Too much work

While on our mission trip to Calgary, we were encouraged to have our hearts, ears, and eyes open to the calling of God as we were sent out into the streets to complete the tasks that were given to us. It was unique, especially for me. I grew up in and around metro Vancouver and often found myself in the same vicinity of people who experienced homelessness and poverty. I grew up seeing these people as smelly, dirty and lazy. I grew up thinking it is best to take a wide birth around that person because you never know what illness or mental condition they may have, and it is probably not safe being around them.

As a young Vancouverite, I would go to church every Sunday, to the Kids Club on the given weekday, and to the Youth Group on Fridays. I would cook and serve food at the Alpha Marriage Course. I would volunteer to teach Sunday school, and I would volunteer to be a junior youth leader. I would give all my time inside the church, but when it came to giving an ounce of time to those people on the side of the road? Well, I had no time for that. I would cross the road to continue on my way. Besides, I didn’t know if the time I spent with them at that moment would be of any good anyway. I felt that it was far riskier for me to try anything with one person, so around them, I would go. Avoiding eye contact and dancing around them as if they were asking for alms.

I would come up with excuses, such as the dangers it could pose to me to take a moment to help that person. Or I would consider the time constraint it would take to direct my attention towards that single person. Sometimes the people would help me with my excuses by acting violently or being verbally aggressive, but most of the time, they would just sit and ask for help.

What a good Christian boy I was. Working so hard within the church doors. All the while avoiding contact outside where things were riskier and would involve more effort on my part.

I would pray ‘Lord use me’, but only where I felt comfortable. I would cry out to God, ‘why aren’t you listening’, while being more concerned with myself than the people and the opportunities he sent across my path.

I would pray, and ignore. Seek, and turn my eyes away.

Isaiah 58 has something to say about how I acted.

Let’s turn there together:

Isaiah 58 NIV

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

See, I sought God daily and was eager to know His ways, as if I were someone who did what was right and didn’t forsake God’s commands. Yet, if I took a moment to listen, I would have heard the call to go out of my way for that one person at exit 27 off of Hwy #1 in East Vancouver. I would have seen the need at the local food bank or homeless shelter. Instead of seeing these people as a waste of time, I would have seen them as God’s beloved. But in my act of ignorance towards those people, I was foolishly betraying God himself.

Matthew 25:31-46 says:

Matthew 25:31–46 NASB95

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 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; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to 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? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Did you hear those words?

Verse 40. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.”

Verse 45. “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

Those words are shrouded by a well-done and eternal life or a departure from God and eternal punishment.

We aren’t just supposed to go through life ignoring those around us who are in need, like an ostrich with its head in the sand. Just because you knowingly don’t look or make eye contact doesn’t mean the help isn’t needed.

And sending positive thoughts and happy prayers doesn’t always cut it especially when you can actually do something about it!

James 2:16-26 says the following

James 2:14–26 NIV

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I have heard from some in our church that they fear our church is spiritually dead. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I don’t think we are, as a church, spiritually dead at this point, yet. But I can see how someone might say that, though. From the perspective of these people, they see us singing in the service something along the lines of “I will rejoice and be glad in Him”. Meanwhile our brows are furrowed, we are rigid when we sing, and dare not raise our hands in worship. These reasons might be a cause to call into question our spiritual health. But to me, there is a far bigger, far more alarming reason I might question our spiritual health as a church. Far too often, I have heard it said, why should we do that ministry or follow through with that outreach opportunity when we might only get one person? And what does the Bible say about that? This is a foolish comment, especially when we have examples like Luke 15.

We are called to be like Jesus, and in Luke 15, Jesus challenges those who are judging him and his outreach efforts by talking about a sheep that goes astray in v4-7. In this parable, the farmer goes after the one sheep, leaving the 99! And what does he do when he finds the one sheep? He REJOICES! In v8-10, We hear of a lady who misplaces one of her ten silver coins. Jesus describes her as searching for that coin, and when she finds that one silver coin, what does she do? REJOICES! In v11-32, we see a father with two sons. One of the sons leaves his father's house after insulting his father, but when the son finally comes to a place where he needs to return to the father and ask for forgiveness for betraying his dad, what does the father do? He slaughters the most prized fattened calf and HE REJOICES throwing a great feast!

Jesus is emphasizing the need to go and seek out that one!

There's another son in that story, and he is the son who has been with the father the whole time. When the rejoicing begins, he is angered. All he sees is the work and the wealth he worked for being squandered. He doesn’t rejoice. If anything, he gets tight-fisted, not wanting to share with the one who hadn’t been there the whole time.

How are we when it comes to things like this? Like I said, I have heard the mumblings of some people within this church asking if it is worth it to do all that work for one person. God’s answer is yes! Yes, it is worth it. Even if we spent our whole church savings on one person and they found Jesus through that investment, that is an investment well spent. Besides, it is God’s fattened calf to slaughter, not ours.

I will say this one last thing: in a little moment caught in Luke 23:40-43 we see that Jesus wasn’t done going after the one even after he was tortured and nailed to the cross. Jesus wasn’t done going after the one, even when he was mocked and given vinegar wine to quench his thirst. Jesus looked at the thief on the cross and ministered right there with him as they shared in their crucifixion. The thief, knowing that his time was near, looked upon Jesus and believed, and Jesus took time for that one man in the chaos of the moment. Nothing else mattered to Jesus. Not the thorns on his head. Not the nails in his hands or feet. But in that moment, that thief, someone who we would even consider a menace to society and potentially a waste of time, had Jesus’ full attention.

If you were to follow Jesus’ example, what would that look like today?

As you ponder that question, I am going to invite Willem up to lead us in communion.

Lets pray.