Forks In The Road

             As we walk through this text from Luke 11 I want you to think of it as a backdrop to the conversation we are about to have. The Pharisees and the religious lawyers had gotten so good at the details of their religious belief that they lost the relationship with God that was supposed to be the motivation for their belief. They had not only put up barriers to people on the outside (so that new people weren’t being invited in) but they were putting up barriers to the people on the inside keeping them from getting closer to God.

            Today’s conversation is about those barriers.

Luke 11:37–54

                  ³⁷While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. ³⁸The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. ³⁹Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. ⁴²“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. ⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.” ⁴⁵One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.” ⁴⁶And he said, “Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. ⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. ⁴⁸So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ ⁵⁰so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. ⁵²Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” ⁵³When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things, ⁵⁴lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

            When I lived in Eau Claire I would get a fair number of people who would either call or stop by the Church looking for help. This ranged from people needing diapers or baby formula or gas for their car or to be put up in a hotel for the night. Most were looking for cash which we tried to avoid handing out. In fact, we had so many people coming in asking for money to buy diapers and baby formula that we bought cases of both of those items to give to people. I wasn’t really surprised, but we had quite a few who wanted money for diapers and baby formula but wouldn’t take either of those items if they were offered.

            Most of the people who called for help would talk about being raised in the Methodist Church and about how important the Church was to them. I would hear story after story about how much they loved Jesus and how they spent time in Sunday school and other Church activities. At the risk of sounding cynical I got to a point where I thought every person who called was reading off of the same script.

            I eventually figured out that many of these people were “professional” transients”. Living off of the charity and good will of individuals and churches was their every day job. Most of them were telling me what they thought I wanted to hear. They were just trying to “butter me up” or “grease the skids” so to speak.

            However, there was one call that kind of “broke the mold.”

            A man called who was traveling from Indiana to Minnesota and he was looking for gas for his car and something to eat but instead of giving me the “I love Jesus” speech he started right off by telling me about how awful Christians were.

            He was loud and angry and obnoxious and he spent a good five minutes outlining the hypocrisy of our faith and talking about our spiritual phoniness and our lack of true compassion. The summary of his approach was “you aren’t going to help me because you don’t really care” and “you Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites.” It was an interesting approach; I started to think of it as confrontational freeloading.

            He didn’t realize that I was a pretty easy mark. My natural tendency is to help people and I wasn’t going to not help him simply because he was insulting everything about my life.  However, if I could have schooled him, I might have mentioned that even though my natural tendency was to help he had pushed it right to the edge. I almost hung up on him.

            I think the reason I stayed on the line was because much of what he said was accurate. He could talk about spiritual phonies and it was true; there are lots of people who talk about religion BUT who have NEVER learned to practice a meaningful faith. He could talk about “religious” people who use their belief system as a way of manipulating other people’s lives and being in control AND again HE WAS RIGHT. FOR SOME PEOPLE RELIGION IS JUST ANOTHER FORM OF POWER. He was also right that there are some people who believe everything that the church says for no apparent reason. THEY DON’T REALLY WANT TO KNOW, THEY JUST WANT SOMEONE TO TELL THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO DO TO GET INTO HEAVEN AND THEY WILL GENERALLY SHOOT FOR THE MINIMUM DAILY REQUIREMENT. ALL OF these kinds of people have given our faith in Jesus a bad name.

            Maybe what was happening was that I wanted to prove to this particular gentleman that there are actually believers in Jesus who care about people. SO, AT LEAST WHEN IT CAME TO ME, CONFRONTATIONAL FREELOADING WORKED LIKE A CHARM. HOWEVER, IN MY DEFENSE, I CAN SAY THAT I WENT INTO IT WITH MY EYES WIDE OPEN. I knew that he was trying to play on my guilt but knowing didn’t change anything. He got the help he was looking for.

            BUT THE PROBLEM this man highlighted was something THAT WE (in the Church) NEED TO DEAL WITH. We will never bring Jesus to our world if we don’t first clear up some misunderstandings and some misconceptions. FIRST, WE NEED TO DEAL WITH OUR OWN ATTITUDES TOWARD THE FAITH. We need to work on our personal relationship with Jesus so that the faith we live out every day is genuine and compassionate; a reflection of who we really are. This won’t happen over night and (I hope you understand) it only takes one misstep on our part for people to be convinced that what they’ve always thought was true is true.

            This is where the Church should come in to play. We are not only here to be a support group for each other as we face the challenges of living in the real world. We are here to be an accountability group. Just as we surrender our lives to Jesus, we are suppose to surrender our lives to each other and help each other become the best that we can be.

”Woe to you Pharisees!” (vs. 43)  “Woe also to you lawyers!” (vs. 46)

            When Jesus was with the hypocrites of his day his approach was to confront them with their failure. The advantage that Jesus had was that the Scribes, the Pharisees and the religious lawyers weren’t going anywhere. He could accuse them of killing the prophets and deluding the people with their teachings. He could call them “blind guides” and they would all still show up for work the next day. In that sense, he had a captive audience. The people Jesus was trying to teach weren’t going to move to a different country or join a different religious group.

            The world today is a different place. In fact, the world is a different place than it was 50 years ago and people come to church for different reasons than they did when I was a child. Today our world is filled with options and people are used to picking and choosing what they want to hear which means that if I tried to do today what Jesus did with the Pharisees and religious lawyers it would be EITHER my last sermon in front of this congregation or you would all be moving down the road to find another church HOME.

            What this means is that we need to begin to think of the Church differently. This is not simply a place where we attend; in theory this is a place where we come to be changed. We come here to place ourselves in the presence of God. We spend time in bible study, worship and prayer in order to allow our relationship with the living Jesus to reshape our character. We come together to spend time in fellowship and service with the assumption that we will learn from each other and grow in faith.

            The first step in confronting hypocrisy in our churches today is to stop being hypocrites. In order to show people what Jesus is able to do in the lives of ordinary people like you and me we have to be willing to let Jesus be at work in the lives of ordinary people like you and me. If our relationship with Jesus doesn’t mean something to us then it will never mean anything to the people we interact with. The first step IN “BRINGING JESUS TO OUR WORLD” is to let Jesus work in our lives.

            The second step is even harder. We need to give each other permission to meddle in our lives. We need each other to take an interest in our becoming the best human beings we can be AND the best followers of Jesus we can be. The only way that will happen is if we learn to trust each other deeply; deeply enough so we can have open and honest conversation about who we are and how we live our lives.

            The questions just keep coming. HOW DO WE get to that place where we really love each other and where we learn to trust each other with our lives? Some of this is obvious. We need to be present for each other. I can’t expect you to learn to trust me if you only see me once a quarter or even once a month. Even getting together once a week may not be enough.

            I WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST (AGAIN) THAT THIS ISN’T SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS IN LARGE GROUPS OF PEOPLE. Relationships are built in living rooms not in auditoriums. Relationships are built person to person not on the Internet. Our challenge will always be TO create spaces where we can interact and where we can get to know each other. Part of this challenge is getting close enough to people so that they can see that we are understanding, compassionate and “trustable” people as well. The Church (not the building but the church, the “ecclesia” of God) the gathering of believers is meant to be that place where our lives are changed.

            Then and only then can we begin our own personal public relations campaign that focuses on who Jesus is, what Jesus has done and who we are as Jesus’ servants in the world. Jesus needs advocates and that would be us.

            I was given the opportunity to sing the national anthem at a Brewers game because my wife was my advocate. She made it possible for me to stand on that field and sing that song. It wasn’t a hugely complicated process but she had to be intentional about it. When I was recording my musical CD she had me ask the recording engineer if I could do an “a capella” version of the National Anthem and have him burn it to a separate CD; which I did and which he did. Then she got the information regarding the application process, wrote a nice note that said (in part) that I was able to hit all the high notes and I would remember all of the words and then she sent all of that in to the Brewers organization. It wouldn’t have happened without her commitment.

            Jesus needs advocates; maybe we should call them “field agents.” Jesus needs people who will say some kinds things about him and make sure he gets the right kind of exposure.

            When I was in seminary, among the many books that I was required to read was one little book that was about 60 pages long entitled, “Say A Good Word for Jesus.” The book was written by John Watson, who was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor who served in Liverpool, England for 25 years. In this little book Watson tells the story of his call into ministry and how the only advice he got from his mother was that whenever he stepped into the pulpit he should make sure to “say a good word for Jesus.”

            We are all called to be advocates and to “say a good word for Jesus.” We are responsible for doing whatever is necessary to introduce people to this savior whom we love.

            This generally isn’t a complicated process but we need to be intentional about it. It means that we need to take advantage of opportunities that come along when they come along. We need to remember that we are a walking advertisement for the faith we have committed ourselves too.

            So, get ready to “say a good word for Jesus.” Help each other become the best that you can be and then go out and “say a good word of Jesus.” Grow closer to God, grow closer to each other, learn to love the Lord and your neighbor AND then let your life “say a good word for Jesus.”

Bring Jesus To Your World

Luke 10:1–24

            10After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. ²He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. ⁵Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ ⁶And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. ⁷Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. ⁸Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹²I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. ¹³“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. ¹⁶“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

                  ¹⁷The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” ¹⁸He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. ¹⁹See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” ²¹At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²²All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” ²³Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea,

So burdened with sin and distressed,

Till I heard a sweet voice, saying, “Make Me your choice”;

And I entered the “Haven of Rest”!

I’ve anchored my soul in the “Haven of Rest,”

I’ll sail the wide seas no more;

The tempest may sweep o’er the wild, stormy, deep,

In Jesus I’m safe evermore.

            By now I am assuming that you understand that we have a reason for being here. The God we serve has always chosen a group of people to act as his witnesses in the world. At this time in history, we are those people. We have the responsibility of going out to the world we live in and search for those people who are living (as the song says) in “sad exile” “burdened with sin and distressed.” We are responsible for helping those people (people who are being tossed around by the storms of life) find a relationship with the living Jesus that provides peace for the moment, hope for the future and strength to face each challenge.

            Like those first disciples whom Jesus sent out, we have been commissioned to proclaim to the people we meet that,

‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ (vs. 9)

            We are not telling people that the kingdom of God is coming like it is some future event we can predict and plan for. We don’t have to wait for the last trumpet call of God and for Jesus to appear on the clouds. We are bringing the kingdom of God right into their presence. We are saying to the people we meet, “if you want to see what the Kingdom of God can do in the life of an ordinary person then all you have to do is look at me.”

            I know this sounds intimidating but I believe this is our responsibility. You and I are supposed to be putting ourselves forward as present time examples of what God is able to do in the lives of ordinary people.

            Does this mean we will have to be perfect? No. What this means is that we will have to be forgiven AND there’s a difference. Does this mean that we have to have memorized the bible? No. This means that we need to be able to share what God is doing in our lives every day. No memorization required. Do we have to feel called to be a preacher? No, but we do need to be convinced that we children of God.

            We are not offering people our wisdom or our guidance. We are not expecting that people will adopt our political leanings or dress like we dress; we are offering people an opportunity to be in a relationship with Jesus that we believe will change their lives. In a paraphrase of the Apostle Paul, we have been blessed to be a blessing.

⁸And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

            What we are asking is that you be willing to share your blessings with the people you know.

            Not everyone is going to be receptive. Some will be downright hostile.

I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. (vs. 3)

            This means that we need to be convinced that what we do is important. It needs to be important enough to us that we will take whatever risk is required. Our job is not to harangue people and try to argue them into the kingdom. Our job is to share with them what God has done to bless our lives; to show them that the Kingdom has arrived.

            If they don’t want to hear it then we need to simply let it go and move on. I know that’s hard when you care but there are other witnesses who might be better suited to touch those people’s lives AND there are always other people who are waiting to hear what we have to say.

            Those first disciples were told to take nothing with them. They were supposed to depend on God to provide for them everything that they would need as they did their Master’s work. This is an important reminder for us as well. We need to learn to trust God to provide for us. We probably aren’t going to be tromping down dusty roads and depending on the charity of strangers for our food and shelter but we do need to trust that God will provide the opportunity for us to share the Good News we carry, that he will provide the words we need to say to make the message effective and that he will provide the touch upon people’s hearts that will move them to take a step closer to the Kingdom.

            We need to realize that we have been enormously privileged to be able to carry this wonderful Good News out into our world. This isn’t work we do because we are trying to prove ourselves worthy of heaven; this isn’t about having power of gaining influence over people’s lives. We aren’t seeking status or even recognition. This is work we do because part of us is already living in heaven and we are simply grateful to be counted as one of God’s children.

…do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (vs. 20)

            But, just as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, we don’t have forever which means that there will always be a sense of urgency about what we do. The phrase “…greet no one on the road.” (vs. 4) doesn’t mean that we are supposed to be rude or unfriendly. What it means is that we have lots to do so we don’t have time to get distracted. We are not out for a stroll we are out doing Kingdom work.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (vs. 2)

            Summer has seemed to just flash by and the older I get the faster it seems to go. I remember as a child that summer had moments when it seemed to go on forever and I also remember once making the mistake of saying to my mother, “I’m bored.” Her response to me was, “why don’t you go and clean out the garage.”

            Our garage was big enough for two full sized cars but we never parked a car in it. It was never quite finished. It had a dirt floor and was packed full of stuff. It was like a scene from American Pickers. Right in the middle of the floor was a handmade cement mixer that my father picked up with the intention of mixing up enough cement to put a floor down in the garage but there was all this junk that had to be cleaned out.

            From my perspective, “cleaning out the garage” was a life sentence AND I never really knew where to get started.

            I have a feeling that for many of us being told that we are being sent out into the world to embody the kingdom is a lot like standing in the doorway of that garage. How long is this going to take? Where do I start? There are all kinds of reasons why this doesn’t happen.

            I was trying to decide where this conversation was headed and I realized that this sounded a lot like we were going to conclude by saying AGAIN (for umpteenth time) that we need to commit ourselves to bible study, prayer, worship, fellowship and service AND that would all be OK. We really do need to commit ourselves to those disciplines in order for us to live a Christian life.

            BUT first, it seems to me that we have to take one step back and have a little talk with Jesus about the PURPOSE of our lives.

            As Christians, the goal will always be for us to see the purpose of our lives differently. We have been called out of the world (that’s what the word “church” means) to live by God’s rules and to fulfill God’s expectations.  WE HAVE said that we are willing to make sacrifices in order to be God’s hands and voices and this requires that we be prepared but more than that this requires that we be HIS. WE HAVE TO BE CONVINCED THAT WE BELONG TO HIM.

            IN JESUS’ DAY THE DISCIPLES MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH A FEW PARLOUR TRICKS LIKE STEPPING ON SNAKES AND SCORPIONS BUT WE LIVE IN A MUCH MORE CYNICAL WORLD AND GOING TO JAIL FOR JESUS OR EVEN GOING TO A CROSS FOR JESUS MIGHT ACTUALLY BE THE EASY WAY OUT.

            WE HAVE TO BE WILLING TO LIVE FOR JESUS. That’s the hard part. WE NEED TO BE WILLING TO SAY TO OURSELVES AND TO ANYONE WHO WILL LISTEN THAT OUR LIVES are not our own. We ARE NOT in the world simply to achieve success or make A LOT OF MONEY OR TRY TO HAVE THE MOST FUN. REMEMBER “THE ONE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS” IS JUST AS DEAD.

            Jesus gave this same speech in his sermon on the mount. He said that we shouldn’t make seeking food and clothing the focus of our lives. He said that we should never let ourselves get so entangled with money that we allow our bank account to become our god. He said that what we treasure will be where we invest our lives and then he said that we should invest our lives in God’s kingdom; in this relationship with our heavenly father.

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

            I GUESS WHAT WE’VE COME TO IS THIS…OUR FIRST TASK IS TO SEEK GOD, TO DO WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO HEAR HIS VOICE, TO MAKE WHATEVER changes are REQUIRED TO take on his nature and to be able to live our lives as his faithful children. Then we will take the Kingdom out into the world because we CAN’T HELP OURSELVES. It will be so much of who we are that we will do what we are called to do without even trying.

            WE PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES HERE (in this place) TO HELP YOU FULFILL THIS GOAL. There are programs like Disciple Bible Study (which has just gotten started), three different adult Sunday School classes, times when you can pray, mid-week Bible study opportunities, opportunities to serve at The Gathering and Children’s Services AND a new focus small groups. Think of these as basic studies in Christian living and THINK OF THIS place AS your FIRST STOP ON a JOURNEY OUT INTO THE WORLD. Prepare yourself, go out into the world and live for Jesus every day.

I yielded myself to His tender embrace,
In faith taking hold of the Word,
My fetters fell off, and I anchored my soul;
The “Haven of Rest” is my Lord.

I’ve anchored my soul in the “Haven of Rest,”

I’ll sail the wide seas no more;

The tempest may sweep o’er the wild, stormy, deep,

In Jesus I’m safe evermore.

The song of my soul, since the Lord made me whole,
Has been the old story so blest,
Of Jesus, who’ll save whosoever will have
A home in the “Haven of Rest.”

I’ve anchored my soul in the “Haven of Rest,”

I’ll sail the wide seas no more;

The tempest may sweep o’er the wild, stormy, deep,

In Jesus I’m safe evermore.

Supporting The Agenda

Luke 4:14–30

¹⁴Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. ¹⁶When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” ²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ²³He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” ²⁴And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. ³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

            I grew up at St. Luke’s Methodist Church on the north side of La Crosse, Wisconsin. I went through Sunday school there, played my part in a number of Christmas pageants, sang in various church choirs and was confirmed into the membership when I was 14.

            I made a commitment to follow Jesus when I was 19 years old and it changed my life. I became a Sunday school teacher, a lay leader and a lay member to the Annual Conference. When I was 21 years old I was given an opportunity to serve as a student pastor in Norwalk, Wisconsin; which meant that I was expected to lead 2 small churches and preach every week.

            The week before I left St. Luke’s Church to take up my new assignment I was asked to preach for my home congregation. It was a weird kind of moment because in all of the time that I had spent in that church building I had never pictured myself standing in that particular pulpit. It was a place that belonged to someone else; someone older than I was; someone dressed in black; someone more qualified and so I accepted the invitation with some “fear and trembling.” I was going to preach to my mother and father, to my aunts and uncles, to my old choir director and my Sunday school teachers. I was going to attempt to teach people who had taught me. It was a bit surreal.

            I took a look and I found that “hand written” sermon in my files. It wasn’t too bad. Although, I apparently thought that I needed to tell them everything I knew so I went through the whole history of the church in an attempt to encourage them to let go of empty religion and invest their lives in a relationship with Jesus that would not only change their lives, but change the world we live in.

            I wasn't trying to impress them; I was trying to convert them. I wanted to start a conversation about a faith that transforms us, a faith that can’t be locked up inside the church until we decide to return. For me, this was serious. This was real preaching.

            When the service was over I stood in the back (like preachers do) and people came out and shook my hand and said what people say to preachers; “good job”, “nice message.” What I wanted was some kind of comment about what I was trying to say. I wanted someone to say something that would indicate that I had touched a nerve or got people thinking. But, what I got (along with the standard “nice sermon” comments) was, “Oh, I remember when you used to run up and down the aisle in the sanctuary.” Or “I remember when you were in my Sunday school class.” Or “I remember when you sang in the choir.” People talked about how “cute” I was or about how they remembered me as a child.

            I left with the feeling that not a single person in that congregation had heard what I was trying to say.

            Being the hometown boy is hard. But, what I realized (much later) was that people came to that service with an entirely different set of expectations. IN MY CASE THEY WEREN’T THERE TO LEARN FROM ME, THEY WERE THERE TO SUPPORT ME, TO BE PROUD OF ME, TO SEE THE LITTLE KID WHO HAD “DONE GOOD.” It was hard (maybe impossible) for them to get beyond our shared history.

            I think that’s why coming home is so hard and I also think that is at least part of the reason why Jesus’ homecoming in Nazareth went the way it did.

            After Jesus was baptized by John it says that he went into the wilderness for 40 days (where he was tempted by the devil.) Then it says, “Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee,” (vs. 14)

            As he traveled through Galilee (traveling on foot, which would have taken some time) Jesus stopped at the towns and villages along the way and taught…

“…in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” Matthew 4:23

            He was developing quite a reputation AND so when he arrived at Nazareth. He was greeted like “the hometown boy made good” and people were excited that one of their own was becoming so famous. But things changed just a bit when he showed up at the synagogue.

            He was invited to read the text during the morning worship and then expound on what he had read. It says that,

“…the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸’The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’”

            And then he said something that really got their attention.

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

            What Jesus was saying to the hometown crowd was that he was more than just the local boy who made good. He was more than simply a gifted preacher and teacher. What Jesus was saying was that he was specifically sent by God to change the world. Jesus was claiming to be Messiah.

            The peoples response to this revelation was kind of what you would expect.

“Is not this Joseph’s son?”

            Isn’t this the little boy we used to see running through the streets? Isn’t this the little boy who used to come to synagogue with his parents? He gives a good sermon but where does he get off trying to claim he is Messiah? We know this boy. He’s like us.

            And, as confusing as Jesus comments were to those people who were listening to him, the whole thing might have ended right there and been forgotten but Jesus kept talking and now they were listening and what he said was (that if they remembered their history) God’s blessings were not reserved just for Israel.

            If they remembered their story they would have remembered that when Elijah, God’s greatest prophet, was in a battle for the soul of the nation of Israel he was directed to the widow of Zarephath in Sidon. She wasn’t a Jew but she was chosen by God to be a blessing and to be blessed.

            Then later in the story when (as Jesus said) there were plenty of lepers in Israel God sent the prophet Elisha (Elijah’s chosen successor) to heal Naaman the Syrian general who (not only was not a Jew, but) might best be described as a warrior for one of Israel’s ancient enemies.

            THIS was the message that upset the hometown crowd; not that Jesus was claiming to be Messiah but that Jesus was claiming that God cared about everyone equally. What Jesus was saying was that Messiah had come to be more than a blessing for the people of Israel. Messiah had come to bring God’s kingdom to the entire world.

            This same message is supposed to be part of the impetus for our outreach into the world we live in today. JESUS came to be MESSIAH for everyone. John was quoting Jesus when wrote these words,

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

            Jesus came because there was a universal brokenness that needed to be addressed. Jesus came to offer anyone who would respond with the opportunity to find forgiveness and healing and a relationship with the living God that carries us through the storms of life and shines light into the darkness of our lives.

            We are being called to live as if we believe what Jesus has said! God loves everyone and wants them all to come home. God has been working overtime to get people’s attention and in order to accomplish his mission he selected a group of people (we might call them “chosen people”) to make this message real; to be God’s hands and voices in the world. We are those chosen people.

            I’m not going to try to “soft sell” this to you. The work we’ve been given to do as God’s representatives is more difficult than ever before. There was a time (not too long ago) when the Christian faith was considered to be the bedrock upon which our country was built. There was a time when the cultural expectation was that everyone should belong to a Church and that everyone should attend his or her Church on a regular basis. In that time (not so long ago) evangelism was simply opening up the doors and turning on the lights. We didn’t have to coerce anyone or challenge anyone or try to entertain anyone; people would come, they would gather with the community and they would learn about the faith but things have changed.

            Today, many people who study the sociology of religion describe our culture as “post-Christian.” They believe that we have come to a place where the majority of people see the Church (at best) as optional. In fact, the word that is used by many people to describe the Church today is “irrelevant.”  What this means is that people who used to come because it was expected no longer feel the need to be here and what that means is if we want them to hear the Good News of forgiveness and hope then we have to be willing to take our message out to where they live.

            Our faith in Jesus (and our religious programming) isn’t just for Sunday mornings any more. As a Church community we have to find ways to support, nurture, teach and inspire people who will never step through those doors. The future is out there. WE NEED TO TAKE JESUS OUT INTO OUR WORLD.

            We need to make the faith more personal again. We need to talk about how we can set up relational communities; places where our friends can come and talk about their struggles, their dreams and their relationship to God.

            One of the ways that we can do that is to adopt a strategy that is as old as the church and a process that was foundational to the beginnings of Methodism.

            In the beginning, when being a follower of Jesus was against the law and Christians regularly put their lives and their families at risk in order to gather together for worship and prayer, the church met in people’s homes. They gathered in small groups to worship, pray and grow in their faith. These “Church” gatherings were highly relational and filled with the kind of support and caring that people needed to face the challenges of life.

            When Methodism was first starting, and people were beginning to understand that there is something wonderful and powerful about a relationship with the living Jesus these people called Methodists met in each other’s homes to confess their sin to each other, prayer for each other and work together to care for people who were less fortunate than they were.

            I would like to suggest that it is time again for us to open our homes and gather with our friends to explore what it means to be children of God. It is that time in history when we need to provide a safe place for people we know (people who would never darken the door of a Church) to come and explore their spiritual questions and find people who will care about them. We need to find a space where we can introduce people to the Messiah; the one who changes people’s lives.

            There are lots of different ways that we can facilitate this process. I can teach people who would teach the same material in their homes so, in effect, I would mentor you and you would mentor others. OR we can provide DVD studies where an “expert” would provide most of the content and the host or hostess would simply facilitate the conversation. OR we can create a group that focuses mostly on prayer and becomes a support group for people who have to live in the real world every day. OR we can create a group that would plan to reach out into the community and use their time together to serve people and in so doing model the love of Jesus. OR your group could be some combination of all of these things. The possibilities are almost endless but the goal is to make the faith REAL and PERSONAL and SACRIFICIAL once again.

            I ALMOST talked myself out of having this discussion. I assumed that most of you will have already dismissed the idea because you don’t think you have the time or you don’t want to be inconvenienced or you are intimidated by the whole idea AND I can’t fix those things for you.

            It will be inconvenient. Somebody has to be inconvenienced in order to make it convenient for someone else. It has to do with how much you care and that’s generally how life works. Taking a leadership role in any kind of setting will be intimidating (even frightening) but someone has to be willing to lead if you want to have any hope of arriving somewhere AND like I said, we can help with that.

            I am hoping that you might see small group ministry (at best) as an opportunity to make a difference in someone else’s life. I am hoping that you will see small group ministry (at the very least) as a program that you need to be involved in because you are grateful for all that God has done in your life.

            Think of it as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” Think of this as an opportunity to be thankful. Think of this as an opportunity to be helpful. OR think of all the people who are searching, who are living lost and alone, who are trying to face the storms and challenges of life without support; without Jesus. THEN decide to be part of the solution. As the sign says, “Relationships: A Mess Worth Making.”

            We have included a flyer in the bulletin for the last 5 weeks that asks you to indicate a willingness to explore the possibility of small group ministry. I want you to look at the flyer again AND pray about what God is calling you to do. I’m not asking you to sign away the next 20 years of your life, I am asking you to consider being a part of this life-changing ministry. Don’t dismiss it without taking time to pray and seek God’s will. I want you to pray that God will speak to your heart. I want you to care enough to pray.