Join Pastors Brent Clark and Ryan Lenerz as they take a look at how the church cannot be all Jesus desires it to be by only gathering together. To really be the church, the church must scatter.

Pastors Brent and Ryan take a look at what brought the 1st century Jesus followers together and how that can still be a motivation for us to gather as the people of God today.

Pastors Brent and Ryan discuss what Jesus meant in the Sermon on the Mount when he say “Do not worry…but seek first the kingdom of God.”

Priests Through Scripture

1. God’s Original Plan: Adam & Eve – No Priest Needed. They had direct access to God. Unfortunately, sin ruined this plan and separated humanity from God.
2. God’s Family Plan: The Israelites – A Kingdom of Priests. In Exodus 19:6 God offered for the Israelites to be a Kingdom of Priests. But the people were afraid of God and asked Moses to be the mediator between God and all of them – and they sent him up Mount Sinai alone.
3. God’s Revised Plan: Priests – Selected from the Tribe of Levi. God established a priesthood to stand between the people and God. Those from the family of Aaron served as the high priests and others served as priests offering sacrifices to God for the people.
4. Jesus Changes Everything: Jesus is the Ultimate High Priest. The book of Hebrews shows us how Jesus is the perfect High Priest, a mediator between us and God, is eternal, and yet has been tempted and suffered just like us.
5. Followers of Jesus: A Royal Priesthood. Like God originally intended for the Israelites, we all have direct access to God through Jesus.

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it good news that Jesus is the only mediator between you and God?
2. In what ways have you unconsciously been viewing Ashworth Church leaders like an Old Covenant Priest?
3. How might you act differently knowing you are a priest, with direct access to God who can mediate between God and those who are not yet following Jesus?

Most people are familiar with the Old and New Testaments in the Bible, but do you understand everything that changed from one to the other?  If you see both haves as the equal in how they are to be applied in your life, you may run into a problem plaguing many Christians today: they live in a New Testament world, as Old Testament Christians. That’s what this series is going to teach us to correct.  THIS NOT THAT will show you how sacrifice, the temple, and priests all changed to THIS from THAT.  

And I know, some of you may be thinking, BORING… but I promise, understanding these changes actually brings the old testament to life as you see how it foreshadowed what Jesus came to do.

Today we are going to look at the big picture of this difference between the testaments: the change in covenant. A word we don’t often use, covenant is like a promise between two sides, like a treaty.  

Covenants in the Old Testament

Now when we look at the Bible, we see that God began to make covenants, promises, first with Adam, Noah, and Abraham.  But the bulk of the Old Testament focuses on the covenant God made with Moses and the Israelites after he led them out of Egypt.

³ Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. 

Exodus 19:3-6

And now the next 4 chapters include the 10 commandments and all the laws the Israelites were to keep, including rules on how to handle servants, what to do when a person injures another person or damages private property.  It included laws for how to treat one another and how to take care of the poor by showing mercy. It also taught them how to connect with God – by following Sabbath, remembering certain festivals, and offering sacrifices. And at the end of this section which is later referred to as the Book of the Covenant,  we read this:

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” 

⁸ Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 

Exodus 24:7-8

As you continue reading the story of the Israelites, within days of receiving this law, they make an idol and worship it.  And then they fail to trust God will lead them into the Promised land when they hear about how tall the people in the land are.  So God leads them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, until all the adults who sinned against God after receiving the covenant have died off.  And then in the book of Deuteronomy, God gives the law a 2nd time, thats what the word Deuteronomy means – 2nd law.  And at the end of receiving the covenant AGAIN, Moses tells the people:

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 

Deuteronomy 30:15-18

You see, the Old Testament tied blessings and curses to your adherence to the law.  If… Then.  And we see that played out all through the remaining pages of the Old Testament. When they honor God with their actions, THEN they succeed, they have peace, they gain prosperity.  But when a king leads them astray and into sin, THEN they are defeated, they are looted, they face death and destruction.

One of the common misconceptions of what it means to follow God then, is that God is continuing his blessings and curses in the same way toward us today. We know we are stuck in an old testament mindset when we believe that the bad things happening to us and around us must be because of our sin or lack of faith, and conversely, that if life is going well, that it must be because God is pleased with us.  We tie our fortune or misfortune to whether we are being GOOD Christians or not.

Covenant in the New Testament

But when you turn the pages of the Bible to the New Testament, you find that this way of how God works with his people is dramatically changed. The reason we divide the Bible into the two testaments isn’t because Jesus shows up as a baby. Its because the covenant of how God operates with his people is changed – and that change comes through the DEATH of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus himself tells us plainly that his body, sacrificed on the cross, is what establishes a new covenant.  We often say these words here at Ashworth when we observe communion because it was at that last meal with his disciples that we read:

²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Luke 22:20

Do you remember the words of that first covenant with Moses?  When Moses sprinkled blood on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you.” (Ex 24:8) Do you see the similarity? I’m sure this connection was not lost on Jesus’ disciples.  He was very clearly saying that with the shedding of his blood he was initiating a new covenant. 

The author of Hebrews goes into great detail explaining all that changed as the result of Jesus death and his establishment of the new covenant.  In fact, much of what we discuss the next 3 weeks will come out of the book of Hebrews.  As to this idea of covenant, this is what he writes:

…the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

Hebrews 8:6

¹⁵ For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. 

Hebrews 9:15

So we see that Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant, that this treaty with God is now dependant on Jesus and his death, his sacrifice for our sins.  And the promise is not prosperity on earth but eternal life with God in a New Heaven and New Earth. But the question then becomes, what is our responsibility in this new covenant.  If the first was based on obedience to the law, what is this second covenant based on?

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 1:17

In the above verse, John couldn’t be much more direct.  Moses gave us the law, but Jesus gives us grace.  Grace is unmerited favor we have not earned and do not deserve.  It is best described in the famous verse:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

So here’s the BIG IDEA: The old covenant was based on what we did, the new covenant is based on what God did for us. 

So when you feel an overwhelming feeling of guilt for your sin or feel shame or not good enough for God, you are living with an Old Covenant mentality.  You need to accept THIS forgiveness, not THAT shame.  You need to receive THIS freedom, not THAT law. And if your life is going well, you need to recognize it comes from THIS God of Grace and NOT THAT good job you’ve done following the rules.

What to Do with Old Covenant Laws?

But some might say, “Ryan, if we are saved entirely of grace, then is the whole old testament and all of it’s laws worthless?”  This is a tricky question lots of people understand differently.

• ADD-ON: Some people would say that we still have to follow the old testament completely – they observe Sabbath on Saturdays, celebrate the day of Atonement, and follow all the OT regulations.
• REPLACEMENT: On the other end of the spectrum – some Christians like to say they follow Jesus, but they let all moral regulation go and say none of it matters. 
• IN BETWEEN: And between these 2 ends are many other ways at looking at how the law and grace are connected today. (10 Commandments- YES. Everything else – NO)

What we do know is what the apostle Paul says in Romans 6:1-2: Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Meanwhile, when we look at the teaching of Jesus, he tells us that he has not abolished the law at all: 

Matt 5:17 – Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Looking at these verses, it can leave you feeling like not much has changed – that even in this NEW COVENANT we are still required to follow the law.  But we need clarity on this.  When Jesus says he fulfills the law, he is saying, all that the law says, is pointing toward him.  Just like the Prophets pointed to Jesus, even the law God gave to Moses is just a shadow pointing people to Jesus.  And so when Jesus arrives, he is the fulfillment of the law – he is the one we should be following and not the written laws!  

The Law as a Fence

I read a good analogy for the difference between the old and new covenants:

If you’re a dog owner, you want a dog that stays near you when you go outside.  You like to have your dog in sight so you know he’s safe, so you know he hasn’t left you.  And some dogs are great at staying by you but others tend to be quick to run off.  So as dog owners, we put fences around our yards.  With the fence, it keeps the dog within our sight.  It allows us to protect them and keeps them near.  But even the best fences can’t keep a determined dog out.  I had one dog break the bottom of fence boards to chase rabbits. I had another dog for only 3 weeks who was so big he could jump up and climb over my 6’ cedar fence.  I had the fence around my yard because I wanted to keep the dogs near me, I wanted to protect and provide for them, but if they really wanted to run, I couldn’t stop them.

Meanwhile, I had a lab who never left my sight.  I loved watching her run in the yard.  If we went to a state park I could let her off leash because she would walk right behind me.  She would play in the tall grass and chase birds for 10 feet, but she always stayed near. 

When we think of the law in the Old Testament, it was like a fence God tried to put around the Israelites to keep them near to him.  It allowed him to protect them.  But if they wanted to transgress the fence, to break the rules, to leave his presence and protection, the fence couldn’t stop them. The law was a boundary attempting to keep them near God.

The new covenant, however, is totally different.  In the new covenant, Jesus removes the fence and replaces it with himself.  Rather than us being fenced into a space we are always looking for ways to break out, we should be looking to stay near Jesus.  To receive the blessing of being in his presence, following him, receiving protection and care directly from his hands.

Conclusion

Here’s the bottom line: The reason the new covenant is called GOOD NEWS is because it has better promises – eternal life, based on the work of our faithful God rather than our weak will-power.  Rather than an obligation to stay within boundaries of right living, we are wooed by the grace of God to come follow him, to walk in step with the Spirit he has given us.  Rather than consequences for every mistake we make, there is forgiveness and mercy. 

THIS life with Jesus is so much better than THAT life of rules.  So stop focusing on the rules and instead focus all your heart and attention on Jesus.  If you do that, you’ll never have to fear stepping outside the boundaries of God’s endless love.

Discussion Questions

1. In what ways do you find yourself holding on to an old covenant mindset? Too focused on rules? Feeling superior because of your own goodness? Thinking there must be sin behind your trials?
2. Why is it good news that God no longer boxes us in with a fence or regulations but instead draws us to the center through the work of Jesus?
3. In preparation for the rest of the messages in this series, read Hebrews 9-11 and ask God to show you why this is Good News for you!

Discussion Questions

1. What skills and passions has God put inside of you that uniquely enable you to fulfill your calling?
2. What is that calling? If you had to write down what God called you to do, what would you say?
3. In what ways do your calling and your job overlap?

Discussion Questions

1. Sunday we summarized that hospitality is “making room for others”. What is the biggest obstacle in making room for others in your life? What can you do to remove that obstacle?
2. Take a moment to think about a time somebody showed extraordinary hospitality to you. How did it make you feel? How did you feel about that person?
3. Practicing hospitality in a COVID world is tricky. What is one action you might feel safe to take in the coming month to show hospitality to someone who would never expect it?

Discussion Questions

1. What keeps you from being more willing to talk about Jesus with others? Limited contact with non-christians, fear of what they will think, fear of what to say, something else?
2. Why are you a Christian? What value is there for YOU in following Jesus?
3. Who are you praying for to come to meet Jesus? Ask God to give you opportunity to speak into their life?

Message Manuscript Below

Old School Ghosting

Working with teenagers, it’s always interesting to me how slang terms come and go. One terms that is being used a lot right not is called Ghosting. Ghosting is when you cut off communication with someone your’re no longer interested in.

And while the word is new, the concept is as old as time.  We’ve all had people cut off contact from us – sometimes disappearing altogether, but most times just finding ways to make excuses every time we try to meet up with them.  Maybe you’ve had friends that stop being available.  Or maybe held a party or get-together only to have people decline at the last minute – much like I often experience when scheduling a youth event.

Ever since the time of Jesus people have been backing out of their commitments if something better comes along.  In fact, Jesus tells a story about that exact situation to teach the religious leaders something about the Kingdom of Heaven.  Before we dive in, I have to tell you that Luke 14 begins with Jesus attending a party of a leader of the Pharisees, so he’s surrounded by the religious type.  Now lets take a look at Luke 14.

Parable of the Great Banquet

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 

¹⁶ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 

¹⁸ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 

²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 

²¹ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 

²² “ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 

²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ”

Luke 14:15-24 (NIV)

So the story starts off with a proud religious leader making an off-handed comment about how good it will be for those (like them) when they get to eat at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus uses this as an opportunity to make a point.  He tells this parable about several characters:

Cast of Characters

Master – Jesus

Now the master has already sent invites for the party and people have RSVP’d.  But its at the last minute, when everything is all ready that people begin to make their excuses.  

Original Guests – Jews

These guests who find reasons not to come represent the Jews – the family God chose to bless the whole world with beginning with Abraham.  These are the people God has redeemed over and over after they foolishly wander away from him.  And as the Kingdom of God is approaching with the arrival of Jesus, they are finding all sorts of reasons to not join the party God is inaugurating. But lets be honest, they aren’t unique.  People from the time of Adam and Eve all the way through to today have been making excuses to walk away from God.  It’s like we really don’t know how good he really is or we are tempted to believe there is something better for us away from God.  So let’s not get to judgmental here – we all do it in our own lives.  Praise God for his grace and forgiveness!

Anyway, because the guests don’t all come, the master tells the servants to go out and bring in more people.  You see a party isn’t a party without people to share in it.  I know, I had an incredible birthday surprise form my 40th this year. A group of amazing youth leaders snuck into my office and filled it with black balloons.  And it was incredible.  Except for Brent was on vacation and Amy doesn’t come in on Thursdays.  So I had a birthday celebration full of decorations but nobody to share it with.  If ANYBODY had been in the building, I would have dragged them to my office to see it.  Because without sharing the moment, a celebration feels empty. 

Streets and Alleys – Outcast Jews

The first group of people he tells his servants to go invite are those in the streets and alleys. He describes these people as the poor, crippled, blind, and the lame.  These would have been Jews in the town, but not the Jews anybody ever paid attention to.  Certainly not the type of people who would be invited to a rich masters banquet.  This begins to show the great reversal Jesus teaches us about the Kingdom of God – the self-righteous religious leaders, the obvious choice by God, are going to miss his invitation and they will instead be replaced by the lowly outcasts.  The first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Roads and Country Lanes – Gentiles

But even after inviting all these people, there is still room in the house so the master sends the servants further out – into the roads and country lanes.  Outside the city, to the non-residents.  In this way Jesus is pointing to the fact that while many Pharisees will miss him, even the hated Gentiles will be found and brought in.   He is much less concerned with the status of the guests so much as with the fact that he wants his house full!  He wants all to come and be a part of the great celebration!

Essentially, the point of this parable is to show how far Jesus is extending the invitation to join his Kingdom. While we might call this parable the Parable of the Great Banquet, it could just as easily be called the Parable of the Unexpected Guests. At the end of Jesus sharing this parable, the religious leaders probably weren’t thinking about how great the feast in the kingdom of God is going to be but about that guest list!  And I doubt they were very happy!

We are Both the Invited and Inviters

Today as we apply this lesson to ourselves, we must see ourselves as both those in the country lanes and the servants to bring in others. You see, if you’re not Jewish, then you’re a gentile.  And by God’s good grace, all of us are invited, through all time, to his banquet table.  The servants have been going out for centuries now, telling people about the Kingdom and inviting them to join the banquet that we will one day all share in the Kingdom of Heaven.  And all of us, after receiving the invitation to follow Jesus, have had to decide – we will join Jesus or will we be like the original guests and make excuses not to show up?  There is a decision that needs to be made.  And if you haven’t made it yet, or if you have been making excuses – I encourage you to stop running and to turn around and join the party with God!

And for those of us who have chosen to join Jesus.  We also have the opportunity to join this team of servants inviting still others. In thinking about inviting others to the banquet, one point this parable makes is to reach beyond the expected to the unexpected guests.

The banquet is for those beyond the church

Too often, Christians only invite people like them, or maybe people who are already Christians but who aren’t currently attending church or who don’t like their church.  But they make the safe invite.  They invite “church folk”.  They don’t think the guy covered with tattoos or the woman who cusses like a sailor would be interested in Jesus.  But that’s the point.

God doesn’t want us just playing it safe and only invite those who have their lives together already.  He wants us GOING BEYOND.  He wants us to reach out to the modern day poor, the crippled, and the lame.  He wants us to be willing to share the message of Jesus far and wide, with people who are very UNLIKE ourselves, with people who honestly might not feel comfortable at all coming to church.  Church isn’t for those on the inside, its a place of hope for those on the outside.  We all need to remember that and let it drive our willingness to tell others.

And even though a lot of the people we talk with about Jesus will not be interested and will make excuses, we can’t let that deter us.  Just like the parable of the sower, our job is to spread the seed of the message about Jesus.  We trust God to cause the growth.  The servants in today’s parable were told to compel people to come to the banquet, but they weren’t held responsible if people said NO.  They just moved on.

One thing we have to remember as we go beyond safe, church-type people is that just like the outcasts of Jesus time would never have felt comfortable attending a party at a rich rulers home, many people we know today have no interest in attending church with us.  All the rituals, as informal as they are here at Ashworth, are completely foreign to many people and makes they uncomfortable.

Fortunately, we are called to invite people to fill God’s house, his kingdom, not our own church.  The problem is that many of us don’t feel like we know how to invite people to God’s kingdom.  So instead we invite them to come to our church where the pastor can do the teaching.  But remember from last week – part of being baptist is the understanding of the priesthood of all believers.  And that means you need to know how to share your faith yourself.

A Primer on Sharing your Faith

So today I want to help you with that.  I want to quickly help you think about what you can say to help somebody see why you follow Jesus and why that might be good for them too. One of the easiest ways to do that is to tell people what Jesus has done for you.  If you can’t explain what he has done for you, then how could you ever explain what he can do for them?

1. Give your life purpose
2. Gives meaning to life’s trials
3. Provides acceptance and forgiveness
4. Creates a family connection
5. What else does it mean for you?

Now that we all have a primer in how we can tell people about Jesus and what he has done for us, the question is, like the servants in the story, where can you GO to invite people to the Kingdom?

1. Daily Interaction – Your family, friends, and coworkers
2. Infrequent but Regular Interaction – People you encounter at kids events or shops you frequent
3. Social Media Connections – People spread out all over the world from a diverse background, some of whom you may have never met face-to-face

Jesus in the Digital World

Now if you’re like me, you probably have a love / hate relationship with social media.  It has some great benefits but some real drawbacks. And I don’t want to get into all of those, but I will tell you, over the past year we have been blown away by the reach we can make over social media.  

We have a web page called “Why did I give up on God?” where nearly every week somebody angry at God reads a message Brent gave 4 years ago and comments about why they are angry at God.  And Brent takes the time to respond to almost all of them.

We also have been trying to be more active on our Facebook page in and some private groups.  And people have responded.  We have people joining in conversations who we didn’t even know were still associated with our church.  

We’ve found people are watching our online services because they haven’t found a church to connect with in their own areas.  And God is using Ashworth to be part of their journey – from afar.

And it’s for all these reasons that we decided we wanted to more fully invest into our digital ministry.  If Jesus wanted his servants to go out to the alleys, roads, and country lanes, then if he were around today, surely he would be using social media. It’s one more way to reach further, out to more and more people.  

So in a bit over a month we will be launching a Facebook campus, called Ashworth Church Online where we want to build community with those who are unable to attend because of distance or comfort-level.  This is NOT going to be another Bible Study or place for you to be fed spiritual nuggets throughout the week.  This isn’t for everybody! This is going to be an intentional place for people who want to be social media missionaries – servants who are actively trying to connect with people they know in spiritual conversations in a safe place they can meet.

In addition to the church launching our own online community, it’s important for each of you to understand you can use your own social media accounts to invite people as well. You can speak of the goodness of God in a non-judgy, non-pushy way that compels people to want to ask more questions. And I hope some of you will begin to see your social media as more than a place to lament the politics of the day and instead as a platform for ministry.

And that leads me to my final point.  If you use social media to mock the other side, whatever that is to you – recognize that we are all creating an online reputation.  If the master in the story had a terrible reputation, that would impact whether or not people would attend.  In the same way, if you have a bad reputation for being mean spirited and always controversial, it will build a wall between you and those you want to invite.

Conclusion

For the past year, we’ve been told to STAY.  Stay at home. Stay safe. But now it’s time to GO! It’s time to go out to the streets and alleys, roads and country lanes to tell people they are invited to something Beyond what they can imagine.  They don’t know what they are missing, and they won’t unless we tell them.  

So as I conclude here today, I want each of you to take a moment and consider, who or what is your Go?  Who do you need to pray for and start spiritual conversations with.  And breaking my rule about inviting to church, who can you invite to join you for Easter Sunday next week or share the link so they can watch online.  The instructions to Go are too broad for most of us to do anything about it when we walk out of here, unless we focus it on a person or on a method like creating an amazing Pinterest board for Jesus. So that’s your homework.  This is your opportunity.  The master desires to have a full house – let’s help him fill it!

Discussion Questions

1. If somebody asked you to explain your understanding of if a person can lose their salvation, what would you tell them?
2. At Ashworth we leave room for a lot of tension and grey in our understanding of scripture. Do you appreciate this approach or do you wish we were more black and white on all issues? Why?
3. What is one issue through these entire series you disagree with us about? Take a moment this week to further investigate this issue to solidify your understanding or to potentially change your view on the issue.

Discussion Questions

1. In what ways are you tempted to ADD the saving work of Jesus? Jesus PLUS Knowledge? Jesus PLUS Good Deeds? Or Jesus PLUS Obedience?
2. When you think about the non-Christians in your life, do most of them seem to not NEED a Savior, not WANT a Savior, or not BELIEVE a Savior exists? What does that say about the culture we live in?
3. Take a moment to thank God for the incredibly generous and loving gift of freely given grace – of his favor to adopt us into his family. Meditate on what it means that God rescued and delivered you from sin, shame, death, judgement, fear, and bondage.

Message Manuscript Below

We’re Looking for a Hero

Over the past year, I feel bad for movie theaters.  Who has gone to a movie in the past year? Anybody?  Now I’m no movie buff, but I make my way to a theater a couple times a year.  And I miss the opportunity to go overpay for popcorn and a drink entirely too big for one person to watch a story I’ve already seen a hundred times. Now let’s be real, there are really only so many stories that movies tell – the coming of age, the falling in love, the underdog overcoming a struggle, and of course, the story of the hero! 

So often, in the story of the hero, it is someone who is not the obvious choice. He or she must succeed against all odds to rescue someone (or an entire planet) from destruction. I’m guessing you are all more than aware of at least a few movies that share this storyline. 

The reason hollywood can make so many movies with this general theme is because there’s something inside us that loves a hero who saves helpless and vulnerable people. It’s the story of salvation! Oddly enough though, we don’t often think of ourselves as the people needing to be saved, but we want to be the hero.  Kids never play the damsel in distress.  They want to be the good guy, the hero. 

And it’s no wonder that we are wired to love the story of the hero, after all, we’re created in God’s image.  But the problem is, in the cosmic story of God, we are not the hero. He is.  We are the poor, pitiful people who are facing ruin without a savior stepping in.

Today we are picking up our series on The Essentials, those beliefs we at Ashworth deem as  primary importance.  And today’s topic builds on those that have come before it.  So far we have learned about GOD who is the creator and sustainer of all things.  Then we learned about ourselves, human beings, God’s pinnacle of creation and how we were created with incredible potential but marred that perfection through sin which now eternally separates us from God.  But Jesus, the Son of God, fully human and fully divine, came to this earth to live a perfect life, die on the cross defeating death and the grave, rise to new life and now sits in glory in Heaven.

Today we will look at the reason WHY God sent his son Jesus to this world.  To Save Us.  Jesus didn’t come just to be a model citizen or teach great lessons.  His purpose was bigger. He is the Hero of a cosmic story, the Savior of our entire world.

The Who of Salvation

Let’s take a look at our belief statement about the salvation Jesus made possible:

Salvation is a gift from God to all people. 

First, we see that Salvation is a Gift. We (anybody who is willing to receive it) are the recipients of that Gift and God is the giver of the gift.  That means we are the ones IN NEED OF THE GIFT.  We are the one who are stuck in our sin with no way to free ourselves from the bondage we have created for ourselves.  And God, as the giver of Salvation, is the ONLY ONE who can offer this Salvation.

Sure, we might want to think of ourselves as the Hero of our own story who can achieve some level of merit to earn our salvation, but that’s not how the story goes.  All through Scripture we see God choose to save Noah from the Flood, and the Isrealites from captivity in Egypt.  He saves David from the Philistines and again rescues his people out of Babylon.  In every story, God is ALWAYS THE HERO.  And that’s why he is the hero of our own story of salvation.

What is Salvation?

Let’s continue looking at our beliefs:

We can never make up for our sin through self improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can we be saved from sin’s penalty. Eternal life begins at the moment one receives Christ into their life by faith.

Looking at this statement we see 2 things: We are saved from the penalty of sin and given eternal life. Basically, this comes back to our statement on Humanity – Heaven vs Hell. And this is true.  The gift of salvation removes the penalty of Hell and offers us eternal life with God in Heaven.

BUT IT IS SO MUCH MORE!  I sound like the infomercial guy – “But wait, there’s more!”

In the OT, the hebrew word “Yesa” as well as the NT word “Sozo” carry a wider meaning than our limited meaning we think of when we say saved.  These words can be translated as Rescue/ Help/ Deliverance from… This word points to a liberation.  But liberation from what?

• from sin and guilt (Rom. 5:1; Heb. 10:2) 
• from the law and its curse (Gal. 3:13; Col. 2:14)
• from death (1 Pet. 1:3–5; 1 Cor. 15:51–56)
• from judgment (Rom. 5:9; Heb. 9:28)
• from fear (Heb. 2:15; 2 Tim. 1:7, 9)
• from bondage (Tit. 2:11–3:6; Gal 5:1)

There is so much that could be said about all these things, but suffice it to say, when Christians say that we have ABUNDANT LIFE in Jesus, this is what it is talking about.  Freedom from all these things that hold us back so we can LIVE FOR GOD, using the gifts and passions he has put inside us.

One quick disclaimer here: NOWHERE in scripture do we see Salvation pointing to material prosperity, health and wellness, or protection from all danger and trials.  All of the apostles lacked these things, and they had incredible faith.  It is an AMERICAN LIE that belief in Jesus should be accompanied by an easy, healthy, comfortable life.

How to Receive this Salvation? 

So now that we know what salvation is (and isn’t), the next question we have to answer is how does the Bible say we receive this good gift from God?  Paul is very clear about this in his letter to the Ephesisans:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

As long as people have had breath, we have been trying to find ways to obtain salvation. The ancients tried to appease the god’s through sacrifice.  The Pharisees tried to achieve salvation through obedience to the law. Shortly after Jesus life, the Gnostics tried to gain salvation through a spiritual wisdom. In the Middle ages it was through indulgences or good works.  All through time, including today – we are seeking salvation through other means than Jesus.  Sure since the time of Jesus, Christians have known he is key to salvation, but even then, we often add something to the requirement for salvation.  We make it Jesus PLUS.  We still see it today.

• Jesus PLUS Knowledge
• Jesus PLUS Good Deeds
• Jesus PLUS Obedience (Baptism, no smoking/drinking/gambling/swearing)

But what we see in scripture is that God always saves solely because of his good grace, his choosing, his goodness.  Its all because of him – not because of anything we add to our faith in Jesus. And so if there is something inside you that makes you feel special when comparing yourself to a non-Christian, you’ve got it all wrong.  There is nothing you can boast about, other than God’s goodness and love!

Can I Lose my Salvation?

Now in the 2nd half of our belief statement, we explain something that is a historically baptist position about salvation – one my father in-law took issue with when I told him I as preaching this message. Let’s keep reading it:

Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ and adopts them as his own, the believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that provides this security. No power in the universe can separate God from His children.

A quick summary of this paragraph is that a believer in Jesus doesn’t need to worry that they are saved one day and then if they do bad stuff the next day that they are not saved until they repent again that night.  There are Various Ways People Describe This Belief

1. Once Saved, Always Saved
2. Eternal Security
3. Perseverance of the Saints

Just like how people have a different attitude about Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act which are 2 names for the same policy, how we describe this concept makes a big difference in how people feel about it.  As opponents of this idea like to argue, the idea of “Once Saved, Always Saved” gives people the false impression that if they say a prayer at kids camp when they are 7 years old that they are good to go – they have their ticket to heaven the rest of their lives, regardless of how they live.

And I would agree – that is a dangerous position for somebody to hold.  And I would argue that while somebody might say a prayer or say they accepted Jesus into their life, it’s entirely possible that all they were doing is paying lip service to Jesus – without ever putting a saving faith in him for the forgiveness of sins.

But it’s hard to argue against verses which support the idea that a person with an authentic saving faith never has to worry about losing their faith again – because your faith isn’t up to you, it’s a gift from God.  Let’s take a look at John 10:

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

John 10:28-29 (NIV)

But What About…?

But let’s be honest here, we all know people who we thought were followers of Jesus who now we look at their lives and we wonder, if they died tonight, what would happen? In fact, that is such a powerful and worrisome question, it has been used as an evangelistic tool for decades now.

And while I know people want a clear answer here, I can’t do that from up front here.  By telling people exactly what salvation looks like, by praying a prayer, we have mistakenly made countless people feel like they crossed the finish line of faith and are all set.  That’s been a mistake, because taking that step of faith isn’t crossing a finish line but a starting line.  It is a first step of salvation, but it should be followed by the long road of sanctification, of growing in Christ-likeness, and in bearing the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So if the best way we can identify if a person has a saving faith, it’s to look for fruit.

Because of how we see salvation here at Ashworth, we understand if some of you don’t feel like you can put your finger on a date as to when you became a Christian.  Sure some people have that clear moment when they decided, like Paul on the road to Demascus.  But many more of us start exploring, start going to church, try to learn more, act how we think God wants, and in time realize we are fully committed to Jesus.  We realize we are bearing fruit and at some specific point, the Holy Spirit entered into our hearts and made us new creations in Christ. We just might not know the exact time.  But God does, and really, that’s what matters.

How Will you Respond to a Savior

After all this talk about what salvation is, who needs saving, and how we are saved, the biggest question is, “How will YOU respond to this message about a Savior?”

Some people don’t believe this story that they need a savior.  They can’t fathom being the pitiful people in need of a hero to rescue them.  They want to be the hero. They know they have some rough edges, but nothing so bad that it requires a savior.

Some people don’t want a savior. They hear the story of Jesus and his offer of forgiveness and they reject him as savior.  He is’t what they are looking for. He is asking for their humility and submission to his way of life – and that simply sounds unappealing.  They would rather live the life they want, according to their own rules and let things shake out however they will at the end of their lives.  

Still others don’t believe a savior exists.  Don’t believe there’s a bigger story surrounding them. All of life is a cosmic accident without any grand meaning. This can lead to a fatalistic mindset that nothing has any value or importance beyond momentary pleasure or pain.

Finally, some others see their need for a savior, are glad to receive the deliverance from all the things that have bound them, and put their faith in Jesus.  They believe and accept the free gift given by God described to us in the pages of the Bible.

This last position is where I hope you are.  God desires that EVERYONE would receive deliverance from sin, shame, the law, the curse, etc. and follow Jesus.  That is the life He created us for.  It is the abundant life he has made available to us.  And all he asks is that we allow him to be our HERO!

Perfect… Sort of

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Today is a day all about love and so I want to begin with each you you taking a moment and think about the most perfect person.  For those of you who are married, you should be thinking about your spouse – obvioously.  If you’re single, think about your first crush. 

Whether married or not, we’ve probably all had that experience of being so “in Love” and by that I mean “infatuated” that we thought that one special person was absolutely perfect.  Imagine the moment in Elf where he spins around saying, “I’m in love. I’m in love. And I don’t care who knows it.” Maybe it was their hair, or their laugh, their smile, the way they made you feel.  But you knew – this person is PERFECT.  

When I met Michelle, I was still dating a girl I should have broken up with months earlier.  But I knew Michelle was everything that girl was NOT. Everything about Michelle was AMAZING.

Are you with me? Do most of you have that person and that feeling in mind.

Now, and this is going to take a dark turn quickly, so buckle up – think about your darkest time with that person – your biggest fight, when they let you down in a way you couldn’t even imagine.

Isn’t it incredible how that one person you were certain was so absolutely flawless could also have such an ugly side?  And guess what – it’s not just them.  It’s you too!  Its all of us.  We all have fabulous gifts, talents, and potential – combined with a dark, hideous side we try to hide from others but occasionally slips out and makes a mess of things.

And it’s this dichotomy that we are going to talk about as we look at our 2nd essential belief at Ashworth – Humanity.

Creator Created Us – In His Image

Last week we looked at the doctrine of God and we saw that he is the creator of all things.  It puts him outside and above everything else.  And today we are going to look at the pinnacle of God’s creation – US.  Remember, when we look at the creation story in Genesis 1, we are the last thing God created before he was finished.  So let’s take a look at our church’s statement “About Human Beings” which describes us as God’s SUPREME EXPRESSION of his creation:

We are made in the image of God, to be like Him in character, to enjoy His fellowship, and to fulfill His purposes on earth. We are the supreme expressions of God’s creation. 

See how it begins with this phrase “In the image of God.”  This is crucial.  It comes straight from Genesis 1:27 – “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them.” 

What this means is that we are LIKE God.  Which is ironic, because that’s how Satan tempted Adam and Eve – asking them to be like God – when they already were.

This is a crucial point to understand all of life because so much in the world wants to divide people.  Everything is trying to create classes of people, divisions between us and them.  But whether you are White, Black, or Brown, Poor or Rich, Democrat or Republican, a criminal or a saint- you are made to be LIKE GOD – In his image.

How are we LIKE God, you might ask.

• In Character – We share the same moral values, sense of justice, and ability to love.  We can reason, and plan, and care for others.  This is actually one of the arguments for a belief in God – the fact that everybody has a shared moral code of really knowing right from wrong at a very young age – whether we do right vs wrong is another story.
• In Relationship – We are not made to be separate from God, but just like God is in relationship with himself in 3 forms – we are to be in relationship with God.  God is a relational being, and since we are made in his image – so are we.  The pandemic has made that very clear to us all!
• In Purpose – Finally, we share the purpose of God.  We have an intended purpose for why we are on the earth, and it’s not up to us to creatively decide whatever we want it to be.  Since we are made in God’s image, we are most satisfied when we find our purpose which aligns with his – to bring peace and love to this whole world.

We see all of these aspects in Psalm 8:3-6

³ When I consider your heavens, 

the work of your fingers, 

the moon and the stars, 

which you have set in place, 

⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them, 

human beings that you care for them? ^u (RELATIONSHIP)

⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels

and crowned them with glory and honor. (CHARACTER)

⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands; (PURPOSE)

you put everything under their feet: 

Sin Changed Everything

Unfortunately, just like we already discussed about our perfect partners who proved to be less than perfect – as good as we are, created to be like God, immensely valuable, and loved by the Creator himself – we have some bugaboos.  And a lot more than bugaboos. Here’s the next section of our belief statement:

Although we have tremendous potential for good, everyone is marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called sin. This attitude separated people from God.

You see, after the beautiful story of creation, we read in Genesis 3 about the fall – the first time Adam and Eve choose to step outside of God’s plan.  They are tricked into thinking they need something MORE to be like him.  

And this brought SIN into the world. SIN is defined as missing God’s perfect mark.  Sometimes we think of it as doing wrong, or making a mess – it mars our souls and makes us unclean.  And really anything that is not in perfect alignment with God’s character, relationship, and purpose is sin. Now if you are curious about how sin impacts our lives, we did an 8 week series on sin several years ago called My Bad which you can find on our website.

And with that definition, it’s hard to argue with Bible verses like those below

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; 

Isaiah 53:6

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23

Most people will agree that they aren’t always perfect.  While sin came into the world through one man, ALL of us know we are just as culpable.  We know how dark our thoughts can be, we know how we have failed others.  We know .

Interesting enough, while we all know we are far from perfect,  different people have different opinions of how bad they really are:

• Total Depravity – Some Christians think they are totally depraved which means that apart from God, there is not one good thing they can do.  They are worms, completely unworthy of anything good.  And they believe that there is nothing good a non-Christian can do
• Minimize Sin – Many Non-Christians and Christians alike minimize their sin. They think they are basically good people who try to be kind to their friends and family.  They rarely think about their mistakes causing any problems beyond the immediate consequences they might face. For this group of people, there is no real problem with their failings. It’s just an Oops and then time to move on.
• Sinners Who Receive Grace – We at Ashworth want to keep this balance.  We believe every single person (even your enemies) are valuable, with incredible potential. AND we believe we all have a sin problem which limits our good, which separates us from God, and which needs to be dealt with. 

So while we reject the position that all people are absolutely and fully debased without Jesus, we do believe that while the beauty of our nature is capable of shining through people, it’s not enough to keep us close to God.  Isaiah 59:2 tells us the spiritual consequence of our sin:

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; 

your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 

So here’s the problem the Bible tells us that all humans face.  We are all good and meant to be in relationship with God.  But we are ALSO all sinners who, as a result of our sin, are separated from God.  And here’s the biggest problem with this all – we are also Eternal.

Eternal Existence in Heaven and Hell

Let’s take a peek at the last section of our essential belief on humanity

People are created to exist forever. Every person will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is hell. To be eternally in union with God is heaven. Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence.

This final section is pretty straightforward. Everyone will exist beyond their final breath – either in the presence of God or apart from God.  Heaven is the place where followers of Jesus will be with God and Hell is a place where everyone else will be away from God.

Jesus describes it this way: Matthew 25:46 –

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Now I know, there are a million details about heaven and hell that you have heard, and no – our statement includes almost none of those details because we don’t see them all as essential to what unites ALL of us in our beliefs.  

You see, the doctrine of hell in particular, received a huge amount of attention in the history of America.  It became a very specific place with flames that never cease and worms that eat your flesh and never die where you are tortured for all time.  Jesus was not a savior TO eternal life but a cosmic fire insurance FROM this terrible place. And I don’t mean to imply these concepts were pulled from thin air – these images have verses to support them.  But there are also a wide variety of verses which can lead you to several different views of hell.  And what all of them have in common is that Hell is where people are apart from God.

All of Us Need a Savior, and our Savior Came for Us All

So here’s where I want us to end our discussion of humanity. We are both immensely valuable and full of potential, but terribly sinful and full of ugliness.  All of us are.  As a result, unless we take a leap of faith, our eternity after death is to be apart from God, apart from his goodness and beauty which he has given us just a small taste of in this creation. 

As much as some people think they can fix this situation themselves, scripture is clear that there is nothing we can do on our own. We can’t try to do a bunch of good stuff so God forgets all the filth that’s still on your clothes.  We need to be cleansed.

Fortunately, the God who created us also offers us that very opportunity. An opportunity for something far better, an opportunity for every person who has walked the face of the earth.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” Now I don’t want to get too far into next week’s message, but suffice it to say, God made a way to cleanse us from our sin and to restore our relationship with him.  And that restoration takes place both in this life and in the next.  And most importantly, that restoration is available to THE WORLD.  It’s God’s desire for us all. It’s the purpose he made us for. 

Application

So I want you to consider how this message applies to your life in 3 specific ways: How does this belief make you feel about yourself, others, God? As basic as this message is for some of you, it has incredible implications for your view of all of life.

• Yourself – You are both valued and marred by sin.  You have incredible good inside of you, but apart from the work of Jesus, you are marred by sin and your life will be far less that the potential available.
• Others – Every person is equally valued by God, and should be by you.  This means that Christians should be the most accepting, least divisive people on the earth as we see every person with the loving eyes of our Creator.  Do we see that in America currently? If not, why?
• God – Finally, as a result of being Like God and having an eternity ahead of us, I hope you have a passion to choose to live like God, to live out his character, to be in daily relationship with him, and to follow his purpose for your life and not just your own selfish agenda. 

Conclusion

Our time on this earth is simply preparation for an eternity ahead of us.  Either it’s an eternity with God or an eternity apart from him.  And it’s your choice where you will spend that eternity.  Do you believe that the mess of your life requires a savior, and are you willing to submit to that Savior, Jesus Christ?  Or are you confident in your own goodness?  And are you willing to bet eternity on it? 

If you want to start a relationship with God today, and if you want to experience the eternal life that begins instantly when you put your faith in Jesus, then I invite you today to follow the way of Jesus.  If you want to know more about what that looks like, let us know in the chat window or Contact Us on our website. We want everyone to experience the life God originally intended for us at Creation.

Discussion Questions:

1. In what areas do you doubt your own worth? Where do you need to remind yourself of how God made you and the potential inside of you?
2. Who do you most struggle to see the image of God inside of? What can you do to see them as a valuable person who is filled with potential?
3. If both men and women are made in the image of God, what does that say about God’s gender? Why is this important?

Discussion Questions

1. Thinking about your spiritual upbringing, were you raised with many or few essential beliefs? How has your understanding of what is essential changed over the years?
2. How open are you to differing views in your beliefs? Are you even willing to have a conversation with an open mind with someone that differs from you? 
3. Take a peek at our church’s beliefs and let us know if you have any questions you would like to see addressed in this message series.

Discussion Questions

1. What is the main reason you struggle to be honest with God? Shame, pride, fear, thinking God can’t handle it? Why do you think that is?
2. As you have taken time to reflect on the message, what baggage have you realized you have been silently carrying? How are you giving it to God?

Positive People

Here’s something many of you didn’t know about me, up until the early part of this week, I was Covid Positive.  For those of you attending this service online, you’re probably glad you are!  Don’t worry, I made it through – and I’m back to 100%.  But today we’re taking a light-hearted approach to our message to Be Positive.

Now I was the obvious person on our pastoral team to give this message, because those who know me know I’m clearly the most optimistic person on the team – with Amy the obvious pessimist.  Just Kidding.  But being positive is more than just how optimistic or pessimistic you view life.  It’s more about how you carry yourself and how you treat others.  

Take a moment to consider some of your favorite people you like to spend time with. Who are the people you love sitting at a dinner with or even the people at church who just make you feel good about yourself after having a conversation with them in the foyer.  What are the attributes you most like about them?

The people I have most enjoyed spending time with in my life are people who make me laugh.  They tend to be good natured.  They have a positive outlook on life most the time, and they have positive words to encourage me.  And on the flip side, those I tend to ignore are those who have an Eyore personality.  You know the types – everything is hard, everything is overwhelming, life isn’t fair, and it never seems to get better.  

Now as we think about the people we enjoy being around, and contrarily, those we don’t – where do you fit?  Are you generally a positive person with a positive attitude who is encouraging to others, or might you be a bit more negative, and have room to grow in this area?

Toxic Positivity

Now when I talk about being positive, one direction I don’t want you to think I’m taking this message is towards toxic positivity.

Defined: Toxic positivity is the assumption, either by one’s self or others, that despite a person’s emotional pain or difficult situation, they should only have a positive mindset.

This is exemplified through an attitude of telling people to “Just Stop it.”  Stop feeling sad, stop feeling frustrated or anxious.  Just think positive.  Just see it as a good thing.  Just ignore the pain.

And to be clear, this is NOT AT ALL what I’m talking about today.  I think all of us can related to having experienced some real losses this year.  We have all missed time with family, experienced stress with kids doing school from home, perhaps lost our jobs, missed vacations and now we’re staring down a holiday season like no other.  And I’m not telling you to simply forget the pain.  It’s real.

It’s human to grieve a loss, but we can’t wallow in it.  

Grief is process that moves us from experiencing loss to accepting it. Now when you google the stages of grief, you will find that there are anywhere from 4-12 stages of grief, and they are in different orders, but thats because thats how we experience grief and loss – through a messy process of all sorts of emotions.  But somehow through the process we come out the other side able to deal with it, and in fact able to once again Be Positive.

Wallowing in the loss implies simply an unrestrained indulgence in your pity.  It is just sitting it, not moving forward, not healing, not growing, and never able to be positive so long as you sit there stuck.

How to Have a Positive Attitude

Now after moving through the stages of grief, after dealing with all the losses we have faced in 2020, we need to be people aiming to be positive.  This world desperately needs more positive people.  And here is how to have a positive attitude:

Internally = Gratitude

First, we have to internalize a positive attitude.  When we do that, it manifests itself in gratitude.  Instead of throwing yourself a pity party, focusing on what you have lost, you have gratitude for what you still have. 

We all understand, life has no guarantee of being easy.  You will receive good gifts in life and and you will experience tough parts.  We have no control over the circumstances of life.  So circumstances may AFFECT us But we can’t let them CONTROL us.

And we see this all over the pages of scripture.  The Psalms are full of examples of feeling worn out and heavy with the challenges of life.  Yet we also see a single refrain in numerous Psalms, 

Psalm 107:1 – Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 

Or when we look at the Apostle Paul’s life, we see a man who is well acquainted with suffering and pain, yet his letters, and in particular Colossians, are full of verses about how he gives thanks to God for so many things – for their faith, for their love, for their inclusion into the family of God.  Then in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he writes:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

We see Paul is clearly a positive guy who internalizes that positive attitude about what God is doing in his life and in the lives of others – and he is grateful to God for it all.

And that makes sense, when you take Jesus’ own words into account.  Remember when Jesus, talking about money’s grip on our hearts said, 

Matthew 6:21 – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

You see, if our eyes are fixed on the wrong things, like our comfort, our income, whether or not we can have our holidays the way we always have, then our hearts will be heavy and we won’t be able to have gratitude for what we do have – a God who loves us, who is in control, who will bring us to his side whether things work out in this life or not.

So this week, I encourage you to properly grieve the losses you are experiencing.  I’m not asking you to diminish those losses.  But in the process of grieving, I pray that you will be able to come out the other end of the process – accepting the circumstances and able to be grateful and thankful to God for what we do still have.

Externally – Encouragement

And speaking of me encouraging you, that’s the second part of having a positive attitude.  When we let our positive attitude flow outside of ourselves, it manifests itself as encouraging others.  Our positivity is contagious and helps comfort other’s wounds, it builds them up, and it encourages them to keep moving forward through their own challenges, trials, and loss.

I think you will all agree with me that this world needs more encouragers.  2020 has been a dumpster fire and we’re all feeling it.  So many people are experiencing depression, anxiety, loneliness, and a general discouragement that things are never going to get better.  And as followers of Jesus who are being positive because of his love flowing through us, we have an opportunity to be encouragers to those desperate to hear an encouraging word.

Hopefully at some point in your life, you have experienced the balm of hearing an encouraging word when you were down in the dumps.  Or maybe you weren’t necessarily in a bad place, but somebody spoke words of encouragement and empowerment to you.  Think about the impact those words had on your life. Think about how dramatically those words lifted your spirit or built you up to tackle the challenge in front of you.  

Most of us have that experience, so we resonate with these words from King Solomon:

Proverbs 12:25 – Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. 

And it’s the power of our words that Paul again urges us to use wisely:

Ephesians 4:29 – Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Notice how he points out how we can have unwholesome talk OR words that are helpful and beneficial.  Our words can tear down or build up.  And this world is hungry for all of us to be people who build others up.  

Real Encouragement

But we have to take a moment to define what exactly it is that we are encouraging others about.  Some people have bemoaned the Millenial generation, calling them the Trophy generation.  People accuse millennials of being encouraged and built up for not actually doing anything and as a result believe the whole cohort to be soft.  

And there is something true about the damage of encouraging people about the wrong things.  We call this Flattery.   Flattering a student with no physical gifts to keep working so one day they can be an NBA player is just setting them up for failure one day.  Now I know, some of you parents out there might be shocked at what I just said, but let’s just call a spade a spade.  I once had a conversation with my oldest son who struggled with reading and school.  And he told me, “I hate it when teachers say I can be anything I want. It’s not true.”  I think we have to take this as a caution.  It’s like Toxic Positivity.  It’s taking this message of Being Positive, and making it something it’s not meant to be.

This exact situation is depicted by the prophet Zechariah:  

Zechariah 10:2 – The idols speak deceitfully,  diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd. 

You see there were false leaders who were telling the Israelites that everything was going to be OK.  They were telling them not to worry about the other kingdoms around them, not to worry about facing the consequences of their idolatry.  And encouragement and comfort doesn’t feel very good in the moment you realize it wasn’t true.

And so we have to be careful when we are giving people encouragement that we are encouraging them in things that are actually true.  You see, encouragement in the Bible isn’t telling people that LIFE IS GOOD but that GOD IS GOOD!  Sometimes you might think life has to turn around and get better and then suddenly you get punched in the gut all over again.  Life I’ve said, we have no guarantees about that.  

Let’s just take a quick look at what I mean about how people in the Bible encouraged others:

From the Old Testament

1 Sam 23:16 – And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.

From the New Testament

Acts 11:23 – When [Barnabas] arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

Do you see how in both cases, the encouragement offered wasn’t in something that couldn’t be guaranteed, something only meant to puff them up?  No, the encouragement was in God, in his presence, in his promise to give us strength to get through the trials, in his promise to bring us all into his kingdom on the other side of death.

Spread Some Christmas Cheer

So we need to take this positive attitude and be encouragers to those around us.  And that encouragement can’t just be empty, trite words that everything will be OK.  They need to be the life giving words of God’s love, acceptance, of his control over this pandemic, and his grief over the same things that are grieving our own hearts.

So consider, who in your life needs to hear a cheerful word of encouragement and of compassion this holiday season.  Perhaps you have a neighbor who is going to experience a lonely Thanksgiving.  Give them a call, speak words of love and care, and maybe even drop off a treat that says “I care about you, and you are not alone.”  

But I also know, some of you hearing this message want to be positive, but right now, you’re still in those stages of grief.  You are hurting and being positive isn’t something you are capable of right now.  And I want you to hear, THAT’S OK.  But it’s hard to move out of that space all on your own.  Yes, you need to turn to God and look to him to be your strength, but you also need somebody in your life to encourage you.  Who is that person? Or have you closed yourself off to others and so nobody is able to speak the life giving words of encouragement you need to hear.  If that’s you, I encourage you to pick up the phone and call a trusted friend and let them know you are struggling.  Follow last week’s message about our need for confession, and give that person an opportunity to be an encourager to you.

Conclusion

Life in 2020 is no cake walk.  We all know that.  And in the next 4 days we head into a Thanksgiving unlike any before.  At empty dinner tables we will be tasked with considering what we are thankful for.  And we will have to decide if we are going to be positive people of gratitude or be Eeyore’s who only see what is wrong with this year.  Choose to be positive.  Work through your grief rather than wallow in it, and come out the other side as a positive person who is able to spread christmas cheer to all who hear.  That’s being a light to what is clearly a dark world.  We have that opportunity – let’s seize it!

Discussion Questions

1. How might the world’s opinion of Christians be different if Christians were better known for genuine celebration?
2. If you haven’t already, take a moment to really reflect on what God has done in your life in 2020 and give him thanks for it all.
3. What can you do in your daily / weekly habits to be more aware of God’s goodness in your life and celebrate what he has done?

Never Have I Ever – Halloween Edition

Judging by the weather outside, it sure feels like fall has finally arrived.  And with it, Halloween is now right around the corner.  Unfortunately, we all know halloween may be a bit different this year.  

What I’m seeing is there are 3 camps of how people view halloween this year:

• All In – more decorations, costumes, candy – we need something to celebrate now
• Modified – we’ll go trick or treating, but we’re going to be safe and follow CDC guidelines
• Nope – like everything else coronavirus ruined, add halloween to the list.  I’m out.

I fall into that 3rd camp, but probably for a totally different reason – I hate halloween.  Always have. Definitely has to do with my upbringing where I was taught halloween was a pagan holiday to worship witches and demons.  Made for a long list of things I couldn’t do growing up.   And today we’re going to have some fun with that by playing the Pastor Ryan edition of Never Have I Ever!

I’m going to say, “Never have I ever…” and then say something I never did growing up and if you have done it, you have to sit down. So everybody stand up.  If you’re online and standing up right now – 5 bonus points.

Never have I ever: 

1. Decorated our house for halloween (lights, spider webs, ghosts) – Christmas only for my family
2. Gone to a haunted house – if they gave you a Gospel presentation at the end, you get a free pass
3. Used a Ouji board – those things still make me uncomfortable
4. Watched horror movies – nope – I still haven’t
5. Worn a costume to school
6. Carved scary faces into pumpkins – we did a cross.  
7. Went trick or treating – nope – my mom just bought me a bag of candy
8. Watched Care Bears – Evangelist came to our church and told all the parents about the black magic

I love designing games I’m guaranteed to win!  But in all seriousness, this game shows we all have an awareness of some version of a spooky, invisible world we can’t see.  But for most people, this unseen world is just fiction.  It’s full of vampires and gremlins, ghosts, and rings that give you special powers. 

So while the spirit world is portrayed all over, most people never consider it’s activity in our ACTUAL LIVES!  What if there was an invisible world full of beings actively working against you?  What if that was part of the source behind:

• Our addictions or our unhealthy thought life and temptations
• Our relational drama with others
• The racism, division, and injustice we see in our nation

What if there was more than meets the eye behind all these things?  How might that change how we view these challenges, and more importantly, how we might go about trying to overcome them?

There is an Invisible World

Scripture is full of stories that show where an invisible world meets our physical world.  One of my favorites is about Elisha, a great prophet in the Old Testament who was really getting under the skin of the king of Aram.  So the king sent troops out to go capture Elisha.  Lets pick up the story… 

2 Kings 6:15–17 (NIV): When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. 

“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 

And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 

I can’t imagine how the servant felt at that moment as the power and presence of God’s invisible army was shown to him.  

But what some might dismiss as almost mythical stories of an ancient world aren’t found only in the old testament.  We continue to see the working of an invisible world in the life of Jesus.  And we’re not just talking about a spiritual realm when you die – of heaven and hell. But in daily living, the spirit realm was wreaking havoc on the physical realm. 

The Gospel of Mark was the first record of Jesus written down, and the author didn’t waste any time talking about the impact this spiritual world was having.  Let’s look at just the first chapter:

Mark 1:12–13 (NIV): At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.

Mark 1:23–27 (NIV): Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” 

“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”

Mark 1:32(NIV): That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 

Mark 1:39 (NIV):  So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. 

Clearly, in Jesus time, everyone believed in the actual, day-to-day impact the invisible world was having on their lives.  And it wasn’t just the religious who believed in this spiritual world.  The book of Mark was written to the Romans, and they had no problem reading about all these encounters Jesus had with spiritual beings.

But for some reason, we feel like the time the Bible was written in was far enough back that they didn’t have the benefit of the enlightenment, no modern science, so they were confused and attributed natural situations to invisible and spiritual beings. As a result, while they THOUGHT there was an invisible world, we KNOW better.

And that’s an easy case for us Americans to make because it’s so infrequent that we encounter something unexplainable.  But in 3rd world nations, from our African friends, and from missionaries around the world, we hear stories of witch doctors, of demon possession, of animals with glowing eyes that terrorize the villages.  

Its as though in places who know the spirit realm exists, the powers of that realm are willing to be more active and direct in their opposition.  But in places who feel we are too sophisticated to believe in such silly things (though we celebrate those very silly things each halloween), the invisible world works more subtly, satisfied that we never attribute any of their activity to them.  It’s the exact situation CS Lewis describes in his fictional book about how the underworld might work, The Screwtape Letters. If you can drive addictions, anxiety, depression, division, and terror without anyone suspecting you are the one behind it, then why would you show up more directly?  

We are Involved in an Invisible War

So if we accept what the Bible says about an invisible world, then you have to accept that we are now involved in an invisible war. The Unseen and the Seen are not existing in a peaceful existence – and any flip through the news makes that clear. If God created the world to be good, then there is something acting behind the scenes that drives all the evil we encounter. The apostle Paul states that as followers of Jesus, we are at odds with the dark forces of this unseen world:

Ephesians 6:11-12: …take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The main point of this text which I think is especially important for us to notice today is who we are struggling against.  Right now, it feels like we are opposed to one another.  Republicans against Democrats, protestors against the police, black vs white, masks vs anti-maskers, parents against children, teachers against administrators, the list goes on and on and on. And we get so angry, and we don’t know what to do… so we go to Facebook and post memes.  Or we speak badly of our enemy with others who feel the same way we do.  Or we feel helpless and slide into depression.

And I think this text clearly shows, we’re in an invisible battle, but when we don’t recognize it, we fight the wrong forces.  And we clearly fight with the wrong tools. Let’s take a look at what Paul says about how we should fight:

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 (NIV): For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We have DIVINE POWER TO DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS!  Do you believe that? And what is that power?  I can tell you one thing – its not power to post on social media.  It’s power found in the ONE person who has already won this invisible war for us.

On the Cross, Jesus Made Victory Visible

Let’s turn to Colossians and see what I mean by that statement:

Colossians 2:13–15 (NIV): He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. 

You see, in our own strength, we were stuck.  We owed a debt we could never pay and faced an enemy much more powerful than us.  But that’s why God sent his son Jesus.  Jesus first set us free from our debt, he took away all our condemnation.  BUT THEN, he also went and defeated the enemy – the dark forces of Satan, the demons he was driving out his entire earthly life, and the powers of the unseen world were destroyed.  And not only did he do that for all of us, but then he gave us his Spirit to live inside of us, so now as we go about our daily lives:

1 John 4:4 (NIV): You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

So while we may feel like we are still in a battle, and life hasn’t become easy for us yet.  We can have hope knowing that victory is guaranteed. We know that if we live our lives from within the power of God that has been made available to us, we are invincible.  

How to Stand Firm in the Victory

And living a life of victory is more available to us that I think many of us may think.  You see the Bible doesn’t give us a challenging assignment we all have to struggle through to beat these evil forces in our lives. No, our assignment is actually rather basic.  We’re not called to go attack.  Our attack is simply when we live out lives of light in our dark world.  We are called to stand firm in our faith and not let our enemy put out our light.

We already looked at a passage from Ephesians 6:12, but now I want to quickly look at the verses around that one.  

Ephesians 6:10–14 (NIV): Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power… 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then…

First, be strong.  Not in your own maturity, in your own faith, but in GOD’S mighty power, using the tools of the Armor God provides like truth, righteousness, salvation, and the Word of God.  And he ends then with a call again to simply stand firm.  Keep doing what you’re doing.  

But then, after telling us how to stand firm against the spiritual war raging against us, Paul gives specific instruction to the church – simply instructions we can all do, but I fear we do woefully too little – to PRAY.

Ephesians 6:18–19 (NIV): And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me…

Putting this All Together

So to summarize all these verses – we need to recognize the invisible world, and more than that, we need to accept that we are in a spiritual war with that world.  And war changes people.  Nobody goes to war and comes back the same person.  NO – they come back changed.  They recognize you can’t take the enemy lightly.  And you can’t pretend the war isn’t going on and hope everything just works out.  

Additionally, if we finally see our TRUE enemy clearly, then we can begin to fight with weapons that are actually effective.  We can stop fighting in the ways of the world, posting to social media, complaining to our friends, and hoping that a vote will change everything.  And instead we can get on our knees and pray.  We can pray against our temptations. We can pray for our enemies.  We can pray for our leaders and our nation. 

Can you imagine what would happen if Christians across America replaced the time they spend watching the news and scrolling through social media with prayer?  I think lives would be transformed.  And while we can’t change how all Christians across this nation behave, we can choose to devote more of our own lives to prayer.  We can step into this Spiritual Battle better prepared, with recognition of who our true enemy is. And we can stand firm.  We can pray.  We can watch as the God inside us overcomes the evil schemes of our enemy.

Discussion Questions

1. What is the problem with going through life without recognizing the fact there is a spiritual battle all around?
2. Where can you join God’s cosmic battle against spiritual darkness this week? What will you commit to pray regularly for?

Discussion Questions

1. Take a moment to reflect on what it means that the God of the universe wants to speak to you.
2. What has been your biggest barrier to hearing God speak to you?
3. What action can you take to be prepared to hear God the next time he speaks to you?

Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think it is so hard for people to see the work of God in life?
2. Where have you see God at work in your life since this pandemic began?
3. What action can you take this week to join where you see God moving in your life or around you?

Fences: Tearing Down Fences Through Peacemaking

Matthew 5:9, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

Today’s message is the capstone on our series Fences where we have been looking at how to maintain healthy relationships.  The reason we did this series is because, when you really think about it, relationships are the air we breathe in this life.  Every high and every low moment in your life is intricately shared with others in some shape or form. As much as even the most introverted people may like, if you live in West Des Moines, then there is no escaping from a life full of relationships with others. And whether the relationships are familial or romantic, business or pleasure, the fact that the other person is unique and different than you pretty much guarantees that at some point the relationship is going to go through a rough spot. And going through those conflicts can make or break a relationship – even a long standing relationship.  And that’s why we wanted to show you how the Bible encourages us to have healthy relationships with others:

1. In our first message in this series, Pastor Amy taught us to set healthy boundaries for ourselves, by caring for ourselves, taking the time to connect with God, making margin in our lives, so that we can be the best friend and supporter of others.  If we spend all our time doing what others request of us, we will burn out and be useless – so we need to set healthy boundaries.
2. The following message, Pastor Brent taught us how some relationships in our lives might be in need of repair, that we need to mend some relational fences.  He showed us how the best way to deal with conflict is to take initiative and with humility, maturity, and love, address it rather than letting it fester and ruin the relationship.
3. In the 3rd message, I talked about the greatest cause of conflict in our lives, that we often assume the worst about others, making mountains out of molehills.  We will all be better off if we can remember that our family and spouse, our church, and our God are all on our team and want what’s best – so let’s stop assuming they are our opponent.
4. And in the most recent message, Pastor Brent shared about our opportunity for radical hospitality to tear down fences with others and allows the Gospel message of Jesus to reach people in our lives where we might never otherwise get a chance to talk about Jesus.  He showed us how the Greek word, at its root, means Love of the Stranger. But that will only happen if we create the space in our lives to slow down and invite others to join us at the dinner table.

God’s Plan for Peace

And in this message I’m going to show you how the goal all Christians should have for every relationship around us is to follow our God’s lead and be Peacemakers on this earth.

God’s original intent for this earth AND his plan for our final destiny is one of perfect peace.   The Hebrew word for peace – Shalom – means completeness and wholeness. And that’s what God wants for us all.

But the result of that very first sin in the garden, the disobedience of Adam and Eve, was that chaos entered this world.  Peace was broken and God has been working ever since to restore the peace. He gave us his law to point us toward peace with others.  He established nations and governments to bring peace to entire peoples. The prophet Isaiah wrote about God’s promise to bring send the Messiah, the Savior, who would be the Prince of Peace, to restore the world to a time when the Lion and the Lamb would lay down together.

And when the Prince of Peace, Jesus,  came to this world, he instructed us, his followers, to pursue the same goal he was striving for – to bring peace and wholeness to this fractured, chaotic, broken world.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

In Jesus’ most famous sermon, his Sermon on the Mount beginning in Matthew 5, he begins with a sort of Preamble, the Beatitudes where he lays out an invitation to ALL people – Not just the self-righteous – and he describes the sort of Kingdom he is inviting them to join.  You may be familiar with it as it goes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit…

Blessed are those who mourn….

Blessed are the meek…..

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness….

Blessed are the merciful….

Blessed are the pure in heart….

And then in verse 9 we come to this week’s main verse:

Matthew 5:9 – Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Children of God.

Now I don’t know about you, but reading this list, I’m surprised to find “the peacemakers”.  Being a listener to this sermon, I would have expected to hear “Blessed are the peaceful”. Afterall, we just heard about the merciful, those being full of mercy, and the pure in heart, those whose hearts of full of purity.  And so it stands to reason that God’s kingdom is for those who also are full of peace. The problem with that thinking is that having peace in your own life is completely reliant on the world around you.  If life is going well, you have peace; if it’s rough, you lack peace. But Jesus actually raises the bar. The Kingdom isn’t for people who HAVE peace happen to them, but for people who ACTIVELY WORK to bring peace to those all around them.  You see, just being a peaceful person yourself won’t achieve what Jesus has in mind here.

No, Jesus wants for all of his followers, all who will one day enter into his Kingdom, to be people who join the work he was beginning by bringing peace to all the world.  And the result of us joining that work is that we will be called “Children of God.” We’ll be in the image of our dad, the Lord of Peace.

PeaceFakers vs PeaceBreakers vs PeaceMakers

Now before I continue, I have to clarify what it means to be a peacemaker.  The problem with this word is that different people have different ideas of how to restore peace, and not all solutions are good ones.  Some people actually cause more harm than good as they act as peace breakers while other people just ignore the issues, call them resolved, and actually are just peace fakers.  So let’s look at the difference between peace faking, peace breaking, and peacemaking.

PeaceFAKERS – You’re a peace faker if your typical response is to run and hide from conflict.  You would rather pretend that it’s not that big of a deal and ignore the issue rather than talk about it and try to achieve a solution.  This is really common in our culture where we want to be nice to everyone and so sometimes we let people walk all over us and we just smile and say, “I’m Sorry.”  But in the long run, this doesn’t bring any peace to the situation, it just sweeps it under the rug. And usually, over time, the fact that the issue was never fully resolved leads to bigger problems.

PeaceBREAKERS – Peace breakers are the fighters – the ones who deal with conflict head on, and looking to WIN.  These were the religious zealots of Jesus day who wanted to overthrow the Roman oppressors through war in order to restore peace to Israel.  For Peacebreakers, every conflict is an opportunity for them to show they are RIGHT. They tend to do a lot of finger-pointing, make accusations, and manipulate situations so the outcome is always the way they want.   And since a lot of people are afraid of the peace breakers, they allow it to happen, and pretend the resulting outcome is a peaceful solution.

PeaceMAKERS – Peace makers, on the other hand, know how to stand up for themselves without walking all over others.  Some people wrongly assume that to be a peacemaker like the Bible describes, that you have to be meek, cowardly, and unwilling to confront anything.  But that’s not at all what Jesus models for us as he turns over the money changers tables in the temple or challenges the sinful hearts of the hypocritical religious leaders.  In those stories, we very much see a man willing to confront people and systems that need to be changed. And Jesus was very much willing to step into the conflict with the religious leaders because his bigger objective was to pave the way for all of Israel to find peace with God through a relationship with him – and the religious leaders were standing in the way of that from happening.

What’s unique about a peacemaker is that they might handle a conflict very differently from one situation to the next.  Like a skilled parent who knows that sometimes you need to hold the line when your child misbehaves and other times you need to show mercy and not make a struggling child feel even worse about themselves – a peace maker may sometimes choose to overlook an offense and other times confront the offense.  But regardless of the action taken, the goal of the peacemaker is to bring a God-honoring, peaceful solution to the conflict at hand.

Where We Bring Peace

So, now that we know our duty is to be a peacemaker, like our peacemaking God, where are we to bring peace in this world?

Our Relationship with God

We cannot begin to bring true, inner peace to anybody unless we first experience the peace that comes only from God.  Only God can take our shame, our pain, our sin, our feelings of having to prove ourselves, and exchange those things for total freedom and peace.  Over and over, the Bible tells us that God is our foundation, our rock, our resting place, and the one who tells us over and over to “FEAR NOT”. And the reason we can fear nothing is because of the peace we receive through our relationship with God.

Others Relationship with God

It’s because of our own relationship with God that we then can begin to offer that same peace to others. The apostle Paul makes it clear that we should live our lives always trying to extend this peace towards others:

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 – All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors.

Here’s the thing about extending peace through salvation to others – unless we are reminded of the chaos our lives were before we met God, we won’t feel the urgency to offer the peace we have received to others.  We assume our friends, neighbors, and co-workers are just fine living their lives apart from God, but let me tell you, they are not. Maybe for a few months or few years, things will look fine and peaceful for them, but they have no rock, they have no foundation when life gets hard and the seas get rocky.  And in those moments, we need to extend the peace of God to those we care about.

Our Relationship with Others

Obviously, this has been the point of much of this series we’ve been teaching for 5 weeks now.   God doesn’t want his children to all be in arguments with each other, but instead he wants us to live at peace, in unity, enjoying this life he’s blessed us with.

Granted, God knows humanity well enough, that he also knew that sometimes there would be people where living at peace, the way we hope it might look, may be virtually impossible.  There are some people who are so far from God, and so angry, they are always causing discord. And that’s why the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:18,

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

You are not responsible to BE at perfect peace with everyone, but you are called to TRY.

Others Relationship with Others

Not only are we responsible to try to live at peace with everyone, but we are also responsible to try and help bring peace between others who are in conflict.  Now when I say this, what I don’t want you to do is insert yourself in the middle of a conflict and act as the supreme mediator, or worse yet, the busibody, go-between who usually makes things worse.  That fans the flame and adds to the drama – DON’T DO THAT!

No, instead, I want you to understand your role as friend and confidant when somebody comes to you complaining about a broken relationship in their life.  Your role is NOT to throw gasoline on the fire by agreeing that “You’re right. That person is a total jerk.” Nor is your job to tell them what to do, “If I were you, I’d tell her to…”  Instead, what peacemakers do is we listen and we try to tamp down the flames. We help the person to think clearly, to perhaps give the other party the benefit of the doubt, help them stop assuming the worst, or encourage them to go to the person and humbly address the conflict.  Even better, we can pray with them about the conflict!

This is actually an area where you can bring way more peace to the lives of those around you than you might have ever thought possible.  Think of all the drama among your friends, or in your workplace where people are gossiping about one another and taking sides. How might the dynamic change if instead of joining the conversation, you worked to bring peace to the situation.  How might your family holidays go better for everyone if you made it your mission to do everything you could to pour cold water anytime somebody tried to fan a flame of resentment or hurt feelings. As God’s children, each of us have this responsibility.

Anywhere We See Division

Ultimately, as members of Jesus Kingdom, we are to search for ways to bring peace to any situation where we see division and disunity.  If we see a marriage failing, we are to look for ways to respond and help bring peace. If we see a fight out in public, how can you safely put out the flames and help restore peace.  These situations can appear anywhere, but as peacemakers, our job is to respond.

In America today, I feel like our political landscape is an excellent place for the church to step into the widening gap between the political ends.  Peacebreakers on both sides of the aisle love to fan the flames of dissension by spreading untrue statements about their opponents. Meanwhile peacefakers just avoid any conversation about politics at all costs because it might get uncomfortable.  But Jesus’ people need to step into this mess, address the wrongs, humbly listen to the other side, and look for common ground. You see, neither political party has it 100% correct – if they did, then we wouldn’t find Christians in both political parties.  So with the election just over a week away, how can you apply this message even to your political conversations with friends, family members, and co-workers? Even in the most sensitive of topics such as politics, we are called to be PeaceMAKERS.

Conclusion

Our God is the God of peace.  Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And we, the Children of God, are to be PeaceMakers here on this earth.  And if you really think about it, that’s an incredible honor and responsibility. It’s the opportunity to join God’s efforts in restoring peace to this earth ever since it was first broken.  And I hope, throughout the coming weeks, that you will be on high alert, listening for the Holy Spirit to show you situations where you can bring peace to a situation: whether it be sharing the Gospel of Jesus with somebody or being a listening ear to somebody having marriage issues.  And as you listen to the Spirit’s leading, that you would boldly and courageously speak the words of life and peace to that person.  And in so doing, that you would extend the peace of God on this earth.

SERMON MANUSCRIPT
FENCES: Stop Assuming the Worst

Joshua 22

In the previous message we looked at how we are to resolve conflict with others rather than let it fester.  In this follow-up message, I will be focussing on what I think is the #1 cause of our conflict with others, assuming the worst.

If any of you are like me, you have been in countless situations where you were arguing about something with someone and you weren’t even sure how you got into the argument in the first place.  Likely it was a minor issue, but somebody made an assumption about the other person. Suddenly, one person felt offended, they became defensive, and the fight was on. It’s amazing to me how quickly we can go from smooth waters to rough seas in our relationships with others.

Just a few weeks ago this happened to me with a church member.  I asked a friend of mine here, somebody I know well, joke with, and have no reason to doubt, to help me in a ministry. I gave some ideas of what I wanted done and how she could move forward.  The next day, that person replied to my email with what she thought would work best, and it deviated from what I asked for in several regards. And my immediate response – TRAITOR! How could she do this to me?  Doesn’t she trust my leadership? Does she think she knows better than me on my own area of expertise? I was making all these terrible assumptions about her intentions. And in my frustration I was venting to my wife about how people NEVER do this and ALWAYS do that and my wife in her infinite wisdom said, “Ryan, just call her.”  But not wanting to deal with the conflict, because like you, I hate dealing with it, I said “No.” So my wife called me a big baby and told me to just deal with it! 

So I made the call that night, and guess what?  I had told myself a story about this person’s motives and feelings about me that were completely untrue.  I jumped to thinking the worst about this person’s intentions, and this is a good friends of mine, no less.  And after that call, when everything was cleared up, I felt SO MUCH BETTER. And this little story exemplifies both Part 1 and 2 of this message on Mending Fences.

1. We need to have the humility, maturity, and love to deal with our conflict rather than let it fester
2. Often our conflict is the result of us assuming the worst about someone, more than actual disagreement

And the thing is, I know I’m not the only one who makes these crazy jumps in our mind about our friends, our spouses, our co-workers, people we serve at church with, our pastors, the list goes on and on.  It’s as though in the moment of miscommunication we forget all the goodwill this person has shown us and we make them out to be our opponent. Our spouse of dozens of years can come home, have a bad day at work, snap at something we say, and BOOM, “There he goes again, he’s ALWAYS like this.  I can’t believe he doesn’t trust/care/love me.”

Assuming the Worst Almost Leads to War

And the reason I know I’m not the only one to experience this is because it’s part of the human condition.  It’s part of being in relationship with others in this broken, sin infested world. We see it all the way back in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve, the first people on this earth sin.  And I can guarantee you that they made a lot of assumptions about what God was going to do to them for eating that apple and that’s why they hid. They didn’t want to go address the conflict with God, they wanted to run from it because of what they thought he would do.

The best example of assuming the worst about someone that drives a wedge in a relationship and how to deal with the mess it creates can be found in Joshua 22.  And I have to tell you, I love that I can take a message about relational conflict and use a little-known Old Testament story to drive the point home.

Before getting to Joshua 22, I have to give you the setup to the story.  Towards the end of the 40 years that the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they began to approach the land of Canaan, the land God Promised the Israelites as an inheritance.  And in the book of Numbers, we are told that on their way there, they defeated several kings on the East of the Jordan River. Two and a half tribes of Israel liked this land they were passing through and asked if they could inherit this land on the east of the Jordan River.  And Moses allowed them to do this, so long as they promised to go out and help fight with all of Israel to take over the Promised land on the west side of the Jordan. The entire book of Joshua chronicles the Israelites going through this land and defeating all the people in the area so they could take the land that God had promised to them.  And now we come to the end of the book of Joshua, after all the land has been conquered.

Joshua 22:1–5: Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh and said to them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you. Now that the Lord your God has given them rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

So basically, Joshua is telling them, “Job well done, guys.”  He’s relieving them of their duty and reminding them about their covenant to serve God with all their heart and soul.

Joshua 22:9–12: So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan to return to Gilead, their own land, …

When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan … they built an imposing altar there by the Jordan.

And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar … the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

WOW!  That sure turned in a hurry.  Right after being reminded to only worship God, they build a giant altar.  And the rest of the Israelites, the ones who were just fighting shoulder to shoulder with them, immediately get ready to go to battle against them.  Obviously, they are making some assumptions about why this altar was built.

But before engaging in war, the Israelites sent Phinehas the Priest and a leader from each of the 10 tribes on the west of the Jordan to share their concern.  And they said:

Joshua 22:16–18: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord! And are you now turning away from the Lord?   “ ‘If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel.

Do you see the story they are telling themselves here?  They are assuming the altar that was constructed was to worship other gods and was an act of rebellion.  And really, the only reason they care is because they are afraid God will punish THEM for the sins of these other tribes just like God did years earlier when many people sinned by worshipping Baal and God wiped out 24,000 Israelites by a plague.

Joshua 22:21–28: Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: …

“No! We did it for fear that someday your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.’

“That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord … Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’

“And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’

Now we’re getting to the truth.  The altar wasn’t one to worship other gods at, but one to serve as a reminder that God’s people are living on both sides of the Jordan river.  And notice, both sides did what they did out of fear caused by bad assumptions. The 10 tribes on the west were afraid God would punish them for the sin of the other tribes.  Meanwhile the altar was built in the first place because of a fear of being forgotten and removed from God’s blessing.

Now let’s look at how this whole thing came to a final resolution:

Joshua 22:30: When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community –  the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased.

So they returned home and reported to the Israelites everything that happened

Joshua 22:33:. They were glad to hear the report and praised God.

Now we may shake our heads in disbelief at this story, but it is SO US!  We do this exact same thing. We see somebody act a bit differently than normal and we assume they are mad at us.  Or we see somebody in public or in the church foyer and they turn and walk away and we tell ourselves all sorts of stories about why they did that.  And it might just be BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T SEE YOU!

You see, I believe Satan, our enemy, loves to watch us doubt one another and create conflict where none exists.  And we inflict this pain to ourselves because we don’t feel secure in the other person’s love for us. We assume the worst because we doubt, we don’t fully trust, because we’ve been hurt before and now that’s what we assume of everyone.

How to Stop Assuming the Worst

But God wants so much more for us.  He wants us to be free from the doubt and insecurity that plagues us and causes these negative assumptions.  He wants us to enjoy and be blessed by all the relationships he has put into our lives. And so we need to find a way to get beyond our negative assumptions of others.  We have to move beyond past hurts and times people have broken our trust and stop carrying that into every future relationship in our lives.

So what should you do when you think there’s a miscommunication or you feel yourself making assumptions about a person and their actions or words?  You should follow the model setup in our story about the Israelites:

1. 1. Address the situation – like Pastor Brent taught last week, you cannot let conflict fester or it will only get worse as you keep making more and more negative, and wrong assumptions.
   2. Share both sides of the story – This can be challenging, but both people need to feel like they can safely share what they think is going on from their perspective.  This is not a time to be defensive, but to be humble and receptive.
   3. Feel relief from the clarity – Now that the tension has been resolved and the assumptions are swept away, both of you can feel better and your relationship will be deeper as you proved to one another than you CAN BE TRUSTED.
   4. Praise God  – I think this is a step we forget, but the Israelites recognized that God was worthy of praise for helping them resolve this mess.   We should thank him as well when our conflict is cleared up.

I know I have walked through this exact process many times in my life.  One time I remember clearly, I just felt like my relationship with a co-worker was off.  I felt like they were being snippy with me and I was wanting to retaliate by being snippy back.  The problem was, I didn’t even know what was wrong. I was simply offended, being defensive, and was not enjoying the working with this person.  So I made a point to go talk with the person and humbly say I thought things felt off and wanted to make them right. It was a hard conversation for me to get up the guts to have, but it felt so much better after talking about it. And you know what? My relationship with that person became much deeper and trusting as a result.

Know who’s on Your Team

Now, after saying all these things, if you find that you are the type of person who is often feeling offended, often assuming people are against you, and relationships are just a struggle, I want to encourage you to think about who are the people who are ON YOUR TEAM.  This concept of thinking about your support system, family, and friends as your team came to me as I was training to be a foster parent. In the training, they tell you to reassure a troubled child that everybody is on their team. Their parents, the DHS worker, the therapists, the teachers, the foster parents – everyone is there to be a HELP to the child.  They are all on the child’s team.

The problem is, in the middle of conflict, we forget who is on our team and just like the Israelites, we make opponents out of teammates.  So let these statements soak in and hold on to them when you want to assume the worst about somebody:

Your Family and Spouse

Your parents care about you.  They may say and do things you don’t like, but they’re not trying to hurt you.  The same can be said about your kids. They’re young, they don’t know any better.  But they aren’t your enemy – they care about you. When you’re in an argument with them, remember that.  This is especially true of your spouse. He or she may say things that bug you or make you feel challenged, but don’t assume the worst and retaliate.  Instead, address it. Talk about it. And let your relationship grow as you learn to trust one another as teammates.

Your Church

This is what makes church different than the world.  We are all to show the love of Jesus to one another, to be a picture of unity in a fractured, fighting world. Yes, we may disagree about how to do things or how to handle situations, but we cannot forget that by being a part of the family of God, we are teammates.  We should have the same ultimate goal – to see more and more people come to experience the amazing love of God. So when you feel like something isn’t right with someone, rather than making assumptions and making an opponent, lets let unity lead as we talk through our differences.

Your God

I think this last statement is one we may not think about, but is one some of you may struggle most with.  God is a God of love, a God who wants to be in relationship with you. He’s not a God sitting in the clouds judging all that you do, trying to determine whether to bless or curse you.  When you mess up, there’s no need to hide like Adam and Eve, assuming he will strike you with lightning. He loves you. Trust his love. Stop assuming the worst about him and what he will do to you for your mistakes.  Instead, approach him and talk about your struggles. And feel the incredible relief of God’s deep forgiveness.

Conclusion

God created each one of us for relationship with Him and relationship with one another.  But part of our sinful nature is that we make these relationships a lot more challenging than they ought to be.  We can create mountains out of molehills. Start a civil war against those we triumphed in war with. Our insecurity and doubts lead us into all sorts of negative assumptions that steal our joy and strain perfectly good relationships.  But God wants more than that for us. He wants us to know how to deal with these situations when they rear their ugly head rather than letting them fester. And he wants us to trust that our family, our friends, our church, and our God is on our team!  They are here to help us, not to tear us down – so let’s stop assuming that of them.

I encourage you take a moment to consider how you might mend your fences and put these relational conflicts behind you.  It’s time for us, as followers of Jesus, to show the world the right way to resolve conflict and live at peace with those around us.

Check out the other messages in the You Were Made for This series here. Other messages included You Were Made for Life with God and You Were Made for the Image of God.

My Roll on a Basketball Team

I really enjoy playing basketball.  Maybe it’s because I’ve always been tall – but basketball has been a part of my life for as long as I could dribble a ball.  I still try to play at least once a week, but I’m definitely beginning to feel my age. Anyway, here’s the thing about me – I’m really not very good at scoring, or shooting, or even dribbling. But I’m tall and lanky, so I’m a good defender and I can still jump so I’m really good at rebounding.

The problem is, sometimes I get on a team with a bunch of guys like me who are good at defense and rebounding but none of us can shoot 3’s or drive to the hoop or dribble – and when I get on a team like that, we get beat badly. If however, I am on a team with a short quick guy who can dribble well and somebody who can shoot threes but is terrible at defense, then my rebounding and defense is a huge help in filling a role on the team.

You see, a team where everybody complements one another with different skills, where they know their role, and they fulfill that duty is often much more successful than a team full of all-stars who are all trying to do the same thing. We’ve seen that with some Cinderella upsets in the NCAA tournament going on right now, and we understand that about life.  A strong team of complementary components always wins. And not surprisingly, we even find that in the Bible.

Team Effort in the Bible

Our last two weeks as we have talked about evangelism, we have held up the Apostle Paul as an All-Star who is this phenomenal evangelist. But he couldn’t have done any of what he was doing without a team of people around him. Evangelism for Paul was truly a team effort.  And evangelism for us today is still a team effort.

Today we are going to look at Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  Like many of his letters, he concludes this letter by sending greetings on behalf of the team that’s partnering with him. Let’s take a peek at how Paul ends this letter he sent to the church at Colossae:

7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant a in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) 11 Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

Colossians 4:7-15

Do you see all these different people who play such different roles on Paul’s team which is spreading the name of Jesus all over the Mediterranean.  In just these few verses, he refers to 10 people by name.

1. Tychicus – dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant…. A messenger and encourager
2. Oneisimus – also faithful and dear to Paul – going with Tychicus to deliver this letter
3. Aristarchus – in prison with Paul on behalf of the ministry
4. Mark – also a teammate of Paul’s.  We know from other NT writings that Mark joined Paul on his first missionary journey but abandoned him after the first city.  So Paul’s team was like teams we have been on – there are people you have some friction with. But clearly Paul and Mark worked it out.  Maybe there are people in this church that you struggle to get along with at times in the past. That’s normal. That’s what happens when lots of people with different gifts are all put on the same team.  But in a successful team, people find a way to work together and bury the hatchet. Oh, and one of the benefits of not discarding Mark is that he wrote one of our Gospels.
5. Barnabas – he’s only referred to here as Mark’s cousin, but Barnabas was Paul’s first traveling companion on the first journey.  In Acts 13 we are told that one day at a prayer meeting at a church service, the Holy Spirit told the people to set apart Paul and Barnabas and to send them out to bring the Good News of Jesus to other cities.
6. Jesus – called Justus (probably because it was confusing to be called Jesus after THE JESUS came) – another co-worker for the Kingdom of God who brings comfort for Paul.
7. Epaphras – a guy from Colossae who is “always wrestling in prayer” for you.  I love that phrasing – and I love the role he plays in constantly praying for his hometown.
8. Luke – the doctor – who recorded the life of Jesus and of the early church and coincidently wrote more words in our New Testament by writing the books of Luke and Acts than Paul wrote when you combine his 13 letters.
9. Demas – a nice shout out – apparently was traveling with Paul – but unfortunately we know from a letter Paul wrote to Timothy later in life that, “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.” (2 Tim 4:10).  So even the early church had its difficulties.
10. Nympha – the first woman on the list, who had a home so large the church used it for meeting and she likely then was a leader within the church.

So when taken as a whole, we see Paul’s ministry team which was focussed on spreading the Good News of Jesus all across the Mediterranean included people who are in constant prayer, people who are opening their home for others to meet at, people who travel with Paul and keep him safe, and people who move the letters that Paul writes all around to the various cities. Without any one of these people, these incredibly important jobs would not be fulfilled and Paul’s ministry as the world’s greatest evangelist would not have been as successful.

Jesus modeled Team Ministry

And Paul wasn’t the first to operate with a team when spreading the Good News of the Kingdom.  Look at the life of Jesus. He always traveled with his disciples. Did he need them for preaching or security- not at all.  Remember Jesus was once pushed to the brink of a cliff by an angry mob and somehow, supernaturally, walked right through the mob and out of danger.  But even he knew he couldn’t be an island. And when Jesus sent out his disciples to go to other cities to preach about the Kingdom, he sent them out two by two.  So clearly there is a benefit in approaching evangelism and ministry as a partnership or as a team. Perhaps the basis for this is described in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 where the wise teacher who wrote Ecclesiastes said:

9 Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their labor:

10 If either of them falls down,

one can help the other up.

Models of Evangelism

So while our last 2 weeks we have taught you about how to share the Good News of Jesus with others without being so awkward, today I’m telling you the good news that when it comes to evangelism, you are on a team.  You don’t have to feel like you’re out on an island having to do this all on your own – you have a team of people here at Ashworth who want to support you, encourage you, and even go with you when that’s helpful.

Now saying that doesn’t give you an out to believe that you never have to share your story or talk about spiritual things with another person.  Just because I’m not a great shooter or a great ball-handler doesn’t mean that when I play basketball I should never shoot or dribble. That’s part of the game, it’s just not my specialty.  And in the same way, going out and engaging strangers with the Gospel may not be your things, but if somehow the Holy Spirit creates that opportunity for you, then you have a responsibility to wade into that conversation.

To tie this all together and clarify what I’m saying today, I think it’s helpful to think of the 3 models we see of Evangelism in the Bible and which should ALL be some part of our lives.

Everyone an Evangelist

The first model is what I just mentioned – those 1-on-1 conversations that simply come up as we go about in life.  It’s Paul being questioned by the rulers and him taking that opportunity to share his story and the Good News of Jesus.

2 By 2

Next, we see have the model of Jesus sending out his disciples 2 by 2.  This was intentional evangelism, going out with the purpose of sharing the message of Jesus with others, and bringing along a companion to help.  Maybe what that means is when you have a cookout and invite the neighbors, you invite one other couple from church to join you. It helps you build more connections, perhaps encourages you to be more open about your faith, and adds somebody else who might join you in praying for your friends.  At my now famous annual Oktoberfest BBQ with my neighbors this past year, we invited another couple from church to join us. And while I was talking with one neighbor about church at my side of the table, my friends from Ashworth were having a spiritual conversation with another neighbor at the other end.  Teamwork!

Or if you view your gym as your mission field, invite somebody from church to workout with you so there are 2 of you challenging one another to engage in spiritual conversations.  Remember “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.”  

As a Church Team

Now thinking beyond personal evangelism within your sphere of relationships or the mission field you can bring a partner with you to try and impact, have you ever thought about evangelism as a team effort of each church?  What’s your role in the evangelism efforts at Ashworth? Many times each year we reach out to our community with crazy events in hopes of making connections and beginning spiritual conversation and interest. And each one of us can play an important role in making those events more successful.

Just this past Wednesday night, we had the Create Place with an Easter egg hunt. Over 125 people came and heard all about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  They did crafts with each one pointing to Jesus. Of those who came, over 100 of those people do not attend our church and most of them not Christian. And I’ll tell you that that event took a lot more than just the efforts of our Ashworth Kids Director, Kerri.  We had the entire youth group helping run the stations at the tables, we had women who serve the meal in the kitchen every single month, we had several of our own people just milling around the crowd talking with families. Pastor Brent told the story of Jesus, some volunteers were greeters at the door while others spread out the Easter eggs. It was truly a team effort to get the word of Jesus out to over 100 people who have perhaps never heard the story.  The egg hunt wasn’t just about plastic eggs – it was about evangelism as a church.

And it’s not just the Create Place, this summer we will have two Movie Nights, a month of Kid Cafe, Swim Night and Vacation Bible School. All of these events require lots of behind-the-scenes work to create an attractional event that brings people out and gives us the opportunity to share with them why we do what we do. That’s why we need so many volunteers help make those events happen. And it’s not just the people doing the work that we need. We need others walking through the crowds and talking with parents and asking them where they go to church and finding out if they know Jesus.  Like Epaphras, we need people of prayer who are lifting up every one of these events in prayer and pleading with God that the seeds of the Gospel would bear fruit and that people would experience the life-changing grace that is found in Jesus.

Find Your Roll on the Team

Perhaps in previous years you’ve enjoyed all the activities we’ve done as a church. Maybe you had a lot of fun with your kids participating. But what if this summer you looked at all these events as an evangelism opportunity for your family? What If instead of just sitting with your family and watching the movie, you came early and spent 30 minutes walking around the crowd and making conversation with people? What if you truly tried to live like Paul walking through Athens and connecting with the crowd?

Or what if at VBS, you took an opportunity to share your personal story of coming to faith in Jesus with one of the kids that you make a connection with during the week.  Sometimes the meaning of the Good News of Jesus comes to life when people see how it’s actually affecting somebody who they care about.

Throughout this series we have acknowledged that for many of us sharing our faith is an awkward conversation. But part of its awkwardness comes from our simple lack of experience and from not thinking about it as often as we should. We need to recognize that evangelism is simply something that we have the opportunity to do every single day. Whether it be talking to a co-worker, or sharing our faith story with our own children, evangelism is just talking about how our faith is important to us and makes a difference in our lives. Even serving at church events is a great way of being part of the evangelism that our Church does within our community.

I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on anybody, but Evangelism should be a way of life for every Christian.  Fortunately, God knows the different gifts, skills, and strengths he has given to each of us. And so how we live out evangelism is going to look different for each one of us.  Not every 1st century Christian was like Paul, preaching boldly to large crowds. Paul needed an Epaphras in prayer for all those people hearing the seeds of the Gospel and a Nympha opening her home for the church.  

Evangelism truly is a team sport, where God has brought all of us together, with our different skills and giftings and called us to reach our circles and our community.  And God doesn’t make mistakes – all of us are needed – all of us are valuable to this team. That’s why all of us need to know our role and do it!

Let’s stop thinking that evangelism is only for the super Christians.  Remember, great teams aren’t made great because they are full of super-stars who all have the same skill set.  They are great because they are full of people who know their role and do it the best that they can. For us to be a church that’s great at Evangelism, we don’t need all of you to become a bunch of super-evangelists – we simply need you to know the role you play on our team, and serve in that way with all your might.  Stop worrying that Jesus expects you to be having awkward conversations with total strangers, and start recognizing evangelism as a natural conversation which God can lead you into on any random day of our lives… while you serve popcorn at movie night or greet people at swim night. Let’s allow evangelism to become normalized in our lives. And as we become accustomed to talking with people about Jesus, and serving in our role on the team, the awkwardness of evangelism will fade. And Lord willing, we’ll get to experience the incredible excitement and joy of watching other people find freedom in Jesus.