Sermon Cloud

This is part two in a message on reaching out-building friendships with men and women who aren't yet Christians, loving them in practical ways and telling them about God's grace and Jesus' death and resurrection, and the comfort and guidance and power the Holy Spirit provides. Last week I gave a report on my trip to Africa where I joined members of South African Vineyard churches in reaching out to their neighbors, their country, and their continent. This morning I want to talk about what we're doing here and now to reach out to our neighbors, community, and city. Christianity is a missionary faith-it's more of a movement/mission than an organization/institution. It's less about what we're doing in here together this morning, and more about what happens outside these walls when we split up.

As a church, we've re-written our mission statement: Living Jesus' Life Together. If we're sitting still this morning, getting centered, soaking up some encouragement, celebrating God's love . . . praying for one another, we're just taking a short break in the mission. This service isn't the mission. Our faith is a 24/7 faith, living Jesus life together . . . occasionally in church services or even in places like Indonesia, Africa, and Costa Rica . . . but most often in our neighborhoods and places we work and shop . . . right here in Grand Rapids. Ours is a missionary faith, and Grand Rapids is our mission field. The Vineyard has been long a renewal movement (hungry for the supernatural), but focused on revival-seeing the lost saved. Even renewal is just a stop along the way to the destination: revival.

Some of you have been reading a popular little book called The Shack. It's a delightful and surprisingly deep piece of fiction in which a guy named Mack is on amazing journey, trying to figure out God and life and how to live under the weight of overwhelming sadness. Along the way, Mack meets Jesus . . . really. And they have some interesting adventures and conversations. In one of the conversations, Jesus shocks Mack by telling Mack that he, Jesus, isn't a Christian. Jesus isn't a Christian, Mack wonders? What is he . . . a Buddhist, a Mormon, Moslem? By this point in the story, Mack has been shocked quite a few times by things Jesus has said and done, so he just waits for Jesus to explain. Jesus tells Mack that he's not the CEO of some religious organization, dutifully building and maintaining institutional policies and programs. He is God in the flesh, on a mission to reach out, touch, and love, and transform people like Mack who are never going to make it on their own. Jesus isn't a Christian-not in the sense that many people in West Michigan are Christians-dutifully going to church, putting on their best face, saying their prayers, reciting their creeds, and trying their best to be good. Jesus is God on a mission to share good news with the poor, to heal the sick, to set prisoners free, to forgive those filled with shame, and announce the springtime of God's grace.

TRANS: it might be helpful to think of this talk as a spring tune up (a tune up like you give your lawn mower this time of year). This isn't a talk on how to become a better Christian or a better church member. This talk is about trusting and following Jesus in his mission of reaching out in love to people who are on the outside . . . of your world.

I. WE'RE LIVING JESUS' LIFE TOGETHER!

Let's open our Bibles to one of Jesus' favorite sermons. Matthew tells us about a time he gave this talk, sitting on a hilltop overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Luke tells us about another time Jesus gave this same talk (with some variations, of course) to a large crowd gathered on plain. Teachers and preachers all have favorite talks that express some of their deepest longings and convictions. The teaching we call the Sermon on the Mount was most likely a talk Jesus gave quite often because it really did express the depths of his heart and his passion for people on the outside. Let's start by turning to Matthew 7: 28-29. Circle the words "amazed" and "authority". This teaching captured their hearts, and it's still capturing hearts today. Part of it power is the amazing invitation Jesus begins with.

A. His teaching has captured our hearts.

1. An amazing invitation (5:1-11).

Blessed are those who've tried and tried and tried, but can't quit and have decided that they just aren't going to make it on their own. If you're ready to decide that you don't have what it takes, there's power for you. Blessed are those who have stopped pretending, acting the part, putting on masks, denying reality. Your time of crying in secret places and private times is coming to an end. Blessed are those who have decided not to take their anger out on others, force their way through life, and take from others what they want. It that's you, you're going to receive everything you need. Blessed are those who really, really want to do the right thing, who want to live without compromise and cover-up, who want to make a valuable difference in other's lives. You're going to get what you want. Blessed are those who are doing what they can to make the world a better place, doing what they can for those less fortunate, doing what they can to forgive. I'm going to give you more of what you're giving away-mercy. Blessed are those who honestly give me their hearts-no holding back, no game playing, no covering up any more. I can heal your heart and transform your heart and make it pure as the driven snow.

When Jesus describes his mission in Luke 4:18-19, Jesus says that he has come to declare the year of the Lord's favor or grace. When Jesus shouts these promises of blessing to people on the outside of the circle, he is declaring a new season, a spring-time of God's grace.

Whoever you are . . . wherever you've been . . . whatever you've done . . . however you smell . . . whatever they're saying about you . . . how ever you're feeling right now . . . you're welcome to come in from the cold . . . you're welcome at the banquet table of God's grace. You just have to admit that you're lost and alone, hungry and thirsty, and need help in a big way. All the blessings you thought were available only to the religious people, the conservative people, the successful people, the beautiful people . . . are here for you. You just have to decide to trust me and come with me.

d. There is no invitation like this in any other faith or religion. Come as you are. Just be honest. Don't hide the tears or the needle marks. Don't cover up the truth-even your breath. Admit how hard or bad or lonely it is. Give me your heart-all of it-just as it is . . . even the doubt and the anger. Trust me and come with me, and I will give you all the blessings that you think are reserved only for Nobel Peace Prize winners, saints, and angels. This invitation is still good today.

TRANS: I am an organizer. I like making lists and getting things in the right order-developing a logical flow. A lot of speech writing is about putting your thoughts in logical order. If I had been Jesus' speech writer, I would have put the next part at the end of the sermon.

2. An Unexpected assignment (5:13-16).

a. As soon as you make the decision to trust me and come with me, you become part of the mission to reach out to others. We're going to work on your life, you beliefs, your ethics, your attitudes, your character, your spiritual disciplines, your worries and fears, and your relationship along the way. We're going to work on your weaknesses as we reach out to others.

b. Churches, like couples and families, go through painful conflicts. One of the very first conflicts I remember here at Vineyard North was over the logic of these verses. Some very well-meaning and highly spiritual men and women were convinced that broken, weak, immature Christians need a lengthy time of healing, instruction, deliverance, repentance, restoration, training, and maturing before they should be asked to join the mission. These counselors were telling me: we need to close the doors on home groups to make them safe. We need to take a break from outreach. We need to circle the wagons and provide more help for the hurting people who are here before we go out to try to bring in others. How can you argue with that?

c. But, John Wimber was drumming out a different beat. John was teaching: "We get stronger as we go out; we're healed as we help others . . . we mature as we serve . . . we enter into greater health and freedom as we minister to those still sick and oppressed . . . whatever our own needs and weaknesses and troubles might be, we've been rescued and blessed, so we have to join in the work of rescuing others. JOHN WIMBER HAD IT RIGHT . . . HE HAD JESUS' HEART FOR THOSE ON THE OUTSIDE. If you've decided to trust and follow Jesus, you're part of the mission! You don't have to sign up for a mission; the One you've decided to trust and follow is a missionary!

TRANS: The rest of the sermon is guidance for spiritual grow along the way. As we pour our lives into our neighbors and co-workers and communities (like salt)-giving people on the outside a taste of God's goodness and love . . . as we do what we can to brighten our world, communicating truth and hope and our commitment to justice and generosity . . . we're going to be working on our attitudes and values and relationships. Jesus is happy to take us and begin using us, just as we are. But, he's not going to leave us the way he found us. Immediately after telling us about Jesus' sermon, Matthew adds some stories to reveal how much Jesus himself practiced what he preached.

B. (His teaching captures our hearts) His example is our inspiration.

1. Jesus never met an outsider (8:1-12).

(vv. 1-3) Lepers were outcasts. We don't have lepers in our communities any more, but we still have people we treat like outcasts-addicts and atheists, ex-cons and people who picked up their diseases from needles and unprotected sex, people who go out just to drink and dance, men and women whose poverty is due to their own bad decisions, people of a different color.

(vv. 5-10) Centurions represented people of a different race (non-Jewish), a different political persuasion (Roman imperialists), and a different religion (Caesar is god). A good comparison might be a Muslim neighbor or co-worker.

Are you inviting anyone into your home who isn't already a church member? Do you have any friends who would make your pastor nervous? Are you reaching out to anyone your parents would say, "Be careful now?" Is your whole ministry taking place inside the church?

2. He called insiders to follow him outside (8:18-22).

A teacher of the law (or the Bible) is the ultimate insider-a pastor-type person. Don't think of him as a bad guy. He's a guy who thinks Jesus is all about getting things right on the inside of the church . . . teaching and re-teaching . . . encouraging and exhorting . . . warning and correcting . . . comforting and forgiving people on the inside.

Jesus gives him (and others like him) an unexpectedly stiff challenge. You want to follow me? Following isn't a metaphor; it's a rescue mission. Just know that comfort and convenience, security and safety, and possessions and personal preferences don't mean much at all to me. I'm going to be sacrificing everything-even my life-for the poor in spirit, those mourning over their sin and brokenness, the meek, the hungry and thirsty. Follow me? Good. Let the dead bury the dead.

TRANS: You could have gone to another church this morning, but you came to Vineyard North. We've got a lot of weaknesses. Honestly, we don't do this stuff all that well. True confession: my sermons are better than my leadership. But, we're aspiring-praying and planning and investing-in a clear mission: LIVING JESUS' LIFE TOGETHER. We're not just signing up Christians to get on the church membership roll. A couple times a year on a Sunday like this, we remind ourselves that Christianity isn't about church . . . that church isn't even about church . . . it's all about Jesus . . . about living his life together.

II. IT'S ONLY RIGHT . . . LEADERS GO FIRST.

I can tell you honestly, that all of your pastors have put personal outreach on the front burner of our lives and have committed to keeping it there for the next 12 months-through next Easter. Real missionaries, live the mission everywhere they go, not just overseas. You celebrated my Africa report last Sunday and enjoyed the slide show, but I'm embarrassed by the big gap between my international ministry and my local lifestyle.

It's not that I never do anything. Recently, Ron Spoelstra invited our home group to help him refurbish a house in Coopersville for a single mom who isn't yet a Christian. I jumped at the chance just because it was a Jesus sort of thing to do, and Ron had invited me to get in on it. Opportunities pass, so I was there.

But, I am disappointed in how little I know my own neighbors-the people who actually live next door to me. I could tell you why it's not really my fault. But, I know my reasons are excuses dressed up in self-serving explanations. I've been inspired by Mike and Matt. They've been talking about this . . . how the greatest commandment includes loving our neighbors-our real, live-across-the-street neighbors. How can you love a neighbor if you've never taken time to offer him his favorite beverage and asked him about his dreams, frustrations, career, marriage, or hobbies? Mike and Matt live next to each other. They feel so convicted about this that they are going to host a neighborhood B-B-Q in their back yard every Friday night for the next four months.

Mother's Day; Ruth series. Would you invite someone to come with you? Your mother is fine. But any mother will do. You may have heard that divorce is epidemic in our culture. Broken families have become normal families. Mothers are often poor in spirit . . . they know they don't measure up, don't have what it takes, are running on empty. Mothers spend a lot of time mourning over lost dreams, painful tears in relationship, and children who seem committed to self destruction. Mothers need to meet the real Jesus and hear the good news.

Salt Packets. I want to ask you to make a decision . . . to join Jesus in the mission . . . to make an effort to invite a mother next Sunday . . . to join your pastors in a springtime of outreach. I want you to do something sacramental. I often describe baptism and the Lord's Supper as sacraments. They are more than memorials, they are meetings. They are sacred moments in which God notices, visits us, and blesses our decisions with his presence, peace, and power. Our hosts are going to come forward and pass a bowl down your row, just like they collected the offering earlier in the service. I'd like to invite you to make the decision to join us in reaching out to people in your circle of influence who really don't know the truth about Jesus or the Gospel. Just decide. "I'm in or . . . Nah!" Be honest. The truth is always your friend. But, if you're deciding, "Yes, count me in" I'd like you to signify that by tearing a salt packet off your Sunday program, tearing it open, and pouring the salt into the bowl as it passes by you. It's a sacramental picture of what we're going to do together this year, pouring ourselves into Jesus' mission. Holy Spirit . . . Come.

Small Group Discussion Questions

Tell us how you became a Christian. Was it instantaneous and dramatic, or a slow process-more like a seed taking root and growing? Did God use one person or a series of people to lead you to Jesus? What stirs you most as you revisit this memory?

Becoming a Christian is not unlike being saved from drowning-drowning in hopelessness, guilt, confusion, loneliness, bitterness, purposelessness, whatever. Can you picture yourself being pulled out of a dark, cold lake into a lifeboat? After being saved, ourselves, the compassionate thing to do would be to lend a hand-to do whatever we could to join the effort to reach out to those still struggling in the water to pull them to safety. Did your own conversion experience lead you to think you were joining Jesus' mission to help rescue others? Why or why not?

Did anything Ray communicated from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount surprise you? What parts of Ray's talk have stayed with you this week?

When you hear pastors talk about Jesus' mission, outreach, witnessing, sharing the gospel, living like a missionary in Michigan, reaching out to your neighbors, investing in friendships with outsiders, taking an international missions trip, or inviting guests to special Sunday services, what is your most common, gut-level response? Let's all be honest with each other . . . like the truth is our friend.

Have you ever had a meaningful part in leading someone to faith-deciding to trust and follow Jesus? What was that like? How did that experience affect your own faith journey?

Is there anyone in your circle of influence who's not yet a Christian, but whom you're specifically planning to reach out to . . . to invite to our special Sunday events for Mother's Day or Father's Day . . . to meet a practical need . . . to build a friendship? Can we start to pray together for these men and women?