Desiring the Undesirable

Read Luke 5:27-32   

The Pharisees and their teacher buddies give some feedback.  “What do you think you’re doing, eating, and drinking with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

Jesus states the obvious.  "It is not the healthy who need a doctor; it’s the sick.  I haven’t come to call righteous people.  I’ve come to call sinners to repentance."  Obvious to everyone except the insular religious subculture. 

If Jesus was criticized for having sinful friends, you will be too.  And if you’re not there’s something wrong with you.    

It will be our privilege to be criticized by Christians who don’t understand.  It will be our glory to be welcomed into God’s presence by the people we have served. 

Many Christians come from church backgrounds that say they must separate from undesirable people. 

The last church I pastored had the remarkable quality of serving former prostitutes, drug addicts, alcoholics, ex-convicts, sometimes not too far removed from old lifestyles, as well as police officers, prison guards, and civilian law enforcement support workers.  I was struck by how much they had in common.  

Such is the kingdom of God. 

The Pharisees had two misconceptions:

ü  That holiness means separating yourself from undesirable people. 

ü  That associating with undesirable people makes us somehow undesirable to God. 

It is possible for both individuals and churches to become devoted mainly to personal spiritual culture and forget outreach, especially if the process of reaching out involves touching those who may contaminate us.  Thus, many Protestant churches have in effect become closed systems for the nurture and servicing of the inheritors of a [religious tradition]…

 – Richard Lovelace

You want to inherit a tradition?  Wouldn't you rather have the Kingdom of God?  

This passage contains one of a very few explicit mission statements that Jesus makes.

Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Luke 5:31-32

Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the dead so that everyone who repents and believes might be healed. 

For Jesus, and for his followers, separation from sinners in the name of holiness is a false dichotomy. 

True holiness reaches out with compassion and sincere love.  It embraces people some might find undesirable. 

Jesus desires the undesirable.  That’s why he reached out to you. 

Jesus openly associates with community outsiders.  It will be our privilege so to follow him, despite the criticism of some Christians. 

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12

If you are so criticized, you’re in good company. 

If you want to see God use you to reach people, reach down.  You’ll find people ripe for the gospel. 

ü  Following Christ means being willing to leave anything and everything for something better.

ü  Now more than ever, those who have left everything to follow Jesus are called to follow Jesus into the world, making the gospel real, as Jesus did.

ü  It will be our privilege to be criticized by Christians who don’t understand.  It will be our glory to be welcomed into God’s presence by the people we have served, people of amazing diversity from every possible background. 

That’s why Jesus came, was betrayed, crucified by the religious, and rose again. 

But his door's open wide. 

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  And they cried out in a loud voice:
   "Salvation belongs to our God,
   who sits on the throne,
   and to the Lamb."

Rev 7:9-10

Will you…

ü  Take advantage of any opportunity to interact with people different from you or that you don’t know. 

ü  Form relationships.  Invite people over, do things together.  Listen to people.  Love people. 

And if you have ever felt like an outsider, there’s someone who came to welcome you home. 

Where in the World?

Read Luke 5:27-32   

"Five Corners," Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada 

Levi gets included in the company of the most charismatic figure ever to walk the face of the earth.  For maybe the first time ever he is in with the in-crowd, so he throws a huge party at his home for Jesus. 

The party was packed with all the wrong kinds of people: the unscrupulous and immoral for starters: people of whom a proper religious person would not darken the doorway.  Jesus partied. 

They didn’t call Jesus the “friend of sinners” for nothing.  We like that term when it means us; not so much when it means people we don’t approve of.    

You see, now more than ever, those who have left everything to follow Jesus are called to follow Jesus right back into the world, making the gospel real in the trenches, as Jesus did.

It’s what God’s people have done as long as the church has been in existence, often with dramatic results.  We have a mission, a purpose. 

ü  Roman Empire

One of the most striking things about Christians at the time of the Roman Empire was their concern for the poor, particularly for those who were not from within the church community. 

ü  Protestant Reformation

Following the 16^th century Protestant Reformation, Christians combined the message of the gospel with providing food for the hungry, with orphanages, with schools for those who could not afford education. 

ü  Second Great Awakening

During the Second Great Awakening (early 1800s), Christians combined their passion for the gospel with badly needed prison reform, temperance, peace, and the abolition of slavery. 

God‘s people have always followed Christ into their world, making the gospel real -- the Kingdom present -- in word and in deed.  Where in the world do you need to follow Jesus? 

What’s behind this?  What drives and informs our place in this world? 

First, the church is the body of Christ. we are the physical presence of Christ in the world, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  That we have a mission means we are “missional.”

The term missional highlights the core identity and task of the church as God’s called and sent people.  It sees the church as the primary instrument of God’s mission.  A church that is missional understands that God’s mission calls and sends the church to be a missionary in its own society and in the cultures in which it finds itself. 

Eddie Gibbs

Second, Christ’s incarnation is our model.  Ministry to the whole person is the essence of the incarnation.  Jesus doesn’t just forgive them and send them on their way.  He openly associates with them.  He spends time with them.  He hangs out with them. 

By eating with Levi and his friends, Jesus is showing his full acceptance of them.  That’s what that meant in Bible times. 

 “While in the past evangelism meant giving merely the message of the gospel, those who are convicted by the need for transformation realize that evangelism needs to be more than just words.  Effective ministry should care for the body and mind as well as the soul, reaching out to the needs of the whole person.  The message of Jesus Christ should transform and change those who hear it, and through them, transform societies, cultures, and nations…  We need to be concerned not only with planting churches, but we also need to be concerned with the kind of churches we are planting.” 

– Ministering Among the Changing Cultures of North America, Mission to North America, Presbyterian Church in America  

What might it mean for Christians in your community?  Is the community growing or shrinking?  What are the projections?  Who is being hardest hit by the changes? 

ü  low income residents?

ü  single parents, especially single mothers? 

ü  Children? 

ü  those with disabilities? 

ü  the mentally handicapped?

ü  those with addictions?

ü  senior citizens? 

Maybe.  But what can I do? 

Here are seven ways Christians and churches can begin to make a difference today. 

1.   Take advantage of any opportunity to interact with people different from you or that you don’t know. Poker face: don't judge.  Your connection is not your moral code but the image of God in both of you.  

2. Form relationships.  Invite people over, do things together.  Listen to people.  Accept and appreciate them.  Love the person in front of you.  

3.   Create an inviting atmosphere in worship. 

4.   Begin with children’s ministry. 

5. Meet needs regardless of whether there’s anything in it for you.  We address needs regardless of whether they come to our church. 

6.  Make staff additions based on community needs.  Maybe the next staff member will focus on youth or children’s ministry, or counselling, for example. 

7.   This approach has to be fully embraced by the leadership, but will be most effectively done by lay people. 

Followers of Christ will be the friend of sinners, just as Jesus was.   

End of the Spear

Read Luke 5:27-32   

The true story of Jim Elliot and what follows is told in the 2005 movie End of the Spear.  

Philip James “Jim” Elliot was born October 8, 1927 into a ministry family in the Puget Sound, Washington State, USA area.  He trusted in Christ at age 8. He attended Wheaton College on an athletic scholarship and made the varsity wrestling team his first year at university.  He was a Preacher's Kid and a jock.  As a college student, Elliot journaled,

"There is one Christian worker for every 50,000 people in foreign lands, while there is one to every 500 in the United States."

Jim graduated with highest honors in 1949, and sensed God calling him to a deadly tribe in Ecuador that their neighbors called the Auca ("savage") Indians, a violent and murderous tribe that had never had any contact with the outside world. 

Jim and four other missionaries spent months carefully building a friendly relationship with the Aucas (or Huaorani, as they call themselves).

Although they had a gun, the four missionaries didn’t defend themselves when the Aucas attacked.  When the authorities found them slaughtered, they had been repeatedly pierced with spears and hacked by machetes. 

Before he died, Jim wrote in his journal:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

There’s a remarkably happy ending to the story, but Jim Elliot understood that none of the dazzling trappings of this life has any lasting value.  Christ is far better. 

Early in his ministry, Jesus sees a tax collector named Levi open for business.  Jesus says to him, "Follow me.” Levi gets up, leaves everything right where it is, and follows him.  

Jesus calls Levi, a despised, social outcast.  Jesus takes initiative with outcasts, and it’s a good thing he does.  Otherwise, there would be no hope for any of us, because – let’s be honest – compared to God we’re all outcasts.    

Everything changes for Levi.  He shows us the essence of Christian discipleship, because following Christ means being willing to leave anything and everything for the sake of something unknown (to us), but better.

Levi was going to have none of the trappings, which for him were money and an in-crowd of outcasts.  He left it all because Jesus was irresistible   And that’s what God requires, that we leave it all.  But the pay-off is something you have to experience to believe. 

Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Matthew 19:29

Following Christ means being willing to leave anything and everything for the sake of something unknown, but better.  They don't call it faith for nothin'.  Levi shows us the essence of discipleship when he leaves everything to follow Jesus.  Everything’s different. 

Long-time, veteran Christians have heard this before.  "Oh yeah, I have that cost-of-discipleship stuff down."  But in reality we clutter our hearts with idols, distractions, and fleshly coping mechanisms that water down the Spirit of God who wants to inject us, and through us to inject the world with his love.  

Leaving everything means leaving everything every day, always fresh, always reforming, always a clean, new start.  

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Jim Elliot did not just take that to heart for his personal relationship with Jesus.  It drove his short life’s mission.  It’s why we’re here, friends.  Jim Elliot is another reason (see Ruth) that the remarkably happy purpose of your life might not become clear till after you die.  

Kingdom Compassion

Read Luke 4:16-21

Another evidence that the kingdom of God is here now is compassion, acts of mercy, and relief for the oppressed: 

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Luke 4:18-19

The kingdom of God is present

ü  In word – that’s the gospel

ü  And in deed – acts of mercy, a life of compassion, and of advocating for the oppressed

Actions speak louder than words.  And while we’re here to let people know about Christ, actions  of kindness, mercy and justice for the oppressed, are driven by a heart of humility.  Followers of Christ, as ambassadors of a new way of doing things, are here for a reason.  

That’s not the perception of Christians though.  In North America, Christians are perceived among young adults as judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, and too involved in politics.  And perception is reality. 

We’ve lost sight of Jesus’ core values.  And we’ve tacked onto our sense of Christian identity a host of cultural apps that obscure the Spirit of God within. 

In the 19^th century many Christians were instrumental in developing child labour laws and in opposing slavery in the US (although there were Christians on both sides of the issue).  Today many Christians (quite rightly) oppose abortion, even as they did in New Testament times.  These are Christians who have been unafraid to think globally, to act locally, and to breathe Kingdom values into every phase of life. 

But there is a wide swath of evangelicals in North America whose arm is too short to grapple with what compassion looks among the urban poor, what compassion looks like to the sick, the addicted, and the dysfunctional. 

Jesus came not for the healthy but the sick, not for the righteous but for sinners. 

And we are all oppressed, all recovering addicts (to sin), and in need of the Great Physician.  I say that not to relativize ministry among the oppressed or sick, but to assert that we are not so different from the meth addict who breaks into cars to finance his addiction.  We’re not so different from the kid whose parents are addicts themselves who dresses Goth and behaves badly in our churches (if he comes at all). 

The kingdom of God is present in word and in deed, and if the Kingdom is present within us, like fruit on a tree the qualities of speaking naturally about Christ and acting with compassion will simply express themselves. 

A healthy Christian – and a healthy church -- has two things it can do locally: evangelism and compassionate service to “the oppressed” in its community. 

How do kingdom values speak to our choice of candidates in election years?  How does bringing liberty to the oppressed speak to who we vote for, locally, nationally?  How does it speak to how we use our free time?  How does it speak to our heart toward the addicted relative or neighbor (and who is my neighbor)? 

And the foundation of it all is the gospel, expressed in four ways: 

1)   Gospel Proclamation – preaching the gospel to the unconverted.  That’s what we just talked about. 

2)   Gospel Transformation – we preach the gospel to ourselves.  In other words, we keep learning what it means to live by faith in Christ. 

3)   Gospel Reconciliation – we preach the gospel to one another.  We pursue honest communication and apply the gospel whenever there’s tension. 

4)   Gospel Incarnation – we practice what we preach (the gospel) in the world. 

That last one, gospel incarnation, takes the gospel and puts feet on it through actions of love and liberation to hurting people.  Our credibility as Christians and as a church hinges, at least in part, upon love that we demonstrate in our community, our country and on the world stage. 

Love in action was at the heart of Jesus’ ministry, and it was at the heart of the early church too.  Tangible ministry among those in need will always be intimately woven together with any authentic gospel ministry. 

One proof of the presence of the Kingdom is compassion, relief for the oppressed, for the poor.  We know this.  Jesus has said as much.  We can be part of the solution.  We can show that the kingdom of God does exist. 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 

One proof of the kingdom is the preaching of the gospel, so the church of God, and the people of God, will carry that message with us, into our world.  A second evidence of the kingdom of God is compassion.  Any true church of Jesus Christ will evidence both.   

But if we are the Body

Why aren't His arms reaching

Why aren't His hands healing

Why aren't His words teaching

And if we are the Body

Why aren't His feet going

Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price

For us to pick and choose who should come

And we are the Body of Christ

If We Are The Body Lyrics, Casting Crowns

The Kingdom of God is present now.  One evidence of the Kingdom is the preaching of the gospel.  A second evidence of the Kingdom of God is acts of mercy, relief for the oppressed. 

What does it mean for you to express God’s kingdom this week? 

ü  What would building a bridge to someone who doesn’t know Christ look like? 

ü  Where are you weakest in expressing the Kingdom values of proclamation and incarnation?  What drives your true beliefs about what makes you Christian?    

Thy Kingdom Come

Read Luke 4:16-21

I have a friend, who like many, had a little church background as a child.  Then he grew up, and he met some Christians.  He tried church again.  The message rang true, and sometimes the preacher seemed to be talking right to him (funny how often that happens).  He was trying to make sense of it all.  Finally, after talking about it, we prayed together, reviewing the gospel, and he left with new confidence that he had peace with God. 

The first proof that the kingdom is here now is the preaching of the gospel, simple as that.  The word gospel means “good news,” and it’s the story of Christ for all who believe.  When Jesus quotes from Isaiah’s prophecy at synagogue that day, what is the first item on Isaiah’s list?  The preaching of the gospel to the poor:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor."

Luke 4:18

You may know that John the Baptist (Jesus’ cousin and end-times “front man”) was put in prison during Jesus’ ministry.  This baptizer wasn’t planning on jail, so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" 

Jesus’ answer points to the preaching of the gospel: 

Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."

Matthew 11:4-6

The fact the gospel is preached is proof that the kingdom of God is present. 

The preaching of the gospel is no less a proof than the miracles that the kingdom of heaven has come. 

Herman Ribberbos

So what’s the gospel?  Paul sums it up:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve...

1 Corinthians 15:3-5

A sinless Christ died for our sins as scripture predicted.  Once buried, he was physically raised from the dead.  His death brings forgiveness for all sins, and his life brings new (and ultimately eternal) life for all who repent and believe:

"The time has come," [John] said.  "The kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news!"

Mark 1:15

You see, believing the gospel and becoming a Christian are often the product not of one decision but of many little decisions.  One decision might be that Christianity as “religion” might not be all evil, all the time after all.  Or, “Here’s a Christian that I don't think is a complete idiot.” The gospel message will often unfold in people’s lives bit by bit. 

If the story of Christ’s death on the cross to forgive your sins rings true, as if something inside is confirming it to you, your heart is responding to the gospel.  To “believe” is to take it to heart.  And that will lead to “repentance:” a radical, from-the-heart reorientation, a 180 degree turnaround: “I was going away from God.  Now I will go toward God.”   

It will change your life.  Some changes may come quickly, but like the Velveteen Rabbit’s becoming real, it doesn’t happen all at once.  And we don’t do it on our own.  We’re meant to be in community. 

Jesus preached the gospel, and now it falls to the church to follow in his steps.  It’s his famous “last command.” 

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

Would you be able to explain the gospel to someone else?  It’s not rocket science, and there’s no greater privilege.  There’s enough information above to do it. 

Is there someone close enough to you to share what Jesus means to you? 

But actions speak louder than words, and that brings us to the other proof of the presence of the Kingdom. 

A Bigger One

Coldplay’s live “Lost” video on YouTube with rap artist Jay Z expresses what can happen to people who step out to make a difference.  Halfway through the song, Jay Z comes in: 

See Jesus, see Judas

See Caesar, see Brutus,

See success is like suicide

Suicide, it's a suicide

If you succeed, prepare to be crucified

Media meddles, niggaz sue you, you settle

Every step you take, they remind you you're ghetto

Coldplay - Lost (Remix ft. Jay-Z)

See Jesus, see Judas, and the opening day of Jesus’ public ministry.  His words in Nazareth will define his mission. 

Read Luke 4:16-30

Jesus goes to synagogue as usual (he practiced organized religion even while he denounced its hypocrisy).  But this time he makes a staggering claim, mostly lost on us but so striking that his listeners say, “Who does he think he is?  This is Joseph’s son!  We know this guy!” 

Here’s Jesus, doing his thing in his hometown, and his people have to remind him he's ghetto.  Some are so angry they want to kill him then and there.  Friendly fire.  Ultimately, it will get him crucified. 

Jesus confirms Simeon’s words.  He claims to be nothing less than the very fulfillment of Isaiah’s own messianic prophecy. 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

    and recovering of sight to the blind,

    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

Luke 4:18, 19

In reading this passage, Jesus gives his neighbors a blueprint for his ministry, and with it a plan for our lives as well. 

“Kingdom of God” (or “kingdom of heaven”) is how the New Testament describes God’s reign on earth under the messiah.  It’s something that we look forward to as a future event, but it’s also something the Bible describes as present here and now: already here, not yet completed. 

We look around and we’re not convinced.  There’s so much wrong with the world, with others, and with ourselves if we’re honest.  If we think about it at all, it makes more sense to think of the Kingdom of God as only a future event. 

But the Kingdom of God is present, too, and it has been since Jesus read these words.  When Jesus quotes Isaiah’s prophecy about the messiah, he says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled.” 

In what is blasphemy to his hometown, small town audience, Jesus begins his public ministry by announcing that with him the messianic age has begun. 

"The kingdom of God is here.  I’m God’s gift to the world."  

No wonder they want to throw him off a cliff.  They say, “Wait a second!  We know your parents (if that really is your dad)!” They add with a whisper.  

That’s what happens to kingdom builders.  Maybe it’s happened to you.  Maybe it will. 

But the Kingdom of God is in your midst (Luke 17:21), and everyone who wants to live for God will be persecuted too (2 Timothy 3:12).  If you succeed, prepare to be crucified. 

The kingdom of God continues to be present now, too, in the life of his church and of his people – you and me. 

So what should we look for?  How do you know it’s there?  What are the proofs of the presence of the Kingdom of God?  There are two…

A Heart Divided Cannot Stand

Read Luke 2:22-40

Christmas brings with it a message of hope.  But it is only because there is a darkness that there can be any hope at all.  

The baby’s father and mother are stunned at the things being said about Jesus.  Simeon blesses them but cautions Mary: 

“Behold, he’ll be for a falling and rising for many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against – and a sword shall go through your own soul – in order that the thoughts of people’s hearts might be disclosed.” 

A Divided World 
As 2017 closes, social divisions confront us in new, troubling, even dangerous ways.  A generation ago, Francis A. Schaeffer challenged Christians' response in the face of social divisions.  He confronted the Christian establishment: 

 “[Leaders of the anarchist movement in Amsterdam] call their public demonstrations "Happenings"... Dare we laugh at such things?  Dare we feel superior when we view their tortured expressions in their art?  Christians should stop laughing and take such men seriously.  [Only t]hen we shall have the right to speak again to our generation.  These men are dying while they live, yet where is our compassion for them?  There is nothing more ugly than an orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.”

The God Who is There (1968)

Consider the power of respect and compassion toward those who appear to be so threatening to you.  We follow Christ, and flatter ourselves that we represent him in this world. So who is the one in our worlds God is calling us to respect, not with a patronizing, pious, holier-than-thou compassion, but a compassion borne out of shared awareness of our common humanity?

The imago Dei – the image of God in all of us: that is the point of contact.  We're cut from the same cloth.  

Here, maybe for the first time, Mary understands that this child will bring her heartache and pain.  Mary will see her son rejected by a divided Israel.  

In their proud moment, when folks then, as now, dedicated their babies to God, Simeon speaks stark words of a grim reality. He speaks of divisions among people -- those who rise and those who fall.  He makes clear the impossibility of neutrality with Jesus, as well as his demand (or is it an invitation?) for total surrender. 

Jesus isn’t an app we use, or a 911 operator we only call in emergencies.  He will not be our accessory. 

A Divided Heart 
It comes full circle to our own hearts, "in order that the thoughts of people’s hearts might be disclosed.”  The division we see without is just an extension of the division within.  

We all have that wrestling.  We struggle with being single-minded and we wrestle with conflicting desires.  Our hearts find peace when they rest in God. 

Reject him or find life in him, but one thing we cannot do is dismiss Jesus.  There is one God, and we can know him.  The death of His son is startling proof that we can only come to God on God’s terms.  Yet the reward is greater still.  

The counter-intuitive kingdom says lose your life in order to find it: 

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Die in order to live:  

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

There is no more emancipating answer than the one to this question.....in what ways is my own heart divided?  In what ways am I holding back?

Not a bad question to start the year with.