The Church and the New-Week 2

We talked last week about what it meant to be the church.

I said something that I wanted to kick this off with. I said,

The person who doesn’t know Jesus is the most important person in the room

Luke 15:11–24 NIV

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

We may see the world outside of ‘the church’ as a world of terrors and sinfulness and problems.

God sees it as a world of His lost children

See, the father here - he doesn’t gloss over his son’s failures. He doesn’t ignore them, or justify them, or praise them.

The father simply says - we HAVE to celebrate, because my son was lost, but now he’s found. He was dead, but now he’s alive.

And there’s something that happens here that I want us to appreciate.

See, the son, he knew he messed up big time. And he came back in repentance. And his plan was (BECOME SERVANT JUST SO HE CAN EAT).

But the father didn’t even let him finish his repentance. He had every right to be mad, he had every right to turn his son away. It would have been mercy even to make him a servant.

But rather than just accept his forgiveness, maybe wag a finger at him - he made him a son again.

We need to see the lost the same way Jesus did

And that will require a shift in our perspective.

I’ve got two big comparisons for us to understand. The first is

Hotels Vs Hospitals

When you go and stay at a hotel, they have a nice experience for you. And you shop around - who has the best bed, who has the nicest breakfast.

See, the thing is, we’re not people staying at a hotel. We’re staff at a hospital. We’re not here to be comfortable and let people wait on us - we’re here to save lives. People are coming to US and they have broken bones and cuts and pain and problems.

Hotel thinking says ‘What do I want and who is getting it for me?’

Hospital thinking says ‘What do they need and how can I help?’

STORY - in a bad car accident once. My brother cut his head bad. I took off my shirt and gave it to him. Covered in blood, shirt was a write off. The back seat of the vehicle we were in was like a scene out of a horror movie. My brother in that moment - he needed the shirt off my back.

Every person you will meet is bleeding. Every new person that comes through our doors who doesn’t know Christ is dying.

Most of the time, that blood isn’t physical. A lot of the time it’s emotional.

Maybe they are having an incredibly rough time at home. Their kids are going bonkers and they don’t know what to do. Exhausted, end of their fuse. Want to go to church, drag out kids, kids are going wild.

Hotel thinking says, man, those people are disruptive. They should go away. I’m uncomfortable and it’s other people’s job to make me more comfortable.

Hospital thinking says, man, that person looks like they have it rough. They need love and help. And it’s my job to help them.

There’s more examples than that.

Maybe they’ve had a rough life, and they don’t dress well or use good language and they need a place where people will just roll with it.

Maybe they’re in the midst of a bitter divorce and they need a place where they don’t feel judged.

Maybe they’re bitter at God and they want to yell at someone and they need someone to just be quiet and have patience.

Without Christ - Everyone is bleeding. Everyone is dying.

Loving the lost will get messy

STORY - Guy showed up to crosslands, wanted to get baptized. No towel, no swimming clothes. Dripping in the lobby.

If you want nice looking and clean and unchanging, go build a statue somewhere. God doesn’t want monuments - He wants movements.

He didn’t make the church as a nice statue to look at from a distance. He made us to be mobile. To have an impact on the world. We are here to gain ground. We are here to win the lost.

And this requires another change.

We do the heavy lifting when it comes to connecting with the lost

Paul says

1 Corinthians 9:19–22 NIV

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

Here’s the thing. The jews - they couldn’t understand the freedom that was in Christ. Those free of the law couldn’t understand the life of service that Christ demanded. The weak couldn’t understand the sheer strength of a life built on christ.

Paul pushes so hard that he saw it as HIS JOB to come down to their level, wherever they may have been, so that it was easier for that person to understand the gospel. He sacrified, he faced hardship and persecution and trials, paul went through SO MUCH in his life - all in this pursuit of one more person hearing and believing the Gospel. He called himself a slave to everyone.

And we can’t forget for one single second -

Jesus did that for us first

Romans 5:7–8 NIV

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While WE were lost, while WE were bleeding - Jesus left heaven itself, came down to the muck and the mire and the sin of earth, loved on people and died for people. We have no right to expect to do any less.

Before, I gave the example of a hotel vs a hospital.

This one to me is like a

steak house vs soup kitchen

When you go out for a nice meal at a nice steak house, there’s rules, there’s expectations. Dress code, and fine dining, knowing which fork is the right fork.

STORY - Katherine and I went to really nice restaurant, katherine ate the salt.

Their goal is to provide an immaculate experience.

A soup kitchen is…the opposite of that.

STORY - My mom would help at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. I went along. Did it in Toronto too. Any kind of person could walk through those doors. You’re there just to make them feel full and feel like a human being.

We’re not the steak house here. We’re people working at a soup kitchen. However people may come, whatever they may look like or smell like or act like - they’re starving.

And maybe they are there because they’ve had a hard life. Maybe they are there just because they made bad choices. Whatever it may be - they’re starving, and it’s our job to feed them.

And both examples - a steak house and a soup kitchen - they cost. But the steak house, you spend to get a really nice experience. It might be costly, but it’s not really a SACRIFICE per-se. It’s a trade.

At a soup kitchen, you pay so that someone else gets to eat.

And that’s the kind of behaviour that Jesus rewards.

Matthew 25:31–40 NIV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Every single time we meet a need in someone’s life - we’re doing it to Jesus.

So this is who we are as a church focused on winning the lost. We are a hospital in a world full of bleeding and dying people. We’re a soup kitchen in a world full of starving people.

And honestly, both of these perspectives cost us. They take time and money and effort. But whatever we may miss on this side of eternity - it’s nothing compared to being able to stand before our Lord and have Him say ‘well done, good and faithful servant’.

Because, ultimately,

We’re here to please God - not us

Psalm 115:1 NIV

Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

See, here’s the tough part. Being a lost-focused church, being the servant at the soup kitchen rather than the guest at the steak house - it feels like we’re not getting what we want, what we deserve.

But following Christ is so radically self-denying, that not getting what we want isn’t a bad thing.

Denying ourselves is step one to looking more like Christ

And a church that looks more like Christ - that’s a powerful thing.

Jesus came to help you, not to condemn you

John 3:17 NIV

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

And in Jesus, we CAN be saved. Saved from our past, saved from our problems.

And this is a free offer. We don’t have to earn it or deserve it.