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I Am the Vine

October 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment

IAmJesus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Am Jesus – I Am The Vine
Sycamore Creek Church
October 12/13, 2014
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

Have you ever been on a swing when the rope or chain became disconnected from the frame?  I was swinging on a porch swing one time when one chain broke as I was swinging toward the edge of the porch.  I went backwards over the back of the swing, somehow rotated in the air and tucked into the fetal position.  My body went between the porch post and a tree stump.  I came down on my head but rolled out of the fetal position so that I was laying flat on my back on the driveway.  I jumped up as if to say, “Look I’m OK.”  In the split second that this whole thing happened, I learned the dangers of becoming disconnected.

Today we’re talking about being connected and disconnected.  We’re in a series called I Am Jesus.  In the book about Jesus written by one of his closest followers, John, Jesus makes seven different “I am” statements.  He says:

I am the way the truth and the life.
I am the bread of life.
I am the gate/door.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the vine.
I am the resurrection.
I am the light of the world.

Last week we looked at his statement, “I am the good shepherd.”  Today we look at what it means when Jesus says, “I am the vine.”

In the book of John, we find the following statement in chapter fifteen:

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
~Jesus (John 15:5 NLT)

It is important to understand the context of this statement.  In chapter thirteen Jesus begins the last supper he will have with his disciples before his crucifixion.  In chapter eighteen Jesus is arrested.  Chapters fourteen to seventeen record Jesus’ dinner conversation.

This is the last conversation Jesus is going to have with his friends.  If you were having a last conversation with family and friends, what would you say?  Jesus decides to talk about grapes.  He begins this chapter saying, “I am the true grapevine” (John 15:1 NLT)

If Jesus is the true vine, then that implies that there are some false vines.  Too often we connect ourselves to all kinds of false vines hoping it will bear fruit in our lives.  If I make more money next year and climb one rung on the ladder, I’ll have fruit.  If I get a certain number of friends on Facebook, then I’ll have fruit.  If I have an appearance of a perfect home (2.5 kids, wife, dog, perfect lawn, etc.), then I will finally have fruit.  But it doesn’t quite work that way.  We have to stay connected to the true vine.  There are at least two reasons why.

1. Staying Connected Produces Fruit
When we stay connected to the true vine, our lives produce fruit.  These fruit are described by Paul, the first missionary of the church, in his letter to the Galatians.  He says:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.
~Galatians 5:22-23 NLT

This isn’t the fruit of more money, or a better looking husband.  It’s an internal fruit.  The fruit of virtue in your life.  This kind of fruit requires staying connected.  It rarely happens overnight.  It’s like learning to ride a bike.  To learn to ride the bike you have to  stay connected to the bike.  You can’t expect to learn to ride a bike if you don’t get on it.  And it takes time staying connected to the bike along with some bumps and bruises to learn the fruit of balancing on the bike.  I came across this boy whose perseverance in staying connected to his bike has finally born fruit.  His encouragement to keep practicing can encourage us to stay connected to the true vine.

 

Recently I’ve been struggling with a particular question: I am staying connected to the true vine, but I’m not seeing the fruit in my life.  One particular challenge lately has been with being a parent.  Too often being a parent brings out all the bad stuff in me.  Why is that?  As I’ve pondered why I’m not seeing fruit in my parenting, I realized that while I’m thirty-nine years old, and in general I have thirty-nine years of remaining connected to the true vine, when it comes to parenting, I’m only three years old.  In other words, in most of my life, I’ve got the maturity and fruit of a thirty-nine-year-old. But in parenting, I’ve only got the maturity of a three-year-old!  But if I stay connected to the true vine, the fruit will come.

If you’re staying connected to the true vine by praying for a friend to come to Christ but it’s not happening, stay connected.  If your anger is still explosive.  Stay connected.  If your lust continues.  Stay connected.  If your impulsive spending persists.  Stay connected.  Here is your “Fruit forecast:” 100% probability of fruit.  But we have to remain.  We have to stay connected.  Continue.  Continue.  Continue.

There are some apple trees on the side of the office.  Sarah and I swung by them this past week to see if there were any apples.  But they only bloom every other year.  Stay connected.  There’s a Ceiba (“SAY-ba”) tree on MSU’s campus that blooms “as little as once every 5 years.”  Or there’s the Corpse Flower that gets its name by smelling like rotting flesh.  It bloomed this past year but “the plants rarely bloom, going years, even decades between showings.”

Stay connected.  Stay connected.  Stay connected.

2. Being Disconnected Produces Nothing
A second reason we need to stay connected to the true vine is because being disconnected produces nothing.  Jesus says:

Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.
~Jesus (John 15:6 NLT)

Sometimes being disconnected is deceptive.  Sometimes it looks like fruit is still being produced.  After one of the big storms we had this past spring, I went on a walk in my neighborhood and came across a tree that had lost several branches.  The branches were lying on the ground, and I was surprised to find that the branches had blossoms on them.  But this was only because there was a limited amount of life left in the disconnected branch.  The next week I walked by this same tree and those branches has been picked up and carted away.

Have you ever plugged your cell phone in before you went to bed only to wake up the next morning and realize that the cord was not plugged into the wall?  Yes, there is some battery left, but not enough to get you through the day.

It’s important to guard against becoming judgmental at this point.  If we become judgmental we can easily end up right in the middle of the very thing we’re judging.   I say to myself, “I’ll never have an affair” but then I do.  Or I say, “My kids are never going to act like that” and then they do.  Or “I’m never going to put my job before my family,” but you do.  Anybody is capable of anything when you’re disconnected from the vine.

So if it’s important to stay connected to the true vine because it produces fruit and because being disconnected produces nothing, how do we stay connected?  Here are two ways.

1. Do What Jesus Says
To learn what Jesus says, it seems like a good place to start is with what Jesus actually says.  So Jesus says:

When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
~Jesus (John 15:10 NLT)

One of my first jobs when I got married was at a fancy Italian restaurant in Petoskey.  The owner, Alex, described himself as not always fun but fair.  He had a very accurate self understanding.  One day he took about ten minutes to show me how he wanted the cheese for the pizzas to be made.  There was a specific ratio of Mozzarella to Muenster that he wanted.  He had a particular way he wanted it run through the grinder.  And then there were more instructions for how to handle it once it was all properly mixed.  After Alex took the time to show me this, I did it his way for about five minutes.  Then I decided I knew better and began doing it my way.  A couple of minutes later he came by and saw that I was not doing it the way he had taken time to show me, and I got a stern lecture about it all.  I was hurt in the moment (no one likes to be corrected), but after thinking about it for a while I realized that even if my way was better, he’s the one who owns the restaurant and he’s the one who’s paying me, and he’s the boss, so I should do it the way he wants.  It was really quite simple.  He was hiring me to do things the way he wanted them done.  And that’s how I should do it.

Let’s admit it.  Christians can be a bunch of loop-hole fanatics.  We find every possible reason not to actually do what Jesus says.  Francis Chan has this provocative insight on not doing what Jesus says:

Go clean your room!  As Chan says, “We have too many believers and not enough disciples.”

So where do you need to quit talking and praying about it and to finally do it?  Someone tells you to lead a small group.  Clean your room!  You need to spend more time with your kids.  Clean your room!  Be more selfless and get outside yourself.  Clean your room!  Serve in the church.  Clean your room!  Serve in the community. Clean your room!  Set time aside to pray.  Clean your room!  Read your Bible.  Clean your room!

Make extra payments on your debt.  Clean your room!  Stay connected to the true vine by doing what Jesus says.

2. Love Like Jesus Loves
The second way to stay connected to the true vine is to love like Jesus loves.  Jesus says:

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
~Jesus (John 15:12 NLT)

Loving each other can be a kind of subjective call.  You might think its one thing while someone else thinks it’s something else.  But Jesus makes sure we can’t wiggle out of this.  He puts some definition on this love.  “Love as I have loved you,” he says.  He steps it up a notch.  Just before this dinner conversation and last supper together, Jesus shows them what this love looks like by serving them.  He washes their feet, the job of a slave or servant.  He explains what this love looks like in himself: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13 NLT).  Jesus raises the standard way high!

A year or so ago I was reading a book called Sacred Parenting.  It was about how parenting itself is a spiritual discipline.  It is a great book, and I highly recommend it to others.  I was sitting quietly in the morning reading the chapter about sacrifice.  The sacrifices a parent makes for their child can be a way that we enter into God’s presence and know something of the sacrifices that God makes for his children.  As I was enjoying reading this chapter and thinking about how sacrifices for my children could draw me closer to God, Micah woke up about thirty minutes early and began crying.  I remember thinking, “Sarah will get him.”  Then the iron struck.  I would rather read about sacrifices in parenting than actually sacrifice in parenting!  Henri Nouwen says, “It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people.”

This loving like Jesus loved is hard stuff.  It’s really hard stuff.  That’s why we’ve got to stay connected.  We can’t do it alone, and it pushes us back to the vine.

Are you staying connected?  Have you become disconnected?  What fruit is your life producing?  What fruit is it missing?  If you desire to stay connected to the true vine, Jesus Christ, then join me in this prayer:

Jesus, you are the true vine.  I want my life to produce fruit, but I confess that too often I try to do that while being disconnected from you.  Help me to do what you say and love like you love so that I might stay connected to you and produce your fruit in my life.  In the power of your Spirit.  Amen.

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Small Steps Toward Big Destruction

January 20, 2014 by Leave a Comment

samson

 

 

 

 

 

Samson – Small Steps Toward Big Destruction *
Sycamore Creek Church
Tom Arthur
January 19/20, 2014
Judges 16

Peace friends!

Today we continue in a series exploring the life of Samson, one of the strongest men who ever lived on the earth.  We’re applying the lessons to the men around us, but many of the principles are true for women too.  And women can also learn more about the men in their lives so that they know better how to partner with and pray for them.

Samson was chosen by God before he was even born to deliver his people, the Israelites, from their enemies, the Philistines.  He was called a “judge” in his day, and a “judge” was kind of like a tribal leader.  He had so much potential but he wasted it away on lust, entitlement, and pride.  We learned the last two weeks that Samson was:

  1. An incredibly strong man with a dangerously weak will (Satan likes to make strong men weak, but God makes weak men strong).
  2. Emotion driven, not Spirit-led (when a man lets his deepest need drive him to God, God meets his deepest need).

Samson led Israel for 20 years, a very long time.  So how can a man with so much potential, end up so poorly?  Here’s a key thought for the day:

Samson didn’t mess up his life all at once, he did it one step at a time.

Let’s see how Samson’s life plays out one step at a time.  We read:

One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.
Judges 16:1 NIV

Here we go.  One day.  What happened one day?  Here’s what happened.  Samson walked to Gaza.  Gaza is the headquarters of the Philistines and is 25 miles from his hometown.  25 miles.  To walk 25 miles would take 56,250 steps.  That’s 56,250 steps to destruction.  56,250 opportunities to stop.

No guy starts out saying, “In ten years I want to be a sex addict, obsessed in a fantasy world that is destroying my real world.”  It begins one day with a step: seeing an ad on Facebook.  Step.  Clicking the ad through to a youtube video.  Step.  Picking up the SI swimsuit issue.  Step.  Going a little deeper with softcore porn.  Step.  Going further with hardcore porn.  Step.  Consuming porn all…the…time.  STEP!

No guy starts out saying, “I want to go broke and bankrupt and have to beg for bucks.”

It begins one day with a step: a daily $4 coffee on the credit card.  Step.  Buying a new car.  Step.  Buying a boat.  Step.  Taking out a second mortgage.  Step.  Gambling to try to fix it all quick.  Step.  Deciding to start a new business when he can’t even balance his own check book.  Step.  Bankrupt.  STEP!

No guy starts out saying, “I want to destroy my marriage and my family.”  It begins one day with a step: looking up an old girlfriend on Facebook.  Step.  Sending a text.  Step.  Getting together for lunch.  Step.  A hug to say goodbye.  Step.  Jumping in bed.  Step.  Adultery that destroys your marriage.  STEP!

Today we’re going to explore three steps to Samson’s destruction.

Taunting the Enemy
When the Philistines realize that Samson is among them at Gaza they make plans to capture him, but he leaves early in the morning and eludes their trap.  But escaping isn’t enough for Samson.  He has to insult them in the process.  So he rips the doors of the city off their hinges and puts them on a hill for all to see.  This is no small feat.  This isn’t the hollow core door to your bedroom.  The doors to a city were massively reinforced to keep battering rams from breaking in.  These things probably weighed 700 or more pounds!  It’s like Samson is flipping off his enemies.  He’s taunting them and underestimating them.

Friends, too often we taunt and underestimate the enemy.  We read in scripture that the enemy of God is out to steal, kill, and destroy and is roaring around like a lion seeking someone to devour (John 10:10).  And we pretend that it’s like we’re at the zoo with a powerful cage between us and that lion, so we taunt our enemies.

One day I taunted and seriously underestimated my opponent.  I was with my roommate from college, Greg, and my new girlfriend, Sarah, soon to be wife.  For some reason, I don’t exactly remember why, I decided to wrestle my roommate.  I do know why.  I was trying to impress Sarah!  And when you’re trying to impress a girl the blood isn’t always flowing to the right parts of the brain.  The blood was definitely not flowing to the right part of my brain in that moment, because Greg was not someone you wanted to wrestle with.  He was a farm boy from Wisconsin.  He grew up wrestling steer into submission and throwing bails of hay onto trucks.  The man was and still is cut out of stone.  He is the first real person I saw up close and personal who had a real six-pack ab.  Not only this but Greg’s primary sport in high school was wrestling!  So what was I thinking trying to impress my girl by wrestling with my roommate?  He took me down in less than two seconds and held me there long enough to really let the embarrassment set in.  It’s the last time I tried to impress Sarah with my physical prowess, or lack thereof.  Thankfully Greg was not really out to steal, kill and destroy me.  He was my friend after all.  But he wasn’t going to let me score a quick point with my girlfriend at his expense.

Friends, too often we treat our enemy the way I treated Greg.  We put ourselves in tempting situations and underestimate and taunt the enemy.  We struggle with lust and then we go hang out in our girlfriend’s room.  We are married but we go out to a club on a business trip out of town.  (Side note: do you know that research has shown that most affairs are not caused by marital strife or marital dissatisfaction.  Most affairs are caused by opportunity!  It’s the affair that causes the marital strife and dissatisfaction. Read more here: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201206/promise-promiscuity).  We’re taunting the enemy.  We know that our family has a history of alcoholism but we decide one drink won’t hurt.  Then two.  Then three.  Then four.  Then five, and we’re smashed.  We don’t really have the money to buy a new car, but we go walk around the car lot “just window shopping.”  The first car I bought in my marriage was bought when I went to just look on the lot.  I didn’t plan to buy a car that day, but I got hooked.  Paul reminds us:

So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12 NRSV

Friends, don’t taunt the enemy.  Don’t underestimate the pitfall.  Stay humble.

Rationalizing the Same Old Sin
So far we’ve encountered two Philistine women in Samson’s life.  The first we read about last week was someone he wanted to marry.  It didn’t go well for anyone involved.  The second we just read about was a Philistine prostitute.  Two Philistine women and we haven’t even gotten to the most well known Philistine woman: Delilah.  But she’s about to come on the scene, and this is the third time that Samson is messing around with a Philistine woman.  (Side note: the issue here is not the difference in race.  There is no command in the Bible not to marry interracially.  The problem is that the Philistines worship another God.  The problem is a faith problem, not a race problem.)  So we read:

After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Judges 16:4 NRSV

Too many of us say, “This is my one thing…This is no body’s business…I’m not hurting anyone…I’m always just looking…Nobody will find out.”  I have a friend who told me the other day that when he first got married he would go to the gym and take his ring off.  He took his ring off because there was this cute girl who was there at the gym, and he wanted to make sure he still had “it” even though he was now hitched.  So he flirted a little here and there, and it worked.  She asked him out.  Whoa!  She asked out a married guy she didn’t even know was married.  The problem here isn’t her problem.  The problem is with my friend.  He wanted to see if he still had it, and he deceived this young woman in order to meet his own needs of insecurity.  Thankfully he manned up to the situation and told her he was married, but the damage was already done.  He was taunting the enemy.

Back to Samson:

The lords of the Philistines came to [Delilah] and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great, and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
Judges 16:5 NRSV

So she goes to Samson and asks to know his secret.  He tells her three different lies to the source of his strength: straps, ropes, and a pin in his hair.  Each time she binds him in the way that he says and the Philistines rush in to attack him, and he breaks out of the binding and beats them.  The third time he gets pretty close to telling the truth but not quite.  It’s like he’s walking up to the line but not crossing.

What amazes me is he keeps this game up.  The first time he tells her a secret and she shares it.  He does it again.  She shares the secret.  He does it again.  She shares the secret.  When will he learn?  Too late.

Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.”  Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death.
Judges 16:15-16 NRSV 

Samson was strong enough to kill a thousand men, lift a 700 pound door, slay a lion, but wasn’t strong enough to lead a woman.  Men don’t just be strong in business, hobbies, and sports but be strong leading people to God.  Be strong in righteousness, right relationships with God, with others, and with yourself.  Samson doesn’t have it.  He tells her his true secret:

So he told her his whole secret, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be like anyone else.”
Judges 16:17 NRSV

It’s kind of like he’s remembering for a moment who he was created to be: A Nazarite dedicated to God to save his people from their enemies.  He was dedicated from before birth!  Who were you created to be?  What gifts, passion, and callings are on your life to bring glory to God?  You were made to have a purpose, even several purposes.  You were made for more than just lust, entitlement, and pride.  Samson gives away what he was made for for the same old sin.

She let him fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. He began to weaken, and his strength left him.
Judges 16:19 NRSV

There it is.  The enemy has him.  How many men out of disobedience of God are doing battle with their own strength and missing God’s strength?  Your strength has left you.  Samson’s “one vice”, his “one sin” catches up with him.

The Cost of Disobedience
So far we’ve looked at two steps that let to Samson’s destruction: he taunted and underestimated the enemy and he rationalized the same old sin.  The third step is this: he assumed his disobedience would never cost him.

Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Judges 16:20 NRSV

Sometime your sin will catch up to you.  You’ll go to your wife, and she’ll say “That’s enough” and the marriage will be over.  You’ll promise your kids another empty promise (even if you really truly mean it this time), and they’ll say “That’s enough” and will give up on you.  You’ll go to your boss and apologize for not doing the work, and she’ll say, “That’s enough” and your job will be done.  Your sin will find you out.  There will be consequences.

We read about the consequences to Samson’s sin:

So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at the mill in the prison.
Judges 16:21 NRSV

This didn’t happen all at once out of the blue.  It happened one small step at a time. Where are you stepping away from God?  Be honest.

No time in the Bible.  Step.
No time in prayer.  Step.
A sense of entitlement: I deserve this!  Step.
Giving in to lust: I want it!  Step.
Living in pride: I can handle it!  Step.
Blowing up in anger.  Step.
Apathetic to God.  Step.
Greed for more.  What you have is never enough.  Step.
Financial disobedience.  Not bringing the full tithe to God.  Step.

You are only as strong as you are honest!  How honest are you with God and those around you?  How honest are you with yourself?

So if you are stepping away from God in any way, what should you do?  Turn around!  Go the other way!  It’s not too late! It’s that simple!  Turn around.  When you turn around, who will be right there waiting for you?  God!  In God you will find grace.  Samson’s story isn’t over.  We read:

But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
Judges 16:22 NRSV

It is a sign of grace.  His hair begins to grow again.  That which gives you strength will grow again!  No matter how many steps down the road you have gone away from God, your life is not a waste.  Turn around and you will find God right there waiting for you and God’s grace will begin to grow your hair again.

God, may the men who hear this message not taunt and underestimate the enemy.  May the men who hear this message not become complacent in the same old sin.  May the men who hear this message not assume that their sin will have no consequence.  May the men who hear this message turn around and find you, and may your grace begin to grow their strength again.  In the name of Jesus and in the power of your Spirit at work in us.  Amen.

 

* This sermon and the series are based on a sermon series originally preached by Craig Groeschel.

 

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One Fish Two Fish Why Do I Do This?

April 29, 2013 by 1 Comment

OneFishTwoFish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Fish Two Fish Why Do I Do This?
Sycamore Creek Church
April 28/29, 2013
Matthew 14:17-25
Tom Arthur

Peace Friends!

What comes to mind when you hear the word “Evangelism.”  For many of you evangelism probably brings up a lot of negative associations.  It does for me too.  There are certain “tribes” of Christianity that I occasionally run into that make me feel like I’m taking a test.  If I don’t get the test right, that probably means I’m not a Christian and need to be converted to their tribe.

I also think Sarah’s experience with a Mormon who came to our door one day.  We had a sign on the door about morning and evening prayer times, and Sarah saw the Mormon evangelist look at the sign, start to walk away, and then come back to the door and knock.  Sarah went to the door and the Mormon evangelist said, “Do you know why God sent a flood on the earth?”  Sarah responded, “I’m a student at Duke Divinity School and married to someone who is studying to be a pastor.  Are you sure you want to get into this conversation?”  He said sheepishly, “No.”  And then he gave her his pamphlet and left!

I recently asked my friends on Facebook this question: What negative associations come to mind when you hear the word evangelism? What bad experiences have you had with evangelism? Either sharing your faith or someone trying to evangelize you?  Here are some of the answers I got [the full answers are at the bottom]:

Two guys showed up to my dorm room unannounced and started grilling me with difficult theological questions that I had no clue how to navigate.

A single narrow minded focus on ‘Christianity’ and if you do not agree completely with their beliefs you are the enemy…

A focus on altar calls and “getting saved.”

I was always afraid of having to “do evangelism.”

I also have been in situations where I’ve somewhat hidden my faith because friends/acquaintances may feel that bringing up my faith in any way is an attempt to either make them feel inferior or change them in some way.

Young men in suits knocking on my door and trying to tell me (while kids cry, dinner burns and I try to escape) why their version of Christianity is the “right” one.

Evangelists just are too pushy and long-winded. They make me feel uncomfortable.

Caring more about my soul than my health and welfare.

The people who come to my door and preach without asking if I already am a Christian, or do ask but still preach anyway.

Walking down a crowded street a guy with a bull horn waited until I was right in front of him before he lit it up yelling about hell. He’s lucky I didn’t send him there.

Earlier in life it made me think of Tammy and Jim Bakker.

Whew!  That’s quite a load of negative associations with evangelism and sharing your faith.  I want you to know that we do it differently here at Sycamore Creek Church.  We’re a church that is curious, creative, and compassionate.  And we are told quite often that people find this a place that isn’t pushy and is very welcoming, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey and what questions you’ve got.  I’d like to introduce you to someone who has been recently coming to SCC and is finding this a good place to seek answers to her spiritual questions.  Meet Marian Wilson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zpVU23XL-A&feature=youtu.be

Marian may be physically blind, but the eyes of her heart are seeking God and finding SCC a good place to do that.  And she even plays the keyboard for us!  And if you were here a couple of weeks ago when she first joined the band, you know that Marian is a real gift to us, even as she’s still seeking answers to her God questions.  That’s the spirit of evangelism that we have here at SCC.

Today we begin a new series called One Fish Two Fish How Do I Do This?  It’s a series about sharing the faith.  Today I’m going to answer the question: Why do I do this?  Why share the faith?

There are three basic motivations that Christians have for sharing the faith, and you can find all of them in the story where Jesus calls his followers to leave their fishing nets and fish for people.  Let’s explore each of these three motivations for sharing the faith.

Concern for Eternity

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Matthew 4:17

For many, the weight of eternity is a significant motivator for sharing the faith.  They look around at the people they come in contact with and see that they’re heading away from God for eternity.  They desire for all to repent, which originally was a traveling term that simply meant “to turn around”, and head toward God for eternity.

One key tool Christians have used over the last fifty years to make this point is often times called the bridge diagram.  There is actually a free app you can download to your phone that walks you and someone else through this bridge diagram.  Here’s a video about that tool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tNvEBnUj15k#at=67

http://www.howtoshareyourfaith.com/images/BridgeDiagram-8.jpg

The basic storyline of this diagram goes something like this:

  1. God created us to be in relationship, but we rebelled and sin entered the world causing a big gap to form between us and God.  The result of this gap of sin is death.
  2. We sense this distance between God and us, and we try to do good works to cross over this gap.  None of our good works is good enough to get us across the chasm.
  3. God saw the predicament we were in and sent his son, Jesus, to bridge that gap.  Through his life, death, and resurrection, he conquered sin and death and created a bridge between us and God.
  4. To cross over this bridge and be in relationship with God we ask Jesus to be our forgiver (Savior) and leader (Lord).  Where do you find yourself in this diagram?

There are some key motivators for those who feel the weight of eternity.  At its worst, the weight of eternity can lead to a motivation of fear, especially a fear of hell, and a desire to make sure one has the right “fire insurance” to not end up there.  When those who are motivated by eternity act out of fear, it is often clear to everyone else around them.  Fear as a religious motivator can be powerful, but also very dangerous and off-putting.

At its best the weight of eternity motivates because we recognize that we’re all mortal.  We all will die.  What’s the number one cause of death?  Birth!  If you were born, you will die.  Our culture does a lot to tell us we’re immortal, and sometimes we need a reminder that we don’t live forever.  While concern for eternity has and continues to be a big motivator for many Christian to share the faith, for me personally, this is not a big motivator.  I am much more motivated by the next two.

Obedience to the Truth

A second motivator for many to share their faith is obedience to the truth.  As we continue reading the story of Jesus calling fishermen to join him and fish for people we read:

As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.  And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”  Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20

“Follow me.”  This is a command.  And it’s a command that implies that the “me” that you’re following is worthy of being followed.  Jesus tells us what this means elsewhere:

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:31-32

Here Jesus is inviting us to be obedient to the truth of his word, to be obedient to him.  What is the truth of who God is and who Jesus is?  If we find any book in the Bible that lays that out systematically, it is the book of Romans.  St. Paul doesn’t lay it out as systematically as we might sometimes like, but his letter to the Romans is the closest thing we’ve got.  Christians have recognized this and created at times what is called the Romans Road.  It is a path through the book of Romans that succinctly describes the truth of Jesus.  What you do is write the Romans Road in the margins of your Bible and then all you have to do is remember where the first verse begins.  You look up that verse and beside it is the next verse.  The content is pretty self explanatory.  There are several versions of the Romans Road, but here is my take:

Romans 1:20—Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.

Romans 3:23—All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23a—For the wages of sin is death,          

Romans 6:23b—But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8—But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9-10—If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

Romans 8:1—There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:16—It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Romans 8:38-39—For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 12:1-2—I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.

One of my favorite ways of describing what the truth of Jesus is comes from a third and fourth century church leader named St. Athanasius.  In his book, On the Incarnation, he begins by describing how we were made in God’s image so that we could have a relationship and friendship with God.  But sin distorted that image and broke the friendship.  Jesus came to restore that image.  Here’s what St. Athanasius says this about the truth of who Jesus is:

What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Saviour Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image.

In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need. Here is an illustration to prove it. ‘

You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a panel becomes obliterated through external stains. The artist does not throw away the panel, but the subject of the portrait has to come and sit for it again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material. Even so was it with the All-holy Son of God. He, the Image of the Father, came and dwelt in our midst, in order that He might renew mankind made after Himself, and seek out His lost sheep, even as He says in the Gospel: ” I came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19. 10) This also explains His saying to the Jews: “Except a man be born anew …” (John 3. 3) He was not referring to a man’s natural birth from his mother, as they thought, but to the re-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image of God.

C.S. Lewis, influenced by St. Athanasius, summed this up even more succinctly: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.”  I sometimes make Lewis a little more gender inclusive by saying: In Jesus, God took on the character of flesh so that flesh might take on the character of God or In Jesus, God became friends with us so that we might become friends with God.

If all that seems too complicated, John Wesley comes to our rescue with a simple description of the truth: “Always remember the essence of Christian holiness is, simplicity and purity : one design, one desire : entire devotion to God.”  Love God with everything you’ve got!

For those who desire to be obedient to the truth, there are some key motivators for sharing the faith. At the worst, this motivation can become intellectual hair-splitting. At its best one is motivated by truth, integrity, reason, honesty, and fidelity.  Why share the faith?  Because we are called to be obedient to the truth.

Joining an Adventure & Rescue Mission

A third reason why one might share the faith is because you’re inviting those around you to join an adventure and rescue mission.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.  So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Matthew 4:23-25

Now that’s what I’m talking about!  For me this is a huge motivator to share the faith.  I want to join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus to heal and transform the world!

One recent tool that has been developed to tap into this motivation is sometimes called the Four Circles or The Big Story or the True Story.  It is somewhat of a reaction to the bridge diagram.  The bridge diagram is very individualistic.  As you’ll see the Four Circles diagram is very community oriented.  Here’s a quick video that describes the four circles:

http://vimeo.com/24231464

To see how this works if you drew it out, here’s a more home-grown video of the Four Circles being explained by it’s creator, James Choung:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCVcSiUUMhY

http://openchurchnz.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/choung4circlestruestory.jpg

Here are the four circles:

  1. Creation – Designed by God for good.
  2. Fall – Damaged by evil and living self-centered.
  3. Redemption – Jesus restores for better, and his life, death and resurrection show that sin, evil and death don’t have the last word.
  4. Mission & Adventure of Following Jesus = We are sent together to heal to become an agent of mission to change the world.  The goal is to transform you and send you to transform the world by bringing God’s kingdom now.

I have a hard time coming up with worst case motivations for this, but if I had to, I’d say that because it is a reaction to the Bridge Diagram, sometimes this motivation can be simply reactionary.  But at it’s best, wanting to join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus I am motivated by: compassion; justice; ending or reducing poverty; tearing down the walls of racism, sexism, classism, etc.; and bringing God’s Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.  Now that’s what gets me up in the morning!

I like this way of thinking about evangelism and sharing the faith because it is also communal.  We don’t do it alone.  We are sent together to heal.  We invite people to join in that adventure and rescue mission.  Who doesn’t want to be involved in transforming the world for better?  And a key doorway into this mission is through worship.  Worship is the staging ground for this adventure and rescue mission.  We attempt to make this as easy as possible for you by providing three to five Big Sundays every year.  Easter was our last Big Sunday.  So you know that we had almost three hundred people here on Easter?  That’s amazing!

Imagine with me a community of people that were motivated to share the faith because following Jesus led to personal transformation.  Addictions are broken.  Marriages are healed.  The lonely find community.  The “worthless” find worth.  The least become the greatest.  The last become the first.  The lost become found.

Imagine with me a community of people that were motivated to share the faith because following Jesus leads to joining an adventure and a rescue mission to the world.  The homeless women and children at Maplewood find a home.  Those on the edge of society find a welcoming place at Open Door.  Those who are forgotten because of their age and health find friendship and love at Holt Senior Care.  Those in need of basic supplies for life find them at Compassion Closet.  Those who need medical assistance in Nicaragua find health and healing and hope.  Do you know that these are all places where our church is already reaching out to the community and world?  We do it by receiving money and giving it away.  Do you know that we have over the life of our church received and given away almost $80,000 in special offerings that have gone to meet the needs of our community and world?  SycamoreCreekChurch is joining the adventure of Jesus and his rescue mission to save the world.  That’s why we share the faith!  Will you join the adventure?

God, sometimes we’re not very motivated to share the faith.  Sometimes we’re even scared and overwhelmed.  Give us motivation when we don’t have any.  Help us have a concern for eternity. Help us be obedient to the truth.  Help us join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus to transform the world.  Amen.

Friends, I want to let you know about two things.  First, there are three books that have been influential to me in working on this series.  I’d like to encourage you and/or your small group to pick one up and read it.   They are:

God Space by Doug Pollock

This book is a short (127 pages) easy to read book about how to get into spiritual conversations with those around you.  I heard Doug speak about a year ago and was deeply moved by his approach to evangelism.  His approach is really about how to listen well and ask good questions.  I don’t think you can go wrong with this book.  If you’re not sure about which book to pick, pick this one.

Coffee Shop Conversations: Making the Most of Spiritual Small Talk by Dale Fincher and Jonalyn Fincher
This book is a little longer (219 pages) but covers more ground than Pollock’s book.  It deals with the same topic, how to start spiritual conversations, but also spends a lot more time covering what the Christian faith is and how to respond to possible “arguments” against the Christian faith.  If your group wants to go deeper than just how to get into the conversations and needs some help with answers to possible questions that come up, this book would be the one to go with.

True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In by James Choung
This book is the most readable even if longest (222 pages) of the three because it is almost all a narrative (And at times is a page-turner!).  It is a “fictional” conversation between a college-age Christian, a mentor professor, and his non-Christian love-interest.  This book doesn’t dive at all into how to get into spiritual conversations, but shows how to talk about Christianity in a way that is compelling to our current culture.  The book attempts to correct some past ways that Christians have tended to present the gospel that have caused our culture to tune out Christians.

Second, in the fourth week of this series I’m going to be doing a live Q&A with you answering the question: What about objections?  I’m going to give you the opportunity to ask the kinds of questions you’re afraid will come up if you talk about your faith with others around you.  I’m not preparing much for this message because I want you to see what it looks like to answer these questions unprepared and on the spot.  I want to model for you how you might answer objections to the faith, and I may even have to model how to say, “I don’t know.  Let me get back to you on that one.”  So begin compiling your questions and bring them on week four!

Facebook Questions & Answers

Full answers from my friends on Facebook to the questions: What negative associations come to mind when you hear the word evangelism? What bad experiences have you had with evangelism? Either sharing your faith or someone trying to evangelize you?  Here are all of the answers I got:

Back in college I attended a ministry on campus. Once they had my contact information, two guys showed up to my dorm room unannounced and started grilling me with difficult theological questions that I had no clue how to navigate. I was young in my faith and they knew it. After fumbling through my responses, they left. At no point did I feel they actually cared about me. They were there with an agenda. They had no intention of hearing my thoughts. It was as if they only cared about results and could care less about fostering a friendship. Needless to say, I never returned and they never wondered where I went.

A single narrow minded focus on ‘Christianity’ and if you do not agree completely with their beliefs you are the enemy…

A focus on altar calls and “getting saved.” Specifically, I think about when this big production with BMX bikes and loud music came to my high school gym one Friday night. If you didn’t attend the event, you must not have been a Christian. If you didn’t go up front at the altar call, you must not want to be saved. Shame on you!  A similar pressure was present at other church events like concerts and such. It never happened at Lake Louise, Lake Michigan, or Wesley Woods… all UMC camps. I love being United Methodist!

I was always afraid of having to “do evangelism.” I saw a poster once that showed a polar bear on this empty frozen wasteland. The caption read “Now this is my kind of neighborhood for evangelism.”

What I don’t like about being evangelized to is the feeling that there is only one belief and if you don’t agree fully with every single facet then somehow you are “less than” as a person.  I personally don’t like to evangelize to others because I don’t necessarily “fit” the traditional Christian mold. I also have been in situations where I’ve somewhat hidden my faith because friends/acquaintances may feel that bringing up my faith in any way is an attempt to either make them feel inferior or change them in some way. For example, I know religion is a touchy subject with most members of the LGBT community, and even though I personally feel that God is love and everyone has the right to seek personal happiness, bringing up my faith could be seen as passing judgment or even an attack.
My short answer? Evangelism is awkward for me. Religion and faith place me in a box that I personally don’t fit into.

Young men in suits knocking on my door and trying to tell my (while kids cry, dinner burns and i try to escape) why their version of Christianity is the “right” one.

When I rebelled against God I disliked Christianity, especially those who evangelized their faith. As I mature in my Christian faith I respect those that profess their faith and encourage their enthusiasm. In retrospect, I am thankful to God for those annoying evangelists who sparked contempt and fear into my heart.

Interesting you should ask that, that was the exact question my worship committee discussed this month as we gear up for a sermon series on evangelism: what is it and what it isn’t. I hope God is blessing this conversation for you and your church!

Evangelists just are too pushy and long-winded. They make me feel uncomfortable.

Caring more about my soul than my health and welfare.

The people who come to my door and preach without asking if I already am a Christian, or do ask but still preach anyway. If I believe the same thing, I shouldn’t be offended or feel uncomfortable when you talk about it. I can only imagine how much worse it is if it is a non-believer who answers the door.

Walking down a crowded street a guy with a bullhorn waited until I was right in front of him before he lit it up yelling about hell. He’s lucky I didn’t send him there.

Hmm today at sm group we watched a Nooma video called bullhorn, it’s about a bullhorn guy screaming hell fire and brimstone. I loved how he talked about how Jesus “evangelized”

I don’t think of evangelism the same way as I did when I wasn’t as far along in my faith walk. Earlier in life it made me think of Tammy and Jimmy (?) Bakker. Anyway, it was a turn off, pushy, intrusive. Now I see openly talking about faith and how I can lean on God through faith feels comforting and “looks” totally different from “The Bakers.” I don’t feel fake like the big hair and clumpy makeup or the loud pushy preaching.

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Ancient Hippies – Jonah

November 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Ancient Hippies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Ancient Hippies – Jonah
Sycamore Creek Church
November 18 and 19, 2012
Tom Arthur
Jonah

Note: The basic idea of this sermon came from David “Welshy” Wilson who preached an excellent sermon on Jonah at the Wesley Fellowship at Michigan State University.

Peace friends!

Hippies are kinda weird.  They’re sometimes offensive.  At their best, they speak truth to power.  That’s the 1970s variety.  The ancient variety is called a prophet.  The prophets were ancient hippies.  The prophets in the Bible were kinda weird.  Sometimes they were offensive.  And they always spoke truth to power.  But sometimes the prophet needed truth spoken to him.  Today we explore an ancient hippie: Jonah.

One of the great things about the book of Jonah is that it is short and compelling and an entertaining read.  It has four chapters.  Pick it up this afternoon or this week and read it all in one sitting.  It’s not long at all.  Today we’ll have the chance to range over the entire book.  So let’s dive right in.

Jonah 1:1-3 NLT
The LORD gave this message to Jonah, son of Amittai:  “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh! Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction in order to get away from the LORD.

Most of us are pretty familiar with this part of the story.  God calls Jonah to go speak truth to power inNinevehand Jonah runs from his mission.  He went in “the opposite direction”!  What mission are you running from?

Sometimes even though I’m a pastor I run from the mission of sharing God’s love with others in explicit ways.  I’m a pastor but I’m timid to bring up spiritual things in conversation with people I don’t know well, or people that I think might not like me if I bring them up.  The other day I was talking with someone I had recently met and she brought up her spiritual story.  I’m such a bozo that I changed the topic!  What was I doing?!

Other times I’m timid to bring up questions of eternal significance with people who haven’t explicitly signaled to me that they want to talk about these kinds of things.  Maybe this is because of my experience “Mall Witnessing” as a teenager.  Do you know this behavior?  You go with your youth group to the mall and you try to lead people to Jesus who are complete strangers.  I was about as successful at mall witnessing as I was at picking up girls at the Mall!  Which is to say zero percent successful.  And all either ever did was make me feel really uncomfortable.

Or maybe I think I’m afraid of coming across like the guy who shot me with theological questions and Bible verses one day before our Monday night worship at Grumpy’s.  He came up to me and within thirty seconds said:

  • Do you believe in being born again?  It’s in the Bible.
  • What about regeneration?  Being made a new creature?  It’s in the Bible.
  • Do you believe in hell?  Do you preach about it?  It’s in the Bible.
  • Do you preach the Bible?
  • Do you believe that the body of Christ can be split?  The Bible says…

I don’t think he really cared about what I thought, he only wanted to quote the Bible at me.  He didn’t even really seem to care that I was working on setting up for a worship service!  I felt like hiding under a table.  Really.  I just wanted him to go away.  And I’m the pastor!

So if you’re a guest here today, I want you to know, that we’re not like this.  We’re curious about God.  Questions are welcome.  You don’t have to have it all figured out to belong here.  You’re free to even disagree with me!

I know I’m not alone when it comes to running from this mission of sharing God’s love with others in spiritual conversation with others.  I asked my friends on Facebook what keeps them from inviting people to church.  Here’s what I heard back from them.  They fear:

  • Forcing a conversation
  • Being pushy and preachy
  • Not wanting to look judgmental
  • Scared that their own faults will make them look hypocritical
  • Guilt by association – The church hurts people
  • Being asked a question they can’t answer
  • Being “out argued”

So sometimes we run from the mission before us, just like Jonah.  We run for a variety of reasons.  Let’s get back to Jonah and see what happens.  The big question in the book of Jonah is: What exactly is the mission in the book of Jonah?

As we keep reading we find that Jonah hops on a boat and goes the opposite direction that God wants him to go.  A big storm picks up and Jonah realizes he’s the reason for it.  He tells the sailors to throw him into the sea to stop the storm…

Jonah 1:15-17 NLT
Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once!  The sailors were awestruck by the LORD’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.  Now the LORD had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Growing up you’re told that the story of Jonah is about trusting God to provide in a time of trial, God sent a whale to save Jonah.  But that’s not what the story is about!  The mission ultimately isn’t about the whale.  Although God “appointed” or assigned a mission to the great fish.  The whale follows God’s mission when Jonah wouldn’t!  As we keep reading we find that the whale spits Jonah up on dry ground.

Jonah 3:1-4 NLT
Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time:  “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message of judgment I have given you.”  This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.  On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”

Jonah finally obeys God’s command to go and speak truth to power inNineveh.  His heart isn’t in it, but he goes anyway.  How many times do we go through the motions out of obedience (for fear we’ll get swallowed by a whale!), but our hearts are far from God’s heart?  So what happens when we obey without our heart in it?  Let’s keep reading…

Jonah 3:5 NLT
The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they decided to go without food and wear sackcloth to show their sorrow.

We find that obedience is important.  God will work in spite of our hypocrisy, our going through the motions on the outside, but not caring on the inside.  That’s pretty amazing.  God works in spite of us!  Thank you God.  And when you read the rest of chapter three, you see that even the animals repent.  The king orders everyone to wear sackcloth including the animals!  (I’ve always wondered if the cats submitted to this?).

So this is the mission of Jonah, right?  This is what we’re supposed to get out of this book, right?  Jonah was given a mission to speak truth to power.  At first he disobeyed but then he obeyed. Ninevehrepented and God did not destroy them.  That’s the moral of the story.  Right?  Well, actually no.  The mission of Jonah isn’t ultimately aboutNineveh.  In fact, most of us don’t even know what happens in the fourth and last chapter of Jonah.  So let’s keep reading…

Jonah 4:1-4 NLT
This change of plans upset Jonah, and he became very angry.  So he complained to the LORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people.  Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead than alive because nothing I predicted is going to happen.”  The LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

Here we find what the real mission is for Jonah.  It’s not about Nineveh.  The mission, the truth that needs to be spoken is more about Jonah himself!  The mission is to change Jonah, for Jonah to care about people he didn’t care about before, people who were literally his enemies. Nineveh was their capital of the Assyrian Empire which sacked Israel and took them off into exile.  Jonah understandably does not like them and only wants God to wipe them off the face of the earth.  But God cares for the Assyrians and wants to make a point to Jonah.  God’s heart is one of compassion and mercy to all, even our enemies.  That’s the truth that needs to be spoken to Jonah.  It’s the true mission of the book of Jonah.  Jonah needs to be saved as much as Nineveh!

The Problem and the Point
Here’s the problem both with Jonah and us: Our hearts don’t beat with God’s heart. We don’t care about the same things God cares about, people far from God.

Here’s the main point of the book of Jonah: The mission is to sync our hearts with God’s heart, to care about the same things that God cares about, which is to share God’s compassion with all.

Lately I’ve gotten a little…OK a LOT…hooked on The Voice.  I haven’t watched it before, but I have kept up with it this year.  Something happens each time someone leaves the competition: there’s often a disconnect between the mentors/judges and those watching the show.  Their hearts aren’t always synced.  The audience likes one person and the judges/mentors like someone else.  The mission of Jonah is to sync all those hearts together, to get them beating in unison.

The end of the book of Jonah is somewhat startling.  A plant grows up to provide Jonah some shade.  But the sun kills the plant.  Jonah is pretty upset that this plant died.  And we continue reading…

Jonah 4:8-11
And as the sun grew hot, God sent a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than this!” he exclaimed.  Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?” “Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”  Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. And a plant is only, at best, short lived.  But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness,not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

That’s the abrupt end of the story.  What happened?  I don’t know.  Jonah’s heart at this point is such that he cares about his own comfort, while God’s heart is such that he cares about whether God’s comfort has come into the heart of all people.  The book of Jonah is written as if the end of the story is now up to you!  Will you obey even if your heart isn’t in it, but go even deeper by seeking a heart change, by seeking to sync your heart with God’s heart?  God’s heart is this: that all people would know the compassion and comfort of God.

So when was the last time you had a conversation about the compassion of God with someone who didn’t know the comfort of God?  When was the last time you invited someone to come to join our church in worship?

This month is our twelfth anniversary as a church.  We are twelve years old.  We’re only a pre-teen.  Pretty soon we’re going to get rebellious!  To celebrate our twelfth birthday, we recently interviewed Barb Flory, the “rebel grandma” who was the founding pastor of Sycamore Creek Church.  We asked her what excited her about SCC these days.  Here’s what she said:

Did you hear that?  Barb is excited that we’re stepping out of our comfort zone to creatively reach new people for Christ.  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

Now here’s the deal as I’ve begun to experience it.  When you start something new like our Monday night Church in a Diner at Grumpy’s Diner, it’s super easy to invite people to it.  It’s also super important.  Because it’s obvious that if you don’t invite people, it won’t live to see another day.  Something I’ve noticed about our Sunday morning venue is that twelve years into it, we’ve become a little more concerned about our own comfort and a little less concerned about whether we’re sharing the comfort of God with others.  We can kinda coast on Sunday mornings.  But if we coast too long, we’ll end up slowing down and dying.

So I’d like to give you some practical tips this morning on how to invite people to experience the compassion and comfort of God by joining us for worship some Sunday or Monday.  I asked several different people how they invite people.  Here’s the responses I got:

Amberlee

Amberlee focuses on the feel of the venue.  It’s relaxed and casual.  The teaching is practical.

Mark

I love how Mark makes it seem so simple, like sharing about your favorite restaurant.

Gretchen

Gretchen has an idea that I’ve used myself.  When someone asks you how you’re doing, don’t just say, “Fine.”  Tell them you’re excited about something going on at your church.

Bill

Bill is the owner of Grumpy’s, and he’s always inviting people to join us.  He can’t attend a church on Sunday morning so this has become his church.  He simply shares with people what he gets out of it.

It doesn’t quite work the same way for me that it works for all of you.  A conversation with me always brings up church because people ask me what I do.  Then when I tell them I am a pastor, they ask about the church and location.  But I could stop there.  On my good days, I take the conversation at least one step further by asking, “Do you have a church family?”  I find that question is a non-judgmental way to ask about church.  If you ask if they attend church, then it kinda puts them on the defensive if they don’t.  But if you ask if they have a church family, then you’re asking about their community.  I had a conversation like this the other night with a dad I met at the pajama reading time at the Holt Library.  We both had sons in their pajamas “listening” to the librarian read bedtime stories.  He asked what I did, and we got into the conversation.  I asked him if he had a church family and he said he didn’t because he thought that religion causes a lot of damage around the world.  I told him I couldn’t agree more.  He told me that he still didn’t have his religious views figured out and I told him we were a community that is curious, you can bring your questions with you.  I said, “I’m a pastor, and I’ve still got questions!”  The conversation didn’t go much further than that, but I did invite him to our daddy kid night out.  I look forward to seeing him again at another pajama story time and continuing the conversation.

Now I wasn’t always comfortable in that conversation.  In fact, when he brought up the whole religion-does-a-lot-of-damage thing, I was working really hard not to get defensive.  But what I knew deep down was that God loves this guy.  And he’s got some kind of pain in his life that needs God’s comfort.  I don’t know what it is, but maybe someday I’ll get to know him better and will learn what that is.  But the mission in that moment was for my heart to sync with God’s heart for this other young dad whether I was comfortable with it or not.

Friends, look for God in the midst of your discomfort.  What is your discomfort telling you about what God cares about, where God’s heart is at?  It may be the exact opposite of where your heart is at.

Imagine this: we could double in size next week if everyone invited one person!  We could reach out to twice the number of people and share with them the love and comfort of God if each one of us brought a friend, family, neighbor, or co-worker with us next week.

It’s the Christmas season.  That’s the perfect season to invite people.  If someone is going to be open to coming to church, this is the time when they’re open.  We’re shooting a commercial today to help till the ground for you ahead of time, so that when you invite them, they’ll have already heard about us.  Our Christmas series is simply called Carols.  Each week we’re going to look at a Christmas Carol in a new way.  They’re songs you’ve heard over and over, but you’ll walk away each week hearing it in a whole new way.  Who can you invite to this series?  Take a moment and write down three names.

Here’s how I’ve seen invitation happen lately: Bill invited Carl and he came.  I invited Molly and she brought ten people with her!  Daniel invited Julie and Julie invited her whole family: 4 “kids” and 3 or 4 grand kids! Josh walked by and saw the Grumpy’s sign and invited his roommate, Tom.  His roommate invited a friend.  That guy invited a friend too!  Each of these people’s heart was synced with God’s heart to share the comfort and compassion of God with others.  Is your heart in the mission?

Prayer
Here are two prayers from a prayer guide I’ve been using lately:

Lord, you have such compassion on all you have made.  Thank you for loving this fallen world so much that you gave your only son to redeem it.  Help those who are lost to realize that you don’t want anyone to perish, but instead desire for everyone to come to repentance (Psalm 145:9, John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9).

Lord, help me be more sensitive to those who are lost and outside the family of God.  Give me your heart of compassion for them because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).

Amen!

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Is Chastity Really Possible?

April 22, 2010 by

Father James Martin keeps popping up everywhere I look!  I first heard this guy on an NPR interview.  I wrote him an open letter and he responded.  Now he’s on a website I subscribe to calling Big Think (a great website and well worth getting their weekly email).  This video highlights some great ideas about how Jesuits can teach us something about mature spirituality.  I wonder how married people can live into these same kinds of vows: poverty, celibacy (fidelity?), and obedience.  What do you think?  Share some thoughts in the comments.

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