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Qualification of a deacon

Spiritually mature, not given to gossip, sober-minded, people of prayer and commitment. This is why:

1. Prayer emails go to this group. Not for discussion together, but for prayer.

2. Regular prayer for the church. Leadership will send prayer focuses for the church body periodically with the expectation that you will pray for HCC.

3. From that group we will be looking for others to join our Sunday morning post service prayer, and in the future we would love to have people committed to pre service prayer and during service prayer.

If you are interested, come talk to myself or one of our elders and we will send you more information on the commitment and application process.

Sermon

Oops - We have funny ideas about st peter’s gates…who is in?

Recently there were some ancient scrolls unearthed with huge theological and spiritual application. As we speak, committees gather to discuss the issues raised by these discoveries.

Through some connections, I have managed to get digital images of some of these scrolls, and I think there are important concepts that apply to where we are going today.

First is an depiction of a soul’s arrival in heaven to be questioned by St Peter:

The writing is a bit small, but Peter is asking the essential question:

Ok, now listen up. Nobody gets in here without answering the following question: A train leaves Philidelphia at 1 pm. It’s traveling 65 mph. Another train leaves Denver at 4…say do you need some paper?

Translator’s notes call this the math phobics nightmare.

Another, titled Colonel Sander’s worst nightmare has him standing at the pearly gates where there are clearly statues of the holy chicken.

The only insight we have is the thought bubble of the colonel with the single exclamitory, “Uh Oh”

One more, where we see a poor soul hearing that unfortunately, his username and password don’t match.

Now, we’ll let the academics in their halls of learning determine all the implications of these discoveries, but I want to focus on the hardware.

The gate.

At least one stand up comic wondered out loud what kind of neighborhood heaven was in if it needed gates, not sure about that, but gates and doors in our world serve a function.

Many apartment complexes will have one to do what?

Regulate who can come in

Prevent intruders

When all their grandkids were little, my inlaws put what across their stairs? A baby gate! why? To keep them in!

The idea of the apostle Peter waiting at the gates to decide who comes in to heaven is what I find to be a poor understanding of Jesus’ response to Peter’s confession of faith which included a reference to the keys to the kingdom. That one phrase got expanded to put Peter forever on guard duty in some minds.

While the theology isn’t great here…Revelation does describe gates into the city of God. There is a point in eternity when God will open the book of life and the hearts and lives of mankind will be examined for judgement.

We praise God that we rest in the knowledge that Christ died for the unrighteous, all of us, so that through him we might be made righteous, we can be justified by faith.

But for our minds that can be so bent to the details…what exactly are the parameters?

I should note…this message is not a clear 3 point message with an outline. There is one point, with a few applications at the end. So as you take notes, don’t wait for a bullet point, they won’t come until the end.

Ugh - those ideas can be unspoken and subliminal but still impact how we act, what if you were asked to sit in for St Peter and you had to make a list of what you thought? What would they have to believe? What would they have to have done?

Humanity has a natural bend towards sorting people. Who is in and who is out.

We do it based on so many things.

Not only the eternal.

In middle school, as a Cascade Cougar, I was trained to know that the Shasta Thunderbirds were a lower life form. Of course then we all became Willamette High Wolverines, so we turned against the South Eugene Axemen, the North Eugene Highlanders, and the Sheldon Irish.

Romeo and Juliet is an entire drama build around two family units where one was in and the other unacceptable.

Fan groups can be so bad. You’re only a real fan if...

bandwagon...

If you don’t like the White album you don’t like the Beatles...

We like to divide and sort. It makes our lives easier.

But imagine with me for a moment that Peter needs a vacation. So he calls you up and tells you that you were chosen to sit in for him for a week.

You expect some training, but he assumes you know what you’re doing and leaves.

So you have to write out your list that will help you determine who is in and who stays out.

Consider for a moment, all that you would say they needed to believe…what’s on that list?

Consider now, what would they have to have done? To not done?

Having your list the first people approach the gate. Their eternal lives in the balance, in your hands, how sure are you that you got it right?

I was a part of a church in my youth ministry days where there were some in the body who were absolutely certain that THE time and place of salvation was baptism.

If you hadn’t been dunked and you died, sorry, out of luck.

I’m not going to get deep into that theology today, if you want to go deeper, we can do that outside of a sermon, but bottom line, baptism is a step of obedience that represents a change that God has already done.

You can certainly proof text your way to a believe in baptism as the salvation moment, but it doesn’t fit the context

Is it possible our dividing line isn’t right either?

Church history has ugly moments of division and even violence over the matter of who is in and out.

Do you have to have a specific understanding of how the cross saved you?

Is there an action you have to take?

What about Catholics? Episcopals? Lutherans? Orthodox? They all do things and think things we don’t agree with doctrinally…so where is the line?

Thankfully, we don’t have that job. Not even for a day.

But…As we just saw, we can easily be caught acting and thinking like we do.

As mentioned last week, referencing the story shown in the Jesus Revolution, whole churches were divided over what to do when barefoot hippies came in the door.

Consciously and unconsciously, we divide people into groups.

It impacts the way we pray. If we believe someone is beyond saving…we pray different.

It changes how we invest in people. How we use our hospitality.

It impacts who we associate ourselves with…not wanting to put ourselves at risk of being painted with the same brush as those.

Aha! - Return to our story of the blind man (kicked out of the place of justification), Jesus has a word for those who would do so. (I AM THE GATE)

Remember we are looking at Jesus as those around try to define him, and He responds in seven statements using God’s great name, “I AM” and then adding a character quality or role that fights against their definitions.

In the first week we saw him respond to those looking for him to give them what they wanted, what they thought would satisfy by declaring, “I AM the bread of life” I am what you need, you don’t need something from me…you need me.

This last week we saw Jesus declare, I AM the light of the world. I Am the one who allows you to see things as God designed and declared. We noted that he said it twice to get his point across.

Our text today is a continuation from the story we told last week. And There are actually 2 I AM statements in this one teaching Jesus makes in reaction to the story. We’ll cover one today, and one next week, but they do go together, so we’ll have teasers in this week and review next.

The story last week we ended with was about a man born blind. Jesus, who had already been dismissed by the religious leaders as problamatic at best, heals the man.

The man knows nothing about Jesus, doesn’t know who healed him, just knows he can see and goes to the temple.

There is an uproar over this amazing miracle, and the leaders call him in and interrogate him. When he doesn’t bend his story, they kick him out of the temple. After he finds Jesus, we see that some of the religious leaders must have followed him out, because they get into it with Jesus again where he criticizes them for claiming to see when they are blind.

There is the review. Now the text, coming right after this, directed AT those who pretend to see, and that just kicked this man out of fellowship.

John 10:1-10 CSB “Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”

The teaching continues, but that’s where we’re going next week and right here we have enough to be going on with.

I want to zoom in on the middle of this passage to start:

John 10:7-9 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.”

Thinking back, I usually hear that verse or parts of it used to express that Jesus is the only way to heaven…He is the door that you have to go through to get IN. But that’s not at all what this passage is about.

Not saying that isn’t true…but it isn’t what this is about. Not what we’re supposed to get here.

Let’s understand the passage, and then look at what principles we can take from it.

First some context. In that time, the pen was a fence with one opening. Once the sheep were all in, the shepherd would lie down across the opening. (The shepherd connection will be really key next week) Verses one through 5 will come back to next week as they really connect to the shepherd idea more deeply.

But note this to help get our minds off the idea that this is about heaven here: verse 3

John 10:3-4 “The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice.”

This is not a teaching on eternity. This is about belonging. What JUST happened to the man born blind? (kicked out)

Removed from community, the temple sacrificial system, They condemned him to separation from God (at least they intended to)

They decided this guy was out.

Jesus’ response?

John 10:7 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.”

I AM - The gate. I decide who is in and out. I decide where that line is. And the sheep are known by me and know me.

Anyone who is not a sheep, but is hopping in and out trying to mess with the sheep?

John 10:8 “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.”

Let me pause here a moment to remind you of the weekly readings we have put together for you. Jesus isn’t saying all this in a void. These religious leaders, who would have KNOWN their text, got references we miss unless we’re looking.

Jesus is calling back to passages in Ezekiel and elsewhere that he wants them to hear about wicked shepherds, and God’s anger at those who should be caring for the people but aren’t.

Invest time in knowing the story. Nothing will grow your love for God and people like immersing yourself in the story. Not to have knowledge, but to know who God is and what he is doing.

Let’s go back to Peter’s gates for a moment. According to this, we’ve misread the personnel file. It looks like not only is Peter not the guard, the gate is the guard and the gate is…Jesus.

What is anyone who tries to circumvent the gate? Thieves and robbers. If we jump a verse we see this:

John 10:10 “A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”

Anyone who tries to get sheep in and out any way other than the gate can only do harm.

This formerly blind man was the focus of this discussion. They told him he didn’t belong. Jesus says, I AM THE GATE and I DECIDE who belongs.

Backing up to 9,

John 10:9 “I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.”

Anyone who enters by me. They will be saved, they will come in and go out, and they will find pasture.

Not a math question, not a user name and password, not a theology test. Do you enter at the gate.

And who can do so? Anyone. As long as they don’t try to go around Jesus.

So who do we get to stop from coming to Jesus? Nobody.

Listen carefully, because there is room for misunderstanding here.

Jesus CAN be exclusive and choose who enters and who doesn’t.

We MUST be inclusive and not bar the way.

This isn’t about deciding where the line is, it’s recognizing what our job isn’t. The religious leaders thought they had the right and calling to decide who was in and out.

What’s funny is that as a blind man, he was out. They weren’t allowed in the temple itself by tradition.

He can now see, and because of that miracle…they kick him out.

If you remember, his parents were afraid to back him up, why? Because they were afraid of getting kicked out.

And Jesus is not ok with anyone taking his job.

Whee! - When we understand that Jesus is the gate for the sheep (and the shepherd…) we will see that we are welcomed and will welcome

The early church was sure Gentiles had to become Jewish before they could follow Jesus. In Acts 10 Jesus reminds Peter who gets to decide.

They were terrified of this Saul guy who was literally imprisoning and killing Christians. Then in Acts 9 Jesus sends a guy to baptize him and commission him to serve.

We have spent a year talking about the life of Jesus and watching him. The question we need to ask ourselves is if we are confident in His ability to be the gate?

We trust him for our salvation, but do we trust him to decide who is in and out?

If I’m really honest, I struggle to trust Jesus at times in this area. What about those who hurt me or my family? What about those who commit acts of evil? What about those whose theology has gaping holes or wrong ideas?

Jesus is the gate…not me. And what if, what if I don’t have as clear of an understanding as I think I do? When the Lord comes will he find me just inside the gate ready to welcome or outside them standing guard?

What now? - If Jesus is the gate, what do we do?

I believe this message is critical for the church today. I never try to preach any message that is unimportant, but some are essential.

I am convinced that we are on the edge of a movement of the Holy Spirit drawing people to Jesus.

At the very least, I see your hearts growing more in tune with Jesus’ hearts for the lost weekly. I can see it in your faces and hear it in your voices.

You are becoming more and more desperate to see God’s kingdom come in the lives of people. And I love it!

I fully expect that barring us refusing to follow him, God will use HCC to be a part of his mission here in Clark County in a significant way.

From the resurrection to today, every time that happens it gets messy.

The letters of the New Testament have to deal a lot with disagreement, disunity, and confusion caused by radical and swift growth.

In every large scale revival there are church bodies that have become gatekeepers to keep their sheep in and safe, instead of following the shepherd out into the field to welcome the new sheep.

Those moments change the dynamic of a church, they disrupt what we love about it and force us to decide if we’re willing to pay the price of an open door.

So what do we do?

We Work for Unity

It becomes a moot point to worry about welcoming outsiders if we are drawing lines for each other.

One of the beautiful things about a non-denominational church family is that we have room for differences on non-essentials.

If you want to know what the core beliefs of HCC are, you can take a look on our website or follow that link I shared for the app and click “About Hockinson”

Those are the things we will fight for.

Everything else we will engage in, wrestle with, and encourage one another in.

We take conflict seriously and work to resolve it

We don’t view conflict as a negative or as optional. We are people…it’s gonna happen. But we will work to do it right and in a way that honors Jesus and one another.

We Prepare the House

When you are expecting important company you prepare your house. You clean and prepare a meal, you replace the bad light bulbs and mow the lawn.

Pray for God to prepare you to be a welcoming space for people.

That you are ready to embrace the mess of difficult and different people

That you are prepared to show Kingdom hospitality to those who need a home, not just a greeting.

It’s easy to make someone feel welcome for a moment, a much greater commitment to help them know they have a home.

We Talk about Jesus

I’ll have the worship and prayer teams come to the front. This morning, during our closing song and after the service, our prayer team will be here to pray with you. Take advantage of the opportunity.

As they make their way up, let me read from our text again.

John 10:7-10 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”

Jesus is the gate.

If we have entered by him we WILL be about him.

We will be saved, we will not only come in, but go out.

There are a lot of important issues. Sanctity of life, homelessness, marriage, poverty, and so many more.

The solutions to those things will not be our dividing line.

Make no mistake, if we keep following Jesus, we will walk into those spaces. We come in and go out.

The thief, the one who tries to usurp the gate, comes to take away and diminish life.

Jesus said he came that we might have it and have it in abundance.

The kind of Life God gives is the life like his.

Life that serves instead of being served.

Life that worries more about loving than being loved.

Creating safety rather than being safe.

Taking our cross daily and following Jesus.

And if we are coming and going with him, we’re going to talk about HIM, we’re going to celebrate HIM, we’re going to share the one who is our welcome as we invite others to join him in that same welcome.

So examine yourself this morning.

Where are my lines? Are there divisions I have drawn up?

Maybe you need to go resolve a matter today

Am I ready for a messy church? What attitudes will keep me from enjoying the blessing of revival?

Ask God to help you lay those down. To prepare you to welcome those he will open the gate for.

Am I ready to help this be their home as much as it is mine?

And essentially…am I coming and going through the gate with the shepherd? Am I taking his pasture? Am I following him where he goes to do what he does?