Our Place In His Story: The Movement Begins Next Door
October 17, 2016
This past week I had the privilege to attend a great conference in Irvine, California. It all got started when Erwin MacManus, who pastor’s a Multisite Church in Los Angeles called Mosaic, said something that truly resonated with me about our call as God’s people… our call to be Jesus’s witnesses in our Jerusalem, our Judea and Samaria and to our world. What he said was this: “God is here to redeem humanity and the church is the reflection of that new humanity.” In other words, the more Jesus comes alive in us, the more he changes us, and the more we embrace the reality that we are his people – the more we can change the future, not only for the people in our community, but our county, our country and even the world.
You see, when Jesus said, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, he started something that has been ongoing ever since that day. He started a movement that changed our world then and is still changing our world today. Do you know how I know that? Because you are here. God began his movement to turn the world upside down with 12 men who were his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
But can you imagine if those first disciples never left Jerusalem? Can you imagine, if they just built a nice building, gathered once a week to share their Jesus stories and then went back home? We would not be here. We would not know Jesus. We’d be lost in our sins. We would have no hope – no future with God… But the good news is they listened, and then they acted. Not only were they witnesses in Jerusalem, but they went on to share the story of Jesus to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the world.
When Jesus spoke this truth, that “we will be his witnesses” he laid the groundwork for a movement that would change our world. He said we WILL be his witnesses in our Jerusalem, our Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth. So the question we must ask today is this: Where do we get on board with God’s movement? What is our Jerusalem and what does it look like to be his witnesses in our Jerusalem?
To help us answer these questions, we are going to take a fresh look at our vision statement this morning. I’m going to read it for us, but I’m going to ask you if you can see the movement in this statement: Rock Springs Church is people helping people become friends, family and followers of Jesus. Did you catch it? We’re not a building that’s helping people, we’re not programs that are helping people, and we’re not one person who is helping people, but we are people helping people become friends, family and followers of Jesus. We are a church about Jesus, a group of ordinary people who God has recruited to be His grace peddlers in a world without grace. So, let’s get started this morning by answering the first question: Where do we get on board with God’s movement? And the answer is pretty basic: To be part of God’s movement you’ve got to be: Ordinary People
You don’t have to be highly educated. You don’t have to have it all together. You don’t have to be successful, beautiful or special in any way. All you have to be is someone who has been found by Jesus, put your faith in Jesus and been changed by Jesus. That’s the only qualification. You may get tired of hearing me say that, but it’s true. It’s often the broken and the burnout, the rebel and the retread, that God transforms into something beautiful that reflects His new humanity to the world.
I was talking with Mark Porter, the Pastor of Regeneration Church, this week, and he told me a story of the most effective witness in his church right now. He’s a guy that up to about two months ago was a homeless, good for nothing, burnout druggie. But this burnout druggie got cleaned up in a rehab; and while he was in there, Jesus Christ got a hold of him. And now that he’s back on the outside, he’s going back to the streets – not to go back to his drugs, but to tell others about Jesus. And guess what? People are listening and believing. Why? Because when they look in his eyes they see a light that wasn’t there before; they hear hope were there was none before; they see a miracle – a man who has been changed – and they want to know why he’s changed.
Now you may think this an extreme example of change, and because of that you don’t think your life reflects the kind of change our world is looking for. But don’t sell yourself short – because if Jesus is living in you, He is always working in you. So then, by the very nature of His new life emerging in you, you will be different, and others will see the difference. And trust me, they are looking. How do I know this? How do I know that Jesus is working in you, and you are becoming a different person? Here’s a couple of truth statements that guarantee this:
First, in Philippians 1:6 we have this promise: He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
And in Philippians 2:12-13 we are exhorted to: continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Then he adds: Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. Philippians 2:14-15
That’s his plan. He is working in us to make us become more and more like Jesus, until we shine, we ordinary people who’ve been smitten by the extraordinary grace of Jesus, will begin to reflect to others this new life in us: the kingdom life of joy, peace, hope, grace, mercy, freedom and love. That’s why God uses ordinary people like you and me to be His witnesses. Our changed lives are the reflection of God’s new humanity. Our changed lives is what God has chosen to use to change our world. Just like Peter declares in 1 Peter 2:9-10, when he proclaims this truth about us: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10
This is who we are: Ordinary People, chosen by God to be His royal priesthood. We belong to Him, we are His treasured possession, a holy nation with a new calling: to proclaim the good news that this world is not all there is… there is a better world, a kingdom of light, with a merciful and good God… and this merciful and good God has given us a way to bring His good news right where we live. How? Well that’s the next part of our vision statement that reads:
Helping People Become Friends This was the way of Jesus. He was given the name “friend of sinners” by the religious leaders because they despised the company he kept. Listen to this description of Jesus spelled out for us in Matthew 11:19, The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
What this description tells us is that Jesus hung out with the people who needed him most. He didn’t judge them, but welcomed their company. He hung out with them on their turf. So when you look at Jesus’ relationships in the gospels you see him hanging out a weddings, going to Simon’s house, enjoying a dinner party, striking up a conversation at a well, stopping along the road. In fact Jesus entered our world and became a model for us as the perfect human person who lived according to the Spirit. So, in Jesus’ life there was no division between sacred and secular, spiritual and physical, clean and unclean. He made friends with fishermen, tax-collectors, prostitutes, religious teachers and religious outcasts. He included them all in his life. And He showed us how to love them.
This is what we’re called to do. To love our neighbors, to make them our friends, so they might come to know our Jesus. But they are never to be projects. They are to be our friends… When I was in Tacoma I made friends with my Insurance Agent Derrick. I invited him to go to a hockey game with me. I had coffee with him on a number of occasions. After getting to know him for a year or more, I invited him to join me with a couple of other guys to learn about Jesus from the gospel of John. Derrick didn’t have a Bible, so I encouraged his buddy, who was also an insurance agent, to get him one, and he did. About the second time we sat down together, we each share a bit of our story. When it came time for Derrick to share his, we were surprised to learn that he had once been in a Bible study with a few guys in college. They invited him to some fun events, studied the Bible with him for two semesters. But then at the end of the second semester, they challenged Derrick to put his faith in Jesus. When Derrick said, “I’m not there yet.” What did these two Christian’s do? They moved on. I remember listening to Derrick at the time and could see how he was hurt by that. I apologized to him and told him all Christians are not like that. And that I would not be like that. Because that’s just not what friends do. Our time-table is not God’s time-table. As Proverbs 17:7 says, “A friend loves at all times.” So This is ONE way God is calling us to be on mission in our Jerusalem: to initiate friendships where God has placed us and keep on loving them and leave the results up to God.
But you ask, how might I do that? Well, here’s the answer: Through the Rhythms of Everyday Life This is one of the beautiful things about where we live. We’ve got built in friendship opportunities all around us; whether that be through the pottery club, or Mah Jongg, Tennis, Softball, RV Club, Hiking or Pickleball. We’ve got neighbors who’ve moved here and are moving here and looking for new friendships to enjoy life with. Now, I’m going to assume that most of you are fairly adept at making new friends, but I want us to think about what it takes to make friends for eternity, like Jesus. What would you do? How would you start? Here is a simple acrostic that I picked up years ago from Dave Ferguson, who I actually met on the flight home from California last week. This is a great little tool that can help us make friends for eternity. It’s called: BLESS
B – Begin with Prayer Ask God, “Father, how do you want me to bless my neighbors, how do you want me to bless the people you’ve put around me.” Ask God, “Who do you want me to risk being a friend too?”
L – Listen to Their Story Learn to ask good questions and then listen. Listen to people around you. Listen to their story: Learn their struggles, their longings, their hopes and their fears. Don’t give them answers. Give them your attention. Give them your understanding.
E – Eat Together Welcoming someone to your table, to your home for a meal is one of the best ways to make friends. Eat together at home. Invite your pickle ball partner to lunch. Share a coffee with a new friend. Most of us eat three meals a day. That’s 21 opportunites to build friendships every week.
S – Serve Them If you listen with people and you eat with people they will tell you how to love them and you’ll know how to serve them.
S – Share Your Story When the time is right, God will open doors and hearts and and you will be able to share the story of how Jesus changed our life. You will be able to share the story of Jesus. Who He is and what He has done for you, and what He can do for your friend.
That’s why Jesus came to us and made us his friends. Eugene Peterson’s translation of his arrival says it this way: The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. John 1:14
Like Jesus, God chooses us, ordinary people – people who’ve been changed by Jesus – to be a new people. His people: People who are now helping people become friends with Jesus through the rhythms of everyday life.
That’s what it means to be his witnesses in our Jerusalem. That’s what it looks like to be part of God’s movement to change the world. The movement begins next door. And it begins with ordinary people like you and me helping other people become friends with Jesus.
Leave a Reply