Sermon Cloud

1. Welcome to the Vineyard Church! It's been a great week here, getting ready for Christmas. We've launched into a December teaching series called, "Open Before Christmas-4 Gifts that Show I Care". You can download these talks off our website. We hosted a Christmas Servefest here yesterday. The choir is practicing for the Candlelight Carol service next Sunday night. You're welcome to take pointsettias and invitations off the stage this morning and use them to invite co-workers and neighbors who don't yet have a personal faith in Jesus. Extra invitations are available at our welcome desk in the foyer.

Last Sunday we talked about sharing God's kindness with the members of our immediate family. A faith that doesn't go to work, first of all at home, just doesn't work. It may not even be real. We saw that the Bible teaches that Christmas is a revelation of God's kindness-his warm-hearted, friendly, generous decision to help in practical ways. That's kindness and, kindness (not sentimentality) is the spirit of Christmas.

When we show kindness to our family members or anyone else in this Christmas season, we are tapping into a wonderful spiritual principle. Jesus put it this way: "I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me-you did it to me". That's Matthew 25:40. Let's read it out loud together.

When we give deliver a kindness package to one of our family members or someone else in our world whom we tend to overlook, we are touching their heart with an unexpected revelation of God's heart.

AND . . . when we deliver a kindness package to one of our family members or anyone else in our world we normally overlook, we are touching God's heart with a revelation of our heart.

In other words, when we give away unexpected kindness packages to the people around us, we are showing kindness to Jesus. ANY ONE OF US CAN TOUCH GOD'S HEART THIS CHRISTMAS BY SHOWING KINDNESS-WARM-HEARTED, FRIENDLY, GENEROUS OFFERS TO HELP IN PRACTICAL WAYS. Have you ever wondered how to get God's attention, how to touch his heart? Show real kindness to someone you normally drive past, overlook, or ignore this holiday season.

TRANS: We're talking today about showing kindness to our neighbors-one step beyond our family members. These are the people who live in houses on our street or across the back yard, the people whose faces we've gotten used to seeing at health clubs and gas station cash registers. Our neighbors are our teachers and fellow students, our co-workers, the people who sit in the same section of the room as we do on Sunday mornings. Our neighbors are the members of our home group.

i. JESUS-BRAND SPIRITUALITY NUDGES US TOWARD OUR NEIGHBORS.

W. MI brand spirituality might call you to a life of cocooning-living your individual faith in the privacy of your own home with your personal Bible and your favorite worship CD's. Church brand spirituality might call you a life of clean living careful separation from unsavory outsiders. But, Jesus-brand spirituality nudges us to think beyond ourselves and the needs of our families, to our neighbors-to their lives and needs.

When I think of someone with a heart for his neighbors, I think of . . . MR ROGERS VIDEO CLIP

If Fred Rogers had a favorite section of Scripture, it might have been Jesus' words in Matthew 22:34-40. READ. This may come as a surprise to some Christians, but . . .

A. The second commandment isn't "your ministry begins and ends with your family".

Jesus-brand spirituality begins with our families-our parents and siblings, our husbands and wives, our sons and daughters. But it flows next into the lives of people we pass by on a daily basis. We may not know their names or their circumstances, but we recognize their faces.

Jesus was teaching that if you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength-your whole self, right down to your job, your money, your attitudes, your sex-life (yeah-loving God with your whole self), you can pretty much ignore the six hundred laws in the OT. The details will take care of themselves. And, secondly, if you decide to love your neighbor as you love yourself (and, yes, most of us love ourselves a lot , judging by how we spend our time and money), we can be sure that we're living a life that completely honors God and fulfills the burden of his instructions.
3. It's really not even appropriate to call these the first and second commandments. The are the greatest commandment-part a and part b. The heart of Christianity is loving God-heart, soul, mind, and strength. And, the heart of Christianity is loving our neighbors every bit as much as we love ourselves.

If you want a window on how much of our culture we've taken in, compare how much you know about people on television (who seem like our neighbors, but aren't really), and how much we know . . . or don't know . . . about our real neighbors. Here's a test.

Who were the stars of The Flintstones? Who were Fred and Wilma's neighbors? Barney and Wilma Rubble
Who is the star of Home Improvement? Who is Tim Taylor's neighbor? Wilson
Who is the star of Seinfeld? Jerry-that's right? Who is Jerry Seinfeld's neighbor? Kramer
Remember I Love Lucy? The stars were Ricky and Lucy. Who were their neighbors? Fred & Ethel Mertz
How about Homer Simpson's neighbor? Ned Flanders
Remember the Winslows on Family Matters? Who was their neighbor? Steve Urkle.

These people aren't real neighbors (they're imaginary characters) and still, we've invited them into our hearts and tucked them into warm little beds in our imaginations! What about our real neighbors? How much do you really know about the people who live across the street from you . . . or in the next apartment? How much do you know about what worries the person in the next cubicle? Have you ever made a place in your heart for some of your children's teachers? What about the mechanic or plumber who's helped you with your car or house for the past ten or twenty years?

TRANS: One of Jesus' most well-known stories is the parable of the Good Samaritan.

B. Do you know what made the Samaritan good?

First of all, we need to know that the Samaritan is the kind of person in life we would find most unattractive, the kind of person most difficult to understand and relate to, the person we'd be least likely to invite into our homes for dinner. We wouldn't be likely even to invite him to our Candlelight Carol Service. Pick a person in the picture that you'd honestly say, I don't think I'd feel safe with her or him. That's the Samaritan.

How do you know if your religion is self-serving? You use it to avoid your neighbors. READ Luke 10:25-37.

What made the Samaritan good was the size of his neighborhood. Some of us live in very homogenous little neighborhoods. The people we've opened our lives to are all white, suburban, upper class professionals; single like us, or married with two incomes; evangelical Christians who vote Republican. Or pick some other perameters. The point is that we generally only open our hearts to people like us-people we feel safe with, people who share our same values and lifestyle. Birds of a feather flock together.

The Samaritan arranged his life and expanded his neighborhood to include a person of a different race and religion, a person who was needy and dependent-who cost him personal time and money. He was exceptionally kind to a man who might never even thank him. To make a comparison . . . If we were the Samaritan in this parable, we'd be making room in our lives for Hindu immigrants from India who are working at gas stations, convenience stores, and small, independent hotels . . . or Roman Catholic Hispanic immigrants-illegal immigrants . . . or middle eastern Muslims whose holy book we hold in deep suspicion.

II. How big is your neighborhood?

Every year Christmas comes around reminding me that I need to enlarge my neighborhood. Be honest. Think about your holiday plans. Pretty full, right? If, on Christmas eve, one of your friends or children ask you to take in an overnight guest, would you be quick to open your heart and your home? You'd want to know who it is, right? Well, it's a couple of kids. Can you give them one of your bed rooms? Christmas Eve? We've got relatives coming over! We've got to be at my parent's house at 7:00 pm. And the next day is filled with all kinds of responsibilities and family gatherings. Maybe if we'd planned ahead . . . we don't really even have a nice guest room. Who did you say they are? They only need one small bedroom. You would even have to clean the bed linens; they're pretty poor. Are they college students? No, I think he's had work with a cleaning service and some construction jobs. . . she's pregnant-all of nine months. How long have they been married? A couple months, maybe. Are they Christians? No, they're Jewish. You're asking me to sacrifice my holiday plans for some strangers of questionable morality who don't even do Christmas!?!

A. Ask God to soften your heart.

Ps 139:23-24, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Se if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting".

If you struggle with a hard heart . . . if, honestly, you are an Ebenezer Scrooge, you may need to invite Jesus into your heart this Christmas. If Jesus was known for anything while he was on earth, it was for his unusual compassion for inconvenient strangers. Yes, Jesus was on a heavenly mission. He had a clear focus and courageous determination. But, he had a soft heart. His presence in your life will soften your heart.

You can't love strangers by trying harder. The answer is deciding to invite Jesus into your heart to change you from the inside out. Our prayer team will be up at the front after this service. These men and women will be eager to explain to you how you can invite Jesus into your life and begin changing from the inside out.

B. Take an interest in others' lives.

You can actually ask perfect strangers personal questions while you stand in check-out lines. "What are you enjoying most about this holiday season?" You can actually take some Christmas cookies to a neighbor's house this year and ask them, "What was the worst and best of 2007?"

In the next couple weeks we will spend as much money as we can afford to buy things of relatively significant value to us for the people we love-mostly our family members. All the while we will stand in lines with fellow shoppers and cashiers, who are our neighbors-at least for 10-20 minutes. The stuff in our shopping carts will be worthless within a matter of months or years. These neighbors will live for eternity.

See how much you can find out about them while you're standing in line. Ask God for a Naturally Supernatural opportunity to pray for them or at least to give them an invitation to the Candlelight Carol Service. ILLUS: My visit to the Secretary of State.

Home groups are a great place to practice. People can go to home groups for years and never invite each other over for dinner to hear their stories, share their hobbies, and celebrate their achievements. If you're not good at showing genuine interest in perfect strangers, start with the people in your home group who you really don't know all that well.

Watch and Listen for Personal Needs.

Everyone has personal needs-big needs. Everyone has deep hurts and longings. Rich people carry loads of sadness and often, boredom. Loud people who party a lot carry significant burdens, regrets, and fears. Don't be misled by first impressions; no one around you has found what they're looking for. Everyone has good and bad days. Everyone is looking for purpose and meaning and connection and freedom.

2. If you have a compassionate heart and you persistently show your neighbors that you're interested in their lives (not just their eternal souls), they'll tell you about their needs. Marriage and kids, money and loneliness will come up. It will. And, every need that someone shares with you is an opportunity to ask if you can take their hand and pray for them in a natural manner, with your eyes open.

Stop to lend a hand-do something real.

The priest and the Levite who walked past the wounded traveler in Jesus' parable might have been very sensitive guys. Their eyes might have teared up. They may have whispered prayers as they walked by. They might have thanked God for protecting them. And, maybe, further down the road they might have told one of the town authorities about the wounded traveler, sincerely hoping that someone would help the guy along the road before it was too late.

If we're not careful, Sunday morning worship services, men's and women's Bible studies, youth groups and home groups can become like religious spas, where Christians get together to massage each others faith, work off their guilt, tone up their personal walk with God, talk Bible, pray for themselves, sweat out their sin, and build their network of business clients and friends.

3. We want to be a church of men and women who get real and who stop what we're doing to make a real difference in the real needs of our neighbors. That's why we hosted yesterday's Servefest for Single Moms. That's why we're collecting our money for our year-end Seeds of Hope offering in a couple weeks. We'll talk more about Seeds of Hope next Sunday. Let's stand. Want to invite Jesus into your heart? Come forward as others leave. Our prayer team members will be here to talk and pray with you.

Bottom line? Fred Rogers has gone to heaven-really. He was a genuine Christian. It's not enough to miss him. Now it's a new generation's turn to say, "Won't you be my neighbor?" ILLUS: Video Clip