every worship service – whether it is style of music or the preaching, etc. The purpose of worship is to give God glory, not to keep everyone happy. Keeping everyone happy is a self-preservation mindset because it tries to hold everyone together through their mutual interest. Instead, expect to make God’s delight and pleasure the focus of worship. This will, in the end, be much more unifying than mutual self-interest.
2. Balance church budgets so that there is always enough money (5-10% of yearly operating money is a good starting point) to do something new that you didn’t anticipate when you made the budget – particularly new things that reach out beyond the congregation’s friends, family and building. If the utility and maintenance bills won’t allow that to happen, either outright or by making staff cuts instead, sell the buildings. Or rent them to people who can pay to be there.
3. While we’re on the subject of buildings, make sure they are as fully in use 6 days a week as you can manage. Just because you need a room for worship or Sunday School on Sundays doesn’t mean it can’t be used for something else during the week.
4. Form a single organizational structure for making control decisions (yes and no, approve or disapprove), and then form teams of people to get the details done as they see fit, with only the large-scale, visionary decisions needing approval.
5. Pray for a nearby church to be healthy and successful – no matter their denomination or current state of dysfunction. See how you may assist them in their mission.
6. Count how many times you use the words or phrases “preserve” or “back when” in church life, and try to cut them by 75% or more. Most of the time, things that have to be preserved are already dead – whether it is the meat in the fridge or the wood in the siding on your house. Preservation is about death and resurrection comes not from winding the clock back but allowing the power of God to raise that which has been good and dead and has already started to stink.
7. Walk your neighborhoods in pairs, with your eyes open and your voices normal, pray for your neighborhoods as you walk. You don’t have to close your eyes or fold your hands, you just have to walk and talk as though God is with you as you do. Don’t worry if no one else joins you or if you can’t get the whole church behind the project. It’s unlikely that this will start off as a large thing. If it does, don’t expect it to remain large unless the priorities and mindsets as a whole are changing among those who do this.
8. Develop new capacities in people in your congregation: invite everyone to learn something new every year – whether it is a task within congregational life, a new role in the Body, or a new approach to outreach. Consider limiting large decision-making power to people who are demonstrably open minded and willing to learn: Disciples are learners.
9. Brainstorm ways of being hospitable to outsiders so that they can become insiders, not just perpetual outsiders. Form caring relationships with people outside the church where you can express love to them over the long-term. If you think that inviting them to worship would cause them to be looked at disdainfully by others in your congregation, or otherwise pushed away from faith in Christ by something that happens, meet with them in your home with some “safer” Christians, and go back to #1.

There is, of course, much more that can be done, but I have already spoken long enough. Then, if after a year, like the gardeners of these fig trees, if they do not produce fruit in a specific, but relatively short period of time, cut them down and re-plant.

“Have faith in God… whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.”

Amen.

This week, since it is Palm Sunday, we are looking at a Holy Week-themed aspect of our Christian identity. So far, we have seen that we are a people made up of all kinds of people, with a purpose of proclaiming God’s mighty acts to all creation, inviting all people in to his life; we have seen that we are a Biblical people, measuring our beliefs, behaviors and success or failure from the measuring stick of the Scriptures; we are a unified people, blood-related by the blood of Jesus Christ; we are a holy people – a people devoted to God who delight in giving him glory.

Today we look at the shape of our life together: we are a cruciform – a cross-shaped – people. Day in and day out, we see Christians focusing on a variety of what we should call “good Christian teachings.” Whether it is evangelism, or worship, or social justice; whether it is faith in the public square, the integrity of the family, or care for the poor; whether it is the work of the Holy Spirit, the stewardship of the creation, or proclaiming the atonement; whether it is healing people miraculously, proclaiming that we can have our best life now, or walking through the dark night of the soul – all of these things must, if they are to not become caricatures of the faith they profess, must be shaped by the Cross of Jesus the Messiah.

So today, as we look at this cruciform – cross-shaped – life, let’s take a look at Galatians 2:15-21, where Paul gives us the outline of this cross-shaped existence.

[Galatians 2:15-21]

Once Again, It’s not about the Rules.

As we heard last week in reference to holiness, so now we hear again: the Christian life is not about the rules. In this passage, Paul gives a variety of arguments as to why just following the commandments isn’t going to get you declared a member of God’s covenant people.

While Paul is speaking most directly about the Old Testament commandments related to Jewish practices of circumcision and food laws, the same may be said for us, with other things. We have a whole lot of rules here – unwritten, of course – as to whom we expect to join us, and who is acceptable as a part of our congregation. We’re not sure we want people with a lot of poverty or life issues – we’re not sure we can handle the need. We’ve had a clothing closet thrown in our laps with people who could join us, but we haven’t really engaged those who come to it. Now we have another ministry on its way – which will be a lot harder to ignore and not interact with. We really aren’t very interested in having people who will change our music style in worship from what we have. Or at least, if we are, we’re treading lightly. Who knows? Maybe Brian will crack out some Christian rap as a part of worship. You might be surprised. He seems like a quiet and reserved guy, but you never know what might bust out. We’re frankly afraid of outsiders, whoever they are. We have a rule that if it gets too personal, we shut down emotionally, or hang back physically.

It’s almost like in order to be considered worthy of joining us, people have to jump through a lot of hoops – and meet certain qualifications that have nothing to do with faith in Christ. This does not mean we have to operate with no ministry priorities and have no say over the scope or type of ministry we do, nor does it mean that we have to accept people as “members” regardless of their commitment level, beliefs or Christian behaviors (or lack thereof). What it does say is, like the Galatians, we place a high bar against all potential newcomers – including those we never invite – that requires a whole long list of conditions to be met before they can join us.

Nevertheless, as Paul says, we ourselves who were born in church, so to speak, and not those who came to it lately even know that a person doesn’t have to meet all our qualifications to be considered part of Christ’s Body and eligible to join us in worship of God. We are made a part of God’s people by giving over all of our agendas and priorities to Jesus the Messiah, falling into formation behind him, not by being in a certain socioeconomic class, liking a certain kind of music for worship, and not by being in a group of people that gives us space to withdraw when it gets too personal.

You see, like in Galatia, the struggle isn’t so much about the rules or the preferences – that is just the surface. It’s really about our fear that if we grow we won’t be able to do as we please as much, we will be obligated to others, and that we won’t get as much power or as much attention as we do when the group is small and self-contained. So of course we aren’t growing.

You see, all of our unwritten rules about who we want to invite, who seems ok to have join us, how much we want to be masters of our own individual destiny, what music we like, and how much we like things as they are – all of these things are killing us. So we have two choices: we can either allow those things to destroy us, or we can, as Paul says, die to those rules through those rules, that we might live to God. And that will involve crucifixion with Christ.

Crucified With

Declaring that we are crucified with Christ takes our very natural human tendency to avoid death at all costs and stares it directly in the face. We do a lot of things in our life to avoid death. What is more, we do a lot of things in our life to prevent a prolonged death, so to speak, of a future that is more unpleasant than the present. Therefore, we also avoid pain, suffering and difficulty as much as we can – not just because they are unpleasant, but because they are also clear indicators of our mortality, which most of us would rather not face.

Being crucified with Christ means death, plain and simple. It means that we no longer receive life from everything that once gave life to us. It also means that the rules that we have operated under that are not part of Christ’s mission no longer apply.

So when it comes to congregational life, being crucified with Christ as a congregation means that we have been focused entirely on the wrong things – I as much as anyone. Whenever the conversation is about what we are going to do to survive as an organization, we are avoiding this crucifixion with Christ. For example, as our trajectory from last week indicates, our financial and resource burden will shift significantly as the Hope Center comes in to this building. For many of us, this has been an experience of putting one part or another of ourselves on the cross. However, if at that point – with much of our financial and facility responsibility out of the way – our goal for outreach is still to add people to us to make our life more sustainable, and to perpetuate our life together, then we are still not facing our crucifixion: we are actually avoiding it. And this will cause us to continue to accrete rules that preserve our own power and comfort along the way.

Outreach for the sake of survival and easing the burdens we find on ourselves will fail – as it has been doing. Outreach for the sake of survival keeps the focus on us, and on our needs, not on God’s purposes, the needs of others, and upon kingdom principles. As long as the focus is on us, it is not on God, and he will not bless it. As long as the focus is on our needs, then at best our efforts to serve others’ needs are mercenary, and will not truly welcome others in to our Body.

Being crucified with Christ forces our survival questions in to focus, and to be addressed from a new perspective. Instead of asking, “How are we going to survive?” we instead begin to ask “should we survive?” Or is our death going to provide the opportunity for a resurrection that will transform our lives and the lives of those in our community? Please don’t hear me saying anything further than the question – not giving an answer or assuming the answer to the “should we survive” question is “no.”

If Jesus had been bent on his own survival, we would not be saved. If he had entered Jerusalem expecting to become King – without any resistance, or by arming his followers – we would be dead in our sins. So, too, if we state that we have a purpose to reach out to and transform our community, we must develop care and concern for others for their own sake, not for our own survival’s sake. This is part of being crucified with Christ. It no longer becomes about my survival, our survival, but about God’s purpose.

Let’s be clear though: self-sacrifice merely as a noble gesture or as an expression of a sense of personal worthlessness compared to another person, family, organization or cause, is rightly held by many to be foolish. That, in a sense, is crucifixion without Christ, which is just voluntary execution. It borders on suicide.

Crucifixion with Christ, though, turns the instrument of our death into the means for our life. When we get out of survival mode – out of what we have to get to live, out of what we need to be successful, out of it being all about us – then we discover that being crucified with Christ means that he may now live through us. And this means we are free to set aside all the unwritten rules of power, comfort, who’s qualified to join us, and so on, so that we might actually receive the life-giving structure he offers us.

Life by Faith

So life by faith, then, emerges when we allow the cross to put to death all the extra rules we made for ourselves and once we get the necessity of our own survival off the table. It’s freeing, really. We discover that the opportunity to join people to us is much greater when we aren’t worried about whether they’ll help us survive or preserve what we have. Remember that preservatives are only necessary for things that are already dead, like hamburger and lumber.

Life by faith invites God to show you every day people you can invite into relationship with him – by direct as well as indirect means. When you wake up, invite God to show you people. Then look for them throughout the day. You’ll miss them at first, but you’ll get better at it.

And when your fear of losing power, control, attention or comfort comes up – because it will – remember that this is part of yourself that still has to die with Christ. When we are fully alive, we are crucified with him so that everything that causes us death is dead to us – and we are fully able to live. As we put him in charge of all aspects of our existence – including the continued existence of our congregation – then we discover that we have the freedom to love others for the first time, no matter what the circumstances. And then we aren’t so easily offended, aren’t so worried about getting stepped on or minimized, we aren’t so worried about what adding or subtracting someone is going to do to us.

If not, then we nullify the grace of God, leaving ourselves still pretty dead and even more powerless.

Let the life we live be by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. When we are able to love others in that way – not just in theory, but in practice with real people – then we will grow.

What sense of power and control do you sense yourself operating in?

Where do you see your comfort level challenged if we grow?

What do you fear the most about actually succeeding in re-launching this church?

Addressing those things and inviting God to deal with them will be the first step toward this crucifixion with Christ. Then we can truly start to live.

Amen.

Today, we look at the fourth in our series on our identity in Christ. Today we look at what it means to be a Holy People. Most of us, when we hear the word “holy” or “holiness” think of rules. Rules about what you can and can’t do. Rules that God likes versus behaviors he doesn’t. That’s really not what holiness is about at all. Holiness is very different. Holiness is about being the kind of people who are completely and utterly devoted to God, giving him glory, and working alongside him. This will, of course, affect our behavior – how could it not? – but holiness is about devotion, purpose and obedience that comes from being enthralled of God himself.

First Peter 2:9 – 10 says it well:

[1 Peter 2:9-10]

So What about the Rules?

To say that “holiness isn’t about the rules” doesn’t mean that holiness is a free-for-all. A Holiness approach sees God’s commandments as good boundaries for living as God’s people – boundaries that keep us from destroying or harming ourselves, others, and our relationship with God, and boundaries that give us fullness of life: “The glory of God is man fully alive.” (Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. IV.xx.7) These boundaries narrow, challenge and filter our desires so that we may finally move from the narrowing of our desires and choices to their widening and deepening in the mercy of God.

As Paul says in Galatians 3:21-26, the Law is our teacher so that we might be justified by faith. In other words, the Law challenges our desires, our mindsets, our words and our behaviors, forming a path and a space upon which we may walk and live. This is so that we may be opened up into greater things with God: choices, hopes, dreams, and discovery. Just like you who drive no longer consciously consider whether the yellow stripe is in the center, to the left, and the white stripe is to the right, nor the height of the curb or the spacing of light poles, so too, the Law keeps us off the grass and out of the way of oncoming traffic so that we may accomplish purposes greater than highway engineering.

People often complain about the detail required for sacrifices in the Old Testament, or about the seeming arbitrariness of certain food, relational or other laws. But going back to our street example, it could be argued similarly that our right-of-way laws, which color the stripes are and upon which side of the road we drive is arbitrary, along with the width of lanes and the spacing of traffic lights. But without those ostensibly arbitrary rules, we would have transportation chaos.

Thus, the commandments, though some may seem arbitrary, are there for a greater purpose. They exist for a greater good. They are not, as many assume, the representation of holiness themselves. Instead, they propel us into desires, mindsets, words and behaviors that will allow us to be completely and utterly devoted to God, give him glory, and work alongside him.

A focus on the rules, based in fear of displeasure or disfavor, leads to superstition and legalism. Both assume that observing the form of the rule will grant favor (legalism) or prevent displeasure (superstition, and to an extent, legalism). True holiness transcends both of those things through devotion.

Devotion

In many translations of 1 Peter 2:9, the phrase after “royal priesthood, a holy nation” is “a people devoted to God.” So what does it mean to be devoted to God?

Devotion is not just an activity; it is a lifestyle. Devotion is that intense mixture of focus, loyalty, love, submission, and enthusiasm that colors all aspects of life – whether directly related to the object of our devotion or not. Devotion takes another’s interests, desires, hopes, fears, wishes and perspective in to account. Devotion creates a lingering – the desire to just be with the other.

Holiness begins with devotion because holiness implies that we are reserved for God’s use, or better yet, devoted to God’s use. In our minds, “reserved” is something held aside for periodic use, and often unused – such as those parking places marked in blue. A closer sense is “restriction.” Both we ourselves, and others, are disallowed from using us for any other purpose than that to which God has for us.

The Temple had all sorts of instruments for the sacrifices – special meat forks, knives, bowls, lampstands, and so on. They were not allowed to be used for normal cooking, normal lighting, or whatever. They had to be used as a part of the life of the Temple.

Similarly, we are devoted to God’s use: as a holy people, we are not allowed to be put to use for anything that is not part of God’s work, without serious consequences resulting for the one using us – even if it is ourselves.

On the flip side of devotion, we see much more a role for ourselves than a human Temple spatula. As beings with reserved or restricted use, we have the freedom to engage in that that intense mixture of focus, loyalty, love, submission, and enthusiasm toward God that draws us up into his life.

Focus: we are able to let everything else have its place behind God, or at his feet. Whether it is our life drama – family, friends, work, neighborhood, and so on, or the old standards of money, sex and power, devotion creates the focus on God that puts each one of those things in its place.

Loyalty: we are able to stick with God even when he doesn’t do what we want. Eventually, we learn that things aren’t always about what we want, but about what is best for us in ways we could never anticipate if left to ourselves. Loyalty is not just a defensive posture against detractors, though: it is a faithfulness that is matched by companionship and relationship that is only able to form over time.

Love: we are able to love, not for our own benefit alone or out of duty but out of joy and delight in God himself, and not merely his gifts and his presence.

Submission: we are able to surrender our own will to God’s, which allows us to receive better things from his hand than we would have otherwise. Submission not only opens us up to his authority and protection, but enables the accountability that deepens and strengthens love.

Enthusiasm: we are able to exhibit true enthusiasm for God – not mere giddiness and wild emotionality, but the kind of enthusiasm born of loyalty as we see God’s purposes, desires and aims being achieved in ourselves and others, leading us to joyful celebration.

Devotion directed toward anyone or anything that precludes God is idolatry. Taking focus off of God, and putting it elsewhere; giving our loyalty, pledging it, even, to other persons, organizations or symbols (as sports fans do at every game) in a way that subordinates God to the team, the organization, the family member, the job or whomever; giving love to someone or something that contrasts with God; submitting ourselves to people, places or structures that preclude faithfulness; and becoming so enthusiastic about things that are not God that we lose all desire to celebrate him – all these things suggest we should examine ourselves to see where idolatry may lie. Idolatry, at that point, worships and serves created things, rather than the creator, and, in the end, gives us over to worship of ourselves and “our kind,” rather than the one who made us. Devotion toward God, however, reduces our idolatrous tendencies and gives us the opportunity to glorify and delight in God.

Glorifiers Who Delight

People often challenge why God would want us to glorify him, seeing it as a form of divine megalomania. Nevertheless, this takes the question from the wrong angle. If you love someone, and delight in them, you will take pleasure in them, and tell, show or demonstrate to them how special they are to you. You will describe to them the good things they do – for you and for others. Of course, while this delight is young, it spends a lot of time focused on how good they make us feel. As this glorifying delight grows, though, we are able to speak of the glory of and delight in the other beyond our own pleasure.

So it is with God. We begin to delight in God and give him glory by thanking him for what he has done for us, and telling others about him. Eventually, we are able to take that glory deeper – beyond just our personal experience into really discovering for ourselves God’s amazing qualities and actions. From that point we are able to give him an even greater glory and take greater delight in him, because the focus is even more on him and less on ourselves.

This is why the purpose statement of the church is embedded in that last section of 1 Peter 2:9: “You are… holy… so that you may proclaim the mighty deeds of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.” Failure to proclaim his deeds may be based in a lack of delight in God, or a self-centered delight in God that wants to keep him just for ourselves.

Holiness as being Devoted Glorifiers who Delight in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit

So now we, who are called to be holy, are not in such a calling merely called to be dedicated to certain rules. We are called to be holy that we may be devoted glorifiers who delight in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

All that we do as a congregation must congeal around this purpose. Does our worship lead us to that devoted delight in God? Or is it more about comforting us with the familiar? Do we let other things steal focus from God: family, work, ourselves, sports teams, other things that are “part of our identity”? Do we have divided loyalties? Do we love God just because he does good things for us, or because he’s really worth it? Do we submit to God, or come to him on our own terms? Do we celebrate as God’s purposes take root in us, or do we fight him every step of the way?

We are called to be holy because God is holy (1 Peter 1:15 – 16). God maintains holiness in himself: that delighted, devoted glorifying relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our relationship with him is called to be modeled after that, and reflect that level of glory.

I encourage you to see where you can develop that focus, loyalty, love, submission and enthusiasm toward God that brings you to delight and a lifestyle that gives him glory. See where those things may be strengthened in your day-to-day life. See what we may do together to change our worship dynamic to have that level of life-giving potency. May God bless us with the infusion of his grace to become devoted, delighted people who glorify him forever. Amen.

Let’s take a look at Ephesians 2:11-22, which talks about being a Unified People.

[Ephesians 2:11-22]

The Starting Point: Hostility and Distance

Paul tells us that we all start off hostile to God and far away from him. Moreover, we start off hostile to one another – divided by anything we human beings choose to have divide us – whether ethnicity, language, material or monetary resources, family, generation, location, personality type, disagreement, or fear.

Human beings, apart from God, are widely self-isolating, while seeking the community of others. People desire to be known by others, and respected by others, but more often than not, we withdraw and cover over our real selves, remaining unknown not only to others but to ourselves. This is our post-Eden tension.

This kind of need for community while isolating ourselves serves to disrupt and diminish all human relationships and causes many of them not just to be diminished but also to be dysfunctional. Attempts at intimacy sound false notes when muted by self-isolation.

Anger is an isolating emotion, and justifiably so: it is designed to call us up short when something is wrong and cause us to change our behavior. But many of us carry anger from long ago that then gets expressed not against the object of our anger but against those with whom we are in relationship now.

Compounding our own anger is the culture of anger in which we all exist: we are born into a society of protest, of sarcasm and even cynicism. These are all forms of anger. Even apathy is often a mask for anger. It is a form of withdrawal. We are accustomed to people defending their rights, or standing up for a cause – most often driven by anger. We expect angry outbursts or the “silent treatment,” and this all compounds society-wide.

This leads us to fear. We all fear others’ reactions to us. That is something we learn very early in life. We may say that we don’t let others bother us, but we all know they still do, more or less, if they hit the right button. We fear the angry outburst or the withdrawal. We fear the manipulation and the game-playing people do. We fear that at any moment someone might just decide to walk out on us and not return. We don’t know how to handle these fears, and so we create defenses.

We all desire to be known, and to know others – this is built in to God’s design for humanity. God’s promise is that we will be fully known and know fully in his Kingdom, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12. And yet that is scary. Because we are mortal, we are vulnerable, and when we expose our vulnerability, we often get hurt. So we remain cocooned in our own pain and isolation. In marriage, in family, in friendship, in collegiality in the workplace, even (or maybe more so) in congregational life, we walk that line between our desire to know and be known and the fear of exposing our vulnerability.

This fear produces hostility and distance, expressed in self-protection actions, words and mindsets across the board. This fear is justifiable, given what we see of humanity as a whole.

As a congregation, we fear the unknown future. We fear one another’s reactions – fearing angry outbursts, inability to communicate and come to consensus, and, most of all, that one or another of us will just up and leave, causing harm to the rest of us and bringing our viability into further question.

This creates distance – or rather, more explicitly, prevents closeness: closeness of the type that allows us to work together for a common cause. Add to that a general healthy dose of apprehension as to what life sharing our building with others will look like, and fear of what actually inviting new people in to our life together will do to the current sense of intimacy we have, and we have all sorts of things going on that keep us fragmented, were we left to ourselves.

In order to work as a team together, in order to grow a congregation, something must break through this toxic slurry of fear, anger, hostility and distance. At all the levels – personal, congregational, societal, collaborative (with the Hope Center potentially) and with outreach itself – something must begin to write a new script for life in community.

The Unifying Blood of Christ

We are drawn in to the work of Jesus on the cross: his blood not only has rescued us from sin, evil and death personally, giving us the reality and prospect of eternal life. His blood has covered the distance between us and brought us together – really together. He has made peace, thus supplanting fear and anger. He has taken us from our isolation and our divisions based in family, age, culture, gender, and all of those other things we try to avoid discriminating on, and broken down the mutual fear, anger and hostility. He abolished the law that kept us apart, and now has made one new human being in place of the two – akin to Genesis 2, the two (or in our analogy, the many), have in the physical body of Jesus on the Cross, become one flesh.

Yes, one flesh. Like marriage. Analogously, not some weird polygamous cult. But yes, like marriage. That is how the commitment to one another in the Body of Christ is supposed to work.

This makes peace between us – true peace – where we don’t easily get offended and stump off to our corners to sulk. Where we value one another enough to really work issues through, staying in the conversation long enough to find resolution. Where we aren’t on the sidelines until something happens – instead, we engage actively in the life of the body that grows the congregation.

We are citizens with the City of God – so our loyalty isn’t merely local on what side of town we live, where we went to school, who our family is or whom they know. Our history doesn’t mean a whit compared to God’s future.

When he uses the analogy of the family, he reminds us that whether we are together or apart, we are blood related – related by the Blood of Christ. We can’t just shake off brother Leon or cousin John. We can’t disown them. They’re part of us.

When he uses the analogy of the Body – which he touches on further in to Ephesians – he reminds us that if our leg starts acting of its own will without the consent of the body – particularly the head – we have a problem. And if we see our right arm only on Easter and Christmas, is it really a part of our body? At best it is a prosthesis which proves that it’s been disconnected this whole time and only makes a show of connection.

Built upon the Foundation for Growth

Nevertheless, the blood of Jesus gives us the foundation for growth – founded upon the Apostles and Prophets with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone. When we address, through Jesus, our fear of one another, fear of what bringing new people in will do to us, fear of what sharing our building will mean, fear of what people might say if we invited them to join us; when we address the anger and fear that keeps us in withdrawal and apathy mode toward most of life or so consumed by the complexity of the rest of our relationships and responsibilities we don’t have time to do anything new, then we will grow.

We have been drawn into this married, embodied life together. We didn’t choose this for ourselves; we were drawn in by God wooing us to himself. To the extent we have made a choice, we didn’t know what we were getting in to. Now we’re in it. And we have no small opportunity to be a profound transforming force on this community for God if we engage the opportunities that are before us.

Where does the blood of Jesus need to make up distance in your life? Where does he need to address your fears and anger (often expressed through sarcasm, cynicism, apathy and helplessness)?

Amen.

Today, we look at the second message in our series about our Christian identity. Last week, we saw that we are a people made up of all people, meaning that we have a purpose to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all people. As we share the good news of Jesus with others, we discover that we often have trouble communicating with people who do not have the same background as we do. Our message often requires translation, so to speak.

In every age, there are questions of what is essential to Christianity and what is non-essential: what we all must agree upon to be considered fully Christian, and what matters are indifferent. Knowing what people must believe to be considered followers of Jesus and how they should behave, and upon what subjects there can be disagreement in belief and action is a core struggle of outreach.

Today, we look at part of our identity in Christ that helps us in that struggle – and even beyond that struggle, into living the Good News of Jesus lovingly in our community: We are a Biblical People.

2 Timothy 3:14-17 says:

[2 Timothy 3:14-17]

The Bible is a tool for ministry

The first emphasis many people take from this passage is that the Bible is a tool for ministry. “All Scripture is inspired by God and useful”. Teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness are all aspects of the ministry of the Church.

Teaching provides the content of what we believe.

Reproof involves the scriptures providing counterarguments against those who have ideas and philosophies that run contrary to God’s ways.

Correction involves “straightening out” and improving behavior and ideas.

Training in righteousness involves the whole process of forming a person’s life around God’s ways.

The Bible, then, is one of our main tools for ministry. We can have all sorts of good ideas, but in order to form a person’s life around God’s ways, we need the Bible. When we challenge mindsets in ourselves and the community, the Bible provides us with alternative ways of seeing the world, and thus the means to argue successfully against the mistaken and often evil mindsets, philosophies and attitudes in the world. When we encounter dysfunction in the ways we relate to others and others relate to still others in our community, the Bible gives us the means for straightening out or correcting behaviors that run contrary to the way God has designed the world.

The Bible is the measuring stick for what we believe, how we think, what we do

The second emphasis that we see from this passage is that the Bible is the “Measuring Stick” or “Canon” for all that we believe, all that we say and all that we do.

We live in a society that acts primarily on “what feels right.” We even make a philosophy of decision-making out of “what feels good to me.” We even see that expressed in how we do church, often. If we remain comfortable, we are happy. The moment something starts to challenge us, to make us uncomfortable, we bolt. We either disconnect emotionally, or through our actions, our giving or even our presence. Some of us are so disconnected to start with we don’t recognize when we do this.

Therefore, for most of us, the measurement of our commitment to Jesus Christ, and to being a part of his Body here together, is the measurement of our own comfort level.

The problem is that the “comfort” perspective does not bear the weight of true discipleship. It keeps us in avoidant, controlling, manipulative, nonresponsive, and/ or compliant behavior, and does not allow us to do anything that challenges us to do something that makes us uncomfortable for any sustained period of time. This is not just a weakness in “society at large,” but a weakness in us here gathered as well.

Churches in this country are founded upon the notion of “voluntary association,” in other words, that people voluntarily get together to form a congregation based upon common beliefs and principles. This works as far as it goes. But if we carry this notion of “voluntary association” into the actual beliefs and principles, we end up with a congregational system based upon our own individual senses of what we are committed to and willing to sacrifice for the good of the whole.

Being a Biblical people, on the other hand, means that the measuring stick for what we do as people individually and as a congregation is not measured by our comfort level or our emotional commitment to a particular group of people. Being a Biblical people means that the Bible is how we measure our behavior, beliefs, purpose and success as individuals and as a church.

This provides us with a whole new set of measurements for what is going on here. That means we are not just committed to being here as long as we can be happy and comfortable. We are not just here to keep an organization going. We are not just here because we have a building to take care of. We are not just here at a level that says, “If he goes into that kind of territory with me, I’m out of here.”

If the Bible is our measuring stick, then we know that “comfort” isn’t our primary measurement for anything. If the Bible is our measuring stick, then we know that passivity isn’t the life of a disciple. If the Bible is our measuring stick, then we know that just being a small group of people that doesn’t do much doesn’t fit with the Biblical model.

If the Bible is our measuring stick, then it is high time that we were shaken out of our comfort approach; high time we were shaken out of complacency; high time we take responsibility for our own behaviors and become responsible to one another. If the Bible is our measuring stick, then the commitment we make to God and one another is not one we can easily walk away from.

The Bible supports the teaching we have learned

If the Bible is our measuring stick, it does something else: it supports the teaching we have learned. Few of us come to faith in Jesus Christ just by reading the Bible. Most of us come because someone invites us to faith in Jesus Christ, and to participate with us in the life of his Body. And as Paul indicates in the passage we read, the Old Testament points us to Jesus. Moreover, since Jesus declares that the promises God made to Israel are open to all who believe in him, that also means that the challenges we see given to Israel are also challenges to us.

God challenges the handwringing, complaining, whining Israelites in the desert. He challenges the idolatry that sacrifices their children’s well-being for their own ends. He challenges their contempt for the poor, the foreigner and the “other.” He challenges their fear and their ignorance of his love. He challenges their lack of responsibility for their own actions and lack of responsibility to him.

Are the promises that he spoke to Israel fulfilled in Christ? Yes! Are the challenges to Israel still challenges to the church today? Yes! Israel leaned on foreign governments to achieve their ends – find safety. We also tend to wait on the government to solve our problems. Or we just sit around and blame everyone.

When we learn to take initiative in our own lives, and begin to make commitments to supporting one another beyond our current level, then we will see the growth we want in our own lives, in our congregation and community.

Implications

We are called to be a Biblical People. We certainly know that this will challenge our current mindsets, attitudes and behaviors to become Biblical.

But in order to become more Biblical, we need to know what the Bible says. I challenge you to take up and read the Bible daily – or listen to it. Listen and read for something new, not something the same as you’ve heard before. Read it cover to cover: know it, breathe it, take it in to yourself.

“For the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I shall write my law on their hearts: then they shall know me from the least to the greatest.”

If we make the Bible a personal practice for us, we will begin to be shaped by it. Once we begin to be shaped by it, we will be able to communicate it to others. When we communicate it to others, we will grow.

Reading it, hearing it, understanding it will have to be a personal priority for us. If you don’t have time in your day to read it, or listen to it read to you (there is a great app for your smartphone), then take your cue from generation upon generation of believers and choose to fast a meal or two. During the time in which you normally would eat, read the Bible. Read it like your life depends on it.

Because it does. No other measurement will tell you whether you are on track or not. We are Bible readers, we are Bible hearers, we are Bible speakers, we are Bible thinkers, we are Bible doers. That is our real identity.

What impact does the Bible have on you? How does it shape your attitudes? Does it do anything more than give you comfort? If it is only comfort, not challenge, read it again. See what the Spirit says through the words.

You may be wondering why I have been challenging us more specifically and more directly these days: we have a church re-launch coming up, and we still act more like our community does than as Jesus does. We have to address what God is calling us to now to be able to accomplish what God has called us to. Where are you being challenged today?

Amen.

Today, we take the “pause” button off and begin a new series of messages about identity and purpose. This series will actually occur in two parts, with a series on living as witnesses to the Good News sandwiched in the middle.

After the service, it sounds like the majority of you will be gathering to brainstorm to begin to make a plan toward an outreach strategy for the congregation, with specifics developed along the way. As a show of support to this effort, we begin today with a message about our purpose here together: We are a People for and of All People.

A common disconnect in most church congregations – including in this one, is a disconnection between purpose and action, between intent and activity. As we speak of the purpose of the church, our actions often display a different purpose than the one that comes from our mouths.

One of the ways churches often express this disconnection is through speaking of outreach, verbalizing it as at least a major part, if not the whole of their purpose, and then spending most of their time and energy maintaining the structures and activities that primarily serve those already in the church, rather than those outside. Only churches that have a regular practice and structure for self-examination of activity, attitude and content measured against purpose will remain on track, since the pull to “make things as we like them” with no view to the outside is so incredibly strong.

The problem is basically that we are all here, and so when the question comes up as to what people want to do, and how we want to do it, we ask ourselves. If these questions are not asked well, we end up just giving feedback for what we want and desire, which may or may not fit our purpose.

So today, let’s take a look at purpose and identity together, that we are to be a people of and for all people, through Ephesians 3:1-21.

Ephesians 3:1-21

The Mystery Revealed

Paul states that there is a great mystery out in the world. Because of that, most people are profoundly either confused or in the dark as to what is going on all around them in the world. People are walking around clueless as to things that are going on behind the scenes. One might say that they have been drawn in by a great conspiracy of silence and deceit.

Now, though, he says, the story that reveals the true plot, the real surprise, has been posted to facebook, so to speak, for everyone to see. This facebook posting, this Twitter tweet, is something that he has been called by God to share with all of those people who are outside of God’s covenant – outside of a regular, healthy two-way relationship with God.

The good news is this: everyone who is otherwise considered outside of relationship with God is eligible to share in the full wealth of God’s riches and his promises that he made to Israel long, long ago. No longer do people have to go around thinking that it’s an average of 76 years and out. No longer do people have to go around thinking that this life right in front of them is all there is. No longer do they have to look at God as one who plays favorites with special people. No longer does death have the final word. No longer do poverty and scarcity threaten life. No longer does anyone have to just make do: all people are invited to share in God’s full wealth, riches and lifestyle.

You see, the world’s had the wool pulled over its eyes. People have been told lies from the moment they were born. Whether they’ve been told nice lies, like if they believe in themselves they can achieve anything, or mean lies, that they’re worthless and don’t deserve to exist, everyone on this planet has been lied to. More than that, Paul says, there are unseen powers and principalities in this world who act malevolently against human life and the created order in general, and convince people that dysfunction is the only way to operate, that everyone’s going to get to come to God on their own terms, that all those human evils are just a part of who we are – and so much more.

Most of all, most people in this world have been convinced that they cannot receive from God through Jesus Christ. And, like in Paul’s day, it is the religious folks – those people like us, the insiders – who have been the worst offenders in this regard. We struggle deeply with the prospect of including others with us who are not like us. We get so busy enjoying what little we have that we think that it is all there is.

But the world is walking around confused, and in the dark, and we have been convinced we must either be silent or approach people in a way that makes everyone uncomfortable. And so the world goes on, either seeing the church as irrelevant or as part of the world’s problems, not as the proclaimers of the “aha” moment at the end of the suspense drama that God has come in Jesus Christ to get all of this sorted out – that there’s more to life, that it does get better.

The Boundless Riches

Paul says that all people now may discover God’s boundless riches, and that the exposé of the world’s duplicity in its own destruction has been published in blood by Jesus of Nazareth through his death on the Cross and his bodily Resurrection by the Father’s power. These boundless riches include every good and best thing that God has available for humankind. These riches include forgiveness for sins, freedom from death and hell. These riches include God’s own lifestyle – that of eternal life – and his own Spirit as a downpayment on what we will receive down the road. Not only that, but since God is King over all the earth, we will receive an inheritance as his children of a portion of his Kingdom. And it isn’t going to be like a class-action lawsuit a la Steve Martin in “The Jerk,” where he writes piddly little checks to all of the creditors by hand. The riches are to be “lavished” on us. They are “boundless.”

Every Family’s Name

God, who is the Father, has given his name to his people – and Paul tells us that all people take their name from him. This confirms what we said at the beginning: we are a people made up of all people, with a purpose that is for God’s proclamation to all people. Most people don’t realize that they are in God’s family and see him as an outsider, intruder or uninvolved entity. We, however, know otherwise.

We have a message that is for everyone – not just for people who look like us or live like us. We have a message for everyone – not just for those who like the same kind of church music we do or value the same things we do. We have a message for everyone because the world is walking around in the dark, not knowing what is really going on, and we have the rest of the story, the real story, and good news.

So as you gather to consider an outreach strategy, remember that this isn’t just for the purpose of self-preservation. It’s not just so that we can continue as a group: it’s because we have a real purpose and a real message that will make a difference in people’s lives. And we need to get that message out. We need to get the word out.

My prayer for you is like that of Paul: “I pray that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all God’s people, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

As we depart today, let us hear the following blessing:

“Now to him who by the power at work within US [yes, us] is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Firstfruits: http://www.matthewmthomas.com/2012/01/08/gods-economy-1-firstfruits/

Debt: http://www.matthewmthomas.com/2012/01/15/gods-economy-2-debt/

Generosity / Tithing: http://www.matthewmthomas.com/2012/01/22/gods-economy-3-generosity-and-tithing/

Provision: http://www.matthewmthomas.com/2012/01/29/gods-economy-4-provision/

Ownership: http://www.matthewmthomas.com/2012/02/05/gods-economy-5-ownership/

Work: http://www.matthewmthomas.com/2012/02/12/gods-economy-6-work/