Dust from the Rabbi's feet

An ancient Jewish proverb states, "Follow the rabbi, drink in his words, and be covered with the dust of his feet."  Those studying under a Rabbi, or his disciples, would follow him so closely that they would be literally covered in the dust from their sandals. 

I've been a part of a dicussion this week about true discipleship, where the church is missing the mark, and how can we make a course correction.  I think the first thing that needs to be established is, despite how some believe, the "Church" is not broken.  The church is the bride of Christ.  Even when we want to slam her down, beat her up, pick on her, spit on her, and just be down right mean to her; we must remember what Hosea 3:1 says, "The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife (the church) again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress.  Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods, and love the sacred raisin cakes."  Despite how the people inside the church act, the church is not broken.

Speaking of the people inside the church...these ARE broken people.  Most people don't come to church when they've "got it all figured out".  Most of the people I encounter in church today are those who don't have it all figured out.  They are broken, spiritually dismembered, cast out, kicked off the island, fringe kind of people.  Most of them think they've got it together, but deep down inside they are spiritually poor.  They have no sense of normalcy in their lives.  I'm not just talking about those who on the outside don't look like they have it together, I'm talking about those who don't have it together on the inside either. 

So it leads me to ask this question...what is normal for a broken person?  I say Jesus.  Some of you are probably skeptical, and I'm going to ask that you not write me off just yet.  Some of you are saying that's garbage because I have lots of things in my life that I find fulfillment through and in that don't involve Jesus or Christianity.  First of all, let's let go of the Christianity thing and really talk about Jesus here.  Let's talk about what He really said.  If we look back and really read what He's saying, he's not calling us to a life that is easy by any stretch of the imagination.  In Matthew 4:19 Jesus says, "Come follow me and I'll make you fishers of men."  He's asking his disciples to let go of everything that they view as normal and come follow him.  These guys had it together.  Most of them weren't broken from the outside, but what Jesus knew was that they were broken on the inside. 

In saying "Come follow me" Jesus is asking us to drop what we find normal and follow him.  But what if you don't have normal so to speak?  Or a better question, again, would be "What is normal?"  Is normal dictated by society?  Or is normal dictated by Jesus.  Why is Jesus not our normal?

Here's some other questions to ponder on as well...

*  If we are called to make disciples, why do we not?
* What does it even mean to be a disciple of Jesus?
* Why do we keep on relying on systems of "discipleship" that have never worked and will continue to never work? (By the way, a friend of mine says that these systems are just episodic and unfulfilling.  I would agree.)
*  Why is it that you've been to tons of leadership conferences, teaching conferences, summits, etc. and yet nothing has changed?

1 Thesasalonians 2:8 says this, "so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well."

Discipleship is not leadership, it's "with me".  It's not a book.  It's not a conference.  It's not Sunday morning church.  It's not Sunday School.  It's not seeing how we can insert the latest and greatest gadget into our service.  True discipleship is following in the footsteps of Christ so closely that you are covered in the dust from his sandals. 

So what's holding us back?  Jesus left the 99 for the 1.  He was all about the 1.  Is it the fear of reaching the 1?  Is it the fear of revealing who you really are to another person?  Why do we wish to speak to the 100 and not the 1.  Is it to be known?  My friend Jim said one time, "Jesus didn't write a book, he invested in the men around him."

So who are you investing in right now?  Who are you discipling?  Because people know the story...they just want us to show them that it's real.

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

This is a copy of my manuscript from the sermon I preached at the Later Multi-cultural worship Service at St. Luke's UMC on Sunday, July 3rd, 2011. 

We’re beginning a series this month on the church; who and what is the church, how the church should function, and what the Bible says about the church.  Tonight we’re going to start with evangelism.  Now, before we begin I want to address a couple of issues.  First and foremost, evangelism is not a dirty word.  However, like many other words and things in this world, it has been taken completely out of context in our current culture especially when discussing Christianity in America. 

First, I want to tell you what evangelism is not so that you can weed out some of the misconceptions that you may have about what this word actually means. 

Evangelism is not knocking on someone’s door that may or may not have visited your church and asking them if you could visit with them to share with them about why they are sinners and what they should do about it.

Evangelism is not handing out a leaflet that explains salvation and the road to it, only to walk away and expect the person to understand something that they are probably clueless about.

Evangelism is not some preacher pounding the pulpit on your television screen or computer telling you that if you don’t repent today you’re going to burn in hell.

Evangelism is not trying to interject Jesus into every single conversation that you have with someone who is not a professing believer in Christ.

However, we’re about to find out what exactly evangelism really is.  So let’s start where we should always start, with the good news. 

SCRIPTURE:

If you’d turn in your Bible to Matthew 9:35-38 or if you don’t have a copy of the Bible scoot close to someone who does or feel free to read the words on the screen.

So let’s read from the text in Matthew 9.  The text says,

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

CONTENT:

So let me give you some background about what’s going on here in the scripture.  First of all, Jesus has been walking around and healing people, driving out demons, and as verse 35 states, “proclaiming the GOOD NEWS”.  I like that word GOOD NEWS.  Actually did you know that the word Evangelism comes from the Greek word "euangelion” which literally means “I bring a message”.  Later on it is thought to be translated into the words “Good News”.  So here is a true definition of what evangelism really is.  It’s going out and proclaiming the Good News of God’s love and kingdom and bringing healing to people.  Now, does that sound like anything that I mentioned above about the misconceptions of what evangelism really is?  Certainly not!

So moving forward we know that the definition of evangelism is “Going out to spread the good news of God’s love and his kingdom and helping heal people”.  We’re going to talk about how to live that out in our everyday lives here in a minute, but there’s some other stuff we have to talk about first.

Now that we know the definition of what evangelism really is let’s look back at the scripture and see what Jesus was thinking and doing.  It says in verse 36 that he saw the crowds and had compassion on them because they were helpless like sheep without a shepherd.  That word compassion comes from a Greek word which literally means to be moved in the inward parts which indicates a deep feeling in the heart and emotions.  Jesus literally felt burdened for these people.  Why?  Because their religious leaders at the time had abandoned them.

Have you ever felt abandoned by someone that you cared about or thought cared about you?  Maybe it was someone who was your pastor, preacher, or a friend/family member that you knew was a Christian.  It’s a horrible feeling!  These people felt abandoned by their pastor’s, their “church”.  So Jesus see’s this and feels the deepest of compassion for them.  The Pharisee’s who were charged with their protection and given the responsibility to guide them had left them and failed them.  So Jesus felt compassion for them.  You see the Jewish people at the time were looking for their Messiah.  And many had come claiming to be that person, but the Jewish people still had not found what they were looking for.  So here comes Jesus, who we know is the true Messiah and he feels the utmost compassion for them.  Not because they are Jewish and he is Jewish.  Not because they are in the right place at the right time, but because they had been abandoned, marginalized, placed on the fringe.  Jesus comes with that compassion and heals them and presents to them the Good News that we now know as the Gospel message, a message of love, a message of hope, but a challenge to our lives as well.  Jesus is guided by a deep understanding of the real needs of people.

Jesus then goes on to speak to the Disciples in verse 37 and as one of your Pastor’s I speak to you disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”  Jesus and the disciples are surrounded by so many people who are not only in need of physical help, but also spiritual and emotional help.  There are many people in this world that are in need of help.  Maybe tonight you would consider yourself someone that was is in need of help.  Jesus is trying to communicate to the disciples that those in need of help far outweigh those who are willing to actually provide help.  Ironic that after 2000 years not much has changed.  But church, it can change.  It can change starting tonight if we would decide for ourselves to bring healing to those around us.

In verse 38 Jesus challenges the disciples and I challenge you this evening with this verse as well, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  Tonight we are asking you, the church, disciples of Jesus, to be compassionate for those who need healing and go with the message of Good news and share with others.  But the method of doing this I think is what makes us uncomfortable and where we see the common misconceptions of our day.  Having compassion for people is where this drive to share with others should come from.  We must feel the deep and utmost compassion for those who need healing and not just physical, but spiritual and emotional as well.  However, we cannot just let it end with our feeling of compassion.

Evangelism IS getting close enough to people to see how YOU can bring the healing touch of the Gospel message, God’s love, to their deepest of needs.  Jesus spent most of his time conveying the message of God’s love by spiritually healing people.

Church, many times in the past we have failed in our attempts to bring spiritual healing to those in need.  We have sat back and watched the world, our family, our friends, our neighborhoods and our city deal with seemingly hopeless situations.  But the Good News is that it doesn’t have to be that way.  So tonight’s message is a wake-up call.  Christ has called each of you to bring spiritual healing to those around you, your neighbors, your friends, and to transform the world by making disciples. 

But how do we do this?  It is not by simply knocking on someone’s door and asking them if they’d like to accept Jesus as their savior.  It is not handing them a leaflet that leads them down a literary road to salvation.  It is not by raising your voice and getting angry at them.  It is not painting a pretty picture that life will be a walk in the park if they would just accept Jesus.  It is not by wearing a t-shirt or having a bumper sticker on the back of your car. 

It is through relationships.  Getting to know the people around you.  Listening to their needs.  Taking action on relieving their pains and bringing about spiritual healing to their lives.  Some of you have said, but Pastor Chris, I don’t know how to do that.  That kind of stuff is for preachers.  I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s not.  Jesus challenges us in Matthew 28:18-20, “All Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.  Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.”  YOU have been given authority from Jesus to go and bring spiritual healing to those in need.  The challenge is, will you do it.  Let’s quickly look at a video of how one young girl is doing this in her community.

PLAY VIDEO

It’s not difficult to bring about that spiritual healing that people need in their lives.  You can do this by writing someone a caring note, by taking someone out for coffee and just listening, praying with someone in their time of deepest need, listening to them and being present, bringing them to church so that they can hear the Gospel presented to them.  You can also mow your neighbors lawn, pick up their mail for them, you can do anything that shows someone else that God loves them and cares for them.  Jesus wants us to bring about this spiritual healing by sharing God’s love, the Good news, every day with the people around us.  When we meet the needs of those who need healing, then we will see the world being transformed.  When we show compassion to others we will see people wanting to become followers of Christ. 

Tonight is your opportunity to say I’m going to do this.  I’m going to take this challenge and help bring healing to those around me.  Or maybe tonight you’re saying that I need to be healed.  Or maybe tonight you saying I want to know this Jesus that you’re talking about.  If that’s you, if you fit any of those thoughts, then after the service we will be here to pray with you.  Let us help bring spiritual healing to your life, let us pray over you and commission you to take the good news and share it with others, and let us help you start the path to have Jesus come into your life and change forever.

Let us pray.