Here is the last of I-Witness. It's a talk on the need for discipleship in the church. We need to be people who bring others along. Enjoy!
Abs
When Jesus Arrives
I think sometimes we paint the wrong picture of Jesus in the Gospels. We want Him to be this hermit, this odd little gypsy that no one paid any attention to other than a select few. The “odd for God” fellow like the guy on the corner who calls down fire and brimstone with the sandwich board. It’s easier that way. But early on, Jesus was anything but off by Himself. Far from a hermit, or odd for God, He was the man to be seen with. Think Bono filming a video in NYC or George Clooney or Julia Roberts on the red carpet. You couldn’t get close enough and the paparazzi were always asking for “just one more.” When Jesus went somewhere early on, everyone was there. So when Jesus showed up at your house, it was packed to the roof and people got there early and stayed late. And if it was a return engagement, then the crowd was double because last time it was healing a blind man and we heard He did this somewhere else, and what’s next bringing a dead guy back to life or killing the Roman governor with a word?
In Mark 2, Jesus enters Capernaum with a crowd of folks. He is staying in a house there and people pack it out to hear Him teach. Now imagine for a second, that you are someone who is in need in this town. You are poor, or sick, or crippled and you hear the miracle man is on His way. What would you do? Most likely you would be out of luck. Everyone wants to see Jesus and the needy take a back seat to celebrity then just like now. Well in this town is a paralyzed man. But this man has something going for Him most needy folks in the first century did not have. He has friends.
Total Dedication
Now most of you in this room have friends. There may be a few of you who are here and friendless. I want you to know if that’s you, that you weren’t meant to be that way. And if you are a part of a church and no one there is nice to you or likes you, if they are not friendly to you, then they are the ones who are screwed up not you. Jesus is pretty clear that if you are a Christ follower then you are to love everyone, even your enemies, and we are to be kind and friendly and hospitable. So hear this, if you have turned your church into your own personal clique of who’s in and who’s out then you are not just messing up a ministry, you are messing with God’s plan for the church. I would suggest to you that you get with the program, quit being a jerk, and start loving people for who they are like Jesus did before God decides to get personally involved in fixing the problem. Got it.
Now here’s the deal. The question for most of you isn’t do you have friends it’s where are you taking the friends you have? So many of us let our friends go where they will. When it gets serious, we leave them on the side of the road and head to where Jesus is and never help them to get there. How messed up is that? We have somehow convinced ourselves that they will find Jesus in some other way at some other time. It’s not our responsibility. That is not true and it’s keeping a lot of people we know away from Jesus.
Look at these guys. They had a ton of obstacles to overcome. First, they had to get a paralyzed guy to a house. There wasn’t an ambulance. No stretcher with rollers. Just 4 guys, a pallet, and some muscle. For how far? We have no idea. Next, they get there and everyone else is there. It’s the crowd that keeps us from getting so many of our friends to Jesus. We fear what everyone else will say or do when we start trying to get serious about our faith. Will they turn on us? Will they hold our friend back? These guys are so desperate to get this guy to Jesus, they climb up on the roof, haul the guy up there, and dig a hole. Then they lower him down right in front of Jesus. They were desperate to get there friend to Jesus because they were convinced that He was this guy’s only hope.
The Moment
This is where we have to get to. We have to become convinced that Jesus is the only hope for our friends. We have put faith for far to long in “go to church, act nice, tithe” as a way to a forgiven, transformed life. Your friends don’t have hope in some broken old legalism. Jesus is there only hope. Drug addiction, can’t stop having sex with everything that moves, can’t stop trying to earn approval with grades, or athletic success, or being the life of the party. Only Jesus can bring those things to an end. Only He can set you free from bondage, because only He can forgive the sins that are the root causes of all those, and every other problem.(v5)
When we become convinced of this truth, that Jesus is the only hope for people, then we will be willing to do anything to get people to Jesus. What had to happen for these people to become amazed- they had to witness Jesus’ power. That is what has to happen for you as well. You have to witness God’s power. You need to see what a miracle you are. If you are a Christ follower, your life is an amazing miracle. You are a new creation. (2 Cor 5:17) God has done something as amazing in you as He has done in this paralyzed man. Now take that amazement and let the story of your miracle move you to share the Gospel.
The Long Haul- Investment
This is where it really gets difficult for many of us. When a friend begins a journey with Jesus and we do not know what to do. This happens because few of us were discipled or invested in as we became believers. Scripture indicates that this is not an optional relationship for us. We are commanded to build up our brothers and sisters. They are a part of our body. Look at Paul’s writing in Ephesians 4.
Ephesians 4
1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it[a] says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."[b] 9(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
God’s plan is not for you to have a series of one stop relationships with people but to have ongoing, investments in life with those who join the journey. This is hard to do with the business of many of our lives. We have a million excuses, but the bottom line is we have a spiritual obligation to other believers, the church, and our Savior to bring new believers along in their faith.
We have a real problem in the church today. We have individualized faith to the point that I can have church by myself. I am weak if I need anyone to help me spiritually. That is so far from the Bible it’s not even in the book. We need each other. And we need unique experiences of faith and perspectives to keep us strong and to help us to be a complete body. And we need to take responsibility for one another. We need to see each person as a vital part of the body who we can teach but also who we can learn from.
How would you feel if you trusted someone with important, private things about yourself and then all of a sudden they no longer spent any time with you. How nervous wold that make you? Hoe uncomfortable? When we have the privilege of helping someone come to know Christ we are not done with the relationship. In fact, it’s just beginning. That’s why as people who you know and love and have a friendship with come to know Christ you will have the opportunity to baptize them. You are a part of where their spiritual journey will take them.
This morning I want to ask you: who are you building up? Who are you sharing your insights into God with? Who is pouring into you?
Odds & Ends: May 2, 2024
18 hours ago
