Introduction
Don’t you hate it when people twist your words? When I was a child we used to have what we called a joke. It went like this. If your friend was eating lunch, and he said, “I love the soup.” Somebody would immediately reply, “Why don’t you marry it.”
We use the word love in some really strange ways. We call an adulterous relationship a “love affair.” We love to do certain things, go certain places, and eat certain foods. In the Greek NT there are four different words that can be translated love. There is a chapter in the New Testament that is called the love chapter.
This passage as much as anything forces us to think about love.
It especially forces us to think about our first love.
And, maybe it is not really even our first love. It is the first love of a generation that has now gone.
Describing the Biblical Text
Jesus is speaking to seven churches to illustrate how they are either succeeding or failing in their calling and in their ministries.
The first of these 7 churches is the church at Ephesus.
Ephesus is an interesting congregation because in the NT it is probably the most covered of all the churches.
It is mentioned in Acts, it has its own letter, the letter to Timothy was to help him in leading the Ephesian church, and here we see it mentions as one of the 7 churches that were chosen to receive the Apocalypse.
Narrate the Contextual application
Jesus has a message to the church that is both comforting and yet it is a warning.
It is dire warning that if the church does not find what it lost, the church will disappear.
It is the kind of warning that we as a church must take very seriously if it comes our way.
It is the kind of warning that can serve to educate us in how we need to think.
Can we afford to lose or not to reclaim our first love?
Can we afford not to know what that first love is?
Life Application (thesis)
It is that first love that drove our church in the beginning.
It was that first love that caused us to unify behind purpose and to trust each other to each be the part of the body that Christ has called us to be.
We must reclaim the first love which drove our ministry in the beginning.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we look at this text, there are three keys that we will need to use to unlock the door back to our first love.
We have to recognize those things which are confused for the first love.
We can see by this passage what the Ephesians did was to confuse the good for the best.
Let’s look at it again.
Jesus tells them, “I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance and your intolerance for evil men.”
All these things are good aren’t they?
Chocolate cake is good; peach cobbler is good, apple crisp is good, Crème broulet is good but you certainly cannot live all your life nourished by that.
It is best to have a balanced diet.
Dessert is good, but nutrition is best.
It is possible for everything to look really good on the outside and for things to simply be not right.
I bet we can all think of times when we had a rotten Sunday Morning at home and came to church and nobody knew it because we were the happy smiling family that everybody expected us to be.
God sees through that.
God sees and knows our motivators and he knows our attitudes.
God knows when we get into a rut.
Think about the Ephesians.
They were a hard working church.
They did a lot of stuff.
When Jesus said that he knew their deeds and their toil, he was saying your works and your labor towards those works.
Jesus also tells them that they have a good handle on their teaching and doctrine as they are able to root out the heretics who would come in try to spoil the church through false teaching.
There aren’t 8 of 10 churches in America that could do that today.
These were all things that the Ephesians could be proud of.
Yet there was something wrong.
Jesus said, “This I have against you”
That is really an interesting statement.
The word against is a preposition and there is the implication of location there.
There other night, Valerie and I rearranged our home office and I cannot imagine how difficult that would have been if someone was leaning on the furniture the whole time.
Jesus is saying this leaving of the first love is against you.
It is like a weight that is pressing on you and keeping you from being able to move.
It is like the encumbrance of sin that slows us down as Paul described in Hebrews 12.
Something else we need to note here is the fact that they have left their first love.
Literally they threw it away.
How in the world could that happen to a church that was founded by Paul, pastored by Timothy, and probably John.
How could this happen?
When a church starts majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors, it is not that unthinkable.
But you know what; they were warned about this very thing.
Look with me for just a minute to Ephesians 4.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Do you hear what that is?
It is a call to love each other and in that love, we become united in Christ.
We become like Christ who is one Lord and His Father who is One God and Father.
Now, this is what John 17:21 says that Jesus prays for us.
That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.
Throwing away the first love is throwing away the unity of the body of Christ in our church.
But that unity is sacred.
That unity is what paints us like Jesus.
It shows the world that we take seriously the command of God to love Him and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We can never let our deeds take the place of our love
We can never let our perseverance take the place of our love.
Just to remind us that perseverance can come in many forms from enduring persecution and standing fast in it to doggedly holding on to empty traditions that do not in and of themselves communicate the gospel of Christ.
So let’s be clear.
We cannot let anything take the place of that first love.
We cannot throw it away.
This morning, I am going to do something a little different.
I am combining the second and third points of this message.
Here is key # 2
We have to remember from where we have fallen
In doing that we are able then to use the third key.
We have to repent and do the deeds we did at first.
Why combine these two keys?
Well, frankly, they both refer to the past.
From where have we fallen?
I don’t know.
I wasn’t even born in 1929 when the church was started.
I was only 3 years old when the church hit its peak in 1964.
But there was meteoric growth from 1929 to 1964.
We were standing tall.
We need to think about something when we think about recovering the past.
It is not about form and it is not about style.
It is easy to confuse the ideas but they are not synonymous.
The Ephesians had works
Verse 2 tells us that they had deeds toil and steadfastness
Then why is the church told to do works in verse 5.
The NASB says that it is the work you did at first.
But, it is more than that.
It is the first works.
That to me is very compelling.
The word first does not mean the beginning or the original but it means the primary.
Now the fact that they are a church here leads me to believe that they have not lost their love for Christ but they have left their love for the first deeds and replaced it with a love for the new deeds.
What were those first deeds that they loved so much that made them a vital church?
I think that if we were to look at the NT carefully, we would find three things that we could view at the first works or primary deeds.
The start of the church at Ephesus was a little unusual to say the least.
This was the church where the demon stripped and scared the seven sons of Sceva.
This was t he church that saw the miraculous healing at the drop of a hanky or a shadow of an apostle.
It was the church where Demetrius the silversmith stirred the people against the church claiming that they were slamming the idol god Artemus because the gospel was cutting into their financial livelihood.
Yet this was a special church as we pointed out before.
Paul came back to Ephesus and taught the elders to protect the church from false teachers so that he church would thrive.
But, the first deeds that we see in verse 5 are probably none of these things but it is alluded to by Demetrius.
The church was winning people to Christ.
It was sharing that clear message because there was excitement and enthusiasm to do it.
It is very difficult for a church that loses it motivation to find it again.
The question that Jesus asked about salt gaining its savor is important for us.
How do we get our savor back?
There was an architect who designed the new fellowship hall of our first church. When we were estimating the cost, he explained something to us. He said it would take us about 8-12 years to pay for the facility. The only exception is new churches. Somehow, they could almost always come up with the money at the start. He said that there was just something about new churches.
Like the Ephesians, new churches know how to get excited about the things of God.
They know how to prioritize because they have to.
Unnecessary deeds consume resources and talents that are needed to win the world to Jesus.
But, they were not a new church. They were the church that Paul had started some 40 or 50 years before.
Now they had to start thinking like a new church.
Is it time for us to do the same thing?
Have we ever thought about simply replanting ourselves?
What do we have to lose?
We once had that first love, a love for serving Christ and winning souls.
Starting over is the way to find that again.
We all started over once before when we trusted Christ.
Just like disciples have a process that eventually takes them back to the beginning, it is possible that churches do also.
I am willing to find out if we can do it.
It will be hard work, but looking to the future glory of this church will be much more rewarding than resting on our past.
Let’s remember our past, from where we have fallen and keep our lampstand in the hand of Jesus.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
In Heart Pursuit -- Pursuing the Process -- Colossians 1:28-29
Introduction
I want us to begin this morning by finding the 36th chapter of the book of Job in the Old Testament. We have an idea what that book is about don’t we? Job is a godly man but is stricken with great loss and disease. Although he does not curse God and die, his pity party is one for the books. But this morning I want us to see something else in this book that some people might actually overlook.
Job 36:27-28: “For He draws up the drops of water, they distill rain from the mist, which the clouds pour down, they drip upon man abundantly.”
What a short but loaded passage. It describes the rain cycle.
What does it really show?
It shows that rain is a process.
Describing the Biblical Text
When we look at the Bible carefully, we find all sorts of processes don’t we?
We have the process of creation. God was getting the ready for man by moving from void and without form to abundant with plant and animal life to benefit man and glorify God.
Remember when Jesus ascended that he gave the disciples some pretty specific instructions.
He outlined a process for where the gospel would be taken when He said you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth.
He also gave a process for making disciples that involves 3 parts: going, baptizing (winning the lost), and teaching.
Narrate the Contextual application
Our text this morning is a process.
Paul’s process ends in presenting everyman complete in Christ.
The idea behind complete is finished or perfected.
We need to remember that Paul was a church starter.
He planted churches with this idea.
He did not see churches as simply fellowships of followers; he saw churches as places where believers were equipped for their service to Christ and where they exercised spiritual gifts.
Life Application (thesis)
The church is where people are prepared to meet Jesus.
They are prepared through learning and serving.
As the church, God wants us to be moving people who know Jesus toward completeness in Him.
If we are moving people toward completion in Christ, that means that we are doing what?
We are following a process.
But, have we ever taken the time to sit down and to define our process?
What should be the important parts of the process?
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This morning we will seek to examine this text and then to define the parts of the process that we as a church need to pursue.
We proclaim the message of Jesus.
Nothing is any more basic to what we do than that.
People should hear that message in everything we do.
The message of Jesus should permeate the church.
Most of you drove or rode in a car this morning to get here.
Think about your ride if your car had no engine in it.
There would be nothing to power the car and you would probably not even open the door of the car to get in.
As necessary as an engine is to a car, the message is all the more necessary to the church.
For what would a church be if it did not have the message of Jesus?
Basically, that message is this.
Man is sinful and because of that he has displeased God in his disobedience and is separated from God.
The only way that any person can find favor with God is through His Son, Jesus Christ.
You might be in need to day of knowing Christ because you have sensed your separation from Him.
Jesus gave his life and paid the penalty for our offenses that God would have required of us.
The payment that Jesus made for us was accomplished for our lives on the cross.
It can be applied today.
Heads bowed and eyes closed
If you want the new life that comes from a relationship with Jesus, pray this prayer surrendering your life to Christ today.
Heavenly Father, I know that I have offended you with my selfish desires and behavior. I am sorry for that and would like to live for you now. I am asking Jesus to come into my live and to rescue me from eternal separation from you. I am asking Jesus to be the Lord of my life. Thank you for saving me on the cross, Amen.
That is the starting point in the process.
We must begin by connecting people to Jesus.
But, how do we do that?
Where does that happen?
Do we know what we are supposed to be doing to see that happen?
We have got to have a well defined, congregationally understood point of entry for people who are coming here.
If we are going to connect them to Jesus, we must be aware of how that will happen.
Look at our text again.
We proclaim Christ but then we admonish and teach.
We place the mind of Jesus
Every time we have moved, we have done a good deal of the packing ourselves. It is interesting though to watch movers pack. They take a plate and the wrap it and they put it no more wrapping in a sturdy box called then they stuff more paper in the box so that everything in the box stays secure.
When we see the word admonish that word should jump up and bite us because that word literally means to place in the mind.
Let’s apply our dish metaphor to that. The movers securely place those dishes in the box so that they cannot be broken or damaged.
We should be placing Jesus in the minds of people so that they will never leave or be deterred from following him.
We admonish and we teach in order to move people through the process beyond their initial point of contact and their receiving Christ as their savior.
If we want to see people become Christlike, then we must be placing the mind of Christ within people.
I don’t believe that the scriptures are speaking arbitrarily when they say that were predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ.
There is the purpose for our lives clearly stated in Romans 8:28-30.
So as a church, what are we doing to conform people to the image of Christ?
How are we placing the mind of Christ in people?
These are questions that it is time to face.
It is time to look at the facts.
Who do we have in our church right now that came to Christ as a result of the ministries of this church who were not attending because they were already here as the children of church members?
Of those of you who are thinking that you fit that description did you come before or after 1980?
I hate to put you on the spot but if you became a follower of Jesus Christ here at Lexington Avenue after 1980, would you please stand?
So we have just ___ people who have come to Christ at LABC and who are still here in the last 27 years.
Remember back in January of 05 I shared with you that LABC had declined by 40% since 1990.
A lot of people think that our problems began in this church back in September of 05.
I have heard people say that IMPACT was the start of our problems and our fellowship fell apart then.
This church has been sick for a long time.
I’ll bet there are some of us who are sitting in this very auditorium thinking that it is time to get out of here before the whole thing collapses.
Believe me the thought enters my mind from time to time.
But I have to say something else.
The people of God are here.
The gospel of God is here.
The word of God is here.
And, The Spirit of God is here.
We have an enormous amount of potential here.
What de we have to do?
We need to use our energies better.
We need to clearly define our mission and the process by which we will accomplish our mission.
We have to put everything on the table and eliminate the fruitless.
We need search after those ministries that will provide a point of contact for people and will engage them into the process of discipleship wherein we place the mind of Christ into their minds.
But, we have to be together in doing that.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are one vine.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are carrying one pallet.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are connecting to women at wells like Jesus did.
Our third Part of that process this morning is exactly what Paul’s goal was, Presenting to Jesus people for His glory.
That means we are teaching people to proclaim
We are teaching people to admonish
We are teaching people to teach
We are teaching more people to present more people to Jesus.
See this scarf? A friend of Alyson’s made it for her for Christmas. It started as a simple piece of yarn. It went through the process of being crocheted and then it was presented to Alyson as a gift. People are out there who need to hear the gospel. People who when taken through the process of discipleship will make a great gift for Jesus.
I want us to begin this morning by finding the 36th chapter of the book of Job in the Old Testament. We have an idea what that book is about don’t we? Job is a godly man but is stricken with great loss and disease. Although he does not curse God and die, his pity party is one for the books. But this morning I want us to see something else in this book that some people might actually overlook.
Job 36:27-28: “For He draws up the drops of water, they distill rain from the mist, which the clouds pour down, they drip upon man abundantly.”
What a short but loaded passage. It describes the rain cycle.
What does it really show?
It shows that rain is a process.
Describing the Biblical Text
When we look at the Bible carefully, we find all sorts of processes don’t we?
We have the process of creation. God was getting the ready for man by moving from void and without form to abundant with plant and animal life to benefit man and glorify God.
Remember when Jesus ascended that he gave the disciples some pretty specific instructions.
He outlined a process for where the gospel would be taken when He said you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth.
He also gave a process for making disciples that involves 3 parts: going, baptizing (winning the lost), and teaching.
Narrate the Contextual application
Our text this morning is a process.
Paul’s process ends in presenting everyman complete in Christ.
The idea behind complete is finished or perfected.
We need to remember that Paul was a church starter.
He planted churches with this idea.
He did not see churches as simply fellowships of followers; he saw churches as places where believers were equipped for their service to Christ and where they exercised spiritual gifts.
Life Application (thesis)
The church is where people are prepared to meet Jesus.
They are prepared through learning and serving.
As the church, God wants us to be moving people who know Jesus toward completeness in Him.
If we are moving people toward completion in Christ, that means that we are doing what?
We are following a process.
But, have we ever taken the time to sit down and to define our process?
What should be the important parts of the process?
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This morning we will seek to examine this text and then to define the parts of the process that we as a church need to pursue.
We proclaim the message of Jesus.
Nothing is any more basic to what we do than that.
People should hear that message in everything we do.
The message of Jesus should permeate the church.
Most of you drove or rode in a car this morning to get here.
Think about your ride if your car had no engine in it.
There would be nothing to power the car and you would probably not even open the door of the car to get in.
As necessary as an engine is to a car, the message is all the more necessary to the church.
For what would a church be if it did not have the message of Jesus?
Basically, that message is this.
Man is sinful and because of that he has displeased God in his disobedience and is separated from God.
The only way that any person can find favor with God is through His Son, Jesus Christ.
You might be in need to day of knowing Christ because you have sensed your separation from Him.
Jesus gave his life and paid the penalty for our offenses that God would have required of us.
The payment that Jesus made for us was accomplished for our lives on the cross.
It can be applied today.
Heads bowed and eyes closed
If you want the new life that comes from a relationship with Jesus, pray this prayer surrendering your life to Christ today.
Heavenly Father, I know that I have offended you with my selfish desires and behavior. I am sorry for that and would like to live for you now. I am asking Jesus to come into my live and to rescue me from eternal separation from you. I am asking Jesus to be the Lord of my life. Thank you for saving me on the cross, Amen.
That is the starting point in the process.
We must begin by connecting people to Jesus.
But, how do we do that?
Where does that happen?
Do we know what we are supposed to be doing to see that happen?
We have got to have a well defined, congregationally understood point of entry for people who are coming here.
If we are going to connect them to Jesus, we must be aware of how that will happen.
Look at our text again.
We proclaim Christ but then we admonish and teach.
We place the mind of Jesus
Every time we have moved, we have done a good deal of the packing ourselves. It is interesting though to watch movers pack. They take a plate and the wrap it and they put it no more wrapping in a sturdy box called then they stuff more paper in the box so that everything in the box stays secure.
When we see the word admonish that word should jump up and bite us because that word literally means to place in the mind.
Let’s apply our dish metaphor to that. The movers securely place those dishes in the box so that they cannot be broken or damaged.
We should be placing Jesus in the minds of people so that they will never leave or be deterred from following him.
We admonish and we teach in order to move people through the process beyond their initial point of contact and their receiving Christ as their savior.
If we want to see people become Christlike, then we must be placing the mind of Christ within people.
I don’t believe that the scriptures are speaking arbitrarily when they say that were predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ.
There is the purpose for our lives clearly stated in Romans 8:28-30.
So as a church, what are we doing to conform people to the image of Christ?
How are we placing the mind of Christ in people?
These are questions that it is time to face.
It is time to look at the facts.
Who do we have in our church right now that came to Christ as a result of the ministries of this church who were not attending because they were already here as the children of church members?
Of those of you who are thinking that you fit that description did you come before or after 1980?
I hate to put you on the spot but if you became a follower of Jesus Christ here at Lexington Avenue after 1980, would you please stand?
So we have just ___ people who have come to Christ at LABC and who are still here in the last 27 years.
Remember back in January of 05 I shared with you that LABC had declined by 40% since 1990.
A lot of people think that our problems began in this church back in September of 05.
I have heard people say that IMPACT was the start of our problems and our fellowship fell apart then.
This church has been sick for a long time.
I’ll bet there are some of us who are sitting in this very auditorium thinking that it is time to get out of here before the whole thing collapses.
Believe me the thought enters my mind from time to time.
But I have to say something else.
The people of God are here.
The gospel of God is here.
The word of God is here.
And, The Spirit of God is here.
We have an enormous amount of potential here.
What de we have to do?
We need to use our energies better.
We need to clearly define our mission and the process by which we will accomplish our mission.
We have to put everything on the table and eliminate the fruitless.
We need search after those ministries that will provide a point of contact for people and will engage them into the process of discipleship wherein we place the mind of Christ into their minds.
But, we have to be together in doing that.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are one vine.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are carrying one pallet.
We cannot accomplish the work of Christ unless we are connecting to women at wells like Jesus did.
Our third Part of that process this morning is exactly what Paul’s goal was, Presenting to Jesus people for His glory.
That means we are teaching people to proclaim
We are teaching people to admonish
We are teaching people to teach
We are teaching more people to present more people to Jesus.
See this scarf? A friend of Alyson’s made it for her for Christmas. It started as a simple piece of yarn. It went through the process of being crocheted and then it was presented to Alyson as a gift. People are out there who need to hear the gospel. People who when taken through the process of discipleship will make a great gift for Jesus.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
In Heart Pursuit -- Pursuing Souls -- Mark 2:1-13
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Introduction
News Story about man saving family from fire
Describing the Biblical Text
We see Jesus’ ministry growing in impact and popularity.
He is ministering in what was probably his ministry headquarters at Capernaum.
He was teaching and there were people who were trying to get in to see.
Isn’t it funny how the press always seems to be in the way?
That’s a little humor for those with the KJV.
Narrate the Contextual application
Now when we see the gist of the account before us we see something very important.
We see four friends who desired very much to get their friend to Jesus.
They were willing to go to extraordinary means to accomplish their goal.
These men knew that Jesus could change the life of the man who was brought to him and they were willing to take risks, sacrifice, and destroy someone’s roof to get their friend to Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
When we look at this account from the ministry of Jesus, we can see that the actions of these four men are extremely important.
Are they important to me?
No, not really.
But, they are important to the paralytic on the pallet.
What are we willing to do to see others come to Jesus?
How are we willing to bring people to Jesus?
We must be willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to bring people to Jesus.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we consider the kinds of sacrifices that we will make, there are some questions that will guide us along the way.
In most cases, questions represent the unknown but in this case, our questions represent the absolutes that must be considered as we seek to bring people to Jesus.
The first of these absolute questions is does the sacrifice lead to unity of purpose and process.
Let’s take a look at the sacrifices that these men were making.
First of all they were taking their time.
We all know how important time is don’t we?
It is something that we can never get back or never reclaim.
Once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.
Our time is valuable to us though.
We don’t like to see the phone number from work popping up on the caller ID when we are taking a day off.
We don’t like the coach changing practice from Tuesdays to Wednesdays when we have church.
These men sacrificed their strength.
How heavy is a paralytic?
He is as heavy as a man who can’t walk.
It took four of them to get him there.
When the crowd was too much, they did what?
They went up to the roof to continue what they started.
There purpose was clear.
Let’s get our friend to Jesus
We see here four men who were unified behind one purpose.
Their purpose kept them working together and it kept them from wasting time and strength.
Could you imagine this text if they were not unified in their desire to see their friend meet Jesus?
They would have seen the crowd in the house and someone would have been ready to bail.
“Looks like a big crowd, Oh well sorry Levi. Can’t say we didn’t try.”
What else might have happened?
They may have fussed over the way to get Levi to Jesus.
I say we roll on the straw wagon. No Matathias, we carry the Pallet. You’re both wrong, we drag him on a blanket.
I want us to see something else here also.
There was a sense of trust that these men had with each other.
They knew how much they could do with the others involved because they trusted each other.
But you now who had to be the most trusting?
Good old Levi
His life is in the hands of his four friends.
He knew that they would never allow anything harmful to happen to him.
We need to look at our selves in this area.
Can I be trusted to never allow anything harmful to take place in my family or in my church?
Maybe there has been a breech of trust between some of us and it needs to be healed.
I want to tell you honestly that if we do not trust each other as a church, we will never be able to unify behind a purpose or a goal.
I want to tell you about hounds, particularly fox hounds. During the down times when the dogs are not hunting, they are doing one of three things. They are eating or drinking, which is consuming resources. They are sleeping which is accomplishing nothing. They are fighting among themselves. But, once a fox enters the picture the dog go on the chase. There is nothing else the want to do or that will do until the fox is caught.
They become unified in their purpose.
That is the picture of the church that I hope that we can see painted here.
I would like to see us so focused on bringing people to Jesus that we will not allow for any distractions whatsoever and when distraction do come, we will hastily remove them and be about the business of the Lord in this place.
A couple of things then will have to happen.
The first is that we need to clearly understand our purpose here.
We cannot be divided or confused on that point.
It must be more than a statement that we print on our bulletin; it must be an ideal that we are willing to live and see fulfilled.
It must be the one thing that everyone, and that means everyone, strives to see accomplished.
We must be on the same page.
If the Sunday School is in this corner doing its own thing and the WOM’s are in that corner doing their thing and the youth group is in their corner doing their thing and there is no purpose to unite the things that are being done, then we have a lot of activity and very little accomplishment.
When we look at the four men with the paralytic we see action and not activity.
We see accomplishment not collapse.
Let’s look at a second absolute question.
Does the sacrifice lead to extraordinary measures for others?
Sacrifice that does not do anything is not sacrifice.
These men made a sacrifice that pointed to something.
It pointed to their willingness to give of themselves to their friend.
What if Levi was talking to the buds one day and asked them, “You know, I heard that Jesus will be teaching in town later. Could you take me to see him?”
Could you imagine if Jacob said, “Well, Levi, I would love to go see Jesus with you but it will better if I waited until you walk on your own.”
Levi doesn’t need Jacob’s help when he can walk, he needs Jacobs help while he is lame.
It is easy to serve Christ and to serve the church when everything is going well and everything just seems easy.
Sometimes things require a little extra effort though.
When things are not going well, it is easy to say that I’ll be there when we see some improvement in the situation.
But if we really think about that, it makes little sense.
We are needed much more when things are not so smooth.
That’s when our presence can make a real difference.
What if Jesus said, “I’ll be your savior as soon as you can get along without sinning?”
If we could get along without sinning, we wouldn’t need a savior.
But we do need a savior and your church needs your service especially when things are less than ideal.
When we sacrifice and serve, we make our church better.
It’s just like Jesus made is better by His sacrifice on the cross.
That sacrifice provided for us forgiveness for our sins and opened to us a relationship with God.
Would you like to have that relationship today?
Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes.
Repeat this prayer if yo8u desire forgiveness and to have a relationship with God.
Dear Lord, I know that my sins have kept me from knowing you. I need you in my life and I need a relationship with you. Please come into my life as I receive you to be my Lord and Savior. I ask your forgiveness and thank you for dying on the cross for me. You paid for my sins. Thank you for saving me this morning. In your name, Amen
Now, let’s look at our third absolute question.
Does the sacrifice lead to changed lives?
The four men and their extraordinary action of lowering their friend to Jesus changed his life forever.
His sins were forgiven and he was healed and walked away.
How are our ministries changing people’s lives?
Jesus changes lives and heals people’s hurts.
We really do not have that power apart from him.
But, when we are taking people to Him we will see life change regularly.
I remember when faith training was the momentary in program for evangelism.
You were not supposed to tell people that you prayed to receive Christ during your personal testimony.
You were to say, “I had a life changing experience.”
That was to accomplish two things.
The first was that it did not help someone who didn’t know Jesus from pretending by giving a correct answer that he had just heard.
It was also to let people know that Jesus would change their lives.
Nothing changes a life like Jesus.
If we believe that truth, then we need to be bringing people to Jesus and seeing them healed spiritually like our man on the pallet.
Remember Jesus did not make him walk first, he forgave his sins.
As far as anyone is concerned, forgiveness is the greater gift.
It is the gift that we pursue when we are pursuing souls to Jesus.
The paralytic picked up his pallet and walked away.
Jesus picked up our sins and put them away . . . forever.
To download this message, right click here and select save target as
Introduction
News Story about man saving family from fire
Describing the Biblical Text
We see Jesus’ ministry growing in impact and popularity.
He is ministering in what was probably his ministry headquarters at Capernaum.
He was teaching and there were people who were trying to get in to see.
Isn’t it funny how the press always seems to be in the way?
That’s a little humor for those with the KJV.
Narrate the Contextual application
Now when we see the gist of the account before us we see something very important.
We see four friends who desired very much to get their friend to Jesus.
They were willing to go to extraordinary means to accomplish their goal.
These men knew that Jesus could change the life of the man who was brought to him and they were willing to take risks, sacrifice, and destroy someone’s roof to get their friend to Jesus.
Life Application (thesis)
When we look at this account from the ministry of Jesus, we can see that the actions of these four men are extremely important.
Are they important to me?
No, not really.
But, they are important to the paralytic on the pallet.
What are we willing to do to see others come to Jesus?
How are we willing to bring people to Jesus?
We must be willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to bring people to Jesus.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we consider the kinds of sacrifices that we will make, there are some questions that will guide us along the way.
In most cases, questions represent the unknown but in this case, our questions represent the absolutes that must be considered as we seek to bring people to Jesus.
The first of these absolute questions is does the sacrifice lead to unity of purpose and process.
Let’s take a look at the sacrifices that these men were making.
First of all they were taking their time.
We all know how important time is don’t we?
It is something that we can never get back or never reclaim.
Once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.
Our time is valuable to us though.
We don’t like to see the phone number from work popping up on the caller ID when we are taking a day off.
We don’t like the coach changing practice from Tuesdays to Wednesdays when we have church.
These men sacrificed their strength.
How heavy is a paralytic?
He is as heavy as a man who can’t walk.
It took four of them to get him there.
When the crowd was too much, they did what?
They went up to the roof to continue what they started.
There purpose was clear.
Let’s get our friend to Jesus
We see here four men who were unified behind one purpose.
Their purpose kept them working together and it kept them from wasting time and strength.
Could you imagine this text if they were not unified in their desire to see their friend meet Jesus?
They would have seen the crowd in the house and someone would have been ready to bail.
“Looks like a big crowd, Oh well sorry Levi. Can’t say we didn’t try.”
What else might have happened?
They may have fussed over the way to get Levi to Jesus.
I say we roll on the straw wagon. No Matathias, we carry the Pallet. You’re both wrong, we drag him on a blanket.
I want us to see something else here also.
There was a sense of trust that these men had with each other.
They knew how much they could do with the others involved because they trusted each other.
But you now who had to be the most trusting?
Good old Levi
His life is in the hands of his four friends.
He knew that they would never allow anything harmful to happen to him.
We need to look at our selves in this area.
Can I be trusted to never allow anything harmful to take place in my family or in my church?
Maybe there has been a breech of trust between some of us and it needs to be healed.
I want to tell you honestly that if we do not trust each other as a church, we will never be able to unify behind a purpose or a goal.
I want to tell you about hounds, particularly fox hounds. During the down times when the dogs are not hunting, they are doing one of three things. They are eating or drinking, which is consuming resources. They are sleeping which is accomplishing nothing. They are fighting among themselves. But, once a fox enters the picture the dog go on the chase. There is nothing else the want to do or that will do until the fox is caught.
They become unified in their purpose.
That is the picture of the church that I hope that we can see painted here.
I would like to see us so focused on bringing people to Jesus that we will not allow for any distractions whatsoever and when distraction do come, we will hastily remove them and be about the business of the Lord in this place.
A couple of things then will have to happen.
The first is that we need to clearly understand our purpose here.
We cannot be divided or confused on that point.
It must be more than a statement that we print on our bulletin; it must be an ideal that we are willing to live and see fulfilled.
It must be the one thing that everyone, and that means everyone, strives to see accomplished.
We must be on the same page.
If the Sunday School is in this corner doing its own thing and the WOM’s are in that corner doing their thing and the youth group is in their corner doing their thing and there is no purpose to unite the things that are being done, then we have a lot of activity and very little accomplishment.
When we look at the four men with the paralytic we see action and not activity.
We see accomplishment not collapse.
Let’s look at a second absolute question.
Does the sacrifice lead to extraordinary measures for others?
Sacrifice that does not do anything is not sacrifice.
These men made a sacrifice that pointed to something.
It pointed to their willingness to give of themselves to their friend.
What if Levi was talking to the buds one day and asked them, “You know, I heard that Jesus will be teaching in town later. Could you take me to see him?”
Could you imagine if Jacob said, “Well, Levi, I would love to go see Jesus with you but it will better if I waited until you walk on your own.”
Levi doesn’t need Jacob’s help when he can walk, he needs Jacobs help while he is lame.
It is easy to serve Christ and to serve the church when everything is going well and everything just seems easy.
Sometimes things require a little extra effort though.
When things are not going well, it is easy to say that I’ll be there when we see some improvement in the situation.
But if we really think about that, it makes little sense.
We are needed much more when things are not so smooth.
That’s when our presence can make a real difference.
What if Jesus said, “I’ll be your savior as soon as you can get along without sinning?”
If we could get along without sinning, we wouldn’t need a savior.
But we do need a savior and your church needs your service especially when things are less than ideal.
When we sacrifice and serve, we make our church better.
It’s just like Jesus made is better by His sacrifice on the cross.
That sacrifice provided for us forgiveness for our sins and opened to us a relationship with God.
Would you like to have that relationship today?
Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes.
Repeat this prayer if yo8u desire forgiveness and to have a relationship with God.
Dear Lord, I know that my sins have kept me from knowing you. I need you in my life and I need a relationship with you. Please come into my life as I receive you to be my Lord and Savior. I ask your forgiveness and thank you for dying on the cross for me. You paid for my sins. Thank you for saving me this morning. In your name, Amen
Now, let’s look at our third absolute question.
Does the sacrifice lead to changed lives?
The four men and their extraordinary action of lowering their friend to Jesus changed his life forever.
His sins were forgiven and he was healed and walked away.
How are our ministries changing people’s lives?
Jesus changes lives and heals people’s hurts.
We really do not have that power apart from him.
But, when we are taking people to Him we will see life change regularly.
I remember when faith training was the momentary in program for evangelism.
You were not supposed to tell people that you prayed to receive Christ during your personal testimony.
You were to say, “I had a life changing experience.”
That was to accomplish two things.
The first was that it did not help someone who didn’t know Jesus from pretending by giving a correct answer that he had just heard.
It was also to let people know that Jesus would change their lives.
Nothing changes a life like Jesus.
If we believe that truth, then we need to be bringing people to Jesus and seeing them healed spiritually like our man on the pallet.
Remember Jesus did not make him walk first, he forgave his sins.
As far as anyone is concerned, forgiveness is the greater gift.
It is the gift that we pursue when we are pursuing souls to Jesus.
The paralytic picked up his pallet and walked away.
Jesus picked up our sins and put them away . . . forever.
Friday, March 02, 2007
In Heart Pursuit -- Pursuing Relationships -- John 4:1-26
To listen to this message click here
To download this message, right click here and select save target as
Show Lunchroom clip from Sky High.
That little piece of video tells us a lot doesn’t it?
It is so very easy to put up walls and to avoid connecting to people.
Describing the Biblical Text
This is a familiar text to us as we have read it and even heard it preached from this pulpit
That is the amazing thing about the scriptures.
They are always new and fresh.
They are always timeless and as ready to inform us as they were ready to inform the great church men of the past like the apostle Peter, Timothy, Clement of Rome, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Mordecai Ham, and Billy Graham.
What is Jesus up to in this passage?
He is following a path that is not seen as the appropriate path to follow.
He is pursuing a woman and contrary to pop culture, The Da Vinci Code, and now James Cameron, it was not Mary Magdalene.
Sometimes, Jesus only has to touch one life to make a huge difference in the lives of many others.
Narrate the Contextual application
Do we drive through the bad part of town at night?
Are we anxious to meet people who might challenge our sensibilities or do we avoid encounters that might make us uncomfortable.
Most of us have two or three close relationships that we can name in our minds right now.
Most of us are satisfied with that.
Why break our bubble and leave our comfort zone if we don’t have to?
But looking at Jesus, He had no bubble, no comfort zone, only the desire to connect with people or as He put it: to seek and to save the lost.
Life Application (thesis)
Where does that take us?
As we look this morning at Jesus and His encounter with this woman we see that He is pursuing relationships.
He knows that people are reached through relationships.
Consequently he brought this lesson to life for us.
We cannot be unavailable to the unlovable, the unreachable, the unattractive, or the unsaved.
If we believe that Jesus died for people no matter what their life situation is, then we will go whatever lengths we need to in order to bring them in to God’s Family.
We will explore 3 simple principles that will give us insight into connecting to people from the perspective of Jesus.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
People are more important than my prejudices (or my preferences).
We know the story behind this text.
Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee and instead of following the tradition of men, and taking the long way around the land of Samaria, He took the shortcut and passed through it. He got thirsty and when He did, he stopped for a drink of water. As he waited, a woman of Samaria came to get water.
We know the story don’t we? She was there in the heat of the day because of her shame.
She could not go to the well when the other women were there because she was what we would call skank.
Now if we consider culture here, we see that in her day, her behavior was stigmatized as immoral.
Today, her behavior would be seen as normal.
Jesus engaged her in conversation in spite of her stigma.
He immediately began tearing down walls of separation.
Her question to Him shows us her surprise doesn’t it. “How is it that you being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”
You can hear the astonishment in her question.
Jesus has just committed cultural taboo. He spoke to a woman and to a Samaritan.
It’s a good thing for Jesus that none of the Pharisees were there. Oh yeah, they were busy avoiding Samaria.
But they would have wanted to kill Jesus. Oh yeah, they did that anyway.
Jesus put Dynamite at the base of the cultural walls and blew them to smithereens.
He did this because he saw one lone immoral Samaritan woman as important.
Does this mean that we need to ask who is important to us?
I think the answer to that is obvious. Certainly we do.
Now remember, we are talking about connecting to people, pursuing relationships.
We need to be looking for people who need Jesus. I want to read a phrase to you and ask if you recognize it: To reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ and to become His completed disciples.
That for those of us who may have forgotten is our purpose statement.
There is a starting point and an ending point.
The gospel begins a process that is ended when we are completed disciples.
But the beginning point of that rests on a connection that begins with the idea that people are important.
Reality has exploded on television. Everything is about that right now. The whole thing began with MTV and their garbage show called Real World where they put TV cameras in a house where young men and women lived together. What came next were shows like Survivor, Who wants to Marry a Millionaire, Joe Shmoe, Endurance for Kids and numerous other attempts at reality.
Why would we have such an interest in the real reactions of people in stressful and uncomfortable situations?
I think it is because we have an innate curiosity to find out if others are like us behind closed doors.
When we see the outrageous behavior of others, we feel better about ourselves.
But you know what else. We don’t like Teflon or silverstone or whatever term you use for the phony front.
When people say that there are hypocrites in church, they are saying that it just ain’t real.
Our second principle is: A connection means that we will be honest with people.
Jesus was just himself at the well with the woman.
Anyone who was there to get water that day could have seen the pain in the life of the Samaritan woman.
Jesus saw her pain and opened up to her.
He entered into a relationship and then began to deal with her needs in an honest and forthright way.
Sometimes when we talk to people, we are so afraid to bring up issues that we stifle our ability to minister because we only connect with people superficially.
Jesus was honest with her.
First of all, he said that he had something for her.
It was living water.
I can see my dad dropping two alka seltzer tablets in a glass when I hear that term.
What did Jesus mean? It was the idea that we would have something in our lives that would flow out. Jesus gives us some help in 7:38-39. He who believes in me as the scripture said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
What is flowing out of our lives?
Is it living water or is it stagnant.
To believe in Jesus is to have a life that affects others because of the Spirit of God who flows out.
When that happens we become blessed by Jesus and filled that we never thirst again.
Jesus pointed out to the woman that she was a sinner which puts her in the same boat as all of us.
It separates us from God.
How would you like to see rivers of living water flow from your soul and to know that you won’t have to worry about your sin separating you from God any more?
You can have that peace and assurance this morning by simply receiving Jesus as your Lord and savior today.
Would you please bow your heads? If you want Jesus, would you pray, “Dear Lord, my sins are bad. They have kept me from you. I want to be close to you and to have my sins forgiven and wiped away. I know that Jesus died on the cross to do that and I am asking Him into my life now. Lord, I give you control of all that I am, all that I do, and all that I have. Thank you for saving me Lord, in Jesus’ Name, Amen
The neat thing about the way that Jesus connected to this woman was he met where she was. He was ready to connect her to God
Connecting people to the Father is our primary job. This is our third principle today.
A few minutes ago, I told you that connection was a process. Jesus was engaging in a simple conversation about water and where to worship.
Jesus said the water was living and the place of worship is simply where God is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth.
It could be the living room, the worship center, the Family Life Center, a cave, or a prison cell.
Jesus said that God really doesn’t care.
What God cares about is true worship.
I love it when people tell me that something makes it hard for them to worship.
It makes me want to ask, “What are you worshiping anyway?”
The hymn that we sing tells us to turn our eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Too many people who claim to be followers of Christ let the tings of earth obscure their vision of Jesus.
We keep our eyes on bulletins, buildings, and budgets so much that we can’t see the savior anymore.
Jesus came to connect people to God so that they would go through the process of becoming devoted completed followers of Him.
As a church we have to define our entry point in the process.
Where do we connect with people?
We have to define what will move people through the process of growth.
Where will people connect with God; with each other; and with the ministries that will bring more people to our point of connection?
We are pursuing people to move through a process.
Jesus pursues hearts and so must we or else we will become that church that Paul described to Timothy, holding to a form of godliness but denying its power.
If we are more concerned with buildings, budgets and bulletins, and not connecting to people, we already may be there.
To download this message, right click here and select save target as
Show Lunchroom clip from Sky High.
That little piece of video tells us a lot doesn’t it?
It is so very easy to put up walls and to avoid connecting to people.
Describing the Biblical Text
This is a familiar text to us as we have read it and even heard it preached from this pulpit
That is the amazing thing about the scriptures.
They are always new and fresh.
They are always timeless and as ready to inform us as they were ready to inform the great church men of the past like the apostle Peter, Timothy, Clement of Rome, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Mordecai Ham, and Billy Graham.
What is Jesus up to in this passage?
He is following a path that is not seen as the appropriate path to follow.
He is pursuing a woman and contrary to pop culture, The Da Vinci Code, and now James Cameron, it was not Mary Magdalene.
Sometimes, Jesus only has to touch one life to make a huge difference in the lives of many others.
Narrate the Contextual application
Do we drive through the bad part of town at night?
Are we anxious to meet people who might challenge our sensibilities or do we avoid encounters that might make us uncomfortable.
Most of us have two or three close relationships that we can name in our minds right now.
Most of us are satisfied with that.
Why break our bubble and leave our comfort zone if we don’t have to?
But looking at Jesus, He had no bubble, no comfort zone, only the desire to connect with people or as He put it: to seek and to save the lost.
Life Application (thesis)
Where does that take us?
As we look this morning at Jesus and His encounter with this woman we see that He is pursuing relationships.
He knows that people are reached through relationships.
Consequently he brought this lesson to life for us.
We cannot be unavailable to the unlovable, the unreachable, the unattractive, or the unsaved.
If we believe that Jesus died for people no matter what their life situation is, then we will go whatever lengths we need to in order to bring them in to God’s Family.
We will explore 3 simple principles that will give us insight into connecting to people from the perspective of Jesus.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
People are more important than my prejudices (or my preferences).
We know the story behind this text.
Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee and instead of following the tradition of men, and taking the long way around the land of Samaria, He took the shortcut and passed through it. He got thirsty and when He did, he stopped for a drink of water. As he waited, a woman of Samaria came to get water.
We know the story don’t we? She was there in the heat of the day because of her shame.
She could not go to the well when the other women were there because she was what we would call skank.
Now if we consider culture here, we see that in her day, her behavior was stigmatized as immoral.
Today, her behavior would be seen as normal.
Jesus engaged her in conversation in spite of her stigma.
He immediately began tearing down walls of separation.
Her question to Him shows us her surprise doesn’t it. “How is it that you being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”
You can hear the astonishment in her question.
Jesus has just committed cultural taboo. He spoke to a woman and to a Samaritan.
It’s a good thing for Jesus that none of the Pharisees were there. Oh yeah, they were busy avoiding Samaria.
But they would have wanted to kill Jesus. Oh yeah, they did that anyway.
Jesus put Dynamite at the base of the cultural walls and blew them to smithereens.
He did this because he saw one lone immoral Samaritan woman as important.
Does this mean that we need to ask who is important to us?
I think the answer to that is obvious. Certainly we do.
Now remember, we are talking about connecting to people, pursuing relationships.
We need to be looking for people who need Jesus. I want to read a phrase to you and ask if you recognize it: To reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ and to become His completed disciples.
That for those of us who may have forgotten is our purpose statement.
There is a starting point and an ending point.
The gospel begins a process that is ended when we are completed disciples.
But the beginning point of that rests on a connection that begins with the idea that people are important.
Reality has exploded on television. Everything is about that right now. The whole thing began with MTV and their garbage show called Real World where they put TV cameras in a house where young men and women lived together. What came next were shows like Survivor, Who wants to Marry a Millionaire, Joe Shmoe, Endurance for Kids and numerous other attempts at reality.
Why would we have such an interest in the real reactions of people in stressful and uncomfortable situations?
I think it is because we have an innate curiosity to find out if others are like us behind closed doors.
When we see the outrageous behavior of others, we feel better about ourselves.
But you know what else. We don’t like Teflon or silverstone or whatever term you use for the phony front.
When people say that there are hypocrites in church, they are saying that it just ain’t real.
Our second principle is: A connection means that we will be honest with people.
Jesus was just himself at the well with the woman.
Anyone who was there to get water that day could have seen the pain in the life of the Samaritan woman.
Jesus saw her pain and opened up to her.
He entered into a relationship and then began to deal with her needs in an honest and forthright way.
Sometimes when we talk to people, we are so afraid to bring up issues that we stifle our ability to minister because we only connect with people superficially.
Jesus was honest with her.
First of all, he said that he had something for her.
It was living water.
I can see my dad dropping two alka seltzer tablets in a glass when I hear that term.
What did Jesus mean? It was the idea that we would have something in our lives that would flow out. Jesus gives us some help in 7:38-39. He who believes in me as the scripture said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
What is flowing out of our lives?
Is it living water or is it stagnant.
To believe in Jesus is to have a life that affects others because of the Spirit of God who flows out.
When that happens we become blessed by Jesus and filled that we never thirst again.
Jesus pointed out to the woman that she was a sinner which puts her in the same boat as all of us.
It separates us from God.
How would you like to see rivers of living water flow from your soul and to know that you won’t have to worry about your sin separating you from God any more?
You can have that peace and assurance this morning by simply receiving Jesus as your Lord and savior today.
Would you please bow your heads? If you want Jesus, would you pray, “Dear Lord, my sins are bad. They have kept me from you. I want to be close to you and to have my sins forgiven and wiped away. I know that Jesus died on the cross to do that and I am asking Him into my life now. Lord, I give you control of all that I am, all that I do, and all that I have. Thank you for saving me Lord, in Jesus’ Name, Amen
The neat thing about the way that Jesus connected to this woman was he met where she was. He was ready to connect her to God
Connecting people to the Father is our primary job. This is our third principle today.
A few minutes ago, I told you that connection was a process. Jesus was engaging in a simple conversation about water and where to worship.
Jesus said the water was living and the place of worship is simply where God is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth.
It could be the living room, the worship center, the Family Life Center, a cave, or a prison cell.
Jesus said that God really doesn’t care.
What God cares about is true worship.
I love it when people tell me that something makes it hard for them to worship.
It makes me want to ask, “What are you worshiping anyway?”
The hymn that we sing tells us to turn our eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Too many people who claim to be followers of Christ let the tings of earth obscure their vision of Jesus.
We keep our eyes on bulletins, buildings, and budgets so much that we can’t see the savior anymore.
Jesus came to connect people to God so that they would go through the process of becoming devoted completed followers of Him.
As a church we have to define our entry point in the process.
Where do we connect with people?
We have to define what will move people through the process of growth.
Where will people connect with God; with each other; and with the ministries that will bring more people to our point of connection?
We are pursuing people to move through a process.
Jesus pursues hearts and so must we or else we will become that church that Paul described to Timothy, holding to a form of godliness but denying its power.
If we are more concerned with buildings, budgets and bulletins, and not connecting to people, we already may be there.
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